REVIEW: Zyuohger 21

Finally! After yet another week-long hiatus, Zyuohger has returned to disappoint me. I'm kidding! I must admit that I enjoyed episode 20, which made this second break between episodes even more difficult to handle. This episode features some male bonding and gives us a better idea of how Misao will fit into the group. The answer seems to be that he’ll never quite fit in, but that’s okay with me. These kinds of struggles are what make shows interesting. Plus, Misao does find somewhat of a kindred spirit in Tusk, who harbors similar feelings of self-doubt and loathing.

As I’ve mentioned before, Misao often treads the line between obnoxious and sensitive. This week he comes across as a little more obnoxious, especially in the first five minutes of the episode. He still feels quite helpless, which is frustrating to everyone else because he is probably the most powerful one in the group. This episode focuses on the consequences of Misao doing nothing, along with how Tusk feels about himself and his own place within the group.

Tusk defends Misao after Leo tosses him aside during the first battle with Prisonable. This leads to both Tusk and Misao getting kidnapped and trapped by Prisonable. In a pretty harsh scene, Tusk scolds Misao for acting weak during battle. However, Tusk’s immediate reaction to his own words explain why I like his character more than Leo: after telling Misao that he needs to fix his personality, Tusk’s face drops in realization of what he just said. He opens up to Misao, explaining that he has a tendency to be harsh on others, which leads him to be even harsher on himself. Later in the episode, Misao’s rhino delusion helps him realize that he and Tusk have a lot in common. This leads to him ardently protecting Tusk and activating the powers of the conveniently located Cube Bat.

Beyond Tusk and Misao, not much happens this week. The only major change is that Master Genis has totally given up on TheWorld and now wishes to give Misao as humiliating of a death as possible. After only one attempt at recovering TheWorld, Genis now considers him a failure. This will probably reveal itself to be his fatal mistake in the end.

On the Zyuohgers’ side of things, the gang mainly talk about and then search for Misao and Tusk. Using Amu’s sense of taste to track the two down was a bit silly but resolved the question of how the gang could find them without Tusk’s nose. The most questionable use of Zyuman power was Sela's diving into the concrete to search for Tusk and Misao. Are we to assume that there is water under the concrete or that sharks and burrow like moles?

There was also a bit of a wardrobe change this week – the most obvious was Tusk’s new shirt, but it seems like all the Zyumans were wearing variations of their usual outfits. This, like any changes to their characters, was a refreshing sight. I still think it would be nice to see them wearing human street clothing at some point. The award for best-dressed in the cast is Misao, who for someone who may or may not be homeless looked quite dapper in that clean, ironed suit.

In next week’s episode we’ll be seeing even more bonding, but of the mecha type. I have a feeling that it won’t excite me as much as this week’s character bonding, but I am welcoming all of these new changes in the story.