The last time I had seen a modern Sentai in full was back during Kyoryuger. Furthermore, the last time I saw more than one episode of a modern Sentai was back when I got halfway through ToQger while it was airing. As you've probably guessed by all the Sentai reviews I've done so far, I've been making my way through older Sentai for a while due to the modern stuff having trouble catching my eye these last few years. Eventually my curiosity got the better of me combined the fandom's hype so I decided to check out this show. Without further adieu...Kiramai Go!
When the kingdom of Crystalia falls to forces of Yodonheim, princess Mabusheena flees to Earth. Knowing that Yodonheim has their sights set on Earth next, she goes to look for 5 dazzling people to partner with the KirameiStones.
Characters: The team is fine overall and their actors do fine jobs. I don't really have too many complaints with them.
- Juuru Atsuta/KiramaiRed: Juuru is the artistic type, the man loves to draw and has the greatest imagination out of all of them. I like his style of leadership. His approach is that he doesn't feel the team can fight at their fullest if something is bugging them or they're not having what they enjoy as a priority. The kid is just a wholesome, loveable character overall and he really just wants his team be at their best and most dazzling.
- Tanemoto Imizu/KiramaiYellow: A pro gamer and the team's sharpshooter. He tends to be the calm and collected type. He is also a pretty good tactician. Its honestly kind of cool because I don't think I've seen too many yellows fill that role. When the dude gets serious, he is actually kind of scary. Dude actually managed to make a Marrskman straight up quit because he kept using the Marrskman's timeloop ability to curbstomp him over and over.
- Sena Hayami/KiramaiGreen: A track and field star. She is usually the straight forward type. Sena overall is fine and I particularly like how one of the later episodes reveals the entire reason she can rush into things and make split-second decisions so easily is because she is running all the possible outcomes in her head at once. Its something rather cool about her character because the show really never forgets about her speed aspect.
- Shiguru Oshikiri/KiramaiBlue: A young actor. I like Shiguru because even though he tries to act like this cool dude, the man is actually a goofy dork. That entire schtick could've gone so badly but his actor seemed like he was really into it. He was the only one who actually thought of trying Juuru's imagination trick to try and enhance his swordplay. I was actually surprised that the show remembered he could do that when it got near the end.
- Sayo Oharu/KiramaiPink: A genius surgeon. Sayo's focus episodes are alright but the show kind of forgets about her day job and doctor skills for a bit. I can only remember it coming up two or three times outside the band episode. I kind of remember her more for her parts in other episodes, particularly in Takamichi's debut. She isn't bad, I just kinda don't have a lot to say about her.
- Takamichi Crystalia/KiramaiSilver: Takamichi seems like the lone-wolf type at first but he isn't actually a brooder. He just wanted to do stuff on his own in his first 3 eps because he thought it was more efficient that way. I like the guy well enough but once the curse thing is done with and Kiraful mode shows up, he kind of starts getting sidelined during the ground climax fights unless an episode focuses on him. I'd have liked to see him do more outside of his focus episodes.
- Mabusheena: The princess of Crystalia. While she believes in the team, she can't help but worry about them. She also feels guilty about her inability to help a few times. She does her best to power through those moments so as not to worry the team. She kinda has the funniest focus episodes out of the main characters. Her drunk episode was surprisingly pretty fun and its honestly a testament to how the show's comedy is written because I was laughing the entire time.
Villains:
Garza is the one who betrayed Crystalia. He is the one I have issues with. Mostly because we only really get his backstory in the 3rd to last episode. Its just not hinted at much because for most of the show, he is the standard gruff serious villain type with brother issues and then its all just info dumped in one episode. The reveal of him being evil because of Yodon's influence as a child should've been a big earth-shattering moment for me, but it wasn't. Thats a big shoe to drop near the end without a lot of buildup and it felt kind of rushed. The man also kind of flips between being Juuru's rival and Takamichi's rival to the point where its sort of unclear for a bit. He isn't particularly a bad villain, he is just kind of ok imo and I dug the way he just kept shredding on his guitar in the band episode even after the kaijuu was summoned. Dude looked like he was having so much fun and I would've liked to see Garza act more like that. If I had to guess, I'd say a lot of his development was crowbarred in at the last minute because of the show being 4 episodes shorter than usual due to the pandemic.
