Wow, it’s been a long time since I’ve reviewed a Sentai series for this blog, huh? Almost as long as reviewing a recently airing series, the last of which was Kamen Rider Build- as far as live-action was concerned anyway. I couldn’t give a pinpoint overall reason, just that there hasn’t been a lot of modern stuff that’s interested me. As far as Sentai is concerned, I gave both LuPat and Ryusoulger chances, but neither really grasped me despite some intriguing dynamics in Lupat and wonderful action is Ryusoul. I’ve heard great things about Kiramager, which was written by Kuuga and Gokaiger writer, Naruhisa Arakawa. That greatly piques my interest, but this review isn’t about that.
Since this series just recently ended, I do want to give a brief summary of my thoughts before diving into spoilers. The short and to the point version is that I overall enjoyed my time with Zenkaiger. For as wonderfully comedic and over the top the show is, there is a surprising amount of heart with a very strong theme of family. As overplayed as that often is with Sentai, there’s no denying Zenkaiger does a wonderful job of integrating it from every angle. The core team bounces wonderfully off one another, each with their own (sometimes conflicting) personalities that are put to good use throughout the show with a decent amount of focus. Although it may be disappointing that the substantial character arcs are still relegated to the leader, sixth, and dark ranger. But I can hardly complain, all things considered, it’s some of the best parts of the show.
There are still some issues. The villains aren’t that interesting and it suffers from being a bit cramped at times, such as introducing the dark ranger and sixth back. And there is the sad reality of the insistence on the number of toys is becoming an ever-increasing issue that at times can bog down the pacing or feel really tacked on.
Regardless, this was the first time in a very long time that I really enjoyed Sentai and would recommend you at least watch six episodes to see what you think.
But, if you don’t mind spoilers and want to get into the details of the whole story, what I love, what I have issues with, and so forth, hit the jump.
I’m going to start with the villains this go around because they’re the percipient for setting off the series.
The Tojitendo dynasty is the ruling power over Kikaitopia; a world populated with humanoid machines. For two generations they have ruled with an iron fist over the populace. Their current leader, Great King Bokkowaus (VA: Joji Nakata) is expanding his tight grip across parallel universes by capturing worlds without so much as an invasion. The worlds are captured and compacted into gears without any hiccups until the Zenkaiger’s earth. Somehow the machine catastrophically misfires and partially merges the populace of Kikaitopia with earth, while the main forces of the Tojitendo remain in their own separate and protected realm. Frustrated, a more traditional invasion is used as a backup.
Bokkowaus himself isn’t much beyond just being a demanding brute, his name even means “To wreck” It’s rare for him to ever put plans into motion himself. The most outstanding things are his immense power and the wonderful performance by Sentai veteran Joji Nakata, who you perhaps know best as Professor Bias from Liveman.
Beneath the wrecking king are his generals; Mechanic Officer Ijirude(VA: Masanori Takeda SA: Hiroyuki Muraoka) the lead scientist who is perhaps not all that original in his creations, and Mobile Commander Barashitara (VA: Kenji Nomura SA: Riichi Seike) a strong-willed commander second only to Bokkowaus.
Both Barashitara and Ijirude have a competing rivalry, each trying to succeed over the other’s failures- much to the frustration of Bokkowaus who merely wants results and rarely ever gets them.
Aside from those two, there is another, Gege, Bokkowaus’s massive robotic pet bird.
Gege (VA: Tatsuhisa Suzuki & Masaya Fukunishi)
From the earliest episodes, Gege is shown to be more unique amongst the villains. He’s the one thing Bokkowaus doesn’t show anger towards and is seemingly more aware of the inner machinations than anyone else. Possible betrayals or sabotage, Ijirude’s less than original inventions. Nothing gets past Gege, and yet it’s rare that he ever points out these discretions, almost as if he finds them amusing. His actions or inactions are a complete mystery and at times even in direct opposition of the Tojitendo. The only thing seemingly consistent is acting as the voice of reason to Bokkowaus’ short temper.
Kaito Goshikida/Zenkaiser (Kiita Komagine, Masashi Takada; suit)
Standing in opposition to the Tojitendo is of course the titular Zenkaiger. The first and leader of the group, Kaito, is a remarkably friendly and kind individual, almost to the point of naivety- though not completely foolish. His chipper demeanor and approach to almost everything is largely the glue that both brings and holds the team together. While an absolute goofball, he never crosses the line into annoyance- at least for me. Although his catchphrase of “Full Power, non-stop” might get grating for some. In terms of leaders, I still tend to lean more towards someone like Yamato for the kind-hearted archetype. But if you combined that with the high-energy archetype, I don’t think you could do much better than Kaito in terms of balance.
Part of what helps ground his character is a surprisingly sad backstory regarding his missing parents, which allows for Kaito to emote and show that beneath the smile is someone carrying a lot of weight since they were 10. This also serves as a major narrative driving force throughout the series.
Kaito’s parents; Professors Isao and Mitsuko Goshikida (Daijiro Kawaoka, Marie Kai) were researchers primarily studying parallel universes. At some point, their focus shifted to that of worlds with Super Sentai. They would invent devices in the form of “gears” that would copy certain aspects of the various teams- perhaps knowing that one day their world would come under siege and require its own.
The two mysteriously disappeared ten years prior to the series, leaving Kaito to be taken care of by his kindly but firm Grandmother, Yatsude Goshikida (Ikue Sakakibara) aka Yacchan. Convinantly, the Zenkaiger gear was hidden beneath Yatsude’s cafe; Colorful, which would serve as a base of operations.
But that wasn’t all that was left behind. Perhaps the most important piece was Secchan (Misato Sakuragi), a robotic bird built as a companion for Kaito. Secchan was initially little more than a novelty until their protocols were activated, whereby they became a fully realized AI. At first glance, you may be forgiven for suspecting something akin to Navi, but while they are something of a navigator, they’re far more diverse in their operations. Not to mention more respected from the get-go.
Secchan primarily serves as a support member- knowing the full history of all the Sentai, the operations of the gear, tracking monsters, encouraging Kaito to build a team, etc.
Zyuran (Shintarō Asanuma;Voice, Yasuhiro Takeuchi; Suit)
Zyuran is the first Kikainoid to join Kaito, fittingly equipped with a Zyuranger motif. He is quite the party animal but is also surprisingly laidback. Perhaps best described as a middle-aged cool dude. Zyuran may be young at heart, but that worldly experience gives him more insight in comparison to the other later members. He would become something of a confidant for Kaito, relating their experiences and giving some insight into the Kikainoid world. When Kaito is out of his element, it’s typically Zyuran that’s the first to be there to lend a hand and offer a clearer outside perspective for difficult situations.
Gaon (Yuki Kaji; Voice, Masato Tsutamune;Suit)
Gaon is the second member, and of course, has a Gaoranger motif. A talented cook and obsessed with earth creatures, Gaon finds mammals cute in comparison to the cold steel of the Kikainoids. This quirk is actually something of a point of contention between him and Zyuran, the latter knowing full well humans can be flawed. The show makes it a point to not just treat it as something cute but as something of concern- as Gaon’s favoritism can place saving or protecting earthlings over Kikainoids. While it doesn’t go very deep, Gaon experiences some growth, learning to temper the more problematic elements of his own personality and love the Kikainoid and human family he becomes a part of.
Magine ( Yume Miyamoto;Voice. Ayumi Shimozono;Suit)
Magine is next in line and actually has a connection to Zyuran, having known him since she was a child. Zyuran was well known around the neighborhood and is ultimately the person who got the shy awkward girl to come out of her shell and play with other kids. But Magine is still a little bit awkward in adult life. She has a fascination with the occult, particularly fortune-telling, for which she is poorly adept. However, she’s remarkably creative, which comes in handy given her Magiranger skillset. Despite her peppy yet shy demeanor, she packs a surprisingly feisty and scary attitude when pushed.
Vroon (Takuya Sato; Voice, Kazuya Okada; Suit)
Finally, there’s Vroon, the painfully curious janitor of the group. Before becoming a Zenkaiger, he worked as a custodian for the Tojitendo, primarily in hopes of learning more than as a commoner. Unfortunately, it mostly only resulted in a plethora of beatings until he escaped and found refuge with the rest of the team, finally standing up for himself against his aggressors.
As one might expect, Vroon is the brains of the group…and also the muscle as he is unusually strong. With his constant search for knowledge and immense strength, his motif is naturally Boukenger.
Right off the bat, the thing that hooked me with Zenkaiger is how well the characters are handled. Every character is given time to shine regularly, big or small. One of the issues that face a lot of Sentai is trying to balance out characterization for multiple members. But Zenkaiger does a fantastic job for the main team. Even it isn’t typically major character development, just having them featured so prominently is nice enough to make their personalities shine through and play a role in any given episode.
