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Androzani84 Watches Hurricaneger, Part II: The Post Show Years
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05-23-2021, 09:27 AM
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Androzani84
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Join Date: May 2019
Posts: 2,528
Hikonin Sentai Akibaranger Season Tsuu, Episode 7: Delusional Spy
Okay, Akibaranger isn’t an official series and probably isn’t strictly necessary, but I got the idea to include it from someone who watched appropriate episodes at the end of his Sun Vulcan and Bioman rewatches. So, I’m doing the same. Now then, on to the summary of the premise.
Out of universe, Akibaranger is a show aimed at older fans (its slogan is “good little kids don’t watch”), with a lot more sexual and fourth wall breaking humour as a result. That said, it still exists to sell toys, specifically Tamashi Nation products, such as the Super Hero Figuarts line of Super Sentai figures. Now for the in-universe stuff.
"A tiny paradise amongst a sea of skyscrapers: Akihabara. There we find three warriors who believe pain is power and who fight battles that exist entirely in their heads. They are...Hikonin Sentai Akibaranger!"
For more detail, I’ll add the recap this episode provides here.
Characters
Nobuo Akagi/AkibaRed: A 30-year old Sentai otaku who lives with his mother and works as a delivery boy.
Luna Iwashimizu/AkibaBlue: An idol wannabe who joined the Akibarangers thinking they were a legitimate Sentai. When it turned out they weren’t, she refused to continue working unless they payed her regularly. She thinks she’s a Sentai expert, but compared to Akagi, she really isn’t.
Yuko Yokoyama (nee Yamada)/AkibaYellow: A professional cosplayer who draws lewd fan manga for Sentai in her spare time.
Allies
Hiroyo Hakase: Manager of a Sentai nostalgia cafe known as Cafe Himitsukichi (secret base) that the Akibarangers are based out of. Unbeknownst to everyone, she is the voice of in-universe anime magical girl Z-Cune Aoi (under the pseudonym “Shori Toyozuki”, an anagram of her birth name, Hiroyo Tsuzuki).
Kozkoz Mita: Hakase’s assistant who dresses up in a different Sentai costume every episode.
Neo Dimensional Brain Reconstructive Underground True Empire of Baros lol
Tsuu Shogun (Tsuu = pain, shogun = general): A Sentai villain fanboy, who has delusions of being a big bad (he even dresses as General Kar from Dynaman). He creates OC monsters based off past Sentai villain groups.
Marushiina (a play on the copyright logo, which is pronounced in Japanese as “maru c”): A holdover from the previous season’s villain group, Blatantly Evil Marketing Firm B (shortened to “Sutema Otsu”), who was picked up by Tsuu Shogun. Able to totally disguise herself perfectly as anyone else, even down to the voice.
And now, on with the review.
Having discovered that his delusions are actually happening and affecting reality (he never left his man cave long enough to notice in previous episodes), Tsuu Shogun then draws an image of the Akibarangers based off Marushiina’s descriptions.
In acknowledging that they aren’t the ultimate Sentai he wanted to defeat, Tsuu Shogun decides there must be someone else having delusions, but he’s going to defeat them all the same. We then cut to the opening in sequence, a three person song (a Triet?) sung by Halko, Gaoranger’s Yukio Yamagata and 80s Sentai singer MoJo.
And we then join our heroes, who are discussing what baros lol are after. They then get sidetracked by the appearance of a young girl dressed in an Angel costume with a bow and arrow.
She then fires the arrows at several otakus, causing their otaku hearts to be removed, causing all of them to decide to get real jobs.
When Akagi, Luna and Yuko confront her, she transforms into her true, monster form.
Luna recognises the logo on her chest as the emblem of Hurricaneger’s bad guys, the “Jankajanka”. As Akagi corrects her, the Ninja Commander (who is voiced by someone that a certain someone on the forum may have something of a familiarity with) introduces herself as Jakanja’s 10 Dark Spear’s Tenth Spear.
And Akagi assures you that I wasn’t making a typo with the name of the group.
The trio Juu Mousou to fight Hadezukin in the forest (yeah, whenever they enter a delusion, the location changes). During the battle, a pair of shadows awaken, but Luna notes that this isn’t a good thing, as they also have the “Jankajanka” logo. Their introductions aren’t any less reassuring.
