Gokaiger, Two Episodes In: Reluctant Heroes Finding Their Footing

Two episodes into Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger, the show has committed to an unusual angle for a season premiere: its cast doesn’t start out wanting to be heroes at all. The Gokaiger were prepared to leave Earth to whatever fate Zangyack had in store, evidently not their first time watching a world fall, until curry rice, of all things, changes their minds. The general population barely registers them as a new Sentai team, largely because their own stated goal, finding the universe’s most precious treasure, has nothing to do with saving anyone. It’s becoming clear that treasure is shaping up to be something closer to peace or connection, a realization the team itself hasn’t caught up to yet.

The bigger payoff so far is historical. Aka Red returns, sporting a new “35” on his chest and voiced again by Toru Furuya, and immediately becomes the one who hands Captain Marvelous the Ranger Keys that kick off the whole series, a genuinely well-earned piece of continuity given his last appearance was five years prior. Atsushi Hashimoto also returns as the original Magi Red, a notable departure from the franchise’s prior habit (seen in Decade) of recasting legacy roles with new actors, though the strategy raises its own risk: fans of other legacy teams will now expect the same treatment when their turn comes.

Two episodes in, Gokaiger’s fights are strong, its cast is likable, and its plot holds together without leaning entirely on nostalgia. Whether that holds once the novelty of “reluctant treasure hunters” wears off is the open question heading into episode three, which previews a wide range of Heroic Changes to come.