Zukyun! Welcome, Riders, to another Weekly Ride Review. This week, something is in the air and it’s a little more than love! We’ve got sky beams, fusion Malgams and more!
Recap
This week’s episode mainly sees Hotaro, Sabi and Rinne investigating a strange new guy that Renge and Kajiki both seem to be in love with, following reports linking this mystery person to people vanishing during the day and returning weak at night. They discover that it’s Zukyumpire, a Chemy, who’s charging up his energy to influence the whole world. He actually manages to do just that as everyone confronts him and he runs off to a rooftop to fire a beam into the sky, which is this week’s cliffhanger.
Meanwhile, with all of this is happening, Geryon is so bafflingly disappointed in Minato’s performance against an untransformed Spanner last week that he thinks powering up Clotho would be a smart idea. After Spanner almost beats her, we find out that Geryon had a moment of clarity and sends a Sabertooth Tiger Malgam to back her up. During a fight with Rinne and Hotaro, later in the episode, Clotho takes Kamantis turning into a gold version of the Mantis Malgam. This happens just in time for Spanner to arrive use his new form, Angecopter Custom, and take them both out with with a rain of arrows. Before Hotaro and Spanner could capture the two Chemies, however, Clotho pulls them both into her turning into the Mantis Sabertooth Tiger Chimera Malgam – say that three times fast! In this form, the appears to one shot Fire Gotchard Appareskebow before we cut to Zukyumpire on the roof to conclude this week’s episode.
The Bad?
Much like last review, I complained a little bit about Fire Gotchard being walled like it was nothing. In episode 22, this week, I’m going to complain about Fire Gotchard Appareskebow jobbing to what I’m sure will be the first of many Chimera Malgam. Before I do, I just want to make it clear that I know that Fire Gotchard will be outpaced; it’s natural with these shows; I mean, I even wrote a whole article about the future Gotchard forms (which you can read here). My issue with making Fire Gotchard job this quickly is that it makes alternate timeline future Hotaro coming back in time to make sure past him has the Igniter earlier then when he was supposed to seem kind of a waste. It’s like in Zero-One when Izu’s brother gave his life to get Aruto’s half of Assault hopper. It’s just kind of a pet peeve of mine and it’s one a lot of shows end up falling into, getting an early form at a big cost and then sidelining it or using it as a stepping stone form for another form shortly after.
The Good?
Similarly to when OOOs started fusing animals for the Yummy of the week, I really like the idea of making Chimera Malgams. It’s just a fun concept and I’m glad to see it getting used.
All the set up with Zukyumpire making people disappear during the day and come home weak, is very Dracula-esque and something I appreciate a lot. This fights this week were also very fun: Spanner driving away a powered up Clotho and the very cool Fire Gotchard Appareskebow fight.
Conclusion
This clearly Valentine’s day themed first part of a two parter was pretty fun. Some jokes in it made me chuckle, like Renge lamenting “my third first love” when she realises it’s a Chemy she’s been following around and swooning over. The bit at the start where the gang think she’s into Spanner was a lot of fun. The action sequences were pretty great, like normal, too and, hey, we have a super hero sky beam™ (kinda) with Zukyumpire charging up his attack to affect the world. All in all, a good episode, I say. I can’t wait for the next part!
But what do you think? Did you enjoy it? Would you have been following Zukyumpire around too or do you think would have thought something was up? What Malgams do you want to see combine in the future? As always, I look forward to seeing what you say in the comments below. I’ve been Ethan: writer, review and charming totally not a vampire don’t question it for The Toku Source. See you next time!
