King-Ohger 7-8: Early Revelations May Build Up More Interesting Mysteries

There's always that time when I felt, "Screw it! I'm over!" with Super Sentai especially 10 years ago. I felt that if I can do that to Power Rangers (which I dislike) - I could do that to source material. In this case, the way Ohsama Sentai King-Ohger gets introduced (such as a very different setting with no modern Japan and five kingdoms) can make even a casual fan get overly excited. I was complaining about the early revelation of the Obviously Evil Racules being brothers with Gira. However, it's giving way to new mysteries that may be slowly unveiled like a J-Drama would.

An early revelation that could create more mysteries from Ishabana

The five kingdoms that govern this Alternate Earth (Chikyu is Earth, after all) seem to be a fusion of continents. Ishabana's counterpart maybe Europe in our real-life Earth. Why was Queen Himeno too obsessed with God Scorpion? Something in the past happened. I feel it's a cliche in many shows and this is no different. I could feel like this was taken from Kaizouku Sentai Gokaiger when it came to Ahim De Famille's past. I feel this scene might be to add some European-style drama. Granted, Ishabana might be hypothetical if all of Europe were just one nation. 

I also love how we can see friendly rivalries do occur. For one, I think the people in N'Kosopa can make me rethink my admiration for technologically-inclined people. I was expecting Yanma (at first ) to be a techno-geek instead of a punk. I guess that kinda breaks the mold of some technologically-inclined people. Yanma is an eccentric punk of an engineer. I guess I've met such people working for a call center or technological firm. Himeno also gets into an argument with Yanma over which will come on top. I must admit that I'd probably be lost in their argument. I would totally be LMAOing if I were listening to a more technical argument. 

Meanwhile, a flashback of Himeno's life would reveal her actions early on. I was reminded of the early revelation from Mirai Sentai Timeranger. Timeranger does reveal that Yuuri saw her own parents (and younger sister) MURDERED before her very eyes. It was also revealed that Yuuri's parents were gunned down by an alien criminal. This also reminds me of how Yoko in Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters saw her parents disappear into the Vaglass' negative zone. This flashback would probably build more mysteries. 

Himeno becomes a queen too soon because her parents were killed by this mysterious assassin (identity not revealed yet) in black. The assassin used scorpion venom to kill both her parents. However, it's revealed that God Scorpion (later called Scorpy) just wants his friends back. I like how Himeno ends up partnering with God Scorpion and calls him Scorpy. 

I could say that censorship really caused this flashback not to be so frightening. If you've seen Super Sentai during the 1980s to 1990s - you may have seen a less child-friendly poisoning. Here, the deaths of her parents aren't given the same amount of fright. You don't get to see them scream to death like lik Yohei's nightmare in Kosoku Sentai Turboranger. Instead, it's played out in such a way that would almost slip through USA's TV-Y7-FV radar. 

The episode ends with showing how Racules can be quite a coward. Racules does manage to hold some orphans hostage because... HE COULD. It resulted in a Trial by Combat. Yes, that good old trial where the winner is assumed innocent and the loser is assumed guilty. 

A family feud that would totally shake things up

I really find the whole three-way conflict in this story interesting. I do think it might complicate things too much if not done right. I would like to comment on how this Trial by Combat also invites the attention of the other enemy, the Bugnaroks.

The Bugnaroks hear of the Trial by Combat. I think King-Ohger is trying to improve on what Timeranger may have not done. If Racules is Ryuuya the Walking Spoiler then the Bugnarok are the Londarz family. I would like to treat Deathnarok himself like the Don Dolnero of the show if Racules is Ryuuya. A new MOTW is assigned is Gerojim - one assigned to kidnap Gira so the Bugnaroks can take over. Though, they might be underestimating Racules himself who might be the Greater-Scope Villain for all we know. Later on, Gerojim assumes the shape of Yanma trying to kidnap Gira only to be poisoned by Racules himself. 

This is another interesting thing that Rita brings up to Gira. It's all about Gira's kidnapping as a young child. Racles and Boshimar are the only ones who know about it. I wonder if Racules was already a devious devil child before he even became the king? The web series on Racules may address what really happened. Did Racules decide to get rid of his own younger sibling when they were out in the amusement park? Did Racules have that super evil mind even as a young child? That's what Rita seems to be suggesting. How old is Racules anyway when the kidnapping happened? I wonder if Racules hired his own fellow teenage peers to kidnap Gira? I hope the series does make a good pacing to reveal what Racules did. Since Racules may have been a juvenile delinquent turned Evil Overlord. 