“… Uchuu Ninja Uranused!”
“Uchuu Ninja, Poseidom!”
(I’ll mention here that in this season, none of the Delusion Legend Sentai are voiced by their original actors. Ikkou is voiced by Tomikazu Seki (because he’s in everything), while Isshu is voiced by Takeshi Kusao (Trunks from Dragon Ball).
Even someone as dumb as Luna can tell something is rotten in the state of Denmark.
Hadezukin thus explains that she stole their hearts of justice and devoured them.
Marushiina then tells Tsuu Shogun that she studied up on the Jakanja and gave the Gouraigers new names to match the others (well she didn’t do a good job of it. The Spears are all named after Saxon god (aside from Satarakura, who gets his from a Roman god), while the names she chose are from several different mythologies). Tsuu Shogun tells her that that’s not why he turned them evil. He turned them evil because he wanted an evil Sentai team (you get the feeling he’s a fan of the wrong franchise?)
He reveals that he created a yellow member to get over his frustration at this (I’m guessing he also read Bhaumik’s pitch for Hexagon, since that had a female yellow added to the Gouraigers). Annoyed, Marushiina passes his notes onto Hadezukin, who passes them onto her brainwashed comrades.
As the evil Gouraiger music kicks in, the three do their roll call.
“JakanRed, KabutoRaiger!”
“JakanBlue, KuwagaRaiger!”
“JakanYellow, TentoRaiger!” (Tento = ladybug)
All: “The Justice of Space is within us…”
(Ninchuu = portmanteau of ninja and konchuu (insect))
As Akagi and Yuko applaud this, the fight begins before the Akibaranger can do their roll call (Akagi was about to recommend Kakuranger as the best ninja series, the fiend). The Jakangers beat the stuffing out of the Akibarangers with little trouble, as Akagi asks why this is happening.
Akagi tries to appeal to the Gouraigers to remember, but it gets him nothing but a three-pronged beating, before all of his team are hit with Uchuu Ninpo: Final Crash. Luckily, Hiroyo calls for the delusion to be cancelled before they can die (for clarity, Hiroyo can cancel the delusion at any time, but this weakens the trio’s delusion power, so it’s only used as a last resort). Tsuu Shogun then calls Marushiina out for not holding back, since he wanted the Hurricanegers to appear.
Tsuu Shogun then notices his calendar changing midway through his rant.
It’s happening to the Akibarangers at the Sentai cafe as well.
Akagi knows why this is happening.
As he explains, the Seven Spears are named after days of the week (Sandaaru fro Sunday, Manmarva from Monday, Chuzoobo from Tuesday and so on). So with three new members representing the rest of the solar system (Pluto and Neptune are equivalents to Hades and Poseidon), the week has expanded to ten days. Luna is admiring this, until the others start pointing out the drawbacks.
Akagi is of coursed, distressed by this.
(I’m pretty sure it would exist. It just wouldn’t be episode 37)
Yuko and Luna are just as terrified for the wrong reasons.
But that’s not the worst of it, as all three days are incredibly anti-otaku (Tsuu Shogun didn’t think this plan through, did he?)
Men from the Kyoto Protocol, which was established to erase otaku from the Earth (that exists, but it doesn’t do that. It’s an environmental law) take away all of Hiroyo’s exhibits.
Akagi finds himself unable to sing “The Carefree Man’s Calisthenics” (which, while mentioned in Abaranger’s finale, I have no idea if that’s a real song). (Honestly, I think they could live with that one)
Yuko and Tsuu Shogun are both pursued by men in black suits, with the Akibarangers and the big bad both taking shelter in the same warehouse. And they don’t have the most tense meeting of the ages.
(To clarify, Akagi met Tsuu Shogun back in episode two at the karaoke bar, wherein the reality change was Dairanger being replaced as the 17th season with Akibaranger… which was cancelled after thirteen episodes due to low ratings and disastrous behind the scenes mishandling of the show).
Akagi then says that this is where poison gas comes in through the air vents. Gas does come in, but thankfully, it’s not poisonous. Less thankfully, it’s Hadezukin, dressed in a suit for some reason.
