Recap: Kikai Sentai Zenkaiger, Episode 32 – Sakasama Gets Angry! Is That a Monkey?

Stacey heads into Ijirude’s lab as he works on improvements for Hakaizer. Ijirude says he has no reason to pin his entire fortune only on Stacey. If Stacey wants to outdo Barashitara, he needs to produce results.

Downtown, the Goldtsuikers drop Kaito off after another round of world searching for his mother. The siblings leave to get some food before they head back up to the ship.

Suddenly, Stacey jumps down and wastes no time henshining and shooting at Kaito. Kaito quickly henshins as Stacey says he will not have Hakaizer be the one that kills him.

Just then, Inverted World appears, chasing people nearby. When he sees Stacey, he switches him and Kaito’s bodies.

Kaito and Stacey try to figure out how to switch back. Kaito tries to head-butt Stacey, thinking that could do it. But Stacey says it would be easier to get Inverted World to do it.

Stacey says he’ll go to the Palace to look for him, but he finds he cannot summon a portal while in Kaito’s body. Kaito sees this as the perfect opportunity to head to the Palace himself so he can search for his father. Kaito quickly leaps through a portal and excitedly arrives inside the Palace.

Stacey tries to follow, but instead falls into a pile of trash. He loses consciousness and wakes up back home with everyone worried about “Kaito.” Zyuran, Gaon, Vroom and Magine quickly hurry out to find the Tojitendo when they think “Kaito” has amnesia.

That leaves Stacey alone with Grandma Yacchan. But Stacey decides to just lay here until he can find a way to escape.

Kaito stumbles upon a cell where Kikainoids who said anything bad about the Tojitendo are being held. Kaito-as-Stacey “orders” the guard to release them. But the guard says Stacey is not in his chain of command. He punches Kaito who realizes Stacey actually isn’t a big shot here.

Kaito quickly gets up and summons Science Power legends to cause an explosion that distracts the guard away from the cell. He returns to the cell and summons Patrol Power legends to blow the cell wide open.

The prisoners ask who their savior is and Kaito has to say he is Stacey. The released prisoners are grateful as they run to safety.

Back at the shop, Stacey watches as Grandma Yacchan serves the customers. A trio of local kids ask if he’s doing alright, saying they noticed “Kaito” was looking a bit down. Stacey says he’s okay and the kids are happy to hear that.

Su-san is struggling with opening a jar so Stacey gets up to help him. Su-san thanks Kaito and the kids are happy to see he looks like his old self.

Stacey wonders if Kaito always has people worried about him and grateful to him like this.

“It seems like he’s really got all the things that I don’t.”

Stacey wonders about possibly not returning to his own body and living like this instead.

Kaito continues to make his way through the Palace and ends up in Bokkowaus’ throne room. Barashitara tells him to keep quiet as he updates Bokkowaus on an intruder inside the palace.

But Gege immediately notices Stacey is not who he says he is. Kaito runs.

Meanwhile, the Kikainoid4 run into the Goldtsuikers who have also been switched. They realize that must have been what happened to Kaito too.

When Inverted World appears, Flint hands her brother (in her body) his Geartlinger and Gear so he can henshin. Flint is excited to see herself henshin for the first time. Zyuran and Vroom also henshin.

Gaon and Magine head back to the shop and drag “Kaito” out, demanding to know who he really is. Stacey admits that it is him.

Back at the palace, Kaito runs into Gege who points him to the Parallel World Gate. Kaito is surprised by the help, but Gege leaves before he can ask why. Barashitara appears and chases Kaito to the Gate.

Magine and Gaon henshin and join the others as they fight Inverted World and the Kudakks. Stacey realizes that if Inverted World defeats them, he can stay like this.

But Kaito and Barashitara fall out of the portal. Stacey accepts that his hopes for a warm, happy life are pointless.

Kaito henshins to Stacaesar and Stacey henshins to Zenkaiser.

Kaito summons Fighting Power legends to battle Inverted World with him and Stacey. After beating the Tojitendo down enough, Stacey and Kaito deliver a finisher to destroy him. That returns everyone to their real bodies.

Stacey and Barashitara return to the Palace.

Flint thanks Zox for being so strong, allowing her to keep up while fighting.

A NuKudaitest walks in and turns into Dai Inverted World. The Zenkaigers hop into Zenryoku Zenkai-Oh and battle it out in an inverted world. With an All Sentai Final Big Bang, they finish off the Tojitendo for good. Zox and Flint cheer on the fun show.

Back at the shop, Kaito apologizes for not telling the others about the switch and going to the Palace, but not even accomplishing anything. They say it’s okay, especially since he had to go through all of that on his own. They also tell him that Grandma Yacchan doesn’t know about Stacey having been in his body.

Grandma Yacchan tells Kaito she is glad that he is okay after whatever happened.

Kaito thinks about the idea of being lonely and alone in a place like Tojitendo Palace.

Stacey stands outside the Palace looking out at the dark Tojitendo wasteland.

Episode Thoughts

It was a fun episode. Body swap episodes are always fun and amusing. And the highlight is usually getting to see the actors playing other characters. That was definitely the case here. Though with only a few human characters, the focus was on the main event which was Stacey and Kaito switching bodies.

We got to see the Zox and Flint switch bodies. And though we didn’t get too much of Atsuki Mashiko and Hinami Mori in each other’s characters, the highlight for them was just getting to see Flint henshin into Twokaizer. That was a fun moment.

The main highlight of the episode though was seeing Ryo Sekoguchi playing Kaito. With Kiita Komagine, we’ve seen Kaito be serious and almost the opposite of his usual cheery self from time to time. So him playing the stoic Stacey wasn’t too out of the ordinary. Especially when Stacey-as-Kaito’s scenes were all about missing Grandma Yacchan and yearning for a family and happy life.

So Ryo Sekoguchi playing the complete opposite of Stacey’s usual personality with Kaito’s happy, positive and cheery demeanor was very fun. It was definitely a bit jarring, but in a good way. And that’s the rewarding thing about the annual body swap episodes.

I am kind of surprised they didn’t do more with Stacey and Grandma Yacchan though. But the scene they did have with Su-san and the kids was very nice. And it helped to further Stacey’s narrative. Plus Kaito understanding a lot more about Stacey’s position within the Palace and the possibility of him being lonely.

Kaito saving the political prisoners at the Palace was an interesting scene. It was very Kaito-esque of Kaito. But I wondered if they were going to do anything in the future with the Kikainoids being grateful to Stacey.

Also interesting was seeing Gege’s huge size in perspective when Kaito was looking to escape. It’s always so weird to realize his true size. And I’m sure that will come up again in the future if (when?) he ends up becoming the true Final Boss.

Overall, a fun episode. We get the amusing body switch and seeing actors playing different characters. But also some good plot and character development as well.