So if you remember the seventh episode review for this series, I barely had anything to talk about and I'm stumped once more. I'm not hitting any writers block or anything since I can still talk about Gaim in full detail. The difference is that Gaim gives me more to talk about, hell even Kyoryuger gave me more to talk about, but I did talk more about faults there. Toqger is just not giving me much to talk about which I feel is going to be the major problem with the series. I'm not saying I need a complex show to be enjoyed, the thing is that simple things can be talked about in great detail as well. If things play out well and can throw in good elements in one episode. Toqger really only had, Right going for a train while the team deal with the MOTW and it's just so plain. There is no flavoring to this is, it's just bland. The series tries to change things with humor and there was one part I did laugh at and that made the episode more enjoyable. If the comedy fails though, it just makes things taste bad and I will go into detail about that.
The reason why the comedy fails in my opinion is because of not knowing of what to do with the comedy. The series just has things that may seem funny and they just do it. From the comedy films and series I have seen, a joke will have the simple path, but there can be more done with that. My example is Oren from Gaim, now I don't think this is the funniest thing in Toku, but I'm using it because of its recent. With Kamen Rider Gaim, they actually use Oren for comedy. They don't just have him saying his lines with no backfiring; the character causes effects to the series or in the scene. His comedy brings a little more to the show and even if you don't like it you can respect the effort they try with this comedic relief character. When comedy is around it becomes a focus point for the scene and Gaim does have Oren steal some scenes. With Toqger, it tries to spread the comedy out and it's far too thin. There will just be random moments when something happens and I like random humor, but you need to set a mood for random humor. In episode twenty-three of Gaim, when Oren is going crazy the series decided to throw more craziness into the scene, now I didn't like it, but again I can tell what is was trying to do. With Toqger it just seems that they have a funny idea and just throw it in the scene with barely any focus or context. So you just get random gags that won't even apply to the scene and will just be forgotten. Comedy can be a great thing for any show, even if it can be a dark show. Comedy brings new light to any show since there is a new way of enjoying that show and it can backfire and Toqger easily is dealing with those backfires.
The Conductor has a running gag where he screams out IMAGINATION! In this episode he just says it in the middle of his line, again why is that funny? It just happens and the scene moves on. There was even another moment in this episode where a grunt overreacts when he dies and the scene just moves on. For some random reason Tokaii plays around in the number one cockpit and the scene moves on. You see the pattern that I am talking about? Now there was something really funny in this episode and it was during a suspenseful moment. The Conductor is trying to steer the train and he still has his puppet in one hand and then he just randomly takes it off. Now this ends up having some follow up to it, as Hikari sees that Ticket is just a puppet and keeps it a secret. His reaction was great because he was shocked and decided to zip his mouth shut. The Conductor doesn't even realize he had Ticket off for a long period of time and then he has a reaction to it when things are safe. Now the series has played with Ticket before and now we get an answer to Ticket, he is just a puppet. The series played with this making us think Ticket was more than just a puppet and now we know he's not. Now I bet in other scenes, Hikari could have some interesting reactions and the audience can be thinking of things differently since now I feel that the Conductor has a sassy side to himself. See it's comedy like that is what makes a series good and sadly it was only one moment, ugh.
He even uses Ticket as a towel, again they knew how to play with this joke.
Alright onto more of the actual episode, there was some Right focus, but even that is bare. The preview for this episode made it seem it would be more of a Right focused episode. In reality, he was just on the sidelines since he was trying to get an old train back on the tracks. There wasn't much done with this, we already knew Right has the good side of stubbornness; he doesn't give up on friends. Now it's odd that he sees trains as friends, but the trains easily have some sentient-ism to them. There was a little scene where Right was asking kids where the train was and then he played soccer with them. Now one can assume that, Right knew the kids know the location of the train. Now there is evidence against that though and that is how Right acts surprised hearing the news, so he did just play around with some kids even though he had an important mission... Now at least when he heard there was danger, he did come to the rescue so there is that. After that though there isn't much more to him in this episode. He just keeps trying to get the Diesel Train back on the tracks and then he comes to save the day at the end.
The other thing in this episode was the MOTW as it does the usual trope of the trap monster. By that I mean there is more to this monster than just being a fighter. It has a secret plan and then it strikes causing distress in the team. I will say I did like this idea since the show did try to play with this, somewhat. For the most time, they are just chasing the little bomb guy and I'm not sure this should be funny or not. First of all there is still the wackiness to the chase, but there is a serious consequence here. The train is literally going to blow up or crash! It's odd to find the heroes chasing the bomb, funny since they are trying to save their own lives right now. Wagon actually had something with this though, she dealt with Tokkai who had the bomb on his shoulder and if he falls or tries to take it off, it will blow up. To prevent this, Wagon ties him up with ribbon and still acts all silly like usual. Again I'm not a fan of Wagon's humor still, but there was more effort done with her than usual. Also the ribbon did play in a bit of another moment when Tokkai still has ribbon on him while transformed.
Another problem with this overall plot of the bomb is that the action was incredibly low! The show tried way too hard to make the bomb plot enjoyable that is takes the majority of the episode. There isn't much change to the characters though as the only thing that makes watching this feel worth it is finding out about Ticket. The ending to the bomb ploy was so simple and heavily predictable that it felt like nothing when it ended. There wasn't even much of a reveal for Diesel since it just joins the other trains in a laser fight! Literally they just ride around the giant monster and just shoot it with lasers, nothing special whatsoever. Also the bomb monster looked ugly when it was in the bigger forms. Its works as the little toy, but for an actual suit it looks heavily unbalanced and way too silly to be believable.
Episode eight is boring and that is about all I can say. There is barely anything to talk about as the comedy is far too simple and random that the only way I could talk about it was in a rant. The overall plot was boring and bare, what more can I say. This series could be easy to review and yet it's still going to drain me because I'm just bored right now as I'm typing. I feel like heading off to bed right now after watching the episode and doing this review. With all of that, this episode gets a D.
Next Time: Now Diesel gets a proper reveal!
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