Recap: Uchu Sentai Kyuranger, Episode 23 – Be My Shield!

Spada and Raptor are still with Tsurugi as he brings them to a Jark Matter TV station in an effort to solve the mystery of Don Armage still being alive.

Meanwhile, Don Armage meets with his three Vice-Shoguns. He orders them to eliminate Tsurugi. Vice-Shogun Tecchu steps up first.

On the Orion, Lucky remembers how arrogant Tsurugi was when he said the Kyurangers were no longer needed. Just then, Champ and Balance call in to say Eris refuses to talk to them and will only talk to Lucky her love. She even slapped Balance.

Lucky says he’s actually not interested in learning any more about Tsurugi.

Raptor calls in to tell them to turn the TV on to the Jark Matter News broadcast. But Tsurugi instead takes over and broadcasts across the galaxy to announce he is the immortal true savior who is the only one who has already defeated Don Armage.

The Kyurangers wonder if Tsurugi’s legendary tales could actually be true. Commander Ronpo tells them all to head down to the station as there might be civilians in harm’s way.

Tsurugi wraps up the broadcast and says they must wait for someone from Jark Matter to arrive. Hopefully someone big. But all they get is Daikaan Mediatsuyoindaver. Tsurugi is disappointed, but he, Spada and Raptor morph to fight Mediatsuyoindaver and the energized regular Indavers/TV crew.

Lucky, Hammy, Naga, Kotaro and Garu arrive. Naga and Kotaro take the civilians to safety while Lucky, Hammy and Garu morph to help out despite Tsurugi saying he doesn’t really need it.

Suddenly, Tecchu comes crashing through the ceiling into the studio. Tsurugi recognizes him. He explains to the others that Vice-Shoguns are the ultimate Jark Matter commanders.

Commander Ronpo says he had no idea they existed. They must retreat immediately after they ensure the safety of the civilians.

Tsurugi, however, doesn’t hesitate to take Tecchu on. Tecchu doesn’t seem to remember ever facing Tsurugi in the past.

Lucky tells Tsurugi to fall back so as not to have Tecchu cause more havoc and endanger the civilians. Indeed, Tecchu is about to hit one of the TV crew with a shot, but Raptor jumps in front to take it herself.

Naga and Kotaro say they’ve evacuated the civilians and they are all ready to retreat.

Spada and Hammy help an injured Raptor as Lucky chides Tsurugi’s recklessness in endangering the civilians. Tsurugi says he can’t worry about those little things. He will not hesitate to make sacrifices like choosing the greater good over a few people if it meant saving the galaxy.

Lucky does not agree with that philosophy. Tsurugi says if Lucky wants to fight with him, then he must become his shield. Who the hell would want to be Tsurugi’s shield? Lucky asks. Tsurugi says all his comrades in the past were his shield and they all made sacrifices to do so. If they can’t do that, then they have no right to call themselves saviors.

Lucky is incensed. The others hold him back, Tsurugi says that being immortal, he is the only one who can complete this mission. Lucky just can’t with this guy. He leaves and the others follow as they head back up to the Orion.

Champ and Balance call again hoping to get Lucky to convince Eris this time. Lucky finally agrees. Back on Earth, Tsurugi repairs Raptor’s injury.

Eris explains Trusugi’s leadership was able to unify the galaxy using his immortality.

Tsurugi also tells his story to Spada and Raptor and says after gaining his immortality thanks to the Houou Kyutama, he decided to use it to unify the galaxy and eliminate war.

But Jark Matter and Don Armage arrived to disrupt that peace. Tsurugi and 88 warriors, one from every constellation, boarded the Argo Ship to take the fight to Don Armage. That includes Orion who gave the Kyutama to Eris and was one of the survivors.

Tsurugi admits that many of comrades died acting as his shield against Don Armage. So he decided to give up his immortality and use it instead as a powerful suicide attack against Don Armage. It worked.

