Space Shogunate Jark Matter has taken over Earth and all 88 Constellation Systems of the galaxy. And The Rebellion is the only group taking up the challenge to fight against the oppressors. Right now, The Rebellion includes Hame, Spada and Champ who are able to morph into Kyurangers using Kyutama and a Seiza Blaster. Supporting them from their spaceship Orion, is Raptor 283.
Now on Planet Kurotosu, the three of them must rescue the civilians from Jark Matter’s attacks. Raptor reminds them they can’t get too reckless in battle until all nine Kyurangers are assembled.
With perfect timing, a young man named Lucky crash lands right in the middle of the battle. Seeing what’s going on, Lucky enthusiastically helps.
The Kyurangers bring Lucky onboard the Orion. Spada feeds him delicious food he’s cooked and Raptor fixes his space cruiser. Lucky explains that he’s from the planet Ruusu and is on a journey to see the ends of the galaxy. Champ and Hame are very amused by him.
Raptor then explains that they are The Rebellion and the Kyurangers are nine heroes chosen by the Kyutama to save the galaxy, according to legend. They have three so far and must find the other six.
Lucky happily offers to be the 4th. He takes a Seiza Blaster and says he’ll find a Kyutama himself.
Meanwhile, Jark Matter shogun Don Armage orders Eridron to get rid of the Kyuranger pests getting in their way.
Lucky has hopped onto his cruiser and reaches the Planet Jagujagu. But it seems that Raptor has not completely fixed his ride as it crash lands once again.
Lucky is greeted, very forcefully, by Garu who has a Kyutama! Garu is very hostile to Lucky, but Hame, Spada and Champ step in to calm things down.
Garu brings them home and they explain the Kyutama to him. He tries to activate it, but nothing happens. Anyway, Garu feels like it’s futile to go against Jark Matter anyway. Lucky comments that Garu’s weak resolve is why the Kyutama has not chosen him. Garu does not take too kindly to Lucky’s words.
Eridron arrives in Jagujagu’s orbit and orders the Indaver footsoldiers to kill the Kyurangers any way they can, no matter how big the collateral damage.
Lucky and Garu have taken their fight out to the beach. Garu tells Lucky not to pick a fight when he’s not strong enough. But Lucky counters that if Garu is so strong, why doesn’t he fight.
Garu says he did fight, alongside his own people. But their foolish fighting resulted in his entire people being wiped out. Lucky understands Garu’s pain, but says that is only more reason to fight.
Lucky gets up and spars with Garu some more before finally landing a punch right at Garu’s face. Lucky tells Garu that he’s basically got his back in this fight, no matter what.
Just then, the Jark Matter forces arrive and begin attacking. Hame, Spada and Champ morph. Lucky joins in the fight as well, but Eridron decides to target this new arrival.
Lucky gets dragged and tossed into space by one of the Jark Matter Moaider spacecrafts.
Lucky starts to freeze up, but he won’t let this be the end. His resolve awakens a Kyutama! He hops on one of the Leonid meteors to take him back to Jagujagu. And on his way back, he uses the new Kyutama to morph into ShishiRed.
The addition of Lucky fires up the other Kyurangers and they are able to finally get a leg up on the Jark Matter Tsuyoindavers and Indavers. Just then, Raptor calls to say Orion is being attacked.
Hame and Spada hop into their Voyagers and fly up to help the Orion. Lucky manages to summon his own Voyager.
Champ is now alone on the ground fighting off the remaining Indavers, but he’s in trouble. Garu thinks about Lucky’s words and decides he wants to fight against Jark Matter. His Kyutama lights up. He grabs a Seiza Blaster and morphs into OokamiBlue.
Champ and Garu work together to take on the Indavers.
Up in space, Lucky manages to dock both Hame and Spada’s Voyagers and attack the Big Moraimarz carrying Eridron. An embiggened Tsuyoindaver takes them on and knocks them back towards Jagujagu. But Champ and Garu arrive in their own Voyagers and they also dock allowing them to form KyuRen-Oh.
In their brand new robo, the Kyurangers take care of the big Tsuyoindaver on Jagujagu’s moon.
Raptor welcomes both Lucky and Garu as the newest official members of The Rebellion. Everyone’s funny.
Meanwhile on the planet Jigama, two guys see the new Kyuranger team on wanted posters.
Episode Thoughts
And Kyuranger begins. I thought it was alright. It always takes a little bit of getting used to when a new Sentai season comes around. Especially when that new season has a bunch of unique elements to it as Kyuranger does.
Similar to my first impression of Ex-Aid, I felt like this premiere was very loud. There was just so much stuff going on both visually and with all the effects and catchphrases (LUCKY!!!!!!!!!) and toy sounds. Eventually, Ex-Aid either calmed down or I got used to all the extra stuff. Though I think they did tone down all the video game stuff after the initial set-up. So I am hoping things will calm down on Kyuranger as well.
Speaking of, Lucky has definitely made a big first impression. I think he can be a fun leader. But after a relatively normal Yamato, the fact that our Red is another hyper, overcaffeinated guy is only magnified. I mean, there really were too many “Lucky”s in the episode, you’d think Lucky Supermarkets sponsored the show. It’s definitely a character quirk, but it’s already gotten to be too much in just one episode.
In another nitpick, the narration said Jark Matter has taken over all of the galaxy, but Lucky’s never heard of them? Especially when he seems to listen to the galactic radio station while enjoying his trip. Is his planet not under Jark Matter control?
The parts I enjoyed the most were the glimpses at other worlds. They all took a lot of CGI work, for sure. But I definitely appreciate the effort and seeing these fantastical new worlds is a big plus and fun. The mecha are also creatively different. It will be interesting to see if we’ll get an all-CGI battle at some point.
Overall, I think they could’ve slowed down a little bit. And they didn’t even introduce all the Kyurangers yet, but it still felt very full and rushed. It was an okay start, but definitely lots of room for improvement which could easily come when things settle down.
Oh and I don’t even know where to start with the ending credits song and dance. lol
Okay, that “Yosh! Lucky!” is a tad too annoying for my taste. Hope they tone this done later.
On the other hand, I like the attempt to give the series with a large-scale feel to it that the premise needs. Those panning shots showing the environment and how many Jark Matter mooks are there is just impressive. I hope they continue it althroughout and not skimp on the world-building shots.
On the other hand, for this episode at least, I like how the mechs and ships have a proper sense of scale. Haven’t seen them doing that since Go-Busters. And speaking of the mechs, this is probably the smallest sentai robo on record, considering the size of those globe cockpits in relation to the actual robot. Also, I like that little detail of the cockpit seats swiveling and acting like inertial dampeners every time the mechs get hit.
I really enjoyed those shots as well. I hope they continue that throughout the season.
Their Voyagers and how they work with the mecha are also very interesting and creative. Hope to see fresh takes on that as well.