Let’s unleash our animal instincts as I review Doubutsu Sentai Zyuohger Episode 3 – ‘Can’t Go Home Even Though I Want To‘!
Our animal pals and their friend Yamato are out looking for the sixth Champion Symbol so the Zyumans can get back to Zyuland.
Amu isn’t as into it as the others, so she takes Yamato on a wild goose chase/shopping trip finding cube-shaped things. Yamato finally loses it when she suggests that a piece of cake could be a Champion Symbol.
She doesn’t mince words and tells him that everyone running around all over every day isn’t going to find the missing Symbol and that she’s just going to get used to the Human World because they’re not leaving anytime soon. This surprises Yamato because like dang, Amu’s the bubbly one, who knew that she was this pragmatic?
In a sudden, almost convenient birth of a beast power, Yamato gains an eagle’s vision and uses Sight Beyond Sight, finding a Champion Symbol in the clutches of a young couple boarding a bus! He and Amu rush off to find them.
Meanwhile, Sela, Leo, and Tusk, out on their own excursions, encounter Bohgwan, who was shooting up a busy roadway for kicks. The trio transform to fight, but end up getting their tails kicked. They go to find the others.
Yamato and Amu find the pair at their destination, getting off the bus and ask to see the cube. The couple goes to show them the cube, but they left it on the bus, the bus that is totally leaving. They race onto the bus and find the cube, which is definitely from Zyuland, but not at all a Champion Symbol.
When Yamato apologizes that they didn’t find the Symbol, Amu reassures him that her hopes were not up at all anyways. Suddenly the bus they’re on is attacked by Bohgwan, chased by their friends who caught up with the Dethgalien again. Yamato gets on the roof with Bohgwan and fights him while Amu keeps everyone inside safe.
The fight takes them off the bus and into a ravine, powering Yamato down, Amu throws herself off the bus to meet them. The other Zyuman catch up and Leo comes down on Yamato for not being there when they needed them. Amu reminds him that they have friggin phones, dude, like use them
Our team transforms, lead by Amu and fights Bohgwan. Yamato gets to use his new Eye of Thundera Eagle Sight and is able to deflect the arrows that the other Zyuohger couldn’t. They get together and use their team attack to defeat the Deathgalien.
Naria arrives just in time to give Bohgwan a Continue and our team calls forth their Cube Animals. Bohgwan buries Elephant and Tiger in rocks and trades blows with ZyuOh-King. He gets the upper hand and showers ZyuOh-King in rock, covering Shark and Lion. Elephant and Tiger are able to free themselves by reverting to cube mode and combine with Eagle to reform ZyuOh-King.
In the cockpit, that cube that Amu and Yamato found changes into a Cube Animal, Cube Giraffe. It grows, lands a couple of blows on Bohgwan and changes into Giraffe Bazooka. It annihilates Bohgwan easily.
Back at Atelier Mori, Yamato and Amu come to an agreement that they can do both, look for the Champion Symbols and the Zyuman can learn about the human world. In the meantime, Amu learns how to use a vacuum cleaner and Yamato tells the others that they’re gonna have chores! Oh, no!
THOUGHTS
I liked this episode. It was nice to have Amu get a focus episode so early on and one that actually put some layers and depth into her character.
Having Amu be so bubby and spirited as well as being a realist is such an interesting combination of conflicting traits. It’s a nice change to have a nuanced character, especially because her archetype would lead us to think that she’s kind of a peppy airhead. It’s so refreshing!
Even though a little focus is given to Yamato, it doesn’t feel like he’s shoehorned into a story, things seem to be flowing naturally and we get a change to see him interact individually with each Zyuman, building friendships and understanding them more and more.
All in all, this was a good episode and I’m going with a hat trick and give this one also 9.0 Champion Symbols out of 10.
