Ressha Sentai Toqger Episode 12 Review: Imagination Deus Ex Machina

For this episode of Toqger everyone, but Right has lost their imagination and cannot see the train anymore. Can Right save his friends so that they can all board the train and make Zed's experiment a failure.

First of all this episode doesn't show our red warrior like a god! This was a focus episode for Right and at first I thought he just ignored the hypnosis because his imagination was stronger and all that, but luckily that didn't happen. Emperor Zed wanted to test Right and see if he can do anything to make his friends back to normal. Now I will say there was a deus ex machina moment in the episode which I will cover later, but it wasn't because of just Right. Right struggled through this and him just interacting with his friends didn't snap them out. Sure the actual reason for why his teammates come back is confusing and just falls into the stereotypical area. At the very least it didn’t paint their leader as a deity. Now was this episode good... no.

I am still having trouble to really find things to talk about in this episode and even just following how the episode plays out doesn't even help me out. The series still has this bland taste to it as most of the episodes play out like one would expect. I mean really this path wasn't anything special. The problem occurs, exposition from the villain, Right trying to talk to his friends, sudden deus ex machina, and fighting occurs. The series is not really doing anything different as the main hero's story is just gaining back their memories while it seems the villains are going through more character development. I'm not saying the villain's development is good, but I can tell there is movement at the least.

So I will discuss on how Right saves his friends because I'm really trying to get what happened there. Right starts to figure out that the passes he made for his secret base ended up connecting the team. So all he does is look at the card and I guess his imagination made the cards appears for everyone else. Then the final rule of the secret base was to always help. I guess that was the kicker in their memories? The part I don't get though is that don't the heroes already remember this? I mean even when the heroes were hypnotized they still remembered about the secret base and the rules. Why would just seeing the card again make their imaginations come back? Again the writing was going straight into a wall so this had to happen, but this really just lead to pointless suspense. This is something that happens in this series a lot! Maybe the connection is that when they were kids making those rules those were the times they had their imagination at the highest potential. Again this was nothing, but a deus ex machina as the series almost ran into a wall with this plot.

Everything before the heroes coming back then was just plain boring. I wasn't mad or anything, but sometimes being bored is worse. Again with Kyoryuger and Go-busters, I didn't like the shows and yet I can say they are worth analyzing. Kyoryuger was a battle for me as it went back and forth as I do feel the series did have great potential if certain formulas were changed. Go-busters was a mess when it started to constantly change around themes and motifs and yet that is more interesting to look into. I'm not saying Toqger is worse than said series just because it's boring, but I can say I would rather watch the previous series because at least thinking about them feels worth it in the end. So what else happens, oh Zed spices up the evil base with spotlights and a disco ball because he loves those sparkles! Even the monster with the cool design ended up being nothing special since he was just the loyal bodyguard and ended up dying because of personal pride. Reminding me of villains I guess I should cover that thing then...

Well I can at least Zed is doing things because of his obsession though. I'm with Baron on this, if Zed didn't have this sparkles obsession we would probably have some dead heroes right now. I know villains do this from time to time, but some can get away with it because they really think out their plans. I mean imagine if Right did get hit by the dark light and was hypnotized the series pretty much would have been over. Zed just toys around though and again this is the big bad of the series... so yea I do not like Zed all that much right now. I mean even a plan that could at least progress some of the plot like the whole amnesia story with the Toqgers ends up doing nothing! Then there was Gritta as she is thinking of killing Zed so that she cannot be his bride. I think her original plan of just running away worked out better though as she only got caught because she went to Zed directly. Even Schwarz just comes out of nowhere when he was sent to find Gritta. Now Schwarz is starting to figure out that Gritta could be admiring him because he found his old handkerchief on her, man he is blind. Also Zed sees the sparkles in Gritta so he starts liking her and kisses her on the cheek, this is creepy!

Just have this burned into your minds.

