Review: Doubutsu Sentai Zyuohger

So I didn't really plan on reviewing this. But by episode 32 I couldn't help but type about the good and the bad, which ended up being a lot so it became a full review.


For those wondering I'm going off the Over Time subs, lets get started.





Zyuohger is the 40th season of the Super Sentai franchise. The series follows a group of half human/animals called Zyumen, who are from a parallel earth referred to as Zyuland. The four guard the portal between the two worlds: the link cube, a magical device powered by smaller cubes called champion symbols. One day a zoologist in possession of a champion cube finds the link cube and is sucked into their world. Eventually the five make their way to the human world during an attack, and the portal between the worlds is cut as one of the champion symbols is lost amidst the chaos.

Stranded on earth and granted powers by the remaining champion cubes, they are befriended by the human and the five begin their journey to find the missing champion cube and reconnect the two worlds, all while partaking in a game against their will by the evil Deathgaliens, who see them as nothing more than a means of entertainment.

Yamato is our red for this season, and goddamn is he a breath of fresh air. I'm so happy to see someone that's not a fucking idiot, but compassionate and caring.

Yamato was taught from a very early age by his mother to be respectful of all creatures, as we're all tied together; a lesson that clearly affected Yamato and helped shape the person he would become. She became sick and died while Yamato was still quite young. After these events, Yamato often came into conflict with his father, due to not be there for him during her passing. He found solace at his Uncle's, who shared his interest in animals. During a particular incident of him running away he became injured, but was helped by a mysterious bird man who transferred part of his life to Yamato, giving him a champion cube in the process. This would ultimately allow him to travel to Zyuland and grant him the ability to become Zyuoh Eagle.
Later in life, he became a Zoologist, maintaining that curiosity and respect for all creatures, making him the perfect person for the Zyumen to run into, as he's fully accepting of them and willing to do all that he can to help them.

He has the most development of any character in the show and it's fair to say Yamato is the glue of the group. He keeps everyone together, he talks to them, he shows concern for them and he truly does care about his team and everyone else. The qualities he embodies makes him a likeable person and someone fit to lead the 40th Sentai. He very well may be one of my favorite Reds due to the compassion and fighting spirit he maintains throughout the series.

Leo could have easily been a red given how low the bar has been set. But thankfully he is not, and as such works much better as a side character. He's brash, arrogant, laid back, and obnoxious. But this also makes him fun. He has a great sense of pride and thinks of himself as quite noble. Though this often crosses with his arrogance, leading to conflicting ideals, such as his treatment of fellow zyumen, Sela. Because Leo prides himself on 'being a Man' he refuses to harm women or children. The irony of this means he disrespects Sela as a worthy opponent in situations when they're competing, treating her with inequality. Leo isn't exactly the toxic variety of masculinity, but he is ignorant. Heart of gold with his head up his ass. Still, he is a fun loudmouth that's just the right amount of arrogant.

Sela, is my favorite of the Zyumen in terms of character. She is slightly abrasive and tough, but ultimately very caring and sisterly. Leaving Zyuland hits her the hardest. She misses her family, especially since she rarely ever got to spend time with her parents as is. Her much younger brother appears to have been the only family she regularly saw and often cared for him as she was the only one around to do so.
She's most often annoyed by Leo, both due to their history and his loud mouth not mixing with her sensitive hearing.

Amu- much like her choice of clothing and food, is adorable and sweet. This is best illustrated on multiple occasions when she encourages a doubtful Yamato early on in the show. But she's also enigmatic and a bit sly, meaning she's the least well known about of the group, which I suppose is fitting of a cat. She tends to be a tricky and nimble combatant due to her quick reflexes. While little is known about her, she does mention very off hand in ep 23 that she and her mother have a bad habit of pushing themselves too far, and that the only family she has is her mom. Unfortunately that's about as much as one can say about her. She certainly the least developed of the show.

Tusk was a favorite of mine during the start of the series, as I do tend to gravitate towards the bookish characters. He's the most analytical of the team, typically researching and being observational of the Monsters of the Week-- or the other characters misgivings. However, much like Sela, Tusk is actually a kind individual, if a bit stern, and like Amu, he doesn't have a lot else to mention.

Created by the main villains of the series and forced to take on the powers of three Zyumen, Misao is brainwashed into fighting the Zyuohgers before being freed by them.

He is a character I enjoy...in bursts. Here's the thing, his introduction is really good, nice to see a kickass sixth again, though it's incredibly short lived and the personal issues surrounding him are resolved faster than I would have liked (3 eps). That is- except for his guilt, and it's partly where a lot of my complaints for him come in. Misao is traumatized over his power resulting from the death of three Zyumen and is prone to breaking down at the littlest of things. At first it's okay and even a bit funny as it is played for laughs. It's sort of flipping the dark and brooding trope on it's head by poking fun at how ridiculous it can often times be and I rather enjoyed it for a few episodes, especially when he has delusions of the Zyuman spirits haunting him.

Isn't that guy from Symbol of Justice Condorman?

At the same time it's also completely disregarding the fact the Misao is supposed to be someone with actual feelings and the guilt he feels shouldn't be made light of as often as it is, even within those few episodes I did enjoy seeing it in. But at least in those, Yamato helps alleviate the dark humor with some humanizing moments for both him and Misao. But it doesn't stop with those eps and it keeps going on and on, typically without those humanizing aspects, solely played for what I assume to be laughs. Sometimes it is funny, most of the time I didn't think so and it hit a little close to home in some areas. To be perfectly frank it gets to the point where it feels outright mean spirited towards Misao, if not people with depression in general, and while that may have not been the intent, it sure comes off that way in an incredibly crass manner. The show itself (if you'll excuse the terminology) is very bi-polar with this character. Unable to find just what they're doing with him.

