[Androzani84]

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.

(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.



(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)



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.