Turboranger Episode 19

A Song of Ice and Fire! This is Toshiki Inoue's first script for the series. He also writes the next one and then ends up recycling both for Ohranger! But they're good episodes. Jarmine's particularly nasty in this episode.

In this one, Ragon's punishing the main Bouma for constant failures, causing a desperate Jarmine to exploit two brother Boumas -- an ice demon and a fire demon -- for her plan to get back in Ragon's good graces. The two are able to combine into a Bouma-Beast with unequaled power. Ice is the elder brother, who has spent all of his years sealed reflecting on all of the battles he's seen and no longer wants any part of. Fire's the hothead younger who denounces his brother as going soft and becoming afraid of battle, deciding to rampage on his own. Jarmine's plans not turning out her way, she has to devise a way to get these two to combine.

This all coincides with the anniversary date of the death of Shunsuke's little brother Shunji. (Shunji was run over by a truck while bicycling.) I always thought it was pretty shocking to give one of our young heroes a dead little brother; for being the funny guy on the team, Shunsuke gets some heavy episodes. So, naturally, when the Turboranger are fighting Fire and get interrupted by Ice, who wants to stop the fighting and tells the Turboranger his side of the story -- Ice's main motivation in wanting to stop fighting is he doesn't want to see his little brother hurt anymore -- it hits too close to home for Shunsuke and he's determined to help, despite the others thinking it's a mistake.

Meanwhile, Jarmine performs a blood ritual with Fire, promising to take his brother's place in battle and that she'd never betray him the way Ice did. Spoiler alert: she does! What did you expect from the serpent, Fire? She waits for the best opportunity to sneak attack Fire, telling Ice that the only way to save his life is to combine into the Bouma-Beast as they're meant to. Ice attacks Jarmine, while Shunsuke gets through to Fire that all Ice wanted was for him to be safe. But it's too late, because he's dying, and despite Shunsuke and Fire's pleas not to do it, Ice decides to merge with Fire into the mindless Bouma-Beast to save him. The Bouma-Beast causes massive destruction, while Shunsuke's initially hesitant to fight, he realizes he has no choice. After they cut down the Bouma-Beast with the Turbo Crash, the Beast reverts to a severely wounded Fire and Ice.

The dying Fire and Ice grab each other's hand. "This is for the best. Even if our bodies our destroyed, our souls will forever be one." They then disappear, turning into a red and blue flower on the same stem.

It's a pure Inoue script, and I like the parallels between the demon brothers and Shunsuke, that he understood the way the elder Ice felt, and tried to make up for his inability to help his brother by trying to save Fire. And it doesn't quite go as planned, which is also pure Inoue. But it doesn't end totally horribly for Shunsuke, he's touched that he was able to get the two to reconcile and find peace.

Kanako Kishi is pretty good in this episode. I don't know if she was happy to have the fresh material, with the crueler way Inoue writes Jarmine here, or if she was just improving as the show went on. But it's strange to know she's going to be written out soon. And they're setting up Reida, Jarmine and Jinba's exits already, with the whole way the episode begins with Ragon punishing everyone. (Maybe Kishi was happy knowing she's going?) The episode begins with Jarmine letting out a helluva scream as Ragon's hurting her -- a jarring beginning to the episode. I was like "What the heck was that!?!"

I don't think Daichi says anything this entire episode. See? Further strengthening my theory about the previous episode being fast-tracked.