While I still have some reservations about Kyuranger, the show is surpassing my expectations with every character it introduces. In this week’s episode, we meet the antagonistic Stinger and dive into Champ’s origin story as we continue to gather our heroes.
Our story this week revolves around Stinger, a warrior who can transform into Sasori Orange (which technically makes him a member of the Kyuranger team). Stinger’s story immediately stands out to me for two important reasons: first, I was not expecting him to be connected to any of the already assembled Kyurangers; second, I was not expecting him to be a villain. Stinger’s reasons for opposing the Kyuranger team are admittedly vague and upon first glance, his antagonism seems shallow and without merit. As the episode draws to a close, however, we see that he still isn’t joining up with the Kyurangers—he’s forging a shaky alliance with Jark Matter for the time being. Stinger’s story isn’t going to be resolved in one episode, so I’m okay with leaving certain things and motivations unexpressed for now. (Sidebar: I’m so glad that his tail is rendered in CGI more often than not. I was initially worried about it, but it turns out Sasori Orange’s scorpion tail is an awesome asset in battle and it affords us some dynamic action scenes!)
Speaking of leaving things unsaid, Stinger doesn’t offer much in the way of defending himself against Champ’s accusations of murder. That’s another reason why Stinger’s vague villainy works in this episode: we’re focusing on his connection to Champ, making this week’s story just as much about Champ as it is about Stinger. It turns out that Champ was constructed by Professor Anton, an engineer who wanted to oppose Jark Matter, but also didn’t want his robotic creation to be a mindless weapon—to that end, the scientist taught Champ about the human heart. Champ still remembers those words to this day, just as he remembers seeing what appears to be Stinger standing over a lifeless Professor Anton after piercing him with his poisonous tail. When Champ and the others encounter Stinger, Champ rushes into the fight and insists on fighting him alone, which indirectly allows the others to get poisoned by the orange Kyuranger. I’m not convinced that Stinger actually killed the professor, but it’s interesting that Stinger doesn’t deny Champ’s accusations.
What ties the story together is, of course, the red Kyuranger Lucky. Thankfully, Lucky is much more bearable when he actually has dialogue and isn’t screaming his name at the top of his lungs. As we saw in the previous episode, Lucky works well when he has characters around him that respond to his personality. One would imagine a hot-headed shounen archetype like Lucky would push for Champ’s success in his manly quest for revenge, but Lucky immediately sees through Champ’s vengeance and insists that someone chosen by a Kyutama couldn’t possibly be a bad person. He vows to settle Champ’s vengeance and reminds him of the fact that he was made to protect others, not to seek revenge. Lucky also promises to convince Stinger to join the Kyurangers. By the end of the episode, though, Champ still sees Stinger as an enemy and Stinger is still temporarily aligning himself with Jark Matter. The characters of Kyuranger are starting to inform the story instead of the story dictating what happens to the characters—things are really starting to pick up! Hopefully we’ll get to find out why Stinger hates the Kyurangers and maybe explore how he feels about being a Kyuranger himself.
One thing that irks me about this week’s episode is that half of the cast gets benched in favor of the Lucky/Stinger/Champ drama. This decision is both helpful and harmful—it allows us to focus on Champ and Stinger’s conflict as well as how Lucky works between them both, but unfortunately it prevents us from experiencing any possible team dynamic during the whole ordeal. It will be interesting to see how characters like Naga and Hammy react to Stinger when they interact in one-on-one situations. As it stands, the decision to write out these characters for most of the episode feels like the writers couldn’t properly balance everyone, but the true reason probably has more to do with introducing the Futago (Gemini) Kyutama. When Lucky becomes outnumbered by Jark Matter’s foot soldiers, Raptor shows up in the cutest way possible and provides Lucky with the aforementioned Kyutama. This item allows Lucky to replicate himself and gain the upper hand in battle—because of course two loud, catchphrase-spouting Reds are better than one.
I don’t have much to say about the commander of the rebellion known as Xiao Longbao. He’s goofy and quirky, and I thought he would be annoying, but his antics actually made me smile during the episode—especially his reaction at the Kyurangers adapting “okyu” instead of “okay” as a response in battle. I have a feeling that the purple dragon has a serious side to him and we might get to see it in a fight somewhere down the line…but for now, the Commander’s presence acts as comedic relief (as well as some nice contrast to Raptor) while providing us with a few extra Kyutamas as well as background information on Jark Matter and how exactly they go about conquering planets. I appreciate the exposition and I hope to see a lot more from Xiao Longbao soon.
Next week, it’s finally Raptor’s turn to become a Kyuranger! This week’s episode contains some interesting hints that point towards Raptor’s unspoken desires to fight with the Kyurangers, and she nearly quotes Sailor Moon in the preview for the next episode. She clearly fancies herself as a hero, but little does she know she’s going to become the pink Kyuranger! Or maybe she already knows? In any case, I can’t wait to find out!