Ninja Sentai Kakuranger 26 – Worth of a Leader

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Tsuruhime doubts her ability to lead the Kakurangers. Because of this problem and Sandayuu thinks that she is weak enough to be the team's leader, he then animates four Kakuranger dolls to aide her with her quest for her Shinobi Scroll. Will she realize what it means to be a leader?

One of the reasons why I like Kakuranger is that this is the first Super Sentai show that introduced a female leader. Even though Tsuruhime is technically not the Red hero in the show, the show keeps on reminding us why she is as relevant as the show's Red hero... then this episode happened. What I like about this episode is that we learned that Tsuruhime herself has her doubts if she is strong enough to be the team's leader. I mean, there are episodes that she is kidnapped and the team's ace, Sasuke ends up saving her. It's a genuine concern and I like that they addressed it.

We also learned the history of Tsuruhime's clan and that every member of the clan who carries the Tsuruhime name leads the team in their fight against the Yokai. This adds up to her issue in this episode. Can she carry on the legacy left by her ancestors? Though not related to the episode's plot, one thing worth pointing out is that she lives in a Western style house, has maids and butlers serving her and has a dead father that she honors. Which reminds me, since they brought up her father, what happened to her mother?

Back to the plot of the episode, Sandayuu animated Kakuranger dolls to aide Tsuruhime with her quest of her Shinobi Scroll. Earlier in the episode, she failed to retrieve her scroll because of a Yokai blocking her path. The dolls are basically her retainers who will protect Tsuruhime at all cost. They don't care about their lives, as long as they protect Tsuruhime. At first I don't mind the dolls… until we see these dolls revert to the human forms of their respective Kakuranger one by one.

The scene is really dramatic and shows us more of Tsuruhime's doubt as the team's leader while she is running away from the enemies while the dolls are busy fighting the Yokai. After doll Sasuke's sacrifice, Tsuruhime is starting to question if she is worthy to take the Shinobi Scroll. This scene sums up Tsuruhime's character in a nutshell. Though she is not as strong as the male members of her team, she cares for them and that makes a good leader. And thus, she passed the test given to her by the Shinobi Scroll, now it makes sense why we saw lights flying out of the Shinobi Scroll after Sandayuu animated the dolls!

Finally, the introduction of the God Kark; unlike the introduction of the God Saruder, we heard God Kark speak in her debut. The only thing note noting about God Kark is that it shoots lasers and it flies. Oh, and Tsuruhime has one awesome character theme. At the end, Super Muteki Shogun defeated the Yokai after God Kark weakened it. With Sasuke and Tsuruhime finishing their respective quests, all that's left is Seikai, Saizou and Jiraiya.

One last thing to note about this episode, since they stopped using the narrator to tell us the story about the Yokai, which the Yokai of the week is based on, the Yokai of week is the one who introduced us to its origins and mythology. It's a nice change but it kinda ruins the mood of the scene for a bit. I mean, the monster suddenly telling us its origins for no reason at all? It feels a bit out of place if you ask me.