.jpg)
Five heroes and the guardian deity King Ohger defeated Bugnarak and saved humanity 2000 years ago. Those five heroes, with the Shugods, became kings and created five kingdoms. Those kingdoms have lived in peace. But a prophecy foretold of the Bugnarak returning and that time is now.
But first, the kingdom of Shugoddam is in a celebratory atmosphere for a five kingdom alliance signing ceremony with all five kings to be assembled for it. The four kings traveling to Shugoddam are Lady Himeno of Ishabaana, Lord Kaguragi of Toufu, Rita of Gokkan and Yanma of N’Kosopa.
.jpg)
Meanwhile in the village, a young man named Gira is roleplaying with local kids who pretend to be King-Ohgers. But when tax collectors harass a couple, Gira slides in and gets the little kids to scare them off.
The couple thanks Gira, but warns him of potentially angering the king and getting the little kids caught in the crossfire. Gira says it’s alright as he believes the king is not a bad man and will protect all people.
.jpg)
At the palace, the four kings meet with King Racules. The alliance proposal calls for borders to be abolished and the five kingdoms to unite as one. King Racules says that the time has come for the guardian deity King Ohger to be revived and he is ready to be the one that leads the charge against any enemy.
Himeno, Kaguragi and Rita all raise the swords to solidify the pact. But Yanma refuses. He questions why Racules is to be in charge and the king says it is because Shugoddam was the first kingdom formed. Without God Kuwagata, King Ohger will not reawaken. So Racules believes it is his right to take the lead.
Yanma says it was he who provided the electrical technology to power God Kuwagata all those 2000 years ago. He believes Racules is just using the prophecy to seize control of the other kingdoms.
Racules says he merely wants lasting peace for all the kingdoms and suggests Yanma is the one who wants control. Yanma gets up to leave and says with the Bugnarak possibly arriving at any moment, this is no time for nonsense like this.
.jpg)
Shugoddam begins to rumble as the Bugnarak arrive and begin their assault on the walled kingdom. The citizens scramble for their lives as the kings all prepare to henshin and defend the peoples.
Rita, Himeno and Kaguragi henshin to fight the swarm of Bugnaraks attacking the kingdom and its peoples. Yanma tries, but is unable to as his sword is locked.
Gira’s friend Kogane falls unconscious after being injured in the attacks. Himeno tells Gira to leave Kogane to her and he can get himself to safety. Himeno wonders out loud what the hell Racules is doing.
.jpg)
Gira forces his way into the castle and asks what Racules is doing just sitting on his throne. Racules reveals that the god Kuwagata remains sleeping because it was angered by Yanma. Once the Bugnarak are under control, Racules aims to launch an invasion of N’Kosopa in the name of justice.
Gira realizes Racules has ignored the Bugnarak in order to have pretense to invade and conquer other kingdoms. Racules says this is just to ensure a united Earth. He believes true peace cannot be achieved without ultimate dominion. And he will accomplish that when he gains control of all five kingdoms.
.jpg)
Racules believes there is no sacrifice too great in order to achieve that goal. Gira cannot believe it. He charges at the king and is able to grab his sword. When Racules says only the king can wield the sword’s power, Gira says he should have done so then.
Racules says Gira pointing his sword at him constitutes treason and he is now an enemy of this world. Gira takes a deep breath and then lets out a sheepish smile.
.jpg)
“Just as I wanted,” Gira says. If justice is tearing down all the innocent children in the streets, then Gira will tear down that justice and reign Evil over the land. Gira proclaims he will rule this world as the King of Evil.
Suddenly, the god Kuwagata breaks out of its stone enclosure and Gira is teleported to meet it outside. Racules cannot believe it.
Gira henshins to Kuwagata Ohger. He combines into the King-Ohger mecha as the others watch on. And he defeats the remaining Bugnarak in this initial attack.
.jpg)
Afterwards, Racules orders his men to capture and execute Gira.
Episode Thoughts
What in the Attack on Titan is this?!
Lol Just kidding. But it was definitely fun to see the scene of the Bugnarak attack on the walled city just a few hours after I watched the latest Attack on Titan super-episode.
Seriously though, this was a solid premiere. It started off kinda sketchy for me just because the CGI environments always throw me off. And it was a lot in the beginning. But when the episode got down to the drama and action, I started enjoying myself a lot more and I saw lots of nice potential for the season. I definitely enjoyed the scene with Gira and Racules the most in the episode.
It’s definitely an interesting theme. Perhaps this is the royalty/kingdom/knights-feeling season that everyone expected Ryusoulger to be. But I also hope this is nothing like Kamen Rider Saber‘s storybook shenanigans. Lol
Anyway, it usually takes a few episodes for me to really get a feel for a new season. But it’s always very exciting to meet some new friends every 12 months. Even if I’m still missing our last friends that we just said goodbye to.
