Samurai Equine

Hello there, my crowd! Welcome to my Weekly Musings: Red Edition. 

[I ❤ JAPAN] -- [I ❤ THE COLOR RED] -- [I ❤ CELESTIA]

For those wondering why this is being posted late, it's because it was raining last night, and it took out my internet for a while. Nothing I could do but go to bed and try again tomorrow.  But let's get into it, shall we my crowd?

 The biggest thing about last week was all the trailers that dropped. FNAF, Spider-Man, Pokemon, Rugrats, and more! Looking forward to Rugrats because it looks like they really want this to be just like the original cartoon. Also, we got more previews for the two He-Man cartoons coming to Netflix, so that's at the top of my hype list. But easily the biggest thing is the next gen of MLP.  Someone brought this to my attention, and I have to say... Is Hasbro REALLY trying to compete with their knockoff competitor Filly Funtasia?  Hope not. Either way, long story short, I'm a mix of positive and negative feelings right now, but I am doing my best to keep an open mind.

 The saddest thing that happened last week was that Daft Punk disbanded. Never expected that to happen. But at least the rest of the week was largely positive! I started a project where I collected awesome mashups and burned them to a CD for him. Not only was he not expecting it, but he absolutely loved it too! A perfect success. 

 Kiramager 43: To Paint A Stone Black...  The revelation in this episode wasn’t necessarily bad. I’ve seen other stories in Super Sentai where one of the main villains was being manipulated against their will or brainwashed. I just wish they could have built up to this revelation a bit more. It seems rather cheap that they are revealing this within the last 3 episodes, especially because I was expecting something different. I thought Garza had a legit (though misguided) reason for turning evil. Revealing that he was just brainwashed near the end is kind of cheap and empty, And to prove how pointless it all is, they kill him off too. Even I could have written a better reveal than this. To think we went through all those filler episodes for nothing.

 Kiramager 44: Another Dull Shine. This episode was interesting, but it could have been better. I was surprised to see Emperor Yodon sacrificing Yodonna like that. I know, I shouldn’t have been, but I was surprised none the less.  Everything kept me on the edge of my seat except for one part. I was really hoping that when Garza fused himself with his train, that would basically make him a living Kiramai Stone like the ones the Kiramagers are partnered with. Doing that would at least somewhat make up for the previous episode. But no, the show runners have put their foot down. Garza’s dead, Kiramai Red gets the train. Whatever. Let’s just get to the final episode all ready.

 Kiramager 45: Crystal Clear!  When I saw the preview for this episode, I was scared they were going to bring back the character that deserves it the least, Yodonna. Thankfully, that was not the case. In the end, the heroes got the happy ending they all deserved, perhaps happier than usual. And with a little teaser image of the next Super Sentai, no less! While I can’t say I fully enjoyed how the series ended, I am glad that it’s over, and I’m genuinely happy for these heroes. They deserve some peace. I’ll expand more on my over all thoughts in the series summary, but for now… All’s well that ends well.

 Saber 22: Stone Cold Confused.  It seems really weird that Buster would challenge Saber like this. I thought that he trusted Slash’s judgment. If he defected to join Saber, then that must mean Saber’s on the up-and-up, and therefore Buster should trust him too. Right? I am hoping that Buster was not really trying to attack Saber, just testing his resolve like Slash did previously. Either way, this episode had some confusing direction.

 Saber 23: Flossing on Dragon Bones! Well, this was a surprisingly good episode! Sneaking into the Southern base, finding a mysterious person we’ve never seen before (I assume it’s Master Logos without his cloak on), and top it all off with Saber getting a new power when he accidentally glances at a forbidden book. I was skeptical about how they were going to throw a berserker Rider into this, but they found a way to make it work! However, I was mostly not expecting for this Master Logos person to be a thing. So is he like the king to the knights?  This puts previous episodes in a new light... I may need to keep watching to really get a full picture.

 MY THOUGHTS ON THE KIRAMAGER SERIES OVER ALL: It's hard for me to fully hate this series, even if I didn't care for the latter half of the series. I feel like I'm betraying those who loved it if I say anything negative about it. This series came out just as COVID was beginning to be a thing, and for many, it was just the escapism they needed. It didn't need to be perfect, it just needed to be fun, and Kiramager was a fun distraction for many. Lately I've been saying that a show doesn't necessarily need deep or engaging plot; a simple MOTW formula can work too if the show is fun enough. I feel like I need to count Kiramager as such a show, even if I personally didn't care for it. Not to mention, the main actor playing Juuru/Kiramai Red came down with COVID but managed to overcome it and get healthy again, and I don't want to downplay that amazing feat. The show itself started off great! I loved the music, the poses, the randomness, and sheer unpredictable spirit it had. It was just as refreshing as seeing the first season of Jojo after watching a billion cutesy moe anime. I just expected a lot more from Garza's personal story reveal, and the show didn't quite deliver in the way I had hoped. Instead, they chose to make the series more like just a standard show. So in the end, it could have been more, I wanted it to be more, but it's not. And that's fine, my issues with it are personal criticisms only. It gave people a moment of happiness in dark, confusing times, and I can appreciate that. But I'm glad I finished watching all of it, because now I can watch Zenkaiger as soon as it premiers. 

That's all for now, my crowd.  Take care, and grab that fire on the wall. (Not literally.)

Once upon a time, I played a simple yet funny flash game. Ultimately, there's really no reason to play it, especially now that Flash has been discontinued. But the song that was made for the credits was hilarious, and I sometimes find myself quoting it. Here is "Now you're a hero" by Reachground.