[Androzani84]

Seventh week, so let?s commence it with?

Timeranger Case File 07: Domon is Hospitalised, 26/03/2000

As stated before, I am deliberately not taking screenshots for episodes that don?t introduce a major plot element (be it a new character, a new toy or a new song) or development. This is not any indictment of the episodes in question. I will still be treating them like any other review.

Our episode begins with Domon despondent about how different things are to the 30th Century, such as the sky (I have to wonder what in both franchises caused the sky to turn pink in a thousand years). Tatsuya takes him out for ramen, where he reminisces about living with his grandparents and 6 siblings (Time Force may be focusing more on characterisation, but this one throwaway line gives Domon more going for him in 30 seconds than Katie?s got in 7 episodes), along with his pro-fighting days.

Meanwhile, Dolnero discovers that his current coffers are empty, due to Lila using their money to buy a fur coat that doesn?t exist in the 30th Century (Is the animal it came from extinct or something?), while Gien ponders his latest criminal.

In the middle of the night, Domon gets up, insisting he has to be at the stadium, since he has a match to take part in. After he heads to the stadium?s location and finds only a back alley, he collapses and Tatsuya sends him to the hospital, signing him in under the alias ?Taro Domon? (which makes me wonder what aliases he?s cooked up for Ayase, Yuri and Sion in similar situations), and sticks with him.

But by bad luck, Gien?s latest victim has taken over the hospital and brainwashed the doctors into his service. When Domon wakes up, Tatsuya explains his confusion as ?data drunkenness? as a side-effect of having information about he era downloaded into his brain, a brainwashed nurse comes in and hands him a bill? for 100 million yen (that?s roughly $651,346). Domon is taken into surgery and meets our criminal for the week, a Villainous Murderer Doctor by the name of Doku (har har), who Domon identifies as a ?living robot? (whatever that means), which doesn?t help his condition.

Tatsuya calls in the weirdness of the hospital to the others, and Tock identifies the likely suspect of Doku, who received 500 years in freezer-compression for murder by medical malpractice (meaning that that crime is far more severe than arson, bank robbery, kidnapping and murdering, bar brawling and three strikes put together. Bear that in mind)., through mangled surgeries. Doku proceeds to knock Domon out before taking him to surgery. Using a chainsaw! (Maybe 500 years was too lenient a sentence for this guy)

Fortunately, Tatsuya is saved by the others arriving and they burst into the surgery before it can begin. But Domon has regressed even further to childhood, worrying about being late for school. Tatsuya drags him after the others in chasing Doku, before losing patience and deciding to implore him to remember. And Domon does remember? that Tatsuya?s face is that of the guy who dragged him back here, resulting in his first thoughts being to turn to violence. Tatsuya stays behind to try and knock some sense into him, while the others go on.

Doku retreats to a warehouse near a quarry, where he gets found in no time at all (I?m guessing he spent precisely zero time at all finding a hiding spot. The three transform and engages in battle - much like Tatsuya is doing with Domon, who?s annoyed that he?ll probably never see his family again. Tatsuya tells him he has a right to be homesick, which actually succeeds in restoring him to normal. Domon then stares at the setting sun, being tearfully reminded of the scenery he could always see from his house.

Meanwhile, Doku gets the upper hand with the aid of his exploding syringes, and prepares to kill Ayase through a lethal injection of ?medicine?. But Tatsuya and Domon show up, having pre-stripped to their stock footage onesies, before equipping their suits to join the battle. Domon beats Doku back with his Vector Harley, before he and Tatsuya perform a double team ?Vector Hurricane?. Domon then finishes Doku off with his Vector Dividing attack, before the group blast him with the Voltech Bazooka.

But being a doctor, Doku isn?t afraid of side effects, and triggers a rebound to grow giant (The Timerangers really need to get their money back on the Voltech Bazooka. It hasn?t worked once). Tock calls for the TimeJets, and the heroes face Doku down in TimeJet Gamma (and we get a rare night battle as they do so, even though clouds are visible in the Gamma Tornado stock footage), before shifting to TimeRobo Alpha to finish him off. As Doku is freeze-compressed, Tatsuya explains that Domon?s actual affliction was homesickness, which Tock notes negatively affected his data drunkenness, with the episode ending wih Domon about to comically beat up Tatsuya, only to comically injure himself.

Next time: Yuri has to deal with an artist Tomorrow Research are hired to help protect from Lila, and her own trampling of his self esteem, in Timeranger Case File 08: An Artistic Explosion.

Final thoughts: It took seven episodes to get a story focused on Domon. Was it worth it? Well, kind of. The emotional core is there, but the criminal this week felt detached from the plot of Domon?s homesickness-induced hysteria. But I do appreciate them not going for any obvious cracks (if they?d even exist) at the expense of the Japanese healthcare system.