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Some kids recognize Zyuran and Magine and approach them to gush about their “new teammate” the gold guy with the crocodile mecha. The kids are disgusted when Zyuran offers his autograph instead since the gold guy isn’t exactly a close team player.
Zyuran and Magine talk about how they’re not really too keen on working with the violent pirates who have been nothing but trouble for them. Even if Kaito, Gaon and Vroom all love the Goldtsuikers.
Snail World pops in and causes everyone in the area, including Zyuran and Magine, to move as slow as snails.
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Zox flies in, but also gets caught up in the snail’s pace zone. Kaito, Gaon and Vroom come running, but Flint yells to stop them from crossing the barrier. They instead head back to the shop to regroup. Gaon is only concerned about Zox and could care less about what happens to Zyuran or Magine.
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Flint realizes that Snail World is able to create a perimeter of slowness they must overcome. Kaito is happy to see she is willing to work together. But she tells him not to get it twisted. She only wants to help her brother.
Grandma Yacchan gives them some pancakes to enjoy in the meantime. Gaon shoves Vroom to the ground just so he can sit next to Flint.
Grandma Yacchan saves a plate for each of their snailed friends.
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Back downtown, Zyuran and Magine are trying to figure out how they can escape the slow perimeter. But Zox says there’s no use freaking out over their situation. Zyuran points out that Zox dancing isn’t going to help either. Magine thinks it’s because Zox believes his sister and the others can save them. But Zox says if he can’t survive without their help, then he wouldn’t be fit to lead the Goldtsuiker Family.
Zyuran and Magine are surprised to hear that.
Snail World proceeds to engulf the rest of Tokyo in slow domes. Barashitara orders Snail World to pick up the pace and eliminate the three Zenkaigers he’s already got trapped.
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At the palace, Stacey is eager to get out there and show up his father. Ijirude says the new robo is almost ready.
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Snail World heads back to where the three are still slowed down and tries attacking them, but the attacks get blocked somehow. Magine and Zyuran realize Zox’s dancing was actually him marking spots in the air like his attacks from the previous episode.
Snail World decides to focus on Zyuran and Magine. But Kaito, Vroom and Gaon arrive just in time. Kaito uses a Turboranger gear to shift the trapped trio into turbo.
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Secchan is unsure that’s actually possible.
Kaito shoots at the other people who have been slowed down in the area. Gaon tells only the human children to run to safety. But Vroom yells over to the Kikainoid children to do the same.
Kaito says this is all thanks to Flint.
The Zenkaigers all henshin for the first time together and are able to take care of the Kudakks and Snail World’s first life.
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Snail World embiggens to Great Snail World and Kaito hops into ZyuraGaon. But Great Snail World’s shell is so hard it breaks their sword tail and claws.
Ijirude declares his work finally complete and gives Stacey the greenlight to use the new robo. Stacey henshins, hops in and quickly makes his way downtown.
As Stacey is overpowering Kaito, Zyuran and Gaon, the twins ask Flint to let them do the thing they discussed. Flint gives Zox the option of two new Gears. Zox first chooses Cutanner which allows him to embiggen and combine into TwoKai-Oh Cutanner.
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Zox is able to easily finish off Great Snail World and turns his attention to Stacey. But with the prospect of two against one, Stacey decides to retreat.
Kaito thanks the Goldtsuikers for their help and says they were able to overcome Snail World because they all worked together. Flint repeats that she only cared about saving her brother.
Zyuran and Magine try to get Zox to see his siblings want to fight alongside him, but he says he’ll be the one that finishes things in the end anyway. His siblings seem to agree and they zip back up to their flying ship.
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While the others happily wave goodbye, Zyuran and Magine are just annoyed.
Episode Thoughts
Another okay episode for me. The main development was the debut of Stacey’s new robo which barely got any screentime anyway.
