Kiramager Episode 33 released

[takenoko]

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Last Kiramager's rating: 4.62 / 5 stars (13 votes)

Alt Title: Best giant fight ever

I love the scene of drill robot man in the cavern. It took me a second to figure out that he's underground. He looks like Soundwave or something like that with that lighting

Oh wow, this fight scene with the real people and the mecha in the background. Sasuga Ultraman director

Man, this has to be one of the top fight scenes in Sentai ever. The one shitty thing is for Greatful Phoenix to destroy all three kaiju in one hit, thus making it feel like the other three robo didn't really do as much...

The king being able to warp through dimensions is a cool power and that was a neat trick shot, but disappointed that it looked like the queen would help this time but didn't really

[Catastrophe]

Really enjoyed this episode. Everyone gets to do something. Liked that the 'ultimate combination' is just all the mechs and a DX toy in a formation. While I do miss combining robots, this being such a good quality show has shown me that in the past they have relied on it as a crutch too much.

[ViRGE]

I'm a huge sucker for good robo fights. So if you give me an episode whose primary set piece is a big old fashioned robo rumble, I'm going to be on Cloud 9. And quite possibly Cloud 10 when it's done as well as this was.

Last week was the plot build-up (and the Sayo focus), so this episode is almost entirely resolution-by-action. And wow, action-packed it is. That opening fight with combat taking place on the ground and in the background with the robos is just absolutely fantastic! Sentai has done short shots like this several times in the past, but never like this. Combining the two so that the robo fight was impacting the ground fight was really cool. And then they made the whole thing a faux long cut, which is a huge glob of icing on the top!

I'd say that Go-Busters still holds the crown on robo stuff for some of their individual battles. But this is easily the best fight Toei's staged in the last several years. And a whole lot of that has to do with how novel it is; Toei did something new and different, and it pays off handsomely. I don't imagine we'll see anything like that opening fight again for a long while (I'm sure it was expensive and time-consuming to put together), but it is a nice addition to Toei's bag of tricks.

The second fight didn't go for the same degree of technical marvel, but it was just as fun in its own way. There were plenty of good shots from below to sell the scale of the fight. And while the first half of it was the equivalent of a bunch of fat dudes playing 4-on-4 football, it was fun to watch. At the end of the day it's a bunch of guys wearing foam-rubber costumes pretending they're wrecking Tokyo - so it never forgets to throw in something absurd now and then.

Finally, using a big version of the Kiraful Go Arrow was an interesting solution to coming up with a finisher for all of this. In past seasons this would be the point where Toei would roll out the season's ultimate formation, with all the robos coming into one big cluster-mech. But the show has wisely avoided that problem by not having any of the robos (titans) combine with each other. The robo-sized team cannon is a bit of a trade-off then. It doesn't look at flashy as a new formation, but it also doesn't look as ridiculous - it's closer to something that could actually work. It still ends up being kind of a hindquarters-pull, but it helps to keep the story moving along and for providing a visually satisfying finisher.

Otherwise there's not much plot to speak of in this episode. But I do like that we got a bit more insight on Garuza's plan, and that there was more thought put into it than just keeping Oladdin occupied. Specifically countering each of the remaining robos is smart, and for that matter so is the hostage gambit. Plus it's always fun to see Garuza get toyed with; he thinks he's won, only to take an arrow to the knee chest. That dude really, really hates his brother.

Stray observations:

• This series has always presented Oladdin as perhaps just being slightly mad with power, and I appreciate the humor that comes from it. There's a crisis going on back on Earth? Well he's just going to abduct Jewel's soul anyhow!
• I missed this last week, but there's a little Beecha standing at the top hatch of the tank. It really is the small things that are so great here...
• It never occurred to me before, but by being the chest piece, Heliko pretty much takes all of the hits for Kiramajin
• Toei also did a really good job with that shot of Greatful Phoenix floating over the battlefield after dispatching the first 3 monsters. I'm assuming this was done by just hanging the guy on wires in front of a green screen, but they did a great job lighting him up to match the active explosions going on behind, and then tapering off that lighting as they finish.