Gaon is shown to be an excellent cook in his episode, and in episode five when the MOTW is a sushi chef, Gaon uses his skills to lure him into a trap.
Vroon is of course great at cleaning, so when a trash monster shows up he’s naturally going to be of great help.
Some kids think they see a ghost at their school? Well, Magine’s super into the occult, so it makes a cute subplot where she tries to help them out. Even Zyuran gets in on it the fun cause he’s of course always been great with kids.
Heck, even the average episode has brief versions of these at Cafe Colorful with Gaon cooking, Vroon cleaning, and both Zyuran and Magine entertaining guests.
If that at all sounds familiar to my Zyuohger review, well that’s because the head writer is the same for Zenkaiger, Junko Kōmura. I have to give praise and say many of her qualities as a writer are refined further in Zenkaiger. While I didn’t get on with Lupinranger vs. Patoranger, I blame that more on the split team dynamic. She works better with a full team to laser focus on character interactions, set up, and getting the core narrative rolling. Not to mention parallel worlds and non-human characters are her bread and butter.
I will say that major character development isn’t something you’re going to find among the Kikainoids. Zenkaiger is very old school in its approach by giving them spotlight episodes and small changes like Magine becoming more comfortable with her hobbies. But otherwise, the main character development lies elsewhere, and that’s something we’ll come back to later.
For what it’s worth, I am okay with this. But because it is not crucial and the characterization imparted is relatively minor, it means you aren’t going to see me talk about them a whole lot outside of this first part. I’ll bring up episodes about them here and there, but not everyone.
Like Vroon has an episode about falling in love that’s both cute, funny, and sorta reminds me of that one episode of Winspector where Bikel falls in love. But it’s a blip on the radar, not a lot to talk about there except this great gag.
With that out of the way, the first 4 episodes are largely dedicated to introducing each member of the team and establishing the basic gist of everything. From their transformations, combining to form the robos, the usual. Every character gets a nice chance in the spotlight and they all play off their distinctive personalities, clashing at first before they all warm up to one another. Zyuran finds Gaon a bit on the insufferable side, Gaon is temperamental in general, Magine’s strange hobbies can be grating on Gaon, and Vroon simply can’t believe how tardy everyone else is.
But inevitably they all become friends over several episodes and have a common tie of being accepted by Kaito despite their quirks. Like any team, they still have their confrontations, but less so as the series develops.
Now to backtrack a bit, Vroon is an important addition because he primarily brings the first major story element when he reveals the name of Kaito’s parents is the same as two humans rumored to have been in the Tojitendo court at some point.
Episode 5 explores this further- and although a tad rushed in some areas, Kaito’s brazenness in wanting to get to Kikaitopia to confront the Tojitendo results in him and Zyuran being bound together by the MOTW while the other three are left to solve their predicament. This allows the other members to get focus, while also giving Kaito and Zyuran a chance to have a heart-to-heart about their respective pasts, developing up their close friendship.
The ball keeps rolling as just when the group begins settling in, episode 6 introduces a new antagonist: Stacy (Ryo Sekoguchi) although he would have a proper outing in episode 7.
Stacy is the half-human son of Barashitara. The two have a strained relationship, to put it mildly, as he doesn’t view his son as much of anything. Stacy in turn doesn’t view his father any better, particularly because of how his late mother was mistreated by the commander. This fuels a rivalry, although one that is very one-sided as Barashitara is never shown to be invested beyond finding his son’s struggles amusing.
Stacy wants to surpass his father, something Ijirude is all too happy to assist with. Ijirude initially starts with doing his own take on the Zenkaiger’s gear, allowing Stacy to have his own sentai form; Staceasar (Hajime Kanzaki) Rather than copying the abilities of the teams, he summons clones, similar to Bosco in Gokaiger. Even more threatening is that Stacy can summon past robos- though there is a limitation as summoning too many will cause all the clones to disperse.
This does a great job making him a threat...which is soon wasted.
To get ahead of myself, the writing for Stacy makes a bad impression at first. At first. He only has two episodes before the sixth ranger comes in, beats his ass, and greatly overshadows him in every way. He’s soon relegated to very limited appearances, basically as little more than a background character while the sixth has several dedicated episodes in a row. Ijirude is shown building Stacy a robo across those episodes, foreshadowing their inevitable comeback...
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| I see what you did there. |
Unfortunately this goes by the wayside. Stacy’s big return is in the last 3 minutes of an episode focused elsewhere, only to also have the sixth ranger debut their own giant robo which was not alluded to in the least. Stacy gets frustrated that his battle with the main Zenkaigers is interrupted and he leaves, which seems to just be his thing for the time being.
This is like the one consistently frustrating spot about Zenkaiger early on. Stacy gets great build-up only to be shafted after that grand debut. I think the idea was to lend some credence to why Barashitara doesn’t think much of his own son, but it felt less like the character being bad at their job than Kōmura not having a clue what to do with him early on, so he just gets shoved into the last few minutes of an episode with some new toy to appease Bandai.
Bare with me, because that's not the case and Kōmura does have plans. Stacy will see some justice down the road, becoming one of the most shockingly interesting characters. But we’ll get to that in a bit.
Now let’s talk about that sixth ranger, TwoKaizer, Zox Goldtsuiker (Atsuki Mashiko, Shigeki Ito; suit) Both he and his sister, Flint Goldtsuiker (Hinami Mori), are interdimensional pirates. Like the Zenkaiger, Zox can transform using the Geardalinger, a device made with plans stolen from the Tojitendo. (A running gag in the series is that they constantly steal or copy tech from others.)
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| Ricky, Flint, and Cutanner. |
Additionally, they have two younger brothers, Ricky and Cutanner, who were cursed into taking on SDrobo forms.
This is where the “two” really comes into play, as Ricky and Cutanner merge with either TwoKaizer or his robo, providing Ohranger and Shinkenger forms that are more substantial than the temporary abilities of the other Zenkaigers. Although TwoKaizer can still utilize regular Sentai gears, which will result in different abilities from the rest of the team, often those of the sixth and extra heroes rather than the core faction. i.e. Gingaman will be Bullblack, Hurricanger will be Shurrikenger, etc.
Ultimately, Zox and Flint’s driving force is reverting their siblings back into a human form, and the only way to do so is by freeing the SDworld which is still in the clutches of the Tojitendo. It makes a nice mirror to Kaito’s own struggles with his missing parents. Not to mention the whole Interdimensional Pirates thing means they feasibly have a way into the Tojitendo world, at least in theory. But they’re blocked by some unknown means. Even that aside, they’re not initially on the best terms with the Zenkaigers.
Zox himself is a cocky, smarmy, easy-going, dancing goofball, unconcerned with helping most others. His siblings are one of the few things he truly cares for and he will aid the Zenkaigers in certain situations if it benefits him. But likewise, he will also fight against them if he’s annoyed or they get in his way.
Over time, he does soften slightly, being less likely to endanger others or fight the Zenkaiger. But while he does come around to enjoying their company, he still keeps a fairly distant relationship with the rest of the team, while also maintaining that fun rebellious core. Which is to say he’s far less willing to be law-abiding, such as breaking Kaito out of police custody at one point.
I was shocked they kept this aspect of him going, and I’m glad they did. It makes him contrast with the rest of the team but also helps balance it out in a way. Because Zox, like many sixes, functions as a wild card. He’s something the villains can’t comprehend as easily. He doesn’t care if you endanger innocents, he lives in space so if something goes down globally he typically won’t be affected by it. The only true immediate weakness he has is his siblings-- who are occasionally exploited in Tojitendo plots.
Even though Zox’s introduction seemingly undermines Stacy, there’s no denying he was and remains a fun addition with some fantastic episodes that utilize him and the team to great effect. Heck, he even applies to his sister, whose engineering skills would be instrumental in helping Secchan put together a quintessential mid-season upgrade for Kaito...and also copying said tech for her brother. Hey, gotta get something out of it, pirates after all.
Plus this adds the benefit of allowing Kaito and Zox to combine into a super robo dubbed Zenkaiju-Oh.
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| Oh we'll talk more about you later. |
That said, TwoKaiser's debut still makes the show feel a bit rushed. It’s not the pacing of the individual episodes so much as episodes with major shakeups happening too close together.
I found myself wishing that they had more of a buffer between them. Even after the whole Twokaizer introduction, conflicts that arise have a tendency to be revolved within an episode or two, and I don’t just mean MOTW shenanigans but character drama between Zox and the main team. All the episodes are doing interesting well-told stories with character development, but it also comes off as a bit impatient to get from point A to B.