All that is left is the action as even that was nothing special. The heroes reunite and fight the MOTW with the usual flair. I will say there was one big flaw when Right literally swung at nothing. It wasn't even off screen or anything like that. Right literally threw a grunt down a hill and yet he still swung in that direction after blocking another grunt's sword. I guess the grunt was supposed to be there and just didn't get there in time, was this just a one cut method or something, take more than one cut if there is going to be a flaw like that. Then they switch colors again and use the finisher that barely ever makes sense, but hey it's all about imagination! Even the mech fight was really stupid because Right just has the idea of combining all the trains together because it seems their imagination is at the highest potential! So we already get a clustered mech and it looks awful like many clustered mechs. It's just Toq-oh with a new head piece and the three other trains just slapped onto it. There are even pieces that just extended from the chest as they look so fragile. The new helmet looks silly too, nothing with this mech looks right! I'm amazed the poor suit actor can move in that thing. So the reveal of this mech is just clashing swords, one cannon attack, and the big finisher. Again I'm amazed the thing can move as I was just expecting the cannons to be firing the whole time. The finisher is then a complete copy of one of Go-ongers' finishers, but with trains.

There isn't really much else to say about this episode as these episode reviews are turning more into rants. It's the only way I can find to actually talk about this series though because what is given to me is bare to nothing. The heroes' development is really low and even if the villains are getting more it's not any good and not that much larger. The fights were the same old except for the clustered mech which was just a mess to watch. This episode gets a D- as the main villain is really doing nothing all that new for the series and so far I think his presence is making the series worse right now.

Next Time: Diesel and fire... why doesn't that sound right?

Ressha Sentai Toqger Episode 11 Review: The Emperor Of Sparkles!

In this episode of Toqger the gang head on to a amusement park as they take an off day for the time being. Meanwhile, the darkness has been formed to make a track for the Emperor, but he doesn't seem to be around, so where is he?

I have to say this episode had much more screen time for the villains while the heroes literally had barely anything to do with this episode. I mean Right did have a little bit of things, in the end though he was just acting like himself and didn't change. So an episode with a reveal of the main villain really has barely anything to talk about that is a bad sign to begin with there. At the very least in Kyoryuger when the big bad was revealed I had much more to talk about. Wouldn't it be better for the track of darkness being formed and connecting to a town since it couldn't controlled. The team then find out there is a Shadow Line and head there to take down the usual monster of the week and then the surprise of not seeing the usual monster would have been better. Sadly this episode has useless filler throughout the whole beginning of the episode and then the emperor of darkness is just around. Couldn't this episode at the very least have a child with the gang and try to cheer the child's day up, like really this show needs to have more substance to it, especially for the reveal of the main villain!

This seems to be worth showing.... ugh

I can say I do like how the villains acted when the emperor was not on the train as they become frantic, well two of them at the least. Meanwhile Schwarz and the emperor's right hand man are completely calm. This episode does lead to the other big villains to be doing something other than being in the shadows or making a wedding dress. Reminding me of that, Gritta runs away which was expected because it's been like since the beginning of the series since she has been afraid of seeing the emperor. Again everything is just going as expected with no twist to spice it up. The villains even come at the expected time when the emperor was going to say his name because then he can say it with his henchmen around to make it a dramatic effect, again predictability ruins that though.

This lamp monster has a sweet design though.

So the emperor of darkness is around and yet I rather call him the emperor of sparkles because he just loves the sparkles! Literally he has a whole line of dialogue about how much he loves the sparkles because they are so bright. Now I can see why he takes a fascination with them since he's been living in darkness for his whole life, literally. Then what he wears is well, interesting... compared to the whole cast of monsters with a steam punk theme, I would think he would have something to represent that. Maybe his monster form will since it has been revealed that he is not human and just has that form for some reason. I can say he does get my interest which is because of how silly he is and not the fact he is threatening. Why is Gritta afraid of this guy? The series makes this guy look like a fool and then they just do the really cliche ways of making a villain seem scary. Right stares at him and his eyes turn pitch black and then he can use force powers that knock everyone down. Also it doesn't help that he doesn't even want to fight or kill off his enemies because he finds them interesting. This is just a boring way of revealing a villain as I am questioning if he is threatening or not.

The action in this show was a bit more than the usual flair and that is only because of how the villains fought. We got to see more of the generals fight and again I do like their style. Just like Schwarz, Baron and Noir still do carry their style while fighting. Noir just uses a parasol and she is wearing a dress and everything. She has very limited movement and this easily made some of the stunts a bit slow and odd to look at. Does she still have her style, yes, but it's not good for the flow of the fight. Baron has a similar style to Schwarz as both of them are swordsmen and Baron does keep his posture rather still like the other general. He does use the cane part of his sword well to trip people up or make some quick twists. Also he can even use his hat like Oddjob how can I hate that. Baron can even use his hat for an energy blast. The mech fight was pretty much the same, but with a new finisher and it's just a team up attack. Diesel-oh at the very least does something different, but Toq-oh does the same. So the action a bit more to it, but it's only a little above average.

