King-Ohger 22: Unlocking Shugoddom Castle's Mysteries

This week starts a new arc towards unlocking a new Megazord. The Bugnarok are beginning another rampage at Shugoddom. After Racules' supposed death (though no sign from Masato Yano that he's left the set) - we have a new establishing character moment. After last week's clip show - we have the turning point as Daigorg does something crazy. Yes, just read on and find out!

After Daigorg's rampage on Shugoddom, we see him do something absurd. Daigorg dares to swallow three Shugod souls which makes him grow much bigger than a standard Super Sentai Megazord. We've seen this a lot when some foes are too huge. Fiveman had Vulgyre revealing to be much bigger even than the base robot. Dai Satan in Zyuranger has to be much huger than Daizyujin. Daijinryuu in Dairanger was also that huge that it's freaking terrifying. The Shugods even rattle in fear against this one. I mean, who wouldn't?

Kamejim shows up and starts bragging about how Daigorg may soon destroy Shugoddom. The rangers are ejected from King-Ohger Gattai. This reminds me of that Bioman episode where the Biomen were ejected by the Bio Robo. Is it me or is it a rare occurrence when a Megazord ejects the rangers to save them? We never saw that in Zyuranger even when Daizyujin was also sentient? The rangers do manage to drive off Kamejim.

There's really much discussion between Gira and Yanma. Gira mentions the sentience of the Shugods. Oh boy, is it me or are sentient Zords becoming a sellable gimmick? Even funnier, Toei started making Zords talk since Daizyujin could actually talk. The Bio Robo was sentient but never directly spoke. I guess more and more children love the gimmick. Yanma does try to talk at the angle of AI. There's also crazy Plot Armor where Jeramie evacuated the citizens with his webbing. In older Super Sentai, you'd see way more casualties than you see today. Just think of how certain entries of Super Sentai and Metal Hero never shyed away from heavy casualties. WTF is that plot where Jeramie evacuated the citizens with his webs? Plot Armor!!!!!

It's shown that Kaguragi snuck into Shugoddom. Kaguragi was talking about Racules' misdeeds (and stupidity) couldn't be left unchecked. Rita mentions to Kaguragi, "Do you want to be put on trial?" This would be to find the secret of the Shugoddom Castle. 

It seems Racules' body was found but did the forensics confirm it was him? As mentioned earlier, Racules' actor Masato Yano doesn't seem to hint he's left the set. No flowers for Masato yet! I do laugh at how Suzume is performing a comedic mourning. It's almost like a cartoon instead of a genuine mourning. I almost feel like the wrong body was recovered. Suzume then mentions she did pry the secret of the castle fro Racules. Yet, they are still unable to summon its power for a reason.

One has to wonder how long did Kamejim impersonate Boshimar? Not even Desnarak VIII is aware that Kamejim was doing it. Kamejim uses the trope that in order to deceive your enemies - you need to deceive your friends. It reminds me of when Emperor Aton made up the lie that the handcuffs would calm down Mammoth Shinka in Dynaman. Both the heroes and villains play that cliche in one way or another. 

For some reason, Shugoddom Castle's power can't be unlocked. The Shugods are too scared to even move. Gira tries to join the fight but he's told he must get the castle moving. Gira, being the lovable idiot, goes as far as to try and reason out with the Kuwagon. The Shugod Hunter Iragaijim (who almost reminds me of some Metal Hero monster, FORGOT) left everyone paralyzed. 

Yanma begins to try another approach. The Shugods are sentient after all. I do love how the speech manages to move the other Shugods paralyzed in fear for what would be the greatest moment yet. 

The Shugods finally recognize Gira. Gira then wears the Founder's Crown and the other Shugods perform a group attack similar to that of Gaoranger's finale. The giant Iragaijim gets destroyed by the newly-awakened powers. However, this is a very temporary victory as the ultimate weapon isn't unlocked yet.

The heroes try to finally unlock the secrets of Castle Shugoddom. However, the new Megazord isn't ready to be activated yet. What in the world is going on? What's the other secret? I kinda like slowing down the pace (for now) to introduce the new Megazord. It's a nice breather actually to slow down. King-Ohger had some of Kamen Rider Saber's problems. Kamen Rider Saber kept Bandai mercandise faster. In the end, I did enjoy Kamen Rider Saber though not as much as Kamen Rider Zero-One. This bit of slowing down might be highly helpful.

The next week would be the grand entrance of what I'd dub the Castle Megazord. We've had some Base Robots in the past. Leaks also show how this woudl produce the show's very Clustterf*ck Ultrazord. I wonder how this incredible giant be used.