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Androzani84 Watches Ninpuu Sentai Hurricaneger
Well after seeing them grow in popularity, I decided to try my hand at my own watch thread. And my topic of choice, as you can discern from the title, is Ninpuu Sentai Hurricaneger, a mishmash of everything that was in Toei’s big three in 1988 (Liveman’s set up, Jiraiya’s ‘everyone is a f*cking ninja’ and KR Black’s writer Jun’ichi Miyashita), despite being made in 2002. I assume I’m in for a ride.
And I’ll note that I have nothing against story spoiler, unlike most of the other watch threads. Plot spoilers on the other hand, are strictly taboo. So for instance, if someone splits their pants at one point, you have free reign to tell me about it. But if you want to tell me the whole background and results of the pants splitting, then please don’t. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EpXH28VW...jpg&name=large If you want to see an example of my other review work, see my YouTube channel here. https://youtube.com/channel/UCzdKP0l83-VZg5F6ErHQTQQ And for an example of my other writing works, see my fanfiction accounts here. https://archiveofourown.org/users/An...ds/Androzani84 https://www.fanfiction.net/u/9387366/Androzani84 The first review will be up in a few hours. |
I was born during Hurricaneger so I'm definitely interested in this show. Haven't seen it yet but I'll watch your thread with great interest.
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Hurri is definitely one of my fave toku shows of all times, despite its flaws, so good luck to both of you with this show! NanaBijou Forever!! *explodes* |
Good luck. :rock:
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It's not one of the handful of Sentai I was interested in, but I'm rootin' for ya dude. Hope you have fun!
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The reason this show is a favorite for me was because how they took the premise and core elements of Liveman and just decorated it with ninja stuff and came up with something that surprisingly turned out well. :rock:
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Episode 1: Wind and Ninja
(Just so you know, my review style will mostly be a synopsis of what happened, with a few notes thrown in there, followed by an overall summary. Also, don’t expect any pictures, unless I can go through a lot of effort to upload them). So, after our opening credits scene with the first contribution to Sentai by one Hideaki Taketori (who went on to be, to coin a phrase, ‘the pope of this thing’), we get our opening scene with a lady investigating a cave to find a strange insect-shaped device, which fires a beam into space. Two months later, in Ninja Valley (Is that a real place? I don’t know), we meet our 3 Hurricanegers to be, Yosuke Shina, Nanami Nono and Kuuga Bitou, all of whom are 507th in their specific styles (Sky Ninja, Water Ninja and Earth Ninja respectively) and are competing over a scroll using their respective techniques. Then the fight gets broken up by a man in an Oni mask, the headmaster of their school, the Hayate Style. He takes the scroll easily, berates them for not living up to the Style’s legendary successors the Hurricanegers (mwah mwah) before turning into an Owl and flying off, but not before telling them to meet him for training tomorrow. So of course, they blow it off to make fun of the dude for being a hardass who keeps them trapped in a force field to train (which seems like a reasonable complaint to have), all while sharing a persimmon. Elsewhere, the headmaster lectures his students on the Hayate Style’s long war with the Ikazuchi Style, dating back to the Sengoku era. (Make your own Kamen Rider joke; I’m too lazy) We get told that the Hayate Style has always come out on top as warriors, while the Ikazuchi Style has remained hidden from the world (which would probably make them better Ninjas, but what do I know) Meanwhile, we cut to the lady from before in a hacking war with the bug machine, which fails, as it transmits successfully to its target, the Centipede, a giant rock-like space ship belonging to our villains, the Space Ninja Army Jakanja (Yes, for once our ninja Toku heroes won’t be fighting demons. A shock, I know). After our five bad guys, the 7 Dark Spears (I assume the other two are fashionably late) Furabijo, Tuezoobo, Wendinu, Mamunruba (since I’m not gonna spell that right often, I’ll just call him “Floaty Head”) and Sargain. (The PR staff must not been very creative when it came time to adapt this). After looking at the transmission, they are silenced (even though they weren’t sayin anything) but their boss, Tau Zant (a play on “thousand”, which kind of breaks the days of the week naming pattern, but whatever) who states they’ve been searching for “that” for 500 years and that his minions are a band of thieves and whores who he expects to bring it to him. Tuezoobo decides to eliminate the competition from Earth’s ninjas by sending his first monster, Shield Ninja Kekou, to take them out with the aid of their minions, the Megarappas (who have the gestures of stereotypical rappers). True to his designation, Kekou destroys Hayate’s force field, allowing all the students and the castle to be turned into talismans and sucked into a tornado. The headmaster fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on what you think of him at this point) escapes by turning himself into a hamster, who Furabijo proceeds to pick up and take for herself (despite the presumable health risks involved with a wild hamster being adopted). Our three losers return to the ruins and try and fail to defeat Kekou, who fights them by turning into a head (no, really) and firing lasers on them. They then fall into a cave where they meet the lady, the headmaster’s daughter Oboro who has been investigating the transmitter for two months (and she never told anybody?). She then mentions that even the Ikazuchi Style went down the same was as the Hayates did. The hamster-headmaster then wills his weapon (which Yosuke picked up earlier) to break, as a signal that he’s alright (seems a bit of a weird signal, but what do I know). Oboro then assured the three that her dad was only hard on them because he thought they had the potential to be Hurricanegers one day… which is today, as she hands the the Hurricane Gyros needed to equip the Hurricane Suits. Happy to be vindicated, our new Hurricanegers leave to face Kekou… without their Gyros (more or less dignified than the Wind Rangers not knowing how the things work? You decide. Yes, I am a Ninja Storm fan. Why do you ask?) And so our heroes face Kekou and Furabijo once more, using the Hurricane Gyros to transform and doing a flowery, kabuki-esque roll call. They then proceed to defeat the Megarappas using a variety of element-appropriate Ninpo (except for Kouta, who splits himself into multiple copies for some reason), before beginning their rematch with the Shield Ninja (who despite his name, hasn’t done a lot of defensive techniques), who tries to defeat them by… sending them to the Makuu Space? (At least that’s what it looks like. I know our head writer did Metal Heroes shows in the past, but yeesh). But our heroes escape using their hang gliders and them attack with their ninja weapons: a hairdryer, a megaphone and a hammer (no, really). After using these to knock Kekou off his feet (literally), they then combine them into the Triple Gadget and destroy him. During this fight, we meet a second pair of Rangers, in red and blue. The blue one tries to help, only for his comrade to stop him and have him walk away (then why did they show up if the red one didn’t want to help?). It’s at this point that the hamster headmaster regains his speech capabilities (to everyone’s predictable shock) and escapes (which he could’ve done earlier, but whatever). The Centipede then drills its way into the Earth (relax, it only hits the ocean. No land masses were harmed), knocking out Oboro’s wi-fi and allowing the 5 Spears to confront our heroes. The episode ends with Yosuke, Nanami and Kouta facing down Furabijo, Tuezoobo, Wendinu, Floaty Head and Sargain. After our ED by the Prince of anime songs, Hinrobu Kageyama, which has some rare (for Sentai) footage shot on video, we get our preview for the next episode, Giant and Karakuri. We see that at least Nanami wants out of the superhero biz (which is ironic, when you consider how involved with Tokusatsu Nao Nagesawa is nowadays), Yosuke faces a magnetic ninja and our giant robot for this series, Senpuujin, debuts. Final Thoughts: Overall, a very good introduction. We get a bit of world-building, all three MCs are distinct enough and have likeable personalities and we’ve seen how threatening our bad guys are. My one real complaint is that Furabijo is the only bad guy with any real character at this point, but I’m sure that will change. |
Would it be okay if you can you put up some pictures like what Kamen Rider Die does? The review's great but I don't want to hop on to Kissasian or wherever else I watch toku to look at stuff.
If not, that's okay. |
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But, I will try and find some way to make it simpler. And like I said, there will be some pictures. |
Before I do tomorrow’s write-up, I think I should point out that while Floaty-Head wasn’t adapted into Power Rangers (hence my apathy at learning his name), he was included as an accessory with the action figure for the Kelzak https://pbs.twimg.com/media/ErnG9HvW...jpg&name=small
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Scroll 2: Giant and Karakuri
Since this is a milestone episode, I’m going to include some pictures this time. Though I had to watch the episode twice in order to get them. So we start where last episode left off, with Hamster Headmaster regaining his speech and the Jakanja’s arrival. This time, Furabijo summons the other villains to join her on the battlefield https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EroP2mJX...jpg&name=small https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EroP2mKX...jpg&name=small https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EroP2mMW...jpg&name=small https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EroP2mJX...jpg&name=small https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EroQAQ-W...jpg&name=small (Note that Sargain had dialogue in this scene, but I just didn’t take the picture at the point he was saying it. And yes, we already introduced all these guys last week. I don’t know why we’re doing it again) Nanami then asks who they are, (Really? Who do you think they are?) so the obligingly introduce themselves https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EroQARcX...jpg&name=small (Then why are there only 5 of you?) The Jakanja then proceed to attack our heroes, with Chuzoobo using a giant staff and Furabijo causing an explosion with her hand. But our heroes survive thanks to the empty suit switcheroo, and liberate Hamster Headmaster. One week later, Oboro is being berated to work on something by her dad (so even as a hamster, he’s still an asshole. Good to know). And we learn that he’s stuck in the body of a hamster because he mispronounced his own spell. (Make of that what you will). We then show what our heroes are up to, with Nanami having her priorities in order. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EroQARkX...jpg&name=small She is then abducted, er scouted by a talent agent, who decides she is what he’s looking for. He then gets her clothes off (not in that manner, you dirty devils), including her Hurricane Gyro. Meanwhile, Yosuke has become a window cleaner. One with an extremely horrible Union, it seems. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EroQASYX...jpg&name=small The boss basically tells him to shut up and get to work on those windows (not answering the question, I might add). He then chooses to grumble about his situation. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EroQFZAX...jpg&name=small https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EroQFZgX...jpg&name=small (Gotta say, he does have a bit of a point here. It might be a bit more productive to locate and destroy the Jakanja, rather than wait for them to attack and then destroy them) He then sees that Kouta is walking into a pre-school, and decides to investigate (he is so fired). At the Centipede, Tau Zant wants to corrupt the planet further until he can get around to finding “that” (I don’t know, seems counterproductive). Sargain then insists that his puppets will make up for Chuzoobo’s failure. When Chuzoobo takes umbrage at this, Sargain decides to say it to his face, leading to this reveal. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EroQFZqX...jpg&name=small Yep, Sargain is controlled by a tiny insect who sits in his head. It’s as freaky as it sounds. With that settled, Sargain proceeds to awaken his first puppet, having been given the greenlight from Tau Zant. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EroQFZ7X...jpg&name=small We then cut back to the pre-school, where it turns out Kouta is now a physical therapist for a disabled girl. It’s a fairly wholesome scene, until Yosuke notices that Kouta isn’t wearing his Gyro. And because, as Disney says, it’s a small world after all, the two then see Nanami performing at the same pre-school, singing a song that seems specially written for her. https://youtube.com/watch?v=-lDHzkbfzZw It turns out she’s stuck performing enka (I don’t know enough about JP culture to explain what that is, but I assume it’s basically performing at pre-schools), and to add insult to injury, she’s a substitute. Yosuke then notices that she’s not wearing her Gyro either (apparently, they’re going out of style). Elsewhere, Jishakumo attacks, magnetising people to each other and turning them into metal. Oboro sends out the distress signal to the Hurricanegers, but only Yosuke hears it. Seeing the other two joining in the pre-school activities, he leaves without them. Arriving at the scene of Jishakumo’s attack, Yosuke states he can take on the puppet by himself. This being a show based around friendship, of course he can’t and ends up trapped between several metal objects. To get the other two into the fight, Hamster Headmaster orders the distress frequency to be amplified, alerting the other two, who show up to save Yosuke and tell him that they don’t want to quit at all and they won’t take their Gyros off again (man, the episode isn’t even half over and we’ve already resolved the main conflict. I think that’s a record). Jishakumo cares not for their reconciliation and continues the fight. They hit him with their Hayatemaru swords, but it does bugger all and he gains the upper hand quickly. But then Oboro realises he’s a puppet running on a power source and tells them to destroy that to kill him. Kouta then notices his chest glowing and suggests they hit that. They form the Victory Gadget, this time with the Quake Hammer as the front (last time, it was the Dry Gun) and crush Jishakumo with a 100 ton ball, destroying him. Furabijo, who was apparently there the whole time, then marks his performance https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EroQLXQX...jpg&name=small If I remember anything from Ninja Storm, it’s at this point that they make him big by sending down the scro- https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EroQLYVX...jpg&name=small What? https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EroQLXrX...jpg&name=small What the hell is happening? https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EroQLYIX...jpg&name=small https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EroQPUCX...jpg&name=small Oh, so the growth method here is like Fiveman’s (a giant robot copying the smaller monster) but better (in that this one also does personalities and isn’t numbered, so you can feel free to do your own fanfiction using them without causing a continuity snarl) To face the copied Jishakumo, Oboro reveals her project, a set of Shinobi Machines for the current Hurricanegers: Hurricane Hawk, Hurricane Dolphin and Hurricane Lion. She teleports them onto an aeroplane, a cruise liner and a Ferris wheel (I wonder what happens to the people on those things). The Hurricanegers are told to use their Gyros to control them, leading to a battle. Jishakumo stands up to Hurricane Hawk’s fire attack and Hurricane Dolphin’s hologram tidal wave, but gets hit hard by Hurricane Lion’s attack, blowing him to pieces as our heroes stand triumphant https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EroQPUAX...jpg&name=small But then Jishakumo uses his magnet powers to pull himself back together (literally), causing Oboro to reveal the Shinobi Machines’ secondary function: they can combine (dun dun dun) https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EroQPT4W...jpg&name=small Fortunately, Hamster Headmaster is there to correct Nanami’s genre blindness by explaining how it works. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EroQPUAX...jpg&name=small And so, our heroes combine, and while you watch the video below me, I’m going to take a moment to gush of Kazunori Miyake’s score for this show. He’s honestly one of my favourite Sentai composers and this show helps contribute to that. https://youtube.com/watch?v=xw2u5Il07q4 And so, our Karakuri giant is formed. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EroQWHCW...jpg&name=small In all honesty, this is one of my favourite Sentai robot designs, though that may be in part due to nostalgia. I will say, nostalgia aside, I do consider it a solid design. Senpuujin strolls through Jishakumo’s Magnetic Arrow technique, befor Oboro tells them they can use the Shinobi Medals on their Gyros (the thing that helps you the viewer tell the individual Gyros apart) to summon a Karakuri Ball. They do so, summoning Karakuri Ball 01, which provides them with the Sword Slasher. They then use more holograms to do a three pronged attack against Jishakumo. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EroQWHKX...jpg&name=small This proves too much for our puppet of the week, and he explodes for good. Oboro then relays that the affected people have returned to normal (I guess they didn’t have the budget to show that) and explains that the Karakuri Balls tap into an ancient power (which I assume is our collectible for this season) and the episode ends by telling us that the heroes’ journey has only just begun (and we miss out on seeing Yosuke and Kouta begging for their jobs back after skipping work to fight Jishakumo). Next time, we look set to focus on Nanami’s attempts to become a music sensation in spite of her current position. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EroQWHLW...jpg&name=small https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EroQWHKX...jpg&name=small Final verdict: The show still continues to be fairly solid, though I do think the episode’s dilemma was too quickly resolved. The Hamster Headmaster is still pretty abrasive, but not enough to be unlikeable (which is a major problem I have with some Toku characters, Ryuki!Ren, Rio, Luka and Yoko being chief among them). Chuzoobo, Sargain and Wendinu get a bit of personality, partially resolving my main issue with last episode (still need something for Manmarva/Floaty Head). Overall, I think I’m going to enjoy this show. |
