The Red Ranger Becomes an Adventurer in Another World

Episode 9

Episode 9 of The Red Ranger Becomes an Adventurer in Another World introduces a new antagonist with surprising deftness.

I wasn't quite sure what to make of Azir's introduction as a new villain. Given that we have only just been introduced to Aniya and her Amen powers, I thought it was perhaps slightly too early to delve into someone else's backstory right after that. There's a risk that she could be sidelined too quickly in favor of Azir without fully getting to know her as a character.

Thankfully this episode proved that my worries were unfounded. Azir's backstory entwines neatly with Aniya's and in revealing his background we also more fully understand her trials and tribulations. Using a pre-existing bond to give two characters the spotlight at once in an episode is a tried-and-true approach in the tokusatsu series, particularly in Super Sentai where the team size is often quite large. We explore Azir and Aniya's early years, find out about their friendship in their younger days, and understand some of the emotional struggles they both had to overcome to get where they are now. There's also the inherent tragedy that Azir is the one who helped Aniya overcome her nerves and shed her mask (literally and figuratively), but now he has completely antagonistic aims.

Ultimately he of course claims the Amen powers for himself. This sets us up for a Kamen Rider vs Super Sentai battle next week, the kind of classic nerdy stuff that I can't help but get caught up in. Also of note I think is that last week I mentioned that the Amen powers were Kamen Rider in all but one letter but lacked the bike for obvious reasons. Well… this week we got a bike too. It is 99% Kamen Rider now. Looking forward to the explosive fight.

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