7 Thoughts on Uchuu Sentai Kyuuranger Episode 26: "The Dark Warrior, Ophiuchus Metal"

Just in time for the upcoming episodes~   Finally all caught up, and Naga's a dick.

1.) I realize I'm harping on it for like the third episode, but I can't help it.  They keep bringing it up so I have to keep poking fun at it.  Kyuutamajin has all the stability of a robot from a parody of giant robots.  Just last week, the group used it to take out a Vice Shogun with ease, now suddenly if just one member (of twelve!) is asleep at the wheel, they can't even handle some giant-sized mooks?  This makes me think Kyuutamajin is more difficult to pilot than that Steel Battalion on Xbox.

2.)  I'm going to go more in depth with this later, but I feel like from the very beginning the way this "Naga seeks to attain emotions" thing has played out has been wrong.  In numerous occasions he's expressed emotions, they've just been on the darker end of the spectrum--sadness, anger, etc.  But just wanting emotions in itself was already feeling something, so what's all the complaining about?   We all feel emotions differently, so who's to say you aren't feeling what you're supposed to?

3.) Twice it's been suggested that they just go back in time and wipe out Don Armage, stopping Jark Matter from ever existing in the future.   Fortunately, both times Tsurugi (and now Stinger) has been smart enough to say that it can't work that way.  Jark Matter's been in control for at least a couple decades now, possibly longer.   You can't just wipe that influence out without creating a massive paradox: wipe out Jark Matter in the past, and there aren't any Kyuuranger to do it in the present, which means they were never wiped out at all, so the team gathers together, battles them until they find the Horologium Kyu Globe, go back in time, to wipe out Jark Matter in the past...

Time travel gives me (and most people) a headache, but this much isn't that hard to figure out.
4.)  Kyu Globe Update: Coma Berenices Kyu Globe, which allows the user to give other people...creative and funky haircuts?  *sighs*  No wonder Tsurugi had to basically fight Jark Matter all by himself three hundred years ago.  Half these Kyu Globes have zero usage in battle and basically just exist as a joke the universe is playing on the people trying to save it.  Each globe is supposed to represent the will of an individual star system, right?   So the will of this particular star system is to give everyone their own custom "Say no more" cut?

5.) I don't hate Naga for this, but with this episode he has gotten on my nerves.  First off, I want to congratulate the writers for putting a twist on the "evil Sentai member" storyline.  As far as I know, no member of a Sentai team has ever willingly gone with the bad guys without it being a trap.  From what we're seeing here, it's not like Naga had any plan to get what he wanted and screw over Akyanba later--he just wanted his emotions, whatever the consequences.  He attacks Hammy just because she told him (wisely) to think for himself instead of always relying on Balance.  Make no mistake, misguided or not, he definitely chose to walk down this misguided path.

What's hilarious is that in this same episode, they point out that on Naga's homeworld they sealed their emotions away because the hatred and rage just lead to bloodshed and violent wars.  And here's Naga proving they were right all along, because his quest to regain his emotions immediately leads to him nearly killing his teammates, people he's fought alongside for half a year.  He gets his emotions back and immediately becomes a menace.

Lastly...maybe it's only me, but Naga's actor just does not seem right for the job.  His facial expressions are always off to me.  It's a sign when he looked better when they CGI on some fake eyes and they look more normal than his regular expressions.  We discussed this way back in the first four episodes, and I said I'd give him a chance to turn it around.  He's got the hardest role on the show, and maybe it gets easier for him once he no longer has to fake it?   That's where this is going, right?  Balance helps Naga control his emotions and he turns good again?

6.) For over a decade I got used to the size of a Sentai team being usually 5-6, maximum 7 people.  That's changed a few times--Dekaranger, Magiranger (kinda), and Kyoryuger...but usually it's six people running the show.  This team's so massive I'd completely forgotten that when they were splitting up who handles what--one team going to the past to find Don Armage, the other staying to save Naga--that they were just going down to normal team size.   Both teams even have red Senshi!

Kinda takes the suspense out of it, but then it also looks like we're doing something fun for the next couple episodes.   Speaking of...

7.) Next Episode: We head back to the past with Xiao, Tsurugi, Stinger, Sparda, Champ, and Raptor.  If the preview is any indication, they're legitimately only focusing on what's happening with this team in the past, so the Ophiuchus Metal plot's going to be on hold.  A bold choice, and I love that they're taking advantage of their large cast to allow both stories to have their own time to develop. 

Also, apparently Xiao is old despite being a young guy in all his flashbacks that can't have been more than five years ago.   Ahh Japan, where anyone over the age of 30 is a "grizzled veteran".