What's also weird about this is Misao has a lot of focus but not a lot of growth. The best way I can describe it is character limbo. He's not stuck, he's just doing the exact same motions over and over again. He takes a step forward, then a step back by the end of each episode. Here's an episode about him and Leo. "Man what a pain but you're all right." Misao takes on some of the characteristics of that particular Zyuman and then it's back to depression with those character traits never leaving an impact. Repeat this again for each of the Zyumen. I get what they're trying to do, it's trying to establish that he's spending time getting to know everyone and how to get along with them and their personalities despite himself, and that moving forward isn't easy. That's a great idea that could be used to have the characters bond and perhaps exchange information that's unknown to the audience. This would build backstory for the Zyumans and Misao, the culture of Zyuland, their families, and eventually have Miaso gradually move forward despite some missteps. Unfortunately it's not used that way.
Now to be fair, some scenes are legitimately fantastic. Misao's actor is truly wonderful at what the script is asking of him, and those quiet moments when he's talking to someone are often times great. In episode 31 he and Sela are poisoned and they have to stay behind to recover. The talk between them is a familiar one by that point, but it's so good and it still has emotional weight. It feels earthly and is a great personal scene for the both of them.

Misao is also a character that can at times be determined and heroic if not successful, and that's a truly admiring aspect of him.(ep 26 is a great example)
It's such a shame he's marred down by what feels like lame humor and confusion over what the writer wanted from him. Is he a bad Character? Not at all. But I feel he could have been handled much better, especially in regards to growth.


Moving on to supporting characters, I'll start with Larry, or Larri.

Larri was a researcher in Zyuland studying humans. He became trapped in our world during an expedition. While he did attempt to interact with humans, things did not work out terribly well and he was forced into hiding, far away from their fear and prejudice. This resentment lead to his own irrational fear upon his meeting with Yamato. However, Larri eventually realized what was happening and warmed up to him, bonding with the fellow scientist over a fascination with other living beings and seeing the good in him. Eventually, Larri would give part of his life away both to save Yamato, and in turn provide him with a new means to combat resilient foes.
After his introductory episodes, Larri would appear sporadically throughout, keeping an eye out for the missing champion symbol, and a mysterious birdman.  

Bard came into the human world after an incident involving a young human child who accidentally ended up in Zyuland. The Government treated the young one as a prisoner. The boy escaped, though he ultimately died after jumping off a cliff, the Zyuland Government covering it up, and likely similar incidents over the years. Bard was filled with disgust and left Zyuland for the human world, intending to cut the connection between the two as Humans and Zyumen were simply too bigoted towards one another. During his time in on Earth, Bard became wounded with two arrows through his shoulder. Yamato's father helped the poor creature, but at the cost of not being there for his son and wife on her deathbed. However, these actions would later cause Bard to rescue Yamato.

Bard would ultimately be behind the cause of the missing champion symbol the second time around, intending to keep the two worlds severed.
Over the course of the series, Bard is depicted as stern and slightly antagonistic, largely wanting to keep his distance from the rest of the group due to his previous experiences and prejudices. But as time goes on and he has more interactions with Yamato and his team, he comes around to understanding them better. Though he never fully joins the team. Wither this is because of his uncertainty or due to his age remains a mystery.

Yamato's Uncle, Mario, is a wood carver and has a great interest in animals. He's one of my favorite characters on the show. He isn't deep or anything of that nature, but he has just the right amount of screen presence and is remarkably over the top in the best way possible. Regularly dressing as an animal...or a Zyuohger.
 

This is the greatest and best thing ever.

But even with the humor aside, he is a generally good character that's very supportive of Yamato and his friends. He often took care of his nephew after the death of his sister, providing a loving atmosphere when the child desperately needed it.

Villains.

Ginis sure is something. He, nor any of the Deathgalien villains for that matter, start off as particularly interesting. And to be honest, Ginis never really is.
But there is something about him that is both cheap and sort of clever as a story element. Sometimes in series like this you'll have a villain that is horribly incompetent or does remarkably stupid things. Plans fail, goons wasted, doesn't kill the heroes for terribly contrived reasons. But Ginis isn't like that. He's not really looking to take over the world or the usual shtick. Did a plan fail, did someone die? Doesn't matter, he was entertained watching it unfold, and at the end of the day all that matters is gaining some sort of relief from boredom, regardless of the outcome. If anything he wants to play with the Zyuohgers as long as possible, or rather see them played with by his underlings. That's sort of brilliant if not original, but that's to be expected in a anniversary season. He only intervenes when he has something in mind to spice things up, and it seems he usually has something in the back of his head, waiting for when the time is right. To his credit, he does pull off one really great "Oh shit" moment with a new ultimate form.
But beyond that, Ginis remains fairly bland. They try another twist in the very last episode, that being Ginis is in fact just a mass of the foot soldiers in the series, the Moebas. This comes with no build up or point other than tangentially being related to the theme of power through unity. These later developments are good ideas that are just wasted due to time. I think they were aiming for Emperor Zeba, but that wasn't the result.

Bunglay is by far one of the best parts of the show and certainly the best villain. He's a Megabeast hunter.

Nonono. Hunter.

