#its seiya sunday somewhere

[tzimtzum]

happy seiya sunday to the most romantic thing that's ever happened

[furederiko]

"Go back to being the Big Bro I cared about!" Blood vs bond, true brotherhood is put to the test... only in Kyuranger episode 20.

- As the title suggests, our new episode picks up directly with the fight between Stinger and Scorpio. It's praiseworthy that Stinger wants to settle thing by going solo, to not endanger more Kyurangers. But clearly he's acting reckless all over again. He might be forgetting that technically Scorpio has been powered-up by Don Armage to be a Menaster-level, and a single Kyuranger couldn't stand a chance against one. Basically... it's suicide. His good intention to prevent others from catching fire like Champ backfires too. Obviously, Commander Xiao is heading towards his location alongside last week's away team (minus Balance, who is instructed to handle the Orion), even if their goal is to retrieve the Argo Navis Kyu Globes. At the same time, Kotarou heads out from the HQ, vowing to the nearly-completed Champ to save Stinger. Everyone's walking towards danger nonetheless! - To even out the battle, Stinger poisons himself to perform some kind of... power-up. Antares, is a secret technique passed down in his tribe. It boosts the power and durability, but with the cost of the user's own life. Not really useful, because as I've mentioned, he's no longer dealing with a regular Scorpio. Then again, it gives just enough time for Leo Red's team to arrive, and actually takes back the Puppis Kyu Globe from Scorpio's hand. The baddie spends too much time doing maniacal-laugh anyway. LOL. TRIVIA: Antares is the brightest star in the Scorpius Constellation. It's also the name of Scorpio Milo's deadliest attack in "Saint Seiya", which in a way, works similarly too. Don't act surprised! You know that this show does take plenty of reference from that TOEI Animation series, right? - Oh wait a sec, turns out there's another casualty in this battle *sigh*. Ophiucus Silver reacts quickly and freezes Scorpio with his glare, but in return leaving himself out in the open. So when Scorpio easily breaks the spell... Naga becomes his next victim. Fortunately, he's not as 'bad' as Champ. Not content with that, Scorpio takes his own brother as hostage, using him as leverage for the Kyurangers to hand over Puppis. The Kyurangers (including Kotarou) then discover a secret message that Stinger left behind, via the #29 Capricorn Kyu Globe. Describing the side-effect of Antares, Stinger is committed to sacrifice himself to prevent his friends from getting hurt. Clearly, Kotarou is angry to hear him doing such selfish act and runs off into battle. Lucky is thinking the same thing, because he believe they can't give up trying to save Stinger. - But since this is Tokusatsu, before they can even figure out what to do, the new fleet of Consumarz lands on Earth. Scorpio even broadcasts Fake-News putting the blame for Earth's destruction to the Kyuranger. Oucch!! Looks like someone has been studying under Mr. Trump...*sigh*. Balance continues his work to babysit the Orion, as well as three of its injured member (Garu, Raptor, and Naga), while Xiao and the others depart to confront Scorpio. Their mission, to rescue a comrade, and hopefully Earth at the same time. Can they do that, while Earthlings are furiously parading, protesting and demanding the Kyurangers to take the responsibility? - Quick flashback time! Stinger realizes that the search for strength have warped Scorpio's mind. He also feels that his weakness is the cause to this 'devilish change'. Aaawwww. Sadly, Scorpio admits that he have always tried to be strong for his sake only. Not for others, not even for his little brother who used to look up to him. And then he poisons Stinger into a Zombie. Dang it... evil prick is EVIL! - Speaking of evil prick, the Earthlings are pretty much the same. Kotarou tries to reason with them, to bring them to their senses, but it's no use. These jerks start throwing rocks and things at the team instead! I don't know about you, but this is a moving scene. Spada being a gentleman by shielding Hammy from the mob. Lucky preventing them from injuring Kotarou, who is one of their own. And then he reminds the boy, who's embarassed to see how pathetic his own kind is behaving, that they do it just because they are scared. What a striking metaphor to the situation we're dealing in real life right now! Because yes, many times people discriminate others who are 'different' due to their own hidden internal fear. It's indeed a powerful moment for the team. - Draco Commander has to take care of the giants (two Indavers, plus a Consumarz later on) with Chamaeleon Green and Dorado Yellow using Ryutei-Oh (hey, there has to be a mecha battle somewhere, right?), so it's up to Leo Red and Ursa Minor Skyblue to deal with Scorpio. Nope, correction... Scorpio and Zombie-Stinger! Of course, the division is to be expected. Leo Red deals with Scorpio, while Ursa Minor Skyblue tries to break Stinger from the brainwashing. - The latter is the gut-wrenching one, because clearly double-jacked-up Zombie-Stinger is way too powerful for the youngest Kyuranger to deal with. Zombie-Stinger is beating Ursa Minor Skyblue senseless! But that doesn't faze Kotarou. He's determined to save Stinger, because Stinger is "the big brother that I'm proud of!". Holy camoly... GOOSEBUMPS. The chills of seeing Kotarou evading Stinger's attacks to inject an antidote... is indescribable. Not unlike Stinger, he'll do anything to get his Big Bro back! And that HUG... wow, I think some smoke just gets in my eyes. - Also, it's truly a brilliant touch to have the presence of Champ's Kyu Globe serving as the final piece of the puzzle (spoiler alert... the robot's waking up!). Particularly because Stinger is currently in the position of complete opposite to what Champ wanted him to do. This is where an outspoken person like Lucky fits right in. Sure, some would argue that Stinger hasn't necessarily had a good amount of team-bonding moment with the band to justify his view on 'friendship'. But do consider the camaraderie they've developed during those many off-screen missions. Beside, Stinger is pretty much the average Japanese-tsundere of the team. It makes sense that he's hiding his true emotion underneath the 'cool' facade, right? After all, the message of this episode is, 'You are stronger because you have friends'. In my opinion, it's conveyed nicely...