But so far, a solid first episode.
Racules being a bad guy, not unexpected. But that revealed to us in the first episode itself was unexpected. The episode was nice. Might be needing time to get used to King-Ohger after Donbrothers. Rita and Kaguragi have become my favourite for now. Though Rita still stands first in my rating. Gira was too heroic I think. Anyway nice premier episode to say the least. Though hoped for a bigger review from you.
I tend to absorb premiere episodes first before having much of an opinion. Especially since the premieres are more set-up type of episodes than anything.
A solid premiere episode. Interesting premise. We’ll see how it goes.
I still miss the Donbros 😭
I enjoyed it enough. Definitely have to wait to see more.
a good start, but I won’t raise my expectations just yet hehe
Wow, they really went all out with this premiere. This has got to be the most loaded sentai premiere in terms of VFX shots. Also read somewhere that they’re experimenting with Mandalorian-style LED screens for backgrounds instead of the traditional greenscreens. I do hope they continue with that dynamic backgrounds for the mecha cockpit shots.
Also, the setting is somewhat unique for sentai. Traditionally, the setting would still be Earth, even if with a few fantasy elements. Even Kyuranger still ended up having Earth as a setting. This is the first show where they explicitly state that it happens in a straight up fantasy world with no connection to our world.
Oh, I didn’t hear about the LED sceeens. Especially with the increased use of CGI environments, I hope it can help for nicer-looking visuals.
That’s a good point about the setting. It allows for a lot more freedom in the kinds of stories they can tell. But of course will still be limited to the real life usual Toei locations.
Gotta say, I am liking what I’m seeing with this new series. It seems to be doing something unique while also getting back to basics at the same time. For me, it’s a breath of fresh air, given how dull and directionless Geats has been. So far, my favorite of the team is Rita. I’m a sucker for heroes that are no-nonsense and composed. They also seem to be the most intriguing of the bunch at the moment. By the way, have you seen any of the Kiramager Yodonna spin-off? They just made a 3rd part revolving around Valentine’s Day. They also just announced that there’s going to be a Kamen Rider Juuga vs. Kamen Rider Olteca spin-off of Revice. I know Revice was a bit of a dud in the end, but let’s hope this special can recapture some of the magic that mostly vanquished after Olteca was devoured by Gifu.
It’s a strong start. They definitely packed in a lot of things in the premiere. So there is a lot of story potential to look forward to.
I haven’t seen any of the Yodonna spin off yet actually. I hope to check it out though.
And as disappointed as I was with Revice, I am looking forward to the spin off since I feel like George and Olteca (aside from Hiromi) were so underutilized.
I think you saw the misinterpreted sub. There was a sub that says that Yanma provided the technology to power God Kuwagata 2000 years ago, but what he really said that it was him who converted God Kuwagata to electrical power after it didn’t move for 2000 years.
Oh! That’s interesting. Lately I’ve relied on the fastest subs in order to try and post my recaps and thoughts as early as I can.
Thank you for pointing that out!
Yeah, that small error confused some people into thinking that the they were immortal, which is not true hahaha
Yes I did wonder about that too and thought it was just part of their characters being the kings or whatever 😅
Really enjoyed show’s execution of Gira self-proclamation as a king. In other toku shows, it never really works for me, but instead comes off kinda crazy. For me, Gira’s “role-playing approach” along with an fantasy setting sells it for me. Lately, I’ve been having a Kamen Rider Build itch and I’m actually hoping King-Ohger can at least somewhat satisfy that. I’m ready for heroes fighting for their countries (kingdoms) while giving these speeches about ideals during battles. Who knows maybe Racules has a similar story path like Gen. From the little we’ve seen of the others, I think they all suffer from main character syndrome. Whereas majority of the Donbrothers were lovingly incompetent at fighting and leading, our kings are polar opposite. They just have different ideals and approaches that should make the team dynamic compelling.
Oh! That’s an interesting comparison. That would be really interesting to see actually. I wouldn’t mind seeing the kings butt heads a lot during the season. And not just for the requisite “teamwork” episode. But actually have them pursuing different goals and ideals. Obviously, by the end coming together as a team in some way. But as a contrast to the Donbros where the distance or conflicts with each other were more amusing rather than serious, I think it would be an interesting direction to have King-Ohger explore that dynamic here but with more conflict.
It does seem like Toei is looking to try new things, not just production-wise but in storytelling too. So maybe we could see something like that here.
Definitely a solid Premiere for me. And yes, this should have been what Ryusoulger should have been.
Plus, I like the Red ranger pretending to be an “Evil” King while the supposed “Good” King is all about congest.
And I loved the fantasy world setting.
Yeah the “evil king” idea to contradict the twisted sense of justice that Racules wants is very interesting. Also when he was playing with the kids earlier. It would be even more interesting if in the future he does become “evil” in a traditional sense too. But it’s just an idea of course.