Oh hey, they didn't cram a mecha fight into the first episode. IIRC that's the first time that's happened since Kyoryuger five years ago?! Instead we got a more chilled scene in the middle to slow things down between the action set pieces.
Neither Red is screaming a catchphrase!
Neither of the girls are trying to be OTT cutesy. Lupin Yellow doesn't stand out as an idol trying ating like so many guest stars have in the past. If anything she seemed more natural than average for a Sentai actress.
The Lupinranger's roll call sequence was really cool. I hope it's not a one-off now they have it as stock footage.
The camera work for that final fight was amazing! Though there was something a bit weird about it; I'm not sure if it's just something like a different lense or if they'd messed with the speed?
I really like the music that plays as the Lupinrangers go into action, though I do wish it was performed on actual instruments instead of synths. I'm not sold on the actual opening theme yet but I'll wait to see it with the OP footage next week.
It would have been nice if the Patrangers had been given more equal time. It is a VS series after all. Yet it was clear from the marketing that Lupinranger was going to be the focus of the season so I'm not really surprised.
The Lupinrangers seem to think the VS Changers are part of the collection, yet they need to unlock them with the Dial Fighters' safe-cracking ability to use them. I wonder if it will turn out Kogure stole police tech?
Finally, it was odd not having an ending theme in this episode.
Rumour has it that's not a one-off, and this is the series when Sentai follows in Rider's footsteps and ditches the end credits. I guess it is kind of a shame; It would have really suited the show to have had something like the Dekaranger ED.
There seems to be something glaringly cheap about civilian scenes recently. It could be just me though. Something about that casino scene reminded me of a kalish/neo saban era power ranger episode.
As I mentioned in the OP, I presume it's a re-dress of the Gangler hideout set because it was a location we'll never see again (and the walls, wall-mounted lights, red carpet etc all looked similar to the Gangler base). I guess it's tough to rent out a real casino for the day - they'd probably make more money from being open to customers as usual.
Lupin Blue couldn't be more cookie cutter "cool blue" if he tried.
He kinda seems like that, but it's been a while since they've done that. The last attempt was AoNinger, and he was such a tool I want to disqualify him and say we haven't had one since Gokaiger. So most of the kiddies watching will have never seen a trad "cool blue".