[Kamen Rider Die]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

This is probably the episode of Go-Busters I think about more than any other.

I appreciate you having so much to say about this one, since I definitely did not have the time to say much about it! I don't know that a lot of the trivia or Buster Machine would've been improved in my mind by having more time to talk about it, but I really enjoyed the Hiromu Fantasy stuff, and I probably could've gone into more detail about why.

...which I still can't do, since I'm a half-hour late from going to bed, and I gotta get to work in the morning. Time management! It's my weak point!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Androzani84

To clarify how progression of Robot combinations works in comparison to Rider form progressions:

I appreciate the clarification!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sunred

Me when I first saw it: THOSE EYES

I can see it!

[Kamen Rider Die]

TOKUMEI SENTAI GO-BUSTERS MISSION 21 - “FAREWELL, BLUE BUSTER!”



Absolutely ridiculous, totally unbelievable, and probably a series highlight.

Like, I’d be shocked if this doesn’t make my Top 3 by the end of the series. It’s basically an HBV played slightly more straight, with a tad more coherence to the rules of the show and the verisimilitude of the viewing experience. Nothing in here outright breaks canon, or winks at the audience. (There is nothing in here that begs for the events of Akibaranger to be made an official Sentai product, for example.) It’s a real episode, played at HBV volume.

And it’s amazing. There’s a general emotional through-line in here about how much Ryuji means to the team – Commander tries super hard at the end to make this all seem like a testament to Ryuji’s value to his friends and co-workers – but it’s barely applicable. This is a story where Gorisaki mistakenly thinks Ryuji’s going to die, so the entire staff (sans Commander) makes Ryuji think he’s too old to be a Go-Buster -slash- everyone hates him and thinks he’s holding the team back and can be easily replaced by the first black-haired guy within Hiromu’s reach. It’s hilariously cruel to Ryuji, in the name of everyone caring so goddamn much about Ryuji that they're desperate to save his life, but it eventually gives him a gigantic series of heroic victories to make it clear that Ryuji is more than just Old Man Buster. We are not in a story where Ryuji overcomes anything, really; the joke is that Ryuji’s selfless dedication to the team this time out is hysterically unnecessary and satirical in its application. This episode is a parody of episodes where heroes die, right down to its definitive statement of a title.

I thought this was relentlessly funny, from the HVAC Shutdown Confirmed opening sequence, to J trying to fight a grasshopper-themed piece of playground equipment, to everyone inexplicably assuming that Hiromu’s plan would tactfully preserve Ryuji’s dignity, to Jin inexplicably assuming that J could be trusted to follow simple directions to defuse a problematic situation, to Ryuji showing up for his last fateful transformation while multiple characters shrink from telling him he’s not dying at all, to Ryuji single-handedly defeating the Dumbbellroid via wrestling moves (a powerbomb!), to Ryuji single-handedly defeating the Megazord, to Ryuji getting both Jin and J in a double-headlock so they never get ideas in their heads ever again. Relentlessly funny episode, and one of the very best this show has to offer.



IT’S TIME FOR Jin and J!

This whole thing would fall apart without an impetus that seems plausible, and the combination of Jin making an incredibly bad joke and J completely not understanding where an apology should go is the chef’s kiss of this whole fever dream of toku brilliance. If this plot had started with any other character – Nakamura – you’d never buy that she could get it wrong or play it as a joke. If you tried to dodge a clarification by giving the job of explanation to any other character – Nick – you’d never buy that he’d tell the wrong people/objects. This incredibly dumb plot only becomes possible with Jin and J, and god bless them for enabling this perfect episode.

[Sh Ranger]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

TOKUMEI SENTAI GO-BUSTERS MISSION 20 - ?5-WAY FUSION! GREAT GO-BUSTER!?

Much like last time, I mostly didn?t care about the grand debut of a new toy. Great Go-Buster has all the problems of Go-Buster Oh that I?ve grown to tolerate, but now with the added flaws of being far too bulky to actually move its limbs effectively. Regardless of your thoughts on the suit's appearance, I think we can all agree that making a suit more cumbersome on the performer wearing it is probably a negative.

The DX version is so clustery that it doesn't even look humanoid. Certainly not the kind of clusterfudge that I'd want to display on my mantlepiece. Oh well, since it's so complicated that it has to be performed manually in the hangar, at least we won't have to look at it too often. This time the Oh part is removed from the name, despite Gobuster Oh being the base of the Gattai.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

TOKUMEI SENTAI GO-BUSTERS MISSION 21 - ?FAREWELL, BLUE BUSTER!?

And it?s amazing. There?s a general emotional through-line in here about how much Ryuji means to the team ? Commander tries super hard at the end to make this all seem like a testament to Ryuji?s value to his friends and co-workers ? but it?s barely applicable. This is a story where Gorisaki mistakenly thinks Ryuji?s going to die, so the entire staff (sans Commander) makes Ryuji think he?s too old to be a Go-Buster -slash- everyone hates him and thinks he?s holding the team back and can be easily replaced by the first black-haired guy within Hiromu?s reach. It?s hilariously cruel to Ryuji, in the name of everyone caring so goddamn much about Ryuji that they're desperate to save his life, but it eventually gives him a gigantic series of heroic victories to make it clear that Ryuji is more than just Old Man Buster. We are not in a story where Ryuji overcomes anything, really; the joke is that Ryuji?s selfless dedication to the team this time out is hysterically unnecessary and satirical in its application. This episode is a parody of episodes where heroes die, right down to its definitive statement of a title.

