Turboranger Episode 35

Inoue returns with a bit of a weird one, featuring a lot of his favorite ingredients. He often likes writing pesky guests to get on the nerves of one of our heroes, and we have one here. He makes this guest, Yukari, a cynical and sarcastic character, like he favors. (See: Gai, Takkun.) Yukari is also a criminal, one who likes pick-pocketing and stealing jewels. (See: Femme, that guy in that Liveman.) And the guest star and the featured hero both end up on the run while handcuffed to one another. (See: Changerion.)

The actress playing Yukari, Miho Toujou, actually reminds me a little of Takashi Hagino, and she delivers her lines in a similar way to the way he did in Changerion, which is a funny coincidence. Yukari's supposed to be one of those outrageous and rascally characters who you're supposed to love even if they're making things miserable for our heroes, but her crimes are a little more serious than just pick-pocketing and jewel-stealin' -- she begins the episode by assaulting and fleeing a police officer and later impersonates a police officer. She ain't no minor criminal, is what I'm saying. Who knows what skellingtons are lurking in her closet.

On the run from the police -- the cop only managed to slap one handcuff on her before she made her getaway -- she hides out in an abandoned shack in the middle of a forest. While there, she happens to see Kirika unearth a large jewel -- with which she needs for her latest scheme -- from within one of them Easter Island statues that toku loves so much. Not caring that Kirika is obviously a toku villain, Yukari just sees the jewel and figures she'll attack this weirdly-dressed weirdo and steal that jewel. And she does! Because she's spunky! Kirika gives chase and Yukari stumbles into Daichi, asking him for help. Kirika and a Bouma-Beast aren't far behind, so before he can ask any questions, he's fighting Bouma off while trying to guard Yukari. Soon, the other half of Yukari's handcuff latches onto Daichi, and he's having to coordinate attacks around this dilemma, which is nicely choreographed by action-director Michihiro Takeda.

Daichi takes Yukari back to base, where Dazai analyzes Kirika's crystal and Yukari manages to unlock the handcuffs with a hairpin, posing as a cop who needs to get the jewel back as evidence. Shiron knows she's lying -- and also spots her pick-pocketing Daichi -- and warns them. She manages to still grab the crystal off of Dazai and escape, though, with Daichi in pursuit. Daichi catches up to her and, in a struggle, becomes attached to her by handcuff once again. (A gag Inoue repeats to greater effect in the Changerion episode I already mentioned.)

The jewel's needed to reveal the location of an evil sword Kirika seeks, and while Daichi is stuck with the thief while seeking the sword's location before the Bouma get to it, Yukari's stuck with Daichi, not wanting to lose the crystal, wanting it for herself. Most of the episode is spent with them being targeted from every direction by Kirika, Yamimaru and the Bouma-Beast, Shinigami Bouma, who brings back defeated Bouma Beasts. The episode is action-heavy, which is cool (even though Ganaha kinda looks terrified each crazy explosion-filled jump he has to make).

At one point, in their handcuffed journey, Daichi has to piggyback an exhausted Yukari; Daichi being a patient, charitable dude puzzles her and his way of thinking (believing in people and friendship) throughout the course of their adventure changes her. (She initially laughs at his words; cynical Inoue doesn't shy away in his writings from critiquing the central and sometimes naive beliefs and values of the standard toku hero; he often reinforces those beliefs by offering the jaded point of view, having the "realistic" and pessimistic character often change for the better due to the positive hero's influence.) When they're finally unattached -- thanks to a well-timed slice of Yamimaru's sword, severing the handcuff chain -- Daichi tells her to escape and she does. But she reaches a point where she feels guilty abandoning Daichi -- reminiscent of Gai Yuuki -- deciding to go and grab the evil sword herself, and use it to help save him. After the day is saved, she turns herself in to the police, promising to go on a date with Daichi when she gets out. Oh, but first she gives his wallet back. (I'm thinking she's going away for a long, long time.)

If I sound unenthusiastic or flippant about this episode, well...I'm in a pissy mood right now, which doesn't help. But there's also something about this episode that just doesn't work for me. It's got action aplenty, which is this episode's highlight, and it has a memorably quirky Inoue character. To me, one of the problems is that the Bouma take a back seat, their plan secondary to the mischief caused by the guest star, and I think that's a bad call when we're still trying to establish Kirika and Yamimaru as new members of the Bouma Hyaku Zoku. Also, many a toku have the evil sword episode, but they're usually tied more into the episode as a whole than it is here. Even Fiveman does an evil sword episode well, and better than this one. Fiveman!

Another problem is in the casting of Yukari. I like the actress and she makes the character more tolerable than she could have been, but she's not right for this type of role. She seems a bit too old, seeming more like someone the show would cast as a teacher, which just makes the whole romantic angle seem odd considering the set-up of the show. The role is meant to be comedic, yes, and the actress pulls that off, but I think Yukari's also supposed to be kind of dangerous, cool and, yes, mature, but not in a schoolteacher kind of way. (For some reason, the first person who popped into my head as a better alternative is Ami Kawai. They really needed to just get Ami Kawai to cross the street over from filming Jiban to play Yukari -- she would have nailed it.) Maybe Ganaha's to blame, too; he doesn't exactly show any interest in her, so the whole thing just doesn't play in the way Inoue intends it, which is kinda like a reverse Romancing the Stone.

It's a breezy episode, it's enjoyable, I wouldn't call it bad. The action and the villains coming at our hero from all directions make the episode. It just doesn't really hit all the notes it's supposed to and doesn't really feel all that Turboranger-y. Even though Inoue's trying to make Daichi seem as cool as he's supposed to be -- giving him a ton of out-of-suit action scenes, giving him a love interest who's supposed to be cool and mature and rebellious -- he kinda forgets the age the character is supposed to be. It's an episode that's always felt out of place to me.