Turboranger Episode 31

With all three Bouma generals defeated in battle, Yamimaru calls for Ragon's attention in the sky. He goes ignored, vowing to get to the Bouma Castle by his own power.

Meanwhile, back at school, the class is having a vote on who gets the lead in their production of Cinderella. Riki's already won the role of the prince, but the vote for Cinderella is between Haruna and Sayoko Tsukikage. Haruna wins, 15 to 1. I wonder how it even came to be that it was a choice between Haruna and Sayoko; Haruna's meant to be one of the most liked, popular girls at school. Sayoko is a meek, quiet, odd bespectacled outsider. Did Sayoko put her own name out there, or did someone suggest her as a prank, Carrie-style? (There's a lot of Carrie White in Sayoko Tsukikage...)

When she sees Haruna checking the costume on herself in a mirror, amidst the class fawning over her, Tsukikage's thoughts are of harm, that she'd like for a shard of that mirror to cut Haruna's face. She spots a monstrous image in the mirror. Shortly afterward, when Haruna returns to the group, the mirror explodes, with Riki managing to cover Haruna in time. ("Just what you'd expect from the prince!" Youhei teases.) Later, when Sayoko has been given the boot from the volleyball team, she angrily shows them what they're missing out on when she executes her killer spike...literally. Her anger at the team causes the volleyball to explode on contact, but the teammates don't seem to be seriously injured. The ruckus in the gym has caught Riki's attention. (And he manages to glimpse the monstrous apparition that appears before this attack, the same as the one that Sayoko saw in the mirror earlier.)

This causes Riki to approach Sayoko, trying to find out what's happening. She says she doesn't know and that she's scared, and she seems genuine, and his concern for her is genuine. Nearby, Nagareboshi, stalking the school grounds, notices Sayoko and is shocked to recognize her as the woman in red from his dream. Riki ends up walking Sayoko home, which is fine enough for Sayoko; it's strongly hinted at, and confirmed in the next episode, that she has a crush on Riki. Today happens to be her 18th birthday and she asks if Riki wants to celebrate it with her and her family who, as weird as they are, live at the same fancy, awesome place where Kaori Rokumeikan lives that's made many a toku appearances. (The former Ishikawa group Western mansion in Saitama.)

Sayoko's parents aren't happy to see Riki and try to send him off, but their unhappiness doesn't match Sayoko's happiness in having Riki by her side, so she wins out over them. She takes him to the dining room, where a cake and festivities are ready. Our hero's a nice dude who is happy to show attention to this classmate that is too often ignored and shit on, genuinely wishing her a happy birthday. She tells him of this strange story her parents always told her, that she's tied to someone by the red string of fate and she'll meet that person on her 18th birthday. (So, you can imagine she's excited to think of that story and tie her classmate crush into it.)

Her parents bring in some celebratory booze for our underage school kids, pouring Riki a glass. He gives the wine a smell...hey, this ain't his first rodeo! How much experience with drinking alcohol does Riki have at his young age?! Before we even get a chance to fully ask that question, we and Riki see that monstrous apparition appear within the wine he's been served. Not letting anyone know he knows, he drinks it, feigning pain and convulsions. Sayoko's panicked, but her parents are happy, her dad pulling a knife out to finish the job. Riki stops him, spitting the booze he only pretended to swallow in his face. Sayoko's parents reveal themselves to be monsters. (The books refer to them as "skull monsters," but they look kinda bat-like to me, reminiscent of the make-up Gary Oldman wore for the bat-form in Bram Stoker's Dracula.) Just then, a Bouma-Beast emerges from within Sayoko and then Nagareboshi comes crashing through the window -- it's pandemonium!

This particular Bouma-Beast is interesting in its relation to Sayoko; it's named after protective charms (omamori) and it's been tasked with protecting her; it's been part of Sayoko's entire life, and we see examples of when the monster appeared and saved her from certain death from accidents that occurred throughout her life in the human world. Omamori Bouma is also voiced by Rika Matsumoto, and she really lets loose and has a blast, and gives the monster a real anger and energy.