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EDIT: Also, to fill you in about not knowing what the heck enka is, here's a nice explanation from Japan Times: Quote:
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Scroll 3: Impostor and Sixty Seconds
This episode opens with Nanami once more doing her Enka act, and receiving increasingly less attention for it. To the point she blows it off, much to her manager’s consternation and returns to base just as Yosuke and Kouta are asking why their last battle wasn’t on the news (Remember that. It’ll be important later). Hamster Headmaster then instructs the three to investigate people who’ve started acting out of character, examples including a little girl pulling up flowers she planted with her friend and a boss destroying his own office (you know it’d be he disgruntled employees doing that normally). The only link is, coincidentally given Nanami’s dreams of stardom, a tv station. As our heroes go to investigate, we cut to the Centipede, where Sargain and Furabijo are ready to write Chuzoobo off as a failure for apparently doing nothing. (Typical Sentai villain fare, really) Then Tau Zant and Wendinu reveal that he is working on a plan, but instead of overseeing it personally, he’s searching through Jakanja’s trash for something. We then cut to the studio, where our three legendary successors search around, with Nanami coming across the famous music producer Yagi, who just so happens to be in charge of the type of acts she wants to become. (Have I mentioned Furabijo is there?) Yagi-P then decides he wants Nanami in his category for The Voice Japan over someone who showed up to audition (what a dick). As Nanami goes in and starts singing a song I haven’t been able to find the name of (it seems to be a more upbeat version of her usual enka song), the mic creates a copy of our Blue Heroine and sucks the real one inside. This turns out to be Chuzoobo’s latest plan to corrupt the planet and find “that”: replace everybody with evil doppelgängers while the real ones are trapped inside the microphone. (How this helps is left as a riddle for the ages). Since the Hurricanegers have shown up, Furabijo decides to have the fake Nanami scout them for the fake Yagi-P. Meanwhile, Nanami ends up with the originals, including Yagi-P, the office boss and the little girl among several extras, inside a pocket dimension. They then see Yosuke and Kouta fall for fake Nanami’s offer to let them sing and fake Yagi-P calling them good (the real one doesn’t think they’re that good). Nanami tries to change into HurricaneBlue as discreetly as possible (read, telling everyone to cover their eyes and ears), only to find that she can’t do that in here. And to add insult to injury, Yagi-P calls her morph call too old-fashioned (I take it back, he’s more Simon Cowell than a Voice judge). So Nanami instead escapes by using her water ninpo to rocket out of the mic. The mic then transforms into our monster for this episode, Copy Ninja Kuriottsebo (I have no idea if I spelt that correctly) https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Er3c-sRW...jpg&name=small (Yes, that is the best picture I could find of him) After a commercial break, Nanami confronts her doppelgänger, who uses the Shuriken feature on her Gyro to attack, only to fall for the empty costume trick and get captured in a harpoon. As Yosuke and Kouta transform to fight Copy Ninja (that’s what I’m calling him for the rest of this post), Nanami transforms and destroys the fake with her Sonic Megaphone (why couldn’t she do that before?) As the three Hurricanegers reunite, Copy Ninja summons the Megarappas to aid him. Since they’ve already blown the budget on Nanami vs Nanami, we instead get a new Chou Ninpo: Kage no Mai (Dance of the Shadows) https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Er3c-sXX...jpg&name=small (Get used to this. It becomes a regular thing) After Copy Ninja turns out to be too fast to hit, Nanami traps him underwater so she can hit him, before they form the Triple Gadget with the Sonic Megaphone up front. This blows Copy Ninja to pieces, while everyone he captured returns to reality as their fakes vanish. Before Furabijo and Sargain can continue what they started earlier, Chuzoobo shows up with what he was looking for: the lost ancient Jakanja spell (what the heck was it doing in the trash?). Chuzoobo then proceeds to place it on a scroll, giving an ominous hint as to its effects. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Er3c-seX...jpg&name=small https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Er3c-sVX...jpg&name=small (This is starting to look familiar) Chuzoobo then gives Wendinu the scroll, who then proceeds to fire it from a Bazooka she just happens to have. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Er3dHgqX...jpg&name=small https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Er3dHimX...jpg&name=small (This is getting more familiar) https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Er3dHlFX...jpg&name=small https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Er3dHoTW...jpg&name=small https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Er3dL3TX...jpg&name=small (Ah yes, the Scroll of Empowerment from Ninja Storm. Now to get a bit off topic, but I’m very partial to shows that give every general their own army with its own motif [Metalder, Black RX, Bee Fighter, Gingaman, Boukenger, Go-Onger, Goseiger and Kyoryuger come to mind], so I’m even happier that this one is giving them individual growth methods). The Hurricanegers then summon the Shinobi Machines and combine into Senpuujin. But Copy Ninja’s abilities and speed prove too much for them. Cue Oboro. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Er3dL5TX...jpg&name=small It turns out that Senpuujin can “hurry up” into a faster form for only 60 seconds. So they do exactly that. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Er3dL7uX...jpg&name=small (This exists purely to promote a non transforming, undetailed release of Senpuujin, now available at all good ToysRUs in 2002) And then this music plays as Senpuujin Hurrier proceeds to whoop ass. https://youtube.com/watch?v=pYId2EpEaCo And once Senpuujin “hurries down”, Copy Ninja is so weak that they kill him with their regular finisher. As Hamster Headmaster tells Oboro she knows what to do, our heroes wonder if they’ll actually be on the news this time. Nanami is approached by Yagi-P, who decided after seeing her as HurricaneBlue that he wants to represent her and it all seems like a happy ending for our heroes… Lol, no. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Er3dL-BX...jpg&name=small Hamster Headmaster sends out a team of robot Kuroko to go around and wipe everyone’s memories of the Hurricanegers. (beating both Shinkenger and Goseiger to their respective punches) Thus, Yagi-P forgets about Nanami. But it’s not all bad, as she vows to get famous by continuing down her path of Enka (good luck with that). Our next episode, Drilling and Siblings, looks to round out our focus episodes for the cast by focusing on Kouta, in addition to introducing a new Karakuri Ball. Final Thoughts: This episode gave me a good feel for Nanami’s character and I loved Sargain’s rivalry with Chuzoobo. I didn’t expect the big producer to be a main character, so the ending twist isn’t that cruel. |
Scroll 4: Tunnels and Siblings
I’ll start with a preface explaining my sub situation. I do not live in the US so I do NOT have access to Shout Factory’s version. For these first 4 episodes, I’ve been relying on a group called HaroRangers. But the only did these 4 episodes, forcing me to move to a different company for the rest of the series. They’re not bad, per se, but there are some bizarre translation choices (rendering sanjou, kenzan and suisan as “calling” and translating any application of “Maru” as ball, even when the thing in question is clearly not a ball) and some quality control problems (one episode had the subs 20 seconds behind the corresponding dialogue). So I won’t be relying on them for screenshots unless I absolutely have to. Instead, any pictures I post will be either from Power Rangers Ninja Storm or from the RangerWiki. With that said, on with the review. We start the episode off with this week’s monster already having made his appearance, one Tunnel-Digging Ninja Mogudrago, who as the name implies, has been digging holes in the ground. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EsC7UcQW...jpg&name=small (As a side note, he’s voiced by Kentaro Ito, best known in Tokusatsu as Blaird in Chousei Kantai Sazer-X and Another W in Heisei Generations Forever) The Hurricanegers show up to stop him, but find themselves unable to deal with his drilling attacks. Yosuke suggests they just blow him up with the Triple Gadget, but Kouta refuses to comply, thinking they should be more cautious (That’s our main conflict for this episode). Yosuke eventually has enough and just pulls the Quake Hammer from his friend. But by then, it’s too late as Mogudrago has decided to flee (which makes him smarter than your average villain of the week in an action series). The three Hurricanegers then argue over whether they should’ve been cautious or taken the risk. (One thing I like is that neither side of this argument is portrayed as wrong. Both have something of a point here). At Ninja Base, Hamster Headmaster is dismayed to see the Hurricanegers’ teamwork is falling apart, inadvertently ruining Oboro’s efforts to create a new Karakuri Ball for this situation with his nagging (at least he wasn’t deliberately a dick this time). Kouta then says he has somewhere important to be and leaves, with Nanami assuming he has a date (which is kind of sweet) while Yosuke is still pissed over their argument (which speaks volumes for their established personalities: Yosuke is the serious one, while Nanami is the silly one). Kouta then travels to the orphanage where his sister Meiko (worth mentioning that the actor’s actual sister is on this show, playing Furabijo) works, managing to save a child from being crushed by a falling ladder in the process (it’s confirmed. Kouta is the sensitive one). Kouta then catches up with Meiko, who reveals that she’s planning to move to Africa to help the kids over there. Kouta objects, but she calls it no different from him disappearing for a year, to which Kouta almost gives the game away (thankfully, she doesn’t seem to hear him). Yosuke and Nanami then reveal themselves, having overheard the whole thing (Are they stalking him now?), so Kouta explains his life story to them: His parents died shortly after Meiko was born, so they grew up in an orphanage. One day, Kouta left Meiko on her own, but she followed him anyway and got crushed by a piece of falling masonry. While Kouta assumes she remembers nothing and she was able to recover her ability to walk quickly thanks to a good physical therapist. Because of this, Kouta is less willing to take risks (and decided to be a physical therapist when he grew up) (I gotta say, this is a pretty good character study). We then cut to the Jakanja, who reveal that the plan this week (they they’re all in on, for once) is to construct a subway network so that once they find “that”, they can easily transport it to their possession. Mogudrago continues digging, cutting the power to a hospital, the water to a fire hose and other lines underground he finds annoying (leading to a pretty funny scene where the lights go out in Ninja Base and when the emergency power kicks in, everything has been upended). Hamster Headmaster thus summons the Hurricanegers, with Yosuke palming off his work onto someone else and Nanami having to pull herself free from her manager’s grip (I’m not sure what to think about this guy right now). Kouta also heads to the construction site where Mogudrago is slacking off from his work (you just can’t get the staff, can you?), but gets distracted when he sees Meiko at the airport. He once more tries to stop her, but she tells him that not taking risks is just as bad as taking risks that don’t pay off (that’s your moral for the day, kids) and that she remembers the accident from years ago, but doesn’t regret it or blame Kouta. With this in mind, Kouta travels to the construction site and proceeds to try and take on Mogudrago by using his Quake Hammer to play the best game of Whac-A-Mole ever (and giving Oboro inspiration for the new Karakuri Ball). Yosuke and Nanami help Kouta detect Mogudrago’s presence, allowing the Hurricanegers to force him above ground and crush him to death with the Triple Gadget in “Quake Gadget” formation. As Furabijo prepares to fail Mogudrago, Wendinu sends out a Copy Giant to resurrect him (complete with a repeat of the same explanation from two episodes ago. What is it with this show and repeated intros?). The Hurricanegers form Senpuujin and try fighting Mogudrago, but are no match for his speed, even in Hurrier formation. It’s at this point that Oboro completes the new Karakuri Ball, sending the Shinobi Medal to Kouta. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EsC7UcPX...jpg&name=small (Despite what you might think, there is no toy for this. It’s entirely a show-only prop modified from the Yellow Medal. There is a toy for this however) https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EsC7UcQX...jpg&name=small Kouta uses the Medal to summon Karakuri Ball 02: Goat Crusher, which has the same effect as Kouta’s Quake Hammer, knocking Mogudrago out of the ground, before beating him to death, all set to the theme song. Furabijo then fails Mogudrago and cancels the project for a Jakanja subway. (It probably wouldn’t have had good sandwiches anyway). Kouta then goes to the airport, where he tells Meiko he’s now okay with her going off, much to her relief. As she leaves, Yosuke and Nanami argue over whether they should go for hamburgers or ramen (exactly like Kakuranger’s first episode, I might add. All we're missing is the narrator advocating omelette rice), with Kouta once more stating they need to think this through. Hamster Headmaster laments that they haven’t really learned much (to be fair, that’s pretty realistic), while Oboro still affirms that they’re good kids and offers her dad some chocolate (though he says he’d rather have sunflower seeds). Next time: Hamster Headmaster sends our heroes to work in a bathhouse, but Yosuke has had enough of his shit. Also, Jakanja does something with plants. All this and more on the next episode of Hurricaneger: Master and Bathhouse. Final thoughts: Overall, a good end to the mini-arc where we get a feel for our characters. I also like how the fact we have two hammer like weapons was acknowledged and used as a minor plot point. And it’s pretty good to see our villains work together on a common goal, even if it was doomed to fail. This shows been on a high road so far, but next episode brings on a new writer. I am cautiously optimistic about that though. |
Scroll 5: Master and the Bath
This episode is the first to be written by someone other than Jun’ichi Miyashita. Instead, it’s written by one Naoyuki Sakai. In terms of other writing credits, he did a few episodes of Gaoranger, plus he worked with Miyashita on Exceedraft, Janperson and Blue SWAT. If you came to this thread looking for familiar writers, then you’re in the wrong place. You’re likely to recognise at least one of this show’s 5 writers if you’re a general Toku fan. And we’re still a while away from him. With that said, let’s get down to business. This episode starts with everyone’s favourite floaty-head Manmarva having a prophetic vision of two powerful warriors (and we’re told these prophecies are a regular occurrence, though some of them are pretty boring). Sargain assumes these warriors are the final two Dark Spears (even he acknowledges they’re short-staffed). Personally, I think it’s those guys who appeared briefly in episode 1 and have been in the credits since then. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EsP-C0eW...jpg&name=small Tau Zant then dismisses this, asking how Chuzoobo is doing with his latest plan. The latter says that it’s underway, as we see a group of Magerappas out at night (a rarity, I know) planting seeds in the ground (apparently, the plan this time is to start an unpaid, unwanted gardening business). The Hurricanegers show up to stop them, before Yosuke ends up facing this week’s ninja: Poison Flower Ninja Hanasakedonne (Since I don’t expect to spell that the same way every time, I’ll just call him Flora). https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EsP-C0_X...jpg&name=small Flora beats up Yosuke for about a minute before leaving. Cut back to Ninja Base, where Oboro has had the three gather soil samples, for something she won’t tell them about. Hamster Headmaster then sends them to investigate the Miharaishi Bathhouse undercover, to which Yosuke objects and decides to attack him. After losing a fight to a f*cking hamster (embarrassing, I know), the Master orders them to the Bathhouse. We then see them doing jobs such as keeping the fires going, changing the baskets and scrubbing the floor. Yosuke is (naturally) sick of this and storms off. While Hamster Headmaster hangs up his phone call (look, just go with me on this one, okay?), Oboro explains why he sent them to the bathhouse: the Jakanja were sighted in the area surrounding the bathhouse (Oh, that makes sense). He didn’t tell the kids this because Yosuke interrupted him and that made HH impatient with his hotheadedness. (Yep, that checks out) Yosuke then bursts in to try and attack Hamster Headmaster, only to fail again and get told that he doesn’t have what it takes to be a ninja superhero if he can’t follow orders. Yosuke then goes to an arcade and proceeds to use the games to take out his anger at Hamster Headmaster (Well, it might help). At the Centipede and in the basement of the Miharaishi Bathhouse, both Chuzoobo and Flora exposit the plan: By growing a central tree in the bathhouse, they can then grow all the seeds they planted into more trees, which will then kill all of humanity (I think there’s a step or two missing there). Nanami and Kouta then find the central tree in the basement, and get captured by Flora just as it sprouts. Thus, Hamster Headmaster summons Yosuke away from his game of Whac-A-Mole (that’s the second time I’ve referenced that in this thread) to save them. Yosuke arrives on the scene to see Nanami and Kouta captured by Flora. He tries destroying the vines with his Dry Gun, but it fails (what do you know? Hairdryers make terrible weapons against plants). Despite being under attack by a seed that was in the dirt they had gathered earlier, Oboro sends Yosuke a new technique for his Hayatemaru (which, in the first of this sub’s quirks, translates “maru” as ball, which, while not wrong as a translation, is wrong in this context, as the thing is clearly not a ball). Using this new technique, Yosuke completely destroys the plant and frees the others. The three then do the roll call (exposing another of the sub’s quirks: translating any word used to denote presence (sanjou [has arrived], kenzan [has appeared] and suisan [on stage]) as ‘calling’), but find themselves struggling against Flora’s attacks. That same mysterious duo make a reappearance, this time gloating that they have a front row seat for the Hurricanegers’ demise (so it’s confirmed: they’re dicks). Luckily, the Hurricanegers escape using scarecrows and then destroy Flora with the Dry Gadget. Wendinu then revives Flora as a giant, to which the Hurricanegers summon Senpuujin, ram Flora with its ‘spinning wheel’ mode (showing off its toy gimmick in the process), blasting him with the Tategami Hurricane (basically using the lion head like a beyblade) before destroying him with the Sword Slasher. The Hurricanegers celebrate, Chuzoobo fumes at his loss, Manmarva eagerly anticipates the arrival of the two warriors and the mysterious duo leave laughing (apparently, the Hurricanegers not dying, but actually winning is the funniest thing ever to them). Hamster Headmaster is finally proud of Yosuke… until he says something dumb which earns him a rodent to the face. Next time: our two female villains try to kill our one female hero, playing out the designated girl fight in all it’s worn out glory. Also, there’s a new puppet with cutting abilities. Join me next time for Scroll 6: Scissors and Kunoichi. Final Thoughts: Even with a different writer, the show manages to give me some consistent quality storytelling. We get some plot advancement with the two strangers appearing again and getting some dialogue. And there seems to be something going on with Hamster Headmaster (we never did see who he was calling on the phone). The subs may not be the best anymore (not that they were perfect before), but I can still understand things, in spite of the bizarre translation choices. |
