#but hey!! trying new things is important and that includes pose practice lol

[weaverofink]

Young Justice outfit swap #3!! Impulse and Secret, who I have no real rationale for grouping together other than I thought it would be fun

[queen-of-hearts92]

Revue Starlight 6: Take me baby, or leave me.

Futaba and Kaoruko know the lesbian hand hold confirmed!

For the previous episode go here!

To go to the start of these posts, go to the Prelude!

Here we go again with theater gays and oooo this was good! Our local lesbian couple is so good! ;w;

Important note! This meta/write up was written before I saw episode 7! Ok? Ok!

The title of this post is the name of a song from the musical Rent. I honestly have mixed feelings on that musical but the songs are still great. And the song is sung by the local lesbian couple in that musical! Uwu

(Tho they have much bigger issues than our local lesbian couple lol.)

>And if you give a damn, take this summary or leave me!

(Yeah that was a lame joke lol)

The episode starts in the past with a baby Kaoruko and Futaba! Baby Kaoruko has run off so  Baby Futaba goes to find her, and find her she does. Baby Kaoruko is posing for photos for people saying how cute she is. Baby Futaba picks her up with her bike and the two stop at a river so Baby Kaoruko can eat. Baby Kaoruko complains about her frequent dance lessons and declares she’ll join another family to get praised more, she looks excitedly at Baby Futaba. Baby Futaba is not amused. After asking if she has money to ride trains, Baby Futaba is like “oh well, guess I gotta leave without you and tell your folks you’re leaving. Too bad, really liked your dancing.” Baby Kaoruko quickly changes her mind, gathers her things and hops onto the back of Baby Futaba’s bike saying let’s go home, and lists off things she wants her future girlfriend to do for her. In exchange, she’ll show her the most sparkly place in the world. We then jump to the present, Futaba and Kaoruko are getting ready to fight a duel. And now, we find out how we got here. Er, after the opening of course.

Look!! At!! The babies!! So cute!

We go to Mahiru scolding Hikari over being messy and that she needs to put things away if she lives in this room. Hikari is embarrassed. Karen comments that Mahiru is like a big sister and she’s like, well. I am one. We then go to the three walking to school, local lesbian couple pulls up on the motorcycle. Futaba wakes Kaoruko up via taking off her helmet, this surprises her for sure. It also surprises Karen!

Karen relates to people so easily she even feels the eyebrow pain.

Kaoruko complains about how Futaba wakes her up and Futaba is like then wake yourself up. The group is joined by Nana and Junna, Junna is like “wow you guys have been early lately!” Futaba says they aren’t gonna lose to the other sleepyhead (Karen) and Karen is like YEA-wait what?! Next we go to tap dancing class, which is a thing they do at this school (wow they going for ALL the theater arts here), and Claudine and Futaba are partners in that. The two seemed pleased with their routine. Kaoruko stands next to Maya and is suprised Futaba was doing really well and Maya waxes poetically for a moment about that and then is like “well we can’t fall behind can we.” And Kaoruko is like wha.

SHE! TINY! SHORT! BLESS!

We then go to everyone lined up in the classroom, the first round of casting for the main characters has been done. There will be more rounds so this isn’t the final casting. They post it and, every girl we know makes it BUT Kaoruko. She’s pissed. Futaba tries to reassure her that she’ll get another chance but nope, Kaoruko goes straight to the stage crew to complain. She yells at the head writer, Sanai, and Sanai is like “ERM. Well uh.”. Luckily the director, Ameniya, steps in and bluntly tells Kaoruko off saying Kaoruko’s acting sucks and she’d be no use to this play. We cut to Futaba and Kaoruko chilling in a practice room, Kaoruko complains about the rejection while laying on her girlfriend’s lap. She then asks Futaba if she doesn’t get into the play if she could have her part. Futaba doesn’t give an answer and instead keeps drinking her juice box.

