REVIEW: Kyuranger 8
- Sheena Carroll
- Apr 4, 2017
- 2 min read
This was a Xiao episode masked as a Spada episode and I never thought I’d say this but THANK GOD. Spada is a mess and comes out at the end of this episode seeming more obnoxious than Xiao ever was. I know what the show is trying to do: it is trying to make Xiao like Trigun’s Vash, a character whose super goofy exterior masks a badass with a dark past. It just hasn’t been doing it well. But thank the constellations that Xiao is as powerful as he is, because this team is a hot mess and someone needs to fix them. Speaking of Xiao, Draco Violet is the latest cool Kyuranger suit design. From the vibrant violet to the marble-like star, the suit was impeccably designed.
Spada is given his moment in the sun and proceeds to ruin everything because he is a chef before he is a Kyuranger. The tension between him and Xiao was palpable, but it was very obvious to me that Xiao was the only right one. I found myself spending most of the episode wanting to slap that stupid hat off of Spada's head. What made this situation worse is that the supposed leader of the team, Lucky, just goes along with whatever Spada wants instead of completing his mission, which results in his teammates getting seriously injured and captured. For some unexplained reason, Hammy joins in on this sabotage, making her seem even more useless than before.
That said, this was a good episode made even better by Ikagen and Madako, who are turning out to be excellent villains. Don Armage is still quite the mystery, but these two seem willing to do anything for him. On top of that, they are significantly more powerful that the Kyurangers at this point. I don't see them falling until the team finally gets their shit together, but I still think that says more about Ikagen and Madako than the Kyurangers: the latter will probably need all 9 fighters to defeat 2. I find this prospect very exciting.
Another highlight of this episode that wasn’t Xiao was the team of Balance, Naga, and Champ – and I’m not saying that just because they’re my favorite characters. They were the only group to not only show semi-decent teamwork, but also to actually succeed in their mission, which was to acquire a valuable Kyu Tama.
I also liked the opening scene, which was somewhat experimental for a Super Sentai. I feel like it’s pretty rare for an episode to start in the middle of the action and then backtrack. On top of that, to open with the gang fighting FIVE malistrates (and crushing most of them) was unexpected. What I should have expected was the internal unrest; this group is too large and not unified so they were bound to go after their own interests at some point. I’m very excited for next week’s episode, because it should help to group finally begin that unification process.
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