Bunglay came to earth hunting for one of the cube animals, but of course came into conflict with the Zyuohgers during his search and eventually the Deathgaliens to varying degrees. He has a rather fascinating and incredibly fun power in which if he makes contact with someone's head he can not only read their mind, but also recreate duplicates from those memories. This is usually used as a distraction or taking advantage of a useful ability a monster has. But lets be honest, this is just a way to reuse monster costumes. A lot. I have mixed feelings towards this because it reeks of keeping a budget since they clearly blew of ton on all the zords because toys. But really, I'm not too bothered by it. I would not want to see it again, but episodes featuring Bunglay are so good I really don't mind reusing suits just to get a big battle in. Plus they do shoot new footage for those fights so it has that going for it.

This ability is also used for more than simple distractions/reuse of suits. In one episode he brings Yamato's mother "back" with his duplicating powers, lets him spend time with her, and kills her. That is grade A fucked up villain stuff and I'd be lying if I didn't say I love how twisted that is. It's hardly the only time to does something like that either. He actively wants to break Yamato's spirit and it's different every time, though the theme remains the same;Destroy what he loves, which is such a befitting goal in a series that has a strong sense of unity.

Perhaps I am overstating the character, but I feel he adds so much to the show. He is the perfect foil to the not only Yamato, but the team as a whole. They make connections, he splits them. I would go as far to say the best episodes in the series result from his inclusion.

Bunglay's mind reading abilities become pivotal to the story by having him reading the mind of Kubar, one of the Deathgalien Generals. This has a good pay off with well done pacing. Not too soon to break tension but not so far you forget.

Kubar remains fairly uninteresting until the events with Bunglay present themselves, with Bunglay and the audience learning that Kubar's home world was destroyed by Ginis. Bunglay offers to help Kubar destroy Ginis under the condition that Kubar assist him with hunting Cube Whale, which he does. Again, leading to some of the best episodes.
This does not last as Kubar cuts off Bunglay's hand and leaves him for dead. Having plans of his own to use Bunglay's power for his own desires. A few episodes are spent on Kubar learning the limitations and capabilities of the powers.

Unfortunately this also doesn't last very long because Ginis isn't an idiot and knew the whole time, leading to rather pathetic end for Kubar.
None the less, the development of a villain to do something this wild was needed, and while I find his end very disappointing, his time with Bunglay was a lot of fun.

Naria is occasionally sent out to retrieve information or send a message. Though she is most often simply there to fill Ginis' wine glass and pop a coin into the monsters to make them grow. Why no one ever shoots her is anyone's guess but it's very annoying that it never occurs. Not calling in the giant robot to step on the tiny monster is fair enough, but this is simply stupid. I understand it's a callback to Showa Sentai when they had a creature revive the fallen monster, but it was still stupid there. Although I actually think it's worse here because most Showa shows had the creature revive them from a distance, not right on top of them. I think this was picked up on, as later episodes have the body flung several blocks away from the Zyuohgers.

Naria herself does not have much character, simply being a strongly devoted servant with great combat skills and not much else. Ironically her loyalty would be her undoing.

Let me start off with Azald by saying I went over this review a few times before I even realized I forgot to put in a Bio for him. That itself says a lot about the character. He does do things of note, he's the reason Yamato ends up in critical condition and needs Larri to save him, and there are things surrounding him of seeming importance. But honestly I'm hard pressed to think of much. Azald occasionally goes out and performs tasks, but most of the time he's just standing around and that's it. They have a few hints spread over the show that there is something special about him, not the least of which is is blocky body and immortality. But these hints are so minute and far apart that it's easy to forget. This is part of a larger issue I'll be getting to later in a more critical section.

Visuals.

I'm going to do something I rarely do and talk about the character's clothing, although really just for the Zyumen. It's something as a whole I have mixed feelings about, because a lot of the Zyumen are clearly dressed in various fashion from our world, and while I do think they handle it fairly decently, I really can't be the one to have an informed opinion on that sort of thing.
So questionable visuals aside, it does indicate the Zyumen have a wide variety of clothing and cultures as we do... by completely having the exact same stuff, which is admittedly lazy. But that said I do like how our four main Zyumen dress. Leo has a Rasta thing going on, Tusk Indian, Amu... is just a catgirl? Sela is full on hippie/Romani, and has the most amazing leggings I've ever seen.

All of them also gain a few more additions when they're in full on Zyuman appearance. They all have head accessories, their hair may change such as Sela's and Amu's being blue and white respectively. Tusk gets a lot of earrings and a pony tail, Leo has darker dreadlocks and gains beads.

The ranger suits are nice and while some take issue with it, I love the printed logo of all the animals. I also really love the buckle with their logo. It looks very Showa, like Sun Vulcan or Liveman.
I will criticize Bards's outfit. Even if it does make sense for it look exactly like Yamato's, it's just a cheap repaint.

Much like the Abarangers, the rangers can unleash a more animalistic form granting additional powers and attacks. Leo and Amu gain giant claws that can fire lightning and ice, Sela a fin for spin attacking, Tusk has giant feet for goomba stomping, and Yamato wings for flight.

The appearance is pretty silly, but I don't dislike their look. Though Yamato and Bard certainly have the best.

Miso being the sixth ranger gets three animals in one, with Wolf, Crocodile and Rhino.  His powers can also be unleashed individually like the other Zyuohgers, or all at once. His forms include a giant claw for wolf, a crocodile tail on one arm, and spiked shoulders.

Likewise, Yamato is a bit more unique since he gets three separate forms plus a final. Gorilla which looks ludicrously hulked out (I so wish a figuart would be made)

And whale which has a great tail coat, making it one of my favorite suits. There's also a form where all three are awakened, much like Misao. It's only used in the last episode and it looks pretty goddamn ridiculous in a not good way.

