Huh, that episode was kind of all over the place. There are some bits that definitely have me excited, but it's all mixed up in a rather unfocused 22 minutes.
The immediate takeaway is that we have a new enemy commander. An actual face actress, no less! The last time we got a face villain as a regular was what, ToQger with Zett? It's been a long, long damn time, to say the least. So I'm excited!
The villains have easily been the weakest aspect of Kiramager thus far. Other than a few episodes developing Garuza and his face-heel-turn, the Yodom army has been little more than fodder for the Kiramagers to beat every week. They haven't really
done anything or executed any grand plans, and largely get used for comedic purposes. Which, suffice it to say, does not help to sell this group as some kind of world-ending threat.
Having another commander is the show's big chance to upgrade the Yodom army into something that's a real threat, amping up the stakes for everyone involved. Not that I think this show is suddenly going to go on a bender of being serious all the time - it's clearly a comedy Sentai - but it's my hope that this means the show can find a better balance than what they've had thus far. Having a face villain could be especially interesting, as now we (finally) have someone on the villain side who can be a complete individual when it comes to acting and emoting. My only concern there is that they've given Yodonna a very cold personality type, so I hope that doesn't keep them from fully leveraging the strengths of a face actress.
Unfortunately, an important face villain introduction episode has been glued to an episode doing half a dozen other things in the process. So the show has to juggle her introduction with finding (and losing) yet another dragon ball, another monstone, and I guess this is a Tametomo focus episode as well? The last bit was especially painful; I have an inkling of what the writers may have been going for, but it didn't work. Not only is this a case of Tametomo being stupid because the plot seemingly requires it - so it doesn't really build on his character at all - but it's arguable that the plot needed a love-struck Tametomo at all. Nothing he does moves the plot forward, and it's like the writers shoehorned it in because they had to.
Meanwhile, Yodonna's big evil plan is to... open another dark portal? I like the sheer menace of using bombs to do it. But as an evil plan it's kind of weak when that's the same thing Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum have been trying to do for the last two-dozen episodes. I suppose I'm being fussy, but it's not really the kind of elaborate, evil plan befitting of a new commander.
Finally, the Yodom Changer is back. You didn't think Bandai forgot about that one, did you?
On the whole, I'm excited about the possibilities a new face villain will bring. But this episode isn't an especially impressive introduction for her.
takenoko wrote: ↑Wed Sep 30, 2020 1:34 pm
Hmmm, I'm feeling pretty suspicious of Yodonna being a product of fan feedback.
I had the same gut feeling while watching the episode. The year-round nature of the show and modest lead-time means that it's often hard to determine when something is happening because it's the planned end of an arc, and when it's the creative staff calling an audible after seeing the initial response to the show. I think Kiramager will benefit greatly from a face villain, but there's this piece of me that wonders if this is meant to be a mid-series retool of sorts.
Disappointed there's no visual difference to the powered-up Bechats, guess that saves them some money though
Agreed. I have to assume they're just going to become a pushover - because otherwise the Kiramagers would never be able to get to defeating the MOTW - but even a small change in appearance would have gone a long way here in underscoring their renewed threat.
First Sayo and now Yodonna, someone's really into S&M this time around
This week's twisted moral: embrace the leather and lace?
So what do we all think of Yodonna's tongue? Feels like we'll be seeing a lot of it
It's certainly very, uh, direct? I'm sure the cast and crew have cracked up more than a few times filming that. But it's a very forced action; it doesn't feel like something the character would actually do. Regardless, we're definitely going to be seeing a lot of it.