We then go to later that night, Kaoruko exits the bath area and is like “honey I’m ready for a foot massage!” but Futaba isn’t in the room. She’s outside practicing her tap dancing routine with Claudine. Claudine tells Futaba she’s improved a lot, then Kaoruko comes in like “yOU’RE HIDING FROM ME?!” and Claudine and Futaba are like oh shit. Kaoruko is like this is why you’ve improved so much?? An Futaba says she training with Claudine because she wants to keep improving, Kaoruko accuses Futaba of stealing her spot on the cast list. Claudine is like whoa whoa hey. But Futaba snaps and tells Kaoruko off, saying she isn’t going to give up her role cause it’s HERS and she earned it! Kaoruko is like fINE IF YOU THINK CLAUDINE IS SO GREAT WHY DON’T YOU JUST BE WITH HER! And Futaba is like FINE I WILL. And we cut to Futaba rolling to Claudine’s room and says “I’M SAYING HERE FROM NOW ON!” to the shock of the crowd that gathered after hearing the two of them arguing. Kaoruko stomps away pissed.

I saw you with Kuro-han last night! K-Kaoruko it’s not what you think! I won’t hesitate bitch!

The next morning Futaba is riding her motorcycle to school alone. Kaoruko on the other hand hasn’t made it past the front porch, luckily Nana and Junna are here to look out for her. We see throughout the day Futaba is doing just fine but Kaoruko is struggling. In the evening she complains to herself about her day. She grumbles saying “Futaba I’ll make you speechless!” she then recalls the duels, she goes oh yeah I can be a star that way! But then she remembers she has gotten her ass kicked, a lot. She instinctively calls Futaba’s name but then she remembers her girlfriend isn’t here. So, she. Hatches a plan.

The next day Kaoruko has told the other girls she’s leaving the school, much to Karen’s distress. Karen cries and begs her not to go. The other girls also try to talk her out of it but to no success. It isn’t their attention she wants after all.

Later that evening Kaoruko is packing, Futaba has come to the room and asks if Kaoruko is serious about leaving. Kaoruko is like yup I sure am have fun with Claudine and shit. Futaba asks if she has train money and if she knows how to ride the trains, she says yes and then Futaba says ok, bye then and leaves the room. Kaoruko is annoyed.

Futaba is now in Claudine’s room and plops onto the bed sighing, Claudine is like welp I guess she’s serious about leaving. This could be a good opportunity to bloom on your own. She says that Futaba is good enough alone to keep improving and get on the main cast list. We then have a flashback to middle schoolers Futaba and Kaoruko, Kaoruko is like hey we going to this fancy academy and Futaba goes what. We go back to the present and see both Futaba and Kaoruko in bed looking troubled. The next morning, Kaoruko is leaving and the other girls are here to see her off. Karen clings to her legs and cries, still begging her not to leave. Kaoruko is like, nope sorry I’m leaving. Then Maya suddenly approaches her and drops some needed advise, saying that someone who has people looking up to them or people who chase after them so to speak should strive to be their best for their sakes. Maya wishes her safe travels and Kaoruko leaves, Karen is still crying while Mahiru hugs her.

Kaoruko is then at the train station and dwells on Maya’s words. Hopes Futaba will come and stop her. For quite sometime, she doesn’t come. The train arrives and then ta dah Futaba is there. Kaoruko is happy at first but jumps back into anger being like HMPF what are you doing here? Futaba is like, cut this crap out I know you too well for this leaving thing to work! The two start arguing and then, their phones go off. It’s dueling time!

We arrive on stage and Futaba and Kaoruko give their introductions. The set is traditional Japanese style inspired, this is the Revue of Promise. In a dojo, while Kaoruko is in front of a dragon and Futaba is in front of a tiger, the two argue again. Giraffe comments that the revues have gotten increasingly personal. The two start physically fighting. Futaba reveals that the reason why she wants to improve is to catch up to her, to go to the place that shines like she promised when they were kids. They stop fighting and Futaba says that the other Stage Girls have been doing their best to keep improving no matter what, and that’s what she’s doing too. Kaoruko is effected by her words, she laments that she didn’t get Maya’s words til it was too late. She says Futaba deserves to be on the main cast list and decides to use her weapon to cut her cape off much to Futaba’s alarm. Kaoruko says Futaba is blooming and she isn’t. As she tries to do so, Futaba runs to stop her but. Kaoruko misses, on purpose. She’s happy Futaba finally tried stopping her, she thanks her and the set falls away to a new very pretty one. Kaoruko repeats Maya’s words and her and Futaba have one final charge. They clash, Kaoruko wins and flowers explode everywhere. With their relationship patched up, the two hold hands and the audition duels ends.