Zett then does reveal something that was predicted at the beginning of the series, the fact that the Toqgers have been devoured by darkness before. So it's pretty much a confirmation at this point since I think a person like Zett can easily tell when people were devoured by darkness. High chance the five of them somehow escaped because of their imagination! I bet they didn't even fall into the darkness, it was more the fact that their city or station fell into it and they were just around during that time. So we have a bit of progression right now, but it's nothing big since the show already talked about it in the beginning! The ending of the episode was interesting though as Zett sends his monster to make the Toqgers not see the train. I guess his power is to cloak things in darkness since he is a dark lamp. Right is the only one who can still see the train probably because he didn't get hit by the dark light or he was strong enough to resist it. Sadly his other teammates cannot see the train anymore so what will happen now?

I'm surprised I had this much to say about this episode since there was barely any meat on the bone yet again. The series just thought that revealing the main villain would be enough to make the episode interesting. I will say it does make it interesting since we have a new character in the scheme of things, but interesting doesn't always mean entertaining. It's more like I want to see more done with him and the things they are hinting at right now. So far this episode didn't really do much with Zett other than what happens at the end. Overall this episode didn't feel like much because we literally wasted the beginning of this episode on seeing the team having fun at the amusement park. This episode gets a D+

Next Time: Reuniting never felt so good.

Ressha Sentai Toqger Episode 10 Review: Death At Dusk

For this episode of Toqger, Tokatti is training so that he can get better at fighting as he meets a kid who loses his imagination. To top everything off then he is giving a title saying that he will die when the sun sets!

To my surprise this was actually a good episode and surprisingly it's another Tokatti focus episode, it seems the blue warriors have been getting my interest lately. Even though this was really simplistic, it knew exactly what to do with it and actually hold some nice little jokes and good twists. Literally the episode can be described in two short sentences which I just did and again this isn't a bad thing for once. When you got something simple this is when you can add jokes, twists, and action to make the episode feel fun and worth watching and that's what happens. Compared to the previous episodes of Toqger that just do things without actually explaining or giving characters development, it finally gets fixed here. This is why Toqger felt so bland for many of its episodes since it wasn't doing anything different and wasn't even expressing itself, it just felt bland. This episode though does have personality though and it's thanks to how Tokatti shows how great he is.

Tokatti meets a little boy who cannot see the train and this confused him since kids should be able to see the train. It ends up the child has a problem with his imagination because of him being a failure. First of all, this is the first time we are looking into the imagination concept with the children this time. The children can lose their imagination if something gets in their way of thinking and having the heroes help out those kids could make some good filler episodes. Children go through many problems as they go through phases in their lives, keep developing, and learn new ways of thinking. For a kids shows about imagination it's great that the heroes are helping out kids since the problem is simple and realistic and could easily help a child or two get some more confidence or get the feeling of wanting to do something then. Toqger easily could have done this many times before as I do feel this show should help with the idea of expressing one's imagination. So with all of that said how does Tokatti help out this poor boy?

I got to say this first, even when Tokatti is getting closer to his death he ends up training and helps a kid out with his problems! Tokatti keeps his hopes up by imagination of course, but there is more to it than that. This ends up helping the child with his problems since he cannot be good at baseball since his imagination failed him. What he ends up learning though is that he needs to practice to actually get good at something while one's imagination can just boosts one's self confidence and their hope. This is a great message for children as it does what I think the series should do more often. It helps express creativity and at the same time telling kids they need to keep trying. It's quite funny since I remember hating baseball when I was younger and end up quitting, but I didn't fully give up on sports because I wanted to keep trying and I ended up finding soccer. I kept at that and became a good player for my team. A message like this can even help out anyone else as if you keep trying things could get better. So Toqger, can you please have more episodes like this?

