King-Ohger 34: The Mysterious Shugod Mask

The episode preview from last week gave us Shugo Mask. Just who is Shugo Mask? The end of the Zyuden Sentai Kyoryuger arc is here. A lot of new stuff is about to take place. I guess this can get predictable and many have guessed it. I was thinking of the Dark Knight from Kagaku Sentai Dynaman - whose identity was rather predictable. After doing some Michael Bay special effects for two weeks - I guess we're going to get something big by now!

The sovereigns travel from Earth to Chikyu. It's amazing how Chikyu looks identical to Earth. It might be time to get ready for that bandwagon of people who insist that Super Sentai has a timeline to enter. The sovereigns are about to enter Chikyu only to find Dugdead has begun another dreadful campaign. Things look pretty bad. Rita takes over and does a crazy maneuver. It's followed by Yanma's direction.

Meanwhile, a mysterious masked man shows up and just who is he? It does get terrifying to think that a possible new foe has arrived. 

Dugdead shows up and starts his new campaign. The people in Shugoddom are brainwashed with luxury. The peasants are suddenly given expensive jewelry from Ishabana? What in the world is going on? I guess what makes Dugdead better than some of the other Dark Specter villains is that he gets more personal. Don Armage in Ucchu Sentai Kyuranger wasn't all too up close and personal and acted like almost every typical Big Bad. Dugdead shows up and trolls the monarchs IN PERSON yet again. I really love how Dugdead has found new ways to control people. He's a big step-up from Desnarak VIII.

It's time for some typical convoluted law of physics. How is it again anyway in superhero science where two different places have varying time speeds? Does Chikyu have a shorter orbit than the Earth? If so, that might explain what happened. I guess there's some difference in the orbit on Earth vs. that in Chikyu. Why would a few days on Earth be SIX FREAKING MONTHS in Chikyu? The time skip of two years was just one. Now this? I guess King-Ohger is trying to experiment with other plot devices. Speaking of which, Choriki Sentai Ohranger did have a time gap of six months during the finale arc. 

Dugdead now starts to play a deadly childish game. Dugdead plays it almost like Squid Game (I hate that show, honestly). The people he influenced with expensive gifts are now willing to hunt down the monarchs he deposed. What in the world is going on anyway? 

The manhunt starts with more and more details. The rangers split up. I wonder what's with Gira dragging Himeno anyway? Himeno does mention the power of luxury to bring evil. Meanwhile, Kaguragi carries off an unwilling Yanma. Honestly, I wanted Yanma to be the geeky, more cautious type than the punk he turned out to be. It's also figured out that a Bugnarok merchant Kin Baijim shows up. Details of the mysterious Shugod Mask show up even more. I do have a feeling that this episode is written because Christmas is just around the corner. I guess it's a PSA to children to be careful of anything too good to be true. Luxury items are given but at what cost? 

New Bandai merchandise shows up. I guess Jurassic Park is still fresh in Toei's mind. Sure, it's 30 years ago but no Jurassic Park - no success for Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers. Both Toei and Saban chose the best time after previous attempts failed. I guess Power Rangers would've probably flopped if it started with something else different (ex. Taiyo Sentai Sun Vulcan which was planned by the late Stan Lee) and the use of Chodenshi Bioman was also another failure. I even want to believe that Haim Saban might be secretly involved in all this. Maybe, even Steven Spielberg is involved. The dinosaur DNA was taken FROM AN INSECT in that Jurassic Park movie. I guess that's the blatant reference there!

Entering the Shugod Castle, they see Douga being bullied by SUZUME. Oh, what a brat she turns out to be! Maybe, she's under the influence of Dugdead. Later on, a mysterious figure walks in and starts discussing things. Chills fill the air and something big is about to unravel. 

Shugod Mask explains that he's working alongside the Galactainsects. N'Kosopa is dominated by Hilbil Lich. Gorma has taken over Gokkan. Grodi has taken over Toufu. Kamejim has taken over Ishabana. I wonder where in the world is Minogan here? Then it's no surprise that...

Yes, we get Racules Husty back! I haven't seen the King-Ohger movie yet but it seems that Reinol Husty (his ancestor) may have been disappointed in Gira and might've chosen to revive Racules. Maybe, it was Grodi's doing. Racules did mention that he got out of Hell suggesting that HE DID DIE when he fell into the cliff. I can't be sure of what happened. IMHO I do feel it's rushed. Maybe, it'd be better if Racules kept the mask on for some time, only to get unmasked like Megiddo was in Dynaman during the finale. Racules may effectively be a willing puppet king by now! At this point, I have a feeling that Dugdead was probably the one who orchestrated the fall of Racules AND the kidnapping of Gira. Hopefully, Racules can have a redemption arc but it better be written better than Abare Killer's in Bakuryu Sentai Abaranger. 

Next week's episode would start what might be a five-parter or what? I hope it's going to be written in nicely done paces. I do feel that there's hardly any male ranger vs. female villain rivalry these days. Sure, we did have one in Kosoku Sentai Turboranger with Youhei and Jarmin. Seijuu Sentai Gingaman gave us one with Hayate and Shelinda which became a recurring rivalry all throughout. Kyukyu Sentai GoGoFive established a rivalry between Nagare and Denus aside from Denus and Matsuri. I wanted Hilbill to rival Himeno more due to them being women. I guess Yanma's upcoming battle with Hilbill might be an attempt to revive male ranger vs. female villain rivalries.

And for some speculation as to why Racules was written off temporarily... 

There were no signs that actor Masato Yano got his flowers. That's very different from what happened to Jubun Fukuzawa who played Boshimar and Kamejim's human disguise as Boshimar. Masato's Instagram account proved that he was still hanging out with the cast. I wonder what he was doing at that time? It seems that Masato himself might actually be a host or a tourist guide. 

Last July, there was Racules finally falling into the cliff after his battle with Gira. It was episode 21 meaning that Yano was gone for 13 episodes. The Instagram account showed the actor still active doing something else. I think he's really into advertising. Maybe, he's secretly in school and working on a thesis. Later updates would show he was active with the cast of King-Ohger. I feel Masato was probably having some other projects that filled his pockets. Maybe, he asked Toei for a break because he had other projects. I think Toei probably intended to give Racules more screen time but Real Life Writes Plot, right?

There have been cases of temporary departure. The late Baku Hakateyama left Goranger by episode 55 and returned in episode 67. The reason was that Baku wanted to act in a stage play for some time. That would be 12 episodes with a different Kiranger who was eventually killed off in episode 67. The first Kiranger showed up to take back his rightful position. One notorious departure IMHO was when the late Noboru Nakaya showed up in the first two episodes of Dai Sentai Goggle V only to return later. Such temporary departures tend to have some reasons. In Nakaya's case, I could assume Real Life Writes Plot because he's a senior actor. I think Nakaya probably had other projects so he couldn't fully commit to Goggle V but found time to return. I think Takaki Hayashi probably had reasons for temporarily leaving. Maybe, Zenobia's cutting off all the tails of Megiddo thing was written because of Real Life Writes Plot too. If I'm not wrong the Dark Knight had a different suit actor. Later, Takaki showed up for the finale. 

I guess Masato himself had that excuse too. Maybe, he really had some real-life issues that he needed to take care of. It's nice to have him back because the Racules story was just left hanging.