Ep 48: Gerojim is the most patient retainer at times...

ep 49: “how many times are we gonna have to teach you this lesson old man?”

Rita Kaniska: Also Rita Kaniska:

sopping wet spider

Um. Um. Um. Um. I- giramie!!

Sonic King-Ohger AU characters interacting with their Sonic canon counterparts

Shadow (Gira): King Shadow sees Canon Shadow being his usual stoic self and assumes he must assume his own gruff “evil” persona to be considered worth talking to. Canon Shadow recognizes he’s acting and promptly declares he’ll step down to a casual level to chat respectfully. Eventually, it’s brought up that King’s Maria is alive (and a hedgehog,) but committed a long list of atrocious crimes as Queen that were ultimately all for the sake of her brother and the universe. Canon Shadow, who must admit his memory of Maria is clouded by nostalgia, isn’t quite sure how to feel - is this evidence she could have been as bad as Ivo if she lived, even if for a good purpose? (And have I really become as exaggerated as this “me” acts?) King Shadow can tell his Canon self has a lot to think about from this encounter, he’s good at reading people, and respects his privacy.

Surge (Yanma): King Surge’s thoughts on Canon Surge are not given a good starting point when she introduces herself by trying to steal his Ohger Calibur (she technically succeeds, but it’s useless in her hands.) His first realization is that a lot of her anger problems will be resolved once she figures out she’s a he and starts taking testosterone. His second realization is that she’s loudly picking on his friends and career choices while he’s thinking, and has rightfully earned a thrashing. His third realization is that, while this alternate Surge follows his “brains and guts get me through anything” ideal, she’s lacking in the “brains” department - which horrifies him. Don’t tell him this is how Surge the Tenrec is “supposed to be,” you’ll lead him to a complete existential breakdown… and maybe a multiversal plan to “rehabilitate all the dumb versions of me.”

Amy (Hymeno): Queen Amy sees Canon Amy and assumes she’s a malicious imposter (it’s happened before.) Once that’s resolved, Canon Amy is flabbergasted and given embarrassing flashbacks to her youth by Queen Amy’s absurd demands and standards (Sebastian is GADGET underneath all that makeup?,) and is very nearly convinced she’s been sent to some sort of evil mirror dimension, before a distraction (probably endangered Ishabana citizens who Queen insists on personally attending to) establishes that beneath her selfishness Queen Amy still has the same compassion and generosity. In the end, they recognize that the only real difference between them is that Canon Amy grew out of every girl’s desire to be a princess, while Queen Amy, being… a queen, grew up embracing it. 

Blaze (Rita): It’s up for debate whether guarding the Sol Emeralds or deciding the fate of every criminal in Mobius puts more pressure on you, but Canon Blaze would just LOOK at King Blaze, hiding their ice powers, their face, their voice, and even their gender, and go “and I thought I was emotionally repressed.” She even asks them if they’ve learned from Sonic for their sake, only to be casually informed that if they absolutely had their way their dimension’s Sonic would have to be executed for all manners of treachery. She eventually begs their retainer/"Morphonia" (most likely Silver) to provide her with any evidence they have some sort of outlet, upon which he gladly shows her King’s plushie collection and brief career as an idol… which promptly leads to screaming, gets Canon Blaze banished from Gokkan and threatens King Blaze and their Silver’s friendship (a little.)

Sonic (Kaguragi): Lord Sonic would warmly welcome Canon Sonic to Toufu, hail him for his heroics, and Canon Sonic, depending on the day, would QUICKLY realize he’s being psychologically buttered up. Not like he trusted a Sonic who actually accepted the responsibility and position of royalty, anyway… and yeah, it quickly becomes similar to the Amys’ interaction when Canon comes to understand and accept that Lord spends a lot more time dirtying his hands for his people (and in particular, his brother Tails) than sitting around. He is a bit concerned that this guy takes “I don’t mind being the bad guy” a little too far, but can only say “touché” when Lord casually reminds him of his IDW choices. Unfortunately, their chances of friendship are ultimately dashed by Lord, who’s a bit too passionate about Toufu’s cuisine, dismissing chili dogs as “N’kosopa-level junk food.”

Tikal (Jeramie): Queen Tikal is a 2,000-year-old Echidna Mobian/Spider Bugnarak hybrid who’s wandered her Mobius occasionally hibernating, while Canon Tikal is a spirit tied to the Master Emerald, so needless to say their interactions would be unpredictable and highly interesting. Both have tales to tell of horrifying ancient wars - Canon about how she lost everything and sacrificed herself to end the crisis, Queen about how she inadvertently triggered 2,000 years of hatred AND toiled to fix the mistakes she made. Queen is the insecure one, but would probably end up humbling Canon Tikal for all she was able to do, eventually successfully bringing peace between the two sides and becoming Queen of the Bugnarak, while Canon failed to protect her people entirely and died. Queen would probably end up spinning a triumphant reprise of Canon’s story to cheer her up, considering she once accidentally did the same for a war, did she not? (Also, Canon Tikal, used to Knuckles venting about his crushes, can read Queen Tikal's probably-canon-IDK-I'm-still-planning feelings for her Shadow like a book.)