But Don Armage is of course still alive today. Eris says Orion probably foresaw that, which is why he froze Tsurugi in the Argo Ship all this time.

Tsurugi tells Spada and Raptor that they should just stop now and let him handle Don Armage. It’s too dangerous for them.

Eris suggests Tsurugi and Lucky fighting together could probably end Don Armage for good. But Lucky remembers only being asked to be a shield.

Suddenly, Mediatsuyoindaver starts rampaging downtown for some great TV footage. Tsurugi, Spada and Raptor are the first to arrive, but Lucky, Hammy and Garu are right behind them.

“Do you see how weak you are now?” Tsurugi says as the Kyurangers fight the Indavers. Lucky says it’s Tsurugi who is weak since he couldn’t defeat Don Armage even after sacrificing his comrades and himself.

“Are you saying you can?” Tsurugi asks. Lucky says no. That’s why he has his comrades because he can’t do it alone. Teammates are not supposed to be shields. They will all work together defeat Don Armage.

Lucky leads the others in a morph. Tsurugi also morphs.

Tecchu summons a more powerful Metal Deathworm. Lucky and Tsurugi take it on together. The others finish off the Indavers before they gang up on Mediatsuyoindaver.

The Kyurangers and Tsurugi deliver an All Star Crash and Phoenix End finisher at the Daikaan and Deathworm. But afterwards, they both embiggen and the Moraimarz also transforms into its robo mode.

Lucky calls Commander Ronpo and he, Naga and Kotaro head down to help.

The Kyurangers form KyuRen-Oh, RyuTei-Oh and Gigant Houou. The Kyurangers team up to finish off Mediatsuyoindaver together. The Moraimarz folds up and rockets into the sky. But Raptor undocks her Voyager from KyuRen-Oh and instead attaches to its back to be its wings. They are able to fly up into the air to easily destroy the Moraimarz.

Tsurugi is taking on the DeathWorm and is able to outsmart it long enough before delivering a Gigant Houou Blazing finisher at it.

Back on the Orion, Balance and Champ have just arrived. Commander Ronpo says Tsurugi isn’t here because he must prefer working alone. Stinger believes Tsurugi knows Don Armage’s secret. That’s why they need him to defeat Jark Matter.

Lucky says he acknowledges Tsurugi’s power, but he will not be bossed around.

Spada makes Tsurugi some curry.

Episode Thoughts

A really solid episode. It was a very expository episode, but nothing too egregious. It was a pretty typical “Let’s get it all out there and move on” type of episode that one would see on Sentai or Kamen Rider.

I like how things carry over into the next episode. It’s a more serialized style than usual and it helps provide a nice cohesiveness to the story. It’s also nice that things aren’t neatly wrapped up in a single episode. Like here, it looks like the teamwork story will take at least one more episode, if not more.

Tsurugi is definitely annoyingly cocky. No question. But we did see a little bit of that “Let me bear all the weight on my shoulders” mentality pop up in this episode. I definitely hope Tsurugi isn’t a one-note cocky hotshot character. But we’ll see. I certainly don’t want to see the Kyurangers merely act as shields. And I definitely don’t expect them to just lay down and allow that either.

So Lucky was definitely annoying at first. Not the best first impression. But since then, he’s really proven to be a great and motivating leader. He’s certainly laid off the Yosha Luckys, but even back then when he was still regularly spouting it, the show made sure to pair it with some legitimately good leadering from him. This episode provided a few nice examples of his leadership abilities. I’m looking forward to him continuing to stress the importance of the team as Tsurugi hopefully grows and comes out of his initial one-note shell.

We didn’t see Tecchu as much as I expected. I hope we don’t get that One general dies before the next one steps in style. I want to see all three get involved at the same time. Or at least, active at the same time.

Elsewhere, I loved the new exciting, dramatic music that played early in the episode. And the big mecha battle with the panning across the six different participants was great. A fresh scene.

Overall, a good, solid episode.

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