KingOhger’s first arc has come and gone and I might even go as far as to say that it might be the best starting arc Super Sentai has had in a LONG time. For those who haven’t been keeping up with Sentai, you might be asking, What is KingOhger and what’s happened so far?
KingOhger is a far departure from the standard Super Sentai series, taking place on an alternate Earth set in the middle ages. Yet, despite that, some of these societies are advanced, probably moreso than our society. The kingdoms are in a time of prosper, though, unfortunately, the Bugnarak, led by Desnarak, rear their heads and vows to destroy humanity. Which leads us into…
The First Episode: I am the King
I’ve gotta be honest, this is probably the best pilot we’ve had for a Sentai in several years. The drama with Gira (played by Taisei Sakai) desperately pleeing to the King of Shugoddam, Racules (Masato Yano) to fight the Bugnarak and call upon King-Ohger, the titular mecha of the season, was immaculately written and acted. Gira as a character sells this show as its main protagonist immediately, vowing to become a “tyrant king” in order to fight against the Bugnarak and Racules’ injustice. The set work was also fantastic in this episode. The 3D animation for all the mechs that inhabit Shugoddam, while not at the high quality level of Hollywood productions, were still really good. King-Ohger itself is also an amazing mecha. While it seems like just a swarm of insects separately, the sum of the parts make up something great here. Speaking of the mechs, that leads into…
The Second Episode: A King for Whose Sake
As Gira is confronted by the Shuggodom guards for stealing the OhgerCalibur for himself, God Tombo and Yanma Gust (Aoto Watanabe) swoops in to get Gira. This makes Gira an international criminal. The two travel to Yanma’s kingdom, showing off what looks like an entirely different world from Gira’s. As the two connect through the episode it shows that while Yanma and Racules look similar on the surface, they’re anything but similar. This was a good episode to set up Yanma. While he does show that he’s kind of a prick, there’s still room for him to develop into a character who doesn’t call people “slack-jawed tanuki” as much. There’s also Yanma’s theme that plays during the mech fight, which is an amazing J-Rock song. I almost wish the opening was this instead. Speaking of the opening, we finally get to see it play in…
The Third Episode: Devotion to Selfishness
At the end of last episode, Gira and Yanma both are kidnapped by God Kamakiri. In this episode, they’re taken to Ishabana, the kingdom of Himeno Ran (Erica Murakami). There, they see Himeno’s incessant wants take over her kingdom. Her desires literally shape the kingdom as she has her people work on projects day after day. Despite this, her people are happy, which confuses Gira and Yanma. As the trio meet a sick girl, the girl and her father try to get compensation for Himeno’s previous surgery on the girl not working. Eventually during an attack, the girl reveals she wasn’t sick but Himeno actually kind of praises that. At the end of the day, Himeno gives the father the job of fixing up her dress. It shows that she admires peoples’ work ethic towards getting their desires and implies that her projects are merely to give people in her kingdom some work to do. Though, at the end of the day, her kingdom is attacked by God Kabuto.
This episode and the last established what this first part of the first arc is about: Gira learning from the royals. The narrator hints at Gira becoming a king later in the series. While obviously learning from his peers isn’t going to be an exclusive thing to this arc, it does play its cards right to establish dynamics between everyone. Speaking of dynamics, I think we get the most interesting one in…
The Eourth Episode: A Lordly Reception
After the attack by God Kabuto, King-Ohger is sent flying towards Toufu, the land ruled by Kaguragi Dibousuki (So Kaku). Kaguragi graciously invites Gira, Yanma and Himeno into his kingdom and treats them, but last episode revealed he was working with Racules. Flashforward and while the Bugnarak want God Kabuto, the four aren’t giving into demands and make a plan. While fighting, Kaguragi gets into God Kabuto, revealing he’s the one who attacked. Though as he fights Gira away from Toufu’s crops, that reveals another important thing to Gira: Kaguragi does care about his kingdom and, though he does shady things, he believes it’s for his kingdom. King-Ohger combines with God Kabuto, and we get our first major power up for the mecha this season. After the fight, Kaguragi detains Gira and hands him over to Rita Kanisuka (Yuzuki Hirakawa), a judge for international crimes. I don’t have a ton to say other than the fact that Dybowski’s dynamics are interesting. He purposefully deceives others, sometimes for himself or for others. Though his love for his kingdom does show he has the capability to become better. But anyways, this episode was mostly set up for…
The Fifth Episode: The Monarch of Winter is Coming
Gira is taken to Rita’s kingdom, Gokkan. There, he’s kept in jail to await his trial. During that time, Gira comes to the somewhat mature and depressed conclusion that if Rita does actually see him as a threat, then he should take that. In the meantime, Rita interacts with the people of the kingdoms that Gira has interacted with and we see a side to them that wouldn’t be seen in public: Rita’s pretty overwhelmed. This is probably the best episode so far. Gira and Rita’s dynamic was interesting to see as Gira actually started to believe he was deserving of being called evil. While Rita’s conclusion was slightly uplifting, it also sets up this dynamic of the proud Gira and humbling Rita. Which could be expanded upon in later episodes to very interesting angles as to how they can develop both characters. While Rita returns to their castle to find that some treasure they had no idea about was taken by the Bugnarak.