You essentially have the first 4 episodes introducing the main cast and establishing character interactions/history. Two episodes that use their time zoning in on said character actions with some focus on Zyuran/Gaon and Magine/Vroon then Stacy comes in the seventh episode, and then TwoKaizer debuts right after that. That’s a lot even weekly. The one positive element out of that is it gets character introductions out of the way very early, so the rest of the show can just be about how those dynamics play out.
Thankfully, the crammed nature slows down with episode 10. There are maybe only about 3-4 episodes where it truly feels like too much is happening, which mainly stems from them trying to quickly get TwoKaizer to be a bit less antagonistic because they already have a Dark Ranger.
Still, I’m glad I was hooked within the first four, cause that’s otherwise off-putting.
But to get back to the good parts, episode 14 finally gives much-needed attention to Stacy. Unlike prior episodes, this does a good job showing that Stacy is in fact over his head- even losing control of his fake sentai clones at one point. He tries to be a manipulative conniving villain by promising Zox the SDworld gear in exchange for defeating Zenkaiser, but it’s ultimately he who is tricked because of course he’s not going to pull one over on a seasoned pirate. Stacy’s plan falls apart and all he manages to accomplish is finally bringing TwoKaizer closer to the team and having his robo destroyed in an absolutely gorgeous display.
This is the sort of villain I’ve wanted him to be, making it clear that try as he might, Stacy isn’t good at this. He’s not in any way a warrior, he’s just someone given a bit of power who doesn’t really know how to use it, especially when faced with vastly more experienced opponents. It begs the question of whether Stacy is truly invested in the Tojitendo.
Further hints about Stacy’s past are teased in the following episodes, notably, that Yacchan reminds him of his mother. And it’s at this point the series finds a nice little niche for Stacy to fit into by having short segments as part of weekly episodes, without feeling shoehorned or contrived as prior installments. We see brief intermittent struggles as he feels torn on what exactly it is he wants to do rather than those around him. And, yeah it’s fairly obvious where it’s going, but the presentation is miles better than previously.
Eventually, Stacy begins making semi-frequent visits to Colorful to see Yatsude, who is unaware of his real identity. The Zenkaigers are aware of this, but Stacy is passive, so Colorful becomes neutral ground.
Upon each visit (often while the others are out) Stacy slowly learns about Kaito’s parents, noticing from a photo that they look familiar to two humans Ijirude has in stasis.
Furthermore, Stacy’s interactions with Yatsude cause a greater burden on his struggles. Her kind motherly attitude is something that takes hold of Stacy, providing him with a sort of surrogate mother figure and the closest he’s had to any love and care since childhood. Their scenes together are some of the most genuinely heartfelt moments of the series. They add a much-needed weight to an already very lighthearted and comedic show. It also lends more of a direct mirror between Kaito and Stacy than even he and Zox. That last bit is something that Kaito recognizes and it causes his own hesitation in future battles with Stacy. Because he can see the good that’s there, but at the same time Stacy is also trying to kill him.
One of my favorite moments of the show is a scene between just Kaito and Zyuran discussing the situation. Zyuran acknowledges that Kaito is right in his assertion, but it doesn’t really change the fact that even if Stacy cares for Yatsude, it’s not stopping him from fighting Kaito, despite how any harm coming to him would obviously affect Yatsude.
Kaito isn’t oblivious to this, knowing full well that Stacy has thought this through and already accepted the possibility of death for either one of them, and so has he.
That time finally comes when Stacy vaguely laments to Yatsude it will be his last visit, prompting her to give him a voucher should he ever return.
Regardless, Stacy pushes forward with his decision in taking on Kaito and by extension the rest of the team. He is somewhat successful at first, coming quite a ways as a fighter, but is inevitably defeated to the point of being mortally wounded. He only survives because Gege collects him and orders Ijirude to fix him up. Not only does he save Stacy, but he also makes modifications; making him stronger than before and providing more weaponry as Stacaesar, including now summoning super versions of rangers and a dark version of ZyuaGaon.
26 is overall a very eventful episode, Stacy discovers that part of his survival was due to a blood transfusion from one of the humans Ijirude has in stasis; Kaito’s mom. Remembering the stories told by Yatsude, Stacy takes pity and when alone, opens the stasis chamber before departing the lab, allowing Mitsuko to awaken and escape while providing Stacy with a solid cover.
We also see Kaito continue to struggle with his own conflict, believing things would’ve changed for Stacy after their supposed final battle. But as Zyuran and Zox point out, Stacy’s already made his decision and is sticking to it. The fact is he’ll continue gunning for Kaito no matter what, and Kaito has to be ready to fight again, possibly to a true finish.
The conclusion Kaito arrives at is essentially that of a stalemate. An optimistic belief that, so long as Stacy never wins or is killed, there’s always the chance he could change.
That’s put to the test in a very overdue fight where Stacy finally proves to be a force to be reckoned with due to the upgrades. He easily damages Kaito through the suit and leaves lasting wounds.
After being blue balled so much with their fights suddenly ending or being one-sided, it’s refreshing to see a solid prolonged battle where Stacy holds his own against the entire team and gets some major hits in. Even his new robo is too much for Zox to handle on his own. Meanwhile, Zyuran, Gaon, Magine, and Vroon, are too busy with just two Super ranger clones. Kaito even has to be in his super form to take on Stacaesar.
Ironically, Stacy is actually called away mid-battle, but I can’t really mind given how satisfactory it is. Plus, the reason he’s called away is that a human woman has escaped the Tojitendo. Kaito overhears and Stacy makes no effort to hide that it’s Kaito’s mother. As soon as the fight is over, Kaito is basically on autopilot, frantically searching anywhere for his mom, which continues into episode 27 with no luck.
Gaon makes the suggestion that Mitsuko perhaps escaped to another world, which is indeed the case, if unbeknownst to the heroes. Gaon and Vroon stay behind while Kaito, Zyuran, Magine, and the Pirates, set off to the parallel worlds they’ve freed.
This partially serves as short vignettes to show off the various worlds they’ve freed but soon turns into a race between them and the Tojitendo. To further complicate matters, the Tojitendo are brute-forcing their way through each of the worlds, and they can’t really afford to fight them off of each world. Thinking outside the box, Kaito simply devises a plan to trick the Tojitendo by having Magine cast an illusion to make her look like his mom. If the Tojitendo think the Zenkaigers already have Mitsuko, they’ll have no reason to continue their search. Of course, this also serves a secondary purpose of having future episodes relegate the search to be more of a background element for Kaito, allowing the show to settle down once more into a weekly routine.
Before moving on I will state that, unsurprisingly, Stacy is given some nice moments. You can tell he’s very uninterested in capturing Mitsuko. He tries to subtly help the Zenkaigers by making sure no one else in the Tojitendo forces gets to her (the illusion of Magine) and he isn’t putting his all into fights. The irony of course is Stacy is elated in the belief that Yatsude will at least have her daughter-in-law, not knowing it was simply a trick.
But it wouldn’t be long before things are once again shaken up in episode 30 with the introduction of Hakaizer, Ijirude’s latest creation.
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| Captor-Captor-shu-shu-shu. |
Okay, there’s really no point dillydallying around it. Ijirude acknowledges that he’s extracted about as much as he can from Professor Isao in stasis and it would be best to take him out of it if he wants more. When he shows Hakaizer off as his completely built from scratch creation, Gege casts some doubt. And yeah, it’s Kaito’s dad inside what is essentially a prototype of Zenkaizer. This isn’t fully revealed until about four episodes later, but it’s very obvious from all the hints.
Hakazier himself is not too dissimilar from Kaito in personality (Peppy, upbeat, joyous) only it’s a determination to help the Tojitendo by saving the world monsters from the Zenkaigers. Zox immediately picks up on the similarities and is the first to suspect something is up.
Along with Hakaizer is the addition of his weapon the Zenryoku Zenkai Cannon, which as you might suspect is the big finishing cannon of the show and is actually stolen by Kaito.
Besides its immense power, it can also summon Sentai clones, only without the need of individual gears and instead summons based upon the theme selected; Martial arts, science, dinosaurs, beasts, etc. It can even grow and form a jet, the EAGLE, which allows the core five to combine into one super large robo as Full Power Zenkai-Oh.
Now, before getting further into the dealings with Kaito’s father, I do want to take an aside for episode 32, which is a body swap episode that is surprisingly good. What makes it interesting is they have Kaito and Stacy swap, meaning that Kaito now has the means to infiltrate the Tojitendo, while Stacy ends up stuck at the one place he never wanted to return to; Colorful.
For Kaito’s part, he realizes just how little Stacy actually matters in the ranks of the Tojitendo, the Kudaiters don’t even respect him. While Stacy experiences how many people Kaito has in his life who care for him- even complete strangers who appreciate what he does as a Zenkaiger. Stacy even considers staying swapped because he finally has people who care for him, at least in some way.
