#and the idea of orion being like the narrator stuck with me

[furederiko]

Never let the darkness take away your light! Shine on it... Shine Bright! Don't believe me? Just ask Garu and Balance...

- Thanks to that tearful incident with Scorpio, the team is down to 8 members once more. Which is... as I've said before, the maximum number to form Ryutei Kyuren-Oh. Oh, by the way, since I got really emotional on my previous recap-view (and also almost a week late), I forgot to mention that Kyuranger has officially entered its 1/3 point! NOTE: Optimistically assuming that this season is going to have at least 50 episodes, that means we still have around 33-34 episodes to go! 50 is a rather rare case though, since the past seasons have all ended below that number. Zyuohger ended at 48, Ninninger only had 47. Gokaiger was the last title to end with a heaping 51 episodes, and that was probably due to the Anniversary season's insane popularity. Rightfully so... *grins* - Garu narrates the intro, and he doesn't sound happy. He wants to locate Carina Kyu Globe right away, for Champ's sake. Balance on the other hand, thinks that rushing things up isn't good. Suffice to say, a conflict is at play between them, which is good, because Pyxis Kyu Globe hasn't finished recharging. Meaning? Side mission time! - One that involves... a 'Dome of Darkness'. Yeouch! That sounds ominous, though a bit Megaranger-esque somehow. But the theme of this liberation mission is about 'Dark versus Light', and clearly a parallel to gloomy Garu and bright bubbly Balance. Oh hey, surprise surprise, it's also about the #SUN/MOON Shining Kyu Globe. Putting the neat two-in-one design, it's a Kyu Globe with an ability that... even Commander Xiao isn't particularly sure about. LOL. - Since the untested gadget has yet to arrive from Rebellion HQ, the away team is sent out to scout the area first. The team members are Kyulette-ed, and it's a two females team again... Yaaay!!! How can they enter the pitch-black dome? By using Hammy's ninjutsu ability to enter the location from underground (I wonder what would happen if she wasn't picked by Kyulette then?). Not long after they arrive, suddenly the dome turns reaaaally bright! Bright as day. What is happening? And then... zombie workers?! - Apparently, day and night are being manipulated freely inside this dome, so day-time takes around 22 hours while night-time is only 2 hours. That's the reason why the workers haven't gotten proper rest and looking like... zombies. But how come nobody is complaining? Because they fear for the... invisible Malistrate Shaidows. Lucky can't hold back his badmouthings for Shaidows, so he experiences first hand (and actually, several times more... later on) getting strike down by the Malistrate's unseen force. - Unable to see their enemy, our away team is easily scattered away. Obviously, Garu gets stuck with Balance again (it's their focus episode, right?)... as they land on a garbage dump. Ouch! This bickering duo doesn't waste time and gets into a spat due to their polarizing personalities. Garu loses his patience and walks away because he thinks Balance is wasting time. Balance might seem laid-back, but secretly he's already devising a plan... by hacking through the surveillance camera. That's definitely Libra all right! LOL. - Meanwhile, the gang back on Orion is unable to contact the away team and starts to get worried. That's when a familiar face appears... on the monitor. Kotarou!!! Aaah, it's been 4 episodes since the last time we saw this boy. Is it just me though, or he's looking slightly... older? Perhaps the haircut? Darn, kids nowadays grow up so fast, eh? Kotarou's role is to report that the Shining Kyu Globe has been delivered to the Orion. He also offers an update about Champ and Stinger's condition... and it's NOT encouraging. The former hasn't been reassembled yet, while the latter is down and depressed about it. Aaaaww... *wipes tears away*, even Kotarou feels bad. - The problem in hand now, is HOW to deliver the Shining Kyu Globe to the away team. And well, Xiao has an... 