Dōbutsu Sentai Zyuohger, Episode 01: "Thrills in Animal Land!"

[Toku Prime]

If you need a jar opening, you know who to call...

The champion of the soaring sky...Zyuoh Eagle!
The champion of the surging waves...Zyuoh Shark!
The champion of the savannah...Zyuoh Lion!
The champion of the forest...Zyuoh Elephant!
The champion of the snowy drifts...Zyuoh Tiger!​

Ok, deep breath, here we go again! The 40th Super Sentai: Dōbutsu Sentai Zyuohger!

This week: a very catchy opening theme, extras in horse masks, elephant on elephant action, footsoldiers with jetpacks, and a MotW who may sound strangely familiar to anyone who's seen Gaoranger...

 

[Black Fang]

Zyuoh 1:

- Another rushed introduction to our Red, just like last year. Actually this whole whole episode is quite rushed. But I guess with this being an anniversary year, Toei wants to keep with tradition >.>

- I still wish Lion and Tiger were Panther and Wolf or Fox instead. I know that Zyou TheWorld has a wolf, but it would be nice to switch up the roster a bit rather than straight ripping from Gaoranger's.

- Too bad Azald doesn't sound much like Sir Kauler or Professor Bias, even though Jouji Nakata is voicing him.

- Jag'd looks like Groot.

- I hate it when biped animals (or Imajins for that matter) get scrunched into human-fitted suits. It's been happening since 2004.

- How did the mechas cross over to Earth if the Link Cube was destroyed?

- That announcer for the Cube Animals is dreadful. He joins Peppler, the Wizard belts, and the Meteor Driver announcers as among the worst. Toei and Bandai don't even try to pretend their products aren't toys anymore.

- I guess each anniversary show is going to bring back the enemy fighter jets.

- Don't be upset, Leo. With Sentai as it is currently, there probably won't be any consequences to you not being able to return home.

- You know, the writing for this episode is rather lazy, don't you think? The answers to every dilemma just get magically solved by the Cubes. No work put into getting answers at all. Even Tusk suddenly having a conflict with Yamato feels forced.

- The ending theme actually isn't too bad. (Ninninger's is still better, though). Yet the dancing once again ruins it. Honestly, the song would've been helped were the end credits scenes of the heroes interacting with or watching animals. Or even just a bunch of nature clips in general. Be creative for once, Toei/Bandai. I'm pretty sure a different ED sequence isn't going to tank your bottom line.

 

[Toku Prime]

Can we all pause for a second and consider that we appear to have a big bad who's actualy welded to the floor? It's not going to help those folks who complain about villains that just sit around and do nothing, but it does feel somehow old school.

- Another rushed introduction to our Red, just like last year. Actually this whole whole episode is quite rushed. But I guess with this being an anniversary year, Toei wants to keep with tradition >.>
...
- You know, the writing for this episode is rather lazy, don't you think? The answers to every dilemma just get magically solved by the Cubes. No work put into getting answers at all. Even Tusk suddenly having a conflict with Yamato feels forced.

I thought the writing was a lot better than the first episode of Ninninger, which suffered from a lot of "as you know..." exposition dumps to characters who already know the information being explained to them. I don't think it felt as break-neck as ToQger's first episode did either, so overall I'd call it a slight improvement.

- The ending theme actually isn't too bad. (Ninninger's is still better, though). Yet the dancing once again ruins it. Honestly, the song would've been helped were the end credits scenes of the heroes interacting with or watching animals. Or even just a bunch of nature clips in general. Be creative for once, Toei/Bandai. I'm pretty sure a different ED sequence isn't going to tank your bottom line.

Eh, they paid some bigshot choreographer to come up with that dance for them. I think it'll be there all season. The song doesn't do anything for me though so it'll be an easy skip.

 

[Zensrive]

It's an exciting start for sure. There are kinks here and there, but overall still a good start. There is no one hogging the cameras, the Zyumans are a nice, quirky bunch, and there is a mistery of The Eagle.
The girls are quite good to look at and not annoying.
The boys are not bad too.

I am worried about The DeathGalliens though, I hope they're more Zangyack than Deboth. But I prefer if we get another Enter or Kyuuemon.
Strangely, there doesn't seem to be a mentor or support figure except the quirky animal-pretender.

And Tusk. Tsk, you're so cliche.

 

[Dr Kain]

Aside from being rushed, it was pretty enjoyable. On the other hand, the minecraft mechs need to go.

 

[RobotCaveman]

Seemed a bit rushed, sure. But that's the way Sentai has been trending the last few years, so I'm not too bothered (or at least surprised) by it. Not a huge fan of how the main guy (name escapes me) just happened to know how to use his suit's power, main weapon, and mech without any issue, not even like a throwaway line like "the cube is like giving me instructions" or whatever. Still, I'm going to stick with it for now to see where it goes.

 

[TheNoMoreHero]

I really like this episode.
- First the bad, or my problems with this episode...
1. Not a fan of Zyuoh Eagle single-handledly beating the MOTW. I liked that he would be the one to take out the jetpack mooks, since it makes sense, but then it went in to him summoning his sword and easily beating the monster which turned me off slightly.
2. More of a nitpick, but the morphing really bothers me. There are too many steps and it feels like it takes to long before the actually transformation. OOO's had this problem where Eiji had to tilt the belt, put in three medals, scan, then transform. Hopefully, they work on the fluidity, but again a super minor nitpick, especially compared to Kyoryuger's samba morphing.
- Lion feels more like the Reds of recent years compared to Yamato who seems more down to earth albeit panics easily. I kinda wish it was him who had a problem with Zyuoh Eagle since lions are typically seen as the leaders in sentai and prideful.
- The suits and cube animals look really good in motion, and so does the role call.
- Overall, this is the best first episode since Go-Busters.

 

[Aoi Kurenai]

I actually don't see this episode as being rushed, though I can see how people are getting the impression. Yamato's not just the main character, he's the guy whose eyes we see the world through and I think because of that we're supposed to feel as overwhelmed as he was feeling in this episode. I also feel like we already know a fair bit about our red this year - he's eager, interested in nature, and is quick to think of others. For a first episode, this is fine.

The answers to every dilemma just get magically solved by the Cubes. No work put into getting answers at all. Even Tusk suddenly having a conflict with Yamato feels forced.

We don't really know a whole lot about Tusk's personality to say what kind of character he will be at this point, but he was definitely more reserved and guarded in this episode.

But either way, I think they just needed a quick and dirty way to get those human faces involved without spending too much time. My hope is that this is alluding to their cubes actually being a much more powerful force than just a transformation device.

Eh, they paid some bigshot choreographer to come up with that dance for them. I think it'll be there all season. The song doesn't do anything for me though so it'll be an easy skip.

It's not just "some big shot choreographer", it's the guy who did the Kyoryuger dance. And man did he ever phone it in here. This thing is so slow and just not all that interesting.

 

[Dr Kain]

Oh, I did forget to mention another gripe of mine. Too much CGI.

 

[Zensrive]

I think the only gripe I feel is the ZyuohKing. It looks blocky and its transformations are not fully spelled out.