It's like if the Hulk put on Falcon's costume.

Their changers are Champion Cubes. They're blocky flip open cellular devices. Spinning the top like a rubix cube changes the function between calling, combining the robot, morphing, etc. It's a little on the large side and I'm kinda tired of phones in Sentai, but I won't deny it's a nice twist with the cube shape. Plus I can't help but love the animal names being screamed out.

Their weapons (Zyuoh Buster) are kinda lame looking. You essentially have a trigger with two blocks on top that can be swapped around, and while I really enjoy the function of sliding the blocks to either have a sword or gun and the detail of the animals on the side matching up regardless of which mode it's in- the coloring is really off putting. White plastic looks really cheap, even for something toyetic. It's ugly and I had the same reaction to the IXA Riser in Kiva. Bleh.

On the better end, Yamato and Bard have a unique weapon, the Eagriser. I like it. It's nice visually and though a whip sword is by not at all original, it is a nice combination of the Red Bute and Hiba's Vulcan stick.

Yamato also gains the Whale Change Gun, which fills the spot for the team canon the series lacks. I like the weapon, just a big block shotgun cannon. I must admit I can't help but feel a team weapon would have been much better given the thematics of the show. I guess we still have the mecha for that.
It's worth noting it's worked really well into the show. The weapon was created by the earth itself long ago when the world was attacked by a great monster. The Whale gun was presented to the whale Zyuman Cetus, allowing him to become the first Zyuohger, allowing him the power to defeat the monster, if only temporarily.
 As a side note, the Whale gun takes out a chunk of the moon at one point, but it's never brought up again. Sounds kinda familiar...

Misao has quite possibly the strangest morpher and weapon, a flashlight and a fishing pole. The light (Zyuoh the Light) is functionally similar to the cubes minus the cellular abilities. And the fishing pole (Zyuoh Gun Rod) in addition to being- well, a fishing pole, has two other modes based upon Misao's current form; a Rod for crocodile and rapid fire mode for wolf.

Moving on to their zords, the animal forms look ridiculous in the best way possible. Lion in particular has a rather goofy floppy head. I gotta say as enjoyably silly as they do look, it is so nice seeing actual models and not CGI(for the most part). I love seeing them all together and forming up, it's impressive.

Zyuoh King and Zyuoh Wild are surprisingly great looking. King in particular works very well with the red blue yellow coloring, it's just a great classic combination that balances nicely and is hard to go wrong with.

The modular nature of the cube animals also means you can mix and match the leg portions, which they do in show. Wild looks fine with either but Zyuoh King with tiger and elephant doesn't really look good at all. The giant claws from tiger look pretty cumbersome. Though I will give credit for them thinking of doing something with it.

Whereas Zyuoh Wild has the tiger's claws and head incorporated into the waist of Gorilla because mass shifting I guess, Eagle doesn't have that, so the tiger claws end up as a really goofy knee part. Clever.

Then we have Wild Zyuoh King, which looks fucking awesome. The introduction into the series is amazing and seen as this huge monumental force(Seriously this thing dwarfs some of the monsters) It is by far my favorite design of the show. If I do have a criticism, it's that the shoulder are way too bulky, but that's pretty much it.

Tousai Zyuoh, the sixth ranger mech. It's...okay. The black and gold color scheme are very nice looking and the over all detailing is equally nice. But the problem with Tousai is the fact I can't really pick out the individual components outside of Crocodile. Wolf makes up the chest and head, but it's basically just a block sitting there inside Rhino. I give props for not making crocodile the typical green, but I have to point out this was a missed opportunity to have a homage to dragon caesar by having Black, Gold, Silver and Green. That's not a complaint mind you, just something I was surprised they didn't do. And no, I do not count the crocodile eyes.

Wild Tousai King. This is quite possibly one of the laziest designs I have ever seen. Let this be a depiction of how not to ever EVER design a combining robot. This is Tousai Zyuoh standing on blocks, with blocks stacked on the shoulders, and a different block in the chest. Different hands being the only proper addition. I do not know who came up with this design, be it someone at Toei/Rainbow Zoukei that has no idea how to design while incorporating a toy line, or someone at Bandai looking to make the easiest to produce product that can be designed with the most minimum effort possible. But this is garbage.

Dodekai-Oh, which is cube whale's standalone form. It's okay. I really don't have much to say about it and it's only used maybe three times in the entire show. Which is fair enough, there's not much reason to do so with the introduction of the next combo.

Remember what I said about Wild Tousai King? It gets worse.Wild Tousai Dodeka King. At first glance it's okay, it's colorful, unites almost all the animals, and from a theme perspective I really like that idea. A symbol of every one coming together forming a great power. But the more you look at it, the more you realize it is literally a torso on blocks. There's no clever combining or great use of parts due to the nature of the toys. It's lazy and it doesn't even have proper feet. What I look for most in a combining mech is how well the parts are integrated in the overall design. How the parts combine to make something new, but also still make those individual components have traces in the design. I'm usually easy on the legs most of all. Simplistic is one thing, but this? This is stacking blocks and calling it a day.
I will give credit in one area, it's nice that that someone remembered the cube animal weapons outside of bear existed, and I really do like the weapon arms.



Speaking of the weapons, I think they're pretty great. My personal favorite is actually the first one, Cube Giraffe. It's a rapid fire Bazooka.

I repeat, it's a rapid fire bazooka. Although that's only used once, the rest of the time is single shot.

