Turboranger Episode 15

An entertaining, race-against-the-clock, warding-off-enemies-from-all-directions, action-packed episode. They don't make 'em like this anymore...

Hikaru/Yamimaru continues his pwning of the Turboranger -- in school, out of school, the result is the same -- pwnage. (#bringingpwnback) Dazai frantically works on a new weapon, a replacement for the ineffective Plasma Shoot that Yamimaru cut through like a soggy square of tofu in the previous episode. (I'd like to note that the Plasma Shoot is basically the Turboranger version of crossing the streams, and Yamimaru just brushed it off.) It's the Z-Bazooka and it...sounds pretty unstable? Youhei and Shunsuke offer to help him out with it and he's all, "But be super careful! One false move and we'll be picking pieces of you out of the base for the rest of the series. But don't worry, this thing's just an unlicensed nuclear accelerator I'm building for you guys. If it don't kill Yamimaru, my name isn't Dr. Egon Emmett Dazai!"

As with the last episode, the latest Bouma-Beast is kind of an afterthought. It just pops up and causes destruction, leaving Red, Black and Pink to go off and fight while the others hopefully finish the weapon. When Yamimaru shows up, takes control of the Bouma-Beast and proceeds to kick Turbo ass for the umpteenth time, Youhei and Shunsuke make the decision to take the unfinished bazooka out for a try. Youhei and Shunsuke are the more comedic characters, but it's not a decision made out of stupidity, just desperation. They're tired of seeing their pals hurt and tired of being hurt themselves. Yamimaru's a big threat and needs taken care of...

They blow it. They manage to fire a blast (that hits Yamimaru AND the three others) and the bazooka explodes on 'em. Yamimaru flees with a wounded arm, as Dazai delivers the great news that the bazooka's unstable reactor will explode within an hour and take out everything within a 500-meter radius. Youhei and Shunsuke take responsibility for their decision and decide to risk themselves to haul the machine somewhere safe. This begins the crazy adventure of the Bouma after them with the hopes of getting the Turboranger killed in the explosion, while the other three act as bodyguards to fight off whoever gets in the way.

Hikaru shows up and fights off Bouma, puzzling the two, but he secretly just wants to get them where he wants them and plans to shoot the device and ignite it. Luckily, Riki had seen that Hikaru's injured in the same way as Yamimaru, confirming that Hikaru is Yamimaru and, as Red Turbo, takes the bullet meant for the Z-Bazooka just in time.

There's a couple of light moments, as Youhei and Shunsuke will think they've FINALLY found a safe spot to dump the dangerous device, only to find out there will be some kids nearby. (Their reaction's a kind of "You've gotta be kidding me!") I like that the Bouma-Beast eventually has them cornered -- they're on a cliff, with only seconds to go, and Youhei and Shunsuke decide to just chance it and throw the device at the Bouma-Beast as it explodes and cross their fingers by diving into the waters below. (A nice little detail: Shunsuke falls into the water sloppily, while the stunt-double for Youhei remembered that the dude's meant to be a swimmer, so he goes in with a dive.) This ends up killing the Bouma-Beast...

I like that they wing it and succeed. I like that there's these couple of episodes where the team doesn't have a finisher, so they improvise. Soda's done this in a couple of previous shows, like in Flashman and Maskman. In Flashman, there's an episode where they're afraid to kill a monster, because their mecha's being repaired, and they know as soon as it's killed, Mess will just bring it back giant. So they look for and find a solution that doesn't involve killing the monster, but just being rid of it. In Maskman, Kiros destroyed the Shot Bomber, so they went a few episodes having to come up with ways to get out of the episode's dilemma without depending on their big finisher.

The episode ends with Riki asking Hikaru why his blood's red, when he's not seen that in any of the other Bouma. (Bouma blood is green.) Hikaru won't answer, but tells them that he'll keep their Turboranger identities secret from those at school, because that's just more convenient for him.

Just a really fun, cool episode. There's also a great bit at the beginning when, after fighting with Hikaru at school, we see a quick shot of the five Turboranger being punished by faculty. (Hikaru started it! But he bails before the teachers arrive. I don't think it would have been a good idea to see our new villain holding a filled bucket in the hallway, anyway, something a new show would do.)