7 Thoughts About Kyuranger Episode 11: Three Kyu Globes to Save the Universe!

This is actually another really good episode of this series.  I have to give the show props, its never been less than decent and a lot of the time it's actually great.

1.)  I like how this series has been set up almost like an RPG so far, in that everything has been a series of quests and side quests, almost literally.   First the series was about assembling the nine Kyuranger (main quest).  Then while they were gearing up for their next big quest, happenstance put them on quests that lead to them growing their membership by two in Draco Commander and Ursa Minor Skyblue.   With that completed, they're onto their next main quest in assembling three new Kyu Globes that will help them find the location of a legendary ship known as the Argo, which is almost definitely going to be either their second mecha or a carrier zord.

...Y'know, if its real, 'cause Xiao has no idea if they are or not.  His logic is sound in the weirdest of ways, though: they had no idea if the legend behind the Kyuranger was real, but it turned out they were.  So if that legend was true, why not this one as well?   It's goofy, but it reminds you that this IS a kid's show and shouldn't be taken too seriously, and that's okay.

2.) If you thought Kotaro's "Ursa Major" form was OP at all, just know that it apparently works like the mushroom in Super Mario: one hit and he shrinks back down.

3.) If you were wondering where the story was going when Ikagen took that left over tentacle after the team blew Madaako the fuck up, here we are.  So far as we know, each of them has separate gifts: Ikagen has some kind of ability to see a few seconds ahead and is fast enough to react to it, while Madaako can regenerate as long as some piece of her is left over, though her personality changes every time it happens. 

This scene raises the question of just how many times Madaako has been killed, because Ikagen is so used to it it has to be a semi-common occurrence.  I was kinda bummed to see her return as subservient when her original self was portrayed more as Ikagen's equal, but seeing this I'd also bet on her eventually regenerating as "good" and playing out the role Sentai will occasionally give to a female villain of being allowed to "reform", complete with a cute human form because Beauty Equals Goodness.

4.)  When the episode begins, Stinger explains how he doesn't accept Kotaro as a member of the Kyuranger, and initially I would've blamed Kotaro's youth for this and assumed Stinger just couldn't see anyone so small fighting for justice.  But later in the episode when they wind up alone for a few minutes thanks to a mistake by Kotaro, Stinger reveals that his concern is genuine. 

Long ago, Stinger's brother wanted to gain power to fight against Jark Matter and protect innocents just like Kotaro did.  But eventually, his quest for power turned sour within him, and he ended up joining Jark Matter and becoming their most deadly assassin.  This unfortunate bit of Stinger's history is ultimately what caused him to risk his life to save Kotaro and his little brother in the first place, and the fact that they thought to bring it up as a cautionary tale for the team's youngest hero instead of just leaving it by the wayside until the second half of the series is pretty solid writing. 

5.)  Speaking of solid writing, the biggest shock of this episode is that there's actually some character depth to Lucky.   They could've easily made him like KyoryuRed and just made him an constantly, inexplicably cheerful guy who just also happens to be the most lucky bastard in the universe.  He's literally warped reality twice in order to give himself and Xiao Kyu Globes, so it's not like his claim is untrue.  But it is nice to see characters having more depth to them than what's on the surface.

So this episode Lucky's luck starts to go sour on him.  He enters a contest and loses, the seat he's sitting on in one scene just randomly breaks apart, and going into battle he just gets his ass kicked mercilessly....twice.  The first time was bad enough, but when the rest of the team notices and points out that perhaps he should give it a break for a day, he rushes off angrily in an attempt to find Ikagen and Madaako for a second round.

That screen is him right as he's about to fight the two squid assassins (squidsassins?), and watching the scene makes it look a lot less like Lucky's normal schtick where he's simply explaining that he's "the luckiest guy ever, deal with it.jpg" and a lot more like he's trying to convince himself.  There's a desperation in his tone and even the look on his face, and it seems kind of weird until later when they show a flashback to what appears to be Lucky as a child on his home planet.  The entire planet is drenched in fire and it looks as if everyone else is either gone or very, very dead.  And that's when it clicks.   Lucky's been proclaiming himself to be the luckiest guy in the universe this whole time because it's a form of survivor's guilt.  He's convinced himself that he has to be lucky otherwise it doesn't make sense why he was able to survive such a horrible event, and thus there's no point to his existence.   It's pretty existential, and fortunately this looks like a plot thread we're going to get to explore more in the next episode.

6.) With Lucky out of action, this week we get RyuTeiOh, which is made up of all the "extra" Sentai members of the team.  It's not a bad design, and it's continuing this trend of Kyuranger having actually well designed mecha for once.   There's some kind of ten piece monstrosity coming though, so I feel like this trend won't last very long.

7.) Next Week: I finally get my wish and we get to see all eleven members gathered together to kick ass.  I feel like something this major has to lead to Ikagen and Madaako both being killed because something major has to come from this, but if not expect Madaako to do that reform thing I mentioned earlier.

In the meantime, the group has to discover what's the secret to Ikagen being able to "see people's fate", and if I had to guess I'd say they figure out how to stop him by simply overwhelming/exhausting him with pure numbers.  Tune in next week to see how horribly wrong/right I am.