The most important question about the Kingohger Finale:

The lines:

I don't flatter or suck up to anyone. No matter what I'm dealing with, guts and brains will be plenty to get through. That's how the president of N'Kosopa, Yanma Gast operates!

I am the queen of Ishabana, Himeno Ran! I will do as I wish, and stride down my own path. You will now witness the pride of the flower that will never wither!

My people are my life. For their sake, I will cover myself in mud, and dirty my hands! That is who I am, the lordly king, Kaguragi Dybowski!

The law is a spear that slays kings. The law is also a shield which defends the people. And that is why Gokkan stands resolute! The earth can shatter, and the heavens can fall, but Rita Kaniska remains unshaken!

I am Jeramie Idmonarok Ne Brasieri. Ruling over man, Bugnarok, and everything else. The fate of the world itself is my story to dictate. The king of the in-between. And what he is here to do… Speak of it forevermore.

Now, fear me! Tremble in your boots! I will show you no shred of mercy nor restraint, and spare no effort nor intent! For the name of your doom… is Gira Hastee!

I think this is how people feel when they do the 'I think I hauve covid' meme

I think I hauve covid about Kingohger 41

💛 elegance morn 💛

Largest number of pilots in Super Sentai history

Status Post #10921: 21, thanks to the penultimate episode of King-Ohger 26-episode first part that aired last week comprising of those pictured below -

Row 1: Mayuta (Nagisa Hayakawa), Shiokara (Yuhei Chiwata), Kogane (Anna Hoshino), Boone (Minato Kiso), Douga (Yutaka Morioka) and Kofuki (Kaisei Kuwano)

Row 2: Akka (Hokuto Minami), Yanma Gust / Tombo Ohger (Aoto Watanabe), Gira Hastie / Kuwagata Ohger (Taisei Sakai), Rita Kanisuka / Papillon Ohger (Yuzuki Hirakawa) and Morphonia (Kasumi Hasegawa)

Row 3: Usuba (Kaito Okano), Himeno Ran / Kamakiri Ohger (Erica Murakami), Jeremy Brasieri / Spider Kumonos (Masashi Ikeda), Kaguragi Dibousuki / Hachi Ohger (So Kaku) and Suzume Dibousuki (Mami Kamura)

Row 4: Elegance Moun (Marina Mizushima), Sebastian (Hiroto Yoshimitsu), Cleo Urbanus (Matsuri Kamisato), Gerojim (Tomokazu Seki) and Kuroda (Hajime Kanzaki and voiced by Kohsuke Toriumi)

Tinfoil Hat Theories Part 2!

Hello, the other half of the Tinfoil Hat theory partners here! After some extra discussion and theory crafting we came up with a part 2 to the previous theory that we think might hold some water. As before the TLDR will be at the end if you prefer that.

Now when we left off Jeramie’s parents had accidentally sparked off the Bugnarak/Human War by eloping and having their son. After the war humanity expands to every corner of Chikyuu, taking all its available resources for themselves. The farmlands in Toufu, the flora and fauna natural to Ishabana, the raw untapped potential of what would become N’Kosopa all make sense. But this leaves the question of why Gokkan?

After being captured he’s imprisoned by the other kings and the prison country of Gokkan is founded with the explicit purpose of keeping him there. In this moment the first sovereign of Gokkan chooses to side with Lionel over Jeramie’s father (note: this does become important later) and becomes his jailer. After enough time passes that she realizes her husband isn’t coming back Jeramie’s mother takes the two of them even deeper into the mountains to hide. We can assume that she told Jeramie that his father would come back for a while before it became obvious that he wasn’t and she had to break it to Jeramie that his father was dead. Meanwhile the sixth king is imprisoned for whatever remains of his life.

We know Jeramie’s father was just a human and so would have likely had a human lifespan, so he would have died of probably natural causes after a few decades, but we think he didn’t stay dead. Instead, somehow either through Bugnarak magic or some kind of technology (looking at you random Shugoddam resurrection machine) he’s brought back. And when he comes back he sees the state of the world.

He and his family were written out of history, humanity has flourished under the lies spread by the first kings, his son is nowhere to be found and the Bugnarak were set to return within the next couple decades which would set another war into motion. And so, tired and probably more than a little bitter, he makes a plan. He can’t use Tarantula’s powers because they were sacrificed to seal Jeramie’s power so he does the next best thing. He collects venom from where Sasorin’s body lay dormant after being separated from their soul and calls on minor gods that had always had a soft spot for him, the Cicadas.

The Wrath of the Gods is a coordinated strike against the current generation of kings using resources only he would be able to access. Maybe he wants to take this chance to get some petty revenge, maybe it’s simply in the hopes that the young heirs left behind might be convinced to negotiate instead of fighting, maybe he’s even a little hopeful that something of this scale might draw out his son if he’s still alive.