Overall: Kyuranger is not a flawless show. Many times it's great, sometimes it's really good, and other times it's just okay ('okay' and not 'bad', the lowest score I've given so far is still above 7). It's as fluctuative as my mood swing... and/or my financial condition. Yet when it's involving emotional beats? It hits all the right spot, and delivers with flying colors. The story might be focused on Stinger, a closure to his solo arc. But I believe Kotarou owned it, and turned it into his focus episode! He's totally the MVP, as his actor demonstrated one-heck of an amazing acting chop. For real, those emotions overflow? Aaaah... the FEELS!!! This boy's definitely going places after this, you can count on it. Balanced with intense and fierce action sequences, the question of morality, and the message of sacrifice for friendship... this was undeniably one of the series' finests. Next week: Curtain call for Scorpio! Back in Black!! And the Immortal Bird arrives...!!! PS: After the episode, there was a Summer Movie campaign for #18 Herakles Kyu Globe. It was then followed by the first official commercial for Phoenix Blade & Phoenix Shield, packaged with the #12 Phoenix Kyu Globe! Over-Time didn't include them in their fansub, but it's not wrong to say that three new Kyu Globes actually debuted last Sunday. One more thing, starting in October, the Super Hero Time will have a new air-time, and that includes the Super Sentai franchise. TOEI announced yesterday, that "Uchu Sentai Kyuranger" will be moved from 07:30AM JST into 09:30AM JST. I know that October is still 3 months away, but you might want to update your schedule accordingly right away...

Episode 20 Score: 8,4 out of 10

Visit THIS LINK to view a continuously updated listing of the Kyutama / Kyu Globes. Last Updated: July 2nd, 2017 - Version 2.06. (WARNING: It might contain spoilers for future episodes)

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

[furederiko]

Kyuranger is dancing its way to build teamwork! Groove it out, only on a Winged-Horsed episode 6...