Scroll 6: Scissors and Kunoichi
I’ll start with some etymology https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Esfw9nrW...jpg&name=small And I’ll also get on my soapbox for a moment because this is an episode focused on a fight with the two humanoid villains. While most people love human villains, I am not one of them and these types of fights are primarily why. They can’t be a physical threat without making use of weapon or special effects, due to the fact the actors often can’t do their own stunts. Not to mention they often go down in one hit against the Rangers before withdrawing or calling in their monsters/henchmen (as one parody noted after Rita Repulsa fired one blast of lightning at the Rangers “Well, I’m spent. Go Aladdin Kruger.”). These problems don’t exist with suit villains, which is why I’m more partial to them. With that said, on with the write up. This episode opens with Yosuke and Kouta doing reports (yes, even being a secret ninja requires paperwork), while Nanami is sent on an assignment to Mt. Kurosawa to retrieve a statue from a shrine at the summit. Meanwhile, as Sargain introduces his latest puppet Shiransu - the Severing Ninja (I have no idea what he’s supposed to be. The website says he’s a rabbit, the concept artist says he’s a crab and I think he looks like a stag beetle. You can see what he looks like below), our two Jakanja females argue over which of them is better (with Wendinu arguing that Tau Zant called her sexy while Furabijo argues that she’s the First Spear for a reason), eventually deciding to put it to a wager. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Esfw5UpX...jpg&name=small We get told from flashbacks that climbing the mountain was part of the curriculum for new members, but Nanami broke her leg during the test and was carried up by Yosuke and Kouta (that being the point the three met for the first time), thus Headmaster Mugensai (as he was known back then. Yosuke takes after me by calling him “Hamster Kancho”) failed her. Oboro notes that Nanami doesn’t need to do it now, this is purely for her self-esteem (and so she can graduate). As Nanami finds the statue she was sent to recover (a small turtle), Shiransu appears in the city and starts using his abilities to make couples and families hate each other. Oboro informs the boys and they tail Shiransu, who proceeds to attack a peace conference where the delegates are giving their reviews of the tuna at the hotel. It then leads to this funny exchange. American delegate(overracting): Oh my god. I am getting upset for some reason. Indian delegate(understated): Me too. I hate all of you. As the delegates turn this peace conference into a free form wrestling tournament (so, a regular peace talk then), the Hurricanegers realise they need to stop this Jakanja before World War 3 starts. Nanami runs to try and help, but gets intercepted by the Jakanja girls, who have decided their contest will be beating up the one girl on the Hurricanegers (Why not the other two? Damned if I know). As Nanami barely evades Furabijo’s flying shuriken attack (see what I mean?), she decides to transform to continue the fight. In the city, Yosuke and Kouta try confronting Shiransu, but he uses his abilities to make them fight each other. Then Nanami continues to lose to Furabijo’s Hachi Ninpo and Wendinu’s Hebi Ninpo. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Esfw5VWX...jpg&name=small https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Esfw5avX...jpg&name=small (My grievances with fights concerning human villains aside, it’s still a lot more impressive than a scene from Kiramager 34 that some guy declared awesome because Yodonna’s actress did it herself - said stunt was a barrel roll, something a newborn baby could do). Shiransu then decides to gloat over his advantage by knocking the feuding boys into a car, which breaks his spell (so that means his victims should all have been freed the minute their confrontations got physical). The two then work together to kill Shiransu with a Kage no Mai (I think he might be the weakest monster the show has introduced so far), before rushing to save Nanami who is now injured to the point of being kicked around (literally). Worse, she lost the damn turtle statue. In the middle of this, Sargain asks why Wendinu isn’t growing the monster while Chuzoobo wonders why Furabijo hasn’t failed the monster yet. (They know the formula) Then Yosuke downloads the new sword technique he got last week (yay for continuity) into Nanami’s Hayatemaru (Hurricaneger predicted iCloud. It’s official), allowing her to defeat the two vixens and take the statue back. Our villainesses call it a day and grow Shiransu with a Copy Giant (there’s no explanation this time). Oboro hesitates in calling the Shinobi Machines, because she wants Nanami to break the statue (that’ll hurt any resale value) and look at the scroll that a previous Hayate grandmaster hid in there. After seeing the contents of the scroll, Oboro sends the Shinobi Machines, with the Hurricanegers combining into Senpuujin and trying and failing to defeat Shiransu with the Sword Slasher. Luckily, the contents of that scroll allow Oboro to send Nanami the newest Karakuri Ball. 03: Tortoise Hammer. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Esfw5ciW...jpg&name=small With the new weapon in hand, Senpuujin overpowers Shiransu, defeating him. Furabijo then fails everyone who did anything this episode… and Sargain for some reason (Is it because he sent out Shiransu?). The peace conference goes well and Nanami successfully becomes a second year ninja… but the boys still have to do the paperwork. (I assume Nanami did it earlier, which is why her graduation requirement is the one thing she couldn’t do before). Our next episode trailer shows that our mysterious watchers finally make their full, appearance, introducing themselves as dark ninjas. All in the next episode “Thunder and Ninja” Final thoughts: While I liked the main plot of Nanami working to build confidence in herself as a warrior, and I got some comedy out of the conference, the action in this episode wasn’t that great. I’d give it a 4/5. |
Scroll 7: Thunder and Ninja
So here we are, at the point where I stopped watching the show on my first watch. Can I get further this time? Yes I can. To start off with, our two mysterious watchers are no longer shadowed in the credits, you can see them in all their horny glory (wait, that didn’t come out right) https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EsqIqanW...jpg&name=small The episode proper opens with our three Hurricanegers using their elemental specialties in unison to… destroy a scarecrow. They then brag about how perfectly executed that was and that Jakanja won’t be able to stop them now (Pride goeth before a fall, I guess). Speaking of whom, at the Centipede, Floaty Head Manmarva is having another vision of the two Spears, which everyone dismisses, as they’re dedicated to Chuzoobo’s latest plan: using the Dimension Ninja Futabutabou (who I am going to refer to as “Two-pig” so I don’t constantly misspell it). https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EsqIqI6W...jpg&name=small Using his Uchu Ninpo: Jigen Buta, Two-pig sends several people, including Nanami’s jerk of a manager into the same city corner, where they almost kill a delivery guy. The Hurricanegers leap into the action with their Hurricane Wingers and find Two-pig on a skyscraper. He then lures them into his dimension, wherein they get attacked by kids on bikes in a street corner, gangsters in a movie at the cinema and a tank at the quarry (One guy compared this show to Metal Heroes and he wasn’t kidding). But, to Two-pig’s surprise, Yosuke, Nanami and Kouta all enjoyed the changing scenery and give him recommendations, causing him to return to the rooftop in anger. As the Hurricanegers take advantage of his getting distracted to shoot him, Manmarva searches around looking for the figures in his vision. And he ends up finding them (what a coincidence). https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EsqIqsPX...jpg&name=small. Back at the Centipede, as Chuzoobo disciplines Two-pig for his running away, Floaty Head returns with his findings, who introduce themselves. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EsqIq8aX...jpg&name=small The Gouraigers then get down to business, stating they intended to be hired by Jakanja in order to find the secret ninja technique that Jakanja is looking for (Nice to see that plot’s going somewhere). Then Tau Zant reveals that the two are actually humans rather than the remaining two Spears, causing everyone to reject the Gouraigers as beneath them. To this, the red one tells them they have no idea who they’re messing with, before leaving with his blue partner. As the Hurricanegers and Oboro toast their victory (I don’t see why people always celebrate minor successes. They’re just asking to fail). As Hamster Headmaster calls them out on being lax, Two-pig returns at the quarry. The Hurricanegers go to face him, but he’s upped his game since last time, managing to utilise his secret weapon: flying pig snouts (No, really). https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EsqTC-tW...jpg&name=small From the side, the Gouraigers look on as the Hurricanegers struggle to fight back. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EsqTC-sX...jpg&name=small Our heroes eventually get the advantage when Yosuke has them use the manoeuvre they were practicing earlier to get onto his Jigen Buta and ram it into him, weakening him to be destroyed by the Dry Gadget. As our heroes celebrate, they get blasted backwards by the Gouraigers, who state that they intend to finish what the Jakanja failed to do (And I’ll take a moment to gush at their main leitmotif. Kazunori Miyabe man) https://youtube.com/watch?v=1y_44ufBo3s Yosuke tries to use that same manoeuvre again to counter the Gouraigers, but the blue one counters it by doing a Rider Kick (or should that be a Raiger Kick? Never mind, he does kind of look like a Kamen Rider so the joke works either way). They then introduce themselves as the Gouraigers, the Ikazuchi Style’s legendary champions.(remember them?) Hamster Headmaster is shocked by this, while Oboro wonders why Earth Ninjas are fighting each other (Did she forget about the ongoing feud between their two schools? Good god, is this gonna be like Ryuki again?) https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EsqTC-wX...jpg&name=small Just as the Gouraigers have downed our heroes and won the hearts of the female Jakanja Spears, Two-pig returns as a giant to knock them out of the way, causing them to leave in outrage at the Jakanja for undermining them. The Hurricanegers summon the Shinobi Machines and hit Two-pig with everything in their basic Mecha arsenal (ie. No Goat Crusher or Tortoise Hammer) to kill him. Yosuke, Nanami and Kouta then return to the ground to confront the Gouraigers once more, who transform back into their human forms, giving us a pair of faces and a pair of names: Ikazuchi Style’s KabutoRaiger Ikkou Kasumi (R) and Ikazuchi Style’s KuwagaRaiger Isshu Kasumi (L) https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EsqTC-uX...jpg&name=small The two Kasumi brothers then make what RangerWiki calls “contemptuous huffing noises”, before taking their leave. And thats where it ends. Next time, the Hurricanegers try to appeal to the Gouraigers’ better nature (Good god, is this just going to be another Ryuki? Because I really don’t want it to be another Ryuki). Final thoughts: This wasn’t so much focused on any one character so much as it was on debuting the new guys at long last. I like how they’re basically full on jerks with hearts of jerk at this point, as opposed to the show trying to tell me they have a better nature to be appealed to (I really hate it when shows do that, mostly because it’s rarely done well). And I like that they basically gave our heroes a healthy reality check when they were developing a bit of an ego. Overall, I’m looking forward to seeing what’s next. EDIT: It seems that some of the pictures haven’t loaded on the post when I try viewing. Can someone help me by confirming whether or not they see the last three pictures? |
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Scroll 8: Hayate and Ikazuchi
To start with, I fixed the problem with the pictures in the last post. I’d deleted the tweet I’d sourced them from and thus the links went nowhere. I’ve fixed that problem by delinking them to a new tweet. That said, on with the episode. We begin by recapping last episode, with the Gouraigers appearing, introducing themselves as the Ikazuchi Style’s legendary champions and vowing to defeat the Hurricanegers before Jakanja. Then we cut back to the present, where our heroes are thinking about recent events, only to be distracted by the kuroko-bots (my new name for them) playing Kendama (a kids game involving a hammer with a ball attached by a string and stored on a spike on top). As Oboro sends them out, Hamster Headmaster recounts the missing details in his history lesson from episode 1: while the Hayate Style won the right for their champions to be called “Hurricanegers”, the Ikazuchi Style and their champions, the Gouraigers, were banished into the darkness. He then reveals that the Kasumi Bros are two of the most dangerous members from the current Ikazuchi students. Our heroes come to the conclusion that the two merely want to settle the old rivalry, since the Jakanja prevented the yearly contest from taking place (Ah, to be young), thinking they can get the two on their side by telling them this. At the Centipede, Furabijou, Wendinu and Floaty Head continue to gush over the Gouraigers (the latter is still convinced they’re the two Spears. Blind faith, much?), while Chuzoobo still thinks they don’t need them. Tau Zant then bids Sargain begin his next plan to corrupt the planet with a new puppet: Water-Absorbing Ninja Gamajakushi (Who I will refer to as “Tad” from now on). https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Es0MoVnW...jpg&name=small Tad then proceeds to send out his tadpoles (because he’s amphibious. Geddit?) into every water source, draining them dry. Oboro discovers this through a mix of the news and one of the tadpoles being delivered courtesy of the kuroko-bots, and alerts the trio, who head off to stop Tad, assuming he’ll go after the sea next. (That seems like a logical deduction) Along the way, they run into Ikkou and Isshu, who are observing Jakanja’s latest scheme and feel confident in labelling them idiots. (That’ll be important later. Remember that now) Our trio try to persuade the brothers with the pitch they were working on earlier. Ikkou calls them naive, before they get interrupted by Tad appearing to kill them all (I guess Sargain decided he wanted the Gouraigers out of the picture). Our trio transforms and does their role call, but none of their weapons prove effective against Tad and he manages to knock them down with his tadpoles. Then the Kasumi bros leap in and do their transformation (in all honesty, this scene manages to work in every way, from the music, to the staging, to the creepy way they say “Shinobi Change”, a phrase you’d normally associate with safety, but not here.), following up with THEIR role call, which you can hear in the video on the last post. I haven’t found a good translation for KuwagaRaiger’s intro, so I’m just leaving it there. The Gouraigers run in to attack… Tad. (Shocker, I know) Their Ikazuchimarus prove capable of not only deflecting his tadpoles, but dealing major damage to him. They then pull out their personal weapons, the Horn Breaker for Ikkou (a gun) and the Stag Breaker for Isshu (a claw) (somebody called Kabuto and Gatack Gouraigers RX and he had something of a point). These damage Tad further on their own, but when combined into the Double Gadget, manage to finish him off for good. As the Hurricanegers cheer at having apparently won them over, and the Jakanja fume at the apparent betrayal, Tad gets revived as a giant. The Hurricanegers form Senpuujin, but still prove no match for Tad, even at giant size (just how damn powerful did Sargain make him?). Oboro then gets the idea from the Kendama game to combine Goat Crusher and Tortoise Hammer into the Karakuri Combo: Goat Hammer. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Es0MoW4W...jpg&name=small With its new weapon, Senpuujin knocks away Tad’s projectiles before destroying him with their Finish Trick. Goat Hammer: Hurricane Suisei. The Hurricanegers then approach the Gouraigers, assured of their alliance. But the two shove them aside, stating they don’t give a rat’s ass about Ikazuchi (considering them hypocrites afraid to grow stronger) or the Earth. They only stopped Tad because “that” needs water to be born. The Hurricanegers are clueless as to what they’re talking about, causing the two to laugh about how they didn’t know what Jakanja was after (they have a point). Isshu then reveals he wants to use it to remake the Ikazuchi Style into the greatest in the world, while Ikkou states he intends to use it to make the Gouraigers the greatest ninjas in space, (apparently, they didn’t agree on what to use it for) stating they’d rather die trying to get it than let Jakanja or the Hurricanegers obtain it. Speak of the devil, Tau Zant has overheard this and realised the Gouraigers know more about “that” than he does. So he decides to rectify that. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Es0Moa7W...jpg&name=small Tau Zant sends a sphere to pick up the Gouraigers. They transform and board it, leaving the Hurricanegers lost for words as the episode ends. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Es0ModpW...jpg&name=small Next time, Yosuke once more tries to appeal to Ishhu’s non-existent better nature (give it a rest man), while Isshu tries to see if he can beat up Yosuke. All this and more in “Scroll 9: Thunder Siblings and Hourglass”. Final thoughts: Well, my worries about this show being similar to Ryuki were semi-unfounded. The Gouraigers aren’t being set up as secretly good people like Ren was, and they’re all the better as characters for it. And I also like how the Gouraigers, despite being a dangerous wild card, didn’t totally hijack the episode away from the regular bad guys (Looking at you, Basco and Bangray). And the fact they beat a monster the Hurricanegers could barely scratch speaks volumes to the difference in their power levels. This show’s still continuing to deliver and I look forward to the next episode, where our third writer comes in. |
