I've always just liked this episode; it has nice moments, with great direction and a good performance by Keiya Asakura. The episode really highlights what a decent guy Youhei is, and gives us some good guest characters who are easy to care for.
The focus of the episode is a new transfer student, Risa, who wants to join the swimming team, so she's paired up with Youhei, who's glad to welcome her. When he finds out where she lives, it stirs up some bad, buried memories for him. When he was a kid, he was good friends with a girl, who also happened to be named Risa, and who lived where transfer student Risa now lives. One night, her parents drowned in a mysterious flood and Risa moved away. There started to be whispers about the house being haunted, so nobody really moved in there; the new Risa's family happens to move in there because the dad chose not to believe the rumors but believe in the good deal he got on the place. History nearly repeats itself as the house once again mysteriously floods, sending the family into a panic...
The house ends up being built above an area where a house-based Bouma-Beast is sealed. Its influence is what caused the flooding (and confirms the rumors). Youhei, who was always saddened by what happened to his friend and her family, realizes the Bouma threat and sees this a chance of symbolically righting what happened to that Risa and her family by saving this Risa and her family.
But it's not just Risa's house they need to worry about; the whole plan is a result of Jarmine's vengeance, wanting to exact a revenge on humanity by taking away their houses because she never knew what a warm shelter was like. (Ragon has a line where he notes that the snake-based Jarmine is "kicking humans out of their happy homes, just like a serpent.") So, there's a sliver of information about Jarmine here that you can build off of. Jarmine uses this Bouma-Beast in a unique way; she enlarges him right off the bat. As he's house-based, she's riding around in him, flying across Japan and causing massive floods and property damage. This monster is kind of a precursor to Jetman's House Jigen, which in you case you missed it, I said I thought House Jigen was an awesome monster.
This episode is just filmed in a way that sets it apart; it lets the dramatic parts be quiet, it's a surprisingly somber episode. There's a lot of good, atmospheric scenes of dark storms and flooding; credit to director Takao Nagaishi. In the chaos of the natural disaster, they can better mask the low budget they're working with, so it's better conveyed than the samurai town or the zombie attack, and the sense of danger is better realized. (You can spot a super young Yasuhiro Takeuchi as a guy struggling to stay afloat in the flood.) The atypical monster means we don't have the typical ground battle, it goes straight into the mecha fight. The guest cast -- Risa, her family -- are quickly established and sympathetic; you get a good sense of how she and her big, working class family function.
Youhei's cool and likable, you're on board with his dedication to wanting to help Risa and her family so much. There's a sense of history repeating itself for Youhei, but he's going to try to change the outcome for good this time. Youhei saves the day for Risa and her family, who manage to save their house. He has the victory of making a family in that house happy, and ends the episode sadly looking out across the city, hoping his old childhood chum is out there and happy with her life now. One of the more melancholy ways to wrap up an episode.
I think this would be a good episode to show people who argue that Turboranger was either a comedic show or lacks personality. The visuals in the house (the disused growing chart) and the visuals of the flooding (both for Risa's family and the miniatures) really sell the danger of the situation. The direction is fantastic, what with the overhead shots of the flooded house and the effective inter-cutting of miniature footage and close-ups of flood victims. Nagashi even managed to make Dazai's office look freaky through lighting effects. The house design does have the silly eyes, but that's a minor complaint.
ReplyDeleteAsakura absolutely nails Youhei, as both his silly and melancholy moments come across with the same amount of conviction. He's not going too crazy with his emotions in his interactions with Risa, but rather trying to process this unusual situation and reflect on his old friend. Youhei's best stuff, like this episode, Muddled Bouma, Chime Bouma, and Picture Book Bouma, all make good use out of Asakura's range and charisma. He's an underrated blue warrior, who I've grown to like during my watch-through. He's no Megumi or Yuma, but he's still fantastic.
Not just Youhei, I think Asakura's underrated and overlooked as a performer. It's a shame he didn't get any other regular role in a later toku. I can actually picture him as a Kamen Rider in the vein of Tetsuo Kurata. (He'd be a better pick for Rider than Five Black, I tell ya.)
DeleteThis is easily one of my favorite Turboranger episodes ever. Whenever I think back to this show, why I loved it, and what was memorable about it to me... this ep often comes to mind.
ReplyDeleteIt's a very creative unique episode, making great use of the Bouma imagination, and wonderful miniatures. People say Turboranger eps are generic? Like hell they are. This ep is just breathtaking and beautifully directed.
