I think it's a little unfair to Hiromu to claim that's he's OOC here, when we've never actually seen him interact with kids until now. Tendo's grandmother once said: "Children are treasures. The greatest sin in this world is to damage those treasures." It's common for this archetype to have a softer side for kids. Helps that Hiromu also has a playful side, as Yoko calls him out for showing up to the escape room in his "undercover" detective outfit. Hiromu is serious about fighting Vaglass, as they stole part of his childhood and he's determined to protect the happiness of those kids, so I believe that even he can be sensitive when he feels like it. He doesn't want Shouta to have a miserable childhood by trying too hard to be cool.

Escape especially wants you to not forget her guns' names, as she always introduces Gog and Magog before herself. She's my favorite Avatar villain for sure, due to all the reasons you just mentioned and also her appearance. Enter is interesting to watch for his evil schemes, but Escape is more exciting to watch for her skill in fights. She clearly has a lot of fun while everybody else is only trying to do their job, kind of like "Desast girl with guns", I guess.

Would be a good refreshment with a Gobusters wafer candy as a snack.

I mean, in fairness, I only said "slightly" out of character. Hiromu isn't laughing uproariously at his own shortcomings, or telling Yoko that her parents are dead -- he's just a little more open and accessible than we've really seen him before, specifically in the way that he's helping Shouta figure out his shortcomings in an empathetic and measured manner. I don't think Hiromu hates kids or anything, but his default is to say something inappropriately harsh but accurate, and then walk it back a couple scenes later with a little more nuance. This episode sort of skipped over that first step, and it felt weirdly rushed.

Her and Enter are named after a keyboard, so no, not Exit. Actually, although it's explicitly written with a "V" sound even in kana, I've heard it suggested "Vagras" is essentially "bug" and "virus" slapped together, since the bad guys are malicious computer programs?

Anyway, Escape is another great character I was openly hostile towards initially, because I guess that was just my go-to move whenever a new main character appeared in this show. But much like all the other characters I wasn't super keen on immediately, it started to become clear over time just how much the show as a whole benefits from having her. She's got a very different energy from Enter, so he in particular gains a ton from having someone new to bounce off of in a way he can't with his boss, or with his enemies.

Also! I'd argue Nakamura might deserve to be at the top of that list! I feel like with Ryuuji there's the risk the kid will call him ojisan or something else that makes him self-conscious about his age, and I mean, at that point, his effectiveness would shoot waaaaaay down. Though Hiromu would still be lower, of course. :p

The thing I like best about Escape is how we're continuing to get the hyperspace side of things sketched in without a ton of exposition, and with ample tension. Like, Enter's our main non-CG-headed bad guy, and he was shocked to see Escape here! Having Enter start to piece together some of what's going on with Messiah is fun for the audience, instead of holding our hand or involving the heroes too early. I like how she's building out that side of the narrative!

A damn shame enetron never became the Ecto Cooler of Super Sentai. :lolol

I'm still bummed that characters named Sys Lock and Print Screen never showed up.

TOKUMEI SENTAI GO-BUSTERS MISSION 23 - “INHERITORS OF THE WILL”

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/sen...busters23a.png

It’s nice to finally learn something concrete about what Yoko’s vanished mom was like. We’re about halfway through the series, and the closest we’ve come to learning anything about the disappeared parents of Yoko and Hiromu are the original 13 Years Ago flashback, and then the one fantasy sequence for Hiromu. Yoko… like, I didn’t even know her mom was a single parent! That feels like new information, and it probably shouldn’t be!

Getting an episode where Jin can’t say he banged Yoko’s mom because this is a show designed to sell toys to Japanese children is a pretty fun way of adding more detail to Yoko’s defining trauma and singular motivation. It’s not just Yoko suddenly deciding to tell a story about her mom after six months of a TV show, because Yoko was too young to have any stories before her mom disappeared. It takes Jin to try and make Yoko’s mom feel vital enough as a concept to care if Yoko rescues her, and the clear attraction Jin has for Yoko’s mom makes his relationship with Yoko all the more dramatic.

