Catch this week’s Episode: #2 The Global Police in Pursuit, subbed by the awesome folks at Over Time Some spoilers ahead.
This week’s episode starts right where we left off last week: The Lupinrangers (hereinafter referred to as Lupins) are interrupted from opening Garatto Natto’s safe and obtaining the decked out Zippo by the Global Police, who, surprise, surprise, Patrizes into the Patrangers! (hereinafter referred to as Patrols)
I like the Patrol’s “ties” flap as they Patrize. Subtle emphasis for people who don’t get the costume. It reminds me of Boukenger. Probably because of the shoulder pads. I am not a fan. The Lupins’ just look cleaner. And LupinYellow wears heels! In thief AND Super Sentai form. WTH. It’s not a problem with Duu though-- she’s done that for some time with Morning Musume.
Couldn’t she have been LupinOrange???
A three-way fight ensues among the Sentai teams and the Ganglers, because of which Garatto Nato manages to escape.
Some complaints: How they filmed the fight scenes. I get that they want it to appear chaotic, with the Lupins doing a lot of flips and parkour, but Jesus Christ can you not use a hand held camera for this??? I like linear fight choreography and cinematography. Use rails, drones, anything, I don’t care. Just do it normally.
I also forgot to mention this last week: What the hell are those swords? I get they’re like those grabber things…? But they are so not in theme. Give them rapiers or sabres but like what are those? I get that rapiers might not be safe for toys, so just don’t give them swords. /complaint
The Lupins begin their escape by using their … planes? It reminds me of Kaitou Kid and his signature hanglider.
Wild CGI hot pursuit. I hoped the Lupins would try to avoid property damage, just so it would make them appear “less criminal” but then the Patrols wrecked a bridge so I guess, it’s all in a day’s work for the residents of this city.
From this chase scene: expect cool and serious from the Lupins and campy from the Patrols.
I’ll do a separate review of the theme song and opening card later.
We were brought back to Bistro Jurer to find out the personal motivations of the Lupins, and what the “promise” specifically is.
Theory:
There is something really ominous about Kogure. Doesn’t he seem to be the same height as that mysterious Gangler? What if he’s another Gangler who is using the Lupins to get rid of the other Gangler members, steal the entirety of the Lupin Collection, and take over the entire human world to become boss? Or his boss is, or something like that. I was wondering why Kai, Tou and Umika were not frozen like the others? Did Tou and Umika come late to their rendezvous? The mysterious Gangler was just in Kai and Umika’s vicinity. Were they intentionally spared???
I thought it was pretty dark. I was surprised because several of the last immediately preceding Sentai shows have been pretty light-hearted in general. I didn’t watch them a lot but the last really serious one I remember is Samurai Sentai Shinkenger, and maybe to a certain degree Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger also delved into dark themes occasionally.
Theory:
At the end, they will be told that only one person’s wish can be granted or something like that.
I like that they have a very clear motivation drawn out from the very start which isn’t something vague like get rid of evil or something like that. Again, it’s very Gokaiger. Because their goal and motivations have been revealed so early on, I don’t know if they would still do individual-Ranger-centric episodes. I feel like there isn’t much to show anymore.
Also, I forgot to mention this last week, I love how the Ganglers themselves are personally motivated to fuck shit up in the human world rather than just being obedient to the boss. It really goes into their nature, kills any possibility of altruism on their part, emphasizes greed as their essence.
They haven’t really highlighted the characters of the Patrols, except that Green/Sakuya is a panicky but lucky kouhai. I was hoping that it would go towards a Shinkengreen/Gokaigreen direction where the ranger wasn’t the best in formal fighting techniques but was very creative/innovative/resourceful. It just looked to me so far that it’s luck that normally saves him.
I don’t know how attached Patren#2 and #3 are to the word “promise” but Patren#1 is also roped in.
And yes, they finally got the fancy lighter.
Chubi-duu-ba-duu-bi. I’m not usually a fan of having some other monster revive the fallen monster and turn them into giants but I like how it was done here. The power is still from the Lupin Collection. Aaaaand, unlike Gokaiger’s Insaan who shoots beams from space, Goshu actually crosses… dimensions…? To do it. Also that music is fun.
I wonder how the Kaisers are going to work with just one Good Striker. He claimed he was a free agent so can he just come and go as he pleases?
I love the cockpit of the Lupin Kaiser and the individual ships. Shifting controls between plane-mode's motorcycle like controls and Kaiser-mode. Awesome possum.
The VS changer is so cool. I’m guessing it has tactical rails to attach the vehicles to. I like these better than phone-changers because they are way more interactive as toys. They are not just changers, they are weapons, safe crackers and ship… resizers? I don’t need logic or physics for the mechs. Shinkenger did it with their Origami and Mojikara, I will accept “the power of the Lupin Collection.”
In all, we are still in the introductory phase of the show. It may appear a little slow but it’s good slow build. I know there are points I missed like the Patren Union. I will do a follow up on those later this week.
The episode ends with the Patrols entering Bistrot Jurer. How is this encounter going to turn out?!?!
NOTE: What is a good image hosting site? I uploaded my screenshots at imgur only to find out later that img src tags don't work there anymore. Photos were actually embedded in this week's review but you can't see them because the internet is great but sucks too.