REVIEW: Zyuohger 28
The tl;dr for this review: This week’s Zyuohger was a great episode of Gokaiger. It was a pretty great episode of Zyuohger, too.
I liked Gokaiger because, as one of the first Super Sentai shows I ever watched, it gave me a great crash course of and an appreciation for the history of the franchise. It was fitting as an anniversary series, and it’s inclusion in the 1999th and 2000th episodes of Super Sentai are almost necessary. The inclusion of the post-Gokaiger keys was especially satisfying.
Also, for the most part, the casts of both seasons are perfect foils for each other. From the space pirates ripping on the Zyuohgers' costumes to Leo's hilarious confrontation with female Yellow Luka, this episode offers a bunch of fanservice. Speaking of fanservice, I must admit that witnessing a Zyuoh Eagle vs. Red Hawk (Jetman) fight made my toku dreams come true.
That’s not to say that the Zyuohgers don’t get their share of coverage in this week’s episode. Every character has their moment, but most importantly we gain a ton of background on the Zyumans and Zyuland. As the guardians of the Link Cube, the Zyuman Zyuohgers oddly seem to know little to nothing about its purpose or history. But this week’s episode introduces the original Zyuogher, Cetas, who imparts a great deal of knowledge. With this knowledge, we seemed to have discovered what Bangray has been searching for all along: the Grand Champion’s Symbol and the "mega beast" within it.
While the episode ends with the Zyuohgers and Gokaigers fighting each other, I think this mini arc will end with at least something quite terrible happening to Bangray. I welcome this, as this will bring the return of Dethgalien drama, which is still relegated to short scenes of Naria or Azald commenting on their hatred of Bangray or their concerns over Kubar’s strange behavior.
The opening and ending were precious – especially the anniversary celebration song at the end, which covers most of the past Super Sentai series. And this week, all four of the cubes were right! Gokai Red (and the rest of the gang) know how to crash a party, and they sure made this week’s episode a fun experience.