As I mentioned at the start of the review, if there is a central theme to Zenkaiger, it’s clearly family. That focus on support and finding a family is ultimately what gives Kaito and the rest of the Zenkaigers such strength, and perhaps part of why Stacy could never even be a viable threat to them. At the end of the day, Stacy is just a tool to the Tojitendo, uncared for, yet blindly steadfast to his ultimately fruitless endeavor in surpassing his father.
Things begin to change in episodes 34 and 35 as Stacy begins realizing his very biggest weakness is his self-absorbed lone wolf antics, and that surpassing his father could still be accomplished with the help of others i.e. Hakaizer.
To complicate matters, it’s around the point that the core team, bar Kaito, learns that Hakaizer is Kaito’s father, Isao, having fought him until his energy depleted and revealed his face.
This is exacerbated by the fact that they’ve struggled with telling Kaito, and when Zyuran finally gains the resolve to tell him, the MOTW happens to be something that makes things more difficult. It ultimately comes down to Kaito handling both Hakaizer and Stacaesar solo, and shooting a weakened Hakaizer point blank with a full Zenkaicharge. Thankfully, it doesn’t kill him and in fact, knocks him back into consciousness. But just as soon as he and Kaito see each other, their reunion is cut short by Stacy grabbing Isao and dragging him back to the Tojitendo against his will.
It is an incredibly heart-wrenching scene. For Kaito, he obviously hasn’t seen his father in 10 years and lost him once again just as quickly as he met him.
For Stacy, he finally gained an ally within the Tojitendo, only to find out it was Yatsude’s son being controlled. But he can’t give that up and makes a selfish split-second decision.
The cruel reality is that just like everyone and everything about the Tojitendo, it’s built upon sand. Stacy continues to reject real substantial relationships in favor of that which is artificial, yet it’s easy to understand why. Kaito already has so much by comparison, and it’s easier for Stacy to grab ahold of this and hang on for as long as possible while remaining part of the Tojitendo.
This begins a new back and forth, as Stacy and Hakaizer work closely together in protecting the various world monsters, and more importantly, Stacy protects Hakaizer from Kaito.
But because Stacy’s life is pain, a twist of the knife occurs when Barashitara deploys Bon World, based on the Japanese holiday for ancestors. Bon unleashes his power to revive various spirits, which isn’t initially a problem in itself. Of the ghosts brought forth are Zyuran’s great grandfather, Zox and Flint’s Grandfather… and Stacy’s mother. We don’t spend a lot of time with Stacy’s mom, so we never find out if she’s got it going on. Clearly, Stacy could have done without this occurring, as it’s very painful for him. Yet it’s also eye-opening since before this moment he could never remember his mother’s face clearly.
Of course, things turn south when Bon world causes the spirits to go berserk and attack their descendants, and Stacy simply can’t bring himself to attack his mother, even if she’s long gone and simply a poltergeist. He’s ironically saved by Kaito and Hakaizer who realized he would be in danger. The irony isn’t lost on him either, as Stacy ponders if he’s really all that different from Barashitara by using a parent against their child. Yet despite all that he’s done, Kaito still came to save him.
Behind the scenes, more trouble is brewing. Bokkowaus in a surprising display of observation takes into consideration what a success Hakaizer has been and how Stacy has largely filled a similar role in supporting their Worlds, thus allowing Hakaizer to be freed up elsewhere. Hakaizer is after all still a liability and not without flaws, so, Bokkowaus gifts Ijirude something special; a piece of the Tojitendo leader before the last.
This is kept secret, but their absence doesn’t go unnoticed. Bokkowaus only informs both Stacy and Barashitara that they are working on something special, and should otherwise go about their operations. Stacy has other plans and looks for the two but to no avail. However, he’s pointed in the right direction by Gege, who warns Stacy that his future within the Tojitendo will be determined by whether or not he chooses to peek, and this is overheard by Barashitara.
Now before things hit the fan we’re presented with one fun romp in episode 39 which is just a super high energy episode with a lot of variety. A lot of forms and combinations that haven’t been seen in a while, some sentai gears that haven’t been used yet. They even have the robos use Zenkai cannon in big mode, which fittingly has all the sentai mechs instead of the ranger helmets.
But then we get to episode 40
Ijirude’s ultimate weapon, Hakaiju-Oh, arrives and destroys a large chunk of the city in their attack against the Zenkaiger. Equally bad is that Hakaizer is now in a permanent super form with both the tank-like abilities of Kaito’s and the speed of Zox. Any trace of their prior personally is dramatically suppressed. Hakaizer is more machine now than man, obedient to Ijirude and cold towards Stacy. The Zenkaigers manage to escape the initial assault, causing Hakaizer to be re-called for fine-tuning before the next attack.
One of the things that set this apart from prior episodes is the unparalleled level of destruction. We see bodies being carried away on stretchers, people trapped under rubble, injuries being tended to. Zenkaiger by in large tries to avoid this sort of thing, and it’s oddly refreshing to see things escalate to this point and reminds me a lot of Zyuranger’s 21st episode.
The amount of horror causes Kaito to make an ultimatum, the next confrontation with Hakaizer has to be the last, regardless of if they save him or not.
As luck would have it, Flint and Zox get a helping hand from Stacy, who gives them a data disc on Hakaiju-Oh’s schematics. After all, he’s already lost Hakaizer. The least he could do is give them a chance of freeing Isao.
Sure enough, the data proves true as when Hakaiju-Oh appears again, Zox infiltrates the machine and rips Hakaizer out. The Zenkaigers quickly put their plan into motion, the Kikainoids handling Hakaizer by recounting important dates in Isao’s life, while Zenkaiju-Oh and the still operational Hakaiju-Oh duke it out. Their efforts prove fruitful, as Hakaizer goes into great mental anguish, exerting a lot of energy in suppressing those memories. It’s enough that once Kaito enters the fight, he’s able to expend the very last bits of Hakaizer’s reserves and is finally able to free his father.
After such a grueling campaign, things are allowed to settle down a bit in 41. Well, about as much as they can with Noodle World causing a civil war between soba and udon lovers.
But on the character end of things we’re given glimpses into Isao since he’s been around, largely spending time hyper-focusing on the Kikainoids, the tech of the Pirates, and building various devices- not the least of which is a charging station because he is still modified and needs to do that. At first, Kaito doesn’t mind, it’s how his dad has always been. But after nearly 11 years, he wants to spend some time with him.
When that finally happens, Isao is incredibly proud seeing how well his son has handled being Zenkaizer. Building a team of great friends, and getting a grip on difficult situations.
Yet happy as this experience is for Kaito, he’s also still concerned about Stacy. This turns to Kaito asking if there’s anything his dad remembers about being Hakaizer, particularly his friendship with Stacy. Sadly, Isao doesn’t recall much, if anything, from that time. But he reassures Kaito that if he really puts the effort in, he knows he can save Stacy.
However, sweet as this was, Isao also departs in this episode.
Copying the technology with blueprints provided by Flint, Isao creates a device to teleport to the parallel worlds so he can search for his wife. This makes a great deal of sense for several reasons, not the least of which is that it’s the safest option to keep Isao from recapture. The Tojitendo are laser-focused on earth, they think both Isao and Mitsuko are on earth, and the parallel worlds are free from their eyes because of that.
Sad as it must be for Isao to depart again, he is at the very least relatively safe.
The same cannot be said for Stacy. After the destruction of Hakaiju-Oh, Ijirude has been chained and repeatedly electrocuted in Hakaizer’s old charging station. Ijirude decides to simply lie in hopes of deflecting the blame and does so by accusing Stacy. Although Ijirude has no proof, he theorizes it was to prevent him from surpassing Barrashita. That of course doesn’t make a lick of sense given Stacy's strained relationship and makes for a poor excuse, but it’s also irrelevant when Stacy inadvertently blurts out that wasn’t the reason he did it- thereby admitting to the crime. Oops.
The fallout is put on hold as episode 42 is a long-overdue story focused on Zyuran. Up until this point is in the series, Zyuran has played a prominent but secondary role. From those personal talks with Kaito to episodes focused on Gaon or Magine such as 21 and 17. Even Secchan has had a starring episode. But outside the first episode, Zyuran has almost always been a major player but never a star. Heck, even the first episode is, of course, split with Kaito. So it’s finally nice to see a story where everyone else is put out of commission and Zyuran is the last Zenkaiger standing, doing his damndest to save everyone with a lot on his plate. Gaon perhaps said it best in that Zyuan is the dad of the group, and it coming from him makes it all the sweeter.
We also get a glimpse of Don Momotaro from the next sentai series. Shortly before departing, Isao gave Kaito a new gear to use. Unlike others, this doesn’t create a clone or power, but simply summons Don Momotaro, who helps the team before driving off into the distance, much to the confusion of everyone.
