[Androzani84]

Scroll 23: Perfume and Detective

Well this episode is another Miyashita one, and it introduces what I’ve been told is one of the main plots for this season. I’m also using it as an excuse to explain who the guest star for Den-O episode 15-16 is (Since I’m not doing live actors on Die’s thread for Den-O this time). With that said, on with the review.

We begin where last week left off, with our main trio wondering who this “Shurikenger” guy could be. Oboro can’t recognise what school he represents, but Yosuke is quick to dub him better than Ikkou and Isshu (I know they tried to kill you, but let it go man). Hamster Headmaster then reveals through an inner flashback that he found out the basic details of Shurikenger, but not his identity or school.



At the Centipede, things are as normal as they get around there… except for one thing.



Sargain insists they ignore him and get on with eliminating Shurikenger.



Wendinu compares him to a “weirdo who likes to make puns”. Speak of the devil, Satarakura appears with a gift that pleases the ladies (and aggravates Sargain’s sense of smell).



Tau Zant can tell that the perfume was made by Kira-Cologne, a monster of Satarakura’s based on hands (Jin-Giron was based on eyes). Sure enough, said monster is attacking the people, turning them into a chemical which will become perfume in 24 hours.



In the midst of this, we are introduced to this guy (played by Hayato Osuba, better known as Kenta Date/Mega Red.). He gladly takes on the case of Kira-Cologne… only to find that she vanished while he wasn’t looking.



Wendinu and Furabijo are suddenly more pleased by their gifts… until Satarakura reveal the truth.







And to add insult to injury, he unleashes a real space cockroach to attack them and Sargain (Some boss Tau Zant is, to be letting this all happen). In the city, the Hurricanegers investigate, with Kouta debuting Hayate-Ryu Ninpo: Inu Hana (which does exactly what you’d get if you translate it into English).



The guy from earlier then shows up and sees that they’re also on the case (Which is a bit of a stretch). He uses a card to introduce himself as the famous detective Taro Kakkio… who is starving and impoverished because no-one is hiring him. (To quote another show by the same producer, he’s half-boiled). Our trio, obviously, leave the nut alone and his attempts to tag along cause him to almost fall into a manhole (that’s what a high school education spent playing video games gets you). Kira-Cologne attacks a restaurant where all the staff and customers turn out to be the Hurricanegers and Gouraigers (the fate of the real staff is left undisclosed). They transform, Kira-Cologne summons the Magerappas and a fight breaks out. Midway through, Ikkou collapses suddenly.



This turns out to be why Manmarva was chanting before: it’s part of his current plan for revenge against KabutoRaiger (what about KuwagaRaiger? He diddled you just as much).



Taro then shows up and gets himself into trouble, eventually falling into the sewers. Nanami and Kouta go to help him, only to end up bottled by Kira-Cologne.



It’s then that Taro leaps up from out of the sewers, proceeding to deliver a beatdown to the Magerappas. Kira-Cologne is so dumbfounded that Ikkou is able to shoot her, even in his weakened condition.



Kira-Cologne then realises that she can simply succeed by leaving and waiting until the bottled humans turn into perfume. Yosuke tries to get frustrated, but Taro stops him (“Don’t worry. I know where she’s going.”)



Turns out he managed to get a tracking device on her before… using a baseball move with a broom (hmmm). He then leads them to a rundown warehouse, where they detect the essences behind an apparently solid wall. As Kira-Cologne appears to stop them, Taro steps forward (“I’m sorry.”) and attacks her, while still pretending to be a detective (“Don’t you believe me?”). He quickly gives this up and prepares to do something (“Attention please.”) before pulling something out of his pocket.



Ikkou (miraculously, considering he never saw it in the previous episode) recognises this as Shurikenger’s Shuriken Ball. (Buy the toys)

Taro then uses the ball to transform into Shurikenger. (And if you doubt that he’s really Mega Red, he does the Megaranger/In Space pose as he transforms)



Shurikenger and the Gouraigers hold off Kira-Cologne while Yosuke finds and frees the people and animals she captured. All but Nanami and Kouta, who Kira-Cologne uses as hostages to get everyone to drop their weapons before releasing them… and attacking our main 5. This ends up breaking Shurikenger’s “seal of anger”, allowing him to throw his vest off.



With a command of “Great Reversal! Face Change!”, he becomes Shurikenger Fire Mode, as his insert song (Shoko Fujibayashi’s one contribution to Tokusatsu songwriting in 2002) plays.

The newly empowered Shurikenger makes an announcement denouncing Kira-Cologne’s status as a ninja and giving himself a lengthier introduction.



Oboro is confused by this, while Hamster Headmaster recognises the name “Space Union Way” as Gozen’s name for a hybrid of Hayate and Ikazuchi. The fight resumes, with Shurikenger using his bat (now named the “Shuriken Zubatto” or “Shuriken’s Bat”, depending on the translation) as is to perform his special attack.





After hitting her with multiple burning softballs that push her outside, Shurikenger then does a more powerful version, which causes the balls (not that kind, you dirty devil) to disappear from in front of her and reappear above her. This defeats her for good.



Until Satarakura begs Wendinu to throw a Dekkamen, reviving Kira-Cologne as a giant. Tenkuujin initially handles the fight, before Senpuujin Hurrier (Manmarva chose now to attack Ikkou again, taking Gouraijin out of the equation) joins in, with the two combining their attacks to destroy the enemy for good. On the ground, while Ikkou recovers, Yosuke, Nanami and Kouta say how cool they think Taro is… before a second Taro emerges from the sewers, having been saved by “a green guy”.



The fake Taro then explains it to them.



He then turns back into Shurikenger and leaves. Taro vows to solve the case of Shurikenger’s identity… only to fall back into the sewers. The episode ends with Hamster Headmaster wondering if Shurikenger is Gozen (Which would certainly make sense, but we’ll have to see). Next time, Ikkou grapples with his own mortality and both Kasumi Bros go drumming (So it’s one of “those” episodes). All this and more on Scroll 24: Taiko and Lightning.

Final thoughts: This was a stronger debut to Shurikenger than last episode. I love the misdirect where we’re made to think that Mega Red will be playing him (especially since that’s how a lot of earlier Sixth Heroes were cast). And the intrigue angle is something I wish more Toku shows do, since it’s a simple yet impressive use of the full body costumes.