- Now that the prologue episodes (as officially confirmed by TOEI) are behind us, it's time for the real work to begin. We get a quick reminder of what the Malistrates and their Planetium-sucking Conzumars are doing on Earth. There are at least 12 on the map shown in this episode, thus making the planet's liberation as their first priority. Our MotW is Malistrate Denvil, who apparently has a penchant for organized rule, and... uhm, calisthenics. - But before they deal with that, Hammy proposes to assign a Leader for the team. And well, nominates herself. This heats up the team, because Garu thinks Lucky should take the position. In the end, everyone aside from the carefree Balance and Spada wants to be in this 'election' too, so whoever nails the first official mission will get the part. With Dorado Yellow and Libra Gold not in the race (among the current away team), things get quite hectic among Leo Red, Lupus Blue, and the ever competitive Chamaeleon Green. Particulary between the latter two who VERY easily get into arguments. - That's when Commander Xiao sends the Pegasus Kyu Globe to assist Leo Red (through a rather inconvenient and ineffective method IMO). Intriguingly, it's not some passive Kyu Globe like we expect. Heeee? It SPEAKS?! Yes, it's actually a sentient being that calls himself Mr. Pega (VA: Masaki Terasoma, who's famous for voicing Kintaros in "Kamen Rider Den-O"), and immediately attaches itself onto Leo Red's torso. Sure, this isn't the first time in Super Sentai (Shishi-Oh much?), but it makes for a fine twist. As a supposed 'power up', Mr. Pega enhances Leo Red's speed and attack power... but not through the 'usual' way. After all, he's actually acting on his own free will, completely taking over his host body's control! Bouncing around recklessly. So not exactly a power up, huh? LOL. - Oh yeah, by the way, we finally get the official All-Star Opening Sequence now. Stinger is among them, without his desert coat too (parading that khaki-colored shawl underneath the Rebellion jacket, and that black leather pants)! So the odd gaps are no more... though for some reason, there's a huge empty space right next to Dorado Yellow. I wonder why? Hmmmm. Quick trivia: Did you know that the opening theme song "LUCKYSTAR" by Tomohiro Watano (of Project R.) is currently sitting on the Oricon chart's Top 10? THAT's how popular it is. Carry on... - Who would've thought that Commander Xiao had a heroic history with Mr. Pega, huh? His story sounds too outlandish though, that it's beginning to become... a little difficult to believe. I mean, that paper theatre is saying much, right? My goodness, I'm in love with Naga's 4th-wall-breaking reactions. Comedy GOLD! - Lucky is considering the winner of the challenge and is appointed as leader. But even Mr. Pega doesn't believe he can handle his teammates. Yep, our heroes stand no chance against the neatly-coordinated minions (and Earthling slaves) of Denvil, so Commander Xiao proposes them to have... a DANCE practice. Huh? Well, what do you expect from a dancing maniac, eh? Aside from Stinger (who is lucky to be somewhere on Earth), everyone has to participate in the training hall! Yes, the Orion has one, which is a neat little thing. But using what dance number? Their very own "Kyu Globe Dancing!" by an Earth-based singer Tsuyoshi Matsubara of course. LOL. And as suspected, their first attempt turns out to be a huge hillarious mess. Because they simply aren't in sync with one another. - Speaking of the ending theme, I've listened to the full version of the theme songs from the recently released Single. And well... this track is a good example of how the TV cut sounds MUCH enjoyable than its full-length. At least, for me personally. I thought the song would go all out with the speeding-tempo bit, but alas that only happens in the final chorus. So if you ask me, the full one is not that much recommended, because it's a bit of a letdown. Stick to the TV Size if you're already into it. - Stinger runs into two assassins while searching clues to why Earth is so special. Ikagen (VA: Yoku Shioya) and Madako (VA: Eri Kitamura, the voice of Juri Han in "Street Fighter"), who are obviously based on squid ('IKA' in Japanese) and octopus ('TAKO' in Japanese). Ikagen is the more interesting one, because he keeps including the word 'Ika' in his speech. Reminding me of