King-Ohger 43: Racules' Bigger Secret?! (Spoilers)

Ohsama Sentai King-Ohger is really about to end. The new year is about to bring an end to something. As always, it's really DIFFICULT IF NOT EVEN IMPOSSIBLE to talk about Racules without spoilers. It would be better to WATCH THE EPISODE FIRST before reading. That way, one can offer some constructive criticism without otherwise hitting spoiler territory. Now, for what I think would be a strangely arranged episode 

Everything picks up from episode 42 which is big spoiler territory. As it turns out, Racules is pretty much a Virtuous Character Copy of Captain Ryuuya from Mirai Sentai Timeranger. However, Racules' actions seem to make him a dirtier version of Captain Alex from Power Rangers Time Force. Alex did some questionable stuff and may have been plotted to be the Bigger Bad. Thankfully, that didn't happen or that would totally be out-of-place. Racules' revelations remind me of Star Wars Lucas canon (Legends) plot where Luke voluntarily became the resurrected Palpatine's apprentice, to destroy the dark Sith Lord once and for all.   

Minongan reveals the power to warp time. I think I should air this one out. I was actually glad to see Gorma die. I guess that served them right as they no longer released the Monsters of the Week. Is this a deliberate attempt to rewrite Super Sentai in the same vein as the Heisei and Reiwa Kamen Rider entries? If so, I think Toei's taking a not-so-well-calculated risk or maybe it is. I can't be sure about it. 

Gira's origins as Dugdead's weapon is really a spoiler too. Sure, one can wonder how Gira's early revelation as Racules' brother was there. Okay, maybe just half-brother because the queen got pregnant by supernatural means. The king did raise Gira but only to get rid of Galactainsect's overlord Dugdead. It's also interesting that Reinol's actor Shido Nakamura is playing the LONG-AWAITED appearance of Caucus of the Husty family. Sure, it's a small role but there's a really huge impact. 

A bit of Anime-ish comedy happens. People are either becoming old or young all of a sudden. I can't blame Gira for thinking that it's a prank call. I mean, Douga's supposedly middle-aged so an old man claiming to be Douga is highly out of the blue. I do like how common sense is still integrated into superhero fiction. Sure, we've got logically-baffling scenes but there's still some scenes that are based in real life. I'd still believe it's a prank call if I were in Gira's place. 

I guess this confirms that Kaguragi IS the eldest of the monarchs. It's a bizarre situation such as how Nozomo is the oldest hero in Zyuden Sentai Kyoryuger and Ryuji is the eldest from the core team of Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters. I wonder how old Kaguragi was when he ascended anyway? Maybe in his late teens? The others were turned into children. Only Rita was spared because she was hearing Racules' side of the story. 

Gira falls into a flashback of his childhood. What disgusts me is how God Kuwagata was blended into a jelly. Okay, what's up with that? Gira doesn't even have the faintest idea UNTIL the flashback. I do find it something that Causus is desperate to get rid of Dugdead. Dugdead did entrust him with a magically produced son. It turns out it was supposed to be the perfect weapon to get rid of Dugdead. We see the sweeter side of Racules before he gets corrupted by Dugdead. I wonder if some of Racules' misdeeds were actually caused by Dugdead and not by his own free will? 

What interests me is the disease that's SLOWLY killing Causus. Causus is spitting out blood. Okay, it's quite negligible but it definitely won't make it past TV-Y7-FV. I guess there's already a rule in Japanese censorship now about how much blood can be spilled on a children's show. It'd be more realistic if we saw Causus spit out more blood. Instead, whether it's Racules' injury or Causus' disease, there's really that stricter censorship that made Super Sentai much less violent since 2001-present. Racules' revelations are probably forced upon Toei for all we know!

It's nice to see a scene of Boshimar's demise. Sur,e it happened off-screen. There's probably a deleted scene of Boshimar getting slashed and seriously injured. That was perhaps cut off due to time constraints. I do love how it's shown how Boshimar got replaced by Kamejim. Racules was too young to notice that he was corrupted by greater forces. 

The flashbacks really hit Gira all the more. Gira's memory was wiped out after all. Now, it's time to create some action TV drama type of plot. I think J-Drama fans watching Super Sentai might make quite a comment. 

It turns out that Racules' pseudo-ranger powers as OhKuwagata Ohger were originally by Causus. The power was created as something immune to Dugdead. I do find it crazy why Racules bore the burden as much as Iroki. Who in the right mind would go for a 0% Approval Rating just to eliminate a greater threat? I guess I can't stop comparing Racules to Alex. Alex did have good reasons to pull a Tyrant Takes the Helm in Time Force. Alex's actions were trying to save his period. Racules did it so he could finally fulfill the Hastie family's aim for 2,000 years. It's all about destroying the threat that's Dugdead. Alex did call back his teammates into their period for some reason. Alex, unlike Ryuuya, did some questionable stuff but had the common good in mind. Basically, both Racules and Alex are Well-Intentioned Extremists. 

This explains why Racules pulled off a similar stunt as Luke Skywalker. I do have an opinion that he got into the Becoming the Mask trope. For a time, I thought Racules became a willing puppet and got corrupted over time. However, any inner goodness started to resurface as time went by. Maybe, that explains why Racules didn't kill Gira in one of their earlier duels. 

After the fight with Minongan, it's no surprise that Dugdead is really still around after all! I gave a sigh of relief! I was reminded of how I was almost ready to bash Kamen Rider Build when Evolt was supposedly destroyed too soon. Like Evolt, Dugdead shows himself to be not so easily taken down! The sovereigns find themselves in a tough situation. Getting rid of Dugdead will be easier said than done! It's just fortunate that Dugdead likes to prolong things or the heroes would be gone by now! Since it's only January then I think Dugdead will play Stupid Evil until the finale. 

Racules does request that he go down in history as the worst ruler. Racules finally repents that none of the evil he did was justified. However, Rita does grant a stay of execution as a court order. Racules is to become a tool of the others. Racules still wants to take responsibility for any atrocity that was also Dugdead's fault. It does create a touching scene when Gira finds Racules ready to finish things. 

Speaking of which, I'm reminded of the first time I got a PlayStation 3. Right now, I'm in no hurry to get a PlayStation 5. Tekken 6 has that plot where Jin did a lot of evil stuff so he could destroy Azazel. With the Bandai-Namco alliance - it's really no surprise that we see a similar scenario. We need to admit that Himeno is somewhat like Lili in Tekken. The butler being named Sebastian may also be intentional. Just think of how often Tekken had a product placement. Samurai Sentai Shinkenger featured Chiaki playing Tekken 6. Mashin Sentai Kiramager also had a Tekken 7 tournament. I wonder if actor Masato Yano himself was playing Tekken with the cast members BTS. It makes Racules a mixture of Ryuuya, Alex, and then Jin. 

I guess next week could get rather chaotic. Sure, I do love Anime-style humor but it can also be chaotic. It's time to select a new leader. There would be some artifacts to look out for. I really can't wait to see what would happen next. Meanwhile, I'll just assume there might be a crossover with Avatar Sentai Donbrothers after all.