Following this aside, Gege is shown visiting an imprisoned and battered Stacy, only to mysteriously transfer something over and overtake Stacy, who then escapes from imprisonment. Curiously, Gege is seen alongside his master after the fact, although much more grimacing and less bubbly in their personality, something Barashitara catches onto.
This dichotomy also applies to Stacy, as both Kaito and Zox are immediately suspicious of the drastic personality shift. Any questions are put on hold as the Tojitendo force tracking down Stacey keep getting in the way. Regardless, Stacy assists the Zenkaigers, and whatever is controlling him is concerningly good at fighting, even taking on Barashitara singlehandedly, much to the shock of the seasoned commander. It’s also this last part that gives the game away.
What’s controlling him remains a mystery, but it claims that defeating the Tojitendo is a priority and it will even have a present for Zox next time.
The present happens to be SDworld being deployed.
Things go south fast, mainly because Zox, upon seeing the world, becomes single-minded resulting in a lot of collateral; All the Zenkaigers bar Kaito becomes SD, and Zox’s own gear gets shrunk and he is unable to transform. He even tells his siblings to stay out of his way since he can’t “Go all out”. As you might’ve gathered, this is mostly about the importance of Zox learning that being bullheaded can only get him so far and that he’s at his best when working with his friends and family.
It’s decent enough but well-tread ground by now and, to be honest, sorta underwhelming.
In the grander scheme of things, it means that with SDworld defeated, Zox is going to be out of the picture for quite some time as he returns to solve his siblings’ predicament.
Interestingly, the possessed Stacy also destroys and thus frees Piratetopia from a Tojirtendo gear.
45 continues these actions. Barashitara has become more suspicious, noticing that Gege has no recollection of deploying SD World, and later sees a possessed Gege altering the controls on the world gate. An un-possessed Stacy also awakes during this time, having memories of the prior events, although he is again taken control of before he can do any meaningful actions. A rather bittersweet irony as Stacy almost finally returned to Colorful of his own accord.
Strangely, the now possessed Stacy randomly grabs two Kikainoids and summons a portal before throwing them in “Back where they belong”.
This episode also features a nice spotlight on Magine in battling Omikuji World, whose main gimmick is granting good or bad luck in constantly increasing intervals. This results in some pretty great visual gags, one of my favorites being the Zenkai Cannon inexplicably summoning the first versions of Yellow 4, Battle Cossack, and the second version of Kirenger. Ya know, rangers that all died in battle.
But then the two plots come together when the revived Omikuji gives the team more trouble… only for Stacey to arrive and absorb the freaking world from the Kudaitest, which is promptly defeated.
When all is settled, the team wonders what the hell just happened. The possessed Stacey claims that the parallel worlds were created by him and that he’s sort of a god.
No one believes that, given that it doesn’t appear to be omnipotent.
Though the Entity merely retorts they have limitations of physicality, and offers a prediction that the next monster to attack will be carrot world, which of course occurs thanks to possessing Gege once again. (FYI: most of this episode is filled out with fighting previous monsters just renamed to something else.)
More importantly, after the defeat of Carrot World, Kaito wonders what happens with Stacy and if Stacy ever consented to be taken over by the God- which of course they haven’t. Angered, Kaito and the entire team offer their selves up in place of Stacy, to which the entity agrees, leaving his body behind.
Stacy is finally freed and filled in on the details, which is where the highlight of this episode comes into play.
For the first time in a long while, Kaito and Stacy have a conversation, a particularly melancholy one at that. By this point, Stacy is broken. He’s aware of how meaningless his goals were, even admitting to Kaito that surpassing Barashitara was something he was never even completely sure of. And now? He doesn’t have anything and believes that being the puppet for a supposed god might be a fitting role.
Kaito refutes that belief and instead offers a place for Stacy amongst the team, reassuring him of his true good nature and fully welcoming him like family. But, Stacy simply refuses before walking off.
Subsequently, the Zenkaiger take care of the last of the monsters the God warned them about, doing so with relative ease. With that accomplished and trust earned, the team is ready to work with the Entity and take down the Tojitendo.
Episode 47 begins with the team readying their assault, bidding farewell to Yacchan, who tells all of them to come back safely.
I’ll be brief and say that a lot of this and the next episode are fight scenes, but there are still very important character moments. By far the biggest in this episode is Stacy finally returning to Colorful and completely breaking down to Yatsude, fully admitting his true identity and all that he’s done. It is one of the most heartfelt moments of the entire run, especially when Yacchan embraces Stacy.
Meanwhile, the Zenkaiger are having a difficult time. Their initial assault goes a bit sideways with Kaito and Vroon being separated from the rest of the team and losing their gear in the process. While the other three deal with Ijirude in a robo, Kaito, and Vroon find themselves stalked by Barashitara in a pretty dire situation until Stacy arrives along with Secchan, rescuing them. We even get a cute character bit where Stacy explains his stance on switching sides and Vroon points out that technically he’s the second person to defect from the Tojitendo and join the team.
The respite is cut short as Barashitara confronts the four, only for the Goldtsuiker family to unexpectedly arrive. Zox and Stacy take on Barashitara, allowing Kaito and Vroon to escape, joining the others in taking on and ultimately defeating Ijirude before setting sights on Bokkowaus.
Episode 48 is the second to last episode of the series, tension high as the team readies to confront Bokkowaus. But for me, the real highlight is definitely Stacey and Zox taking on Barashitara, not so much because it’s Stacy finally taking on his father directly, but because he’s working alongside Zox which simply hits so right. Stacy even says it’s not about revenge, it’s about fighting for something he cares about, and man, after so long, it’s satisfying to see Stacy’s arc and characterization come to a proper close. The stunt work in their fight is also great, adding to the unification of the two and the rest of the Goldtsuiker family which eventually culminates in a beam-o-war that Barashitara loses.
But shortly before Barashitara’s defeat, Flint slips away, possessed by the God who has decided to put her intelligence to great use and repair the Tojirgear Machine. Once done, the entity assists the Zenkaigers one final time, possessing Gege and informing them that Bokkowaus’ weakness is his back, which also results in Gege being destroyed by an enraged and confused Bokkowaus.
Following Gege’s death, the final confrontation commences with Bokkowaus absorbing the final Tojirgears into his very being, gaining the power of several worlds but mainly utilizing those that were Sentai oriented.
Yet despite the team being battered and their gears destroyed, they continue fighting at a disadvantage, when suddenly help comes from the Sentai worlds rejecting Bokkowaus and temporarily repairing the Zenkaiger gears.
I’m going to take a moment here and say that this is a good fight that I don’t think this lands as wonderfully as Stacy and Zox fighting Barashitara. There’s a bit of contrivance and the emotional investment simply isn’t as strong as the former. This is a systematic issue I have with the villains in general which I’ll touch upon more later. But suffice to say, there’s one more episode left and a few loose ends that still need tying up. Which to the show’s credit, I think does a great job instilling a sense of dread, because we know even when Bokkowaus is defeated, he’s likely not the last obstacle given all the sketchy things going on with the God.
However, I will note that Bokkowaus has by far the best death in the entire show. Super Zenkaizer stabs him in the stomach while Zyuran, backed by the rest, shoves the Zenkai Cannon into his back.
 |
| Now that's awesome. |
With the King defeated and the rest of the worlds free, the dark clouds over Kikaitopia clear as the team celebrates.
Additionally, back on Earth, Kaito’s parents arrive at colorful, his mother having been discovered in Sushitopia after Kaito’s father had a sudden “epiphany”.
Elsewhere, Zox has been filled in about the mysterious god that has been assisting the Zenkaigers, and the manipulation of Flint raises his concern even further. But just as Zox readies to inform the team, he suddenly has a change of heart and decides to instead depart back to their homeworld. Not long afterward, Kaito separates from the rest of the group and returns to earth, possessed by the god.
The silhouette of a gear covers Kikaitopia, followed by darkness, and the same is repeated for Piratetopia and all the other worlds.
This finally brings us to Episode 49, and the finale of Kikai Sentai Zenkaiger.
At first, things are relatively normal as Kaito has breakfast with his family before his parents depart for their continuing research to find a parallel world.
And you can see where this is going.
Kaito constantly feels things are off, that colorful seems more empty. He partially goes through the motions of the first episode before more memories come flooding back. He still has a sentai gear in his possession, but it’s now blank.
The real meat of the episode comes when Kaito remembers the God and is suddenly trapped in his own mind, confronting the Entity. The being explains that they created many worlds, but it became a hassle to deal with. They can create, but not destroy. But that’s when the Tojirgear system piqued their interest, offering a convenient way to clean up all the worlds, consolidate them in one place. This horrifies Kaito, enraged that they would so nonchalantly disregard entire worlds of people.
