Turboranger Episode 20

Inoue returns, in what he'll end up recycling in an early episode of Ohranger. This is meant to be a thrilling, entertaining episode, and it is, and I think it's one of the better attempts at this type of scenario...

When Blue Turbo puts himself in harm's way to take the hit of the latest Bouma-Beast -- a Bouma-Beast whose bite transmits a nasty poison -- for Pink Turbo's sake, Haruna's guilt leads her to hatch a risky plan in order to get the antidote. She has only 24 hours before the poison kills Youhei, but he's suffering as soon as he's bit.

What this episode has over other similar types of episodes -- including the Ohranger one written by the very same writer -- is plausibility. When Haruna rushes to take on Zuruten and the monster on her own, she ends up on the wrong side of an attack and hits her head on a utility pole. When her friends find her, she feigns amnesia. A giddy Zuruten sees this as an advantage, claiming to be her ally before quickly whisking her away. (It's fun to imagine the bullshit Zuruten must have been slinging to win her over off-screen.) She shows up shortly later clad in a black motorcycle outfit, kicking Riki, Daichi and Shunsuke's asses, declaring herself a warrior for the Bouma. (And, man, does she go nuts. Not only physically beating the hell out of and bloodying them -- spot Naoki Oofuji as Riki's stand-in! -- but she goes Chief Ibuki on them and machine guns 'em and throws grenades at 'em, too!) And, man, Kinohara is great at playing this villainous Haruna.

At one point, she, Zuruten, the monster, and the mooks are fighting the three remaining Turboranger guys. The monster corners Red, ready to snap into a Slim Jim, when Haruna conveniently places herself in the way, pretending as if she's readying to strike Red. Bit by the Bouma-Beast, she begs Zuruten for the antidote. Having too much fun, Zuruten gives it to her. She drinks it and races off, ignoring Riki's pleas to hand it over to save Youhei. Moments later, masked rider Haruna returns, attacking the Bouma. Youhei joins. It was all a ruse to get the antidote; I mean...you know, you're familiar with this type of episode, and you've seen this clip in Gaoranger VS Super Sentai.

But I like how it plays out in this episode. She keeps the others truly in the dark, and you can buy they think she's out of sorts because of her head injury. You can buy that Zuruten falls for it all, just looking for ways to mess with people. (The show gradually takes to making Zuruten seem stupider than he used to be, but I think the character is still more malevolent than the usual "fat and funny!" monsters like him -- the Juuohs and Gators and Dongorosses.) If anything, I think it's the time-limit that doesn't work. Haruna accomplishes a crazy amount in such a short period! One cool thing is that Blue and Pink fight the monster together, giving the Super Hachisuka Bros. a rare big battle for just the two of them.

Because it was a Bouma poison, only a Bouma knew the antidote. (I think the fairies would have had SOMEthing to counteract it.) It makes you wonder if Youhei and Haruna are all right after ingesting the antidote, which Zuruten says is made from a lily plucked from the valley of darkness and a golden lizard or something like that. It looks like a spine's in the little bottle, too. Pretty gross.

I like the episode title playing on "boso zoku" with "Bouma Zoku." This episode is a lighter take on that subculture that swept the youths of the '80s, but Soda will bring in a more serious take in a couple of episodes.