#and surprisingly only half of them are larry! would you believe that lol

[neondiamond]

.

[furederiko]

The penultimate episode of Zyuohger is here! And obviously, it's also "The Last Game"...

- "The Zyuohgers defeated the Immortal Azald, an ancient enemy of the Zyuman race.", that's how the intro narration begins. While it sounds awesome, it also undermines the threat of the finale greatly. If the team can deal with a powerful ancient enemy that easily, one who almost obliterated Earth in the past and forced the Zyumans to build their own civilization, then surely Genis should NOT a problem, right? That's the logic pretty much anyone can draw from it. But let's laug... I mean worry about that later, because the team is talking about something else. - Yes, Yamato and his daddy issue. It seems Amu has decided to share about what happened to the others. Not surprisingly, this time the scene also confirms who I claimed to be the second best character yesterday. MISAO! After Amu, Misao and his desperation to please others is clearly the most empathic member who can notice small details from his newfound friends. To read and figure out what's going on inside their head. In this case, what's behind Yamato's facade. - Sadly... interruption! Of course there would be one. And this time it's Genis announcing his Final Game: shooting the arrow part of his Sagittariark (NOW we all get it why it is shaped like a bow and arrow!) to infuse his cells on Earth. That does sound... ominous. But what exactly, is the side effects to all this? Earth turning into Dethgaliens? Nope, explosions everywhere. So... okay, I guess? Though I'm not sure if it's... effective. You'll see why. - Oh hey, the Zyuohger vs Ninninger Versus movie scenes have been dropped from the opening. It has reverted to the 2nd version (with Misao's inclusion). That makes sense, since we only have two more times to see it. Enjoy it while it lasts then... ahahaha. - Who would've thought that Genis has an army of G.I.F.T.? I thought that thing was supposed to be his secret weapon! Oh well, as that lousy 4th Transformers movie has proven, mass-produced ones usually aren't as strong as the original. And don't forget, the original was easily defeated by Wild Zyuoh King (episode 11), while the stronger custom made G.I.F.T. 2.0 was thwarted like bugs by DodekaiOh (episode 31). So once again, shouldn't be much of a problem. - Wow... I thought for sure that Bard would bite the dust during the finale. Like sacrificing himself and all. I mean, that's the deathflag he's been waving around (since episode 45), right? Turns out it's merely a cop-out. Instead, Larry makes a very conscious action to actually prevent that from happening. He prefers them to use their heads and think of another way to protect Earth. NICE!!! As in, not as predictable as it might seem. Bard totally dodged a bullet right there! Then again, no need to kill him off when it's doubtful that audience nor the other characters are deeply emotionally invested in him. On the down side, looks like we're never going to see that 7-members roll call again though. A one-time-only (episode 45), one-hit-wonder! LOL. - While Larry and Bard are doing something with the Link Cube, and the other Zyuohgers are desperately fighting G.I.F.T.s, Yamato is... finally having a private personal talk with his father. Yes, finally! After 15 years of being at odds with each other. Turns out, it's a classic case of parent-child problem. Parents are too busy that they don't have time to care and listen for kids, while the children are feeling abandoned and too heartbroken to be able to tell them how they feel about it. Classic lack of understanding, miscommunication, and false assumptions in both parts. The good old "I just wanted to be loved" scenario. Unsurprisingly, it's a very common issue in a workaholic country like Japan (and Dr. Kazakiri's occupation doesn't help). It might seem like a SMALL problem, but of course it's NOT. Because more often than not, it's usually all these little things that snowballs into something major. - Hmmm... after giving it some thoughts, this sidestory DOES send a good message to our audience. Problem is, to who? Will the child-aged audience understand the morale? Perhaps in a 'respect your parents' way, and that "You're never alone" bit. But if you ask me, I think this works A LOT better as reminder for parents. The question is, are they watching this show together with their kids? It IS a Sunday show, so that's a possibility. Here's hoping that's the case. Nevertheless, I still have issues with it, and particularly concerning the 'timing'. This feels like a plot that should've been cleared out several episodes ago, not during the three final episodes. Seeing Yamato off doing his own separate and unrelated story, while the others are united to deal with the endgame, is frankly quite annoying. Somehow it feels like lately, Misao has taken over Yamato's position as the core of the team (though that's not necessarily a bad thing, since he's better written. Beside, their combo attacks look amazing!). - Anyways, the father and son bond is... somewhat fixed. A little too easy and too quick, I'd argue, but the point is, that's one lingering plot solved. The main root of the problem here, is that both are too stubborn to just tell how they feel nor apologize to one another. Even waited 15 god-darn years to properly talk with one another. Ghost-Mom says it best, "You two are so alike". That's a good morale too... that sometimes you desperately need an outspoken Zyuman to knock some sense into your stubborn head! LOL. All's well ends well for them, so... yaaay for Yamato. - Wait a sec. I see what the writers are doing here. Larry's plan apparently correlates to Yamato's story. His very risky idea to use the Link Cube to protect Earth, with the cost of severing ties to the Zyuland completely, rhymes well with the whole 'connection' theme. Should you selfishly return home, while cutting off your ties with Earth in order to save it? Or stay behind and remains connected, and defend this world by thinking of another way? Considering 'connection' IS the theme of the show, the Zyumans' reactions are more than obvious. When simpleton Leo even hesitates on his answer, that basically gives it away. I mean, of course they would REFUSE to do Larry's plan! Not when their noble mission to unite the two worlds has NOT even started. As Tusk boldly sums it up, "From now on, we intend on creating a new status quo for relations between humans and Zyumans". Something the show should've focused through its 2nd half, IMHO. - There's one interesting bit I have to point out here too. Yamato says something intriguing, in response to Tusk's words. No, not the "We'll create a world where they can come and go.". Nor the "There's bound to be disagreements... and even injustice! But... as long as we're connected, we can always start over! That's why... I don't want our worlds to be further apart." bit that feels a little too coincidental with the immigration issue that's currently happening in the US. It's the part where he says "For the sake of our world and others'...". OTHERS? Considering the follow-up season will bring a team of heroes from 9 different planets/worlds, is this speech a conscious referral to them? Hmmm... that would be a great twist! - In the end, Larry's grand idea remains the way it is. A passing few-minutes conversation soon to be forgotten. Turns out, there's a MUCH easier solution to the problem. Something that the Zyuohgers even figure out on the fly (so, nothing more than on whim!). Yep, by pulling the wired-arrow down, so that the Sagittariark will instead crash on Earth to its doom. Ignoring the fact that the ship's impact might go all "Avengers: Age of Ultron" on Earth, bringing countless of innocent casualties along the way (do they even know how BIG that ship is? nope!), our heroes decide to go ahead with this act. And obviously, they succeed. I meant, what do you expect? - And... See? Despite his threatening effort, Genis just doesn't work as the big bad. He himself basically allows his own ship to become vulnerable. Told you that was not an effective move, right? This pales in comparison to the Zangyack in the finale of "Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger", with a threat that felt real and dire. And to think that they were NOT a great antagonist too! What should've been a devastating and apocalyptic Final Game is thwarted just like that. Plus, with both Naria and the entire Sagittariark as the price. How DUMB is that, right? - Speaking of Naria, that minor plot of her with Leo (episode 42) turns out to be just another unnecessary ruse. A non-clever one too. Which is another good case of a great potential being thrown away to thin air. Not to mention, the quick-thinking Dethgalien suffers through the worst curtain call in the show's history. Being blasted to death while only trying to prevent the Sagittariark from being dragged down? Ouch!!! At least sends her off with a memorable bang, but nooope. The Zyuohgers practically ignore her on land by directly launching Wild Tousai Dodekai King to deal with the arrow, and worse, Genis doesn't even show compassion or at least remarks for his loyal secretary's demise. Her death's practically his own fault! VERY disappointing. She and Azald are clearly victims of the writers' clean-house attempt, so my condolences for them. - Since we still has one episode left, of course Genis survives the crash. Anyone want to bet that the final battle with him next week, will only take half of the running time? I hope so. I believe the show's in dire need of a proper epilogue to at least end it in a good note...