God taunts Kaito by pointing out it was because of those worlds that Kaito’s parents were stolen, that his world was invaded and assaulted.
But of course, that wasn’t anyone’s fault but the Tojitendo. Not the inhabitants of Kikaitopia, nor any other world. Kaito demands to know where the world gears are. God agrees to tell him- if Kaito can defeat him.
This entire sequence serves as one last hurrah for Zenkaiger, as Kaito’s memories of his allies assist in the battle, each getting focused while various clips from the show play in the background relating to each appropriate character. In previous reviews, I talked about how a well-done clip show invokes a sense of how far the series and characters have come, and this is sort of a condensed down and frankly better version of that concept.
I also want to point out that God takes on the form of Super Zenkaiser, which was probably done just so you could have the same visual shorthand of God taking on Kaito’s appearance within his own conscious. But intentional or not, I think it adds a brilliant layer by having Kaito’s strongest form still not matching the power of all his friends. It’s a really nice bow on top of how they’re always at their best when unified.
Yet despite all this, the battle is still a stalemate, both exhausted. At a loss, Kaito simply resorts to a game of Rock-Paper-Scissors, much to the bewilderment of the God. Amused, the bet is taken, and Kaito is ultimately victorious with paper over rock.
The Entity bemoans that they were never absolutely sure of locking the worlds away, and perhaps that’s why they lost (Remember, it has full access to a person’s knowledge, so it knew what Kaito would pick) This is perhaps one of the most unique resolutions I’ve seen in a Sentai finale. Not only for the fact this ends without the last antagonist being obliterated, but that they were what they said. Not some alien threat nor villain moving in on the Tojitendo, but a Godlike being that just happened to be a bit of a bell-end until set right.
Before departing, the esoteric being promises Kaito that they’ll take better care of their worlds and that the Tojirgear machine can be found atop the Tokyo Skytree, invisible from view. Wasting no time, Kaito takes the Zenkai Cannon and shoots above the tower, destroying the machine and freeing all the worlds once more.
A brief moment passes as Kaito wonders if the other worlds are truly free… before Zyuran, Gaon, Magine, and Vroon falls through a portal right atop him in an incredibly heartwarming reunion, which is soon added to with Zox and Flint arriving.
Three months pass. Travel and trade between different worlds have become commonplace. Of the many changes that have transpired, Stacy has rejected becoming the next leader of Kikaitopia despite great support from the populace but has dedicated himself to rebuilding efforts, while still making the occasional visit to Colorful. Vroon has been a big help in starting a proper school system, helping educate the masses, and reforming the former lower-ranking grunts of the Tojitendo, while Magine has helped the younger kids fit in.
Both Riki and Cuttaner have also reverted to their human forms, although Flint has crafted a way to revert them to their SD forms so Zox can continue fighting alongside them.
With everyone together and things finally at peace, Kaito takes a much-earned sigh of relief.
Although Yacchan notices a bit of yerning in Kaito as Zox joyfully sings about exploring other worlds.
That night, his parents discuss with him the possibility of finally getting on with his life and moving out. With both his parents back, Yacchan is in good hands and he doesn't have to worry about her well being. He is hesitent at first, but Yacchan encourages her grandson. He's done enough, and there's a lot of worlds to see.
Kaito readies himself to explore new worlds alongside his compatriots, all reassuring him that they’re with him on any road until the end. Secchan opens up a gate and the team passes through, bringing a close to Kikai Sentai Zenkaiger.
Hotdamn what a show. I still have a lot of thoughts to get into on the show and its structure. But first I want to address a few more areas before moving on.
Visuals/SFX.
So I think it’s safe to say Zenkaiger is very unique visually amongst Sentai, and that’s quite the achievement. It’s the first series to not prominently feature red at the head of the group, I think it might be the first series since Kakuranger not to have a red become leader, and it’s the first series to have the majority of the team be robotic.
I won’t spend too much time on the core suits, cause I think they’re pretty self-explanatory. Kaito has a suit based on Akarenger and Big One while the rest of the team is based on Zords. Zyuran, Daizyujin; Gaon, Gaoking; Magine, MagiKing; and Vroon, Daibouken.
All of these designs are wonderful and are beautifully crafted. But I actually think equally impressive is the thought put into the Kikainoid’s civilian forms. Zyuran’s gold details with black and white shorts resemble Geki’s attire, he’s the only Kikainoid with a silver mouth.
Magine’s overall appearance invokes both MagiMermaid and especially MagiFairy.
Vroon’s shoulder tanks and two-tone blue gives a popped collar and camo pattern appearance akin to Souta Mogami. And Gaon is a mish-mash of various animal outfits from the Gaoranger uniforms to Leo in Zyuohger.
Bravo to the Kikainoid suit actors on this, by the way, cause they’re basically pulling double duty having to wear both the civilian versions and then bulkier versions for the fight scenes.
Zox I don’t have much to say about, he’s just a Gokaiger. It’s a good design but I don’t think it does as good of a job differentiating itself from the inspiration, though I suppose that’s part of the joke. I am however a big fan of his Ohranger form, it goes so well with the gold color.
Now I simply love Staceasar’s design. I don’t believe this needs explaining, but before 1995, Gorenger and J.A.K.Q were classified as simply Sentai while Battle Fever was considered the first Super Sentai due to the robot. So basing this appearance on Battle Japan to contrast with Kaito’s Akarenger/Big One inspired look is pretty great.
Now for the arsenal, there’s a lot to cover. We’ll start with the Sentai gears, which I’ve not really talked much about yet. They are…admittedly a bit weird in usage.
The Gears aren’t 100% consistent for good or ill. Sometimes they grant weapons of their respective teams, such as the Dairanger rods. Other times its abilities such as the aura powers of Maskman, or perhaps the intelligence of a specific character, and sometimes they’re shown to do multiple things. This is something I really like, as it adds variety to being more than just re-hashes of ranger keys. Plus it’s neat to think that Kaito’s parents cherry-picked what to replicate from each team… sorta.
Where do I take some issue with them is that they typically come down to is being whatever the hell the writer wants them to be. Quite literally they are often deus ex machina and some are obscenely overpowered. Timeranger manipulates time with seemingly no limits, while Jetman forces the MOTW to re-enact Gai Yūki’s final moments. These are meant to be jokes and not thought too hard about, of course. But one can’t help think that maybe some degree of limitations or caveats should have been presented. To the show’s credit, they actually don’t use the gears as often as you would think, so even what issues I have are few and far between.
I’ll even admit there is a childlike imaginative angle with it that I believe is charming and brilliant by having the gears serve multiple functions.
Yet there are still episodes where the solution is as simple as picking the right gear because it will do the exact thing handy in this exact situation and it’s always a tad jarring.
This also exists to some extent with Stacy’s gear. With him, there are at least more clear limitations and their use is more straightforward, if albeit derivative. It’s also worth pointing out that he never uses the ability to summon Sentai robos after TwoKaiser is introduced. I get why from a meta standpoint, it’s cost, but I wish they addressed it. The most they mention is that it drains power quickly, but that was after he summoned 30 of them in a row. Why not summon 3 again? What’s the in-show reasoning?
These minor issues aside, I think Zenkaiger does a fairly decent job having and incorporating all their different devices. They don’t have an obnoxious level of different forms, or gear that mostly gets relegated to just one member. In fact, things like the Zenkai Cannon are used by multiple teammates. Even when the Super forms are introduced they make an effort to still feature Zox's Ohranger and Shinkenger forms.
As for the robos, I sorta have mixed feelings here. The alternate forms like Zyuran’s T-rex mode; Gaon’s lion; Magine’s dragon; and Vroon’s dump truck are that really bad CGI and are barely even featured, as most alternate forms are.
The main robos on the other hand are perfectly fine, although I don't have many strong feelings towards them. I will give credit for incorporating various elements like how ZyuaGaon has massive horns on the side and a crest that invokes both Daizyujin and GaoKing. Similar case for VrooMagine which has wings reminiscent of Magiking and Ultimate Daibouken.
None of the main robo forms are bad by any stretch, I just find them a bit on a basic side. I’m going to sound like an old man and say this is a problem I have with a lot of modern sentai robos, in that it often feels like the designs are kept as simple as possible for the toy side of things.
That said, you also have the opposite where things are simple until there are like 8 add ons that turn the mech into a cluster. Thankfully Zenkaiger avoids that mistake and keeps everything nice and streamlined. The only thing bad about Fullpower Zenkai Oh is the low-budget seventh-gen title CGI, which is a problem with the CGI overall. It’s especially jarring next to anything practical.
I actually watched some Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon from 2003 and has almost the exact same quality of CG. Except it's worse here because it's in HD.