Crunchula reminds me Michela and Voff from Abaranger. The artistic creator who makes Yodonheim's monsters. His reasoning for making a few Marrskman is fascinating and it leads to a few interesting villain plots. I quite like his little back and forth with Yodonna about his monsters being needlessly strange instead of just being powerful and threatening. It was pretty cool seeing the guy insist that a Marrskman's style was just as important as whatever powers he gave them. It was nice seeing him and Juuru bonding over art when he was suffering from creative burn out.
I like how cold and detached Yodonna feels. She acts so emotionally dead to everything that I'm willing to speculate it even weirds Garza and Crunchula out. She also does this tongue thing that the fandom goes crazy over and licks her lips a lot. She kinda sends a chill down my spine. She doesn't even understand emotions in general to the point where she will do this really creepy dead-sounding laugh just because she thinks it might be the right time to do it. I would've liked to see her take a more active role and fight the Kiramagers more often. Her attempted rivalry with Tametomo kinda goes nowhere.
Favorite Episode: Surprisingly my favorite episode is episode 19 ("Partners"), a mind swap episode. This episode somehow manages to avoid the overall cringe that mind swap episodes tend to entail. What helps is that the show just kind goes all in and focusing on the machine's having control of their partners' bodies instead of them trying to pull some kind of ruse to keep the swap a secret. Seeing the Kiramagers cheer on their partners during the fight was nice and heart-warming. Its a nice little episode about just how quickly people can grow and improve with just a little encouragement.
Mecha: The Machines feel like Kiramager's answer to the Bakuryu from Abaranger which is pretty fitting since they're both Arakawa shows. This show actually managed to surprise me with some of the auxiliary mecha combos. Before this show, I never would've thought a garbage truck turning into a vacuum cleaner would've been a viable option. Kiramazin is nice looking and I quite like the sparkling crystalline look of the thing. Having each Machine's part glow when they talk is a nice touch in a few episodes. Its combo sequence feels a bit Abaranger-y to me since Fire makes up about two-thirds of the mecha. Mach unfortunately feels a little tacked on for Kiramazin, he just forms a shoulder pad and the head. Granted Jetta himself just forms the sword but because of that he gets more use in the combo than Mach. Gigant Driller is fine and I find it kinda neat that it requires Takamichi himself to become a stone in order to transform. Its a decent way to set it apart from the other mecha in the show. Dashark Express is neat. I kinda like how Dashark himself stands out from the rest of the KirameiStones given his animal characteristics. Its a nice contrast to Garza's Smog Steamer in that regard. Grateful Phoenix feels a lot like a Magiranger mecha to me. It brings back memories of that combo Kai had with that unicorn. I'm also very thankful that there is no cluster final mecha.
Music: The opening theme is alright. Its a not a bad hype machine but its kinda generic sounding. It actually reminds me of Kyuranger's opening (Lucky Star) so much that I end up transitioning into that whenever I try to sing Kiramager's opening theme. The ending theme is an alright way to close out the show but personally it does nothing for me. The character songs are all passable...well except Takamichi's and maybe Sayo's. Takamichi's singing is a bit too low for the style of song he is going for compared to the others. Sayo's is a nice attempt at a jazz sound but something about her singing is off. Mabusheena's is probably my favorite of the bunch as it is wonderfully happy sounding and addictive.
Final Thoughts: Surprisingly, episode plots that would usually make me cringe, had me hooked. This is mostly because well, the show quickly sidesteps the cringe parts with a joke (Takamichi immediately blowing Juuru's secret identity in front of his classmate) or having the characters genuinely get invested in the ruse (going all in on the fake play for Mabusheena's mother). The show is actually funnier than I expected with just a dumb moment or two here and there. The show actually managed to surprise me with the Kiramagers' problem solving abilities, particularly in the Reset Button and Glue Marrsk episodes. Its ToQ's imagination schtick done right imo as the answers the Kiramagers come up with are ones that only they could've come up with. Overall, while nothing really wowed me or left my jaw on the floor, its a pretty decent show that gets the job done perfectly fine. Its actually kind of amazing how consistently this show managed to leave me with a smile on my face. I think that in and of itself says a lot about how much I enjoyed it. Its a show made with quite a bit of love and understanding of what Sentai is imo. I'd have liked to see what the show would've been like if it hadn't lost 4 episodes of its run to the pandemic but I'm rather happy with the show. I'm honestly glad this was my reentry point for modern Sentai. Without getting too much into my personal life, its a show that I desperately needed right now.
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