Kyuranger’s eighth episode shows us what happens when the team is spread too thin—a hard concept to imagine with nine heroes. A lot happens in this episode, but it doesn’t feel that way because most of the events exist to set up future plot points. I liked it, but I wasn’t blown away; it felt very average to me.
I appreciate the concept of this episode. The team is split up as six Kyurangers (Lucky, Hammy, Spada, Raptor, Garu, and Stinger) are ordered to take out five Consumarz in one attack, dubbed “Operation: Stardust” by Xiao Longbao. The team is aware that Earth is “special” for some reason to Jark Matter, and they want to take action by striking first. The other three Kyurangers—Balance, Naga, and Champ—are sent to another planet to retrieve a Kyutama that will assist with the mission. It makes perfect sense to send the two treasure hunters on such a mission, and Champ’s presence only helps them out (while avoiding any Champ/Stinger issues which are still boiling beneath the surface). The scenes with Naga, Champ, and Balance are entertaining and cute; I wish we could have seen more of their treasure hunt.
Instead, the bulk of the episode takes place on Earth. The team is splintered even further when Spada decides to focus on a single Malistrate. He breaks from the team, aided by Lucky and Hammy, and fends off an enemy before offering to cook some food for the starving Earthlings. We hear a bit of Spada’s backstory—not enough, in my opinion, but it’s better than nothing. Eventually, the three Kyurangers get caught up in another fight.
While this is all going on, Stinger goes off and finds Kotaro, the boy from his focus episode a few weeks ago. Dressed in a sky blue coat, the boy is determined to join the Kyurangers. Stinger takes the boy to Xiao Longbao, and we all know how this is going to end since we’ve all been following the toy catalogue scans, but I was pleasantly surprised that this character was already introduced a few weeks ago. His eventual transformation into a Kyuranger will feel very organic—or so I hope.
If this review sounds all over the place, it’s because that’s kind of how this episode feels. Garu and Raptor are overwhelmed by Ikagen and Madako—remember them? They finally do something in this episode, and it’s refreshing to see some cool action sequences involving them. Stinger is also brought down by the tentacled duo. The Commander urges Lucky and his team to assist, but Spada insists on finishing up their battle first. Like I said, I respect the concept of this episode: it shows what happens when a large team, powerful when united, is split up into factions. Xiao Longbao urges Lucky’s team to obey their orders and describes what happens to an organization when insubordination arises—it will be interesting to see if this plays into future events in the series.
Of course, the big moment that this episode builds up to is the transformation of Xiao Longbao into Ryuu Violet. He has an amazing design and I’m quite partial to violet-colored Rangers in Super Sentai, but the moment feels underwhelming due to its circumstances. He’s only forced to “come out of retirement” because his team is refusing to listen to him—it’s implied that they could take on Ikagen and Madako if all nine Kyurangers were together. In turn, the Commander’s transformation feels like a coach stepping into a boxing ring because his fighter isn’t taking his advice. It doesn’t have any oomph to it. The episode ends soon after he transforms, so we’re left on a cliffhanger—and not a particularly exciting one, either. This doesn’t help the “meh” feeling that Ryuu Violet gives me. It might be the fact that we all knew this was coming, but I think the underwhelming feeling also has something to do with the fact that we already have nine warriors. Adding a tenth and soon an eleventh means that this is all starting to feel like overkill. That said, Ryuu Violet is designed well and he seems to have a second battle mode, so I’m looking forward to that.
I hate to sound like a negative Nancy. To be fair, I didn’t dislike this episode—I just need to be honest about the show’s strengths and weaknesses. Kyuranger does its best when its characters, varied and unique, play off of one another. In plot-heavy episodes like this one that exist to set up future stories, we see less of that and more forced drama. All the same, the show is still delivering solid action with bright moments here and there for the characters—the treasure hunt B-plot, for example, is an entertaining slideshow of such moments for Champ, Balance, and Naga. I hope Kyuranger won’t get lost in its own cast members and will instead use them to their fullest potential.