'idea'. Gotta admire that whimsical confidence... as ridiculous as it may be *sigh*. Back on Earth, the team is reunited, and Balance surprises Garu by revealing what he's been up to. Garu's opinion about him starts to change. The team then immediately observes the footage that he has acquired. Turns out, Shaidows attacks from below, but... once again, how? Is he a speedster? This is where Garu offers his own plan. - LOL, that must be the silliest roll call (and mock-fight) I've ever witnessed so far in Super Sentai! Like seeing the kids of "Crayon Shin-chan" taking over the show with their... juvenile attitudes. Exaggeration mode aside (...;p), the point is to lure Shaidows out, so that Balance can analyze his attack pattern. And it works! Shaidows isn't a speedster, because... he moves around between shadows! Wait a sec, I wonder why nobody (including yours truly) realized this much earlier, when the answer is already hinted all along... by the Malistrate's very own NAME?! Aaarrggggh... - As to be expected, the solution to this, is the Shining Kyu Globe. Which has arrived through Draco Voyager Delivery! Leo Red uses the new produc... I mean item's Solar Mode, and transforms into The Shining Star, Sun Leo Red. The one with... 'bed-hair', according to Aquila Pink. That Spanish-sounding BGM though... *grins* SWEEET!!! Using the "Shine Bright!" ability, Shaidows (whose shadow lurking skill is rather creepy, if you ask me) can no longer hide in the darkness. And I don't know why, but Libra Gold gets powered up as well. If we count glowing and being nut... er, I mean hyperactive, as one, that is. Hmmm... perhaps because Balance is powered by solar energy? - The Darkness Dome is destroyed alongside Shaidows' Consumarz. And it is revealed that the actual time of day is NIGHT. That means... yep, time for Lunar Mode now. Thus, The Moody Star, Leo Red Moon debuts. Seriously, Spanish accoustic before this, and now Middle-Eastern-sounding BGM? While I fail to see how this Kyu Globe will be useful in future episodes, I'm TOTALLY loving its sound effects. Also, this mode affects Lupus Blue by giving him... a serene power up. As in, turning him into a sophisticated, classy-French-talking, and elegant version that makes the others jawdrop in awe. Werewolf Lupus Blue is definitely what we can call as... COOL!!! Hold on, Leo Red is acting all calm and gentle as well. And that's something. God, I think I'm in love with this Moon effect... XD - "Solar! Lunar! Total Eclipse!" is the Shining finisher, and my oh my, how it looks so darn stylish! But enough praising, time for mecha fight. Since Draco Commander has succeeded in... crawling out of that small hole, the honor is given to him and his Ryutei-Oh. This time, he's having Libra and Lupus Voyager as its arms! I don't know about you, but I appreciate the fact that this show isn't abusing/overusing Ryutei Kyuren-Oh on a weekly basis. It feels nice to have shake-ups like this every now and then. - Spada's Space Pizza! Thanks to understanding one another through this mission, Garu and Balance are buddies now. They are getting along really fine, so fine that their chit-chat suddenly feels a little... yaoi-ish somehow (nope, not talking about sharing the ending dance spotlight). And Pyxis is all recharged! That means, it's high-time to track Carina. But hold on, apparently the Kyurangers aren't the only one targetting that object. Because Scorpio is also commanding Madako to obtain it...

Overall: Every now and then, a Tokusatsu show needs to sell merchandise to keep it running. This was easily one of those occasion. In general, it's an okay-to-good episode, can even be categorized as filler. Unlike Pegasus Kyu Globe that expanded the world a bit, the Shining Kyu Globe was rather... pointless. Sure, you could say that it boosted the power of two other Kyurangers, but the limitation to that number was also a glaring question. Why not have the effect on the other Kyurangers as well? On the other hand, this SUN/MOON power up was still quite impressive on its own, especially as a spectacle. It exceeded my expectation, and helped made the second half of this episode really interesting and fun to watch. What I also really love about it, is despite being another power up for Lucky, the episode itself was (once again) NOT about him. In fact, it's a funtastic bonding episode for Garu and Balance instead, and I totally don't mind getting more of those... Next week: Police. Sheriff. Rebellion. An Ultra-Rare Intergalactic Gathering!

Episode 17 Score: 7,6 out of 10

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