So with Tokatti's hopes high and with his training he ends up succeeding greatly! He learned the monster's power quickly and found a way to exploit it for his use. The monster could type titles that would affect real things like making the team's train fly off into space and actually kill Tokatti. I knew he was going to live of course, but with how the series has been doing things lately I thought they were just going to kill the monster before time ran out. To my surprise that didn't happen. Tokatti ends up using the buttons on the monster to type his own titles and by doing this he puts an extension on his. So in reality Tokatti did die, but thanks to what he typed up he revived himself. Tokatti even did this again during the mech fight! He was in charge for this episode and has orders around. He has Right help him out to confuse the monster while the others just did nothing... yea the teamwork wasn't much like usual still. With how Tokatti was though in this episode was fantastic as he is so far the best member of this team. I mean he avoided death, helped a child out, and still wants to train, good for him! Finally how the episode ends even has a heartwarming feeling to it since the kid can see the train as he waves to Tokatti and continues with his training. That is how you make a filler episode good; you put some nice fun and touching moments in to make it feel special.

Going on this episode helped itself by giving itself some nice action moments. When Tokatti is pressing the buttons the camera doesn't focus on it and cuts away at those moments to make his revival a surprise. I even loved seeing him train as even I was confused on what he was doing exactly. So even though I knew he was going to live, the episode hid how he was going to pretty well. Tokatti even continued to be great after his revival as he took the monster by himself. He prevented the monster from doing more typing and just kept at him with his gun and sword. Even the soundtrack helped out with this since at his revival it had a great rising dynamic to it as it then flows into the victory tune as the cannon finisher was used. I will say it was rather quick though, but it was sweet still and personally this was much better than most of the fight in the series so far. I even laughed to the cannon finisher for once! It was a nice little callback joke and had a good pay off, Toqger be more like this!

The mech fight even got a boost thanks to more set pieces being used and it being the first duo fight. Both Toq-oh and Diesel-oh fight the giant monster and again this fight helped make some personality for the series. With the fight being at night and again the music was used well to make a serious feel and yet the episode gave off funny little moments. The main train was sent in space which had some funniness to it because it was just brought up before the mech fight. Tokatti then used the monster's powers to bring the train back then, why isn't this guy the leader?! So when the two mechs fight the monster, to my surprise they actually use new camera angles and then use some of the stage props around them. Literally things actually got crushed this time, so many times the mech fights just go on so quickly you barely ever got time to see the sets.

Now there were still some problems like the monster did feel incompetent, but he knew right off the bat to try to get rid of the team so I'll give him credit there and his power was a nice one. Then there was the fact that Tokatti did take the spotlight so the overall teamwork was low. Compared to what made this episode great though, this episode is my favorite so far. First of all it actually did something more with it's concept of imagination than just being silly like usual. There is also the fact that the message in this episode was a good one and how Tokttai helped the child to get his imagination back has a great feeling to it. Finally, the episode actually was fun! There were some good jokes, good sense of heroism, and some nice action pieces. This is the first time this series will get an A because I just found this episode to be fun, surprising, and most importantly unique as Tokatti is going to be my favorite in this series. 

Next Time: The Emperor of Darkness is here!

Ressha Sentai Toqger Episode 9 Review: No... Just No

Well I'm back with Toqger and I regret what I said in the previous review. Now I'm not saying this episode wasn't good, but it sure gave me a lot to talk about regarding a certain subject. I can easily say this is my least favorite episode for many reasons. The Toqgers have to wait for the main train to be fixed from the previous episode and while waiting it's time for sightseeing, but is something waiting for them?

I feel like I should just get to the elephant in the room here. First of all the major plot point for this episode has more than a bad sexist tone, but also a complete betrayal of a character and some bad clichés. This is just a mixture of horribleness here so let’s just get it out of the way. Now this is actually Mio's first focus episode unless you count episode four since she shared the spotlight with Tokkai (also is just a much better episode). Mio in that episode and at many other times is and acted like a tomboy and she has shown signs she just wants to be strong and improve herself. Mio doesn't have time for relationships and she has a disinterest in them also. So why in the hell would they try to force love on her? Now don't get me wrong this long angle thing could have worked if they actually did it right, like maybe matching her with someone that could help her improve or some sort of friendly rival. The episode doesn't do that and decides to match her up with a man who thinks all girls need protecting and yes I know he was under the MOTW's control, but Mio shouldn't have fallen for that! You know how they could have made this better when he does save her, Mio jumps right back into action and the two work together and maybe used the man as a sparring partner or something like that, don't make a character like Mio be the princess who needs to be saved!