Nagareboshi, the skull parents and Omamori Bouma get Sayoko away from the Turboranger, to a secluded mountain spot and reveal who she really is; a Nagare Bouma who has been raised in the human world for the past 18 years by the skull monsters, while being guarded by the Omamori Bouma until her powers awaken on her 18th birthday. Nagareboshi reveals that they're the only Nagare Bouma in the world, that she gave him a power through a dream and that he's the one she's tied to through destiny. Riki and the others show up to try to keep Sayoko on the good path, telling her not to believe Nagareboshi, that Riki believes she's a good person, proof of that being a time he witnessed Sayoko volunteering to donate blood when there was a car accident near the school. (Which means some kid is wandering Japan with Nagare Bouma blood in their veins.) Nagareboshi whisks Sayoko away as the skull monsters and Bouma Beast hold back the Turboranger.

Nagareboshi takes Sayoko to a mountaintop; a directorial choice symbolizing Nagareboshi's view of humanity, as he gestures out to the city below. "Where are the supposed good humans," he asks her. "Can you think of any? Has anyone ever accepted you?" He approaches her and removes her glasses. "You're beautiful. Even though you're so beautiful, has anyone noticed you? Or have they shown you hate and rejection? Show them. Show them your beauty. Show them your excellence." Everything he's saying to Sayoko resonates with her; it's the truth. And Nagareboshi is speaking from experience, he understands the persecution and judgment and hatred. He's been alone and angry for so long, but he's found someone he can finally relate to. He knows the power she potentially holds and knows that they can together forge a future where they might actually be in power. They harbor so much anger and resentment, though, that they're on a darker path, more motivated by the desire to get back at people.

While Nagareboshi is winning over Sayoko, the Turboranger are victorious in defeating the skull monsters and the Bouma-Beast. Their fight with the Bouma-Beast in the mecha causes tremors to the nearby mountain, which proves perilous for Nagareboshi and Sayoko. She falls, and he reaches for her. The red string of fate literally appears and proves they're tied together as they both end up falling, being wrapped in a light and emerging transformed. (Could THIS be what Yamimaru truly uses the Demonic Aura for?) Sayoko is now Kirika and Yamimaru has a completely new costume (that I sadly don't like as much as his original, but I get they wanted him to match Kirika).

The episode started with Yamimaru shouting at the sky for Ragon to accept him at the Bouma Castle. The episode ends with Yamimaru and Kirika flying themselves directly there on their own terms, with their own power. For what reason, you have to wait for the next episode.

The Nagare Bouma Yamimaru and Kirika are similar to the mutants of X-Men and what they represent and are allegories of. It's interesting to me that sub-writer Toshiki Inoue doesn't bother doing anything with them, when a lot of his work falls in line with that X-Men style. Inoue ends up penning two more episodes of Turboranger, and they're comedically-tinged. The Nagare Bouma are certainly close to what he tries to accomplish with the Orphenoch in Faiz -- you could even say they're Proto-Orphenoch -- so it's weird these two characters don't draw his attention. I think Inoue would have said some interesting things with them.

While there's been some bumpy patches in these last few episodes as the show makes these transitions, I think they still work, and this episode particularly is strong. You get the impression that Kirika wasn't a character that was planned to be in the series, but her inclusion does wonders for the show. It's a stroke of genius to have a character that's tied into the commentary and symbolism of youth and growing up by having her be a classmate. And not only having her be a classmate, but one who was ignored and mistreated and bullied for most of her life.

I'm sure some younger fans look at this show and scoff -- "Heh, the character appeared out of nowhere." Well, that's how TV worked back in the day, peewee. Sure, nowadays, Sayoko would probably have been a regular from the start, but...it would be pretty predictable if she was. Nowadays, shows are over-populated. There are SO many supporting characters, yet you know each and every one of them is going to transform into something at one point or another. Bringing in Sayoko the way they do -- this late into the series and particularly in the way we're introduced to her as she's losing the role in the play -- I think works to the show's advantage in a symbolic way. If Sayoko's a character who's always left out and ignored and mistreated then, hey, who's to say she hasn't been in the class all along? We didn't notice her because she's a person who's not noticed. Maybe we're just one of the assholes who have ignored her all this time.

On a side note, I've always thought the idea of the two skull creatures raising Sayoko as an ordinary human, with her being protected by Omamori Bouma -- that whole history -- is so interesting that it's another thing that I think would make a cool spin-off novel, if Toei did spin-off novels for Super Sentai in the Star Trek kind of vein.