Sunday, June 10, 2018

Turboranger Episode 21


An episode that most English-speaking fans dismiss as a "goofy/stupid" one, but...it's not? Japanese fans like this episode, because -- duh -- sumo is important to Japan. (There's plenty of people out there who want a sumo-themed Sentai! I think this episode is the closest they'll get to that. Rangers and Robos wearing mawashi!)

This episode has bizarre moments, harkening back to those earlier episodes that wanted to highlight the strange and unusual situations our heroes are facing, as well as humorous moments in Daichi's reactions, but this episode is more genuine and straightfoward in what it's trying to accomplish. This is an episode that looks "stupid" to foreign eyes and eyes of younger, modern viewers. That doesn't make it the requisite wacky episode -- people have lumped this in with the likes of Ramen Jigen and Dryer Jigen and...that's wrong.

Jinba and Zuruten unseal Sumo Bouma, a brutal thug who went around back in ancient times exerting his strength for the hell of it, beating up anyone in his path. When he lost an encounter with Rakia, Rakia tried to set him on the right path by teaching him of sumo and the values associated with it, giving him a keshomawashi to always remind him of those values and keep him in line. Sumo Bouma then spent a long time getting along with people, wrestling with them, living honorably. Jinba's plan is to remove the keshomawashi and have the mindless brute version of Sumo Bouma wreak havoc. But things don't go as planned, and Ragon lets him know what a bad plan it was by roughing him up.

Sumo Bouma DOES wreak havoc, but not the type the Bouma Hyaku-zoku are interested in; he marches around town, trying to take on athletes in sumo matches, only to find out nobody is qualified. He's disheartened to learn how much the times have changed and how nobody is good enough to battle, that nobody is a good sumo. Fortunately for him, Yamaguchi-sensei happens to spot an attack on some young students. A big, big nut for sumo, she becomes obsessed with the idea of getting one of her students to take the monster on, because only sumo can be matched with sumo. (She first tries to recruit Nagareboshi. It does not go well. And it doubly doesn't go well for Daichi, who Nagareboshi volunteers, and then grabs, strips and slaps a mawashi on before going on his merry way. Yamaguchi settles for Daichi.)

With Yamaguchi's coaching and Daichi's determination, Sumo Bouma has found his ideal opponent, and throughout their matches, comes to like and respect Daichi, telling him of his past with Rakia. Jinba eventually has his way and removes Sumo Bouma's keshomawashi, as Zuruten makes him giant and he begins to rampage. Knowing there's no choice but to fight him, Daichi makes a case and wins that they'll fight Sumo Bouma in a sumo style, meaning...a giant robo sumo match! Turbo Robo, complete with mawashi, and sumo-nut Yamaguchi reffing the whole thing. Black Turbo's in the driver's seat, which I think is one of the first times we've seen a member other than Red as lead pilot of the mecha. Turbo Robo wins and Sumo Bouma comes to enough to congratulate them and award them the rope belt of a yokozuna.

The episode ends with an energetic Daichi playfully wrasslin' with the others, until a move by Youhei accidentally pulls Daichi's mawashi off, leaving a VERY embarrassed Daichi to be covered up by Yamaguchi. I kinda think an ordinary teenage guy would transfer schools after being exposed bare-assed naked to not just Haruna, but YAMAGUCHI, but Daichi's a trouper and sticks with his pals.

A fun and unique episode with things you don't see in every toku. It's humorous, but has some commentary on the modern times' losing interest in old ways, an old sport, the values that old sport holds, an elder being disappointed in the younger generation. (So it's a precursor to Kakuranger in that regard.) But it doesn't get too heavy-handed, Sumo Bouma -- as voiced by Takuzo Kamayama -- is likable and has a funky and memorable design. Ganaha's actually pretty lively in this episode, too, he really dives into it with enthusiasm, which helps make it soar.

The episode also just makes sense to me in the context that Turboranger has a very Japanese feel and aesthetic to it, like the uniquely Japanese depiction of school and all of the Buddhist material. So, an episode espousing the values of sumo isn't as goofy or random as people treat it.

5 comments:

  1. I thought Sumo Bomã would have died like that warrior beast but it's a different kind of climax

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    1. I guess they probably didn't want to repeat themselves.

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  2. A pretty fun memorable ep lol.

    I do agree on how Japanese Turboranger feels I'm how it depicts it's world. It kinda reminds me of Gingaman in some ways in that regard.

    Yamaguchi easily made this ep for me. She really is one of my favorite characters in this show.~

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  3. I love this one! The episode is the one Daichi story I really like, even if it is more of a Yamaguchi episode at times (not that I’m complaining, she’s always on her A-game). Ganaha seems to be really enjoying himself in this one, moreso than he did in his previous few outings. He handles the comedy and serious dialogue pretty well, making me wonder how the show would be remembered had he been at 100% the whole time.

    Speaking of which, it’s crazy conspiracy time! I wanted to write this for the Fossil Bouma episode, which is that I had my suspicions that Soda was trying to “Yellow Four” Daichi, if Ganaha didn’t want to return. Supported by his relative disappearance, Ganaha’s visible displeasure, and the Fossil Bouma episode being a rushed “heroic sacrifice” script (a la the Yellow Four one). I don’t think he’d have died, but would have been “out of commission” for a new black to take over. It’s more a Miss America situation than anything else. Maybe Ganaha liked the script for this one and went against his agent’s wishes, the other cast members convinced him to stay, or the show didn’t have the budget for a replacement, I don’t know. A bit of a crazy, out-there thought, but I figured it was worth sharing.

    I gotta agree that it’s a very Japanese episode, but that’s a good thing (as with many of Turboranger’s Japanese-styled episodes). It really engages with the sumo theme and what it means to the different characters. I like the idea of Yamaguchi trying to impress her love of the sport into the heroes. Without her, I don’t think it nearly works as well.

    The mech battle/sumo wrestling match might be the best fight scene Turbo Robo gets in the show, especially with the cutaways to Yamaguchi’s commentary/coaching.

    Shougo, you’ve written a good defense of this one. Nice work, and we’ll see you for some motorcycles and Yazawa Eikichi!

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    1. You know, with the show writing off three regular villains, I never thought of the possibility of them writing off a hero around the same time. I can see the areas where it was possible to write out Daichi around this time.

      There really needs to be an interview with Ganaha about his time on Turboranger -- maybe he wasn't even as unhappy with the show as he often looked. I didn't want to mention this in any of my posts, but I've even wondered if he faced some discrimination being Okinawan.

      Thanks for the kind words!

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