We Are King and Prince
- Original Airdate: December 10, 2023
Written by: Minato Takano
Directed by: Hiroyuki Kato
Summary
Racules has asked to join the Jesters, and Dagded agrees if he can kill every human on Tikyū. With the team suffering major injuries from the last fight, it makes a perfect opportunity for him to attack Shugoddam.
As Gira fights back with an old friend, the secret behind his ability to communicate with the Shugods is revealed...
Tropes
- Bandage Mummy: The entire team minus Gira wind up like this due to the strain of using their upgrades last episode.
- Big Damn Heroes: With Douga having to deal with the attack alone, Minityra comes in to help and lets out a signal to inform Pluezon about his location.
- Bittersweet Ending: The heroes' reputation is once again in the toilet thanks to Dagded puppeteering Gira for a sinister display. However, the Shugods manage to break free of his control and this act inspires the Ohsama Sentai back into fighting form. The episode ends with Gira regaining his confidence and threatening Dagded; ready for whatever the villains throw at him next.
- Break the Cutie: The episode. Prince's arrival acts as a Hope Spot that seems to fix the issue of the Shugods' brainwashing, but Racules reveals to Tikyū Gira's origins as a creation of Dagded, which destroys Shugoddam's morale and turns the populace on him once more. These bombshells push Gira into a Heroic BSoD and allow the villains to puppeteer his body to forcibly form a hostile King-Ohger. It's the Shugods Fighting from the Inside that saves the day and even after Gira regains his confidence, there's a Tranquil Fury to his voice.
- The Bus Came Back:
- Prince arrives on Tikyū to retrieve Gabutyra, then goes back to Earth with his objective fulfilled.
- Extreme King-Ohger makes a return appearance after #24.
- Courtesy of Glodie, Zarigajim from #24 and Iragajim from #22 return in giant form as armed escorts for a brainwashed Extreme King-Ohger... only to meet their ends once the Shugods break free from the Galactinsects' control.
- Call-Back:
- Prince references the promise he made to Gira to be a good king for the people of Earth, asking if he's "won their king contest."
- As a result of his clumsy treatment of his injured teammates, Gira is seen sulking like Jeramie was back in #18.
- The Shugods' brainwashing manifests as their eyes going purple, much like God Kabuto's in #4.
- Cerebus Retcon: The show has treated Gira's power to talk to the Shugods as a pleasant quirk of circumstance that's aided the rulers in protecting Tikyū. Turns out that power stems from Gira's link to Dagded as one of his creations and is easily hijacked.
- Deus Exit Machina: Prince leaves Tikyū just as quickly as he arrives, taking Minityra, who just established as being able to snap the Shugods out of a brainwashing, with him... And just on time for Dagded and Racules to unleash Gira, able to control the Shugods into doing Dagded's bidding, onto Shugoddam.
- Fighting from the Inside: Upon the forced formation of Extreme King-Ohger, the mech takes a few steps and then stops dead in its tracks. Dagded keeps shouting at it to move, but it won't go - It's the Shugods defying his will, signified to the other monarchs through the shining of their swords. The Shugods manage to power through the Mind Control and turn on their Boggnarok escorts; foiling Dagded's plan to use them to destroy Shugoddam.
- Foreshadowing:
- God Tombo, God Kamakiri, God Papillon, and God Hachi all appear seemingly brainwashed, attacking Shugoddam in their state. This sets up the plan to use the Shugods to wreak havoc on Tikyū as seen later.
- The fact Gira was able to heal much faster than the rest of the kings serves as a huge red flag to his true origins.
- Just before leaving for Earth, Prince gives Gira a hug and tells him to continue being a good tyrant king. Sure enough, Gira's nature as a tyrant king is explored in the second half of the episode, though it goes in the exact opposite way Prince had hoped for.
- Good Colors, Evil Colors: When Dagded forces Gira to form Extreme King-Ohger, purple spouts of fire briefly pop up to signify the Mind Control at-play.
- Halfway Plot Switch: The episode starts as Prince helping out Gira deal with a rogue Bognaarok attack on Shugoddam, and the former taking Gabutyra back to Earth. Then the second half deals with The Reveal about Gira and its repercussions.
- Hero with Bad Publicity: Let's just say the reveals at the end put the team in a very bad light.
- Heroic BSoD: Gira doesn't take the major reveal about himself very well, curling up into a ball in sorrow.
- Hope Spot: Gabutyra manages to free the Shugods from Dagdeds' brainwashing, but the Galactinsect King takes control of Gira's body and controls them through him instead.
- Internal Reveal: The rest of Shuggodam learn about Racules' survival, as well as the kingdom's status as Dagded's proxy on Tikyū.
- Let No Crisis Go to Waste: Per the Racules Hastie standard, he and the Galactinsect King use King Kyoryuzin's interference in the "Shugod brainwashing" plan to make the other nations look bad and shatter Gira's confidence by revealing his nature as a Dagded creation to Tikyū.
- Loophole Abuse: Subverted. As a creation of Dagded, Gira can be controlled by Dagded remotely to force the Shugods into obeying him, even after Gabutyra saves them. However, he didn't account for them Fighting from the Inside and they manage to free themselves before they can do damage.
- Mind Control: Not Gira, but the Shugods. Dagded brainwashes the Shugods and turns them on Shugoddam's populace per The Plan to make the other nations look bad. He doesn't need to control Gira's mind for the next phase; he can just puppeteer the king's body for his needs.
- People Puppets: Dagded proves his creation of Gira true by controlling him into calling the Shugods to form Extreme King-Ohger, with the intent of using it to wreak havoc and have Gira take the blame.
- Plot Archaeology: The mystique surrounding Gira's ability to talk to the Shugods had dulled up to this point; becoming more of an accepted fact than an element to look into. It returns as a point of interest to deadly effect this episode; being weaponized by Dagded and Racules to turn Shugoddam's populace on its former king once more.
- The Reveal:
- Gira is a creation of Dagded, explaining the former's ability to communicate with the Shugods.
- Dagded states that he created (and can control) all insectoid life on Tikyū... and that Gira has that power too.
- Retcon: Prince's reappearance via Plezuon ends up causing two of these. The first being that Plezuon was being used by King and Utchy to look for Dagded and the other being that it was a plot point that there's a time dilation in traveling from Earth to Tikyū.
- Rule of Symbolism:
- In order to symbolize how effective his plan is, Racules has Dagded push down some Disaster Dominoes.
- When Gira regains his confidence, his face is superimposed over Extreme King-Ohger's; demonstrating that both he and the Shugods have regained their confidence.
- Spanner in the Works:
- Subverted with the first phase. The brainwashed Shugods are freed by Prince forming King Kyoryuzin with them and Gabutyra, but Racules reassures Dagded that this is a temporary setback and that the rest of the plan is still on track.
- Played straight with the second phase of Racules and Dagded's plan to take over Tikyū. The Reveal regarding Gira goes with nary a hitch, even driving Gira to the point of despair... until the Shugods themselves choose to defy the Galactinsects, preventing them from being used to wreak havoc on the planet.
- Status Quo Is God: While the heroes have managed to re-take most of their nations, Dagded and Racules toying with Gira and the Shugods ensures that Shugoddam's populace still hates them all by the end.
- Undying Loyalty: As the rest of the team takes off their bandages to go help Gira, they all note that they will still follow him even if means they're now rebels following the reveal of his origins.
