REVIEW: Zyuohger 2
Episode two opens with Tusk making an excellent point to his fellow Zyumans: without the missing Champion’s Symbol, they have no way of returning to Zyuland. According to Tusk, the fault lays with Yamato, the weirdo from another world who has suddenly become their leader. The rest of the team aren’t buying it – or rather, they are too hungry to care. Tusk snatches Yamato’s Champion's Symbol from his hands and storms off into the woods. Yes, I was disappointed that Tusk did not ride away on a real elephant.
This episode gives us a much closer look at the human forms of Tusk, Leo, Amu, and Sela. I find their costume designs to be quite fitting: Tusk looks very traditional and formal, Leo has sweet blonde dreads, Amu’s outfit combines fluffy fur with cute pink accents, and Sela has a very hippie, beachy look (her zig-zag part is a nice touch.)
We learn in this episode that some of the characters have particular heightened senses: Amu has heightened taste, Sela has sharpened hearing, Tusk is sensitive to smell and Leo is, as he says, “REALLY LOUD!” On a related note, Leo is kind of adorable.
Unsurprisingly, the Zyumans have some trouble fitting in…and some trouble hiding their true identities. Their food outing results in them revealing their fursonas in multiple ways – the funniest of which is Sela, who starts swimming (while fully dressed) in an outdoor fountain. Amu doesn’t seem to understand the concept of money, and Yamato is quickly becoming her accidental sugar daddy, much to his dismay.
Meanwhile, the 100th Blood Game is continuing on Earth, and Master Ginis enjoys the new challenge brought by the Zyuohgers. I guess it was just too easy to kill everyone on the first 99 planets! Also, it is quite unfortunate that no Super Sentai ever appeared on any of those planets. Earth is always the lucky planet, I suppose.
Yamato quickly has enough of the Zyumans’ shit, throws actual leashes on them, and walks them to his and his uncle’s home. Yes, he lives with his quirky uncle who dresses like an animal! This probably won’t work out well…
…oh, he’s dressed as a seal. I was quite amused that the Zyumans confuse him for one of them. We learn that Uncle Mori is an animal sculptor who believes that he must become one with an animal in order to recreate it. Leo is happy to give him tips on this, tips which include revealing his lion form and causing Mori to faint. Mori is a welcoming host to the Zyumans and serves as decent comic relief – however, I think that the Zyumans with their fish-out-of-water humor provide enough comedy.
Tusk is having a hard time on his own, searching for the missing Champion’s Symbol. He is also having a hard time coming to terms with Yamato’s fursona, which he considers “unnatural.” I have just noticed that I am starting to use fursona in both the joking and literal sense. Yamato is worried about Tusk, but the Zyumans don’t think his absence is a big deal. Yamato disagrees and goes out to search for him.
This storyline is one that I’ve seen so many times before: Tusk is the rebel, and he’s resistant to newcomers, especially a newcomer who keeps providing for him and the others. He runs off, and it isn’t until after Yamato shares some details from his past and gives Tusk a Pep Talk© that the Zyuman begrudgingly accepts the human’s offer of friendship. There’s nothing special about this episode, except for Yamato’s full reveal of how he ended up with his Champion’s Symbol. We get a closer look at the bird-man who helped young Yamato when he was injured and lost, but there’s still plenty of mystery around him. Why was he on Earth? Where is he now? And why did he give Yamato what was probably the key the bird-man needed to use to get home? I’m sure this will be revealed pretty soon. But as for this episode, we all know how it is going to end. So let’s meet the Monster of the Week: Halbagoi.
Given that last week’s villain was (apparently) higher-ranking, I was immediately disappointed with Halbagoi. But his raining spears attack is devastating. I like the Deathgaliens so far because of their ruthlessness. There’s no tricks with them, no convoluted evil plots, just destruction.
The theme in this episode is support: Yamato repeats his speech from the last episode about how all life is connected but Halbagoi isn’t having any of it, so the Zyuohgers will just have to team up and kick his butt.
Tusk appears just in time to battle – this guy knows how to make dramatic entrances and exits – he hands Yamato back his Champion's Symbol, and the team transforms to fight Halbagoi. This is the first transformation sequence featuring all five of the Zyuohgers (Yamato was not shown in the first episode as he became Zyuoh Eagle later), and the EagRiser whipping around at the end is a nice touch. As I stated in my last review, I’m a pretty big fan of EagRiser.
The initial fight between the Zyuoghers and Halbagoi showed me two things: that Yamato really likes flying around and that Yamato and Tusk can work together very well if they both want to.
This week’s giant robot is ZyuohKing 1-4-5, a combo of Cube Eagle, Cube Elephant, and Cube Tiger. Elephant Kick, Tiger Kick, and Zyuoh Megaton Kick capably defeat Halbagoi. The moves are also fast! There was no way that I could capture a decent still of Elephant Kick.
I found Amu’s jokes and cute asides during battle endearing, and I’m starting to like her a lot. In these first two episodes, she and Sela have shown themselves to be likable and competent female characters. I look for that in any series that I watch, but especially ones in which the target audience is kids because girls need to have cool heroes, too!
The episode ends with the gang together again, partaking in shenanigans at Yamato’s home. The storyline was predictable, but well-executed. I appreciate that they did not spend too long focusing on Tusk’s brooding; he is easily swayed by his inspirational and revealing talk with Yamato, even if he is already having second thoughts about living with him.
The next episode will be focused on Amu. The previews have me a bit worried (it looks like she’s developed a penchant for shopping?) but hopefully it will develop her more.
