Recap: Mashin Sentai Kiramager, Episode 43 – Dirty Hero

The Kiramagers, Mabushina, Muryou and the Mashin try to comprehend the fact that Garuza will be executing Oradin in Yodonheim. Mabushina wonders why he would go through the trouble of doing it in Yodonheim and Muryou says it’s likely to cause the most humiliation.

The Kiramagers agree that Oradin has saved them countless times so it’s time for them to save him. Takamichi calls and says he knows exactly how they can travel to the darkness. He’s got Carantula in his custody.

Tametomo asks everyone if they are ready to do this and they all nod.

Juuru thinks about seeing baby Garuza happily drawing and wonders how he could have become so corrupted. Still, Juuru can’t help but admire the amazing new forms Garuza debuted earlier.

The Kiramagers run out. Before Juuru can follow, Fire stops him. But instead of saying what he really wants to say, just tells Juuru to be careful out there.

In the Red Room of the Emperor’s, now Lord Garuza’s consciousness, Yodonna awakens. She says she never imagined Garuza being so ambitious as to betray the Emperor. Garuza tells her to stay out of his way or she’s dead.

Yodonna notices that Garuza doesn’t seem satisfied still. He says he can only begin his takeover of Earth once he kills and humiliates “the three of them.” Yodonna figures two of those three are Oradin and Takamichi. But the third? Garuza explains that it is Juuru who has annoyed him so much with his kirakira.

Garuza summons a Basra and uses his newfound power to restore Oradin’s physical form. He thinks it will be much more humiliating for him and more delicious if he were to be killed in his original body.

The Basra opens its mouth and Oradin does his best to prevent getting inhaled.

Downtown, the Kiramagers find Takamichi and Carantula. Carantula rejects Takamichi’s order to take them to Yodonheim. But when Juuru asks, Carantula quickly agrees. He says he doesn’t mind if Juuru asks for a favor because they are both creatives and they have a connection.

Carantula opens a portal. Takamichi says he will stay behind in case Garuza pops up and he hopes they will stay safe while in the darkness. The others are a little worried. But Juuru says there’s no need. He promised Mizuki that he’d go to the amusement park with her, so that means they will for sure return safely.

As soon as they arrive in Yodonheim, a Ligany pops up out of the ground. That allows Carantula to break free of the ropes and escape.

The Kiramagers make their way through the dark, smelly world of Yodon. They follow the sounds of King Oradin struggling against the Basra’s mouth. Juuru doesn’t hesitate henshining and rushing to help the king battle the inhalation.

Meanwhile, Garuza approaches Takamichi downtown. He wants them to settle their Graduel once and for all. Takamichi says it’s already settled. But Uncle says it will only be over once Takamichi is dead.

Takamichi henshins and they battle. But Garuza’s newfound power is too much for Takamichi. Watching from the coconut tree, Mabushina runs out to her brother. Muryou calls after her.

While Juuru is holding on to the king, he tells him about connecting with Garuza’s dream and seeing his kirakira childhood. Oradin says Garuza was gifted with a wonderful ability of imagination and the potential to become Crystalia’s legendary hero. He had been the chosen one.

Downtown, Mabushina arrives just as Garuza knocks Takamichi on his back.

Mabushina says she does not understand. After striking down Emperor Yodon and killing them all, what does her uncle intend to do after? He replies that he will remake the world how he wants.

Mabushina says he is incapable of such a thing. Garuza scoffs at the idea of her father being able to do it. But Mabushina says no, it is Juuru who can change things with his kirakira.

Takamichi agrees and he stumbles to his feet only to get struck down by a finisher by Garuza. He is forced to dehenshin.

Garuza is annoyed by everyone being so enamored by Juuru. He leaves.

In the darkness, Oradin tells Juuru that once Garuza went over to the darkside, he was no longer the chosen one. Instead, Juuru is the one who can use his Hirameking not only as a strength, but as a way to gather comrades who can work together to defeat evil.

