by Dr Kain » Tue Feb 11, 2014 1:27 am
Kyoryuger final episode SPOILERS:
I have to say, I kind of feel let down. It was not a bad finale by any means. In fact, it was quite good.
The problem is, everyone seemed to be defeated way too easily. The new joy monster was defeated way too quickly. Chaos was then defeated way too quickly, only to have that be his plan, but then he got beat again way too easily. Then Deboss got defeated way too quickly and easily as well by Daigo. In fact, why did Daigo even need the other rangers there? He handled Deboss all on his own. I also did not like that Uchy was just miraculously brought back to life when having him become a spirit ranger would have done just fine.
From a story point of view though, it was told well and felt like a conclusion even though it left things open for the future. I am not sure what to think about Luckerio and Candeleria being left alive though, as they really should have sacrificed themselves to defeat Chaos rather than just be given a happy go lucky existence just because they weren't truly evil.
The ending does have a DaiRanger feel to it though, as you know there is someone else out there for a future generation to battle, and I'm okay with that because it worked with what the story was going for. It means that this is a battle that may go on for another million years, which is what the whole series was leading towards anyway.
Overall, the show was pretty good, one of the better Sentai series of the last 10 years, but it was the weakest of the Dinosaur themes. For all that it did with originality (and there was a lot), Toei played it a little too safe. Yes, we still got a death in the team with Torin, but it feels downplayed when Daigo's father is just able to resume the role of Silver as if it were nothing. Uchy dying and becoming a new spirit ranger would have made for a good send off to the next generation as we have a brand new spirit ranger as the old ones pass on to the afterlife.
THe rangers themselves were a very good cast, but it seemed like the writers did not know what to do with Ian and Uchy during the series. There was so much wasted potential with those two when it came to their stories with Aigaron and Dogold, as so much more could have been done with all four characters. Instead, it was featured in like 2-3 episodes during the first half of the show and then never mentioned again until the last few episodes.
The best episodes were Nossan's, as he had the best development out of the entire cast, followed by Souji. I understand the show is meant to focus on the red ranger, but Daigo had no flaws, making him an uninteresting character because he was so perfect. Even the best red rangers in the past have had some sort of flaw to help develop their character. It does not matter if it is something as simplistic as Marvelous' wanting to avenge his friend and father figure to Matoi wanting to protect his family to Tatsumi wanting to just be a normal person without his rich parents shaping his life to be what they want to Geki having the death of Burai clouding his mind. Everyone has had some type of flaw except Daigo. This man was just too perfect that the writers put themselves into a corner because there was really nothing to do with him, and having him take out Deboss on his own was proof of this.
On the other hand, we got the perfect amount of screen time for the two spirit rangers and seeing them pass on their abilities was well done even if out of the blue. I also thought they did a great job with Yayoi and her grandfather even if she became a useless character in the long run as her love triangle never went anywhere after both her and Amy agreed to see who is best for Daigo's love. In fact, this is another area that could have been used to improve both of the girls' character, but instead, it was more wasted potential.
Come to think of it, that was the problem with the show overall, it was wasted potential all around. So much more could have been done with the villains themselves, but after about 20 episodes, they started to get stale and just become your standard Sentai villains. As I said before, a lot more could have been done with Aigaron and Dogold, ESPECIALLY with Dogold being living armor. Instead, it seemed like the writers forgot what they were doing with Dolgold so they suddenly wrote in Endorff to accommodate that issue until the last minute.
The mecha was a mixed bag however, with most of them just being way too blocky and there was too much of it. At least the combined form did not look like a cluster****.
Overall, I give the show as a whole a 7/10 stars because it did a lot of good. Most of the filler did not feel forced in or like a standard Sentai filler, but when it had bad filler, it was really bad. The ranger cast was great, energetic, and well acted, it's just that more could have been done with half of the team. Daigo was just way too perfect in everything. The villains started out interesting and then became as bland as Dokoku's shipmates in "Shinkenger." It seemed like the writers knew where they were taking the show the entire time, which is nice, I just wish the execution could have been better. Still, it was a good show and would probably fall around my 20th favorite series.