That's followed by drill mole. It's okay, though it doesn't actually spin except for a very brief moment and only in CG. For whatever reason the mech spins more often. Kinda weird. Imagine if you used a drill and you started spinning instead.

Bear ends up being the most commonly used, which is an axe. It's cool, but I got tired of seeing it.

Bat is the one I recall the least, probably because it relies heavily on CG during it's attack due to being a Bataran- er boomerang, and budget wise made it seldom seen.


Oh but that's not the end of the cube animals, we have one more. An Octopus...which is introduced after already having the big final combination. Octopus, unlike the other weapons, actually forms a full body section to create Zyuoh King Octopus.

That sure is some design.
I know these shows are supposed to sell toys and they get money back from Bandai, but bloody hell.



On the more general side of things, I've noticed the camera work is really good this season. There's more variety with low angle shots, and the availability of drones has made far and wide pullback shots possible for lower budget productions.

The only major criticism I'll make is towards the sets. They do look really good, as you can see from above. But Sentai has been reusing props for a number of years now. Aside from familiarity (seriously, the same red motorcycle pops up repeatedly) scale is a noticeable issue.

Look at how huge that motorcycle is, and it's clearly not a perspective thing either, it's just a huge bike. Come on guys, I'm not expecting Tsuburaya attention to detail, but you can run out and buy a figuart bike, or a hotwheel.

Music.

The Opening theme is something that I wasn't sure how to feel about at first. Overtime I grew to appreciate it and I rather enjoy it now. It has a nice energy about it and while I wouldn't exactly say it gets me excited like a GoGo V or Gekiranger, I can't help but smile when I hear the animal names called out.


The ending theme was something I loved from the beginning. Sentai ending themes rarely catch my attention like this and I gotta say it's probably one of my favorites. It's just so damn catchy and I almost want to sing along with it I love it so much. It's one of those things I can tell it's going to be nostalgic as time moves on, and that's pretty damn great.


The in show music...I don't have much to say about but not for bad reasons. There are a couple of tracks that are really lovely sounding, one is soft, charming and has almost a Nintendo quality to it, like an animal crossing or pokemon. The other reminds me a lot of Gingaman with a vocal chorus.
But I can't give names because I can't find any information or even a full clean soundtrack to listen to. The only track name I can think of while writing this is Zyuoh King's theme, which is just okay.
This is problematic as there are some really nice instrumental pieces in the show. But until I can find the OST, this is all I can say.

Story.

This is something I've mostly already covered in the character bios, but there are a few more things I can elaborate on.

First the good stuff.

The chemistry between the main cast is largely pretty good. The writer makes a good use of conflicting personalities, particularly with Leo and Tusk. Both have their own grievances with Yamato they over come and also with each other, the latter of which is done in episode 15 where the hotheaded Leo and more calm but stubborn Tusk have to rescue the rest of the team. However this set up becomes repetitive because this two person team up would be repeated several times over the series, with Leo and Misao, Tusk and Misao, and Leo and Amu, etc. And while the episodes are certainly enjoyable, they're not anything we haven't seen the characters already do. But that's not to say every episode is like that, as occasionally we'll have one of the Zyuohgers helping someone, usually Leo or Sela. These episode do not provide a lot of growth for the characters, but it is nice to at least have a series that isn't always focused on just the color red.

The show can also be pretty humorous at times with legitimately funny moments that make watching this show a joy. The visual gags are particularly good with great touches like Sela covering her ears due to loud noises, or Amu always being surprised at all the things she eats/drinks because of heightend taste. Tusk complaining about dirty laundry because of his sense of smell, Misao accidentally fishing Sela out of the ocean. Their traits are repeatedly shown either to be of use or as reoccurring gags. Other nice touches are natural extensions of their animal abilities. Gotta search for something in the Ocean? Well Sela can get around pretty damn well in water. Yamamto can fly so he can cover a great deal of ground, not to mention his great eyesight. Amu tends to have great reflexes and will usually land better than the rest after being tossed aside(though this one tends to be fairly inconsistent)

They also do a fairly good job of introducing most of the cube animals. Aside from the initial batch, they have to find the rest which are mostly weapon based. Granted it isn't perfect as they more or less just stumble upon them, but it incorporates them into the plot in a more meaningful manner. To me, that's a better way to make sure you gain toy sells; by making something awesome and memorable so you want it. There's nothing wrong with the toyetic nature so long it gels well.

But by far one of best thing about Zyuohger is its more quite reflective moments. Scenes where two characters just sit down and talk briefly. This is a concept that can be easily be mishandled, *cough* Lucas. but Zyuohger does it so wonderfully. I find these moments to contain some of the best characterization, with characters becoming a lot more personal. If anything I wish there were more. But what's presented is satisfactory.
There's some good set up too with things such as the situation between Kubar and Bunglay. Ginis studying Cube Whale to understand how it draws power from the earth. The story for the most part plays out really well at building up those events and moving forward. Bunglay, Yamato and Bard providing fairly good content that will hold the audience's attention.




That said, like a Stephen King book, the build up is good but the pay offs tend to be hit or miss. The last quarter of the show in particular tends to be very bad about this.
Speaking of, I think it's time to get into the problems I do have with this show.


The Cube animals, as I've already stated, are handled well, and I do think that is still true. But I do have to admit  it got really tiresome by Cube Whale. And Cube Whale was done the best out of all of them, it tied in great with Bungalay and my and it was important. Hell my favorite episode of the series is tied to its existence, episode 35.
But it also feels a bit draining. Though perhaps that's more so the fault of the number of other cube animals rather than Whale specifically. Octopus was also just completely pointless.