Just then, the Basra gives his biggest inhale and both Juuru and Oradin lose their footing. Only Oradin gets sucked into the Basra’s mouth as Garuza appears and yanks Juuru out of the way.

Garuza whisks Juuru away on his Jouki to deal with him privately.

Juuru brings up the fact that Garuza had enough kirakira to become a shining hero himself. But now Juuru will put a stop to this madness.

Garuza prepares a Beast Wolf Omegadia finisher and Juuru is excitedly amazed by it. He has a Hirameking and prepares a God Bird Alphasm finisher. The two of them deliver the attacks, which counter each other.

Juuru is excited at being inspired by Garuza’s own amazing move.

Juuru says he doesn’t really want to fight Garuza. Even though he’s their enemy, Juuru loves his new form and special techniques. He compliments Garuza as a true artist and says he is inspired by him.

Garuza tells him to shut up. But as their swords meet, Juuru says he wants a future where they can happily make art together.

Suddenly, they get transported into Garuza’s memory from his childhood.

Little Garuza is happily enjoying a Hirameking while drawing. The ominous shadow emerges from the hallway and it’s just Little Oradin who comes in and takes a seat next to his little brother.

Little Garuza excitedly shows his older brother the picture he drew of his special technique. Little Oradin says it looks great and is inspired to draw one himself. Juuru is surprised to see Little Oradin’s special finisher is the God Bird Alphasm he had just delivered moments ago.

The two brothers have a Hirameking and decide to draw some more. They have fun drawing together.

Garuza realizes that he has forgotten how much he loved his brother.

Meanwhile, the other Kiramagers mourn Oradin’s death by eating. But he laughs and says he’s not dead yet. Tametomo uses Go Arrow and they uphenshin to take on the Basra for 100 seconds.

They are able to save the king and they hurry out.

Garuza remembers that his brother did acknowledge him and that he too had Hirameking. So why did he come to hate and resent him? Juuru says it’s not too late for them to reconcile.

Garuza thinks that’s absurd considering he already killed him once and even destroyed Crystalia. But Juuru says gathering the Kanaema Stones can grant any wish. With them they’ll be able to restore Crystalia.

Suddenly inside the Red Room of Consciousness, Emperor Yodon appears and is intrigued by what he just heard. Garuza and Yodonna are shocked.

The Emperor slashes at Garuza to get him off of his throne. That allows him to regain control of his body and spit Garuza out. Emperor Yodon says he no longer has any use for Garuza now that Juuru reawakened the memories that he had erased.

Emperor Yodon explains that he was weary of the power that the two brothers of Crystalia held as heroes of the kingdom. That’s why he targeted Garuza and corrupted him toward the darkness. Emperor Yodon put a spell on Garuza for him to hate anyone who loves and cares for him.

Garuza cannot believe the reason he came to hate his brother was because of Emperor Yodon’s manipulation.

Emperor Yodon brags about getting Garuza to help him in the destruction of Crystalia and thus bringing about the Jamental necessary to allow him to travel to Earth.

Garuza removes his Yodon helmet and slams it on the ground. He blames himself. But Juuru says it is the Emperor’s fault and that Garuza can start a new life with all of them.

Emperor Yodon says Garuza has served his purpose well and that it is now time to end him. Garuza tries to deliver a finisher at the Emperor, but the Emperor just swats him down.

Emperor Yodon sends an attack that pierces through Garuza’s chest. He falls to the ground.

Juuru screams as Garuza explodes.

Emperor Yodon turns his attention to Juuru who is forced to dehenshin and then rolls over the side of a cliff into a dark crevice.

Oradin, in his Mashin form, carries the other Kiramagers and they try to fly in to save Juuru. But Emperor Yodon shoots at them, making it impossible. Oradin has to quickly fly to safety.

Emperor Yodon laughs that Earth is already his.

Fire thinks of Juuru and says the two of them will be friends forever.