I’ve always found it odd that the person who did the Wrath would choose to leave the next generation of kings alive. I mean, if this was the Bugnarak then you’d think they would want all potential threats destroyed before they became a problem. And with some notable exceptions (mostly based of headcanon) it’s unlikely this would have been the work of someone on the human side. Which only leaves a third party to take responsibility. And when faced with the sight of the children who would become the next King-Ohgers the sixth king can’t bring himself to kill defenseless children, children who never asked for any of this to happen and remind him so much of his son the last time he saw him. So he leaves the heirs untouched and attacks only the kings.

One by one the leaders of the countries are killed. Until finally he returns to the place where he’d fled with his family, where he’d been imprisoned, where he’d died. And he’s defeated by Karras and her husband. They interrogate him and he tells them his entire story. And Karras is forced to realize that their history is a lie and that her country, which prizes it’s neutrality more than anything, had been founded as nothing more than a cover for things the first kings had wanted hidden.

So she makes her choice. The sixth king had committed many crimes during the Wrath but to go public with his identity wasn’t an option. It would undermine the foundations of the entire world and with the Bugnarak threat set to return they needed to stay united. She and Shiron fake her death and she does what the first Papillon Ohger did and imprisons the sixth king until both of their deaths.

TLDR; Jeramie’s father was imprisoned in the newly founded Gokkan 2000 years ago by the first kings. He’s brought back to life somehow and in an act of revenge and the prevent a second war from breaking out he orchestrates the Wrath to wipe out the kings of the current generation. After being defeated and interrogated by Karras she decides it’s best if he disappears with no one knowing the truth because it would throw the world into chaos.

Everyone watching Episode 36 be like

Surprised no one made this yet 🤣

pop that through the 'evil king' translator

sending the kyoryugers to hell for all eternity for taking screentime away from my beloved don momo

The elephant in the room: Rita's Gender

In manga ch12 and ep38, Rita is referred to with female pronouns. ch12 has a little girl call Rita お姉ちゃん (big sister) and ep38 has Minnogan call them 彼女 (she/her). This is canon text.

My argument proposed Rita does not bother correcting people who misgender them. Because their time is too valuable for that. Not that they don't mind, merely as King, they are above letting mere words hurt them.

In the manga, Rita certainly reacts more strongly to being told 'you look like a bad guy' than interested in picking a fight with a little girl. The girl first called to both of them and only Morfonia answered.

For ep38, there's no denial Idol Rita is dressed feminine so naturally Minnogan is led to think that way. Rita has no cause to oppose them or risk breaking their cover and lose his trust. To equate, another major villain, Kamejim, also identify Rita as male in considering them for Himeno's spouse.

My personal interpretation is, as opposed to a troubled age, Rita simply instinctively sacrificed everything personal in name of neutrality, for duty and country, including their gender. It's not like they identify as one thing or another, it's they don't identify with anything but King of Gokkan. Regardless of gender, it does not affect their competence to perform the duty of a sovereign. On a character level, it's more fitting for this person to identify as gender neutral, but I also don't think gender is a big part of their identity.

It's still a meaningful step we receive in Rita a messy but strong female character, it's just the difference how big the step is to have them also represent non-binary/trans people. It is the doylist symbolism they hold, and the authorial intention that I cannot put down.

I looked up "rita gender" on jp tweet and I get the impression they don't think today's episode is firm enough even for those who wished for it to confrim Rita is a girl. And their viewpoints is varied too, Rita's gender can also be "undisclosed" or "(just) Rita". So I feel better there. I overreacted.

All intents and purposes I might just be wishful thinking and they decided on making Rita a girl the moment Yuzuki was cast. Mah, it's been a good 37 weeks.

In the end, Rita's setting is "undisclosed gender". Truthfully I never expected Toei to keep a 37-episode streak, not only never referred to them with female pronouns, to making them more neutral in Chapter 2's styling, and even gave us episode 36.

Say, what about the occassional offscreen use of "she"? In their position, what would you ask Yuzuki/mass media to refer to Rita without official confirmation? The audition criteria are never made known to even Yuzuki herself now we're nearing the show's end. It's understandable she took to the character as the same gender as herself. The production crew doesn't share everything with the cast. Practically, gender issues is, not a safe topic to say the least, Yuzuki's own awareness, and whether higher-ups allow her to say anything about it, is another story. Again, businesses have no obligation to endanger their profit. Pretend Toei has the guts to come out and say Rita is non-binary from the beginning (which they kinda did sneakily), they will be accused of political correctness and using Rita as a gimmick, let alone the PTA complaints. If they stay silent, the same group is gonna say they are cowards. Why not just focus on making a good show and a popular/profitable character?

Under all that, lies the practical factors of Janpese grammar and where Janpanese society stands among conservative to progressive. It's a very complicated issue with histories to consider and I'm surely not the best person to ask as a non-native. But I guess the gist is, it's still not mainstream, so the media stick to the existent language when the official sources never said otherwise.

Another point is, I don't think too much people have the concept of "tiered canon" or "proximity to sources". I'm talking about throwing out EVERY website/interview, just looking at the show, there has been no concrete evidence what gender Rita is. While episodic costumes are feminine, the script consistently refers to them with neutral/masculine language. So you can make an argument for both sides really.

So I would like to end by parroting this excellent argument: may I remind you that cross-dressing is also a sentai tradition?