I'm also not entirely sure about the motif of the series. The past few Sentai's have really been confused on just what they hell their theme is, seemingly trying to throw in everything they can. I don't think Zyuohger is nearly as bad as it's predecessors. You're not getting dinosaur trains or anything piss poor like that. They stick to animal cubes and that's it. But it feels disjointed in some areas. Obviously Animals and video games were a main focus, but the game aspect isn't really that prevalent. The most they do with it is coins to revive the monster in an arcade like fashion, even calling them continues. Other than that, it just feels tangentially related as an excuse to have minimalist blocky designs, rather than truly embarrassing an 8-bit or game styling. I'm not expecting the games to be laid on thick in the same way Ex-Aid does, it's a secondary motif after all. But maybe more should have been done with it.


But those are more trivial nitpicky matters. There are two larger issues that need to be addressed.


The first is the villains. The Deathgaliens simply aren't interesting and they're not tied well into the narrative structure. Sure, at face value they are a good concept. A group of villains that seek entertainment by means of toying with various lifeforms. It's like Battle Royal, cock fighting and big game hunting. Which sounds awesome and fitting. But the execution is a let down. They have no actual relation in regards to any of the heroes, no vendettas, they're not really meaningful or personal in any way. With the main over arching theme of Zyuohger being a connectivity and acceptance of every living being, mainly in regards to Zyuman and Human. Do the villains want to break them apart? Invade Zyuland? No, not really. Just kinda send monsters down for mindless destruction and entertainment. Which sure that's evil, but not captivating. It is almost sort of meta as that's really the only function the writer could think up with them. They needed bad guys and that was it.

Sometimes their game plans are interesting, especially early on when cube animals are involved because they normally feature unique plot elements such as the team stuck in a groundhog day like dream loop. Or the team dealing with a shrinking force field that disintegrates organic matter. Of course they eventually run out of those plot elements and things fall pretty fast into mediocrity as far as the main villains go.
What development does take place is mishandled, and most of that can be attributed to bad timing- that timing being fairly late in the show. Take Kubar for example. After the build up to his betrayal, he ends up killed in the very next episode after it's executed. Azald? About two instances of foreshadowing he's more than what he seems, then he spends 90% of the show just standing around only to be revealed as a great ancient evil the attacked Zyuland which resulted in the Earth creating the Whale Gun and cube animals. That's a big freaking deal, but then he's destroyed in the following episode. His death and all is awesome especially since it's the Zyumen that take him out. But... really? Couldn't have worked on that sooner and maybe actually have a villain with some decent connection to the main heroes? At least with Kubar Ginis got a chance to pull off some cool shit and also add a nice twist. Azald was never really a threat.

And to touch upon it briefly, yes, Bunglay was indeed the best villain. He is actually interesting, he has a clear goal, he works well with the narrative theme as he does actively seek to cut connections between the characters making Yamato a personal target. I cannot stress enough that some of the best moments on the show happen in episodes featuring him. That's fine and contributes to the quality of the show in quite a number of episodes. But he also isn't the main villain, and he dies before any of the Dethgaliens generals, leaving them for the rest of the show. So being left with bland villains kinda blows.

Now in complete fairness, even highly regarded and well loved series can have some boring ass villains. I love Dairanger, but the show has some terribly ill-defined antagonists with a few exceptions. But that show also made up for it by having three major character arcs. Which brings me to my next and biggest complaint.

The problem is with the amount of focus Yamato gets in comparison to everyone else, mainly the four Zyumen. Now, as I said, he is an enjoyable character, fantastic even, one of the best parts of the show which helps soften this issue. The show does remember to focus on other members of the team which is really important and more than I can say for the last few sentai shows. Regardless, it is still problematic that Yamato is the only one with any sort of solid development and character arc. Lets be clear here; the others have back stories with histories of...some kind. They have personalities, and they do have those focused episodes that are mostly hits showing a great chemistry between everyone. But overall it's sparse and the characters never come close to the development Yamato has. Compare Sela missing her family to Yamato's mother. Leo or Amu helping someone out compared to anything Yamato does and you start to see a great discrepancy. They'll do some building with a character, then they stop before it goes anywhere truly meaningful. Sela and Leo have a history of being uneven rivals and that's it. We see some stuff with Tusk's family showing why he likes books, and that's it. Some episodes involve a particular Zyuohger helping someone, or overcoming their differences to defeat a monster. Great at the start of the series and great for character establishment if not a whole lot in the way of development, yet it never moves beyond that. Again, look at what was done with Yamato and Larri, Bard. We never get anything like that for the others. There are character interactions/callbacks like Sela typically being more annoyed with Leo due to thier history. I love details like that, but it's minor, and what backstory is there needs to be built upon, expanded, new original information revealed to also be built upon. Take these characters further, show us their attachment to Zyuland. We know everyone wants to get back home, so show us their home and families in more than a couple of episodes.

I love the personalities of the characters and want to learn more about them. But they don't have much going on. I'm not even sure how long they've known each other. At best they worked on guard duty together, Leo and Sela at least have a long history of training together, and Amu made a very unsure statement about her and Tusk being childhood friends. That's all I can tell you about them.
What about Zyuland itself? We don't see much about Zyuland despite it clearly being as varied as the human realm by their clothing. All we have is people dressed in questionably cultural costumes, they have fighting competitions, and were fearful of humans. Other than that, the most we know about Zyuland's history is- once again, largely tied to Yamato's story. Seriously. The first instance we get any good solid information on Zyuland is because it's tied to the Whale Change Gun and it's previous owner. Yamato's toys have more back story than some members of the team. More is revealed about Zyuland when Bard enters the fray proper, showing their history with humans. It's good stuff, but that's 2-3 episodes out of 48 and not a whole lot to go on.