Is it me or are the people of Shugoddam (or Stupid Damn) that well, stupid? Come on, Racules is Obviously Evil! I guess Racules' ability to manipulate the press is something to behold. That's why he's a Villain With Good Publicity. Okay, I could say that I wish the duel between Gira and Racules was done out-of-suit to display the main actors' fighting skills. What I like also is how Racules manages to make his brother Gira look like a Bugnarok sympathizer. It's because Racules poisoned Gerojim (disguised as Yanma). Racules does know how to take opportunity of every crisis that hits him huh? I even want to compare Shugoddam's media to the Philippine press or the American press at this very moment. If so, is Shugoddom actually what if North America and South America became one kingdom?! Kaguragi did sneak into Shugoddam's castle (which might be the White House's counterpart) and starts to discover something shocking.

There were plans to fake Gira's death. The first one was to trick Racules into poisoning Gira. However, Racules instead poisoned Genojim instead. The use of cartoony effects (to explain the Gira rescue plan) was expected since it's a Japanese show aimed at children. The battle ends with Racules striking down Gira. Gira does manage to survive since Racules failed to hit the vital organs. Was it Racules' carelessness that caused the vital organs to be missed? It seems that Racules might not be so exempt from Bond Villain Stupidity (a recurring trope that Toei loves to follow) after all. I wouldn't be surprised if Racules will attempt execution by a slow-dipping mechanism (and he carelessly leaves the scene to enjoy himself) the same day Dr. Evil does in Austin Powers.

And we've got some tidbits that Dryed Mangoez points out...

Last time, I did point out how Toei (and by extension, Tsubaraya) also used the Izu Saboten Park for filming. If I'm not wrong, Mt. Iwafune was already used since the early stages. It was nice to let the rest of the battle take place in a non-CGI green screen location. Was this the most common place for Toei (and maybe, secretly Michael Bay) to carry out the explosions? If I'm not wrong, Kagaku Sentai Dynaman heavily used this place because of the heavy use of gunpowder. 

Later, the Ota Sazasuka Ishigaki ruins used in Kamen Rider Gaim become the cliff's bottom. Talk about defying logic in any superhero show! It's really no less weird than how Power Rangers cast members do their fight scenes then the Japanese fight footage takes over. It gets even weirder when the American suit fight scenes switch back and forth with Japanese fight footage. I guess that's why Toei Ltd. was perfectly fine with letting Saban Entertainment pay for licensed stock footage. Heck, Toei Ltd. was the one who filmed the Zyu2 footage. Toei was also using a lot of their stock footage in earlier shows. 

Some random rant from me...

I think King-Ohger might be making Super Sentai more like a TV drama. That's something that I'm willing to welcome. There's been a lot of cliffhangers since episode one and it's already episode eight. We know how Kamen Rider since its reboot has been fond of cliffhangers - making it feel like a year-long J-Drama. I even talked with someone who said the new Kamen Rider series are like telenovelas. At this point, I hear some people think that Avatar Sentai Donbrothers may have influenced it a bit. Though, I still want to give some points to Kikou Sentai Zenkaiger for actually creating a very atypical Super Sentai fight scene. The big difference though has to be where Donbrothers feels like a sequel to Zenkaiger (though Donbrothers Kaito is obviously NOT Zenkaiger Kaito) because of that clip show.

As mentioned earlier, 2023 would be the 30th anniversary of Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers and the 25th anniversary of Knights of Tir Na Nog. It seems Toei has the two shows in mind. I even feel like naming Rita Kanisuka as Rita was intentional. I even feel the whole setting is pretty much like Tir Na Nog in modern times. It seems Toei does make unofficial sequels for Saban Entertainment. I guess Toei wasn't satisfied with what they did with Kamen Rider Saber last 2020. I guess they wanted to create a "second sequel" of sorts with this show. 

I could enjoy the show's early start without triggering much of the inner child. I could enjoy Kamen Rider these days without thinking about the inner child. So far, it seems that there's a good start. Now, I can't wait to see how the cast and crew will take things out. Hopefully, this show will really shake things up and make Super Sentai focus on newer audiences than on plain nostalgia.