FUCK YEAH FLOWERS! FLOWERS MEAN GAY! HELL YEAH!

The next day, Kaoruko sits by Futaba’s bed all ready for school including helmet as Futaba wakes up. This startles Futaba, I would’ve screamed lol. We see the other girls waking up and that Futaba left a thank you gift for Claudine, which is a bunch of candy and Kaoruko left one for Maya which is...one candy. Well Maya seemed to like it anyways. Then the two girlfriends ride off to class on the motercycle, Kaoruko is like let’s be number one in the world together! Futaba is like sounds good and then the episode ends.

I for one accept our new lesbian overlords.

Or....That’s where this episode would normally end. But. Not this time. Not at all.

After the credits, odd circus like music plays. We go down to the underground stage and, Nana is there. Chilling on the stage, with a script right next to her. Giraffe is in the audience. Nana says that things are pretty different this time, and this needs to go back on script. The episode ends on this creepyass end card.

JUST NANA. JUST NANA. JUST NANA.

>Let’s go lesbians! It’s discussion time!

-I liked the Dragon Tiger thing, shows yin and yang with Kaoruko and Futaba!

-Mahiru scolding Hikari omg, she’s right though. Hikari is very messy! We can see that in episode one! Though not picking up after yourself is also a sign of depression….welp.

-Karen was a fucking treasure this episode, adorable. The eyebrows screencap is still funny.

-Maya made a friend omg. I hope her and Kaoruko hang out after this episode, their dynamic seems fun!

-I love that Maya got so excited over getting the one candy like she’s such a dork I can’t handle it!

-Kuro is such a fucking good sport, she let Futaba stay in her room while the spat was going on like what a good friend.

-Maya saying that someone who has followers or people who look up to them or people who chase after them so to speak should strive to be their best for the sake of those who follow. With Maya having Claudine always wanting to chase after and eventually pass her, this basically confirmed that Maya strives to be the best for Claudine's sake! Fuck my heart oh my god, Maya you romantic motherfucker gdi.

-I liked Kaoruko and Futaba’s progression a lot. A type of relationship like theirs is a tough one to balance. Kaoruko is a spoiled princess and Futaba has been happy with spoiling her and doing what she asks. But as time goes on Kaoruko has come to depend on Futaba so much that any of Futaba’s dreams and ambitions get stamped out. It was only a matter of time this sort of lovers quarrel happened.

Futaba has discovered she has a passion for the theater and seeks to improve herself and forms a friendship with Kuro who has tons of drive to want to do better and so Futaba learns from her. As a result Futaba has started changing herself for the better but Kaoruko hasn’t changed at all and still expected Futaba to do whatever she asks. Hence a conflict develops when Kaoruko notices the change.

What kicked everything off really is Kaoruko not getting a role in the play for the first audition round, but Futaba did. Kaoruko not changing lead her to fall behind pretty much, and that makes her mad and frustrated. So when Futaba isn’t in their room like she normally is and instead practicing and hanging around another girl, it’s the last straw. An argument ensues, it seems like it lasted all the way to the dorms cause there's a whole crowd of other girls in the hallway so the arguing was so loud it disrupted the entire dorm. And I imagine all the other girls are like ??? cause Futaba and Kaoruko never have fought like that before.

So then theres a separation period, Futaba camps out in Kuro’s room and the two don’t speak to each other. Unsurprisingly, Kaoruko is struggling greatly without her girlfriend to help her all the time. This makes Kaoruko even more frustrated and she very stubbornly refuses to change still because at this point she doesn’t understand that Futaba was tired of being in her shadow. Being the drama queen that she is though, she decides to dramatically leave so Futaba would chase after her. It doesn’t really work cause Futaba knows her girlfriend too well. And then they used the audition duels to talk it out basically (or fight it out same thing lol). The conclusion was basically them having a more balanced relationship and it was all very very sweet.

