Post by Gokai Gaburincho on Apr 4, 2018 19:30:46 GMT -5
LvP episode 8: I'm still amazed by this show's track record, and even more amazed that it's an episode that I liked more on a second viewing, because it's usually the opposite.
The Bad: The reason I liked this episode better on a rewatch is because there really isn't anything this episode did wrong storytelling-wise. I think for the most part, the storytelling in this show is just impeccable. However, the thing that made me lower on this episode the first time around was the fact that I don't love that they did this plotpoint of the Patrangers figuring out who the Lupinrangers are this early in the show. I knew that they weren't gonna figure it out now, so it felt like a waste of an episode. Someone on the Kissasian page for this episode left a comment along the lines of they would be annoyed if we went the whole show without any of them ever suspecting the people at Jurer. I guess that guy has a point. The only way I'm okay with them doing this is if they don't obnoxiously keep teasing the Patrangers almost figuring out who the Lupinrangers are over and over in the show.
I also don't love that GoodStriker told Kairi that the Patrangers were on to them. This is the 2nd time that GoodStriker has conveniently moved the plot along (other than when he shows up out of nowhere when they need a mecha battle, which I'm actually okay with), and I don't really care for it, but I wouldn't know how to change it without either not making him sentient (which I wouldn't want), changing his motivation (which would probably have change how the rest of the show plays out), or just make him not do that (which wouldn't be in character given his motivation). This is why I'm not a writer, or even that good of a reviewer. I'm just saying what I feel.
Final thoughts: Despite those problems, this is still a pretty good episode. It's not one of my personal favorites, but it's still really good. I don't remember the last time we've had a sentai where every episode felt as important to the overall plot of its show this early on as much as this sentai does, and I hope it keeps it up.
Next episode: Now we're talking! We're finally gonna get Kairi's backstory episode. It looks like his brother was a basketball player. I can't really discern from the trailer what kind of conflict he had with his brother that made them argue, and it makes me that much more curious to find out. I can't wait.
The Good: As usual with this show, there's barely anything to complain about (although I do have a negative), so this post is just gonna be me, yet again, essentially going through plotpoints in the episode and saying "I liked that."
This episode did make me appreciate Tsukasa more. It's weird, because I don't dislike her archetype, but she's so noticeably the weakest character in the show, and I think the problem I'm having with her is that this show is so good, especially with its characters, that I expected more from her, and I haven't really gotten it yet. However, this episode is a step in the right direction. While it's not a focus episode for her, I appreciate that it's her that figures out that the workers from Jurer are the Lupinrangers. I also appreciate that it's not played as too much of a joke that she suspects them, and that she's not looked at as an idiot when she's "proven wrong". Tsukasa is still my least favorite so far, and I hope another episode more focused on her will help flesh her out some more. You know what I think would help? Since Keiichiro has conflict with Lupin Red, and Sakuya has a crush on Umika, who we know is Lupin Yellow, I would love to see Tsukasa have some type of conflict with one of the Lupinrangers, maybe Lupin Blue.
The stuff with Jim was funny, although, oddly enough, I didn't think it was hilarious. I do like the joke with the 3 words, and I do think it was clever. However, my favorite thing from Jim in the whole episode is actually this one line: "Well, I'm talented at everything I do, you see!" The fact that he has an ego like that is funny to me.
I love the fact that Kogure is a master of disguise, and that he pulled a "Spencer". It's funny to me that I compare Kogure to Spencer, because as much as I don't like OO, Spencer is a way better character than his own sentai counterpart. As for Kogure, he's continuing to act suspicious. Knowing how sentai likes to pace things, I get the feeling that we're gonna get some big reveal about him relatively soon. I think it could be sometime around the 12 or 13 mark, 15 max, maybe. I don't think it's that he's Arsene Lupin. My theory is that he's a Gangler who fell off with Dogranio long ago, and he wants to use the Lupinrangers to steal the Lupin collection to get his revenge on Dogranio for some reason. I also think he's either working with Zamigo or using him. If we do get the reveal about Kogure, I suspect it would be just the Gangler thing. I don't think the other stuff will be revealed until later in the show, and even then, I think it will be revealed to the audience before it's revealed to any of the rangers. I'm not usually the theorizing kind of person, but that just came to me, and I wanted to put it out there.
I also find it interesting that there's no monster this week, something I only noticed on my 2nd viewing. Something else that didn't occur to me until I saw the Wikia page for this episode was that the Patrangers never transform in this episode. As for Goche, the show is setting up this thing with human experimentation. The show kinda plays it off as if she just does this for fun in her spare time, but it also feels like something that's gonna come back. This just occurred to me just now as I'm typing this, but could Zamigo freezing those people have something to with her experiments? Did he freeze those people for her, and if so, to what end?
