Recap: Ohsama Sentai King-Ohger, Episode 5 – The King of Winter is Coming

In Shugoddam, Kaguragi proudly reports Gira’s arrest to Racules. But Douga screams that the throne will not stand for Kaguragi allowing the loss of God Kabuto. Kaguragi says the main concern should be that it is in the hands of the Bugnarak.

Boshimar asks Racules if they should continue their search for the other two spirits. Racules says he’s deciphered a clue revealing one of the spirits lies in a bed of ice.

Meanwhile, Gira laughs hysterically as Rita Kanisuka, the king of Gokkan, transfers him to her country. Rita’s assistant Morfonia welcomes them and the king tasks her with rolling Gira in a snowman in order to start a preliminary interrogation.

Gira asserts that he is an evil king and should be extradited to Shugoddam. Rita says that will not happen as he will be judged here in Gokkan. Gira quickly switches up and admits he was just pretending. But Rita says it is too late. The investigation will proceed.

Gira says all he wanted to do was to protect the peoples. This admission gives Rita pause before she walks away to deal with just-arrived Sanagims. Gira wants to join the battle, but Rita says he is not a king, thus unworthy of wielding the sword. Morfonia rolls snowGira away.

The Sanagims demand Rita hand over the treasure. But she instead henshins to easily finish them off.

Later, Kingjudge Rita is in the courtroom presiding over the case of a scalper reselling items for marked up prices. His sentence is six months in a negative 10-degree prison.

Afterwards, Morfonia has all the files Rita needs for Gira’s case. But Rita asks for a moment alone. She walks into a room and locks the door. Morfonia listens in as Rita takes a moment to have a “conversation” with Moffun, a cute stuffed animal yeti. This room is filled with little Moffuns as well as case files scattered on the floor.

Rita and Moffun discuss how the scalper deserved the death penalty and how Gira might be 100% guilty as well. Moffun seems to suggest to just drop the case, but Rita says she still has more investigating to do. Rita walks out and tells Morfonia that she will be speaking with the kings and other relevant people for her investigation.

Rita first speaks with Yanma, asking him about being an accomplice in Gira unlawfully using King-Ohger. She says that he will face judgement next after Gira. But if he cooperates, he can be granted amnesty.

Yanma says Gira does whatever he wants and he actually was able to pass through the biometrics of the OhgerCalibur. So it’s not something easy to steal or use, unless you are a king.

After a pause, Rita screams, much to the shock of everyone in Yanma’s palace. Rita rants to a mini Moffun to say she just knew this would be the case.

Rita heads to Ishabana and says Himeno will face judgement for helping Gira escape. Himeno says to bring it on. But Rita changes her tone and asks about Himeno’s medical credentials.

Next up, Rita speaks with Kaguragi who says he heard Gira was the leader of a group of thieves. And if he said anything, monsters would bring pests upon his country’s food. Rita is not interested in hearing his lies and just enjoys the food on the table instead.

Finally, Rita heads to Shugoddam. Racules says he expects Gira to get the death penalty. Rita replies that it is not up to him. Racules boasts that he eliminates threats through force, no questions asked. That includes Gira. So if Rita releases him, then that means Shugoddam will be in conflict with the entire country of Gokkan.

Rita walks straight up to Racules and slaps him. She shows her palm, saying there was a mosquito. He marvels at Rita being able to stretch the law in order to justify assault.

Rita leaves. Racules initially laughs off the disrespect before his face goes as ice cold as Gokkan.

Speaking of, Gira sits in the cold prison cell thinking about his friends back in Shugoddam and the dreams of eating rainbow jururira. Suddenly, Morfonia plucks a strand of hair from Gira’s head.

Gira asks what that was for and Morfonia says it doesn’t matter since he’s good as dead anyways.

Morfonia talks about how most everyone in Gokkan is either a criminal or ex-criminal. That’s why Rita hates most everyone here. So if Gira has any ill-feelings, direct them towards Rita.

Gira says he does not hold this against her. He feels the more someone adheres to the law, the more they are hated. So while frustrating, he complies nonetheless.

Morfonia skips away.

Up in the palace, Rita just gets off a call with Himeno. And whatever Himeno has relayed to Rita forces her to scream once again.

Next day, the kings arrive in Gokkan for Gira’s trial. Rita enters the courtroom and the proceedings begin with her announcing Gira’s sentence. Gira protests that he hasn’t even expressed his side yet. But Rita declares Gira not guilty.

A shocked Racules asks her to repeat what she just said and asks for the justification for her decision. Rita first explains that Gira being able to break through the biometrics of OhgerCalibur indicated the possibility that he could be of royal blood.

Rita also looked into the existence of rainbow jururira. And the only place she was able to find any reference to it was in reading that it was served at Shugoddam’s Caucasus Kabuto castle about ten years ago.