So how does Mio react to all of this happening to her? Well I would say I did like the idea of how she was rejecting the idea since she hates it. Mio even deludes herself that there is no date, but a duel! Again, maybe that sparring partner or friendly rival idea would have worked out much better since Mio is expecting a duel. The scene that happens though is just awful, while training Mio stops for some reason. She keeps thinking about the man and it soon causes her to cook out of nowhere! This didn't really feel like Mio at all since her acting liking this doesn't fit with what she has done before. If Mio wanted to impress the man she would have found her own way and since he saved her before I would think she would try to show off her skills as a fighter. Let's look at Persona 4 for a moment with the character Chie as she is the tomboy type of girl. If you max the social link with her and become a couple she doesn't change like Mio does, she acts the same since that was the person you fell in love with. Chie is tough and stands up for herself, so what she doesn't act like the usual girl, she's a person not a sexual stereotype. How Chie progresses in the social link is how Mio should have been, working hard with what she does best. Now there was a bit of redemption at the end since she bounces right back after getting her heart crushed and wants to be the fighter she has been already, but my goodness everything else that happens is just bad and we are not done with this yet.

This all has to do with the monster's plan as the station he wants to make as to deal with broken hearts. The monster has a marionette theme if you couldn't tell as he controlled men to act like the hero and impress the girls. Now this does happen at times, there are moments where a man could be the hero and get the girl, but that is still mostly a huge cliché in the entertainment business and barely happens in real life. So the same thing is happening again and again and this just made things bad as well. Maybe if they tried to change things up and tried to do different tasks, or for an actual comedic effect switch up the gender roles. For a series that is trying to be comical it really misses out on some good gags. Maybe the whole sexist tone could have vanished if the series decides to mess around with gender roles, but nope they just play along with them. It's just another uncreative thing for the series to do so that is not surprising, but I sure wasn't expecting the series to go into this route.

Now I will say there was little cool thing that I did like which was with the Diesel Train. The team had to use that to explore around and I would like to see episodes with the other trains. It's a little detail, but it does create this nice sense of exploration and imagination at the least. Then reminding me of the Diesel Train it makes a much better mech than the main one. Disel-oh was formed in this episode and it's pretty much random since it easily should have appeared in the previous episode, but at least this is actually a cool mech. I was okay with Toq-oh, but there were problems with the designs, mostly with the color arrangements. Diesel-oh actually has a great color blend thanks to the fact the mech only uses three trains. The main train is in the center while the other two cover both bottom and upper parts. Then the whole body shape fits the powerhouse type it is as I really love the head piece with that idea. Now the fight was pretty quick, but it did showcase that the new mech is a powerful one as it broke free of the monster's strings and just kept punching it. The finisher was a bit silly though because of when it starts spinning it's completely stiff, I know it's a robot, but I feel like the animators just got lazy with making a pose for the CGI model. Still this is a far better mech than the main one as I think this one should be used more often, just imagine if Diesel-oh had some new support trains.

As for the rest of the action it was the same old thing we have seen before. For some reason the series thought it would be bad for Mio to have a solo fight and decides to have her get defeated quickly by the monster. What a mood killer I have to say I mean she didn't fall into darkness, had an amazing start by using the hammer to make explosions appear around the grunts (great camera shot I have to say), and then she just gets defeated by the monster. Also there was a thing with the giant fight where the monster says just using power cannot win and yet that is exactly what happened during that fight. Why not have that for the other fight, Mio has a hammer weapon and she is quite powerful with it. They easily could have done a cliché where she breaks the monster's weapon and that would have felt a bit more dynamic. There was a quick moment that was actually a bit different which was when Mio was wearing Pink and knocked the monster's weapons away and then we got the strange cannon finisher like usual.

With the mech fight I have mentioned that I do really like Diesel-oh and it's mostly thanks to how it's a powerhouse. The mech just puts up its dukes and keeps bashing heads in. Even for a mech that just uses fist there was way more creative things with this then the main mech. First I like how it blows steam since it's an older train and the fact that the mech can actually have some actual movement. That was the main problem with Toq-oh it was stiff the whole time and yes I know it's because it was on tracks, but that got really old fast. With Diesel-oh it's actually moving like other Sentai mechs. There was an odd moment then when all of a sudden when the monster gets an upper hand there is no music at all. Again just another mood killer and it didn't last long so why even have the monster get this upper hand for less than a minute. Then I have to say the mech as a shockwave attack and it did this in the city... collateral damage everyone! Yes there have been many moments during mech fights were things get destroyed, but not by the heroes themselves, well I bet there are others there is still no excuse though. Overall the mech fight was above average at best, but that is glorious for a series that had its main mech on tracks.