This episode did make me appreciate Tsukasa more. It's weird, because I don't dislike her archetype, but she's so noticeably the weakest character in the show, and I think the problem I'm having with her is that this show is so good, especially with its characters, that I expected more from her, and I haven't really gotten it yet. However, this episode is a step in the right direction. While it's not a focus episode for her, I appreciate that it's her that figures out that the workers from Jurer are the Lupinrangers. I also appreciate that it's not played as too much of a joke that she suspects them, and that she's not looked at as an idiot when she's "proven wrong". Tsukasa is still my least favorite so far, and I hope another episode more focused on her will help flesh her out some more. You know what I think would help? Since Keiichiro has conflict with Lupin Red, and Sakuya has a crush on Umika, who we know is Lupin Yellow, I would love to see Tsukasa have some type of conflict with one of the Lupinrangers, maybe Lupin Blue.
The stuff with Jim was funny, although, oddly enough, I didn't think it was hilarious. I do like the joke with the 3 words, and I do think it was clever. However, my favorite thing from Jim in the whole episode is actually this one line: "Well, I'm talented at everything I do, you see!" The fact that he has an ego like that is funny to me.
I love the fact that Kogure is a master of disguise, and that he pulled a "Spencer". It's funny to me that I compare Kogure to Spencer, because as much as I don't like OO, Spencer is a way better character than his own sentai counterpart. As for Kogure, he's continuing to act suspicious. Knowing how sentai likes to pace things, I get the feeling that we're gonna get some big reveal about him relatively soon. I think it could be sometime around the 12 or 13 mark, 15 max, maybe. I don't think it's that he's Arsene Lupin. My theory is that he's a Gangler who fell off with Dogranio long ago, and he wants to use the Lupinrangers to steal the Lupin collection to get his revenge on Dogranio for some reason. I also think he's either working with Zamigo or using him. If we do get the reveal about Kogure, I suspect it would be just the Gangler thing. I don't think the other stuff will be revealed until later in the show, and even then, I think it will be revealed to the audience before it's revealed to any of the rangers. I'm not usually the theorizing kind of person, but that just came to me, and I wanted to put it out there.
I also find it interesting that there's no monster this week, something I only noticed on my 2nd viewing. Something else that didn't occur to me until I saw the Wikia page for this episode was that the Patrangers never transform in this episode. As for Goche, the show is setting up this thing with human experimentation. The show kinda plays it off as if she just does this for fun in her spare time, but it also feels like something that's gonna come back. This just occurred to me just now as I'm typing this, but could Zamigo freezing those people have something to with her experiments? Did he freeze those people for her, and if so, to what end?
The Bad: The reason I liked this episode better on a rewatch is because there really isn't anything this episode did wrong storytelling-wise. I think for the most part, the storytelling in this show is just impeccable. However, the thing that made me lower on this episode the first time around was the fact that I don't love that they did this plotpoint of the Patrangers figuring out who the Lupinrangers are this early in the show. I knew that they weren't gonna figure it out now, so it felt like a waste of an episode. Someone on the Kissasian page for this episode left a comment along the lines of they would be annoyed if we went the whole show without any of them ever suspecting the people at Jurer. I guess that guy has a point. The only way I'm okay with them doing this is if they don't obnoxiously keep teasing the Patrangers almost figuring out who the Lupinrangers are over and over in the show.
I also don't love that GoodStriker told Kairi that the Patrangers were on to them. This is the 2nd time that GoodStriker has conveniently moved the plot along (other than when he shows up out of nowhere when they need a mecha battle, which I'm actually okay with), and I don't really care for it, but I wouldn't know how to change it without either not making him sentient (which I wouldn't want), changing his motivation (which would probably have change how the rest of the show plays out), or just make him not do that (which wouldn't be in character given his motivation). This is why I'm not a writer, or even that good of a reviewer. I'm just saying what I feel.
Final thoughts: Despite those problems, this is still a pretty good episode. It's not one of my personal favorites, but it's still really good. I don't remember the last time we've had a sentai where every episode felt as important to the overall plot of its show this early on as much as this sentai does, and I hope it keeps it up.
Next episode: Now we're talking! We're finally gonna get Kairi's backstory episode. It looks like his brother was a basketball player. I can't really discern from the trailer what kind of conflict he had with his brother that made them argue, and it makes me that much more curious to find out. I can't wait.