That aside, there are two robo designs I really like. One is Battle Caesar Robo, which as a throwback I think helps tremendously. It’s just a really nice simple straightforward design that is sadly underutilized. There are technically three variations, but really only two (Two has a different helmet and the Third is just the first design with the second's weapons) My personal favorite is the first.
Also, I love that they replicated the Battle Fever summon. It’s a cute touch, but it also looks surprisingly good to be so stiff.
However, my overall favorite robo is Zenkaiju-Oh. It’s such a simple concept; What if V-rex but Dragon Caesar? And Goddamn, it gets some special attention. Hiroshi Butsuda knocked it out of the park with this presentation.
We really get spoiled with how great some of the robots are presented this season. Even my bias aside, the others get some great scenes in storms and sunsets.
Shoutouts to the Crocodai as well. I don’t love either robotic form- doesn't help its story integration is clunky, but I love seeing this thing come out of the stormy clouds. I think Sun Vulcan was the first Sentai to do that, although this depiction ironically looks closer to Gavan’s Dolgiran.
Speaking of the Space Sheriffs, Bokkowaus sure feels like a throwback to things like Don Horror, just with articulation. As far as I’m aware, Sentai has never had what could be described as a “Wall” or Statue big bad. Plenty of esoteric stuff like Satan Egos, The Omnipotent God, and Star King Bazeu. I guess the Org Master would be the closest comparison, but this is still pretty unique.
Ijirude and Barashitar both have great designs as well, each representing the two design aesthetics of the Kikainoids; cybernetic and mechanical.
The overall design of the MOTWs is kept simple to an extent. Just a head and arms set upon the Kudaiter or Kudaitests body, which gives everything a very streamlined and consistent appearance. While obviously done for budgetary reasons, it fits the Tojitendo’s militaristic background.
The Kudaitests in particular are a favorite of mine, probably because the base head looks like Shockwave’s chest. I also appreciate that functionally they’re a reference and mixture to Battlefever J, Denziman, and Goggle V having giant robots, giant revived monsters, and revived monsters piloting giant robots respectively.
Still, there is a litany of issues of modern tokusatsu that plague the show to varying degrees. Corner cutting is pretty noticeable, and while I can very easily accept that all the monsters of the week are simply new heads and arms on a stock body-- again, that makes sense from both an in-universe standpoint and let’s face it; Toei shows rarely have weekly villains that could be considered iconic— But the harsh reality is that it’s not uncommon to reuse the same design multiple times. Garbage World is reused for Recycle World, which has an appropriate recycle joke associated with it. But then you get to Noon World in ep 10; then Sundial world in 25. Then there’s Bullfighting world in 22; Milk World in 31. Persimmon in 30; new years world in 39 and the list goes on.
No amount of paint, self-acknowledgment, or humor will hide how remarkably egregious this usage is. I’ve not watched Sentai in quite a while, but has it gotten this bad? Cause it’s pretty bad, and just furthers my belief that the constant churning out of roughly 50 episode series year after year is a mistake. I really think the industry overall should adopt the same approach TsuPro has with only 25 episode seasons.
There are also some instances where things show up seemingly just to meet some sorta quota. As good as Zenkaiger often is with the toyetic elements, there are still bad examples like the Black JuraGaon that Stacy uses. It's only in two episodes, which is a bit of a shame since it was rather neat but also clear they didn’t have a plan to use it. It shows up, wrecks everything, then is tossed aside the very next episode.
I don’t blame Kōmura for these faults. She’s clearly capable of weaving narrative justification for these devices, while folks like Shojiro Nakazawa and Hiroshi Butsuda can sell the visual side. ZenKaiju-Oh and the super forms are prime examples of that working beautifully. We get a story about Flint and Secchan working together on it, Kaito gets an upgrade that is very tanky while Zox is a speed demon. Together they’re even stronger and can form a massive freaking kaiju.
It’s cool, it’s important, it makes you want the toy which is part of the idea, and it also doesn’t feel contrived.
But Black JuraGaon? That screams appeasing Bandai like they’re ticking off items that have to show up and look cool, which I feel is likely the cause of the other issues like Stacy's Mega Zord summoning. It really feels like they’re reaching sometimes.
This has sort of been an issue with Toku from the very beginning and is by no means an issue unique to Zenkaiger or even Sentai. Appeasing Bandai or Poppy has always been omnipresent. But as time goes on and costs increase, it feels as if there’s just more and more and there’s only so much one can do to incorporate them into the plot.
For the most part, I can say Zenkaiger scrapes by all these issues. Hell, it's arguably better than some other toku series. The problems I have with suit re-use, unclear explanations on certain devices, and even repaints are bearable because of everything else that is good about the show. But I do worry about the longevity and sustainability of this method creeping up more.
Where I can praise the visuals with fewer caveats is the stunt work. Longtime suit actor and stunt director, Hirofumi Fukuzawa, was once again responsible for directing the stunts. I think it’s easy to take for granted just how great both Rider and Sentai have gotten with their choreography since it’s become a bit commonplace now. From 2016 onward we’ve had some of the most interesting action since the early 90s in Toei’s shows. Part of that is how incredible the suit acting has developed, especially with the bulkier costumes. But also smaller cameras and drone work has played a part in no longer having to get a helicopter or crane for flyover shots, now you can weave in and out of the action more easily.
Look at this shot with the camera going up and over the action. That's the sorta work that would've been relegated to specialty projects like Kamen Rider ZO. Now it's something that- while not easy- can be done for important decisive fight scenes when needed.
Final Thoughts.
So you wanna know something funny? This entire review came about because my best friend, Lita, being a sweet-heart, pre-ordered the figuarts Zenkaizer and I have a strict policy on having to watch/like something to warrant owning something from that series. I originally had no plans to watch Zenkaiger, but I’m glad I did. Regardless of my grievance- and I do have more I want to talk about- having something away from the stentorian gravitas of my more recent Riders review was a nice break.
Zenkaiger is incredibly heavy on comedy, and it’s damn good at it too. It’s refreshing to see a sentai be goofy in a way that I legitimately find funny because of great timing, delivery, and visual gags. I won’t say that series is flawless in that endeavor- there are definitely times where I felt they could’ve leaned more on the dramatic and less on the comedy.
But that’s also not to say there aren’t fantastic character moments that rip your heart out. For the really big reveals that need to land, Zenkaiger sticks it beautifully and is shockingly good at the long game.
You’ll probably see them coming, but to me, that just means they did a good job sensibly building towards said reveals.
Stacy ended up as one of the most interesting characters of the show, which was a legitimate shock for how bumpy his debut started out.
In a way, he feels like the result of Junko Kōmura perfecting the most base level concepts of Zyuoh The World, i.e. a tragic and kinda pathetic antagonist. Admittedly, Stacy does sorta overshadow the rest of the cast both in terms of character development and to some extent narrative function. But I can’t deny that I’m relatively happy with what was presented and that I believe what’s given works. Stacy wouldn’t function half as good if it wasn’t for the rest of the cast, as it’s only because of the kindness and friendship seen in Kaito and company that Stacy’s struggles with finding a place to belong resonate so well.
I’ll be shocked if Ryo Sekoguchi doesn’t take off after this because he is by far the most captivating cast member and gives one hell of a performance.
Although I have much of the same to say for Kiita Komagine. The final episodes in particular are a great showcase of what he’s capable of. The finale specifically is truly fantastic with how he switches between happy go lucky to a dead-serious Kaito to a lofty smug god. In fact, it’s pretty damn impressive how there are at least three actors capable of doing a consistent characterization.
I don’t think there’s a single performance in Zenkaiger that isn’t good, to be quite frank. The Voice acting is especially wonderful and I can’t imagine the characters sounding different. Everyone is so on point.
I also have to give great praise for how Zenkaiger handles being an anniversary series. Obviously, the show has a lot of callbacks and references to the franchise’s 45 years history, which is great fun. But I think far more important is Zenkaiger’s recognition of adding to that legacy and not simply being content with falling back on it. For all the cute easter eggs, Zenkaiger is still different and new enough to be its own show. As previously mentioned, no series has had the majority of the cast be robots, there’s never been a show where Red wasn’t front and center regardless of their rank. It has its own story and characters that- while incorporating references to prior entries, aren’t beholden to them, and I think that’s very important to understand.
What’s appealing about Zenkaiger is its cast of lively characters. You could rip out the references and most legacy aspects and you really wouldn’t lose a great deal aside from some visuals and a few gags. Any remaining traces would simply be staples and tropes of the genre.
Stacy would still be a compelling character because of their inner conflict, the Zenkaigers would all still have great chemistry regardless of how they look. It’s a Super Sentai show first and an anniversary second. Hell, in some ways even Gokaiger understood this. Now in that instance, the legacy angle is handled very differently and is intrinsically tied in such a way that it cannot and should not be removed. But, both understood that you need to put your current team before anything else.
