The first thing I need to talk about is how the series just went on a safe path. I was really mad with the previous episode because even though the series seemed like it was going to take some steps forward, they just went back down the stairs. Endolf was already written off the show, even though he's not dead, but the only possibilities for him is that he's trapped or he will break free one day. Having that 50/50 deal really just makes a plot point not that shocking then. Torin's death would have shown the team how to fight like heroes since Daigo told his team not to fight for revenge and not have any resentment. Both of those options just went out the window. I can see why Kyoryuger is doing this since Go-busters risked too much and did make a big negative impact on the franchise, but here's an option don't tease the audience with factors changing.
Now on with the actual episode, the team found out that the stones they have collected in the past are actually the stones of the past Zyudenryu. It revived Torin and now it can do the same for number ten. I have one question, why did the team just learn this? Torin really did hide a lot of information from the team and even his whole being a Debos plot twist is now useless since he's just back on the side of good. It's been a while since I did a review that I almost forgot about that. Going on, the team should have known about this information, I know there were others gathering them, but having more people on the look is very helpful. Amy almost missed an opportunity for a stone as well since it's part of a game for a man's birthday party. This could have been a very early plot point to bring in the series and easily could have been a nice build up. I guess the writer couldn't have thought of to bring this early into the series so now we are on a quest for the stones.
The reason why Amy was originally going to ignore the invitation since the man running is a child. In a way it's sort of rehashing the spoiled kid episode, but this time with a man-child. Now this isn't a bad rehash since the focus and message is completely different, so I will give credit for that. One weird thing though is how this episode just changes the focus for this episode. Since this guy has issues with Amy you would think this would be an Amy episode. Also Luckyrou is in the picture and I was going to think it was going to be another dual focus for a hero and villain. What really happens is that Souji takes the focus and it's about how he plays fairly. It really isn't a surprising thing for a swordsman to be a loyal person, at least he can give some knowledge to the annoying man-child.
The man-child was easily annoying and that was clearly the point. Still there is some very good points the man brings up. First, he is rather mad about Amy just using his party just to get the stone as he thought she was actually going to give him a chance. By the way he talks, he gave Amy a tough time before or it's the opposite. Amy gave the man too hard of a time because of how different the two are. One got spoiled from his riches while the other wanted to get away from it. Still being used for a mean to an end is not right and Amy should have at least be more subtle about it as it would have made things easier for the team. The actor playing that character was perfect, he gave a hammy performance for a hammy character. Now just because he was being funny didn't make him a likable person because he forces a challenge with Amy's fate on the line and even going as far to cheat. So what made him a likable person?
After using his guards, Souji decided he had to defend himself from the laser fire (I will get to that later) and pull out his swordsman skills out. He then gives the man-child a speech about being a noble person, the guy still shoots Souji and makes him lose. When the monster attacks though he starts to realize what Souji was talking about. His men left his side to save their own hides and doing things for the good of others is noble and should be a followed motif for anyone. The man then gives Amy the third place prize which is the amber stone. He saw what he was doing was wrong and next time he will fight fairly to win Amy's love. So his arrogance soon washes off even though he still uses the whole man in the center of the world line and he will become a better person. Another thing this episode did was hint at the love connection of Souji and Amy even though she likes King..... Why are there love triangles?!
A big flaw for this episode though unlike Ucchi's episode where he learned something about children, here the only character who have development is the man-child. Souji doesn't change and the same for Amy. The only other character who had a little focus was Ucchi, but that was just the usual rivalry with Dolgold. I am happy that I can like the filler character in the end and that's it. I bet this is another thing I'm going to have a hard time remembering since none of the characters advance and in the end the team just got a stone so off to the next one! I have a feeling the stone gathering is just going to be full of filler episodes as this is why this plot point came to the series. I guess Kyoryuger has to reach a certain episode amount so we have this, we will just have to wait to see if this was a smart move.
An aspect which I did find funny in some parts was the little competition that was going on. It was a laser tag challenge where people go around looking for chests containing numbers that will lead to the prizes. The parts where I laughed was mostly thanks to the man-child cheating since he gets his men to shoot down Souji. I mean we had men in suits shooting down a teen with toy guns. It went slightly over the top as it fits the hammy character when he was cheating. He even had a golden vest a much bigger gun than everyone else. The episode easily should have been more about the competition since it would have been funny to see Luckyrou fight the heroes in this style and would have been funny to see how over the top the series can make laser tag be.
As for Luckyrou, he was told by Chaos to think of a monster as Lucky royally screws up. He was actually thinking of a past monster from the beginning of the series. Lucky was thinking of using the phantom thief to summon since he can gather treasures very well. He soon gets the treasure chest monster in his head though as the two mix up into one monster. The MOTW does have a funny idea, but it's disgusting to look at. I can easily say it looks like a fusion monster as there are many key details from each monster. It just looks like ugly and that could have been the point since it was supposed to be a failed project, just ugh. Overall though he just comes out when he wanted to to cause trouble. Luckyrou on the other hand went on with the competition as he was having fun. Luckyrou was pretty pointless overall and we easily could have had Dolgold be more of the villain for this episode since he does more. Even though it's not by much since he just comes to fight and test out Endolf's body. I am really confused with how Dolgold easily took Endolf's body and the only people finding out are the heroes. I would think Chaos would be highly concerned with him since he was putting a lot of value into the monster.
The fights were okay with my favorite being with Dolgold fighting Carnival because this wasn't in your face with those annoying animations. As I said I love how Carnival dodges moves and when it is actually fighting head on without the silly get up it does seem like a nice power-up. To add to that the lightning is crashing everywhere making it harder for Red to dodge and yet he still pulls it off. Dolgold just leaves then seeing he is at equal strength as Red. Also beginning with the team fighting the MOTW, Red was not hogging all the glory as he was fighting along with his team. Guess who saves the day though, Red with Macho Carnival. This is just adding to my number one fear about any series, main character syndrome. Daigo clearly shows this as he takes everyone's focus. Even in this episode, Dolgold is more concerned with comparing himself to Carnival mode than he actual rival. Then the mecha fight is just Bakurestsu Kyoryojin appearing and using the finisher, yippe....
This episode is just a filler episode, but it does show some fears I am having about the series. The whole stone gathering is just going to be full of filler episodes, the character focus episodes won't actually add anything to the main cast, and Carnival is still being annoying and showing that Daigo is going through main character syndrome. I at least had some laughs here and there which is only thanks to the man-child and the overall hammy performance and how far he went. The fights were only okay as many just moved on quickly and went straight to the animated finishers. I would give this episode a D.
Next Time: The puns shall live on!
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