Tsuu Shogun is shocked to see TentoRaiger in the flesh, and even more shocked to find out that these three are the Akibarangers. He realises that since they’re using figurines of Z-Cune Aoi to enter the Delusion World, he can do the same with his own. The Akibarangers face the Jakangers once more, with Akagi and co trying to restore the Gouraigers’ hearts of justice through using Kakuranger techniques. It works about as well as you’d expect.
(Nobody tell him about Ninja Storm)
As Akagi ends up buried under rubble from a redirected attack, Tsuu Shogun enters the Delusion World and meets Marushiina in the flesh. And it’s not enough flesh for him.
Akagi is shocked when Hadezukin refers to him as “Tsuu Shogun-sama.”
Before the Jakangers can finish off Luna and Yuko, a voice calls out and interrupts them by arriving with a whoosh.
“That’s enough, Gouraiger!”
(Note that Yosuke and Kouta are voiced by the same guys as Ikkou and Isshu respectively. And despite Nao-chan being on the soundstage as Hadezukin, Nanami is voiced by Akiko Nakagawa (Bomper from Go-Onger).
The Hurricanegers initiate a Chou Ninpo: Kage no Mai to defeat the Jakangers. But they have a counter (which also disrupts the music in the background)
Luckily, Yuko is on hand with some arts supplies to give them more choices than regular Earth Ninpo.
(Come on Luna, you remember Shurikenger for that? Not his various absurd disguises, or his habit of speaking English? Come on, get with it)
Thus, Yosuke prepares to perform Shurikenger’s go to move.
But, he’s unable to even hit the ball (some power up that was). But the Jakangers get distracted by Yuko and Luna rescuing Akagi from his predicament during the fight.
This causes the Jakanja emblems to disappear, as Ikkou and Isshu regain their memories.
They explain that seeing the Akibarangers working with tools reminded them of how they had to work construction jobs because they had no money.
But before Tsuu Shogun can do anything, he gets pulled back into the real world by his delivery lady wanting him to sign a package. With the bad guys outnumbered, the heroes do their roll call.
Yosuke: Ninpuu Sentai…
Yosuke: …haas arrived.
Ikkou and Isshu: Dekousekka…
Ikkou and Isshu: …revealed!
And now we come to the Akibaranger roll call, which is a little unusual in that it’s different in every episode (the only official series to do that is Zenkaiger). First, Akagi gives his recommendation for a random topic…
(Come on, that’s your recommendation? She comes between two characters I fell are way more deserving of that title.)
Then Luna tries to go with Akagi’s role call… and fails miserably.
Then, while Akagi admonishes her, Yuko shares her adventures as a cosplayer.
Before Akagi interrupts and concludes the roll call with everyone reacting to the explosion (this time, they’re set on fire)
Hadezukin is out off by how unbalanced the fight is.
But Yosuke shuts her up by reciting the formula.
The Earth Ninja then combine their energies into a new Outrageous Power (the gimmick for this show’s two seasons), the Hurricane Ball.
Akagi throws this at Hadezukin, who, in case you’re not convinced she’s HurricaneBlue’s actress, dies quoting “Shinobi Koi”.
With her death, the calendar returns to normal and otakus return to reopened stores.
We then cut to a scene in the hospital, with a profiled nurse tending to an equally profiled patient (this will be important later on, just so you know).
Back at the Sentai cafe, everyone is suitably worried by the reveals and what could be coming next.
Sure enough, in his man cave, Tsuu Shogun has retooled TentoRaiger into his latest monster, who will menace the Akibarangers in the next episode “Delusional Beauty Fight”.
But for now, this episode ends with, as usual, a cover of a Sentai song, in this case, Shinken Matsuri.
Final thoughts: In general, this episode was frankly hilarious to watch from beginning to end. And I love the juxtaposition of HurricaneBlue, the sole female Hurricaneger, also being the voice behind the sole female Gouraiger.
In the next instalment: After 10 years in the darkness, they’re back. Ninpuu Sentai Hurricaneger: 10 Years After.
All: The Space Union Ninja School has returned.
__________________
The song has ended. But the story never ends
Last edited by Androzani84; 05-23-2021 at
11:01 AM
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