The Gray-Eyed Man May Be Part Of A Much Bigger Conspiracy

It's nice to see Ryoma Baba playing another character? We've had Hiroya Matsumoto returning to play different characters. Hiroya returned in Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters playing as Masato Jin -- years after he played Tsubasa Ozu in Mahou Sentai Magiranger (still dislike it). Ryoma plays as the gray-eyed creep Rei Gushima -- a character that's giving me crime drama vibes. This character's allegiance isn't known yet. Ryoma was previously Ryuji Iwasaki in Go-Busters too.

 

It turns out that Rei wasn't just responsible for Oto Ichikawa's disappearance. Reading through Dryed Mangoez's review, this gives me the creeps:

And then I forgot Ryoma Baba was playing Rei-san. So I was cheering when he popped up. But then cringing when it turns out Rei-san is a creep. Lol. First, kidnapping Oto. And then that strange dynamic with Rikuo. Was he grooming the poor kid? WTF? And then the pill popping too. Not even gummy Dark Treats to stand in for drugs. But actual pills! WTFx2?! Lol Crazy! And already very dark!

It's revealed that Rikuo Byakuya has a histopry with Rei. There's a tragic backstory involved. Is this meant to show that no matter what bad happened to you -- your bad actions don't justify you? Was this also a lesson against holding grudges? It's been some time since Super Sentai got that blatant with teaching viewers some lessons. Hirohisa Soda's writing in the 1980s championed that the best IMHO. I could remember gathering the Lessons of the Week from Chikyu Sentai Fiveman as a child. Here? Well, Akiko Inoue might be trying a different approach from her father Toshiki Inoue. 

This is an important plot point. It was also nice to have a cool Go-Busters reference -- even if we have actor Hirofumi Suzuki (who was in the rather unorthodox Avatar Sentai Donbrothers) do the character. A salesman named Sho Torikai has the Red Buster ring. It's a cool reference but the character lacks the serious demeanor of the show he's from. 

Sidenote: 

There are also times when I think about using same celebrity, different characters to defend my idea that THERE'S NO SENTAI TIMELINE. Crossovers are pretty much their own continuity. Keiji Ohba managed to play three characters in Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger vs. Ucchu Keiji Gavan. IRL there are some doppelgangers left and right. Shelly met Kotoha Hanaori in Super Hero Taisen Z -- well we know how much I HATE those films. The idea is best left for fanfiction (where there's no budget involved) if you ask me. Then again, I wrote several bad stories (which I deleted as old shames, as proof I have NO INTENTION to continue them) when I kept biting more than chew!

However, Power Rangers had some instances where an actor returned to play a different character. Ricardo Medina Jr. was Cole Evans in Power Rangers Wild Force and Deker in Power Rangers Samurai. Rick was also later arrested for a crime in the heat of passion. Power Rangers Dino Thunder had Katrina Devine play as an entirely different character named Cassidy Cornell. Rene Naufahu (who unfortunately had similar charges with Hideo Sakaki, both chargerd with sex assault) was both Emperor Grumm in Power Rangers SPD and Mentor Jii in Power Rangers Samurai. 

So far, there haven't been any Super Sentai alumni returning to resume their roles for Gozyuger. I bet it's NOT that easy to find the alumni. Not to mention, some alumni have also been blacklisted for good reasons. Others have left the world so soon, either from an accident, suicide, or natural causes (some died young). It really shows that when you get different people -- you're bound to get multiple outcomes regardless of franchise.