(I’m just going to call her Yokaasan, to make things easier on me. If the show wanted me to call her something else, they could’ve used her name at any point in this episode!)

Making Jin an accidentally worried dad to Yoko is a neat twist on his mentor-y status with Hiromu and Ryuji. It’s a little patronizing to see Jin get overprotective for the one girl Buster, especially once the story really gets cooking, but it’s both understandable – he can’t bear the thought of letting Yokaasan down by not keeping Yoko safe – and exactly what the episode ends up being about. It’s not really a story about haunting lost loves or secret hyperspace disintegrations or ulterior motives or attraction (actually wait it is about attraction in a way), it’s a story where Jin needs to learn that the women he cares for don’t need him protecting them; the thing that he admires about these women is their strength, so he shouldn't stand in the way of that. It’s a great lesson in general, and it’s specifically great to see it in a toku show. These franchises are sometimes not great about treating the lady characters as capable and powerful!

The rest of the episode, the non-Jin/Yoko stuff, it was fine. It’s a lot of goofy physical comedy that never quite grabbed me, and felt a little padded out. I like the idea of Go-Busters and Buddyroids being taken out of action in a comedic way so that Yoko and Jin can bond, but the reality got a little same-y. They fall over a lot! That’s the gag! It was fine.

Mostly, though, I was here for Jin and Yoko. I like any story that treats Yoko as more than just a kid sister, and marking her 17th birthday with her telling a paternalistic Jin that not only does she not need his protection, but she’s more than capable of protecting him? That’s a hell of a birthday present.

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/sen...busters23b.png

IT’S TIME FOR Enter and Escape!

I think the new separation of duties is a nice way of evolving the routine of this show, while playing to each character’s strengths. Enter gets to do his Big Picture plotting, while Escape gets to run and gun with the Busters. It’s win/win! Unless you’re Enter, and you have to deal with Escape’s gun-crazy antics and Messiah-enabling recklessness! Then maybe it’s lose/lose!

According to the episode’s credits, Mrs. Yoko was named Kei. Not the most memorable name.

Anyway, I mostly remember this one for the “anti-magnetic armour” they create to counter the Metaloid. Especially since that was supposed to protect against the Subdimension somehow.

Also, we’re in the rare period where the ED gets replaced with a different character song every week. To clarify, every Sentai since Carranger has had the main cast sing, and everyone since Abaranger has had them sing individual “image songs” (with the exceptions being Goseiger, Gokaiger and Zyuohger. And Go-Onger, Kyoryuger, Ninninger and Kyuranger limited them to the actors who are good singers). And Go-Busters had the fairly unique move of having all of them being duets. Yoko’s and Usada’s… was alright, but I prefer Hiromu’s and Nick’s in terms of featured songs, and in terms of overall songs, Enter’s and Escape’s.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=DbSs_8FB...Hovh0LSrI2IUPm

And for some casting trivia, the kid playing Yoko in the flashbacks grew up to play Aoi in Kamen Rider Black Sun, who hilariously enough goes in pretty much the opposite direction character wise to Yoko.

Oh, snap! That was her?!

The one I still remember to this day is Rio's and Retsu's from Gekiranger.

Jin's compulsion to protect his loved ones at his own expense finally reveals his weakpoint as well, that everytime he sacrifices himself damages the integrity of the real Jin in Hyperspace. So Kobayashi found a way to play her favorite trope after all. Fortunately, Jin doesn't have to sacrifice himself this time, as Yoko protects him instead. Similar to Ryuji in Episode 5, Jin learns that Yoko isn't a 3 year-old kid anymore and he needs to treat her as an equal. Especially since Jin and J are still the new guys, so they have to conform to the way the core 3 do things if they want to be part of the team, or else they really would just be getting in the way. I like how this time Yoko takes a more active part in the moral, proving to Jin that she's just as reliable and brave as her mother, perhaps even more.

Yeah, this plot device was pretty stupid. Serious decline from the typical high standard of comedy I expect from this show.

For me, it's Crystal Signal by Mabusheena. I think there's a lot of these that I haven't heard before though, so this is based on what I remember.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ddZmutR0Bg