Thought I’d come and do something special to celebrate the last unsubbed Sentai finally getting subbed. Which is why I’m dedicating this special post to
Turboranger Episode 1: Ten Great Sentai Gather! Counting on You, Turboranger! https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Es-lpZtX...jpg&name=small Turboranger is a show I’ve been wanting to watch for a while. I tried working on a Power Rangers adaptation after reading up on it, but I got stalled at episode 3, due to lack of footage. Now I have no reason not to finish it, but it might be a while. Anyway, on with the write up. We begin with the introduction to our villains for the series, the Hundred Bouma (Sorrowful Demon) Tribes through their generals, Dr. Lehda(C), Zimba(L) and Zulten(R), leading an army of their henchmen, the Wulars. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Es-lpcEX...jpg&name=small Lehda notes that the Earth has been invaded by many others before them, all of whom were defeated. He vows that the Bouma will not fall like they did (You know, this is the kind of thing missing from most anniversary seasons. The new bad guys acknowledging the existence of the old ones). It’s at that point that our heroes make their debut. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Es-lpgNW...jpg&name=small Red Turbo introduces the 5 as the Kousoku Sentai Turboranger. Lehda expresses disbelief that these 5 could’ve defeated all those evils. Black Turbo then sets him straight by pointing to the ones who actually defeated all those bad guys: the 10 Great Super Sentai (Gorenger and JAKQ don’t count yet, for anyone who’s confused). https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Es-lpi-W...jpg&name=small The 10 Great Sentai then do their poses (which I will use to bridge each segment), before we lead into an explanation of each Sentai’s exploits (in case anyone’s confused, Turboranger was created as the 10th anniversary of Super Sentai. It’s not considered as such anymore, so this episode might seem weird to those not in the know). We begin with the first Sentai, Battle Fever J. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Es-lxWhX...jpg&name=small The Secret Society Egos began its attack on the world, causing a non-descript secret organisation (seriously, it never got a name as far as I know, Beyond Team Battle Fever) to recruit 5 youths from around the world (more technically, 4 Japanese people who’d trained in different countries [Japan, Russia, France and Kenya], plus an agent from the CIA in America) to fight back with their varied dance moves (no, really). To counter Egos’ monsters, they constructed the Battle Fever Robo, to which Egos responded by giving every monster a “little brother/little sister” (a giant robot in the monster’s likeness) as a counter. (Worth mentioning that Battle Kenya went on to be Gavan, the first Battle Cossack was previously Midorenger and his replacement was previously Kikaider and Inazuman) https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Es-lxWiW...jpg&name=small The Vader Clan, who destroyed the peaceful planet Denzi moved to attack the Earth. The Denzi Dog IC (yes, the mentor for this season is a talking dog) entrusted the planet’s technology to 5 youths, who became the Denji Sentai Denziman. Vader’s monsters had the ability to alter their cells at will, allowing them to grow in size. To counter this, the Denziman had the DenziTiger, which could turn into DaiDenJin to fight back. (Worth noting that DenziGreen went on to be a VA best known for Death Note and the main villain for this season was played by Machiko Soga, who US fans might know better as Bandora from Zyuranger/Rita Repulse from the original Power Rangers) https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Es-lxWkX...jpg&name=small The Machine Empire Black Magma (No relation to Machine Empire Baranoia from Ohranger, though Boukenger’s retrospective drew a similarity) rose from the depths of the North Pole, with their leader Fuhrer Hell Satan (He sounds friendly, doesn’t he?) declaring war on humanity. The United Nations assembled the world’s best fighter pilot, the world’s best navy officer and the world’s best army marine to wear the VulSuits and become Taiyou Sentai Sun Vulcan (If you wonder why there’s no women on this Sentai, it’s because there aren’t that many women in the armed forces). Black Magma’s monsters were equipped with a stock clip of a spinning wheel, allowing them to grow giant. Sun Vulcan fought back against this with the first two-piece robot, Sun Vulcan Robo, combined from Bull Vulcan and Cosmo Vulcan. (Worth noting that one of the villains is Amazon’s from Japanese Spider-Man, while the second VulEagle went on to be somewhat big in Japan) https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Es-lxWhX...jpg&name=small The Dark Science Empire Deathdark, which has been behind every negative use of science since the Stone Age, attacked humanity. The Future Science Laboratory under Dr. Hongou (no relation to Takeshi) assembled 5 youths to inherit the power of ancient civilisations to become the Dai Sentai Goggle V. They fought Deathdark’s synthetic beasts using gymnastics weapons (not just ribbons, despite what Gokaiger would have you believe). When defeated, the synthetic beasts were revived to pilot a giant mechanical “Kong”, which would be countered with the Goggle Robo. (First Sentai to be written by Hirohosa Soda) https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Es-lyInX...jpg&name=small The Salamander Tribe’s Jashinka Empire attacked humanity, with their leader, Emperor Aton hoping to gain a tenth tail that would grant him immortality (similar to the Orgs, the hierarchy in Jashinka was based on the number of tails they have). To oppose them, five prominent scientists are assembled to become Kagaku Sentai Dynaman. Jashinka’s Evolution Beasts (later replaced by Mechavolution Beasts) grew via a Big Bang Progress (again, later replaced with the Big Bang Beam), which were countered by Dynaman’s Dyna Robo. (First Sentai to give one of its members a super mode. Yes one. Eat it, you ‘Sentai should only ever do team power-ups’ nuts) https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Es-lyKSX...jpg&name=small As the New Empire Gear began its attack on humanity, 5 youths were gathered by the Bio Robo, one of the last relics of the destroyed Planet Bio alongside the robotic assistant Peebo. The 5 were chosen due to their ancestors being bathed in Bio Energy Particles 400 years ago to become the Choudenshi Bioman. Eventually, their fated rival Bio Hunter Silva arrived along with his robot Balzion to finish wiping out the rest of the Bio Energy Particles. The Bioman eventually defeated Silva and put an end to Gear’s ambitions. (First series with two female members) We then cut to commercials with a shot of all 11 Reds, followed by a return using a shot of all 14 girls (yes, before sixth Rangers were a thing, girl Rangers were the non-red badasses of the group). https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Es-lzG9X...jpg&name=small https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Es-lzJaX...jpg&name=small We now return to our recap with the next Sentai. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Es-lyPjX...jpg&name=small The Star League Gozma under Emperor Bazoo attacked Earth. 5 youths were chosen by Commander Yui Ibuki to wield Earth Power to fight back as the Dengeki Sentai Changeman. Through the power of their convictions, Changeman inspired others to rise up, eventually defeating Bazoo and restoring peace to the universe. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Es-lySDX...jpg&name=small 20 years ago, the Reconstruction Experiment Empire Mess abducted 5 children from Earth for their experiments, only to be saved and taken in by the people of the Flash Star. 20 years later, the 5 returned to Earth as the Choushinsei Flashman to fight back against Mess and find their lost parents. Flashman found out that another warrior, known as Titan, once fought Mess as they did before his death (the guy who told them this died before he could clarify what did Titan in). Inheriting his robot, the Flash Titan, the 5 were able to defeat Mess. (First series to have two robots in use and the first to have opening narration). https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Es-lzAeX...jpg&name=small The Underground Empire Tube sent its armies to attack the surface, where they were resisted by the Hikari Sentai Maskman. Red Mask, Takeru, was caught up in a feud between the twin sisters of Tibe, Prince (no, that’s not a typo. She spends most of the series disguised as a man) Igam and Princess Iyal. Using the Galaxy Robo and the Jet Cannon alongside their Aura Power, with the help of the feelings they inherited from those who created the weapons, the Maskman defeated Zeba and restored peace to Tube. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Es-lzC9X...jpg&name=small Grand Professor Bias whispered in the ears of three youths, encouraging them to sell their souls to the devil (Ha ha, opening narration reference) and kill their friends. He then launched an attack on Academia Island with his Weapon Brain Army Volt. However, three other youths who were also friends with the two who got murdered unveiled a set of mechanical Choujuu to fight back with, becoming the Choujuu Sentai Liveman. They were joined eventually by the younger brothers of their slain friends, whose own robot Live Boxer could combine with Live Robo to form Super Live Robo, giving Liveman enough power to defeat Volt. The episode then ends with the Turborangers assuring the 10 Great Sentai that they can handle the Bouma, before charging into battle. We then get a trailer for the series in lieu of the usual credits, followed by the usual next time trailer. I won’t go into details on the plot, for anyone who wants to watch the episode, but I will say that the Bouma’s leader is their god Ragorn, while they do have one female member. Final Thoughts: As a retrospective of 10 years, this episode works. As an introduction… while it teases that we can see the origins of the Turborangers if we continue to follow the series, I think it works. So overall, I’d rate this… 4 out of 5. |
I too have really wanted to watch Turboranger. It's still gonna have to wait a bit since I have a bunch of other shows I wanna get through first, but I'm glad it's finally been subbed in full.
I actually half-adapted it into the Tabletop Campaign my friends and I are doing. There I labeled the team "Nitro Boost." |
Scroll 9: Thunder Brothers and the Hourglass
After yesterday’s side step, we’re back on track with an episode written by another new writer, Atsushi Maekawa. He wrote a few more episodes of this show and Abaranger, then he skipped Dekaranger to write the Battle City Finals arc of Yu-Gi-Oh (a franchise he still contributes episodes to). Then he became the head writer for Magiranger, and since then he’s mostly done anime such as Bakugan and Fresh Pretty Cure. The best reason I’ve been given for his lack of further involvement in Toku, despite seemingly being built up as the next Inoue or Kobayashi, was that he decided it was easier to do an animated teleplay than it was to do a live action one. With that said, on with the review. Continuing from last episode, the Gouraiger join the Jakanja at the Centipede, with both sides conceding that they need each other: the Jakanja are the only ones who can corrupt the Earth and the Gouraiger know how to obtain “that”. It then leads to one of my favourite exchanges in the series so far. Ikkou: When we find “that”, who is going to be the one to receive it? Tau Zant: We will have to make the decision then. (It kind of loses something in writing, but it’s worth it for those watching). Tau Zant then tasks the Gouraiger with Chuzoobo’s latest plot, much to the latter’s dismay (leading to a good moment of hypocritical humour). A plan that involves a time limit recorded by an hourglass. We then cut to the Hurricanegers playing a card game, talking about what the Jakanja and the Gouraiger are after. It turns out even Hamster Headmaster can’t say much, other than it can’t be good. It’s then that Yosuke has an idea: simply go up and ask the Kasumi Bros what “that” is (Yeah, I can see why people remember him as not too clever). We then cut to the city, where people are being kidnapped by cicadas launched by the newest monster, Propogation Ninja Kurukkuhoshi (I’ll just call him Orlin). Then, at their campsite, Ikkou and Isshu decide that they don’t like Chuzoobo (to be fair, the feeling is mutual) and that once they get “that”, they intend to make sure they keep it. (Ah yes, what’s a good Sentai series without villains trying to backstab each other as naturally as they breath?) The next morning, Yosuke journeys to Ikazuchi Valley, former home of the Ikazuchi Way Ninja School. As he predicted, the Gouraigers attack him. He asks his three questions: “What is ‘that’?”, “What is its significance?” and “Is it really so important that you’d join Jakanja?” The two leave without answering, so he follows them to ask for their answer (leading to one of my favourite responses of all time, courtesy of Isshu). Isshu: The answer is ‘yes’. (Throws Yosuke off the cliff) Isshu then recounts how he and his brother found the Gourai Changers in a sealed cave while the School was destroyed by Kekkaibou. Isshu then launches into a rant about how he became disillusioned with the Ikazuchi Way for spending 500 years living into the shadows, so he’s allowing it to stay dead so he can craft a new Ikazuchi (Got to say, this is a pretty good use of monologuing). He then transforms into KuwagaRaiger (this time, adding the word “Jinrai” (thunderclap) before “Shinobi Change”. I assume the only reason it wasn’t there before was to add to the creepy factor?) and proceeds to beat up Yosuke, wanting to prove in a fair fight who is the better of the two. (Ikkou, meanwhile, is apparently so self-assured of his own superiority that he just sits back and watches). Elsewhere, Orlin continues gathering victims, but passes up a Kuroko-bot playing Kendama. In revenge, the bot alerts Oboro, who in turn alerts Kouta (who is coming away from helping an old lady) and Nanami (who ran away from her singing career again. Thank god her manager is so understanding) to face Orlin, who has finished collecting 100 humans with his cicadas. Yosuke meanwhile, is still being beaten up, stating that he won’t Shinobi Change to fight a fellow Earth Ninja (I admire your honour, but dude, he’s trying to kill you). This only annoys Isshu further and causes him to keep up the barrage. Meanwhile, Orlin is told to pull away from the fight by Chuzoobo, who notes that there isn’t much time left. However, Nanami and Kouta give chase quickly. At Ikazuchi Valley, Isshu finally has enough of Yosuke and drops him off a cliff, before the two Kasumis leave to help Orlin. In the woods, the other two Hurricanegers find all the people webbed up by Orlin, who intends to use them for a ritual that will allow his cicadas to multiply and cover the Earth. The Gouraigers arrive to keep the two Hurricanegers busy while Orlin casts his spell. Ikkou counters Kouta’s Chou Ninpo: Mai Jishi (the technique where he replicated himself) with his own Chou Ninpo: Maboroshi Kabuto, which allows him to conjure a giant copy who crushes Kouta (not an empty costume, not a scarecrow, the real Kouta), while Isshu deflects all of Nanami’s moves with his Ikazuchimaru (the subs have stopped translating “maru”, by the way). Just as it seems the Gouraigers have emerged triumphant, Yosuke appears, having survived the fall. He declares that he’s given up trying to team up with the Gouraigers and is now going to defeat them with his full power (a lesson Shinji Kido should’ve learned, but never did). But, this doesn’t help, as Ikkou proceeds to shoot Nanami and Kouta into submission with his Horn Breaker, while Isshu zaps Yosuke down with his Stag Breaker. But before the Double Gadget can kill our heroes for good, Orlin dies mid ritual, with his spell breaking itself (no, really). It then turns out that Orlin only had a short lifespan to begin with, being a cicada, and the hourglass was counting down to his death. The Gouraigers leave, their services no longer needed, while Furabijo fails Chuzoobo for thinking this guy was a good choice. Wendinu grows Orlin to giant size, the Hurricanegers summon Senpuujin and defeat him (there’s really not much to say about this part of the episode. It’s very by the numbers). The episode ends with the Hurricanegers deciding that they need to train hard in order to beat the Gouraigers next time, whith Yosuke advocating that they start now. Next time: the Gouraigers awaken the hidden secret of Ikazuchi Valley. This and more in “Scroll 10: The Raijin and the Destroyed Valley”. Final Thoughts: HOW DOES THIS SHOW DO HERO VS HERO BETTER THAN THE SHOW THAT HAD THAT AS ITS CENTRAL PREMISE? Seriously, I got more invested in the Hurricaneger/Gouraiger conflict in this episode alone than I did the entirety of the Rider War in Ryuki. While Yosuke was the one who came out of this with some character development, Isshu was clearly the real star of the episode. The monster plot felt slightly tacked on, but I did like the gimmick that the monster does not by the heroes, but due to his own natural lifespan. I’m a sucker for unique monster deaths and this episode delivers. |
Quote:
And let us not forget, these were the original teenagers with attitude only a few years prior to MMPR. |
Scroll 10: The Thunder God and the Destroyed Valley
