Recap: Kishiryu Sentai Ryusoulger, Episode 34 – The Space Dragon Appears!

As Pricious arrives on Earth and appears before Gachireus, Waizuru and Kureon, the others are trying to cheer up Koh who they think is depressed over Nada’s death. But on their way to help Towa and Bamba against Gachireus, Koh says he’s not depressed. He’s just been thinking about how best to use Max RyuSoul to their advantage since it is so powerful.

Gachireus summons some Drunns which they take care of easily. Koh goes Max and takes Gachireus on by himself. Koh delivers an Everlasting Claw finisher at Gachireus. But Gachireus holds one of the cards Pricious had earlier, seemingly absorbing the attack and allowing him to leave, virtually unscathed.

The others are wowed by the power Max RyuSoul has and they believe they’ve really got the upper hand now.

Just then, an arrow comes shooting through with an invitation from the Elder to the grand opening of his new restaurant Café Que Bom which also includes a pretty girl.

Meanwhile, Gachireus returns to Waizuru’s lair and tosses the card back to Pricious. Turns out Pricious used two of his cards to take both Gachireus and Waizuru’s hearts under his control. That allows Pricious to use the cards to control their bodies, including inflicting pain on them.

The Ryusoulgers arrive at Café Que Bom and Canalo is shocked to learn the “pretty girl” is actually Oto working there as a waitress.

Oto punches Canalo in the gut as Elder comes out from the kitchen to welcome them.

But Elder has more serious things he wants to talk to them about. He warns them that something more powerful than anything they’ve ever faced before is heading towards Earth. Koh remembers Nada’s warning to him from last week.

Elder wants the Ryusoulgers to overcome the Cliff of Trails where knights of the Ryusoul tribe go to train themselves. That Cliff was created by the legendary hero Seto. Once one reaches the top, you enter another world where each person faces a different trial. It took Master Red over a week to complete it while other people never returned.

Elder thinks they will be able to overcome the Trials quicker than that.

Bamba gets up and says he will go face the Trials immediately. Towa follows. But Melto asks if they can stay behind for now because if they all leave for the Trials, then the Earth will be vulnerable especially if something bad is on its way.

Asuna says the four of them should be fine, especially with the Max RyuSoul on their side.

Elder says that should be fine. But Canalo appears worried.

Meanwhile, Towa and Bamba are already climbing up the treacherous cliffs. During a rest, Towa says he is happy Bamba rushed out first. Towa believes Bamba wants to relieve some of the weight off of Koh’s shoulders thanks to the Max RyuSoul. Bamba tries to pass it off as something else, but Towa knows his brother well enough.

Bamba reaches the top of the cliff and Seto whisks him away to his Trial. Seto says he will give Bamba the Trial of Gentleness. Bamba must defeat 10 enemies while holding an egg. But the egg must not break, otherwise it will multiply. Once Bamba can pass his Trial, he can leave this place.

Towa gets the Trial of Solitude where he must defeat 1000 enemies by himself without saying a word. If Towa utters even a single word, the count will reset and he must start all over again.

Back in the city, Canalo contacts Mosa Rex and asks if he can also attempt the Cliff Trials even if it was created by the Land Tribe. Mosa Rex says he will not force his prejudices on him any longer. Canalo thanks him.

Suddenly, a meteor comes hurtling through the sky. Canalo joins Koh, Melto and Asuna and they stand shocked as a large strange dragon Druidon lays waste to Tokyo within minutes.

Pricious says Space Dragon has destroyed over 100 planets already so he knows it can take on the Ryusoulgers, whoever they are.

Koh, Melto, Asuna and Canalo henshin and hop into their Kishiryu to take on Space Dragon and stop it from moving on to the next town. They combine into KishiryuOh Jet. But none of their attacks seem to work on Space Dragon.

Space Dragon unleashes one attack at them and KishiryuOh Jet is forced to ungattai, ejecting the Ryusoulgers back to the ground.

Pricious appears and summons Space Dragon back to its canister.

Pricious introduces himself as the commander of the Druidons who will obtain all the powers.

Pricious challenges and taunts Koh. Koh immediately goes Max and they battle.

Koh is able to toss Pricious around. But they are all taken by surprise when Pricious pulls out the card Gachireus obtained earlier and uses it to produce Koh’s own Max attack against him.

Pricious gains the upper hand on Koh and decides it’s time to leave. But Melto, Asuna and Canalo grab hold of Pricious. Koh hesitates, but gets up and attempts to deliver a Max IkeSoul Everlasting Claw at Pricious.

Instead, Pricious remains on his feet and it is Koh who gets slammed back.

Pricious laughs at how weak the Ryusoulgers have turned out to be. He gives them three days to regroup and they can fight each other again then.

Koh dehenshins. He feels he was too overconfident.

The others dehenshin and tell Koh they should probably use ShineRaptor to fix the city. But Koh merely clenches his fist in extreme anger.

Episode Thoughts

A pretty good introduction episode for Pricious paired with the need for the Ryusoulgers to train up and learn a hard lesson.

This was a little like a typical toku plot where the Rangers or Kamen Riders get a huge power up, making them a little over-confident and allowing them to kind of let their guard down. Or complacent in a way. Then they get their butts handed to them and they realize they can’t defeat the enemy with just firepower alone. (Or they just go in search of more firepower.)

Koh obviously already started the episode thinking about how to use the new Max power. But all of them were definitely too over-confident in relying on the power alone to help them defeat the Druidons. Bamba’s sentiment (as stated by Towa) was great as it also adds to their characters where they are becoming more of a team and even beyond that. The brothers seem to understand the Max power has put a burden on Koh. But the others were definitely counting on the Max Ryusoul to be their lifesaver if ever they needed one.

With Elder randomly popping back up, we get the introduction of the Cliff of Trails. What the Ryusoulgers get from conquering the Cliff of Trails, we don’t exactly know yet. But perhaps it’ll be related to how they will handle Pricious and his Space Dragon. And maybe even a way to harness the Max power into something else that can be used wisely. But for sure a way to strengthen their teamwork as well.

Speaking of, the Space Dragon basically murdered all of Tokyo (except Koh, Melto, Asuna and Canalo of course). I forgot about ShineRaptor’s healing power. But obviously, the fact that Space Dragon was able to do that definitely ups the ante here and puts the Ryusoulgers in a direr situation.

Space Dragon’s “roar” also sounded more like a siren or missile. And that was definitely a terrifying sound to hear. Very disconcerting. Which definitely makes the whole situation even more exciting. Hehe.

Pricious is definitely not playing games and it will be interesting to see both Gachireus and Waizuru having to be beholden to someone else this time. I definitely wanted to see more of Kureon’s immediate reaction to Pricious though.

I love the use of drones at the cliffs with Bamba and Towa. Drones have really been able to add brand new visual treats for both Sentai and Kamen Rider. The sweeping overhead shots can add a whole other layer of excitement and awe that wasn’t possible before.

Overall, a good, solid episode that sets up the weeks to come.