動物戦隊ジュウオウジャー
Dobutsu Sentai Zyuohger
Episode Review
Episode 23: Mega-Beast Hunter (巨獣ハンター)
Aired: Sunday, July 31st, 2016
Synopsis: As the ZyuOhger plan for a
fireworks display that night, a new threat lands on Earth – Bungrey the
MegaBeast Hunter. Trying to appease a bored Genus, the Deathgaliens send
Cruiser down to start a new Blood Game.
Review: First impressions
As soon as I saw
the title of this episode, I was excited. It immediately reminded me of Flashman’s Alien Hunters as lead by Sir
Cowler (who remains one of my absolute favorite Sentai villains). Then the
cynic in me was immediately wary of how it will actually turn out. Ultimately,
I was rather pleased with the outcome.
Put-ups
Genus getting bored with the blood games is
a nice touch. After all his failed schemes, it feels natural that he would be
disappointed and fed up with the failures. He doesn’t have much vested interest
in Earth other than destroying it for kicks, so instead of getting angry his
getting bored seems more fitting.
Some shallow put-ups...
- The Zyumans in yukata! I’m happy to see them in different outfits.
- The rest of the team is calling Misao
“Micchan” now!
Put-downs
I really wish that Bungrey either had a
different design or was played by an actor (I really miss the villain casts having multiple non-fully monster costumed villains). He looked too much like a
generic monster-of-the-week design. I was hoping for a sleeker or somehow more
intimidating design. As I said in my first impression, I had images of Sir
Cowler in my head – a silent badass type. Bungrey just seemed a little too
generic to me – another rough and gruff larger villain.
Misao’s shtick is already wearing a bit
thin with him. Luckily he only got super mopey for a bit at the end of the
episode. I hope that this marks a toning down of that aspect of his character.
Final thoughts
The episode itself lacked tension. The
addition of a new villain should be something big and exciting whereas in this
episode made it seem like something that just happened. I think having Bungrey
easily defeat Cruiser beyond hope of revival would have been a nice touch. Yes,
showing him beat the Rangers is definitely important but having it happen so
soon after The World completely demolished them in his debut takes away the
punch from that it was meant to have. As I mentioned above, I didn’t like
Bungrey’s design and I think also really took a lot of the effect out of his
scenes for me.
The addition of a new player into the
game is a welcome development. I really do hope Bungrey is around for a while.
I didn’t like how quick they wrapped up The World’s debut arc, that arc had a
few more beats left to it before they hurried into setting up the new status
quo. So, I really want Bungrey to a long-term addition to the cast and messes
with both our heroes and the villians.
Finale Grade: B+