Not much to say for the beginning section. Just that Naoyuki Sakai is heading this episode. Given that he helped bring the Gouraigers into the plot, I’d love to see how he handles them here (given how well the other two writers have done with them). We open with the Hurricanegers in their base, who are still no closer to finding out what “that” could be, which frustrates them (recall that Jakanja and the Gouraigers both know what “that” is). It’s then that Kouta suggests they go into Ikazuchi Valley and find the sealed cave where the Gourai Changers were found. And speaking of caves in Ikazuchi Valley, the Gouraigers are trying to create a power recharger for the titular “thunder god” (if you haven’t figured out what it is, then I’ll give you some etymology “Senpuujin” translates as “Whirlwind God”). The Hurricanegers try to navigate the Valley, only to find the Kasumi Bros have booby-trapped the whole place to get rid of any interlopers. And hen it turns out that Sargain and Furabijo are also in the valley (because why not, I guess?), the former wanting to know more about the Gouraigers’ intentions, the latter just wanting a picnic. As lightning begins to be generated by the Kasumi Bros’ experiments, Furabijo becomes terrified (nice little moment of comedy there), with Sargain assuring her that he won’t attract any, as his body is made of a special Jakanja metal (apparently, he hasn’t heard of non-conductive metals). The Hurricanegers find nothing, so they meet up at a quarry, where the two Jakanja Spears find them. The Hurricanegers shinobi change and Furabijo sits down to eat her picnic, with Sargain facing them with his Ankoku Niitoryu: Ganryuken. (Apparently, he’s a master swordsman) https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EtNmCZ0W...jpg&name=small After spending about a minute beating down our heroes, Sargain withdraws into hiding with Furabijo, as Ikkou and Isshu arrive. They are annoyed that both Hayate and Jakanja are intruding, shinobi changing into the Gouraigers and pulling out their own Shinobi Medals. And I assure you, despite my jokes three episodes ago, and the various jabs at Ryuki I’ve been giving since then, I can assure you without a doubt, that these two insect based heroes have nothing solid in common with Kamen Ri- https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EtNmCZuX...jpg&name=small ARE YOU KIDDING ME????!!! With their new Bari Thunders, the Gouraigers proceed to overpower the Hurricanegers, who aren’t able to get a hit in. (Buy the toys) After this is done, Isshu expresses disappointment that guys like these forced the Gouraigers into the shadows 500 years ago (We get it, you’re bitter about that), while Ikkou tells them they wasted their time searching for information they don’t have here (which begs the question of how the Kasumi Bros know about ‘that’). But Isshu decides not to make it a wasted journey, instead deciding to use their Gourai Changers to show off the power they’ve just finished awakening. From the rocks and the forest come the Ikazuchi Way’s Shinobi Machines, Gourai Beetle and Gourai Stag. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EtNmCZ2W...jpg&name=small https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EtNmCZzX...jpg&name=small Oboro, not wanting to be shown up, summons the Hayate Way’s Shinobi Machines to do battle. But the Ikazuchi Machines’ techniques prove too much for the Hayate Machines (buy the toys). The Hurricanegers then combine into Senpuujin to try and even the odds. But this fails to impress the Gouraigers, who basically say “Big deal, we can do that too”. https://youtube.com/watch?v=zVPC_Zv4TrE And so, the show’s second Karakuri Giant, Ikazuchi Gattai Gouraijin, takes the stage. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EtNmDEoX...jpg&name=small Senpuujin summons the Sword Slasher, but that proves unable to so much as scratch Gouraijin (buy the toys), before the enemy robot just gets annoyed and kicks Senpuujin down. Oboro then reveals she’s completed Karakuri Ball 04: Plant Axe, which can cut through anything. She then sends the Shinobi Medal to Yosuke. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EtNmDGyW...jpg&name=small But before he can use it, Ikkou steals it (don’t ask how) and has Gouraijin summon the Plant Axe (sorry if it’s not visible in this picture, but the video above should serve as accurate visual reference) https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EtNmDJIX...jpg&name=small And true to the music playing (here’s a hint, it’s those same music cues in that video I shared a week ago), Gouraijin defeats Senpuujin by using the Plant Axe to perform the Dai Kaiten Todoroke Giri (Great Revolving Roaring Slash). Senpuujin is downed, with Yosuke, Nanami and Kouta all knocked unconscious as the robot begins to explode. Furabijo then decides to give the Gouraigers a pass and we find out what that gets you. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EtNmDLFX...jpg&name=small Wendinu and Floaty-Head do a victory dance, Chuzoobo is aggravated, Tau Zant has the same expression as usual and the Gouraigers leave with their new toy. The episode ends with Senpuujin still exploding as Oboro tries to wake Yosuke, Nanami and Kouta up. Final Thoughts: As I’ve joked about throughout this review, this is basically a commercial for Gouraiger toys as much as it is an episode. But it works as a creepy episode, with the idea that the Hurricanegers currently have no advantage over the Gouraigers (at least until the next tier power up debuts). |
It was during this time I was rooting for the Gouraigers more than our titular heroes. :lolol
Seriously, I loved everything about them back in the days. Wine red and navy blue was definitely a nice choice to give them that darker contrast to the more brightly-colored Hurricangers to indicate they are a different team. I remember the pre-debut rumor at the time saying there will be a evil duo ranger team with unique colors for their costumes, and I was intrigued right off the bat. The end result was me just going "OHMYGODTHEYDIDIT" and just going nuts at how badass they seemed. Good times. :lolol |
Scroll 11: The Dream Eater and Starting Anew
After a recap of the Hurricanegers losing to the Gouraigers over the last 4 episodes (way to rub it in), we begin the episode with Kouta waking up in hospital with Nanami and Yosuke beside him. But then they turn into the Kasumi Bros and attack him, revealing that this is a dream Kouta is having while he and the others recover in the hospital for real. Oboro and Hamster Headmaster narrate that it’s been 3 days since they were beaten up by Gouraijin and repairs on the Shinobi Machines are underway. Hamster Headmaster then wonders who in Ikazuchi could’ve created Shinobi Machines (I think this will be important later, but I’m not sure). At the Centipede, having finished celebrating the Hurricanegers’ supposed demise, Chuzoobo then prepares to begin his next plan. It’s noted that the Gouraigers won’t be helping out, because they’ve vanished. We then see where they are: they’re in a gym after hours (I’ve no idea if the building is abandoned, they broke in or if this is their base) with Isshu pumping weights and Ikkou meditating above the swimming pool (show off). We then cut to the house of a girl named Rika, whose mother tells her she can take the day off school to walk their dog Sherry, much to her happy surprise. It then turns out this is a dream Rika is having while she turns to stone (god, is everything in this episode a dream someone’s having while they’re in a dire situation?) and her mother begs her to wake up. As for Sherry, we then pan over to a headstone in the backyard with a collar on it, labelled “Sherry’s Grave” (no alternate interpretations there). As Oboro notices the influx of kids having good dreams and turning to stone being brought to the hospital, we learn this is the work of Chuzoobo’s latest (and supposedly most powerful, but they say that about every monster) servant, Nightmare Ninja Yumebakushi. (What use turning children to stone could have is not elaborated upon). Oboro then whips out a device which downloads the Hurricanegers’ minds into the dream world (Don’t ask how), whereupon they see how weird it is: Yosuke sees a baby carriage with a goat’s skull in it, Nanami sees a building distorting and Kouta sees balls bouncing up stairs. Unfortunately, Yumebakushi sees the three in his dream world (and the Jakanja learn that they’re still alive and a threat) and sends them off into their own dream worlds. Yosuke ends up at an all-you-can-eat buffet with Furabijo and Wendinu as his mini-harem, Nanami finds that “Shinobi Koi” is a hit record that has ended the battle with Jakanja and Kouta finds himself in a field, dancing with kids and the flowers. But this is a bad thing, since the three also begin to turn to stone. But then Kouta realises he’s dreaming when everyone’s dreams begin to cross over (and someone is dreaming that he has endless ice pops, apparently), reversing the spell. Attempts to wake Rika up to reality fail and Yumebakushi appears to dance with everyone in his dream world, even the other two Hurricanegers. This proves fatal, as it pushes Kouta to shinobi change into HurricaneYellow (Nice going there, Yumebakushi). Yumebakushi commends him for breaking through his Uchuu Ninpo, before doing another Uchuu Ninpo: Kamon Goryja. As the Romanji suggests, manifestations of the Gouraigers appear to attack Kouta, who emphatically states that he isn’t scared of them anymore. This motivates everyone to realise that they’re dreaming and break the illusion. The Hurricanegers defeat the fake Gouraigers with the Gyro Shurikens (if only the real ones were that easy to beat) and dispel the dream world, before defeating Yumebakushi with the Quake Gadget, which causes him to die in real life, which causes Furabijo to fail him. As the Hurricanegers and the kids wake up and celebrate, Yumebakushi is revived as a giant, with Hamster Headmaster sending the Shinobi Machines. When the Hurricanegers are on the ropes, they learn that the Sword Slasher and Hurrier Mode still haven’t been repaired (just how strong was that Plant Axe?), forcing them to defeat Yumebakushi with the Goat Hammer. The Gouraigers look on and note that they’ll make the Hurricanegers regret coming back (guess they think it’ll just go their way until the show ends or they get written out). The episode then ends with the Hurricanegers looking on as Rika apologises to Sherry’s grave for forgetting about her and vowing to move on (glad that that subplot got closure) Next time: Oboro goes out into the field. This and more in “The Steel Frame and Father and Daughter” Final thoughts: A fairly solid episode about the danger of being trapped in your own dreams instead of facing your fears head on. Plus the Hayate Ninjas have grown out of their fear of the Kasumi Bros, which means things are likely to turn around in the future. |
Scroll 12: The Steel Frame and Father And Daughter
This episode is written by Naruhisa Arakawa. You probably know who he is (and if you don’t, what’s wrong with you?), but I will include an explanation. He started off by doing an episode of Kamen Rider Black, but then he became a staff writer on Super Sentai from Jetman through Gingaman (except Ohranger, where the requirements to be on the writing staff was apparently to have been the head writer on a previous Sentai), before being poached by Shigenori Taketera to revive some franchise about insects and motorcycles (can’t imagine it lasting long afterwards). After Hurricaneger, he went on to head write the next two Sentai seasons, Abaranger and Dekaranger, before becoming a staff writer for the next 4 shows (including doing a good deal of Gekiranger’s plot points, particularly some I didn’t like the way they were handled), before skipping Shinkenger and only doing one arc for Goseiger (which if you ask me, is the weakest of the series), before heading Gokaiger (You probably know my opinions on that show. If you don’t, then I didn’t like much of it), before taking 4 years off during which he headed Akibaranger and the Next Generation Space Sheriff V-Cinemas. He returned to Sentai with Zyuohger, and has stayed ever since, most recently being the head writer for Kiramager(which has proved popular for those willing to look past the silliness and low budget monster suits. Heck, I like the show and even I think it gets TOO silly at times) . Now that that’s over, on to the episode. The episode begins with our monster for the week, Metal Ninja Tekkotsumoeba, on the attack, grabbing things made of metal and absorbing them. The Hurricanegers give chase and after Yosuke knocks him off the car he’d merged with, they weaken him with a Kage no Mai and destroy him with the Sonic Gadget. (That’s got to be one of the quickest victories for the heroes ever, right?). Nanami says that the attack had been augmented by Oboro, who celebrates her success while Hamster Headmaster chides her for using a powerful attack on a weak foe (while I can buy that moral in a regular martial arts story, this was a monster trying to destroy the Earth!). The Gouraigers observe the aftermath, calling the Hayate Way pupils still naive. At the Centipede, Sargain refuses to accept he failed (even though as Wendinu points out, his monster didn’t even last long enough for a Copy Giant to be sent out, which doesn’t jive with what’s been established about Copy Giants, but whatever), insisting that “failure is the mother of success” (whatever that means) to let Tau Zant allow him to continue (surprisingly, this works). Back at Ninja Base, the Hurricanegers and Oboro plan to celebrate their latest victory and because they’ve been doing so well lately. (Haven’t we been here before? When the Gouraigers debuted) Hamster Headmaster chides them all for this, insisting that they should investigate where Tekkotsumoeba appeared (I don’t understand why? Nothing indicates it was any sort of trick). Oboro, frustrated with his sh*t, loads him into a wooden ball and fires him towards the site. At that site, Sargain talks with Tekkotsumoeba, who’s remains have fused with one of the nearby skyscrapers, allowing him to prevail (what the hell does this have to do with corrupting Earth? Hell if I know). As the sphere approaches, Sargain knocks it away into a nearby high-rise, before leaving after noting that it wasn’t a enemy (mwah mwah). Hamster Headmaster ends up in the hands of a little girl name Yuriko, who apparently wished for a pet hamster to keep her company. At the arcade, Kouta notes that Oboro is pretty OOC this episode (when your characters can point out the OOC, it’s generally not a good sign). So she sits down on the slide at a playground (way to kill any seriousness you were going for, Arakawa), while Yuriko shares why she’s so lonely. The latter reveals that her parents are always working and when they are home, they nag her to succeed at everything. Oboro meanwhile reveals she feels overworked worrying about Gouraijin and feels that her dad’s nagging is getting overwhelming. Hamster Headmaster tells Yuriko that her parents only want her to succeed so they can be proud of her (though the evidence he uses, that they hung her one award on the wall, doesn’t really sit right with me. If anything, it proves her right, given they care more about the award than her). Yosuke then reveals to Oboro that he read Hamster Headmaster’s web diary (don’t ask how a hamster can keep a web diary) and saw that her dad wants the fight to be over as soon as possible… so he can see his daughter get married (which probably won’t seem that heartwarming to some people). It’s then that the skyscraper partially transforms into a giant Tekkotsumoeba - as in, even bigger than the norm. Sargain reveals that the scattered cells have been absorbed into the buildings and will pull together all 70000 of his cells within them, creating an even bigger Tekkotsumoeba. Oboro calculates that the result will be 500 times the size of Senpuujin (helpfully illustrated using a DX toy and a cardboard cutout). The Hurricanegers summon Senpuujin to try and stop him, only to be countered by the arrival of the Gouraigers in their Shinobi Machines, which combine into Gouraijin. Kouta summons the Goat Crusher to fight against them, to which they counter by detaching their chest plate to form the Double Claw. Elsewhere, with Yuriko having broken her leg as the high-rise is being pulled into Tekkotsumoeba, Hamster Headmaster contacts Oboro through a device in his hamster ball (which does make her throwing him out there less callous than it seemed at first, so I’ll give the episode that). Back at the fight, the Gouraigers have the upper hand, so Senpuujin throws down a smokescreen. But Gouraijin finds them seemingly easy and attacks with an itto ryodan (Butagiri! Dogon, Dogon, Dogouken Gekido! Okay, I’ll stop). But it turns out they hit Hurricane Leon and Hurricane Dolphin, the smokescreen having been a distraction for them to disengage the combination. Yosuke then uses Karakuri Ninpo: Kaen Taka to incinerates Tekkotsumoeba’s main core, vanquishing him for good. But the buildings are still falling, with Yuriko and Hamster Headmaster being saved by Oboro arriving on a bike (and it turns out she’s part of Hayate Way Class 487, which puts her at least 20 years older than our heroes. Good to know). Angered at being duped, the Kasumi Bros in Gouraijin decide to split. As Yuriko reunites with her parents, Oboro and HH have a heart-to-heart, wherein the latter finally calls his daughter pretty (which makes him seem worse, if you ask me) and mentions he wants to be human again someday (which contradicts how happily he seemed to have took to being a hamster in previous episodes). And that’s where we end the episode. Next time, Yosuke and Nanami try to recover a guy’s engagement ring and Karakuri Ball 05 debuts. All this and more in Scroll 13: Moustache and Engagement Ring. Final verdict: I think this is the first episode of the show I didn’t like. The monster not only feels massively divorced from the usual concepts behind Jakanja’s monster, but the plan he was involved in only makes sense if you assume he was intended to destroy the Hurricanegers (which would contradict the Jakanja’s strict MO of trying to corrupt the planet to get “that”). The main characters all felt like an afterthought here, for a family drama that felt contrived for this episode. Plus the way Hamster Headmaster was portrayed here demonstrates one of Arakawa’s main flaws when it comes to writing: he can’t write a Jerkass character who’s supposed to be likeable (Mikoto feels more like an accident rather than any attempt to do this). Overall, I would not recommend this episode. |
Scroll 13: Moustache and Engagement Ring