-Change is quite a common theme in the show. This episode, Nana’s issues, feeling stuck in life, the need to change the theater system, etc. I’m excited to see where this theme takes us!

-Futaba is so short it’s adorable! Like! So smoll! I love her.

-Futaba and Kaoruko very cute, I’m happy they worked out the issues in their relationship. Such sweet girlfriends.

-The duel arena was lovely!! Fucking awesome!

-Hey recall the crew members who talked with Nana last episode? Well that’s the script writer and the director! The one I called Crew member two is Kiriko Sanai, she’s the director. The one I called Crew member one is Shion Ameniya! They are called by their last names so I will also be referring to them by last name. Are they dating? Maybe, we just don’t know.

-Junna: Wait so I’m in a magical stage arena where physics don’t matter right?….I’m gonna pull off some real arrow bullshit hell yeah.

Listen, I love Junna lol.

-So saw repeat stages, does that mean any girl can use any kind of stage? Hm.

-That paper for the Starlight play, it said the Starlight Gatherer again! What’s the deal with that?! WHO IS IT?! Why are they gathering Starlight?! What the fuckkkk?! Also! Now we know the other roles are goddesses too! Still! Fuck!

-There’s something wrong with Nana Daiba, very wrong. After the credits rolled we not only got an after the credits scene but a bizarre end card on top of it. Our past six end cards have all been white but this one was not only yellow but had Nana’s name written everywhere! And it looked like the writing was written or drawn, like in her notebook. Her just chilling on the underground stage was also weird, especially the music playing while she was there. It was, a bizarre creepy circus tune that we’ve never heard before and when a show plays something they’ve never done before then that means they were saving that for a reason. There’s also the fact that on the OST cd that just came out there are seven different versions with different girls singing of Fly me to The Star, but number seven has no one singing. It’s just instrumental. Um. Anyways, Nana then talked about changing the script, getting it back on track. And that, is scary. What does she mean by that? I’m nervous...I’ll talk about the giraffe stuff in the speculation section.

>*Ominous giraffe shaped cloud rumbling in the distance* Ahaha what the fuck.

-For awhile there's been people speculating that Nana is really Giraffe, I dismissed it as something silly at first. But now, there's edvenice mounting up that Nana is at least connected with Giraffe in some way! So, here's how I see it.

While I don’t think that Nana IS the giraffe (that’s a bit out there for this show methinks) I think it’s very possible that they have a connection.

So I’m still very convinced that Giraffe is a Qilin or a Kirin as it’s said in Japanese (kirin is used both to describe an actual giraffe and the mythical animal). And the important thing to recall about them here is that Qilins/Kirins are sometimes shown to be familiars to gods. Now I’m not saying Nana is a god or anything but it’s possible why Giraffe is here is because he is here for Nana. He is her familiar, that’s why they have visual similarities. If he does belong to her that would explain the little pink bow on his tail. Also Nana uses two katanas which can be representative of a Kirin’s antlers.

I theorized a while ago that Giraffe, with Qilins/Kirins being protectors, is here to protect the girls from whatever is really going on with the Top Star/Heavenly Tiara but maybe he only came in the first place because Nana asked him to or that just Nana is here so he is here. He sits with Junna because Giraffe knows she’s important to Nana.

I also believe that Nana’s real role in the auditions is an enforcer of the system. In the stage version Hikari is working with the antagonists as their spy/instigator, maybe in the anime it’s Nana who is allied with the system hence she can come and go into the stage freely. Maya may be a symbol of the system but Nana makes sure people “stick to the script” and Karen has disrupted this script for too long. I don’t think Nana does this out of malice, it’s because she’s so scared of change and wants to preserve the past so badly that she is willing to do whatever it takes to push the Starlight play back where she wants it. Even if that means knocking down whoever is in the way of that or having her familiar around.

I know it sounds weird guessing that Nana has a pet mythological animal but, I find that the most likely explanation that isn’t Nana and Giraffe having similarities is purely symbolic but that could also be the case too.