As for character development, we got a little between Zyuran, Magine and Zox. And I would like to see them keep that going. It’s an interesting dynamic. Especially as they’re the only two that aren’t totally enamored by the Goldtsuikers like everyone else is. And I kind of hope they stay that way for a while. We know that Zox definitely is keeping something to himself. Probably something along the lines of him wanting to carry the burden and not put his siblings in danger or something like that. But whatever it is, I would love for Zyuran and Magine to be the ones to possibly soften Zox’s flashy façade and not Kaito.
Gaon’s shtick is getting kinda offensive. His obsession with humans to the point that he’s fine with keeping Kikainoids in danger, even little Kikainoid children who were slowed down? I’m not here for the vaguely racist undertones played up as cute laughs. Especially when the Kikainoids who are minding their own business on Earth are all designed to look inherently friendly and warm. Compared to half of the human characters who are either villains (Stacey) or self-interested pirates.
Speaking of humans, I liked the moment Grandma Yacchan set aside some plates for the others who were trapped in the slow dome while everyone else scarfed down their food with zero sense of urgency.
As for the Tojitendo, I’d like to see more of that tension between them all. Not just Stacey and his father, but Ijirude and Barashitara. Bokkowaus with everyone. And even Gege who seems like he could be the sneakiest of all inside the palace.
Overall, it was an okay episode. Nothing really memorable or too exciting.
Gaon’s shtick is getting kinda offensive.
Honestly, it’s been offensive since the get go. It doesn’t help that they never explained why he feels that way. Plus it’s more like an obsession than anything else.
And Stacey’s Robo Caesar should have had a bigger introduction instead of just being pasted on like it was.
In one of the recent episodes, it looked like they were going to go deep into Gaon’s reasons. Something like Kikainoids turned their back on him or caused him some kind of pain, etc. So he developed a resentment toward Kikainoids. I doubt Zenkaiger would do something that serious. But anyway, it didn’t happen and instead they’re seemingly going with his obsession being a season-long gag or joke.
And I agree, Ijirude spent a few episodes creating it, it’s a big moment for Stacey as a character. And that’s all they did? Not very good.
It’s been a while since I discussed Zenkaiger, and we’re in 1/4 of the series (assuming if final episode count is going to be 48~49, which is typical for Sentai in recent years), so I though I decided to share my thoughts.
The show started to become slightly more interesting since Zox/Twokaizer and fellow World Pirates shows up. I like that they are acting more like pirates than PIRATE sentai decade ago and their backstory are pretty interesting; especially for twin brothers who turned into SD robots forms, whom are desperate to turn back to normal.
While there’s a LOT of stuff is going on, where we got new villain general (Stacey) and allies (TwoKaizer and World Pirates), it doesn’t have enough room to breathe.
The plot itself is generic and thin, character (particularly Kikainoids) barely gets character development, and overall atmosphere is bit dull.
It has the opposite issues I had with Kamen Rider Saber, where it took forever for story to picks up, by cramming interesting and important stuffs too late, Zenkaiger is really rushing to introduce too many at beginning, that I have a bad feeling that it would run out of steam by the time summer movie (or third quarter) comes out. I understand Toei and Bandai are really placing bet on Zenkaiger, due to declining toy sales and ratings, but there comes a time when show needs good balance of pacing and storytelling, where show is somewhat lacking.
Overall, as of this writing, my reception of Zenkaiger is still on level of “mediocre and bit dull, but better (anniversary) series than ZyuOhger”, which is not saying too much.
I don’t hate it, but I don’t love it; I still like the toys though.
It seems that Komuro Junko is not really that good as head/main writer, which begs why she was chosen for anniversary series again; I give credit to her for writing 12 episodes from the start, which is somewhat rare these days.
The Kikainoids were good in their focus episodes. But since then have been treated like irrelevant characters. Which is what I worried about considering they are not “human” characters and just suits.
Komuro Junko might have good ideas, both on Zyuohger and here on Zenkaiger. But the details are where things go sideways. Gaon especially reminds me (in a bad way) of what she did to Misao on Zyuohger. Horrible situations played off as laughs and jokes.