Ninja Sentai Kakuranger 25 – The Journey Begins

The quest for the Shinobi Scrolls begins and what better way to kick things off is an adventure starring Sasuke! In this episode, Sasuke meets a girl named Reika who is assigned by his Shinobi Scroll to teach him a lesson. What is this lesson and why is this important for Sasuke to learn?

Before talking about Sasuke's quest, let's first talk about what happened to the rest of the team. Tsuruhime is walking in her quest and same goes with Jiraiya. As for Saizou and Seikai, they teamed up and ended up using Nekomaru. As for Sasuke, he is riding some motorcycle that I have no idea where he got one. For a quest for their individual scrolls and to some extent, self-discovery, it's kinda weird that Seikai and Saizou are together in this one. In addition, another thing that I noticed is the lack of narration coming from the narrator and that when it comes to tone; the show starts to become more serious.

Now that I am done talking about what happened to the team, let's now talk about Sasuke's quest. In his quest, he ends up meeting a girl named Reika who was tasked by his Shinobi Scroll to teach our hero an important lesson and to lead him to the location of the scroll. The lesson is something that doesn't make sense at first since it's just her having too much fun while Sasuke is waiting for her to finish what she is doing. But hey, if he wants the scroll, he should wait for her to finish what she is doing.

There is also a scene where Sasuke is talking with Reika and learned the value of life and that it is not only humans who are living in this planet. This is when Reika's fun montage starts to make sense. The lesson that she wants Sasuke to learn is that some of us only live for a short time and we should make the most out of that time we have in this planet. Before she can give that moral, they are attacked by a Yokai. The out of suit fight scene is really great and it's just great seeing Reika's actress, Reiko Chiba in action and boy, she improved a lot when it comes to her fight scenes.

During the fight, she got hit by the bad guys and even though that she is not that fatal for most people, that shot is quite fatal to her. This is when Sasuke finally learns the moral of the episode, the fragility of life and why we should take care of it. Even though Sasuke only met Reika for at least half a day, her death left quite an impact on him. Reika's death scene is really touching and made me see Sasuke in a different perspective. He is not the goofball that we saw in the show's first episode; he is now a hero who learned a really harsh reality that all heroes can't avoid.

Starting from that point in the episode, it starts to become more action packed, we see Sasuke punch some foot soldiers, transform into Ninja Red and fight a giant Yokai without summoning a Juusho Fighter! If there is one thing I can't believe Sasuke will attempt to do is to perform one of his trademark moves in a giant Yokai. What's more is after he is done with that attack, he used the opportunity to grab his Shinobi Scroll, thus summoning the God Saruder.

God Saruder's design kinda creep me out. I mean, the fact that the robot looks more human than ape-ish is something that bothered me. I mean, it looks like a guy with a beard wearing armor for crying out loud! Unlike most robots with human-like faces, God Saruder's face looks a bit derpy to be honest. But hey, I am the kind of guy who doesn't care about the robot's appearance once I see it in action! Before talking about the action, I'll first talk about the cockpit. Unlike the previous Kakuranger mechas, this mecha has its own cockpit. The cockpit's design looks mystical, and the fact that the method they use to control the mecha is by touching a crystal added this magical element in the cockpit.

Now that I am done talking about the cockpit, it's time to talk about God Saruder's first fight! Its first fight is really impressive; its weapon of choice doesn't make sense to me. I mean two short swords? To me, it makes much more sense if it's using a staff, like the Monkey King in Journey to the West. Even if that's the case, I just love that he can combine the two short swords to form one long naginata-like weapon. The only thing that I find disappointing in God Saruder's first fight is the fact that Super Muteki Shogun helped them. Oh well, at least God Saruder is the one who performed the finisher.

The episode ends and Sasuke will forever Reika's words of wisdom as he held the Shinobi Scroll in his hands. As for Sasuke's teammates, the quest for their respective Shinobi Scrolls continues and next episode, it's time for Tsuruhime to take center stage as she starts to worry if she is doing a great job as the team's leader.