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Hello everyone, and welcome to the new day for Ranger Reviews! Saturday’s Episode was “The Tengen Gate,” and there’s a LOT to talk abuout, so lets begin!

Xandred has locked himself away in his cabin as he gains more power. Octaroo says that what he and Dayu have to do now is protect him from other Nighlocks that might want to steal the throne in Xandred’s absence. As that’s going on, Deker is walking alone, and he too notices that Xandred is gaining energy. Because he’s locked away, however, the Moogers will not have any order, so they will attack without reason. On the plus side for Deker, this means that without Xandred’s interference, he can duel Jayden and not be bothered. As he walks off, giant Moogers come out, attacking the city. The Rangers spring into action, running to fight them. On the way, Emily notices the Sanzu River seeping through a crack. They summon their Zords to fight the Moogers, and Antonio summons and combines both of his Zords, fighting the monsters in Claw Battlezord North mode. The others use the Battlewing Megazord to take out some of the Moogers, and they both finish with their ending attacks. My only issue with this is that there wasn’t any build up or line about combining the Octozord and the Clawzord. It doesn’t leave any plotholes, but it still comes out of nowhere on a first watch.

Xandred continues to gather energy, but another Nighlock, Arachnator, has other plans. He’s come up with a scheme to take the throne from Xandred, and wants Octaroo to help him. Octaroo tries to warn him, saying that nobody can beat Xandred in a fight. Arachnator knows that, but he also knows that the sealing character can put him away forever, and then he can take the throne when Xandred is gone.

Back at Ranger HQ, the Rangers wonder why the Sanzu river keeps rising. All of them try to think of where they went wrong, but Jayden just tells them that they have to keep fighting no matter what. Ji has an idea however. In a book, there is information about a powerful item called the “Black Box.” He says it was created by the first Red Ranger, but was never finished. Emily suggests Antonio try to work on it, and Mike agrees, saying that he’s very skilled with gadgets. However, Kevin is concerned about the amount of Symbol Power that would be required of him. Jayden doesn’t want him to get injured, but the team thinks that it’s worth a shot anyways.

They head off to the Tengen Gate, where the Black Box is stored. What’s funny here is that Mike just casually walks in, while the others bow in. It just gives more to his character as a whole, which I like. Upon seeing a monument, Jayden tells them about the first Samurai Rangers, and how they defeated the Nighlocks before, saving the entire world. Here, we’re introduced to Daisuke, or as it’s pronounced in the show “Dai-SOO-ke,” the guardian of the Tengen Gate. He invites the Rangers in, and Jayden and Daisuke hang back. Daisuke asks Jayden if he’s told the other Rangers his secret, and tells him that being the Red Ranger is his responsibility. Meanwhile, in the forest, Arachnator and some Moogers appear, looking for Jayden.

The heroes notice an illustration in the room of the temple, and Daisuke informs them of a folktale about a young woman and her lover. The woman made a deal with a Nighlock to save her lover, but the Nighlock tricked them, and turned both of them into Nighlocks. The man was then cursed to wander the earth forever. This change is probably the most original so far, and I like it. I could get mad that they are changing the really awesome story of Juuzou, but I know that American TV stations don’t want to get letters from parents about how a character was a mass murderer who lives to kill others for pleasure, and also the REST of Juuzou’s story, which I won’t spoil. Go watch Samurai Sentai Shinkenger if you are curious. This change also opens up possibilities for Deker being a redemption character, perhaps even becoming a Ranger himself. I mean, think about it. Deker does have a lot of power, and though he can be a bit Wild at times, he might be able to use that Force for good. Buried under that hardened exterior might be the heart of a Lion, which could help him to become a strong Ranger. Just sayin’.

Anyways, after that scene, we cut over to Deker, looking for Jayden himself. However, he’s stopped by Antonio, who asks for a challenge. Deker readies his blade, but finds out that Antonio just wants to have him try his fish recipe, as he said he would before. We get some nice acting from both here, but I’ll point out something a bit later. At the Tengen Gate, Daisuke gives Jayden the Black Box, and as tea is prepared, Octaroo’s hand pops up through a gap, and waves over the cups. As Jayden drinks the tea, he starts to choke, saying that the tea is poisoned. The assistant rushes in and tells the group that the Nighlock are attacking. As the four other Rangers run off, we get a really cool morphing scene, with the characters running through their symbols that they throw out in front of them. It keeps the action going much more than the original Japanese episode, and I like the way it was done. The Rangers fight off a few of the Moogers as Mia calls Antonio. Now here, they left out the funniest part of this episode. In Shinkenger, Genta prepares Nigiri-zushi for Juuzou, and then after he runs to help the team later, Juuzou actually eats one of the pieces of nigiri. He goes to follow Genta, but then turns back, grabs the other piece of nigiri and eats that too, with a surprised look on his face. Later in the episode, Juuzou tells Genta that he liked his sushi. It’s sad they left this scene out of the American version because it’s just a great little character thing, plus would add to the fact that Deker has a human side to him. The Rangers attempt to fight off Arachnator, but don’t have the strength to do so. When Antonio catches up with them, however, they tell him to go help Jayden instead. Octaroo threatens Jayden and the others, trying to get Jayden to reveal the sealing character. Jayden gives himself up to protect Daisuke and the others, but still won’t give up the character.

Antonio runs to help Jayden, who is crawling on the ground in pain. Deker watches as he transforms into the Gold Ranger and starts to fight Octaroo. Meanwhile, Dayu wonders where Octaroo went, but is interrupted by Xandred, ready to stop Arachnator’s plan. Before he can kill the Rangers, Arachnator is pulled back into the Netherworld by Xandred and punished. As Octaroo and Antonio fight, Deker takes Jayden away somewhere, saying that they’ll finally get their duel. The episode ends with the monsters running off, the Rangers defeated, and Xandred attacking Arachnator in a genuinely creepy scene with Xandred telling him that if he wants power, he can “feel some of his.”

This is probably the best episode of Samurai we’ve gotten. The acting is a little shaky still, but it’s not as bothersome. Though Grant McFarland kind of hammed it up a bit. For those who don’t know, McFarland was Sensei Watanabe in Power Rangers: Ninja Storm, as well as Luthor. While I didn’t care much for Ninja Storm, I think his voice work there was better than his acting work here. I don’t know if it was the direction, but this time it was a bit too over the top. However, everyone did a decent job with their parts. The action in this episode was really strong, and being the first two parter we’ve seen so far, it’s great to see a nice cliffhanger to rope the viewers back in. It makes me want to be a kid again so I can know what that excitement is like this time around. I remember being so hyped with the Green Ranger saga that I had to tune in every day. I can’t imagine these kids waiting a week for the next update, but having seen Shinkenger, I know the payoff is great. I’m curious what direction they’ll take the next episode in, because this is where things really start to liven up, and I can’t wait to come back next Saturday! Aside from the acting and a couple decisions I would have changed, this would be an absolutely perfect episode. Since one of those is completely subjective, and based on the other show, I won’t factor it in, and I’ll give this episode a 9.5/10. We’re still going up and down with the scores, but I think we’ve gotten consistently better over time.