Projector Gomoryu is overheating, so Yodonna tells it to go rest up. That gives the Kiramagers time to have Hakobu take them to Atamald to give the Mashins their kirakira back. But Hakobu says there’s no point in doing so.
Back at the coconut tree, Hakobu explains that Atamald was another world King Oradin created as a utopia. It is here that the Miracle Stone resides and the light from it can cure any ailment. However, after Crystalia was attacked, Hakobu flew to Atamald only to find the Miracle Stone without its kirakira. It was then that Hakobu knew Kind Oradin was dead.
With the Miracle Stone kira-less, there is no reason to fly to Atamald. But Juuru shows them the key that King Oradin gave him in his dream and explains that they must find his soul which may still exist somewhere. Mabushina says it might be like how her mother inserted herself into a Stone.
Juuru believes they may be able to find Oradin if they travel to Atamald.
Takamichi says he will take care of things here while the rest of them go to Atamald.
Meanwhile in the Darkness, Yodonna shows Garuza a shocking sight: his brother King Oradin’s body trapped in a slab of stone. Garuza thought his brother was buried on Crystalia. But Yodonna explains that Emperor Yodon trapped Oradin here when he tried to transfer his consciousness to a safe place.
Yodonna says if Oradin remains here in the Darkness, his power will continue to be drained until he can’t take it anymore.
The Kiramagers arrive in Atamald. Hakobu says he must recharge himself and warns them that this world has become unstable, so they must be careful.
The Kiramagers go exploring and find the very dull Miracle Stone. But they are more shocked to see Crystalians and humans living in harmony together. They think it is very odd, but Juuru thinks it’s wonderful.
The Kiramagers stumble upon a park with 14 freestanding doors. They believe King Oradin must be behind one of them. But none of them have any keyholes so where will they insert Oradin’s key?
Sena, Shiguru, Tametomo and Sayo all take one of the unlocked doors and walk through where they run into versions of themselves with very dark circles under their eyes. They battle but are unable to henshin. Though their eyebagged selves can.
Over in the Darkness, Garuza feels something is off. Carantula comes walking into the secret chamber and is shocked to see stoned Oradin. Yodonna tells him to ignore it and to send Projector Gomoryu to go back and rampage if it’s ready.
Takamichi hurries over in Gigant Driller.
Over in Atamald, Juuru remembers King Oradin telling him about his kirakira and realizes all he has to do is have a Hirameking to solve his problems. Juuru decides to draw a keyhole on one of the doors.
The key doesn’t really fit into the keyhole, but it opens anyway. Juuru walks through and finds a waiting King Oradin. Juuru grabs his hand and they run out together.
At the same time in the Darkness, Yodonna laughs when the stoned Oradin begins to crumble. But Garuza has a bad feeling about this. He knows Oradin is transferring his soul somewhere.
Once outside the door, Oradin immediately flies into the Miracle Stone and it regains its kirakira. The other Kiramagers return and reunite with Juuru just as King Oradin morphs into a new Phoenix form.
Oradin gives the Mashins their kirakira back.
They all hurry back to Earth. And just in time too as Takamichi is struggling bad against the Gomoryu.
Takamichi, Mabushina and Muryou are all shocked by the appearance of Oradin as a shiny phoenix. As are Carantula and Yodonna. Garuza is incensed remembering Oradin’s words about a king bringing forth a miracle.
Oradin asks Juuru to ride him. He first uphenshins then joins King Oradin and Hakobu to form Grateful Phoenix.
Together, they easily defeat the Gomoryu.
Mabushina is very emotional, seeing her father back.
Garuza tells Carantula that now that Oradin is back, he has an idea. But he will be away for a while.
Oradin compliments Juuru who tells the king to call him by his name. Takamichi would like to hear some kind words from his father as well. But King Oradin ignores him and flies off to who knows where.
The Kiramagers have no idea what the hell is going on. And neither do I.