And I gotta mention, so Nana’s color is yellow and giraffe’s are yellow and brown and bananas have those colors too right? Well Nana does have brown on her, in her stage outfit her boots are brown and she’s the only Stage Girl with brown boots. Ex: Mahiru, Maya, Junna. That’s…pretty wild man.

-As for Nana’s role with the auditions, here’s what I’m thinking. In the stage musical Hikari is working for the antagonist/the system at the start. I'm wondering then if in the anime Nana is the one alined with the system? That's why she can go to the underground stage whenever. She's its enforcer so to speak, and she doesn't do this out of malice but because she's so scared of change and wants to preserve the past so badly that she is willing to do whatever it takes to push the Starlight play back where she wants it. Even if that means knocking down whoever is in the way of that.

For quite sometime now, Karen has been openly defying the system and in this episode it was legit used by Futaba and Kaoruko to vent and sort out their relationship. But that's not how its supposed to go, so Nana is here to set it back on course. She'll be fighting Karen to do just that cause it really did all start with her, take Karen down and bam problem solved. I was wondering when the system will start getting tired of Karen's open rebelling and I think that time is very very soon. Ah poor Nana, hope she'll be ok by the end.

-We are halfway through this show and we’ve established a solid status quo, we know all the girls pretty well. We've seen them happy, understand their relationships and all. So when a show does this you know what that means? It means it’s time to break the status quo! Most shows/storied have a tipping point, where everything goes to hell in a handbasket. And I think for revue starlight, episode 7 is that tipping point! The odd end credits, the odd end card, the Fly me to the Stars thing, and the fact that the Japanese Revue Starlight twitter didn’t post a preview video is what is telling me this. If I were writing this then I’d chose episode 7 or 8 as the tipping point. The build up leading to this has been very excellent! I’m very nervous/excited because since episode one there has always been a ominous feeling, like there's something dark and nasty lurking behind the scenes and we’ve been waiting for the other shoe to drop, and I think it’s dropping next episode. Are we ready for it? Uh, I dunno. I’m flipping man, I haven’t felt this energized about an anime in awhile! Like, man. Dude. Omg.

>*Jaws theme intensifies*

Loved the episode! It was lovely in every way! But, this post is shorter than usual because of the incoming episode. I can’t get my mind off of it, gdi I want it to air asap! But, gotta wait. Soon!

See you on the Banana stage in episode 7!

[furederiko]

The 2nd episode of Kyuranger paves way for an intriguing Duo of Thieves!