They basically tried to send Ryuji to NASA: An in-joke among Showa Sentai fans when a main character is suddenly required somewhere else (like NASA) or killed, prompting a new character to replace that Ranger. Gobusters takes some inspiration from Showa Sentai, like Goranger's agent theme. Morishita didn't receive the Gobuster program though, so Ryuji is the only one who can become Bluebuster. As a Kobayashi show, it's also expected that somebody will have a crippling illness or injury, after Kitaoka, Yuto and Date, so it's pretty amusing in a meta way that she subverts her own serious dramatic trope for comedic effect instead.

[Kamen Rider Die]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sh Ranger

They basically tried to send Ryuji to NASA: An in-joke among Showa Sentai fans when a main character is suddenly required somewhere else (like NASA) or killed, prompting a new character to replace that Ranger.

One of the best parts is Commander immediately putting it all together once Nakamura and Morishita say that the initial diagnosis came from Jin. Of course it was Jin!!!

[Fish Sandwich]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

TOKUMEI SENTAI GO-BUSTERS MISSION 21 - "FAREWELL, BLUE BUSTER!"

This is another one like 7 that I already enjoyed the first time, but later became more attached to after randomly giving it a rewatch one day.

"I'm with Banana as we speak" is definitely one of the all-time great J moments, for sure, so the fact that gag is but a single one of the many jokes this thing is packed with should make it pretty clear just how funny an episode this is.

[Kamen Rider Die]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

"I'm with Banana as we speak" is definitely one of the all-time great J moments, for sure, so the fact that gag is but a single one of the many jokes this thing is packed with should make it pretty clear just how funny an episode this is.

J is in rare form in this one, for sure. Him and Jin both have an episode that only briefly had me wondering how the two of them managed to escape from hyperspace without accidentally, like, switching brains or turning inside out.

[Kamen Rider Die]

TOKUMEI SENTAI GO-BUSTERS MISSION 22 - “THE BEAUTIFUL AVATAR, ESCAPE”



I guess my big -slash- only problem with this episode is that it feels slightly out of character for Hiromu to be the one giving Shouta the pep talk about not worrying what others think of you and just focus on your own strengths. Like, I’m not saying it’s out of character for Hiromu to be able to articulate that – he’s 100% the guy on the team that doesn’t care what people make of him – but he’s not the guy to give that speech to a stranger in a way that doesn’t result in said stranger feeling maligned and potentially litigious. If you asked me to rank the Go-Busters cast members who could effectively give a child a pep talk, it’d go:

-Ryuji
-Nakamura
-Nick
-Jin
-Morishita
-Yoko
-Gorisaki
-Commander
-Usada
-Enter
-J
-Several Metaroids
-Messiah, if you caught him on a good day
-Hiromu

Hiromu’s got a lot of strengths! Non-confrontational pep talks ain’t one of them!

Besides that, I liked this episode all right. I like getting a chance to see the Go-Busters interact with kids, because that’s a Kamen Rider staple that this show has largely avoided. (Once or twice, but in a real big deal way.) There’s a much different energy when the heroes are forced to embody a gentler heroism around kids, and I like that a lot. It feels more nuanced than the usual battle against evil.

And the battle against evil is joined this time out by Escape (not Exit?!?!), who plays to her strengths by attacking an escape room and keeping everyone from escaping. She is trying to make sure you don’t forget her name! Outside her branded scheming, I thought she was fun upgrade to Enter – guns instead of blades, a tablet instead of a laptop, Messiah is her dad instead of her king, etc. (The guns are named after Gog and Magog, to keep Escape’s debut an appropriately apocalyptic escalation of hostilities.) She gets a fantastic fight sequence against the Busters, which Enter hasn’t gotten in a good long while. She’s a lot more sinister than Enter, despite her lilting laugh and flirty demeanor; she’s a killer, instead of a mad scientist. Pretty fun debut for her!

So, yeah, I thought this was a fun episode. Would’ve liked it more, but that Hiromu speech… too upbeat! Too generous! He never even partially told this kid that everyone probably made fun of him before!



IT’S TIME FOR kids!

I liked the three kids in this one! They have a fun little story about doing an escape room. They just had good energy! I’m tired! Good night!

[Androzani84]

So we’re in the “summer slump” period of Sentai, wherein not much happens because the writers know viewership goes down and write the episodes accordingly. Though introducing a new villain is a staple of these episodes, it generally comes towards the end of the period, or just before it, compared to the “in the middle” introduction here.

So basically, the next few episodes are in the “thoroughly ok/what happened in this” category for me, so don’t expect anything in-depth in terms of discussion.

I will point out like Fourze’s upcoming movie character Inga Blink, Escape is played by an actress who was in Inoue’s “Cutie Honey: the Live” a few years ago.

[Sunred]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

I?m tired! Good night!

I recommend an ice cold can of enetron.

[Kamen Rider Die]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Androzani84

So we?re in the ?summer slump? period of Sentai, wherein not much happens because the writers know viewership goes down and write the episodes accordingly.

I thought this one had a cute premise -- Hiromu and Yoko go undercover at an escape room -- but the episode spends maybe one and a half scenes on that before it's a straight-up superhero adventure. I'd've liked to see more of the undercover stuff!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sunred

I recommend an ice cold can of enetron.

I will remember that for next time!