The Sixth Episode: Return of the Prince
Gira returns to Shugoddam to be greeted by the people. They immediately love him because it’s “Prince Gira! Yay!” and such. It’s a whole celebration. That is before the Bugnarak make a transmission and ask for Gira in exchange for the kingdoms, to which they have placed cocoons around each five kingdoms that have enhanced soldiers in them. Gira goes to the castle to discuss with the other kings, but lashes out as he sees Racules. A bit too much happens in this episode for my liking. It would be improved greatly if instead it was split into two episodes, where Gira gets to have one day of fame for an episode while setting up this episode and the next a majority of the stuff that happens in this episode happens. At the end of the day, a King-Ohger with a color-swap of Kuwagata shows up and deals with the cocoon. God Scorpion, obtained by Gira, goes out of control and poisons King-Ohger, poisoning the Shugods other than the colour swap of God Kuwagata. The hearts of the people are easily swayed and Gira is deemed a criminal in Shugoddam. Kuwagata Zero, as it’s called, is revealed to be controlled by Racules at the end of the episode. But let’s move on to…
The Seventh Episode: Wrath of God
Not a ton happens. Debates between how the Shugods can be cured happen among the people of N’Kosopa and Ishabana, which leads to good development for Himeno as we learn about the “Fury of the Gods.” We get a look at what might be a God Locust or God Fly (might need to take another look at them) along with a cloaked man. During the fights, Himeno bonds with God Scoprion, whom she promptly names “Scorpi” which is the cutest thing to come out of this show so far. This was a really good episode to sell the audience on both Himeno and Yanma as well. Their dynamic really shines through the episode, and Himeno’s backstory adds a ton of intrigue to her and her character arc going forward. Speaking of going forward, we have…
The Eighth Episode: King and Prince In Trial by Combat
After the end of last episode, Gira’s orphan friends got put up as ransom in exchange for Gira challenging Racules to a duel. Gira obviously accepts the duel. Gira waits in a Gokkan cell as everyone prepares for the battle and gossips. Eventually the battle comes and we get to finally see the debut of OhKuwagataOhger, Racules’ transformed form. This episode was good for a lot of reasons. The camera work – while not as experimental as the other episodes’ camera work – was more stable this episode. That’s good for the sections of the audience that suffer with immense motion sickness. The fight was probably the best out of KingOhger so far as well. The emotional beats, the back and forth between Gira and Racules. So overall, what do I think?
Final Thoughts
For those who might not know me, I had a lot of troubles with DonBrothers last year so having something so different and fresh like KingOhger is breathtaking. Honestly, I kinda love it. While the story is doing a lot of set up for later down the line, it’s at least set up that’s endeareing me to these characters. I want to see how they grow. I want to see how Gira becomes a king. I want to see more of the origins of this world and the history it has to offer. I want to see Racules being more of a dubious bastard. I just want to see more. For that, I have to give it a solid 8/10 so far.
Are you enjoying Ohsama Sentai KingOhger so far? Has this first story arc kept you invested in the characters? Let us know how you’re finding everything so far in the comment section or on social media, @TheTokuSource.
