28 / 29-
- I like the heroes being able to run into monsters so randomly, it sends home the feeling that they're actually all over the place and really makes the ninja theme seem that much more awesome.
- Hey, American flag in a cowboy town, I wonder what that could mean!
- I have to wonder if Sho looks back on beating the crap out of Kane and enjoys it, what with their feud and all.
- Oh man this is some really weird English. They never do hire Americans to play Americans, do they?
- Annnd there's the big reveal we've been waiting for! Really makes Jiraiya's story pretty tragic, I'm surprised that they gave it to him and not Sasuke or Tsuruhime since it's odd to think of red's not getting the best stories.
- Sentai needs more guys who can fire balls of energy.
- Oh man, seeing Sasuke come out of nowhere with that gun in a cowboy town is hilarious.
- I think it would have been cool if Sasuke didn't transform, but I guess it just shows how much stronger Gali really is and gets Jiraiya ready to fight him without hesitation, especially once Jiraiya himself learns Gali's the one that killed his father.
- That weird...laser pushing scene was...odd.
- They really love showing us the death of Jiraiya's dad, don't they?
- Hot damn, Jiraiya's really on top of things once he grabbed those claws.
- Man, you really gotta feel for Jiraiya. First his dad is killed, then he finds out the guy who took him in afterward was the killer and is out to killer him. It's no wonder he broke down and couldn't kill him off.
- That is...an unfortunate crash scene.
- So everyone basically gets a tragic story here, Jiraiya loses two fathers, Gali gets sent into servitude for Nue and then does the only thing he can to get himself out of it after training Jiraiya all his life for it -- lets himself get killed. Even if Jiraiya didn't deliver any singular decisive blow, he did accomplish what Gali wanted him to.
- And everyone's back together, yay!
Would have been neat to see Nue taken out by the new formation rather than just the pieces, but it does show how freaking strong these things are.
And now back to that city in the sky no one has done a thing about!
These episodes are not for everyone, but I love them. I think you really have to be into martial arts films in general to appreciate them for what they are – basically abbreviated martial arts films. These two episodes give us a lot of standard cliches in that are of film, the dead family member, betrayal, search for a great item of power, and a pretty great fight scene. Sho and Kane have some great chemistry on screen, I've got to wonder whose idea it was to bring in Sho to play Gali, I'd like to thank that person because it really worked out wonderfully. The presentation could be a bit floppy, such as the scene that shows us what happened to Gali's daughter, but I really like it for what it is. I'm always fond of those episodes that don't have a lot of transformation and in suit fighting for some reason, especially in Sentai, they feel a bit more special and stand out to me because of that and these episodes shine through thanks to that, you get to see how kickass Gali is supposed to be and you get a pretty viscous fight scene out of it.
In general, this was one of the more "man, sucks to be you" set of episodes I've seen Sentai give us. No matter what happens, someone was going to have to give up something dear to them, and in the case of Jiraiya, he had to do that
and learn he was lied to all his life, all sorts of conflicted feelings going on right there.
Thus the first arc of the second half of the series finally comes to an end! The heroes have their scrolls and their new mecha and now they have to deal with that pesky city in the sky problem. This entire arc was probably my favorite from all of Kakuranger, it accomplished everything it needed to. The team encountered problems that gave them new resolve to protect people and keep the fight going, as the title of this half of the series implies, they're all gone through some of the toughest fights they've experienced and things are just beginning.
30:
- Back to the castle! Time to bring that city down since no one else wants to do it.
- God Logan, you shall forever look weird in battle to me.
- Some guy dressed in white armor, who ever could this be?
- Well I'm sure Tsuruhime didn't expect that. Time for another fatherly bond to crash and burn!
- These brothers show up in every tokusatsu I see these days.
- The good professor returns from...wherever the heck he's been!
- Hot damn, Junior's got himself some daddy issues.
- They remembered the random kids, yay!
- Yeah. They're in trouble. He is kicking ass and taking names.
- Into.A.River. Why always into a rivier?
I am loving this string of two parters, they all seem to take the story somewhere and really serve their purpose quite nicely. Hakamenrou is decked out in some very nice looking armor, would have been interesting to see the rangers get a power up along the lines of that.
31:
- Sandaiyuu for the save! Nice to see him a bit more useful for once.
- Ohoho, he's been keeping the truth from Tsuruhime.
- Yeah, Tsuruhime, don't transform and help or anything, it's not like he's getting his ass kicked by the second strongest demon in the world.
- Well now that's a pretty brutal death. I didn't actually expect for him to be killed off when I first saw the show, he seemed like one of those happy go lucky guys that would always be safe.
- Ooh, a new toy. That thing looks pretty toyetic, but still kinda cool.
- Junior's got himself a power up, guess everyone can tell he's about to bite it.
- I have no idea WTF was up with Junior's death energy thing
- Oh, Yugami, your death was like your role, short and pointless.
- This is actually a pretty sad death scene for a character I didn't care for too much, loved that bit of him reaching out to Hakamenrou.
- Hey, the Kunoichi, haven't seen them in a while.
And he's back! End to a really good set of episodes and I love how much of a game changer it seems to be for the show, old characters out and new ones in, and in totally unexpected ways as well.
. It's chocked full of Absurd weirdness, like the Ghaom Zone from B-Fighter. I recall there being a PR Dino Thunder Episode like this too (Trapped in a Comic plot device).