This episode had a big mess with its main focus even if it does fix itself at the end. Along with that the series plays with the same old things it has been doing. The other teammates barely do anything else in this episode, comedy that just misses all the time, and Wagon is still annoying! At least the action had a bit of a step up mostly thanks to the new mech, but this episode gets a D- because the only saving points were some nice camera shots with the action.

Next Time: Tokkai dies at the end?

Ressha Sentai Toqger Episode 8 Review: Give Me More!

For this episode of Toqger, the team looks for a new train while the Shadow Line have a devious plan for our heroes. Really that's it, this episode is just like episode seven and I will get to that now!

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!

Ressha Sentai Toqger Episode Seven Review: Actual Imagination!

For this episode of Toqger we actually get a sense of imagination from this series. Sadly that is really the only good part to this cliche ridden episode as Hikari gets mad because Kagura broke his toy, oh no!

So there is barely anything all that good in this episode as it's heavily predictable and there is barely any humor to back it up. Now there was a saving grace, but I will get to that later. The whole thing with Hikari being mad about his toy being broken, I so knew he would think he went too far. Then for character movement the only thing I can say is that there is more shipping fuel and it has to be a really bad fan fiction reason because that is at least better than nothing. Literally there was no actual reason for these two to be closer friends or it is because of fights and apologies. Maybe it's because Hikari actually did open up towards another character about his feelings and in general he was more expressive in this episode, proof is in the picture up above. So with the actual chemistry not feeling the best how were the characters in this lab experiment.

First of all I have to say at first Kagura felt like she was having no movement with her character because she was just stuck in her imagination. She does some ninja role play and this makes me wants to watch Kakuranger. The thing is that there was barely any ninja role play for the rest of the episode and in a way they were actually teasing it. It's like there was some comedic build up for once. It's something I was not expecting and it's thanks to how Kagura was used in this episode. In the end her powers were used and in control and that is something I really loved. I will get into more detail about those moments, but first of all I'm giving credit to Kagura because she gave some creativity to the episode. Also her powers have been in control and in good use, character progression! I am just so happy that after seven episodes there is another moment of character progression making it two times so far. Kagura if you stay like this you can be bearable!

Hikari then as I said he did show more emotion in this episode and did open up to Kagura. It seems the show is actually not doing that bad of a job with dual focus episodes. I remember many of the Right focus episodes where I just hated it, but the Tokkai and Mio episode was nice and the character use in this episode was good as well. So having Hikari starting to open up was good. The whole cold act was starting to get annoying. Either way he is already reminding me of Souji from Kyoryuger, but in that one episode it felt a slight better than most of Souji's progression because that character barely ever moved. Sadly there is a black sheep in the whole thing.

The predictability of the whole thing really made things terrible though. These two characters have problems with each other, the monster of the week handicaps the other three members, and now these two have to work together. Sadly the whole pacing of this cliche episode really went off that track near the end as I did see Hikari apologizing to Kagura coming. This just felt boring for the majority of the episode which is sad because things could have been done better. Maybe Kagura could have kept things a secret from everyone as everyone just wonders what the hell is wrong with her as she cannot confront Hikari. It would at the very least give some sense of thought to what could have happened. Then they easily could have hinted it with Kagura playing ninja in the middle of a fight or something like that. Overall just try to change the usual formulas, this can make the series a bit more redeeming then.

There were still nice surprises in this episode like how the MOTW got the three other members with his stamps and made them lazy. At first he only had one stamp hand and then he grew another one and got Tokkai. Reminding me of that, it was funny when Right got hit by the stamp, the four were acting more like a team without him. Other than that the only other surprise was how Hikari and Kagura fought the stamp monster. So far this is my favorite part of the series, as Hikari and Kagura use Kendama tricks to defeat the monster. Kagura imagined herself to be a rock pretty much as she held onto the railing that extended out from Hikari's ax. He was bouncing her around and tricking the monster as he moved her towards and away at perfect timing. The best part was when the monster came for the attack, the two switched their color resshas and then switched their weapons thanks to the transformation switch. This then made Hikari the attacking member as Kagura held onto the ax. This was literally one of the most imaginative things I have seen from the series and in Sentai for a while, hopefully the series can keep that up.

