Turboranger Episode 29

There's a real sense of "let's just get keep these episodes moving, writing out the old guys, bringing in the new mecha as quick as possible" to these final episodes with Jinba, Jarmine and Reida, which introduce the Turbo Builder and Turbo Rugger. (I honestly just accidentally typed "Turdo Rugger.") They're fine enough episodes if you just like action and fast-paced dilemmas just coming at you and the heroes again and again, but they don't follow through on some things that I think need addressing...

Most of all, they never address the Demonic Aura and the whole depletion-of-fairy-power from the previous episode. That's a pretty damn big thing to overlook, don't you think? In fact, Shiron doesn't even appear in this episode. And the Turboranger are again transforming as if nothing ever happened to 'em. Are they still powering themselves? Did the fairy power recover? Is Shiron OK? WHO KNOWS?! What are you, a reporter? We gotta bring in that underwhelming second mecha.

Episodes introducing new mecha are usually a drag and uninteresting, no matter how much they try to raise the stakes or how action-oriented they want to make it. It's all usually done in a similar manner, and the secondary mecha are usually always so much more unimpressive than the ones they're replacing -- Turboranger's only the fourth Sentai to bring in a second mecha, but it's still in the "Boy" phase, those robots that are "junior" to the original ones. Turbo Rugger's very much in the vein of Titan Boy, so...get outta here, those mecha are a joke. And for as much as people get hung up on "What do fairies have to do with cars," well, that all makes sense, I've explained it. You know something that doesn't make sense? That car-nut Dazai is building Rugger Fighter/Turbo Rugger at the same time he's building the Turbo Robo, and is going to be like "Yeah, it's going to be a futuristic type of spaceship. AND it's going to be a rugby player!" Wha?

All of the Turboranger participate in a sport of one kind, but not rugby. Would it have been too much for the show to be like "Yeah, Dazai's been working on the Turbo Rugger for a while, and it's a mecha based on the activities of the Turboranger; it's got a baseball attack, it can run fast, it can fight underwater, it's flexible, it will shove a baton up your ass and turn you into a Popsicle." Where'd Toei/Bandai/Dazai pull rugby from?

OK, enough about that stupid robot. It's Jarmine's turn to be written out. (Why no "Jarmine Dies!" title? What restraint.) First, though, here's something I find a little strange; after Jinba is killed by Turbo Builder, they show the Bouma's reactions at the Bouma Castle. Jarmine whispers a soft little "Farewell, Jinba." It's not as bizarre as Igam crying over Baraba's death, but pretty weird for what we know Jarmine to be like. So I always wondered if maybe that was Soda's hinting at potential plans for those original Bouma characters...

The original Bouma trio never quite took off the way most of Soda's villains immediately did. You can speculate the reasons, and I will in a bit, but the result is the same -- they didn't end up getting much focus, they didn't work so well, so they were written out in favor of bringing in a new character attached to the newer villain who WAS working to the show's advantage and proving popular with viewers and staff on top of it. Sometimes, though, Soda likes to wait until the second half of the show to amp up the villain drama. With Jarmine's seeming to care about Jinba's death, I've wondered if that was a sign that he might have originally planned for Jarmine and Jinba to become romantic -- the cold serpent and the spirit who hates love both finding love, it could have been interesting and a memorable storyline for Sentai villains. But these particular characters weren't used to their full potential, and so Soda put that idea in the drawer, saving it for a new, more worthier character. And it ended up being the better decision, because Yamimaru and Kirika are two popular characters amongst the fans, and often people's favorite part of the entire series.

But what about the original Bouma trio didn't work? Well, for one, Masashi Ishibashi is said to have not liked the Reida costume, complaining that he couldn't move his head in it. Ishibashi has an action past and is a very physical actor, so that would be frustrating, and most likely plays a part in why Reida appears infrequently. Secondly is the casting of Kanako Kishi; plucked from softcore skin flicks, she takes a long while to find her footing, and finally gets the hang of things just about when her character's getting written off. Third is Jinba being a suit. Jinba's a cool character, and my favorite of the original Bouma trio, and he's got a great design and voice-actor, but...Booba he ain't. You get the impression they want him to be one of those cool Yoshinori Okamoto characters. Booba and Oyobu worked because you could see Okamoto's eyes; I don't consider either of those characters masked/suited villains, that's how much of a difference the visibility of the actor's eyes make. Find a way to incorporate that with Jinba and give his role to Okamoto and you might have had a slam dunk.

I like the original Bouma trio, despite them not being fully fleshed out or used to their potential. But there's no question that Yamimaru and Kirika make superior villains and are written more interesting. The original Bouma villains were mostly supposed to pass on their freakiness and creepiness, and that alone doesn't hold up -- you need characterization, you need the writing to be there. And it's all there immediately with Yamimaru, so he made those old characters obsolete as soon as he joined the show.

Jarmine's the latest one to be scolded by Ragon and to pledge her last big gambit against the Turboranger; she reveals that she has a Bouma-Beast actually sealed within her, Kuroko (you remember what those are from Shinkenger, kids) Bouma, who can quickly appear and take damage that's meant for Jarmine. It's a pretty neat idea, with a cool, freaky little reveal scene.

Riki and the rest find Dazai within the Turbo Builder, who's like "Yeah, yeah, this mecha fort is crazy. We'll talk about it later -- we gotta get Rugger Fighter up and running!" While our heroes frantically work on doing that, Daichi takes a chance to go back to where Turbo Truck stalled out and try to get it moving. For being such a quiet, contemplative guy, Daichi is freakily very vocal and passionate about Turbo Truck. He doesn't like it being in the open and, sure enough, it becomes a target for Jarmine. Daichi eventually decides to use Jarmine's focus on Turbo Truck to his advantage, using it as a distraction to give the others time to complete Rugger Fighter. The episode turns into more Turbo monster Truck action Sunday, Sunday, Sunday than you ever thought you'd see in the show.

Daichi stalls her enough and the new mecha is finished, but Turbo Truck takes a beating and Daichi's a bloody, barely-conscious mess. At one point, Jarmine herself is piloting one of the Bouma's Garzoku attack ships and firing at Turbo Truck. Just as she might be swooping in for the kill, and as an exhausted Daichi can barely reach the controls to return fire, Dazai swoops in to push the button, sending Jarmine's ship crashing. (In one nice moment, Fujita Okamoto shows off some impressive acting chops, completely selling you on the idea that his car fanatic Dazai is really touched at the devotion and love Daichi has for his invention, promising Daichi he'll repair it ASAP.) This ship crashing seriously wounds Jarmine, evidently delaying Kuroko Bouma's ability, which leads to Black Turbo being able to successfully separate the two in order to strike a mortal blow to Jarmine, defeating both her and Kuroko Bouma. (She makes Kuroko Bouma giant before she dies, of course.) So, a regular villain, taken down by both Dazai and Black Turbo -- that's weird to think about.

The Turboranger fight the monster with the newly finished Turbo Rugger, with a new-to-tokutunes Shinichi Ishihara theme song. (It barely sounds like Ishihara and is a pretty meh song; listenable enough, but forgettable.) The episode ends with Dazai getting a surprise visitor in the cockpit of Turbo Truck...the now cocky Yamimaru, who kidnaps him, leaving behind his handkerchief with the meteor stitching, to let the Turboranger know just who's behind the crime. Ragon's impressed by Yamimaru's actions these past couple of episodes, which worries Reida. And it should, because the next episode is called "The End of Reida!"