Recap / Mashin Sentai Kiramager Ep 42 The Battle Without Honor

The Battle Without Honor

Original Airdate: February 7, 2021
Written by: Ayumi Shimo
Directed by: Katsuya Watanabe

Summary:

Juru sees a Crystalian child in his dream drawing some sort of an attack, believing the child to be Oradin. His dream is suddenly interrupted by a dark smog, though he can't pinpoint what it is. In Yodonheim, Galza gives himself up to be a part of Emperor Yodon's body, though there seems to be something more behind it.

Tropes:

• Admiring the Abomination: Upon seeing Galza transform into "Lord Galza", Juru is in awe at how cool he looks.
• The Bad Guys Win: The episode ends off a cliffhanger, with Lord Galza defeating Grateful Phoenix and subsequently kidnapping Mashin Oradin back to Yodonheim with the intent to end him once and for all.
• Bait-and-Switch:
  • Juru receives visions of a Crystalian boy drawing in his sketchbook. Due to the boy's optimism, his Kiramental and his desire to protect Crystalia, as well as his uttering of "Hirameki~ng!", Juru (and the audience) assumes him to be a young Oradin. It turns out to be Galza.
  • Galza's reaction to Juru repeating "Inspiration can save the world" initially appears to be out of anger at the mention of Oradin and mocking what he stands for. It was actually shock and confusion as to how Juru knew something he said as a child, with his scorn directed at what he perceived as his weak younger self.
• Batman Gambit: Galza pulls off a rather impressive one this episode. First off, he saves Carantula, banking on his betrayal to help create a bomb that would incapacitate Emperor Yodon while he was distracted. Second, Galza butters up to the Emperor, asking him to make himself one of his personalities. Playing the part of a willing servant, Galza begins his plaguing of Earth in order to draw out Emperor Yodon, then hijacks the latter's power just as he exposes himself on Earth and lowers his guard.
• Cliffhanger: Galza personally takes Oradin to Yodonheim to see his execution, leaving the team utterly helpless as Galza makes his leave. Not to mention the hoards of civilians corrupted by Galza's smog.
• The Corruption: Galza's smog boils down to this, making anybody that breathes it in act like a Bechat.
• Darkest Hour: Not only does Galza transform into "Lord Galza" after taking over Yodon, he takes Oradin to Yodonheim after his defeat, personally seeing his execution. The team is left utterly shocked and hopeless at the end of the episode.
• Foreshadowing:
  • If you look closely at the golden accents on the Crystalian boy's head, you will notice that they resemble Galza's instead of Oradin's.
  • At the end of Juru's dream, there is some dark smog that appears from the hallway. Then the smog corrupts his fellow students, as well as a bunch of unknowing citizens, with it quickly being revealed to be Galza's doing.
• Mood Whiplash: The episode ends on one of the show's darkest notes yet...and quickly switches over to the cheery Dancing Theme and stinger in a heartbeat.
• Pop-Culture Pun Episode Title: To the Yakuza film series Battles Without Honor and Humanity (仁義なき戦い/Jinginaki Tatakai).
• The Reveal: The kid that Juru saw in the beginning, thinking that was Oradin? That was actually Galza.
• Wham Episode: Galza hijacks Emperor Yodon's role as Big Bad in this episode, kicking off the four-part end game.
• Wham Line: Two of them in succession:
  • Oradin performing his secret technique, "Mighty Halberd". Which was not what Juru saw in his vision. This leads to...
  • Lord Galza performing his own secret technique "Tornado Screw Crash", the very same move created by the boy in Juru's vision.