Then that's really all I got to say about this episode. It's heavily bare as there are many little things that we have seen in the series already so I don't even want to talk about them. The amount of content in this episode is much lower and yes there was Wagon, but I don't even want to get on with that. I have talked about how Kyoryuger played it safe and that just made me angry, but Wagon makes me mad that I drew blood from my fingers and nails as I was scratching them on my wooden chair. I can safely say this, Wagon is the worst comedic relief I have seen in Sentai so far. So other than that there were good surprises in this episode, but they come so late. The rest of the episode is very bland and the amount of content is even low. This episode reminds me of episode sixteen of Kyoryuger as the saving grace comes way too late even if it was awesome. With that the episode gets a D+

Next Time: More Support Resshas...

Ressha Sentai Toqger VS Kamen Rider Gaim Review

Well it's about time I take a look at the second television crossover for the two franchises. The last time we saw this was with Decade and Shinkenger, but that one failed mostly because of Decade. Then there was Super Hero Taisen and the sequel which were both disappointing. It seems that these two series just cannot have a crossover that is any good, so could this new one be the hope of any more Kamen Rider and Super Sentai crossovers?

Alright the first thing to mention in this crossover is that the two series have no sense of conflict with themselves. In the previous crossovers the different series had some conflict. The Shinkengers did have some trouble with Decade and Diend and then there was Super Hero Taisen which in the end was a lie anyways... Still the thing here is that this crossover is not promoting any violence between the heroes, which makes me happy. I would rather see team ups go more like this since it does get boring to have senseless conflicts over and over again. With how the Toqgers act, I really cannot see them fighting other heroes since they are heavily friendly and the only way they could fight riders were if they met villain riders. I will say this should have acted more like an original idea though since the whole Badan issue was just a way to promote the upcoming movie. Why couldn't there just be Shadow Line in the city as Gaim and the others help the Toqgers. It's simple, but there is a lot that can be done with that which is character interaction.

I will say one thing that made me happy as well, the characters acted like themselves. The Toqgers acted like their usual selves and overall they weren't bad or annoying like they can be in their own series. It reminds me of the Goseiger and Gokaiger movie where the Goseigers were more likable compared to how they were in the series. Kouta was clearly being himself even though he had one insanely dumb moment which will be covered later. There were other characters as well like Mai, Micchy, Kaito, and Narutaki. I'm not kidding; Narutaki appears for one moment in the series. He called himself the ally of riders and gives Kouta a train pass, okay... Also Narutaki had his own puppet, alright Narutaki wasn't himself and I don't really get what was supposed to be funny there. Should I laugh because Narutaki is not acting like the same person as usual, why him of all people though? Sure he does travel worlds, but why not just have the annoying Wagon do something stupid since she did that in this episode, so why not two times? This was just an odd cameo appearance as it could have been Diend and would have had the same effect.

So the plot of this special is that Badan is back and one ally is trying to summon his comrades from the underground. What ends up happening is that he accidentally summons Cracks and releases Inves into the city. Then it is up to Gaim and the Toqgers to stop Badan that is pretty much it. There are little minor things as well mostly doing with Kouta and Mai, but again why Badan? I get the advertising angle and that's the only point. It would have been interesting to see a member of Shadow Line learning about the Inves and using them to engulf the station into darkness. I guess that would have taken more time since most of Badan's scenes were pretty short, even Kamen Rider Fifteen as a quick appearance in the special. For an hour long special though you would think it be easier to cram some of that in. Sadly even with the simple villain plot there are many of the heroes' scenes that are quickly paced and just keep going. So even for an hour special it had its moments of being rushed. Then closer to the end it felt slower as the tone even had a change of pace to be more serious.

Then for the special there you can easily tell that this was probably planned to be a two part special because of that shift in tone. I mean it being an hour long well to be exact it was forty-seven minutes because of commercials. Still there is a more upbeat beginning as this clearly fits with Toqger more than Gaim. There was even a mech fight at the end of that part so pretty much the first half is Toqger and the other half is Gaim. I mean it even took Kaito to come out around the second half. Again I would have liked it better if the special felt like its own thing while not feeling so easily separated by two halves. It just made the first climax useless since things tone down right away as the climax of any film or special just start boosting up the excitement for the overall story. Even though things probably wouldn't haven't got that more exciting anyways since again there wasn't much interesting in this special. Even Takatora was out of this episode, to give credit him thinking everyone was going crazy and not noticing what was happening was funny, but imagine him actually being involved in this episode. That easily could have been a moment where the Toqgers fight a rider. Overall even though there are tones and themes that fit both series, they don't blend at all as it's more like more of a heterogeneous mixture.

