Recap: Kishiryu Sentai Ryusoulger, Episode 22 – The Life of the Dead!?

Seto explains that he was once a member of the Ryusoul Tribe and now he borrows the body of Papa Naohisa so he can speak with them. Seto says Papa Naohisa once broke into the temple where his spirit slept, disturbing his rest.

Seto says he never expected the Druidons to return. But they are not responsible for the dead coming back to life. A Minosaur is causing this. Asuna notices Master Pink acting strangely.

Just then, the Minosaur smashes through the sky repeating “Switch.” Melto realizes it refers to switching the living and the dead.

Suddenly, the Minosaur begins collecting souls again, including those of the Ryusoulgers. But they are able to fight against it. Koh henshins and uses NobiSoul to swat the other floating souls back to their human bodies. But Koh gets dragged into the otherworld by the Minosaur.

Koh tries taking on the Minosaur, demanding it return all the souls. But The Minosaur swats Koh down to the ground of the upside down otherworld. Tankjo appears and says the dead coming back to life is great and Koh should be happy since Master Red can be revived.

Koh pauses to think of the possibility, but that gives Tankjo an opening to attack. Koh is forced to dehenshin.

Tankjo orders the Minosaur to collect more souls to switch. But Koh grabs onto Tanko’s leg, vowing to stop them from ever taking more lives.

Before Tankjo can deliver a finishing blow, ShineRaptor appears and returns Koh to the real world. Asuna catches the falling Koh in her arms.

Koh tells them ShineRaptor saved him and he shows them KagayakiSoul. Seto says ShineRaptor must have deemed Koh worthy of it.

Seto says both ShineRaptor and ShadowRaptor can traverse dimensions. And when combined…

Before Seto can continue, he is forced to exit Papa Naohisa’s body as he cannot stay in it for long periods of time.

Back home, Ui watches as her mother teaches her how to cook her delicious hamburg steak. Mama Yuiko comments that Ui has grown up so well. They share a hug and Ui can’t help but become emotional.

Meanwhile, the Ryusoulgers try to find a location where the Minosaur might appear next.

Asuna has something to ask Master Pink though. She again asks why Master Pink returned and she wants a serious answer. Asuna knows Master Pink joking around means she is hiding something.

Master Pink admits the Minosaur was born from her. But the ability to exchange the lives of the living with those of the dead is horrible. So Master Pink plans on taking the Minosaur on herself. But Asuna says it her responsibility, along with the others as Ryusoulgers, to defeat the Minosaur.

That evening back home, the Ryusoulgers find a big event in the city tomorrow that would be the perfect spot for the Minosaur to collect souls. Towa points out though that defeating the Minosaur means the dead go back to being dead. And that includes Master Pink and Ui’s mother.

Canalo says it is not goodbye as the dead will always live on in their hearts.

On the other side of town, Kureon is able to exchange the lives of three Drunns for Tankjo to be revived again.

The next day, the Ryusoulgers remove all signs for the event so people won’t be able to gather.

The Ryusoulgers henshin and head to the auditorium where Tankjo and Kureon are already waiting. The Ryusoulgers first take on Drunns. The Minosaur makes an appearance and is able to grow a little before running back to hide.

Master Pink tells them to combine ShadowRaptor and ShineRaptor to defeat the Minosaur.

Koh and Canalo summon the Kishiryu and they combine into CosmicRaptor. Master Pink says to combine CosmicRaptor with Tyramigo.

Bamba tells Koh to leave the Drunns to them.

Koh calls Tyramigo and they form KishiryuOh CosmicRaptor, allowing them to follow the Minosaur into the otherworld.

Back at the auditorium, the Drunns are taken care of, but Tankjo steps in to throw the Ryusoulgers around.

Neither Koh nor the others refuse to give up against their powerful foes. Koh says their souls are one and that they must cherish their one and only life.

Koh uses CosmoSoul to gain Cosmo Armor.

Asuna takes on Tankjo, but gets her sword swatted away. Master Pink tosses Asuna her own sword. Asuna grabs it and asks her Master to watch.

Asuna vows to protect everyone. Melto tells the boys to focus their power on Master Pink’s sword.

As Koh delivers a finisher at the Minosaur, so does Asuna and the others at Tankjo.

With the Minosaur defeated, all lives are returned to where they belong.

Before Master Pink returns to being dead, Asuna calls after her. Master Pink says Asuna was always the worst of her pupils. But Asuna had the biggest heart. Never complaining, always smiling. That is why she was chosen to become a Ryusoulger.

Master Pink says she believes in Asuna.

Asuna watches as Master Pink floats up into the sky.

Koh and Melto approach Asuna and they joke around to cheer her up.

Over at Chez Tatsui, Ui is finishing the Hamburg steak when she realizes her mother is gone. A tear runs down her face and she thanks her mother without looking back.

Kureon is also crying about the loss of Tankjo for a third time. Waizuru says Kureon can cry all he wants and offers his handkerchief.

Later at dinner, Ui serves everyone the Hamburg steak she was able to cook on her own using what she learned from her mother.

Episode Thoughts

It was a very simple episode, but I think, surprisingly, very deep and meaningful.

When both Kamen Rider and Sentai play around with death often, resurrecting characters more than American daytime soap operas (*cough*Ghost*cough*), this episode was very refreshing in that it depicted death as something that happens and cannot be undone.

Not once during this episode and last did our main characters actively try to make the resurrections permanent. Obviously, there was a huge price to pay for the dead coming back to life. But even without that detail, everyone acknowledged, especially Ui and Asuna, that while it is wonderful to have their loved ones back alive, that’s just not how things are supposed to be.

With Ui, it was really wonderful to see her character continue to be more serious and grounded than simply being a goofy comic relief sidekick. Her scenes with her mother were simple, but they carried a lot of weight. We learned that Ui lost her mother when she was young. Too young for her to be taught how to cook. So that’s obviously helped shape who Ui is today now that she has grown.

I much prefer this Ui than the one we first met trolling around in suicide forests for a YouTube video.

For Asuna, Master Pink reiterated what I think we already know about her. Master Pink said Asuna wasn’t her best student, but she has a big and strong heart. We’ve seen that play out many times so far. Asuna is always happy and smiling. She’s sometimes goofy and always hungry. But she is also strong and smart. Many times, stronger and smarter than the boys. (And that’s a pretty big deal on toku!) And her big heart allows her to be that positive, determined and strong.

The other characters also got some nice, small moments too. Canalo’s little “they’re always in our hearts” line was great. It’s a sentiment shared by many in real life, of course. But it fit very well for him as a contrast to his lovesick personality all other times.

And Koh’s never give up attitude came into play this episode as well as he fought against Tankjo early on and then against the Minosaur. It was a good leader showcase for him and his positivity and determination also was highlighted well in defeating the enemy.

It was also a great episode for teamwork. They came together well and it would’ve been a great episode to finally combine all their Kishiryu. But alas, that episode is still to come. A solid intro for Cosmic though.

So I went back to refresh my memory on Seto’s first appearance at the end of Episode 2. And it appears he interacted with Bamba and Towa. But then we never saw what happened after they first realize they were being watched. Very strange.

I can accept the idea that Seto possesses Papa Naohisa’s body. But Papa Naohisa acting strange and knowing of all the legends still seems very odd. There’s gotta be something more there than just being comic relief, you know? (I hope there is!)

Overall, this was a pretty great episode with some surprising depth to it. Good character moments all around.