- Our episode opens with "The Space Shogunate, Jark Matter has designated the insurgent force Rebellion's Kyurangers..." Wow. Looks like the Shogunate is controlling the media as well, because the news comes up really quick. LOL at that bounty photos. Even Lucky is showing a "For real?" expression on his headshot. Hahaha. - As hinted last week, we get to see two more core characters of this show. Namely, the golden-colored robot(?) Balance (VA: Yuuki Ono, whose image song as Wen Yang in "Dynasty Warriors" series is to-die-for), and the silver-haired humanoid Naga Rei (Taiki Yamazaki) whose name might be derived from 'Nagareboshi' that means 'Shooting Star' in Japanese. Gold and Silver? Yep, that's a bit on-the-nose, eh? Both of them are already introduced in the opening, so not really a surprise. This duo is located in an industrial planet called Planet Jigama, and are inhibiting contrasting personalities. Hmmm... - Hooo... interesting! Raptor is briefing Lucky and Garu about the Jark Matter's... pyramid organizational structure! We actually always had this in past titles, but I think this is the first time it's been charted so... neatly. Above the cannon fodd... er I mean Combatants, there are Malisters (Daikaan in Japanese) who are essentially the MotWs. In higher rank, there are Menasters (Karo) who represents the 88 constellation systems (That's A LOT). And on top is Don Armage himself as the Shogun. I think the more important part would be that top-left part, the "Lecture by Raptor 283", because she IS acting like a lecturer. A strict one at that. I told you last week that her personality would clash with Hammy's, and well... it's happening already. LOL. We need more of this internal conflicts! By the way, Over-Time has changed Dorado Yellow's naming from Sparda into Spada (as well as Planet Jagama into Jigama, and Malicestrate into Menasters), which might be more appropriate. So I'll be following suit in my reviews. - Updated opening sequence! Lucky and Garu are in it now. Judging from the preview and the pattern so far, we're going to get the complete (9 Kyurangers) version come episode 5! Hey, I just noticed the sequence actually includes scenes from this episode too. Hope this trend continues. Oh, and yeah, the Lacerta Kyu Globe (Tokage/Lizard) has also debuted in this episode! During the CM that is (Kyuranger Choco!!!)... LOL. - Dumb Lucky is trusting people TOO easily. I'm considering to call him Dumb-Luck from now on. In case you're wondering why Balance and Naga call themselves as BN Thieves, that's simply their initials put together. All those colored-skinned aliens reminds me of "Guardians of the Galaxy", but this diner scene also easily reminds me of Star Wars' Mos Eisley. Does this mean the BN Thieves are nods to Han Solo (or should I say, Duo)? I used to think that way last week, in that Naga might be serving as a Han-esque figure, while Balance as his Chewbacca. But it seems I might have been inaccurate. In fact, Naga's lack of emotion might be a nod to a particular Marvel's movie character instead: Drax the Destroyer! Then again, he also has that lack of social knowledge, that makes him feels like... a robot? A clone? Okay, hold that thought. Turns out everyone in his silver-haired planet also LOOKS the same. Creepy. Like, "Children of the Corn"-level creepy. By the way, Naga's actor looks so MUCH better without that silver wig. It's amazing the effect of make up to people, right? - Dumb-Luck is also very naive, isn't he? Or perhaps, too... optimistic? But that's why I can't hate him, because he's basically acting like a little brat. Speaking of personality, Balance is VERY lively. And he's sleazy too. I LOVE HIM already LOL. He reminds me of Hondo Ohnaka from "Star Wars REBELS". The fansub might not reflect it, but he has a habit of spouting slang and/or making wordplay in his speech. Like that line "Nice to meetcha!"? In Japanese he actually uses the word 'Shiku-yoro' instead of the spelling-correct 'Yoroshiku'. Perhaps, this is his character's signature style? He makes a fun pair with Naga though. One half who doesn't know how to express emotions (and longs to obtain ones), the other is expressing a little too much (without caring for other's emotions). There's a hint that Balance is just using Naga though, so I can't help but wonder how the two of them get together in the first place? Hmmm... - We have a big cast, and that's a fact. Which is probably why, the transformation and stylish roll calls are incorporated in the battle. I like this approach. Of course, this goes for the Kyurangers who are not taking the spotlight. In this case, it's the other Kyurangers beside Lucky, who plot-wise, are put to the side. That's both the advantage and disadvantage of having a big cast. - Our MotW is Malistrate Gammetsui, who seems to be based on... a turtle? Salamander? He's the boss of Jigama, and he's interested about the Kyuranger's 50 million bounty. But the team is divided into two, so which one will he target? Lucky for him, it's Dumb-Luck's team. What about the other team? Eridron (who shoots arrows, obviously, since he's from Sagittarius) himself deals with Spada and the rest. This is just episode 2, but already a Menaster is on the front line? And forcing our heroes to run for their life? NICE. After all, it's 9 Kyurangers against... the galaxy *sigh*. - Great Gawd, Dumb-Luck triggers the alarm on purpose, and calls it LUCK *smh*. He