The king being able to warp through dimensions is a cool power and that was a neat trick shot, but disappointed that it looked like the queen would help this time but didn't really

I think the queen was mentioned more as a subtle reminder of how the crystallians can move among bodies/gems. But it was a bit of an unfulfilled Chekhov's Gun thing as well, since she's only received any real screen time in one episode, and a comedic one at that.

Otherwise, Oladdin being able to move bodies is consistent with the rules established by the series. But it does feel like a bit of a hindquarters pull all the same to have him so easily disengage from Garuza and move around like that.

[Phoenix512]

Oh wow, this fight scene with the real people and the mecha in the background. Sasuga Ultraman director

It reminds me of the stuff that Ultraman Z has been doing with its giant sized battles.

[*] It never occurred to me before, but by being the chest piece, Heliko pretty much takes all of the hits for Kiramajin

Pteranodon has a word with Heliko about taking hits.

[BreadToku]

In terms of pure tokusatsu action, I think this is maybe my favourite episode of Sentai in a really long time, maybe even ever. It's just intense action from beginning to end. I've been keeping up with Ultraman Z over on Tsuburaya's youtube channel, and Toei really made a good call on having a director from that show pitch in.

Not to say there's no substance or story to be found here though, I think I wouldn't enjoy this episode half as much if I wasn't as endeared to the Kiramagers as I already am. Oladdin's long pontificating at the end about all each member of the team contributed today and why their teamwork makes them invincible was incredibly cheesy, and it was also one-hundred percent earned. Loved every second of it.

Honestly, I can give or take the usual ultimate combos of putting all the mecha together. I understand the appeal if you were collecting every piece of the merchandise, but having multiple distinct (and decidedly cleaner-looking) mecha has always been my preference.

It never occurred to me before, but by being the chest piece, Heliko pretty much takes all of the hits for Kiramajin

Is that better or worse than Jetter having his entire body used to bludgeon things? Wow, they really have no respect for the Sky Mage duo...

[Catastrophe]

Given they stay in their cockpits, that would mean that Shigeru must get tossed around like a ragdoll every time they slash something.

[takenoko]

Oh, never thought about that. Poor Shiguru! Not even a limb, just the club

Edit: Sweet, my scheduled tumblr post is up:

[Thenosa Yechette]

I have to say, I love how KIramager is progressing so far. It shows how well Toei can do(ignoring the fact they don't put in the effort anymore).
I REALLY LOVED the fight scenes in this episode. It's probably the first time I was so captivated by the fights in any episode(considering the fact that I still haven't watched that many episodes of Super Sentai). I specifically thought that the scenes where we could see the Robo fights along with Juru and Tametomo fight simultaneously was spectacular.
I agree with Shiguru about the enemies' plan being different and more thought being put into it. I actually thought that the brainless kaijuki's joint attack was impressive.
I loved how calm and sensible Sena was through the whole episode. Probably the calmest I've seen her the whole season. Loved her a lot already, love her even more now.
I was surprised when the Grateful Phoenix came and took the Yodon Ivy and Sayo was freed. Juru's plan was great. I had forgotten that Kiraful Go Arrow was a Kiramai Stone. I thought that how Yodonna made her brief exit after her plan failed without being disappointed was like Enter from Go-Busters.
I also liked how in this and the previous episode Tametomo was being like an actual younger brother to Sayo apart from just the Sayo-Nee addressing. Although I was confused at Juru's reaction when Tametomo was about to apologize like they were supposed to keep something a secret.
I loved how they used Kiraful Go Arrow as a finisher. I do think they can still make a giant robo combo since there are still 10-12 episodes in this season. I'm happy with Kiraful Arrow being used as a finisher but we'll see.
And in the end, it was really nice when Oladin was talking about each member's contribution in their success. They all really did great.
I also thought how they used toys and stuff for planning their strategy was really funny. And they actually used A PURPLE RUBBER DUCK with a headdress(I don't know what else to call the thing she wears on her head) as Yodonna.
I think I really described the whole episode without the dialogues, lol. Just goes to show how much I really love Kiramager.

