Omegahorn 02

Watch Analysis

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The Brilliant Freedom of Omegahorn’s Power System

After watching Omegahorn Episode 2, I came away really impressed by how elegant the show’s design is.

I only watched the first episode of Gavan Infinity, so I don’t have much context to compare it against. What I do have is years of watching Super Sentai, that one episode of Gavan Infinity, and now two episodes of Omegahorn. Based on that, I think they’ve stumbled onto something really interesting.

The way the Omegahorn, the Gears, and the Awakener all work together creates a level of flexibility I wasn’t expecting.

I started noticing it a little bit back in Episode 1 during the Hunter battle. Both hunters used their Awakeners and Gears to empower their weapons, and I thought that was neat.

Episode 2 takes that idea much further.

The scammer isn’t wearing some elaborate suit. He’s basically just a guy with a goofy pair of glasses. The glasses aren’t even what give him his power. That’s just part of his appraisal gimmick.

What actually matters are the Gear and the Awakener.

With those alone, he’s able to manifest shields, move them around, attack, defend, and become a genuine threat.

Visually, it doesn’t even matter that I can’t completely explain how it works.

It works because it feels good.

It reminds me a little of the way Sentai eventually moved away from giant cockpit sets full of levers and buttons. Eventually the heroes were just standing inside the robot, making gestures, and somehow controlling everything. Logically, it’s probably less believable, but visually it’s much more expressive.

This feels similar.

Instead of building complicated sets or requiring elaborate suits every time somebody has powers, the show can simply let someone use a Gear and some visual effects, and suddenly they can do almost anything.

The moment that really sold me, though, was Shout’s fight.

In Episode 1, he already proved how capable he was just wearing the suit he’d built himself. Then, in Episode 2, he asks Enkaku if he can borrow his power.

That’s when everything clicked.

His suit is already his weapon.

Then Enkaku’s power supercharges it.

The abilities Shout gains are incredible, but what impressed me even more was what that says about the world.

With an Awakener and a Gear, almost anybody can become a huge threat.

Anybody can punch way above their weight class.

That’s what I find so exciting.

Instead of thinking about fixed power levels, the show almost has a sliding scale of power. A normal person can suddenly compete with someone far stronger than they should. Someone with the right Gear can dramatically change what kind of fight they’re capable of having.

That gives the writers so much freedom.

If they want somebody in a simple costume with incredible powers, they can do that.

If they want somebody in a wild costume with equally wild abilities, they can do that too.

If they want a monster to appear, they can do that.

If they want a hunter to fight using a monster’s power without the monster ever appearing, they can do that too.

Now I’m already thinking about all the other possibilities.

Could someone put a monster’s power into a weapon and hand that weapon to somebody else?

Could different powers stack together?

What happens as Shout collects more Gears?

What happens to hunters who lose theirs? Do they buy another one? Find another partner? Earn one?

Those are fun questions to think about.

The show is naturally making me imagine new possibilities, and I think that’s a really good sign.

The flexibility also makes the toy line smarter.

Kids don’t just have one power anymore.

They can imagine having Enkaku’s power today and somebody else’s tomorrow. They can imagine combinations the show hasn’t even done yet.

That’s exactly what you want from a toy.

It’s fun.

It’s imaginative.

And it works because it also makes the storytelling better.

The last thing that makes this work is Shout himself.

He’s becoming less like somebody who’s simply hunting monsters and more like a genuine superhero.

The way he rescues the hostage in this episode is just cool. He’s using these powers to protect people, not simply to win fights, and I think that makes him a much stronger protagonist.

If he keeps growing as a character while collecting more Gears, then every new power has the chance to mean something beyond simply making him stronger.

That’s why Episode 2 impressed me so much.

The flexibility of this system doesn’t just make better fights.

It makes me excited to see what the writers do with it next.

All Zeztz Analysis | All Omega Analysis

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Inspector’s Notes

Loose Threads

This Monster, This Megazord

I don’t know that Enkaku knew he could do this.

I don’t know that the twins knew he could do this.

Shout certainly had no idea he could combine Kakujū together like this.

As far as I can tell, this is new for everybody.

That’s actually a really cool idea.

Everybody is discovering this new possibility together, both the characters and us as the audience.

But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that’s not even the coolest part.

The coolest part is what this means outside the story.

Enkaku is basically replacing the Megazord.

That’s why I wanted to call this “This Monster, This Megazord.”

He’s taking over the role that the giant combining robot normally fills.

Or, if you prefer…

The Megazord, if you will.

Which I will.

Because I must.

That’s my culture.

People get so weird about calling giant robots Megazords. Yeah, I know “Megazord” comes from Power Rangers. I know “mecha” is the broader term. But not every mecha is a combining robot either, and I’ve never heard anybody insist we call every combining robot a “gattai mecha.”

It’s just one of those internet arguments that has always seemed a little silly to me.

Anyway…

PROJECT R.E.D. inherited the old Super Sentai time slot. That’s a huge responsibility. Whether that was the intention from day one or not, these shows have to solve one really big problem.

How do you replace the Megazord?

For decades, the combining robot was one of the defining parts of Super Sentai. You expected one every year.

Now Omegahorn is trying something different.

Instead of combining robots…

They’re combining monsters.

That’s brilliant.

I already talked in my main review about how much I like the Kakujū designs.

Now they’ve somehow made Enkaku even cooler.

He’s already carrying what looks like an entire ship on his back that opens into a cannon.

Now he has Dokaku’s giant mechanical fists.

He suddenly looks less like a monster…

…and more like a Megazord.

Not because he’s a robot.

Because he’s filling the same role.

That’s such a fascinating idea.

Instead of introducing another giant machine, they’re letting the monster become the big customizable centerpiece.

And because he’s still a monster, he fights like one.

He can stay down on all fours.

He can charge with his horns.

He can fire the cannon.

Then he can stand up and start throwing punches like Muhammad Ali or Mike Tyson.

Iron Enkaku over here.

That’s fun.

It’s not just visually different from a robot.

It lets him fight differently too.

Immediately my brain starts asking questions.

What other combinations are possible?

How many Kakujū can combine like this?

Can they swap parts around?

Will different monsters specialize in different fighting styles?

That’s the kind of thing I love.

The show is making me imagine possibilities it hasn’t even shown me yet.

That’s one of the best compliments I can give a new series.

It makes tokusatsu fun.

It makes you want to play with the ideas.

And yes…

I’m sure some of that is the novelty.

But I also think they just did a really good job.

It helps that this surprises everybody.

The audience didn’t know this was possible.

The characters didn’t know this was possible.

So we’re all discovering this together.

That makes the moment feel genuinely special.

The only thing I’m wondering now is what happens next.

If PROJECT R.E.D. keeps going for years, I don’t think they should just keep doing “the monster becomes the Megazord.”

Eventually that becomes the new normal.

I’d rather see them develop four or five different answers to the old Megazord question over the next several years.

Maybe sometimes it’s a giant robot.

Maybe sometimes it’s combining monsters.

Maybe another season finds a completely different solution.

That variety is what keeps a long-running franchise healthy.

After all, Super Sentai kept giant robots exciting for decades by constantly reinventing them.

PROJECT R.E.D. doesn’t have to copy that formula.

It just has to follow the same philosophy.

Keep introducing new ideas.

Keep letting them develop.

Don’t rush to the next gimmick.

Let them cook.

Because if this is the direction they’re going…

I think turning the monster into the Megazord might be one of the smartest ideas the franchise has had yet.