REVIEW: Zyuohger 31
I suppose this is basically Part 2 of the Cube Whale saga, and the final part of the formal introduction. There are a few things that happen in this episode that I like, and one that intrigues me, as well as one thing that felt a bit off. Rather than spending a lot of time being cryptic, it’s probably best to proceed here.
I have been watching Super Sentai for a while now, so it’s never really surprising what happens with respect to the toy commercial aspect of the show. The Zyuohgers will (sooner rather than later) add any toy that shows up to their arsenal. It’s no surprise that by the end of the episode, Cube Whale belongs to Yamato. Indeed, the previews from last ep confirmed that this would be happening here. Thus, the plot elements I was watching out for were the continuation of Kubar’s plot and the revelations thereof, the glimpse we got of GIFT Custom, and getting an answer for why Misao was being such a spaz last episode. The last one was especially obtrusive last time, and I’m happy to report it’s settled this week.
Of the things I’ve mentioned, Kubar’s potential backstory intrigues me the most. Bunglay and Kubar allude to it in this episode without really going into it, but it seems that my understanding of it in Episode 30 was correct; Kubar hopes to take revenge on Master Genis through some sort of long game that involves working for him in order to get close to him. It’s also implied through irony that maybe Kubar’s getting impatient, or maybe he senses that Bunglay’s involvement is changing things to the degree where he has to act faster than he previously calculated. Kubar is probably the character that holds my plot-related interest the most, because he seems like the wildest wild card in play right now--even more so than even Bunglay. I can’t help but wonder if his leaking information to Bunglay will expose him, and he’ll have to drop out of the game to save his own skin.
I’m glad to see that the poison Kubar used on Cube Whale had long-term effects, sidelining Misao and Sela this week for the beginning of the story. Not only does this establish Kubar as dangerous and raise the stakes for the team (losing at least a third of their collective power), but more importantly, it also gives Misao an organic opportunity to explain his recent hyperactivity on the battlefield. It probably wouldn’t work for this conversation to be placed anywhere else other than when Misao and Sela are recovering on their sick beds, and Sela was probably the biggest unintentional victim of his foolishness last episode. I think it is acceptable for Misao to feel somewhat down about his contributions to the team as a whole and in-character for him to overcompensate in the other direction as a result. I can’t help but wish that there was more than that, but it’s simple enough for kids to grasp.
Naria gets quite a tour de force in this episode, starting really from last episode. The thing she shot at Cube Whale was a tracker, allowing her to locate Cube Whale in this episode and attack using the GIFT Custom that she receives from Genis. In a nice little continuity note, Misao is mostly unconcerned because he doesn’t know how devastating GIFT was before. As I said, the GIFT episodes were some of my favorite episodes earlier in the season, and the groundwork laid back then really allows Cube Whale to seem like a super boss this episode. Naria utterly trashes the Zyuohgers in their best Megazord formation with the greatest of ease, given that this GIFT has all sorts of crazy upgrades like harpoons and heavy artillery fire. I feel like I haven’t given Naria enough props, because for the most part all she’s done until recently is get tokens for the “real” players to stay in the game. It’s also notable that her loyalty seems absolute; she’s ready to die for Genis until he directly orders her to retreat.
Perhaps the one aspect I wasn’t a huge fan of was Yamato’s attempts to convince Cube Whale to fight alongside the team. Yamato realizes partway through the episode that Cube Whale doesn’t quite trust the Zyuohgers just yet, in contrast with Cetas. In fairness, Cetas was a whale person, but that aside, Cube Whale’s first memories involve Cetas, so there was some imprinting that went on. While one would think that Cetas choosing Yamato should have been enough of a seal (see what I did there) of approval, okay, fine, Cube Whale doesn’t trust them. What I didn’t like was the almost passive-aggressively manipulative way that Yamato convinces Cube Whale that he’s legit--by protecting him while loudly demonstrating that it’s exactly what he’s doing. I get that this is probably not the impression that I’m supposed to get from the scene, but it feels like Yamato is basically saying, “Don’t worry, we’re not going to ask you to help, but oh, it’s so hard and painful to be standing right here protecting you, if only someone were to do the same for me.” All he needed was a tiny violin and a fainting couch.
Cube Whale’s warrior mode, Dodekai-Oh, is suitably workable for a thing that has to collapse into a cube. I think that aspect has helped conceptually while hurting the practical application of the theme. It is interesting to see yet another animal shape that was derived somehow from a cube, but it ends up making the Megazords look predictably blocky and generally always made up of squares stacked on top of each other. Since it’s just an individual zord, though, it’s a bit better than the others. And as stated earlier, the toy commercial really shines when you think about it; this GIFT Naria’s piloting is more powerful than the Wild Tousai King, which was in turn more powerful than the original GIFT (presumably), which was probably the biggest threat the Zyuohgers had faced. So for Dodekai-Oh to easily walk through GIFT Custom, it has to be a truly powerful Megazord indeed (so grab your parents, kids, and get them to shell out that cash).
In the long run, this episode’s greatest contribution will probably be to the long-running plotlines in the series. It wasn’t a fantastic episode, it was merely decent. But we get a great hint of what’s to come in the interactions with Kubar and Bunglay, as well as Genis’ hidden plan that Naria helps him to implement this episode. Will there be a point on the horizon where the data drive comes into play against the Zyuohgers? Well, obviously; they telegraphed the heck out of it, so it’d be stupid if it didn’t. But how? That’s what I’m looking forward to. Generally, the “how” is a more pertinent question than the “what” when it comes to tokusatsu, so that’s the question I’d like answered.