that particular Kalos Pokemon. Judging from the Jark Matter emblem they are carrying, these two MIGHT be Malistrates/Menasters, though to be a Menaster they have to represent a constellation like Eridrone. So that's not confirmed for the time being, and even Stinger thinks it's much wiser to evade them. - While Lucky continues to 'have fun' with the practice (building bond and trust with Mr. Pega, which can be seen on a separate clip), Hammy and Garu give up and walk out from the training. They think it's a waste of time. Thankfully, because of this, they get a brief personal time to have a heart to heart moment. Specifically, the main reason why Hammy insisted on becoming the Leader, and why she has been 'distant' towards Lucky all these time. I'm loving this. This is a good example to why conflicts are necessary in storytelling, because it enables characters to grow. In this case, Xiao makes Hammy realize, that she has misunderstood Lucky's primary virtue. SWEET! A very splendid morale message as well, to not judge a book by its cover. Too bad we can't see more of the guys practicing in their pajamas though... LOL. - "Kyu Globe Dancing" vs "Denvil Calisthenics", which one would win? The answer's obvious: the power of teamwork. Then again, seeing the Kyurangers fighting in tune of a disco music is trully an exciting thing, right? Makes you want to shake your body and groove along. Thanks to this, Mr. Pega even earned his own roll call: The Dancing Star, Pegasus Leo Red. That finisher "All Star Pegasus Impact!" looks neat too, because it's a team attack, and not a one man show. Once again, breaking the habit of the power up formula. - But what else can Pegasus Kyu Globe do? Giving a temporary virtual armor and wings for Kyuren-Oh, enabling it to perform "Kyuren-Oh! Pegasus Break! Super Galaxy!". Yeah, in case you haven't realized it until now, Mr. Pega is clearly a nod, or at least inspired by Pegasus Seiya of the "Saint Seiya" series. I think the shape and color-tone of Pega's armor would easily remind any Saint Seiya fans towards the iconic Pegasus Bronze Cloth. It's even more interesting, when we recall Seiya's deep friendship with Shiryuu who dons the... Dragon Bronze Cloth. Remember, Commander Xiao is undeniably a Dragon! No wonder he has had history with Pega... - Anyway, Xiao pulls off a rather irritating surprise after the battle. Claiming that Mr. Pega has sacrificed his life in the battle. For a minute there, I actually gasped! Thankfully, that's totally NOT the case, because Pega's just feeling tired and wants to get some sleep. LOL. I can't help but wonder if we'll get to see more Kyu Globe acting like him, though? That would make a fine plot for the future. Not just Xiao, Lucky also has something on his sleeve to surprise the others. What's that? Showing his selflessness, by refusing to be a de facto leader. Why? Because "every one of us is a star". Well said, boy! No wonder I just can't dislike this guy, even if I wanted to. Let's just hope the writers feel the same way too, and will not turn Kyuranger into another 'Red Member Show' like past seasons. For now at least, Lucky and Hammy are sharing the ending dance's spotlight...

Overall: It might sound weird, but this episode is totally my favorite so far! It was nothing but pure delightful fun, and I had genuine grins and laughters throughout the episode. Whoever wrote this, did a truly commendable work. A power up episode that really didn't feel like one, and one that put teamwork at the center instead. Key component to this episode was none other than conflict, because friction helped built trust and teamwork. Yes, some members like Balance, Champ, and Spada took a back seat, but the rest managed to shine in their own unique way. With various kind of engaging personalities clashing, the Kyuranger definitely feels like a winning team! Here's hoping we get to see more conflicts and frictions in the future. Because inline with what Lucky said, every one of them deserve to be the star... Next week: A Balance-d Birthday! One that might require a doctor... a Game Doctor!

Episode 06 Score: 8,5 out of 10

Visit THIS LINK to view a continuously updated listing of the Kyutama / Kyu Globes. Last Updated: March 21st, 2017 - Version 08. (WARNING: It might contain spoilers for future episodes)

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