Spoiler

Also looking forward to the Yellow and Blue bromance next episode. I was expecting something like this for a while now.

[takenoko]

I kind of wish Tame was still vying for the leadership role though, since I liked that subplot. But it seems like they've all accepted Jyuuru as their leader

[Catastrophe]

The thing is though, I feel like the team, Jyuuru and Tame included, know what the two of their strengths are. Jyuuru will, without fail, defer to Tame when he or the team needs a strategy. Likewise, Tame, despite thinking that Jyuuru is a bit of an airhead, knows he'll imagine up something when they are in a pinch.

It's a great yet subdued one-two punch.

[WannaFantaMan]

HOLY SHIT that long take fight at the start of the episode was FUCKING AWESOME!!! They REALLY need to do that sort of thing more often WITH the mecha in the background if possible...maybe once per season if the budget allows. I like to imagine that the part with Yodona doing her maniacal laugh took multiple takes to get right cause parts of the cast and crew just started to giggle as she did that. Looking forward to next week with a return to a more wacky tone xD

[midorininger]

yeah the on ground fight with the mecha fight, when was the last time we saw? Go-busters? i liked the sword hitting the ground and the stray gun fire from the mech battle being a hazard for he ground fight a lot!
but Juuryu and king sharing a mind seems like ... why do they need the go arrow to summon the king then if the king is watching via juuryu?

ive been semi wondering if they will get upgrade mecha. i was more or less thinking there would be hidden kiramei stones ... but now im wondering if juuryu will just reimagine what the main team turns into. if that happens brownie points if all versions are interchangeable to various combos of combination. sort of like kyuranger or Jyuohger (to an extent). but i doubt it at this point.

pretty sure the final mecha battle was longer than 60 seconds, but i guess they forgot go kiramager mode lasts that long a LONG time ago.

the line of "destroy the seed dont worry about joukey" was interesting. like does that mean theyve been NOT trying to defeat it? granted its the black kiramei stone, but when did they ever say or hint at wanting to capture or spare it? foreshadowing? but still something interesting indeed!

[resop2]

While my favorite sort of Super Sentai episode will probably be next week's, this episode BROUGHT THE PAIN with the split mecha ground fight.

I was surprised that Jewel didn't use the arrow thing to shoot Yodonna between the eyes so that Sayo could get away. At least Yodonna has figured out when to laugh.

If Garza is through with half baked plans, why isn't he mad with himself for doing the half-baking?

One thing I just noticed this episode, the suit actors for Pink and Green are the same height while untransformed Pink has 3-4 inches on untransformed Green.

[Greenstalker]

I know i am a couple of wek late for this but ewally no one made a Jet Stream Attack comment about Jamenju trio attack? I mean cmon i bet there are some gundam fans in here....right???

[Farr]

Well there ain't much to say about the Action anymore, since it was spot on

I kinda like that they just used Arrow as a new Mecha/Finisher tool, reminds me of Deka Ranger were they used Swat as the Gun it is.
So we really have to Glue Drill and Meijin together to have a Big Mecha this Time, really makes that prior Episode look like a "thats the Best you've get, deal with it".

My only Grief is that like most two Parters the Setup was more interesting than the Solution, I really dislike the whole "Use X to Save X" turnaround, while it does make more Sense here than in most other Series, since we already know that Olladin can shift between Gems, and it's not some contradictory TimeTravel mumbojumbo, it still feels kinda lazy.

And it makes the whole Garuza Plan look half-baked yet again, I mean he perfectly knows that Olladin can Shift, and there were still all the Support Crystals left in the Base, which could have made for an easy escape, so having no real Failsafe against that was kinda dumb.
And considering that Oladdin could barely hold his ground, the Phoenix Crystal should have easily been tainted/shattered under the Jamental, after his Soul left the Building.

Apart from that it was a pretty good Two-Parter, specially since the Bad Guys finally decided to get shit done, which was kinda surprising for this feel good Sentai