Reminding me of comedy the beginning actually had some nice moments of comedy mostly because of how the interactions were working. The Toqgers were transforming along with Gaim and during it they notice each other. The quick looks on their faces before transforming was nice to see and then seeing Mai react to the color switching as good also. This is what I was hoping for in this special, a clash of the differences of both series making some comedy with the character interactions. Then there was even the mole monster that kept messing up and summoning the Inves as it just attacks anything close to it. That was another interesting thing then, having an Inves be defeated by the Toqgers. An Inves is just completely different from the Shadow Line and seeing them take it down like they would with other monsters did get me thinking. Then for some reason the Inves just grows giant because it ate more fruit, so there is a third evolution then? Again if there was Shadow Line involved it would have been more interesting or at least have the monster eat the fruit and become a hybrid, at least the Shinkenger and Decade crossover had an interesting monster.

I will at least say the first half is fun as having the Toqgers in Gaim's world was nice. There easily could have been done more as it just felt like generic fan fiction, but it wasn't bad fan fiction. Things that happen in this special do make sense at many times, again Gaim and Right being friends is what I was expecting. Actually I liked Right more in this than any of the episodes of Toqger I have seen so far. The two play off each other well as they are heroes. Kouta is easily the more complex hero while Right is more simplistic, but even he learns something from Kouta and about himself. Then this is why the special can work, it still feels like some sense of a continuation of both stories. Sure for Gaim's plot it doesn't do much, but again there is still some interaction that felt like Gaim at points. With the Toqgers there was the comedy and upbeat attitude, and then most of the good blends were with Right and Kouta. Right learned that he cannot let things just pass by as he has to do something about any situation. Kouta then learns that people can help in situations even if it doesn't have to do much with them personally. Then Kouta had the dumb moment of having Mai go on the train so she can have fun before things get serious in the city. Mai finds out because of the idiot, Wagon and this causes Kouta to learn that she grown up in this city as well and will take on the challenges as well. Again this was a flaw for Kouta since a man like him should already known of this and this just felt like shipping to me, so there is one bad part of fan fiction in here.

Then there were even some useless moments in the overall scheme and just felt more like panning than anything. Having Takatora didn't really add much as he just talked about cracks appearing and was pondering about Badan. Really the only purpose of his scenes was to show us how Micchy finds where the enemy is hiding. Kaito was around and pretty much did nothing, but fight and get slammed with a banana joke. There was even a pointless moment where Baron and Ryugen were fighting each other with flags on their backs, what was the point of the flags? I'm with Kaito on this; there was no point in them. Literally they could have the same conversation without the flags and it would have been the same, not funny. Even the other Toqgers didn't feel that important since it was mostly Right with Kouta. There was Bando though who got crushed by hearing that Charmant was better than his place, another funny moment. I will say this again though the plot was simple and not in a good way since they tried to spice it up which ended up ignoring other characters, so it doesn't work out in the end.

The action was pretty good with the usual Sentai action with the Inves and even a mech fight that did something new. This even shows how the Scope Ressha works with the sword attachment as it sends an energy wave at a certain location. This is most of the saving grace for this special as there were no useless gimmicks that only got a quick appearance like in the many other crossovers. Sure those gimmicks sound cool like the Rider Keys for the Gokaigers, but when it only as one scene being like a minute only, it's pointless. With this special there was none of that, except for the cameo fight of the Showa Riders and Fifteen. I was hoping for more of a rider team with a Sentai team, but they were separated most of the time. This was actually heavily disappointing since it would have been awesome to see Kachidoki arms team up with Toqger's cannon finisher. Still the action was still good since even though separated they all had their own moments.

I'm surprised this didn't happen and I'm happy about that.

Overall this special was fun, it wasn't the best thing ever and yet it's better than what we have been getting for these crossovers. I'm glad there weren’t any pointless conflicts between the faction of heroes and the interactions can be nice here and there. The action was good, but for a team up it's kind of disappointing. Then there were many scenes that didn't add much and easily could have been replaced or scrapped. Even with all of those flaws I would give it a C+ as this is a better path to take for crossovers and is better than Shinkenger and Decade, the Taisen films, and even some of the Sentai Versus films.