Not much to say here. Just that this episode is Maekawa’s second contribution to the series. I also got a better quality subbed video to use for screenshots (though a lot of them will look worse than my other screenshots (So I’ll try not to rely on them, unless I absolutely have to). With that said, on with the review. We begin with Yosuke’s window cleaning service being asked to manage a bakery (Look, just go with it, okay?). The manager, Mr. Nakata, has a hot date today and needs someone to manage the store and give out 100 free cookie bags to the first 100 customers. As he leaves, Yosuke’s boss foists all responsibility onto him, as she’s also going on a hot date (surprisingly, the two don’t turn out to be seeing each other) At the Centipede, Chuzoobo introduces the “Higerappa plan”, which is to make humans into more lower ranked ninjas like the Magerappas. To which Isshu responds with my opinion on the last episode. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EtusLOJX...jpg&name=small (In the sub I watched to review the episode, he says “Boring. Even if it’s for “that”, the plan just lacks zest.”) Chuzoobo is pissed at what he said, until Tau Zant steps in to authorise the plan. After a scene of Oboro working on a new Karakuri Ball, we see Yosuke calling Kouta for help. He says he’s busy helping out the old folks, but points out that Nanami is off until 3. One jump cut later, Nanami is helping out in the bakery instead of shopping (nice to see she has her priorities straight). Yosuke and Nanami manage to misplace the last bag of cookies, before finding a cookie bag on Nakata’s desk and giving that away. Elsewhere, a man is accosted by Jakanja’s latest monster, Dancing Ninja Higenamezukin. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EtusLOCX...jpg&name=small As Yosuke and Nanami are closing up, Nakata returns, having forgotten his birthday present for his girlfriend: an engagement ring he made himself that he put in a bag of cookies (wait for it). It’s at this point our duo of amateur bakers find that last bag of cookies under the table (should’ve checked there first). Yosuke then sees how much Nakata wanted to propose to his girlfriend with that ring, he drags Nanami along to help chase down the last three customers, a trio of high school girls. Elsewhere, Higenamezukin’s MO is revealed: He gives people atrocious moustaches (hige = moustache) (Is it bad I think this guy is the best monster so far? Purely for how silly his gimmick is?) https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EtusLOKX...jpg&name=small Yosuke find and cross off the first girl in the park, who points them in the direction of the second girl at the arcade, who they also cross off (as Yosuke laments, why can’t the three of them stick together?) In the midst of this, they run into Ikkou and Isshu, basically telling them “Do you mind? We’ve kind of got our own problem right now.” As the two sit in a park, Yosuke tells Nanami that the reason he’s going along with this search is because Nakata reminds him of a koala: just as Nakata only wants to give his girlfriend that ring, koalas only want to eat bamboo (which makes no sense, but is hilarious to hear). This causes Nanami to tell Hase (her manager) to shove it and join him in redoubling the search (while also pointing out that its pandas who eat only bamboo. Koalas eat eucalyptus leaves). They eventually find the girl… only for her to be approached by Higenamezukin, who turns her into another Higerappa. And then the second part of the name comes in, when the people start to act like Magerappa. Kouta, now done with his job, gets called in to help with the Jakanja (and told of the new Karakuri Ball as we get a shot of Hurricane Leon being scanned). The Hurricanegers are outmatched by the Higerappas (especially since Higenamezukin gave them Magerappa weapons), so they use a substitution technique to escape and take the battle to Higenamezukin, with Nanami declaring she won’t let him get in the way of “Koala-san’s proposal plan” (much to Kouta’s understandable confusion). They fight Higenamezukin set to this song https://youtube.com/watch?v=ZoX04a_Ku0Q Yosuke debuts his new ability, Chou Ninpo: Maboroshi Henge, which allows him to turn into anything, in this case a toy plane (I’d talk about how op this ability is, but I’m instead going to ask where all that extra weight goes? He must be a very dense toy plane). They then finish of Higenamezukin with the Sonic Gadget, which gets countered by reviving the monster as a giant. Senpuujin is formed, but before they can finish their foe with the Sword Slasher, the Gouraigers show up to disrupt them, combining into Gouraijin and summoning the Plant Axe (You’d think the Hayate Way would’ve figured out a way to regain control of it by now) Ikkou tells the Hurricanegers they should’ve just continued their search (Um, they did. That’s how they ended up here), before debuting a new weapon combo. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EtusLOHW...jpg&name=small (Don’t ask how a weapon built for Senpuujin has compatibility with a weapon built for Gouraijin. I can’t explain it). It’s at this point the new Karakuri Ball is completed, with Kouta receiving the Shinobi Medal for Karakuri Ball 05: Gatling Leo (yes, Kyuranger was not the first series with two lion based Mecha. I’m shocked too) https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EtusMBaX...jpg&name=small Gatling Leo destroys Higenamezukin, Gouraijin leaves and Chuzoobo gets both failed and berated for failing. Yosuke and Nanami resolve the mixup and get the ring back to Nakata just as his girlfriend is about to break up with him. The happy couple reconcile, Yosuke and Kouta celebrate a job well done (just going to show that as long as you fix your screwup, you will face no consequences) and Nanami gets abducted by Hase, who is already an hour behind schedule as the episode ends. Next time, Yosuke gets turned into a child. All this and more on Scroll 14: Crybaby and Candy. Final thoughts: A much stronger effort than the last episode. This plot managed to mix being funny and being sappy really well. And as stated, Higenamezukin is my favourite monster so far. What’s yours (if you have one)? Let me know. |
Scroll 14: Crybaby and Candy
We begin our episode with Yosuke trying to return a pair of bird eggs to their nest, much to his friends’ consternation (Kouta has gone to get a ladder. That’s how concerned they are). Yosuke succeeds in his task, due to being a Sora Ninja, but then he falls out of the tree and manages to perfectly stick the landing on a fence… before gravity kicks in and drags him into the pond (At least he had a soft landing). At the ninja base, as Oboro finishes the next Karakuri Ball after Gatling Leo, the trio enter still arguing over their leader’s recklessness. Yosuke insists he’s been fearless since he was a kid (foreshadowing) and Hamster Headmaster stating that a leopard never changes its spots… to which Yosuke can only say “I am not a leopard.” At the Centipede, as Sargain is tasked with the next plan, Chuzoobo barges in (having been grounded after his last failure) and begs for another chance with his best man. As if on cue, an urn appears from space and the contents emerge to reveal Back To Ninja Octonyudo, Chuzoobo’s cousin (Your guess as to which side of the family he comes from is as good as mine) who has successfully corrupted 87 planets. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Et5AAXvX...jpg&name=small Tau Zant is impressed enough to give Chuzoobo one last chance. Chuzoobo tells the Gouraigers that he doesn’t need them for this plan, as he and Octonyudo set off for Earth. After crashing the urn into a beach, Octonyudo then proceeds to spray people with his ink, including a make up lady, a doctor and an elderly Air Force captain (are we sure this guy is as impressive as he was hyped up to be?). The Hurricanegers catch wind (badum tish) of this and set off. The Hurricanegers find Octonyudo, with Yosuke running in without a plan, only to get sprayed with ink as well (LEEROY JENKINS). As the other two Shinobi Change, Octonyudo reveals his trick: Uchuu Ninpo: Back to the Child, which causes everyone he sprayed to revert to 5 years old, with glowing orbs of light emerging from them and entering the urn. As Chuzoobo shows up and Octo attacks with his Tako Shuriken, Nanami and Kouta use the old empty costumes trick to escape with Yosuke, but Chuzoobo sends the Magerappa to kill the heroes, while the Kasumi Bros note that Chuzoobo actually might not need them this time. As our heroes take cover, Yosuke starts whining about how scared he is and how hurt he was by an injury he sustained… a tiny scratch (as Nanami says “Fearless, my foot. He’s a crybaby.”). The two thus try and convince him he is brave, as we see the chaos the de-aged people are causing (the make up lady is doodling on her client’s face, the doctor runs away from surgery and the captain has to be restrained from piloting a helicopter by his subordinate), in addition to two new ones: a bus driver (who is driving like crazy and barely following road safety) and a policeman (who has to be restrained by his kohai). After hiding from the Magerappas with Kouta’s Oka Ninpo: Chameleon no Jutsu, Oboro directs the Hurricanegers to the bay where Octonyudo’s urn is. When they get there, they find Octonyudo, who gloats that everyone’s proper ages are stored inside his urn as candy (way to blow your own plan, doofus. You just told them how to undo your hard work). As our two remaining Hurricanegers face down Chuzoobo and Octonyudo, doing well against neither, Yosuke regrows his spine and grabs the urn, running away from the resulting explosions. Just as it seems Chuzoobo has luckily managed to vanquish him (do you really believe he did so?), Yosuke reveals he escaped using Ninpo and taking his uniform off. He then eats his candy (which is not only colour-coded, but glowing), returning to his true age in a very smooth transition… which unfortunately means that the resulting fight begins with a Kage no Mai. Though it does pick up, with Yosuke blasting Chuzoobo with Chou Ninpo: Maboroshi Henge (this time, turning into a tank) before knocking Octonyudo down with the Hayate-Ryu Kengi: Shippuzan. The Hurricanegers destroy the enemy with the Dry Gadget, restoring everyone to normal (though sadly, this time, it’s just a flash effect). As Chuzoobo is placed on his third strike, he throws the scroll, reviving Octonyudo as a giant. As the Shinobi Machines appear and form Senpuujin, Oboro sends Nanami the Medal for Karakuri Ball 06: Squid Attacker, which attaches to the leg as a drill. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Et5AAXwW...jpg&name=small It’s at this point that Ikkou and Isshu, watching from the side, decide to Shinobi Change and summon their Shinobi Machines. But instead of joining the fight, they wait for Senpuujin to use its new add on to destroy Octonyudo. Then they combine into Gouraijin, leading to this exchange. Chuzoobo: Gouraigers, why didn’t you help Octonyudo? Isshu: I thought you said you didn’t need us? Ikkou: Next time, make sure you can do what you say you can do. (Seriously, these guys just get all the best dialogue and at this point, I am half-rooting for them) Ikkou then reveals a new Shinobi Medal, which allows Gouraijin to summon something old: the Sword Slasher. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Et5AAXqW...jpg&name=small The Hurricanegers decide to counter by forming the Goat Hammer. But Gouraijin’s Sword Slasher not only cuts it in half, but it also destroys the Shinobi Medals for Goat Crusher and Tortoise Hammer (it doesn’t even use a finisher. It can just cut them in two). The Kasumi Bros then leave, content with their work. The episode then ends with Yosuke revealing he remembers everything from being a kid and that he expects Kouta to give him a piggyback and Nanami to give him a hug (which doesn’t go down well with the latter). Next time, the Gouraigers show how far they’re willing to go to achieve their goals and Sargain enters the fray with a new monster. All this and more in Scroll 15: Giant Water Bug and Competition. Final thoughts: Well considering that Kiramager’s “turned back into a kid” episode is, to quote one guy on Twitter, “the closest thing the show has to a bad episode”, this had a fairly low bar to clear. This episode managed to clear the bar not only be being totally hilarious, but by resolving its conflict quickly, as I’ve come to expect from this show. Also, the Gouraigers are continuing to win the show and I can’t wait to see how the Hurricanegers adapt to them now. |
Scroll 15: Giant Water Bug and Competition
This is Arakawa’s second episode for the series. And I’ll say now that watching this reminded me of this quote. Quote:
We open at night, on a full moon. Gouraijin is approaching a mountain, but this time, a new figure has joined them. The Megatagame, a robot built and piloted by Sargain. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EuJFrqQX...jpg&name=small The Gouraigers use the Plant Axe to destroy a mountain, to which Sargain decides to open his face to reveal his ant-self, speaking in his squeaky voice (there’s adding levity to a serious scene and there’s… this). And speaking of squeaky voices, we cut to Manmarva, who has gone from singing the Gouraigers’ praises to criticising their whole operation (This is subtle derailment. It gets worse). We get told that the Kasumi Bros requested he build a robot to their specifications in order to help them cut the small rock they got from the mountain into an even smaller rock. The Kasumi Bros examine the rock, before leaving, with Ikkou dismissing Sargain’s suggestion that he could manufacture it (“If that could be done, I would’ve done it already”), and failing to notice Chuzoobo (who is supposed to be grounded) running after them. The next day, the Hurricanegers fly over the debris, before reporting back to Hamster Headmaster, with Nanami revealing that the mountain used to be called “Ikazuchi Mountain” (of course). Hamster Headmaster then realises that the Kasumi Bros were after Shinobinium (when looking for a good name for your fake mineral, just add “inium” onto the end of a word), a mineral exclusive to the Ikazuchi Way, which was depleted through a mix of overuse (I can see why Isshu hated them) and scientists stealing the meteorite it came from. We then cut to a university, where the Kasumi Bros assault a professor and his assistant to take a small wedge of Shinobinium (How’d they find out it was there? Hell if I know). On the way out they are confronted by the Hurricanegers, with Yosuke asking what they want with the crystal. Ikkou reaffirms their goal to be the #1 Space Ninjas, with Isshu pointing out that they don’t care about the Earth because it’s going to rot anyway. When Yosuke tries to stop them, they zap him with Lightning from their hands (ass pull much? They haven’t even been hinted to have such a power) and escape to a cave, where they use the crystal to create a hologram of a Knight (played by Return of Ultraman’s Jiro Dan), while Chuzoobo looks on. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EuJFsiWW...jpg&name=small The hologram man begins to narrate how to unlock the final secret technique (ie. “that”), but gets disrupted after mention “the brave” by the crystal turning out to be a fake. Our heroes speak to the Professor at the university hospital, where he reveals that they were experimenting to try and manufacture the crystal (you know, the one thing Ikkou said he couldn’t do), the real crystal is in the energy research centre. As they wait, Yosuke states that despite the Kasumi Bros saying that they don’t care for the Earth, he believes there is still good in them (See what I mean about derailment? He already went through this arc 6 episodes ago and grew out of it) and wants to prove this through the power of their teamwork (which wouldn’t work. The Gouraigers would just dismiss your speech and then beat the crap out of you, either on the ground or in Gouraijin). The first half of the episode ends with Chuzoobo running to Tau Zant, to tell him what he discovered. As the Hurricanegers stand guard over the Shinobinium vault, Kouta wonders where that second pair of giant footprints at the ruins of Ikazuchi Mountain came from. As if on cue, Megatagame teleports down, with Sargain aiming to capture the Shinobinium. Since they need to fight him and protect the vault at the same time, the Hurricanegers form Senpuujin, with Nanami being given full control by Oboro, the Gatling Leo Shinobi Medal by Kouta and a chocolate coin from Yosuke. As the two robots clash (and Megatagame reveals that it has Lightning powers), the Kasumi Bros break into the vault and steal the Shinobinium, with Yosuke and Kouta racing to stop them. The former two shinobi change into the Gouraigers and beat the crap out of the latter two (see what I was talking about) as Megatagame begins to get the upper hand against Senpuujin. But things turn around after Nanami eats Yosuke’s chocolate, giving her the resolve to fight back using the spin gimmick on her dolphin arm (which works the same way as the Tategami Hurricane), befor summoning both Gatling Leo and Squid Attacker to form a new Karakuri Combo: Gatling Attacker https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EuJFr9mX...jpg&name=small At the same time, Yosuke gets propelled into Ikkou’s back by Kouta, allowing him to reclaim the crystal. The Gouraigers form the Double Gadget, but Ikkou’s newfound back problems make him unable to fire it, forcing Isshu to give chase alone. Nanami then destroys Megatagame with the Finish Trick: Hurricane Spiral, which, despite the weapon clearly being a drill, acts more like a gun (which makes me wonder why they didn’t just use Gatling Leo instead of pointlessly attacking the Squid Attacker to it. For that matter, how did Nanami know how to do that? At least with the Goat Hammer, they showed Oboro coming up with the idea and had her tell them about it. This is just lazy writing). The Megatagame explodes, with Sargain escaping and vowing to crush them with the next model (hopefully, it’s a lot more mobile than this one. Seriously, I wonder how the suit actor can even move in that thing). As the Hurricanegers celebrate their victory, an almost rabid Isshu attacks, trying to get the crystal back and avenge the Ikazuchi Way (I thought he hated those guys). It’s then that Ikkou recovers and fires the Double Gadget at the Hurricanegers… and his own brother Isshu!!! https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EuJFsQ1X...jpg&name=small Ikkou chides his brother for being weak and the two leave. The episode then ends with Chuzoobo approaching the Kasumi Bros in their cave (seriously, do they live there now? What happened to the gym? Why do they keep coming back there?) stating that Tau Zant wants to meet them. The next instalment teases the prophecy “When the brave defeats the brave at the fated hour, the final secret will be revealed.” (Make your own Kyoryuger joke. I’m too lazy). All this and more on Scroll 16: Mist and Prophecy Machine. Final Thoughts: So yeah, this episode wasn’t much better than Arakawa’s previous contribution to the series. The reason I used the quote was because this time, Arakawa is the older writer who’s output had been pretty bad, while everyone else has been comparatively fresh (Miyashita and Sakai, while more experienced, had only done episodes for one Sentai show each, while Maekawa was in the middle of his three year trial period), making the strengths of their scripts stand out compared to Arakawa’s weaknesses. One thing in particular I would change would be to get rid of the Megatagame altogether and just have Isshu pilot Gouraijin alone, contrasting with Nanami piloting Senpuujin alone. Not only would it allow the Hurricanegers to gain a much needed victory over the Gouraigers, but it would add greater impact to Ikkou shooting his own brother for weakness than the cheap shock value it ultimately was. Luckily, Miyashita will be doing the rest of the arc this episode started, so I have hope this is just the slow start to a great arc. |
Gotta say, while I am lacking alot of context having not see the show, it is interesting to read how you'd go about the plots.