Slapping logos all over the place and screaming old attacks and team names is fun, but it’s shallow. Zenkaiger doesn’t entirely bank on nostalgia to sell the show, otherwise, you’d simply be left with “Do you remember x?” as your only tenuous positive, too afraid to be new and that’s how you end up with New Generation Tiga.
That being said, the show is not without flaws and there are still more to be acknowledged.
Some are minor, like how Zenkaiger can often feel like it’s walking on eggshells for what the subject matter is. What I mean is it sorta feels like the protagonists aren’t allowed to mention death that often, or suffer for an extended period. Admittedly, part of that is likely because Stacy suffers far more than any other character. But it’s almost feels as if showing good people suffering isn’t allowed.
I went back and forth if I wanted to bring this up as a criticism because it’s not that a huge deal and I think it’s clear there is plenty of good drama there.
But there are numerous instances where I found myself disappointed by how quickly the tension is cut, where I wanted to see the characters be down a bit more so their comeback is all the greater, such as how Zox facing off against SDworld felt very short for how monumental that moment is supposed to be, or Kaito getting over some pretty damn dramatic stuff in follow up episodes to major events, such as his missing mom or brainwashed dad.
And it’s not like I want grimdark in sentai of all things. But I also don’t want those topics to be taboo, because they are an essential part of storytelling. It feels like it’s getting harder to tell interesting stories in these types of shows, not so much because the kids can’t handle it, or because the culture has changed. But because there’s a fear of upsetting dumbass parents who don’t like nuanced and complex character motivations. It’s okay for characters to have negative emotions, be flawed and yet still be good. I honestly consider that an important lesson that many adults don’t seem to grasp.
However, a much larger issue I take with Zenkaiger is with the villains, because boy, are they lame as hell in the grand scheme of things.
I will stress the performances are top-notch and do a lot to carry the Tojitendo. I can even think of some hilarious moments with them.
Nevertheless, they are barely a serious threat and they lack any sort of personal conflict with the main heroes. Hell, the even applies to the internal conflict. Barashitara and Ijirude’s rivalry is nonsensical when you think about it because more often than not they’re both utilizing world gears since Ijirude’s inventions are so far apart.
Their modus operandi really is as simple as plucking a world and then just letting it loose in most cases, and why wouldn’t it be? They’ve never really conquered anything but their own people- which judging by the known dynasty, was something they only inherited and maintained.
I do want to point out there’s nothing inherently wrong with that in concept. Zenkaiger’s focus is clearly elsewhere. But if you wanted a truly evil villain like say, an AbareKiller, or hell, Ginis or Bangray, Zenkaiger simply doesn’t have it.
And in some ways, I do still think that is a legit issue to have with the show. Kōmura goes to great lengths to explain why things are how they are, but that doesn’t entirely negate the issues present and I wouldn’t blame anyone for wanting more out of the villains.
Episode 47 has Zyuran pointing out that Kaito needs to get back at Ijirude for everything he’s done to his parents, but because of the way the series is structured, there was never much if any rivalry between the two, so it simply feels incidental. Despite everything with Hakaizer and stealing his parents' tech, I don’t feel anything upon his defeat, and the same goes for Bokkuwasu, even with his amazing death scene. The only one that truly works is Barashitara because of Stacy’s development, which even then doesn’t make his father interesting or provide an enriched dynamic between the two, he is just a perfect personification of what Stacy’s overcome. But that’s at least something.
Again, the show wanted to focus squarely on Kaito, Zox, and especially Stacy sharing a dynamic rather than the villains. But I think it puts a spotlight on the above to some extent.
This is almost an all the eggs in one basket scenario as far as character development goes, because the show is so fixated on Stacy that if at any point he was to join the Zenkaigers before the final episodes, his arc is complete. The show would suddenly lose the only character on the villain side with engaging conflict with the main cast, and frankly the only character with substantial growth.
While I’m perfectly happy with that outcome, this also means that if Stacy, for whatever reason doesn’t capture your fancy, you very well might have a difficult time enjoying Zenkaiger because even with the Kikainoids and Zox and everything, most things still come back to both him and Kaito.
But, to leave the review portion on a happier note, I still enjoyed the hell out of Zenkaiger. Perhaps the best testament to that is it’s the first time in 6 years that I sat down and watched a currently airing Sentai series. The last time was Zyuohger, which was of course written by Junko Kōmura. For all my concerns and criticisms, that’s twice she’s captivated my attention in a way that’s been rather difficult with Sentai post-Gokaiger. She manages to take characters and instill them with such lively personalities that it injects a level of joy from their sheer presence, which works in tandem with hyper-focusing on characters like Kaito and Stacy. And I think this is a vastly underappreciated quality to be had; that characters simply having likable personalities is good enough sometimes, and it’s how a lot of older Sentai shows operated. Yet it’s very easy to mess up such a simple concept, but Kōmura is perfectly capable of delivering on that front.
I think I’ll be going back and forth for a while deciding if Zenkaiger is a really good series just short of being great, or just enough to be great. The one definite thing I can say is if I’m holding back tears at the finale, the show has clearly done something very right and is worth your time.
Oh but there’s still some more to talk about, isn’t there? ‘cause Zenkaiger is the first time since Denziman that a sentai show will have a direct sequel, with Donbrothers.
I still don’t entirely know what to make of the show. At the time of this writing, the show has just premiered, and a lot isn't known beyond a few character bios, the creative team, and at least two of the members will be completely CGI…which is certainly a choice.
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| I've seen Smash leaks more real than this. |
But most importantly, the writer is Toshiki Inoue, who is writing Sentai for the first time in 30 years. I’ve brought Inoue up in previous reviews, most recently Hakaider, where I described his work as often polarizing, writing some very questionable works in some eyes.
But by that same token, it cannot be overstated how much good he has also done. Kamen Rider 1 was one of the best rider films in quite some time back in ‘16 because he’s one of the few writers around that still gets the Showa era, and I can’t even begin to stress how much Kamen Rider Ryuki impacted Japanese pop culture and how pretty much everything in that era was influenced by it in some way. Inoue was undeniably a massive part of its appeal.
Almost the same can be said for Jetman, which regardless of how it’s aged (and it’s quite dated) did something striking at the time and saved Sentai from cancellation.
With that in mind, I can sort of see why you would want to tap Inoue to write the next series.
For whatever you can say about the man, he is uncompromising in what he wants to write and I see that being handy if you just wanted to go all get out. Plus he can handle multiple characters and stories.
And Inoue? He can write a fucking villain. He can create the most piece of shit loathsome people imaginable. He can make rivalries like nobody's business. Hell, one of the best parts of Jetman that still holds up is the dynamic between Grey and Gai.
Do I think Donbrothers will have anything comparable? Not really. I’m not even sure if it would reach Kiva levels in terms of tone.
Yet that also makes me curious what Inoue has planned and what he could get away with. I kinda wanna see how the hell that’s going to play out with modern Sentai... at least at a distance. Jumping into another weekly Sentai sounds exhausting and I don’t wanna wait that long between reviews. But I am fascinated to see it play out, particularly because Inoue is infamous for HATING toyetic qualities beyond the bare minimum, which I can respect.
The characters also have me intrigued. Particularly Pink and Black. Pink, Kiji Brother, is described as a male housewife, and Black, Inu, is a wanted fugitive who was framed for a crime. That's good enough for me.
And that is as nice and optimistic as I can be because goddamn the trailer made this show look roughhhhh. Emphasis on the visual aspect.
I cannot get past how god awful the CG is. Those fights are so distracting that I can’t see putting up with them for an extended period, and boy does that suck to say. Cause I can see parts of this working, but, yeah. Pretty unpolished.
Now, to be fair, there is still a lot coming out about the show as of this writing.
Magazine scans also revealed that Inu can take on the forms of past sentai, and while I’ll still criticize that for just being Gokai-Change repaint edition, that’s a HELL of a lot better than the jank ass CG. Some images also seem to indicate Inu might become more human-like over several episodes, which might mean they’ll eventually just be a suit actor. But that’s still speculation.
Obviously, this isn’t meant to be a full condemnation of the show before I even bother to watch it, but just how well the known aspects are at piquing my interest, and that trailer was a hard sit.
Regardless, starting another airing series isn’t on the docket for the time being. But Zenkaiger also had 32 episodes out before I gave it consideration, so who knows?
In anycase, that's all for now. If you like what I do and can spare it, please consider dropping a dollar on my Ko-Fi.
Next time I’ll be taking a look at Shin Kamen Rider Prologue, a review that I had originally intended before Zenkaiger, but put on hold because honestly, Zenkaiger was more interesting to talk about at the time.
After that, I’ll be continuing with more Rider, with my favorite of the second Heisei phase. 'Til next time.
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