Overall: This COULD have been a better penultimate episode. Had someone else and NOT Genis be the final boss. Not only his supposed-to-be-apocalyptic 'Final Game' felt... underwhelming, it failed miserably and backfired in a massive way too. If that doesn't count as stupid, I don't know what does. It all came down to the weak writing, of course, as Genis' threat was almost always mentioned and rarely shown. We've seen what Bunglay, Kubar, Naria, and even Azald could pull off, but not Genis. When his Team Leaders posed bigger tensions both psychologically and physically, that's a fatal error, right? The only memorable bit I could think of him, is how he's always been this sweet-talker super-optimistic big boss... who rarely did anything significant aside from sitting comfortably on his throne. And up to this episode, it stayed that way. The build up for him to be the most threatening Dethgalien just never hit the ground running, thus this 'Last Game' emitted a stake that was more than just minimum, it felt... EASY. I still haven't recovered from the 'odd timing' criticism I've mentioned above, so to be honest, I'm no longer expecting much for the finale. I can only hope that it'll offer a hopeful and sweet epilogue to the story's main theme. That's all. Next week: FINALE!!! And it's a private game session with Genis...

Episode 47 Score: 7,2 out of 10

All images are screencaptured from the series, provided by the FanSubber Over-Time. "Doubutsu Sentai Zyuohger" is produced by TOEI, and airs every Sunday on TV-Asahi. Credits and copyrights belong to their respective owners.