I get that not every character or backstory can be fully fleshed out, and reds nowadays are the leader, and I get that not every season would be a super home run. I know that. But they can do better, I've seen better. Daigo, Asuka, Domon. I would have loved to have had someone with that degree of story content. What character(s) would have major focus outside of Yamato? Personally I think Sela had some of the most effort and potential put into her of the four Zyumen, she could have easily been the second biggest character at any time if they just wanted to throw more developed episodes her way. Give her a villain or someone to go up against, have her talk more about her family and perhaps bond with Yamato over it. It would have been really interesting to see the latter given that Sela rarely saw her parents and Yamato rarely saw his father. Instead we got quick glimpses of what could have been.


I understand Misao was likely intended to be that character given the amount of episodes he gets, but again, he went in a loop just about every episode. Perhaps if The World wasn't wrapped up so soon something could have been done with that, maybe he could have been a wild card turned evil again later down the road when things just finally started to go right for him, maybe it could in some way related to the fact his changer was made from Azald and extended use start to turn him into some abomination. I dunno. Maybe he was bullied all his life and that along with more or less becoming a bully against his will is part of his trauma, they never really delve into it. They eventually do things with him where he finally overcomes his issues near the end of the series, and while I can appreciate that, it just feels like they wanted to wrap things up for him quickly rather than have him slowly overcome his issues and make a story out of it. I'm not saying do Jessica Jones in Sentai, but cold turkey PTSD doesn't do it for me.


To touch upon the poor execution of plot points one last time, even Yamato is not able to escape that problem. While most of the stories surrounding Yamato are told really well with only minor issues,  very late into the series Yamato's father is brought into the picture with an emphasis on their sour relationship. There is really good indication way early on that things aren't great between them, showing that this happened sometime after Yamato's mother died. But it becomes clear during this particular arc that his dad wasn't there when it happened and there were a multitude of other problems even before. In theory this is a good idea, adding a new character dynamic given Yamato's establishment of caring about everyone, yet being at odds with a family member. But it's explored so late in the series and far too briefly for it to be told in a fleshed out manner, and honestly ends up being nonsensical in how it's presented. Yamato's father was a terrible dad, never around for his child, especially when it mattered most.

This is a serious problem that's never treated with the degree of repercussions it deserves and for some insane reason Yamato is framed as if he is the one at fault for their estrangement.

Almost the entire show is about him understanding others. This is a remarkably stupid thing for Amu to say.

Yes, Yamato's dad helped Bard, but in no way does it make it okay. Missing his wife's death bed was just the cherry on a shit sundae, there's a whole pile of other wrong doings over years. This is something you address mid series with the subject sprinkled throughout the run, not the final 5 episodes. Wounds that deep can't heal that fast, nor should they. Some of the issues probably could have been mitigated if his dad was shown actually saving someone, as in preventing them from dying. That would paint a much more understandable complex scenario rather than the one they went with.

All these issues weren't needed either. It isn't as if Yamato's story was overwhelming there was no room for more development in regards to him or anyone else. There was plenty of episodes made that simply weren't used for character development, and yet somehow the show still tried doing so much, being overly ambitious. For all that I do praise the writing for making Yamato a great red in what feels like a long time, for all the great emphases there is on being together and finding power through uniting- the writing for sentai still currently suffers greatly from an inability to construct a narrative for any none Red hero character for any extended amount of time, or allow certain plot points to simmer and take hold. Instead rushing to a new plot point that will ultimately either go nowhere to be wrapped up as fast as they introduce it. It isn't as if this is a recent problem, certain past sentai have it too. But I would hope the one thing an anniversary season would avoid homaging is an archaic and impotent form of characterization and story telling.
This is Zyuohger's biggest problem by far.
Please do not misunderstand, this doesn't kill the show by any means. At the end of the day it's still a fun and enjoyable series. The characters are shallow but likeable enough to grow an attachment to, it's entertaining, there's still a lot of heart and effort put into it, Yamato and Bunglay are truly fantastic with a story that plays out well, and when the show is good it's damn good, even moving at times. Hell, I still can't watch episode 35 without choking up.
But as much as it pains me to say, it's a severely flawed show. Because of that, it's a good show. It's not great- though at times it can be.

Final Thoughts.

As it stands Zyuohger is a very fun watch and I do not at all regret sitting through it. It's probably the best Sentai since Gokaiger and I do recommend it. Though maybe watch some other sentai to get an understanding of what could've been done better. Gingaman and Maskman in particular. Those shows have their own sets of issues as anything does, but Gingaman handles a lot of the concepts Zyuohger has a lot better. Likewise Maskman does what I think Zyuohger wanted to do with Ginis.

One final thing I want to mention about Zyuohger is the writers, or rather the main writer. The series was headed by Junko Kōmura. Kōmura is no stranger to toku, she was the secondary writer on Kamen Rider Wizard and she contributed a number of episodes to Gokaiger and Akibaranger. This is however her first time heading a series, penning the majority of the episodes. With that in mind it is rather impressive how good this series is. That's not meant to be insulting in any way. Taking on so many episodes is not an easy task even with experience, and she did damn good for a first timer. But that does also explain the trip ups in the series with poor foreshadowing in some areas, biting off more than it can chew, and a rushed last quarter. But if there's one thing for sure she understands it's the core concept of Sentai that I feel the past few series have over looked. In much the same way Kamen Rider's theme is often that of how one person can make a difference against monumental opposition, Sentai is how people can come together to defeat something that threatens all. Even with the flaws the show may have, the series never forgets that they work together to accomplish their goals and fight for everyone. That- more than ever, is needed.

