Also, the debut of this guy.
Continuing what was left in the previous episode, RyuuseiOh fights Baron String. Can the Dairangers finally defeat Baron String? Later, Shouji's friend is kidnapped as a sacrifice for Gorma's ritual called "Niidoro Budoro", a ritual to commemorate the return of Gorma. Can Shouji save his friend and the other sacrifices?
To be honest, the opening giant fight in this episode felt like it should be seen in the first episode due to how the entire episode ran as it is mostly focused on Shouji. But what the heck, the opening giant fight is so awesome that I can just ignore how out of place this giant fight is! RyuuseiOh's Warrior Mode looks really sleek, reminding me a bit of Bruce Lee's overall physique. Even though RyuuseiOh is technically Ryuu Ranger's mecha, the other Dairangers also piloted the RyuuseiOh when it went to its Warrior Mode.
As for how they operate the RyuuseiOh, it is really cool. I just love that crystal ball thing as their means to control the machine. Seeing Ryuu Ranger's swift martial arts movements being converted into the moves of the RyuuseiOh in battle are one amazing sight to see. Just like the Dairangers, RyuuseiOh has its own rod that he can use for battle. One thing that I like about how RyuuseiOh used its rod is like how a martial artist uses a rod in battle, like an extension of his hand as RyuuseiOh used it in his own advantage in battle. In addition, the finisher involves the use of the said rod, by creating a pinwheel with the help of RyuuseiOh's hand. Until now, I am bothered how the stunt actor spin RyuuseiOh's hand.
At the end, Baron String is defeated and we proceed to the next scene! Instead of taking a quick break after this scene just for the episode to have a proper transition, we then proceed to Shouji getting his ass kicked in the boxing ring! This is the reason why I feel like the giant battle at the beginning of this episode felt out of place. After the boxing training, Shouji's friend meet a basketball player who happens to be Gorma's Purse Monk! His move of shooting a head to trap his victim's head is seriously weird in my own taste. It didn't help that the running scene featuring Purse Monk's human form and the kid kinda looked awkward!
Shouji transforms into the Tenma Ranger to fight the Purse Monk only to fail as his gravity inversion maneuver failed to defeat him. Master Kaku then gathered the Dairangers and learned bits about their lives outside from being heroes. Kazu is a beautician while Daigo is... fishing. Well at least I have the general idea about their day jobs that's for sure! Master Kaku then reveals that Gorma's plan has something to do with a ritual called Niidoro Budoro. While the rest of the Dairangers to look for the Purse Monk, Shouji is left with Kaku to know why his move failed.
To sum it up, he is weak and his opponent took advantage of it. This scene is one of the reasons why Master Kaku is one of my favorite Super Sentai mentors as he tells his heroes their weakness and just shows them the way to improve this weakness. Just like most Super Sentai mentors that I know, he just pushes Shouji in a room filled with hanging balls that will hit him if he doesn't know how to evade them! Since their movements are as random as Purse Monk's attacks, I guess it will help him a lot in battle.
While he is busy training, Lin and some other kid are abducted by Gorma for this ritual! Now that their sacrifices are complete, it is time to perform the ritual! The ritual is just too bland for my taste. It doesn't feel creepy like what I expect it to be. Thankfully, Shouji left his training to save Lin and the others, which lead us to one great infiltration scene! As for the rest of the Dairangers, they are heading to the scene where the ritual takes place. What's funny about it is that the other Dairangers are in their motorcycles to reach the place while as for Shouji, he just runs to that place!
Because of this ceremony, we also saw how emotionless the Gorma are. They sound so monotonous that it is intimidating! But thanks to Shouji's determination to save Lin and his friends, he stopped the ceremony, saw some epic martial arts fight and sword play and see Shouji free the kids and his teammate! This scene made me like Shouji more as a fighter and as a character compared to Ryo who right now, still feels like he is a bland character outside as Ryuu Ranger.
Now that Lin is free, the two fight the three Gorma heads only to be beaten by these guys. Well that's expected since it's their first encounter with these villains. Thankfully, the other Dairangers came to rescue them and it's time for these two to finally transform! Much to my surprise, Tenma Ranger is the center of the roll call in this episode! Considering that this is the show's 2nd episode, it is quite rare for a complete Sentai team to feature hero that is not red in the middle of the team roll call.
Just like the previous episode, the martial arts fights in this episode are fantastic. But what made this episode a bit more memorable in terms of fights are Shishi Ranger and Kirin Ranger showing us some new moves. Though these moves are really cool, like Shishi Ranger's Sobu Train Line move and Kirin Ranger's Time Reversal move, I don't see the relation between these moves to their respective creature. I can understand Kirin Ranger's move since the move feels like it has something to do when someone gets drunk but a move involving a train line? Well that's really weird.
Since this episode focuses on Tenma Ranger, he also showed us some really cool moves. Aside from his gravity inversion move being useful in this one, I just love how he performed his series of kicks. It's so amazing that I wondered how the suit actor make that move look so easy to perform in front of the camera, didn't help that the effects team added some streaks to intensify the look of the move.
Now that he is weak to fight the Dairangers, he has no choice but to enlarge himself. But before he can enlarge himself, the Dairangers stopped it with their DairenRods! As a fan, this scene kinda looked like Toei's letter to Bandai that one giant battle is enough in one episode! Since he can't enlarge himself and that he is trapped, the Dairangers finished him with a Qi-Power Bomber, which is obviously stock footage since Tenma Ranger is not in the middle. At the end, Shouji continues his training with his friend and received a thank you from Lin after returning her earring, something that gave Shouji a clue to Lin's possible whereabouts earlier in the episode.
