This week, we’re looking at a very by-the-numbers episode of Kyuranger. It has decent moments throughout, but it’s held back by a particularly awful crossover. All in all, episode seven is probably the most average episode that Kyuranger has put out so far.
Kyuranger is really breaking our preconceived attitudes and expectations regarding Super Sentai: we’re starting off with nine heroes, we’ve got some dynamic color/gender pairings, and the show is meant to be an intergalactic space adventure. It’s interesting, then, that we’ve come to an episode that plays out like a typical Sentai plot. In true zany Super Sentai fashion, our monster of the week steals birthdays from children—and it just so happens to be Balance’s birthday. Of course, our favorite golden robot ends up getting his birthday stolen and our heroes struggle to get it back (and indeed free all of the birthdays stolen by this monster). Along the way, Naga learns about the importance of birthdays. It’s almost refreshing how played out this storyline comes across to a longtime Sentai viewer like myself, but that’s not a bad thing; in fact, it’s one of the episode’s strong points. The plot feels familiar and comforting in a sea of new concepts and ideas.
Since the plot isn’t anything special, episode seven’s good moments are exactly that: brief, fleeting scenes that pepper the narrative with a delicious flare. It’s cool to see Naga resort to his background in thievery as the Kyurangers plan a “heist” of sorts to steal back the birthdays, and it’s also great that Naga and Balance briefly take on the monster on their own during the obligatory mecha battle sequence (their Voyagers clearly reflect their partnership). I love that Raptor is still participating in an advisory capacity even when she isn’t chosen for field duty in a specific episode, and I’m glad that we finally get to see Stinger aboard the Orion with the others. Speaking of Stinger, he gives the field team some orders in this episode, which Champ doesn’t take lightly; I’m glad that the show hasn’t dropped this plot point just yet.
I have to be brutally honest about this next part, though: the crossover with Kamen Rider Ex-Aid is terrible. It comes from out of nowhere, it doesn’t go anywhere, and it completely disrupts the pacing of an otherwise decent episode. I have to admit that I’m a big Kamen Rider fan, but I haven’t really been keeping up with the newer shows—and Ex-Aid’s design never appealed to me in the first place. On top of all of that, while the crossover comes from out of nowhere and doesn’t lead into any other storyline, it’s more than likely that this all has something to do with the next Super Hero Taisen film or whatever they’re calling that series nowadays. I personally can’t stand those big crossover films for a lot of reasons that I won’t get into right now, but what I’m trying to say is that it’s very possible that my bias is getting in the way here. I’m already not a big Ex-Aid fan and Toei’s crossovers have been getting on my nerves lately, so the chances are high that I was never going to like this short crossover to begin with. It is short, by the way—but it feels obtrusive, unnecessary, and ridiculous in the context of Kyuranger.
On a side note, it’s great to see Ikagen and Madako once more, as the show is clearly setting them up to be formidable foes. All the same, the squid man and the octopus lady don’t accomplish much, so they don’t exactly feel threatening. I’m not sure if their presence in this episode is a positive or a negative.
It’s sad that I have more impassioned thoughts about this episode’s bumpy Kamen Rider crossover than I do about the main story itself, but that just speaks to the level of average-ness that we got this time around. A monster that steals birthdays feels like a nice throwback to earlier, sillier Sentai storylines, and we got to see some nice moments here and there along the way. At the same time, the plot isn’t anything special—and that crossover battle just sticks out like a sore thumb. I have a feeling, though, that things are going to improve vastly next week. Let’s look forward to it!