Carranger Episode 2 Review: Dancing In The... Sky?

It seems that I can type up more than I thought. I was considering two episodes per review, but noticing how much I got just for this episode, doing even two would be too much for one post. Again I think I am getting out of this writer’s block and again this amazing show gets all the thanks I can give it. So these episode reviews will be pretty random overall, maybe some could have two or more depending on how I want to review it. Maybe if there is an arc or something of its kind I can do one post for those episodes. Oh well, who cares I want to talk about Carranger!

From the strong beginning of this show there is still much more to cover. Right off the bat the show has this unique feeling and then episode two just slaps you in the face with that. The monster of the week was BB Donpa and he is known as the Beethoven of Space, first off, what the hell does that mean? Is he just a famous musical genius who lives in space? See this is what interests me with Carranger so quickly, I cannot really guess what is going to come around. It feels like a bit of random humor where anything can come at you and the pay off always works out in this show. So for BB Donpa he is sent to the Earth to create a ton of noise and how he does that is amazing. Like in the previous episode we did see cars flying around and attacking civilians, well get that again, but better. Donpa conducts them as they dance in the sky and even around the Earth as they create glorious music! The music would be so loud that aliens would get so angry that they would destroy the Earth. I have never heard of any plan like that before from this type of show! I just love seeing the cars flying around, dancing, and trying to crash themselves into the heroes. I have to say cars are a good weapon to use in a battle, I mean they crash and go boom, what could be better?

Another thing to point out would be the cool new weapons the team gets. This is known has the Giga Formula! It is the usual cannon finisher weapon and like some other cannon weapons it can break apart to become different weapons. I got to say I love seeing Dappu happy to introduce this new weapon and yet everyone else just ignores him when he goes on for too long. Everyone thinks of an excuse, except for Natsumi who stays and works. The best part about this scene was Minoru, he notices that everyone is leaving so when he leaves he pretty much says he should leave because everyone else is, and this is my guy. Another thing I noticed was how there are many little gimmicks being done in the show. The cast of actors already show off this with their personalities and doing a good job of overreacting. Then there are bits like when Gynamo gets hit hard by Zonette because he was being stupid like showing her normal fireworks instead of the big ones. One really stands out though and that is with the white Whumper. First of all, he is the only one who is white and when he appears, he falls on the ground, gets trampled on by the others, and a little dog chases him away… I have no idea why that was there, but it was funny. That is the thing about random humor like that, it breaks your sense of logic and good random humor keeps doing that even if the show does it multiple times. You can never predict it and it gets you curious for more. This happens again when White is hiding behind Zelmoda and just runs away, why is this guy even fighting?

Now onto the Giga Formula, as I said before it can become more weapons and I always loved seeing cannon finishers like that. Zyuranger also has a strong one because I love seeing it come together and noticing which part is which. Carranger not only takes it apart, but puts it back together as well, but do use a cut away unlike Zyuranger. Unlike other Sentai shows though that have training sessions for new weapons, these guys just get a manual and read whatever they can before fighting. Another little random moment was that the manual was in a plastic wrap and when Red Racer throws it, Blue goes and picks it up. So for these different weapons, we got a Fencer Sword, Muffler Guns, Side Knuckles, Engine Cannon, and Bumper Bow. My favorite would be the Side Knuckles because of the electricity effect they have and close ranged weapons are always my thing. The Muffler Guns are quite funny because it doesn’t do the usual just destroying the foot soldier, no their butts are set on fire! 

Reminding me of fire, the manual comes back into play when the team needs to learn how to use the final form of Giga Formula. The manual is on fire though and they just see the image of Formula Nova and just go for it! Again there is no practice at all these guys just do it on the fly. I know other shows have done it before, but here I am bothered by it more, only because there is a legit manual for this weapon! This is a good simple gag that keeps this silly idea in your head about how quickly heroes can learn on how to fight. The weapon is used and again it does not destroy the monster, it just sends his butt back to space! There was also some nice little animation for the monster’s face when he gets hit.

One more thing to mention is that we get a nice minor character showing up in this episode, he is the boss of the heroes at their job at Pegasus. He decides to come over and give a lecture to the team and then Dappu just keeps knocking him out so he can introduce the Giga Formula. There is even a point where the man knocks himself out when he kicks the Giga Formula and that is how the weapon gets to work because some middle aged man just kicked it! There are so many other shows that would have a quest or something just to use a new cannon finisher or some sort of soul journey for the heroes so when they use it, it feels rewarding. Carranger says no to all of that nonsense and just kicks it into gear, literally!

 Episode two then ends with the villains losing and their plan backfires on them then. Donpa keeps playing his music unintentionally that is causes the aliens to attack them instead as we see Donpa’s arm fall off, implying that he got killed. So the heroes did not finish him off, but some random aliens did. Also the boss finally wakes up and does not get hit on the head as he gets a call from his wife and heads out. Meanwhile Dappu keeps taking care of the Giga Formula. This is only the second episode and I am amazed by what has happened so far. There are some shows that struggle with their beginnings because they try to find new ways to introduce new elements or even new toys to sell. Carranger just slaps it in while the nonsense really gets your attention and while your attention is being taken you can notice these new weapons being used and even noticing little details because this show can throw many curveballs at you. What is really special here is execution and that should be what people focus on and not the idea itself. This is a strong A episode because I loved the nonsense that happened here and really got into it when the new weapon was introduced which is rare now these days for current Sentai I feel.