While I do like Yohei, I'm not sure I quite find this to be one of his standout eps as a character. He's handled well here. But he mainly comes across as just a nice guy.... like Riki in the previous episode. I feel the show hasn't quite gone as far as it could by differentiating the two just yet. In fact, I feel Yohei is kinda overshadowed by Riki as a character as of this point. I mean, I know Riki is the main character. But it's like, Riki is the nice guy who gets to be all kickass. Yohei is the nice guy who doesn't get to be quite as kickass. I still like Yohei, but I feel he's been kinda jipped so far. Especially when looking back at how a lot of the non-reds were characterized in their own eps in the last few seasons.
Maybe part of it is cause I expect from Yohei more something along the lines of Hayate (ChangeGriffin), Kenta (Black Mask), Yusuke (Red Falcon), or Hiroshi Miyauchi, as the suave dork. Which I know is probably not fair. Those are all really big names right there.
It's been a while since my last Turboranger rewatch, but I... think I remember particularly really enjoying Yohei more in the eps where we get kid Yamaguchi and the ep with Rin. I look forward to seeing those eps again.
Much like Jinba in the previous ep, I really like how we get a bit on Jarmin as a vengeful spirit too. And again, kind of a shame that that's as far as she's ever explored (Jinba got more than she did!). And I think it's a shame. I like Jarmin for what we got. Her design is awesome. And her actress does pretty well I feel. She SHOULD be a worthy successor to some of the previous female villains (Chimera, Zenobia, Farrah, Shiima, Ahames, Nefel, Igam, Mazenda). And she sadly doesn't quite make it there. It's such a shame.
I definitely agree that Youhei deserved a little more definition than what he got, but he did get a bit of introspection and silliness that Riki hasn’t gotten yet. Had each of the heroes received individual arcs (my biggest complaint about the show), maybe that would have a space for differentiation.
DeleteJarmin really needed a little more development than what she got. Episodes like the Rin and Hyouma/Enma ones would have been a good place to build her character beyond “ruthless snake lady.” I’d also argue that a less stiff actress and a proper rivalry with a hero would have helped her out as far as villainess rankings go.
@ Fantasy Leader Hey, this is a good episode. I didn't say it was the definitive Youhei episode or anything. And I'd like to clarify that when I said Asakura might seem too close to Satou, I was talking about the actors themselves being similar types. I don't think their characters are close at all.
DeleteI also really disagree with the designation of "suave dork" for the people you listed. I'd certainly never, ever, ever refer to Hiroshi Miyauchi as a dork. He nor his characters are dorky in the slightest. (I disagree with that assesment of Hayate and Yuusuke, too. Jou/Yellow Lion, maybe.) Of the people you listed, Kenta's the only one who comes across that way, but even then...I don't think he's supposed to be a dork. I think he's young and cheerful and falls too easily and too hard for a pretty girl, but I think the humorous angle of that character comes out of a way to differentiate him from Takeru. Takeru's the star, he gets the big, serious cinematic romance that drives the entire show, while Kenta gets the little schoolboy crushes that aren't meant to be serious.
IIRC, Keiya Asakura has said that Youhei WAS intended to be just a straightforward, cool ladies man type of character, but that his own natural sense of humor started to come through, and the writers started picking up on that and making it a part of Youhei's character. Youhei has a reputation of being a goofy character, but I don't consider him "goofy" in the way it's generally meant. He's funny, yes, but he's quite serious when he needs to be. And Asakura can play both believably without making the character seem inconsistent.
@PMell
I think Jarmine's best episodes are the ones with Rin and the Demon Brothers. She's just really so cruel and nasty in those episodes, and I think Kanako Kishi was really hitting her stride by that point, that it's kind of a shame that she gets written out so soon afterward. Had Jarmine stuck around, I always felt like one of the writers would have picked up on what happened in the Rin episodeand built a rivalry between her and Youhei since that episode purposely doesn't let Youhei get his revenge, so there's still unfinished business there. (It's the main reason that I don't like that it's Daichi who kills her.)
Oh I know.
ReplyDeleteAsakura similar to Satou? I think this is the first I remember you saying that lol. But yeah, I think I can see that.
Well then what do you think those characters are supposed to be then? (Btw, I never meant that in any sort of demeaning way)
Asakura is an interesting talent. I look forward to hearing more on him in your posts.
I saw this one for the first time this morning. I thought this Risa was going to end up being the old Risa. But this episode was good enough where I expected it to be just hinted that she was adopted by this family, not just outright say it like a lesser show would do.
ReplyDelete