REVIEW: Kyuranger 13
This week brings a new enemy: Stinger’s brother, Scorpio, who is definitely leaning toward both chaotic evil and awesome. Scorpio simply does not give a shit about anyone or anything but himself, which is evident when he turns a Menaster, his minions, and his constituents into zombies within the first two minutes of the episode.
In good guy news, Kotaro is leaving for an indeterminate period of time to train to become a great warrior. But I’m sure he’ll return just in time to stop Stinger from killing his brother. Honestly, this was a pretty good episode for Kotaro in both combat and character. It’ll be interesting to see how much he’s changed when he returns...or whether he will actually change at all.
This was an even better episode for Stinger, who mainly plays the lone wolf (if he’s with the team at all). He is forced to seriously interact with the teammate who hates him (Champ) and his backstory as the first Kyuranger is revealed.
The palpable tension in the scene between Champ, Stinger, and Kotaro was one of the better (albeit short) moments that I have seen in a recent Super Sentai. That kind of character development and struggle was nowhere to be seen in the past couple seasons. After basically telling Champ that he will kill Scorpio, he promises Kotaro that he won’t. It's a classic, basic struggle, but that doesn't mean it's not a good one.
I went back to wanting to punch Lucky in the face this week, although there was only one thing that he did to piss me off: he played off Champ’s and Stinger’s feelings like a childish squabble, which was incredibly disrespectful toward Champ. I’m sure Lucky wouldn’t be happy if someone told him to just get over the loss of his parents. In this moment, all of his seriousness from the past two episodes drained away. I hope this doesn’t continue. I mean, he can be an upbeat dude and still not be flippant about his teammates’ feelings!
The tension wasn’t the only thing that reminded me of older Super Sentai – in particular, Liveman: to gain ultimate power, Scorpio is transformed from a hot Visual Kei singer into a terrifying beast. That idea of exchanging one’s humanity for power is universal, and one of the cooler themes of the series.
I want to finish this review by restating something I've already said in past reviews: I am very impressed with Kyuranger's story writing. The balancing act is amazing (although Raptor could receive more love). With Kotaro off to HQ and Champ and Stinger on a mission to kill Scorpio, the writers are aptly juggling and temporarily removing characters as necessary - and, even better, for logical reasons. It makes sense that the immature Kotaro needs more training so he doesn't end up a fuckhead like Lucky, and it makes sense that the two members who want to fight Scorpio the most are off on their own. I'm currently enjoying the ride that is Kyuranger, and hoping that it doesn't derail any time soon.