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The Mist and the Prophecy Device
Last time, the Kasumi Bros went to great lengths to recover a specific crystal to power their hologram device. This is what happens next. At Ninja base, our heroes are wondering why the Gouraigers went out of their way to get a hold of the Shinobinium, with Hamster Headmaster figuring that they need it as a power source. Yosuke then declares that he’s sick of the Gouraigers whooping their asses and intends to make sure they get defeated once and for all the next time they meet (where was this Yosuke last week? It’s much more in line with his recent development than that episode), a sentiment the others agree with. At the Centipede, the Gouraigers reveal the message from the Hologram Man, along with its next chapter: “At the end of the world, when the brave defeats the brave, Ninja’s ultimate secret technique will appear. Tau Zant scans the device and asks the Gouraigers who the braves in the prophecy are, to which Isshu answers that the prophecy refers to the Hurricanegers being defeated by the Gouraigers (and now it’s the Kasumi Bros’ turn to have a “pride before the fall” moment”). As soon as the two leave, Tau Zant speaks to Chuzoobo in private. As the rogue Ikazuchi Ninjas discuss their plans to conquer the universe, Chuzoobo appears to offer his strongest monster to end the world for them to fulfill the prophecy. The two are (rightfully, given Chuzoobo’s track record) sceptical, pointing out that he’s said that before all his other failures, yet Chuzoobo somehow convinces them to go along with it. We then cut to a brother and sister, who happen upon the machinations of said strongest Ninja, Mist-Spitting Ninja Kirkirimaishi. Kirikirimaishi sprays everyone except the two kids with mists that alter their emotions, generating Minus Energy that he collects in his shell. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EuTML4HX...jpg&name=small The Hurricanegers arrive on the scene to face the threat, with the brother, Shohei, getting excited at all the Ninjas showing up (that includes the Gouraigers). In the midst of the battle with Kirikirimaishi, he uses his Uchuu Ninpo: Kirigakure to escape, while the Gouraigers make their appearance, intending to finish things once and for all. Once more, the fight is almost hilariously one-sided, with Isshu countering Yosuke’s Chou Ninpo: Soragake with his own Chou Ninpo: Kibagaki, while Isshu defeats Kouta’s Chou Ninpo: Mai Jishi and Nanami’s Chou Ninpo: Suiryuha. The Hurricanegers are then chased through the factory they’re fighting at by Kirikirimaishi, who eventually chases them into a clearing. After they push his buttons, he leaps down and does battle with them (I’m beginning to think Chuzoobo’s standards for “strongest ninja” are incredibly low). They dispel his mist with their group technique, Sanmitai: Triple Hurricane, before beating him in a fight and destroying him with the Dry Gadget. Ikkou is ready to just crush the 3 with Gouraijin, before Kirikirimaishi revives as a giant, drawing their attention. When Senpuujin is formed to face him, he transforms into his shell to fight back. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EuTMMMXX...jpg&name=small The Gourai Machines approach, but Gourai Beetle comes to a halt when Ikkou receives the final page of the prophecy from the device (conveniently): The brave will be defeated, which despite being vaguely worded, makes Ikkou stop as he processes that Tau Zant and Chuzoobo knew this, while Gourai Stag also stops as Isshu is confused by his brother’s hesitation. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EuTMMcYW...jpg&name=small Back to the battle, where Senpuujin Hurrier knocks Kirikirimaishi back to normal, before defeating him with the Sword Slasher. It’s at that point that Ikkou gets out of his funk, and forms Gouraijin, which summons the Plant Axe. As the two robots battle, observed by the two kids, Chuzoobo zaps Kirikirimaishi’s broken shell, which is still filled with minus energy. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EuTMM2jX...jpg&name=small The shell then disrupts the battle by exploding, creating a portal which sucks the 5 warriors and two kids inside. Tau Zant then declares that he’s giving the Gouraigers a special battleground that he prepared for them. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EuTMbvQX...jpg&name=small https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EuTMbvNW...jpg&name=small Our heroes then wake up on an island, whereupon they stumble upon the Gouraigers, who declare that this will be their battleground, with the two kids looking on. The episode ends with an evil laugh from Tau Zant. Next time: Ikkou battles… Isshu? And “that” is about to be born. Plus, though it’s not in the trailer, the Uchuu Ninja File tells us that Kirikirimaishi’s dad will be in the next episode, “Scroll 17: Darkness and the Island of Fights to the Death” (way to spoil that last one, narrator). Final thoughts: As the start of this show’s first real multi-parter, I’m a bit reluctant to give my opinions on the plot on its own. Though I will say that I did enjoy this episode a lot more than the last one. And I am intrigued as to who the braves in the prophecy really are. |
Scroll 17: Darkness and the Island of Battles to the Death
(Man, that’s a long title) When we last left the Hurricanegers, their latest battle with the Gouraigers was interrupted when the minus energy gathered by Chuzoobo’s latest warrior Kirikirimaishi sent them into another dimension, on an island. Isshu assumed it would be the site of their final battle, but Ikkou has darker ideas. Also, two kids are there. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EudDCxLW...jpg&name=small Back on Earth, Oboro struggles to locate our trio of heroes, while HH notes that the dark clouds are sucking all the light and heat from the Earth (though it hasn’t begun to have any effect yet). Back on the island, the Hurricanegers find the Kasumi Bros, with Isshu (whose voice seems to have gain an octave, while still being as raspy as ever) expositions the prophecy which he has taken to mean the Gouraigers will defeat the Hurricanegers, while Ikkou remains silent. The two sides shinobi change and do battle, with the two reds having a gunfight, while KuwagaRaiger knocks HurricaneBlue back with HurricaneYellow’s Gyro Shuriken, before throwing the latter aside with Cho Ninpo: Kiba Inazuma (which lets him generate erm, Lightning from the fangs on his head). But at a crucial moment, Ikkou gets distracted by the prophecy, allowing Yosuke to overpower Isshu, before the Hurricanegers FINALLY (sweet, sweet catharsis) get one up on the Gouraigers, blasting them with the Triple Gadget and hitting them back with their swords. But it’s then that Chuzoobo shows up with his latest warrior, Island Ninja Girigirigaishi, father to Kirikirimaishi (I’ll just call him Papa G). https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EudDCxTX...jpg&name=small Papa G then engages the Hurricanegers top with a group of Magerappas, while back at the Centipede, Sargain asks why they’re bothering with a monster when the Gouraigers are this close to killing the Hurricanegers. (That would be a good question, but…) Tau Zant and Chuzoobo then reveal that the prophecy doesn’t refer to the two groups when it mentions two braves. Ikkou takes this opportunity to begin attacking a confused Isshu, much to the Hurricanegers’ equal confusion (Nanami suggests it might be sibling rivalry). Back in our dimension, the power and heat begins to vanish (there it is), while elsewhere on the island, the kids recoil from a pocket of gas. Speaking of gas pockets, another one appears near the battlefield, with Papa G deciding to throw the Hurricanegers into it. But they escape and kick a Magerappa in their place… causing its face to turn green. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EudDCy-X...jpg&name=small The green Magerappa begins to attack all of the others, causing Yosuke and Nanami to realise that the gas removes all conscience, rendering people who breath it in mindless and berserk. It’s at this point the two kids show up, only to be caught between three gas pockets (of course!). In a rare display of humanity, Ikkou stops fighting to push them out… only to be hit by all three gas pockets, breathing in a large amount and getting the same green face as the Magerappa. (And in turn, drops the prophecy device, causing Isshu to realise that Ikkou knows something he doesn’t). https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EudDC2mW...jpg&name=small As Ikkou begins to attack his brother once more, the Hurricanegers stop fighting and save the latter. Isshu is non too pleased to have been rescued by Hayate Way students (where’s the thank you for saving your ungrateful hide?), before playing the final part of the prophecy, with Hologram Man revealing the full thing: the brave will be defeated by one born from the same darkness (onaji yami), which Kouta and Nanami realise is a corruption of “same parents” (onaji oya). Isshu then smashes the machine, identifying the Hologram Man as his father, who he declares to be “worse than Jakanja”, because he cared more about “that” than the lives of his sons. The episode (and the first third of the series) ends with the Hurricanegers in shock, Ikkou and Isshu calling each others’ names, the heat and light going out in Ninja base, the two kids still lost on the island and Tau Zant gloating that Earth is now corrupted enough for “that” to be born. To be continued in Scroll 18: Father and Sibling Bonds. Final thoughts: Again, I doubt I can give a conclusive look at the storyline as a whole until it ends. Though I will say, the end of the episode really gave me chills. I will say that the two kids are starting to get annoying, considering their biggest contribution in this episode is to drive Ikkou to madness and Isshu to angrish. Not the best look. |
Scroll 18: Father and Sibling Bonds
Here we are, at the end of this arc. Not much to say for the preface, except for the fact that the next post I do will be tomorrow, since over in Japan, it will be what is unofficially known as “Ninja Day”. With that said, on with the review. Last time, the Hurricanegers and Gouraigers, along with a pair of kids, were transported to an island made by Kirikirimaishi’s father Papa G. The island produced gas, which contaminated Ikkou, driving him crazy. Isshu then revealed that the hologram man telling them the prophecy was his (and Ikkou’s) abusive father. Here’s what happened next. As the crazed Ikkou continues to roam the island, Isshu deposits about his father to the Hurricanegers (and by extension, the audience). Kasumi Ikki was a man who wanted to be a Gouraiger, but he was deemed too unstable due to his penchant for gratuitous murder on missions (He’d make a great dark fic writer) and only sent on really dangerous missions. He also treated his sons like crap, beating them up until they hated him so that they’d associate fighting enemies with hatred. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EurQNqsX...jpg&name=small https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EurQNqpX...jpg&name=small https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EurQNqvX...jpg&name=small (Worth noting that the kid playing Isshu in these flashbacks is Sion Tsuchida, who grew up to be JK in Fourze. He’s also fluent in English and confirmed that the catchphrase translates as “Space is here”, not “It’s space time” or “blast off”). While on a mission to the Egypt soundstage, Ikki saw a meteor shower which gave him knowledge of “that”. Ikazuchi was horrified enough to destroy all knowledge of it (explaining why the Kasumi Bros said there was nothing about “that” in Ikazuchi Valley), but Ikki kept a copy of the information for himself (explaining how the Gouraigers knew about it). He then created Shinobi Suits, Gourai Changers, Shinobi Machines and a prophecy device for his sons to use to find that, before going and getting himself killed on his next mission (what’s it suicide or just him getting sloppy? You decide). The Hurricanegers call him out on still listening to the asshole’s will after all he did for them. To which Isshu yells at them to shut up, saying that they don’t know him and pointing out that Ikki was still his dad and that his hatred of Ikazuchi stems from them driving his father to death (no, I think that was his own hubris). After two cutaways, one to the two kids and one to Oboro and Hamster Headmaster trapped by the cold (with a hint that Hamster Headmaster serves a higher power who he was talking to on the phone from episode 5), we get back to the story. Isshu states that he can’t bear to see his brother like this, so he wants to kill him to put him at ease, not caring if “that” gets released in the process. The others point out that Ikkou likely intended for Isshu to kill him in clear conscience, which is why he breathed in the gas. They then introduce themselves by name (which is a nice touch, since they actually haven’t shown that the Kasumi Bros know or care who the Hurricanegers are outside of the Shinobi Suits) and vow to help save Ikkou from his father’s influence. Speaking of Ikkou, as he begs for Isshu to find and kill him (compete with a great shot showing his face behind the helmet), he is instead found by Chuzoobo, who suggests he breathe in more of the gas and find KuwagaRaiger. As Isshu, Yosuke, Nanami (or to use her apparent stage name, Nana-chan) and Kouta race to find Ikkou, only to be interrupted by Papa G. To get by him, the 4 do our first 4 man Shinobi Change and pose. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EurQNqsX...jpg&name=small And then Isshu initiates a new Chou Ninpo. Yonin Kage no Mai (which is the same as the regular version, but with KuwagaRaiger). https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EurQTh_X...jpg&name=small This weakens Papa G to the point that the Hurricanegers kill him easily with the Triple Gadget, restoring power and light to the world and allowing for a brief bit humourous conversation with Oboro. But the explosion alerts Ikkou to their location, causing him to charge in and attack his brother, leaving the Hurricanegers to face Chuzoobo. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EurQTh_X...jpg&name=small During this fight, we actually get some really good “mental world” images showing both Ikkou and Isshu’s inner turmoil during this fight. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EurQTh_W...jpg&name=small https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EurQTiBX...jpg&name=small Despite his reluctance, Isshu steels his resolve and begins to fight seriously. (And I do apologise for the shakiness of this photo) https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EurQb5TX...jpg&name=small As the fight gets to the point where Ikkou is about to land the death blow, the two kids show up. They beg Ikkou not to do it, stressing that he’s obviously a good person (dear god, not this again) because he saved them from the gas (okay, that’s actually a good argument for once). Isshu states that he didn’t do it for their sake and we see through a flashback that both sides have a point. Ikkou saved the two because they reminded him of the better times he and Isshu had when they were kids. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EurQb5ZX...jpg&name=small This calms Ikkou down enough for him to revert to normal and acknowledge that Kasumi Ikki was ultimately more pathetic than awesome (quite right). Chuzoobo is so taken aback hat the Hurricanegers get the drop on him and force him to retreat. An angry Tau Zant curses the Gouraigers, but states that there will be other ways to get “that”. Chuzoobo then enlarges Papa G, with both sides summoning their Mecha, with Oboro and Hamster Headmaster getting as excited as the audience probably were when this episode first aired. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EurQb5TX...jpg&name=small Papa G tries hitting them with his Uchuu Ninpo: Hi no Mori (for an idea of what it does, think of that bear from those old PSAs). Both Senpuujin and Gouraijin prove that old adage right by extinguishing the flames, before defeating Papa G for good with Gouraijin’s Daikaiten Todoroke Giri and Senpuujin Hurrier’s Hurrier Dangan Giri. The kids celebrate, but without Papa G to maintain it, the island begins to fall apart. Ikkou saves the kid as the two giants walk home. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EurQb5YX...jpg&name=small Back at the Centipede, Tau Zant zaps Chuzoobo for his failure, but he doesn’t fall to the floor. And speaking of things not falling to the floor, Floaty-Head is missing. Turns out that he’s going to a private room wherein he creates a cocoon to surround himself, as he begins to feel sleepy (what’s happening. The Narrator only says that something strange is happening to him. Which doesn’t help reassure me.) https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EurQhLBX...jpg&name=small Next time: Chuzoobo unleashed a full assault and a new robot the narrator identifies as GouraiSenpuujin debuts. All this and more in “Scroll 10: The Box and the Wind Thunder Giant”. Final thoughts on this arc: After a rough start with episode 15, this storyline really kicked into gear with episode 16. We learned quite a bit about the Gouraigers which would normally diminish their menace and intrigue somewhat. But the show manages to resolve that problem by having them change sides and join with the heroes. And it actually feels a lot more natural than most other redemptions in Sentai and Rider in recent years (in particular, other shows by the same producer as Hurricaneger, Hideaki Tsukada) mostly because instead of beating them over the head that they were supposedly good people beneath all the irredeemable acts they commit, most of their acts are generally mild in threat and they realise on their own that being evil is a bad thing the moment they actually come close to doing something truly irredeemable. Also, can we all agree Kasumi Ikki is confirmed worst dad in Toku? |
Scroll 19: The Big Box and the Wind-Thunder Giant