Episode Thoughts
So, I hate to be anything but positive about Kiramager. But… I’m not a big fan of this episode. Especially after last week’s exciting buildup and the epic long take and Shiguru’s general awesomeness.
Honestly this was a letdown. And actually, a lot of things about it annoy me very much.
First off, what was the point of the other four battling their eyebagged selves? Just to get them busy while Juuru deus ex machina’d… I mean, Hiramekinged his way to Oradin’s soul? Like, there was no point to it. And it wasn’t even fun or dramatic. It was just there.
Juuru’s Hiramekings are fine. Yes, they are very convenient of course. But they’re harmless most of the time. In this episode? It was too much. He gets a key in his dream, he doesn’t know where to stick the key in, he Hiramekings a keyhole and VOILA. King Oradin is right in front of him.
I know the main purpose of finding Hakobu was to give the MashinStones back their kirakira. But the roundabout way of finding Oradin and the unnecessary field of doors just negated the excitement and adventure of it all.
Getting the other Kiramagers out of the way is Red-centric storytelling at its worst. This annoys more because Kiramager has been so good at balanced writing. Each character gets their moments. Each character contributes. And no matter the allusions to Juuru’s psychic connection to Oradin, the others are never far behind. That was not the case in this episode.
Now, I want my toku to make me cry. In a good way. But I didn’t feel anything at all with King Oradin’s “return.” (Other than annoyance.) If it’s truly the case than Oradin has revived that is. I mean, I’ll make myself believe there’s something more there and it’s not as simple as they made it seem.
But man, what a douchebag. Definitely not the regal father figure we’ve come to know from Mabushina and Takamichi’s memories. Definitely not the Oradin we’ve come to know from Juuru’s dreamland visits either. Or the actual scenes we saw in Episode Zero. He actually really seems like a jerk here and I’m annoyed that they are playing it off like some kind of joke.
They’ve cultivated this very emotional and quite deep story about the Crystalia Family. Mabushina and Takamichi have gone through painful memories and even had to endure being apart both physically and emotionally for years. And their big reunion with their beloved father was… that? That is honestly so f’d up. And a huge cop out. I don’t want it. We were cheated out of good stuff.
Last episode they had that wonderful scene of Mabushina missing her father and being jealous of Juuru being able to meet him in his dreams. And then we get this?
I’ll hold on to Mabushina’s “Father, what’s happened to you?” and Garuza’s possible suspicions as some kind of tease that this is not the real King Oradin, or he’s been corrupted by being stoned. (Literally, he was in stone in the Darkness. Saber‘s Medusa Megid must have helped with that.) But I won’t hold my breath.
It’s honestly really disappointing. I was already a little underwhelmed by the “return” of the Queen. But at least the way they played that out made more sense. Her faint soul signs are hanging on somewhere. Okay sure. But she didn’t come out of her deep sleep a completely different person. And at least she shared some great moments with her daughter.
Here? WTF was that? I want an emotional family reunion that makes a grown man cry. Not… whatever this was.
It was very much a deus ex machina with lazy execution. There’s plenty of foundation to draw upon to make this an epic episode. Unfortunately, it was not.
And I haven’t even talked about Atamald and how this world just happens to exist and will probably be forgotten now that it has served its plot device purpose.
My least favorite episode this season was Juuru’s girlfriend episode. But this one comes very close to it. I feel like this episode is everything Kiramager has tried to avoid this season.
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2 thoughts on “Recap: Mashin Sentai Kiramager, Episode 29 – Illusionary Atamald”
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This eps. had meme laugh especially Garza’s line of ‘What kind of Miracle trash is this?!”
Plus I loved King Oradin and the Kiramgers especially him and Juuru fighting together.
However, the ending was so weird! He comes back and then leaves. I mean he doesn’t want to hang out with his kids or anything? Talk about a letdown.
The villains were fun this week. But yes, it was definitely a weird letdown of an ending. We’ll see where they go next week.