And perhaps for that reason, Zyuoher can still manage to connect with the audience on a deeper lever.

BONUS:Kyuuranger ep. 1 quicky.

As for the next Sentai Kyuuranger,just to get some general thoughts out of the way first:
I don't know how they're going to handle 9 rangers, but we'll see. I do wish that they would've had another female member since they have a ridiculous number, and apparently they're adding more so maybe something will come from that?
Aesthetically I think the suits look fantastic. I've wanted them to experiment more with the sentai uniforms for a while, adding a more armored look- but not too much since that's Kamen Rider's thing. I think this looks pretty great so far from a visual standpoint. I like that Black and Gold have different outfits from the rest but still fit in really well. I like that we have a female green. I love the visors both in how different they are and also for the colorful star effect. I like the mouth being similar to Ohranger, which is a nice change from not only blank mouth plates, but the silver mouths.

The mech...Not sure how I feel about going from blocks to balls, but alright. They've got sort of a Lai-Lai Jewels thing going on, and each ranger controlling a section rather than all in one room is fun. I like that their henshin device controls pretty much everything and also doubles as a weapon. I love that we've got a highly modular weapon, all the sounds are great. The production design is fantastic so far.

Right. With that out of the way, the first episode itself did seem extremely rushed, almost like they had multiple big character moments that were shoved into one episode. Most first episodes are rushed, even Zyuohgers was. Though this one was really rushed, as in three episodes worth of content rushed. Story wise it makes absolutely no sense. The bad guys are taking over constellations...which doesn't make any sense given that they're stars and not planets so why is this even a problem? Whatever.

Hammy was adorable, I really enjoyed her for the most part. She has sort of a cute tomboy personality and really likes laughing.

Champ was fun, sort of a toned down Alexander the Great. Yes, as in Rider from Fate/Zero, and yes, he is voiced by Akio Ōtsuka. He's also a robot that works out, which is such a ludicrous and hilarious thing to me.

Sparda seems to like making food puns, kinda got old fast. Not much else to say there.
I...really do not like Lucky. I was hoping maybe, just maybe he'd be a fun goofy type, but not stupid. Sort of like Gentaro, someone excitable and enjoyably naive. After Yamato it was going to be hard to follow up, even more so since he was the first red with common sense in quite a while. He was compassionate about others, he didn't have a catchphrase repeated at nauseam like a terrible kids show from the 90s made by 60 year old men, and generally was a likeable person. Wanna guess what's wrong here?

Good lord I miss Yamato.

I REALLY miss Yamato. Sweet Daizyujin, if Yamato was everything great about a sentai, then in one episode Lucky has come off as everything wrong with Sentai in the past few years. By the way, that scene up there, he's saying that to Garu, a being that saw his entire family slaughtered by the villains when they tried to rebel. Lucky calls him a coward and fights him before boasting about how stronger he is. What the hell kind of person acts like this? I mean aside from a number of politicians and youtube personalities.
And yes he follows up with 'fight along side me', but how is that any better? He's basically saying "Oh lets fight them together, though you'll probably still die before me, coward." Fucking asshole. I don't wanna watch the show if this is our red. Holy shit this is awful. This guy isn't just stupid, he is cruel.

Beyond his personality, the writing around him- and the episode in general, is full of "Fuck it" behavior. Need to introduce a new team member? He just randomly falls on a planet and lands right in front of Garo, er Garu, who already has a Kyuglobe. Lucky needs his own device to henshin? Well one out of fucking nowhere magically appears in front of him as he's in space about to die. Are the constellations behind it? Fuck if they're gonna explain that here. You know, sentai sometimes has coincidences occur, but this is stunningly lazy. This almost comes off as a parody. We have a guy who's name is literally his only defining trait, luck. That very trait being exploited into repeated deus ex machina as a poor excuse to have things happen with very little rhyme or reason because it's much easier to write than to try and put any effort into it. I give any series 6 episodes, but this is proving to be cynical trash.

The weirdest part to me is there are aspects here that would be salvageable in a different light. It almost feels like an episode made by aliens. There's a big fight on a beach between Lucky and Garu with a lot of shouting, I guess because that's a reoccurring thing in Sentai that's really cool. But most of the time those are in the 20s or later, done with characters we know. There's no build up to this, no investment. They take concepts that sound good and apply them in such a way that makes no sense because they don't truly understand them. Hell the giant monster in this ep just becomes one for no reason.
This episode alone has so much wasted potential and so many questions. Bloody hell.

After Zyuohger I was ready for the new Space Sentai, new exciting stuff with fun toys and cool designs. But this is such a very bad first impression. Unless the next episodes are drastic improvements, I don't see myself wasting time or money on Kyuuranger. The way I see this going is everyone else being infinitely more interesting and fun, bogged down by a twat in red.
Kids deserve so much better.

I don't intend on a Kyuuranger review, so chances are I won't be mentioning anymore. I'll maybe give a small update if things change, but I want to focus on Juspion since that's been put off long enough by Zyuohger. I can't give an ETA, but the majority of it is written with one episode synopsis needing to be covered. Thank you for reading and go watch Zyuohger, I have a feeling its the best we're gonna get for a while.