sees the good in everything, doesn't he? Holy twist, Balance actually SELLS OUT Lucky to Gammetsui. That's 'GOI-SU'!! (FYI, 'Sugoi' means 'Awesome', but you've probably known that already). All for the sake of the blue-colored treasure he's trying to steal. Technically, he's acting like the episode's 2nd MotW, much to Naga's dismay. Hence, the part where Naga chooses to be a 'friend' for Lucky and betrays him, gives Balance the shock of his life. Worse that that, Lucky actually believes that all these are merely Balance's plan? He IS that naive, eh? Wait till he knows the truth... - Which won't happen. LOL. Of course, Balance's conscience wins over him, thus he chooses to rescue Naga. It seems they are connected with a bond that's stronger than... wait a sec?! Why do they remind me of... C3PO and R2D2?!! OvO... Anyways, thanks to this rescue, we get to know who, or WHAT exactly Balance is. He's a machine organism who has the ability to control other machines. Basically, like the antagonists of "Chouriki Sentai Ohranger". Hmm... it'd be great if he is from one, right? Because that would make both series canon. Naga on the other hand, has the ability to freeze enemies just by glaring at them with his glowing green eyes. A neat nod to Greek Myth's Medusa, perhaps? - Balance wants to team up with Lucky to get loots, and also emotions for Naga. So definitely NOT in this to play a hero. He blatantly says this goal outloud, and Lucky's okay with it! I think it's good that these 2 new members have their own 'selfish' goals to be part of the Rebellion. In fact, we need more heroes who function in grey-areas like these. And nothing's wrong with that, because hey, they have awaken their Libra and Ophiucus Kyu Globes JUST because of that. Random trivia: in the recent 13 Zodiacs concept, Ophiucus is also a horoscope sign just like Libra. It's closely aligned after Scorpio, which will have a representation in this show very soon. - Yep, Balance and Naga are the focus characters, so they have the rights for a full transformation and roll call sequence. #4 The Trick-Star Libra Gold and #6 The Silent Star Ophiucus Silver make their debut! Before you complain that Leo Red is tagging along, do remember one thing for the sake of being fair: he hasn't had the chance to do these properly last week! XD. And yes, though many might be annoyed with it, I'm loving Libra Gold's dandy atttitude and attention-seeker poses too. It makes him stands out and... unique. At least audience would be worried that Naga might be in some bad company! Hahaha. Also... LOL at that not-so-subtle Kyu the Weapon's sales promotion. But never mind that, because the cool group finisher "All-Star Crash" is genuinely cool. - First 'earth'-based mecha battle and also first shot of the enlargement method for the show's MotW. Looks like all Jark Matters have the ability to do this, with the help of that weird Empire's symbol. I'm liking how Libra Voyager and Ophiucus Voyager have two forms, the spaceship one and humanoid. And the way the two practically kicks Chamaeleon Green and Dorado Yellow out of Kyuren-Oh? LOL to that. They even have their own finisher, the yo-yo slam "Kyuren-Oh! Trick Break! Super Galaxy". Due to the limb-changing concept, looks like TOEI can't rely on stock footage for the mecha's transformation and final moves this season. I hope this means we'll be getting a variety of new combination every week. - Since they have officially joined the team, Naga wears the Rebellion's uniform, while Balance? He gets a new paint-job. The best part of this closing scene, is already we're seeing personality clashes. The easy friction between Hammy's manner of speech with Balance, or how Balance and Spada seems to be on the same 'dandy' page. Whoops, that's not the closing scene. We get a quick glimpse of the next Kyuranger. This mysterious man (seriously? XD) has an Orange Kyu Globe, but his pendulum looks like a Kyu Globe too, and it's colored... Blue? Hmmm... intriguing! - Ending sequence is obviously updated as well. The BN Thieves are now included, and put center stage. It looks even crowded now, and we still have two more! At least the dance is fun, right?

Overall: This episode introduced two more characters, and more importantly two more different types of personalities. It's going to be interesting to see how they interact with the previous six members (including Raptor). The dynamic of Balance and Naga Rei was more than just intriguing or fun to watch, it evoked questions and mysteries as well. These are great potentials that are prime to be explored in future episodes, and I sincerely hope that will indeed be the case. After all, opportunities to dish out and develop every characters are just too good to ignore. On a side note, we're only in episode 2, and we already have seven Kyurangers. Do you think the plot is moving too fast? I mean, they could've simply made the BN Thieves intro into a 2-parter, right? If the show gathers all its core heroes in just 5 episodes, I wonder how the story will play out in the episodes that follow? Hmmm... Next week: Meet the Dragon Commander! Also, beware the sting of... Dopplegangers?

Episode 02 Score: 8 out of 10

Visit THIS LINK to view a continuously updated listing of the Kyutama / Kyu Globes. Last Updated: February 19th, 2017 - Version 04. (WARNING: It might contain spoilers for future episodes)

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