Turns out Racules and Gira are brothers. Both are Hasties and Rita was able to confirm it through DNA tests conducted by Himeno using Racules’ blood and Gira’s hair.

Therefore according to the law, Gira did not steal any weapons or perform any seditious acts. He merely used his right as a member of the royal family to do what needed to be done.

Racules asserts that Gira committed the act of invasion. But Rita’s further interviews with the people of the kingdoms revealed overwhelming support and gratitude for Gira and his kindness.

Racules laughs and reminds Rita that releasing Gira would make him an enemy of Gokkan. Rita maintains that no one is above the law and that it is the shield that protects the peoples. Rita declares that she will never waver as Gokkan is steadfast.

Rita reiterates that she has found Gira not guilty.

Kaguragi smiles as Racules and his men storm out of the courtroom.

Gira thanks Rita who says she was only doing her job.

Just then, Jigokujim and Sanagims arrive in Gokkan. The five Ohgers go to meet them at the gates of the castle. Rita says the five kingdom alliance was forged so they could work together to defeat their enemies. And this is one such time for the alliance to spring to action.

Rita hands Gira his sword back and he steps forward. But Rita kicks him to the ground. The four kings take the lead as they henshin with Gira having to catch up in the back.

The five Ohgers summon their gods to form Legend King-Ohger and battle the embiggened Jigokujim. Each Ohger tries to take the lead with their signature attacks. But it is when their powers are used together that they can defeat Jigokujim for good.

The five Ohgers go their separate ways for today.

Rita, however, heads inside to find holes having been dug throughout the castle. Morfonia explains that the Bugnarak have stolen something and Rita realizes that the treasure truly was in her country.

Episode Thoughts

So all five… well, six kings are crazy! lol Sorry, “quirky” I guess. Lol

But seriously, overall it was a good five episode introduction to the season. If you could put them all together into a movie of some sort and end with the revelation that Gira and Racules are brothers, it would be a great “Episode 0” type of deal before starting the series proper.

I suppose the no opening credits kind of signaled such a feeling here. And for the most part, it was a deserved no-credits episode. At first, I was sideyeing the no credits partly because even after all these months, I’m still annoyed by Revice‘s liberal use of no-credits episodes even when unwarranted. lol

But this was a good episode that unexpectedly (for me) climaxed these first five episodes into the team’s first battle together. Not the typical teamwork kind of episode. But probably something along the lines of what I hoped would happen last season on Donbrothers.

Just because the team has fought alongside each other though doesn’t remove the conflict and tension that will continue to exist between them. Especially with their differences, as shown quite bluntly with these episodes.

The episode was interesting because while it was a Rita-focus, the big reveal about the Hastie bros could’ve overshadowed her. But actually, it was the perfect way to introduce Rita while bringing together the other Ohgers and revealing the Hastie secret. We got to see how she worked. And like the others, we saw both her public personality and what she’s truly like behind closed doors.

Now, I know there’s been discussion about Rita’s gender. But I also saw that some of the uncertainty stemmed from the specific title used for her. Now, in just the last few days, new feature interviews with the actresses Erica Murakami and Yuzuki Hirakawa apparently refer to two “female” heroes on the team. And some have taken that to confirm her gender.

Obviously, we use the word “king” to refer to males, generally. And then use “queen” or something else to refer to a female leader. That’s why reading about the use of titles made this whole thing interesting for me. Only because I was under the impression that all five of them, regardless of gender or official title, were “kings.” Himeno is the king of her kingdom. Yanma is the king of his kingdom even if he may be called the president. And so on. Rita might be a Judge King or King Judge or whatever, but a king nonetheless. So that’s been how I’ve seen all five of them so far. (And again, I don’t read anything about the seasons before they begin or follow toy news, etc. So if there’s extra info out there, I would have no idea.)

Anyway, speaking of kings, I have enjoyed every scene in which Racules goes face to face with one of the Ohgers. At the moment, I can’t remember a confrontation with Himeno. But Racules’ scenes with Gira, Yanma, Kaguragi and now Rita have been great. I love the tension. And Racules’ arrogant condescension is quite fun to watch. I hope he remains all season even if he’s not the Final Boss.

I also hope they milk the brotherly issues for all they can too. As much as I love Kiramager, they could’ve done a lot more with the idea than they ended up doing. So it would be fun to see the potential here.

Also, the young actor they got to play young Racules looks exactly like Masato Yano. It’s pretty awesome. And I think showing more childhood scenes to explain how Gira ended up away from the castle should be great to watch.

Overall, I think this is definitely my favorite episode so far. It really was a nice culmination of the first episodes. And together, make for a good foundation for what’s to come.