Episode Thoughts

Oh yes. I teared up a little during this episode.

First, the only criticism I have is that the show could’ve done a little more to build up this climactic reveal regarding Garuza. I think dropping a few more clues and even red herrings throughout the season would’ve made this episode even more impactful and huge.

To be honest, at the start of the episode (and after last week), I started to wonder if maybe Juuru and Garuza were two halves of a whole. Like, Garuza was the dark side and Juuru is the kirakira half. That would explain Juuru’s amazement with Garuza’s forms and stuff. I remember people thought that was the case with Right and Zett in ToQger.

But it wasn’t the case in ToQger and it wasn’t the case here. Thankfully. I think I’d be more accepting of Juuru just being a very kirakira person rather than him being Garuza’s better half or something.

So when the episode revealed the actual truth, I was very happy.

But of course, very sad as well. It was an emotional revelation. That Oradin and Garuza were actually very close brothers. Two nice, bright (kirakira!) kids with an even brighter future ahead of them. Only for Emperor Yodon to target Garuza and corrupt him, or really infect him with darkness. That scene when the Emperor zaps Little Garuza was so horribly sad. Especially when they effectively established that Little Garuza was a cute little kid who just wanted to draw with his brother.

That’s the kind of straightforward, but impactful story that the season has done very well. Especially with the Crystalia Family.

Again, I will repeat this every time. I absolutely love everything they’ve done with the Crystalias this season. They have been the most interesting and dynamic characters when it comes to actual story. As much as I love the Kiramagers themselves, it has been Mabushina, Takamichi and now Oradin and Garuza who have been the catalysts for the best stories.

It was really great to see those scenes of Little Oradin and Little Garuza happily drawing together. It provided just the right amount of emotional connection to make Garuza’s enlightenment satisfying and his subsequent demise (maybe) all the more heartbreaking. That explosion was spectacular. It really made the scene even more shocking and sad.

I’m also happy they didn’t pull something like making Oradin a jerk to Garuza which led him to become the way he was. I also feared that with the tease of the ominous shadow in the hallway. That was the kind of Kyuuemon story I also thought might be possible. But again, I think I much prefer the way they did it here.

Then there was the great scene of Mabushina running to her brother and then confronting Garuza. I also think they could’ve done more with that moment. Especially for a sort of closure to Takamichi and Garuza’s history too. But even that short moment that we did get, it hit the mark for sure.

I honestly would love to see a movie or TTFC miniseries about just the Crystalia Family, maybe even of the two brothers’ childhood in the future. I think there’s plenty of material there.

Also of course, with Oradin mentioning Garuza’s strong imagination, I’m still hoping for the big ToQger–Kiramager crossover movie! hehe

Elsewhere, Juuru being “special” came into play somewhat. They have two episodes left to truly explain why that is or just chalk it up to him being the chosen one. But I wonder if him falling into that pit will hold the key to unlocking the truth regarding him as well. Fire being worried earlier in the episode when the Kiramagers ran out also felt ominous and I wonder if he felt something was about to go down as well. A sort of premonition about his partner and friend.

And I still don’t care for Mizuki. Yet that shot of the amusement park ticket when Juuru fell into the crevice was pretty emotional. I like what that shot represents. I’m not a fan of it actually referring to Juuru having a date with an annoying person though lol

I’m fine with Emperor Yodon resurrecting like that. I mentioned how odd it was that he would just lose so easily to Garuza. So him popping up with a “Sike!” is not only welcome, but really expected. Like, he shouldn’t be destroyed so easily. And of course, him popping back up helped to set up the big revelation regarding Garuza.

The other Kiramagers took a little bit of a backseat this episode. But seeing the preview for next week, that’s definitely going to change as they take the lead in Juuru’s apparent absence.

Overall, a really excellent, exciting episode. I really loved it. Definitely worthy of being the penultimate eve episode of the season. Yikes! Only two episodes left. No nonoono!