(And I thought episode 17 had a long title) It’s the 22nd of February, which to some people in Japan is Ninja Day. To celebrate that, I thought I’d bring this week’s first review up a day. Here we go with the epilogue to the island battle arc, written by Atsushi Maekawa. We begin with the Hurricanegers assured that the Kasumi Bros are now their friends, a notion which Ikkou quickly rids them of. Isshu points out that just because they worked together against the Jakanja, it doesn’t make them friends. Isshu states that they’ll defeat Jakanja by themselves before pulling out. At the Ninja base, Oboro analyses Gouraijin and comes up with a new idea. At the Centipede, as Floaty Head is found in his cocoon and the girls renounce their Gouraiger worship, Sargain sees Chuzoobo pulling out a scroll and reacts with shock (even though it looks like every other scroll he uses to grow his monsters). Yosuke tails the Kasumi Bros to a beach, where they operate a mechanism disguised as sea shells (very clever, I’ll admit) to summon the travel sphere from episode 8. But Chuzoobo destroys the sphere and challenges the two to a fight. They Shinobi Change, but Chuzoobo uses his Uchuu Ninpo: Hako Jigen to trap them in the dimension box on his back. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Eu0ynC4X...jpg&name=small https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Eu0ynC6W...jpg&name=small Yosuke tries to attack, but gets pushed aside and told to wait his turn. Chuzoobo then retreats to a waterfall to meditate, allowing him to inflict all manner of illusionary attacks on the Gouraigers inside the box. (Props to the costume department for removing it for these scenes) https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Eu0ynujW...jpg&name=small The Kasumi Bros and Chuzoobo reiterate their mutual hatred of each other, before mentioning their latest transgressions: trying to destroy the former twos’ sibling bond and costing the Jakanja “that” respectively. The Hurricanegers find the real Chuzoobo and try to attack him, but he summons a never ending army of Magerappa from the ground. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Eu0yny6X...jpg&name=small Luckily, Nanami uses her Sonic Megaphone to banish them back into the ground (unless a later episode brings it up, they’re still down there presumably). Chuzoobo then disrupts their attempts to blast him with the Triple Gadget using his Uchuu Ninpo: Kyodai Ni no Yari. But they survive and attack the necklace on his body, freeing the Kasumi Bros from their torment. After a brief scene where the Hurricanegers tell the Gouraigers that they don’t have to go it alone, we get our first group role call and shot of the Earth Ninjas standing side by side (which easily trumps last week’s shot of the two Karakuri Giants standing side by side). https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Eu0ynzoX...jpg&name=small After some coordinated attacks, both groups assemble their weapons and aim at Chuzoobo. But he has one last trick up his sleeve: a technique that allows him to take control of the Hurricanegers and force them to aim at the Gouraigers. Ikkou decides not to shoot and risk hurting them, which Chuzoobo takes as a sign of weakness but the Hurricanegers state is a sign that he’s not a bad guy anymore. The Hurricanegers hold off on attacking long enough to resist and let Ikkou get a shot in on Chuzoobo. Now fully freed, both groups fire their weapons, creating a combined ball of fire and thunder. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Eu0yn3BX...jpg&name=small But Chuzoobo survives, having Sargain hand the scroll from earlier to Wendinu so she can fire it. It turns out to be necessary for the Uchuu Ninpo: Yami Majin Damashii Shokan no Jutsu, which increases the user’s strength, but greatly shortens their lifespan (kind of like the Barba Extract in Gingaman). https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Eu0yobTX...jpg&name=small Both groups summon their Shinobi Machines and combine, but nothing they do can so much as scratch Chuzoobo. Not the Axe Cutter, not the Sword Slasher and not even the Gatling Attacker (if only it worked like it was meant to). Oboro then sends both Yosuke and Ikkou a new Shinobi Medal, which she says will allow them to combine as one. After some hesitation, everyone agrees, summoning the two new Karakuri Balls 07: FuraiHead and 08: FuraiKnuckle… https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Eu0yodiX...jpg&name=small Which then combine to form the Karakuri warrior Furaimaru, who in a first for Sentai Mecha (but by no means a last) is capable of speech. He bids that the two robots do a Pathway Transcendent Wind-Thunder Combination (Ryuuhachozetsu Furai Gattai) with the command of “Fu! Rai! Go! Ha!” https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Eu0yogIX...jpg&name=small Furaimaru: The winds start up a tempest. The clouds part and thunders roar. When Hayate and Ikazuchi come together, the crescent moon head is authorised by providence. GouraiSenpuujin, on stage! (If you think the speech sounds familiar, than it’s because it doesn’t. Furaimaru in Gokaiger doesn’t have his voice processed.) https://youtube.com/watch?v=HNKY4eAsWLU https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Eu0yoiPX...jpg&name=small And to celebrate the new combination, a new insert song by Akira Kushida plays. https://youtube.com/watch?v=sV583CtaXGw Chuzoobo is not impressed and tries attacking with his staff… which leads to it snapping in two (which gave the Power Rangers version of this episode a really funny conversation. I suggest you watch it to see for yourself). https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Eu0ypE5W...jpg&name=small Furaimaru then has the two groups perform the Hissatsu Ougi: Rolling Thunder Hurricane, unleashing their full power on Chuzoobo, who had decided to brute force the mecha. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Eu0ypHYW...jpg&name=small Fatally wounded by the blast, Chuzoobo declares his loyalty to Jakanja before exploding. Furabijo throws his page out, showing that she passed him, while Sargain acknowledges him as a worthy warrior in the end. Tau Zant says nothing and Floaty Head doesn’t come out of his shell to say anything. We then cut back to the ground, ending the episode with the reveal that the Kasumi Bros have gone off on their own again, with the main takeaway being at least they’re not working with Jakanja anymore. Next time: Yosuke and Ikkou butt heads, a mysterious cloaked figure joins Jakanja and we debut a combination of the Double and Triple Gadgets. All this and more on Scroll 20: Punch and Rival. Final thoughts: I do like that the redemption of the Kasumi Bros isn’t painted as them becoming full good guys, and Chuzoobo did get a very epic last stand. Also, Furaimaru is my new candidate for best character in the show. |
Scroll 20: Punch and Rival
Not much to say here. Just that this is another Sakai episode. Moving on to the review. The episode opens with Ikkou and Isshu discussing what they do now (Gee Brain, what are we going to do today? I have no idea Pinky). Isshu states his desire to defeat the Jakanja and reestablish Ikazuchi as the best (no change there), but Ikkou wonders if they have the right, considering they were helping Jakanja (nice to see there’s some actual angst involved there), though he states he no longer desires to be the best ninjas in space. He states that he’s leaving to find his resolve. At Ninja Base, our trio celebrates their victory over one enemy and manage to leave before they can be scolded for being lax to work their respective jobs. But over at the Centipede, Tau Zant has news that distresses even the other Spears. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EvBI0lOX...jpg&name=small https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EvBI0lQX...jpg&name=small Scared shitless at this possibility, Sargain and the two Kunoichi decide to corrupt the Earth before he can get there. Back on Earth, Yosuke gets a job working at the docks (Looks like he finally told his old boss where she can stick his job) and just so happens to run into Ikkou (cue Scar from the Lion King getting horrified). Yosuke’s attempts to start a conversation amount to little result, even when the two start a competition to see who can carry the most sandbags (Ikkou is clearly winning in that regard). Ikkou then states he considers Yosuke a lazy guy who’s only made it his far due to dumb luck (That’s certainly true in some regards). Meanwhile, Sargain unleashes a new Puppet for the first time since episode tw-EIGHT. Disaster Ninja Kangaroulette. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EvBI0lUX...jpg&name=small Kangaroulette’s gimmick is that he forces people to play a roulette game which has 6 effects that he uses to attack: water, fire, thunder, earthquake, bomb and old man. Our two reds feel his earthquake and run to the scene. After calling their allies in, they transform and fight. But it turns out Kangaroulette can respond to their attacks with an equivalent from his wheel. Ikkou figures this out and stops Yosuke’s attack so he can absorb the thunder attack with his Ikazuchimaru to perform the Ikazuchi-Ryu Kengi: Raigeki-zan. This attack hurts Kangaroulette enough to flee, but the way Ikkou went about achieving it causes him and Yosuke to come to blows, which are only stopped by Kouta, Nanami and Isshu showing up. Back at the Centipede, Floaty-Head’s cocoon begins to glow, while Kangaroulette gets an upgrade: a pair of new gloves (and here I thought GoKiramager was a letdown) https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EvBI14xX...jpg&name=small https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EvBI0lXX...jpg&name=small Our 5 heroes make their way to where Kangaroulette is attacking with his upgraded powers, which allow him to channel his attacks into flying fists (I take it back. This is way better than GoKiramager). The two groups decide to hit him with their respective gadgets, but get deflected. Sargain, Wendinu and Furabijo have arrived, with the latter using her Elegant Barrier to protect the puppet. A fight breaks out, with Yosuke facing Kangaroulette, Nanami and Kouta going against Sargain (and losing), while Ikkou and Isshu face the two Kunoichi, who once more attack with special effects, with Wendinu making her sword fly along on strings, while Furabijo uses a ridiculously long tongue. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EvBI14nX...jpg&name=small As Yosuke is on the verge of losing and Oboro is frantically searching for a new element to send him, the former reiterates that he works hard because he had it easy in becoming a hero, while Ikkou looks on. It’s at that point that the element of thunder shows up on the Hayatemaru, which Yosuke uses to absorb Kangaroulette’s thunder attack to perform the Chou Ninpo: Raigeki-zan. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EvBI14uX...jpg&name=small After this, the villains all crowd behind Furabijo’s Elegant Barrier, to which Ikkou suggests they combine their Gadgets, forming the Victory Gadget. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EvBI14uW...jpg&name=small The new weapon shatters the barrier and kills Kangaroulette, but Wendinu creates a Copy Giant of him (also bringing back something that’s been sorely missing since episode 8). Our heroes summon their robots and deploy their Sword Slashers, but when neither can scratch Kangaroulette, they combine into GouraiSenpuujin and destroy him (and Furaimaru gets a slightly modified speech. That’s what happens when you can actually put in the effort to bring the actor back). In the Centipede, Floaty-Head’s cocoon burst open to reveal something, as a figure covered in gunk approaches Tau Zant, who has been waiting for him. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EvBI7t5X...jpg&name=small Back with the heroes, Yosuke thanks Oboro for the help, but she insists she wasn’t able to do anything and is surprised as he is to find out they can do the Raigeki-zan. As the Kasumi Bros take their leave, Nanami and Kouta rag on about them, while Yosuke realises that Ikkou called him by name. Ikkou then explains to Isshu that HE gave the Raigeki-zan to Yosuke because sometimes you deserve to have it easy (that’s a pretty good lesson there). Back at the Centipede, the returning Spears find somebody new waiting. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EvBI7uFX...jpg&name=small Sargain wonders if he’s the Sixth Spear, but Furabijo realises there’s something familiar about him. So the hooded figure clears things up. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EvBI7txX...jpg&name=small https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EvBI7t0X...jpg&name=small (Holy crap, Motordrone was Manmarva?) Manmarva (The nickname no longer works, so I’ll stick to the SS/HaroRanger romanisation) states that the Sixth Spear is still coming and Tau Zant says that when he arrives, Earth will be corrupted. The trailer for the next episode, “Masks and Riddles” gives us a good glimpse at said Sixth Spear, along with his name and voice (provided by Bin Shimada, a VA known for simultaneously only having one voice and having an impressive range). https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EvBI_APX...jpg&name=small Final thoughts: This was a pretty good episode. I said that I loved the way they handled the Gouraiger redemption compared to other more recent Sentai redemptions and this episode continues that. I like that Yosuke has to actually earn their respect and comradeship rather than having them hit it off instantly. And Manmarva’s new look (and voice) are a definite upgrade to his old ones. |
Scroll 21: Masks and Riddles
This is another Arakawa episode. If you’ve been following this thread, you’ll know that I had a personal distaste for his previous contributions to Hurricaneger. Will he continue that streak, or will he impress me? Let’s find out. (Key: words in italics are in English) To start with, our titles have been updated to add Manmarva and Satarakura. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EvQighSX...jpg&name=small https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EvQighSW...jpg&name=small We begin with Wendinu doing her makeup to look good in front of the Sixth Spear when he shows up. Furabijo on the other hand, is slightly sceptical about his character. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EvQighkX...jpg&name=small Tau Zant assures her that he’s destroyed thousands of planets (the bad guys in Power Rangers SPD say the same thing about their monsters of the week, so that’s not very reassuring). Wendinu then notices Manmarva is gone. Sure enough, he’s in the city, walking through a crowd who are for reasons the episode doesn’t explain (I assume it’s to do with the cloak, since they start seeing him once he takes it off) can’t be seen by anyone. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EvQigmVX...jpg&name=small We then see the Hurricanegers at the batting cage (From here to San Diego, talkin soooftball), on a feeling Nanami had (Its called foreshadowing). As they decide to invite the Kasumi Bros, Manmarva notes that they’re not here and move on. At a construction site where Ikkou and Isshu have found work, they sense something. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EvQihj4X...jpg&name=small After some jackassery, Manmarva throws off his cloak so we can get a good look at his new bod. (And Ikkou and Isshu get a good look at his new look) https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EvQihiiX...jpg&name=small Manmarva identifies himself and announces that he’s going to make the duo pay for tricking him into thinking they were the other two Spears. A fight breaks out, but the Gouraigers are on the receiving end of a beatdown, which ends with Mamnmarva punching Ikkou so hard, the image of a scorpion briefly appears on his chest (if this whole being evil thing doesn’t pan out, he could always start a tattoo parlour). He then comments that the Grim Reaper is smiling on Ikkou before leaving. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EvQihlNW...jpg&name=small Back at the Centipede, Sargain, Wendinu and Furabijo think the Sixth Spear is here… but it’s just Manmarva. But Manmarva then says that the Sixth Spear ‘is’ here. As everyone looks around, presents appear from nowhere, addressed to the universe’s cutest girl Furabijo, the universe’s greatest beauty Wendinu, the universe’s greatest genius Sargain and the universe’s greatest prophet Manmarva. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EvQihq9W...jpg&name=small Furabijo, Wendinu and Sargain all open the gifts (Manmarva, like me, has seen what’s coming)… and all end up with pie in their faces (and Sargain opened his faceplate for this), much to the amusement of a newcomer in a silly outfit (and that’s saying something, because he already looks pretty flamboyant). https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EvQiiXBX...jpg&name=small https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EvQiiYZW...jpg&name=small The newcomer reveals that he set the whole thing up for “Space Candid Camera”, and after showing a replay, addresses Tau Zant as ‘Taza-yan” (yan being an old-fashioned honorific, similar to Isshu referring to his brother as ‘Ani-jan’), much to everyone’s shock. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EvQiiZmX...jpg&name=small The newcomer then introduces himself (again, if you saw last week’s next time trailer) as the Seven Dark Spears’ Sixth Spear, Satarakura (portmanteau of Saturday and Sakura (cherry blossoms)). https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EvQiicWX...jpg&name=small Satarakura then states that his MO is having fun while doing evil, chiding Manmarva for not opening his gift (maybe you shouldn’t have tried pulling a fast one on a guy who can see the future. Just saying), being a boring stiff. He then prepares his plan. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EvQijOhX...jpg&name=small Elsewhere, the Kasumi Bros share their encounter with the Hurricanegers. As Yosuke is laughing about them losing to Manmarva (apparently, they left out the part where he isn’t a Floaty-Head anymore). Ikkou feels pain in his chest (it wasn’t that sick a burn. Man up) as scorpions emerge from his trousers (man, that’s an unsanitary construction site if they have scorpions) and Nanami and Kouta feel pain all of a sudden. It’s then that a new monster appears: Mirage Ninja Jin-Giron. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EvQijRvX...jpg&name=small Hamster Headmaster wakes Oboro up from her nap to send the Shinobi Machines (well, it’s more in character than he was in episode 12). As Senpuujin attacks, Jin-Giron vanishes and they hit a building. Ikkou states hat he knew it was a mirage because he couldn’t sense its presence. Satarakura then laughs at the irony of heroes of justice destroying a building. After stating that he’s a new commander (Shin Kanpuu) rather than a new member (Shinkansen), along with some other puns, he states that the real Jin-Giron is going around turning people into exclamation marks by surprising them, with over 1500 victims so far (the specifics of how he does this are not explained). Once he has 10000 exclamation marks, he can use them to create a bomb that will eradicate all life on Earth (I thought he was all about fun. This just seems needlessly complicated). Before the heroes can do anything, he traps them in a box. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EvQijTjW...jpg&name=small Satarakura then declares the start of his Quiz! Satarakura show, brought to you be the Jakanja: Corrupting planets and making children cry for 500 years. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EvQikFfX...jpg&name=small The rules of the game are simple. The contestants answer riddles given by the host. If they get one of the questions right, then he’ll tell them where Jin-Giron is making the bomb. But if they get all the questions wrong, then they’ll drop into hell. If any of them try to transform, then the room will explode. If any of the contestants try to help the one being asked the question, then it will be taken as cheating and result in a disqualification. Everyone of the Spears but Manmarva is sceptical that it could work. Question 1 goes to Ikkou: What has water on the top, but fire on the bottom? His answer: a flooded city with a fire at the underground mall (came on, really). Unsurprisingly, he’s wrong. The actual answer is a boiling pot. The floor opens slightly, revealing the pit of lava beneath them (convection, what’s that?) Question 2 is for Isshu, with Yosuke assured of his success because his name sounds like Ikyu (a monk famous for solving riddles). Kouta unsurprisingly calls him on his bullshit as the question is asked. “What food do you need to open the bag to eat?” Isshu answers with ‘Pan” (bread). While he is correct, he failed to answer it within the time limit (oh come on, now you’re just making up rules), so the floor angles slightly. At Ninja Base, Oboro is worried, as is Hamster Headmaster, as we learn just who he’s been talking to on his phone. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EvQikGcW...jpg&name=small (Note: Gozen is an old fashioned term of address for someone in authority. Either Master Gozen’s parents knew he was destined for greatness someday, or HH is attaching a meaningless honorific). In the middle of this, we cut to a mysterious shadowy figure at the same batting cage, who is in the process of shattering the world record. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EvQikH1X...jpg&name=small https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EvQikKxX...jpg&name=small Back with the quiz, Yosuke is the next to be asked a question: What food does Papa hate? As Oboro pressures Hamster Headmaster for an answer (even though that would technically be cheating), Yosuke answers with “papaya”. Which is… wrong. The answer is “it changes depending on the person”. The floor then slants all 5 towards the lava. As the Jakanja note how close this plan is to succeeding, Manmarva states that the best is yet to come. The episode ends with the shadowy figure shattering the record and the machine, causing it to show that it was programmed by Hoji Tomasu. “Super cool! Perfect” And speaking of Engrish. Shadowy figure: “Baby, I’m coming.” Next time, the heroes are possessed by something mid battle, with a new guy showing up to help. All this and more on Scroll 22: Wings and Ninja. Final thoughts: Way better than Arakawa’s previous efforts for this season. The new guy plays perfectly to Arakawa’s strengths as a writer and has an interesting enough gimmick to stand out from every other villain in the show. My main complaint is that the segment with Manmarva beating up the Gouraigers felt divorced from the rest of the episode tonally. But I assume that’s just setting up something later on. |
You know with how much Ninja Storm embraced its goofiness, I'm surprised the quiz show episode wasn't kept.
(unless it totally was and i just don't remember) |
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