Kunio Fujii's first script for the series, and it's a good one. We not only get a scenario that involves our heroes a little more personally -- Riki, who feels so bad for a bud whose girlfriend is attacked, he really goes above and beyond -- but we get backstory on and why this attack is so personal for one of our bad guys, Jinba.
Jinba was a warrior in ancient times who fought for a princess he loved -- long, nasty, brutal fights in wars. When he returned to her wounded and scarred, she rejected him. He just lay dying, rotting in his place over time, his vengeful spirit living on, possessing the armor-wearing haniwa we recognize as Jinba, becoming a Bouma. The M.O. for the Bouma as a group, the recurring theme, is revenge and the punishment of humanity, which continues with Jinba, his grudge, and the way he preys on human love. He raised this episode's Bouma-Beast, Agito Bouma, from infancy, feeding it human love. (The monster's weakness is sakura, so when he ended up being sealed, he was sealed into part of a sakura tree.) I like the flashbacks to the ancient times in this show; here it's doubly awesome because Jinba's human form is played by JAC suit-actor Koji Matoba (Change Griffin/Green Flash/Black Mask/Jiraiya) and the princess is also a JACtor, Haruko "Koron/Zaza" Watanabe.
The monster absorbs humans into him and drains their love; since the humans become a part of him, it prevents the Turboranger from attacking. And there's also a time limit -- the people within the Bouma Beast only have 24 hours or they'll die. The Turboranger's plans to lure the monster into an area heavy with sakura trees doesn't work -- pollution and land development has greatly reduced them in the area and the monster catches on, not letting himself near the few remaining. This causes Riki to gather a bag full of loose sakura and face the monster while posing as his pal, tricking the Bouma-Beast into absorbing him so he can join his girlfriend, completing the "set" of couples he's meant to be collecting. (I think this is kind of interesting, and makes me wonder if we're meant to assume that Riki feels love for this girl.) Once within Agito Bouma, he unleashes the sakura, harming the monster and freeing everyone just in time. We then get a pretty cool swordfight between Red and Jinba, with Red wielding both the ordinary Turbo Laser's sword and his newly acquired GT Sword, performing the GT Crash with both. The first of Riki's many awesome moments in the series.
The boma beast with a lead rider name
ReplyDeleteOne of the monsters in Kamen Rider J is named Agito, too. Another Agito isn't the only Other Agito.
DeleteCan I just take the opportunity to praise Jinba's design? It's a beautiful blend of Chinese armor styles and the horror movie aesthetic of the Bouma. Seiichi Hirai's voicework is excellent, and really carries the character's understated rage. Agito Bouma has also got a fantastic design, what with the mandibles and several sets of eyes.
ReplyDeleteI like that the show demonstrates the main cast really caring for and interacting with random classmates. It makes the high school setting that much more immersive. This episode might be the closest that Riki comes to a romance plot, but even then it's more of a vague implication. I just find that a little odd.
Jinba's design is great, one of my favorite designs. (Too bad the soft vinyl figure doesn't do it justice.) And I really love Hirai's performance. (I especially took notice of his performance in Jinba's final episode, in which he sounds just so ferocious.)
DeleteI know some Japanese fans like to ship Riki and Kirika, and looking at the first few episodes with Kirika, it does seem like the show was hinting at the possibility of something romantic developing between the two. I've always wondered if maybe that was the original plan, but they decided to just go all in with Kirika and Yamimaru as the show's love story. I'm surprised the show actually didn't go with a Riki-Kirika romance, because it would echo and be the modern version of Kirika's mother's relationship with Kashim, but it would have also worked as further motivation for why Kirika turns good. They were probably afraid to have a serious teenage romance at that time, though -- or maybe even just a full on romance between a human and non-human character.
I get into this later, but I feel like Turboranger initially pulls back on how involved its regular villains are as a response to Liveman.
When people say Turboranger's action is awful, do they suddenly forget about the amazing suit work Niibori gives Red Turbo?
ReplyDeleteI do really love this episode. It's what made me really love Jinba. I think it's really cool that the Bouma are vengeful spirits. And it's an aspect of them I wish was explored more. It saddens me that this is the first, and the last ep to really ever explore Jinba's character. And that's something I just never understood. Even his final ep, he's treated as a throwaway MOTW, rather than well... Jinba. I get they had to write him out. But I thought they'd at least do something in line with Jinba's story. (Ah well, still better than how Mika from Bioman got written out)
Niibori does great work, but I think all of the Turbo heroes are good. Even someone like Ishigaki, who I think tends to be kind of plain in suit, he does some cool stuff as Black Turbo. There are a lot of cool fights in the show, IMO. Red's final fight with Reida is one of my favorite final showdowns, but I go on about that plenty in my write-up for that episode.
DeleteI'll talk more about where I think they missed some opportunities using Jinba and tying back to this episode, but I'll just say that I feel like we would have gotten more deeper material for him (and Jarmine) if they hadn't decided to kill them off. That might be a "duh" statement, but there's something in particular in a later episode that I view as the glimpse of where Soda might have been planning to take those characters if things had worked out.