7 Thoughts on Uchuu Sentai Kyuuranger Episode 22: "The Legendary Savior's True Self"

I didn't realize just how much happened in this episode until I tied to condense it all into just seven thoughts.  With the exception of a handful of episodes, Kyuuranger has kept its foot on the gas almost since episode one--with a perfect mix of plot and character development to keep me drawn in.  It's almost like an apology for all the series between it and Kyoryuger.

1.) The first thing we learn about Ohtori Tsurugi/Phoenix Soldier, the Kyuuranger's twelfth member...is that he's a Mary Sue for Sentai.   No really, he's a self-insert fanfiction character: he somehow became the first astronaut three hundred years ago, he was special enough to be chosen by the universe to become a Kyuuranger before anyone else, and after defeating Jark Matter once before, he went on to unite all of space and become the President of the first Space Federation.  Then, on the Seventh Day he saw that his work was good, and went into cold sleep for three hundred years.

He's so ridiculous even the rest of the team calls bullshit on his backstory, but fortunately the show does one thing to make him tolerable.  Rather than making him humble or simply ignorant to his own accomplishments and abilities like every other Mary Sue--Tsurugi is very, very aware of how awesome he is.  His flaw is his own massive ego, as he spends the first half of the episode assured that everyone has heard of his marvelous legend...only to discover that, in just three hundred years, Jark Matter has erased every mention of him from history.  So despite having done all these great things, no one knows or even seems to care.

Even better is when he tells the team that their job is over.  Their part in the legend was merely to revive him--that's what makes them the "ultimate saviors" Lucky claims them to be, and now they can stop fighting.  More accurately, he tells them they have to stop fighting, because it was absurd for them to fight in the first place.   He berates them all as being incapable of fighting due to who they are, leading to one of the funniest lines of the series so far: "What sense does it make for a chef to be fighting?"

If the Kyuuranger hadn't been anything other than ridiculously successful, I'd actually be inclined to agree with them.

2.)  As mentioned earlier, around the time Ohtori starts complaining about his legend disappearing, it occurred to me that it would actually be more funny if he were telling the truth about it all rather than making it up.  That gives us a character who legitimately deserves all the accolades and worship...but he's not going to get it, because nobody knows who the heck he is anymore.

And then they mention that Jark Matter has its own university, and suddenly I find myself in awe of this particular group of Sentai bad guys.  It's no wonder Earth was so easily subjugated, when doubtlessly one of the first things Jark Matter did was wipe out any mention of hope or former saviors, reinforcing the idea that they are the saviors.  Don Armage mentioned in a much earlier episode that he was enforcing his own version of peace, and now it's easy to understand what he meant.

3.) Kyu Globe Update: The Heracles Kyu Globe, which as you can see from Hammy's ripped upper arms, gives you a measure of super strength.  For once, this feels like a Kyu Globe that should be used for more than just a one-off; I'd love to see it again in a later episode.

4.)  This is easily the most shocking revelation of the episode.  Ohtori Tsurugi's existence alone raises a lot of questions--like how exactly can you be the first owner of a Kyu Globe but your Globe is the 12th one--but the biggest one of them all was probably "If he fought Jark Matter before, what happened to the leader back then?"     Now my geeky plot hole question is unlikely to be addressed, but Ohtori takes the second question head on by bringing up that he's already killed Don Armage, and asks one of the Malistrates in charge of Jark Matter's re-education program exactly how can someone be alive when they've been killed before?

Now there's a handful of potential answers to this question: One, there's a new Don Armage.  Two, Don Armage was somehow revived, or faked his death.   Three, perhaps Ohtori Tsurugi isn't telling the whole truth.   Or four, something weird that I haven't thought of that will either be brilliant or drive me nuts, take your pick.

5.) I remember during the 90's sometimes it would take several episodes before the Sentai members would actually need the giant robot.  I got excited at first when Ohtori started attacking the giant MOTW with just his ship, in the hope that they would save the appearance of the mecha until next episode.  It was such a big deal when a megazord/robot would appear for the first time back in the day--they built it up, proved it was something that was absolutely needed.  Now it just seems like they do it because they want to show off.

...Actually, in Ohtori's case that makes perfect sense.  Carry on.  Also: Gigant Phoenix looks freaking bad-ass, and with this Kyuuranger has some of the most consistently cool mecha design we've had since Gokaiger.  Very nice.

6.)  After twenty-two episodes of the Kyuuranger near effortlessly kicking Jark Matter's butt, we finally see the first appearance of what's hopefully an actual threat to the team: Don Armage's three vice-shoguns.

The first major thought I had about this is that it highlights just how far under Don Armage Scorpio was.  At best he was #5 in the ranking--and that's just assuming these are confirmed to be the only generals the Don has.  He threw away his brother, his planet, and eventually his life...to not even get the Bronze?   Ouch.

Seriously though, it's about time the team finally got a challenge.  Though hopefully they don't nerf Ohtori just two episodes after his first appearance.  That'd be sad.

7.) Next Week: Ohtori Tsurugi starts to do broadcasts to give hope to the people of Earth in the fight against Jark Matter!   ....Right? Right?

....He's definitely just telling everybody about how awesome he is, isn't he?