Recap: Kikai Sentai Zenkaiger, Episode 17 – Nununu Occult Club!

Three neighborhood kids are telling the story of possible ghosts at the nearby school. They invite an interested Magine to join them in exploring and together they form the Teranomachi Occult Club. Kaito and Vroom, also intrigued, decide to go with them.

On the other side of town, the Goldtsuikers and others run into strange invisible obstacles in the streets. Turns out this is the work of Invisible World. Zox henshins and takes him on as Zyuran and Gaon arrive. But Invisible World turns Zyuran and the younger Goldtsuikers invisible.

Over at the palace, Bokkowaus’ good mood continues thanks to Gege and he is looking forward to seeing how Invisible World will turn out. After they leave, Barashitara and Ijirude agree that they must take advantage of Gege helping to soften Bokkowaus’ hard edges.

Kaito, Magine and Vroom apologize to the kids as they hurry over to deal with what’s happened. Back at the shop, they all try to understand that Zyuran is invisible.

But Magine is most upset that the school ghost is actually just the work of the Tojitendo. She is sad that the kids will be disappointed when they find out it’s not supernatural at all. They had each been lonely kids until they met each other here at the shop after finding out they share an interest in the supernatural.

Magine relates to them since she also experienced a similar type of loneliness from her fortune telling.

Zyuran suggests they use his invisible self to give the kids a fun time at the school. Magine, Vroom and Gaon find the kids to accompany them to the school. Kaito and Zyuran are already on their way to prepare, but Zyuran’s invisibility proves to be difficult for him to manage and he gets hurled across town. He is determined, however, to make the kids happy.

Unfortunately, Invisible World is back and begins attacking people out of nowhere. Zox arrives and they battle. But this means the Zenkaigers need to spring into action and the kids will have to wait once more.

Magine apologizes to the kids, but they say it’s alright since the Zenkaigers have fighting off the bad guys takes top priority. Magine is definitely not happy that this Tojitendo has interrupted them.

The Zenkaigers arrive and Magine expresses her occult anger which freaks Invisible World and even the others out a little bit. But Magine’s passionate and cursed energy comes in handy.

To deal with invisible Kudakks, they use the Sun Vulcan Gear. Magine and Zyuran gets their kicks in and altogether, they deliver a Finish Buster. All the invisible people and objects are back to normal.

But Invisible World embiggens to Dai Invisible World and even makes the city’s buildings invisible. Kaito hops into ZyuraGaon. But Dai Invisible World manages to make Zyuran invisible again.

Magine and Vroom embiggen to help out. Kaito hops into the cockpit.

Zox and the siblings form Twokai-Oh Ricky and Zyuran has Gaon separate from him to help the others. Magine’s magic helps them keep Dai Invisible World visible and together they deliver a finisher that takes care of him for good.

The Zenkaigers wonder where Zyuran ran off too. But on their way to the school, the occult kids come running up excitedly telling them they saw the ghost. They had gone in without them and saw the ghost playing instruments.

Actually, it was Zyuran who was able to give the kids a fun time while he was still invisible.

Zyuran decides to go to the sauna, but a haunted skeleton chases after him.

Meanwhile, Ijirude tells Stacey that he is going to work on some research for a while. So Stacey can do whatever he wants in the meantime.

Stacey thinks about Grandma Yacchan and his own mother and wonders to himself, what does he want.

Episode Thoughts

A fun, simple episode. What I enjoyed the most was seeing the neighborhood kids and the idea that they might not have had many friends before meeting each other. I’d love to see more of these human-Kikainoid interactions and friendships. Especially as a contrast to one certain character’s unhealthy obsession with the other species. *cough*GAON*cough*

Connecting it a bit to Magine’s own experience growing up, which we have seen already, is great as well.

Zyuran stepping aside from the mecha battle where he wasn’t helpful anyway and going to give the kids a show at the school was very nice. A nice, subtle character moment for Zyuran who we know is a great, caring guy.

The other relatively big development is that final scene with Stacey contemplating his whole existence, really. They must be setting the stage for Stacey’s eventual defection from the Tojitendo. But it will be interesting to see the answers to whether or not Grandma Yacchan actually does have a connection to him.

I also hope we get to see more of the Tojitendo dynamic as well. At this point, they’re actually all well-developed characters. Each of them is distinct and has purpose. So that’s a big positive.

But overall, it was a quick, easy episode to watch. Fun with some great moments.