Turboranger Episode 36

A serious, somber episode written by Fujii, one that would have benefited from a longer running time. It has great, careful and artistic direction from Takao Nagaishi. It's similar in style to "Seishun Road!" but not as violent or action-oriented.

Shunsuke skips class and only Haruna knows why; he mentioned he wanted to go to the beach and commemorate meeting a girl there, Sayo, around the same time ten years prior. The others kinda don't believe that their goofy pal Shunsuke is so sentimental about his puppy love, and decide to go spy on him in fun. Shunsuke stands, looking at the sea, lost in memories while clasping a handkerchief with flower stitching. By the time the others arrive, Yamimaru and Kirika begin an attack with the latest Bouma-Beast, Memory Bouma, who eats memories. Shunsuke is hit by the monster's specialized attacked while protecting a group of kids and loses his memory.

Neither his friends' words, shock-treatment from Dazai (!) or Shiron can get through to Shunsuke. The only thing that jogs something is the sight of the handkerchief, which he connects to the beach. He bolts from Dazai's and gets to a beach while the others are out fighting the monster in hopes of getting Shunsuke's memory restored. (An action driven by the impulsive Youhei.) Shiron and Dazai research and find the best way to restore Shunsuke's memory is by getting him to remember a strong and cherished memory and it will push past the blockage and open up his memories, and that he's already on the path to do it.

Once at the beach, he's targeted by Kirika. The setting stirs up memories for Kirika, as well, of being bullied. She decides Shunsuke will make a fine representative of the ugly humans she hates and begins attacking him, taking her hatred out on him. Only Shunsuke is pretty pathetic, barely dodging her attacks, making himself a mess by falling into the water and stumbling around while clutching a seashell. This pathetic sight only further aggravates Kirika and she worsens her attack. Shunsuke's memory of that day on the beach becomes clearer and clearer, he finally regains his memory, throwing the seashell he's clutched at Kirika, and it breaks. Staring at the broken pieces unleashes a flood of memory for her -- a time when she was happily playing on the beach, as a child, before being targeted and bullied by three boys who torment her, call her names, and break the seashell she found out of meanness. Throughout this attack on a defenseless, weak and kind of child-like-in-his-trauma Shunsuke, she's restaged that bully attack from her childhood, only this time she doesn't recognize that she herself is in the role of bully.

Kirika is so full of hatred for the way she was treated throughout her life that she doesn't remember the bright side of that day in her childhood: that another boy, Shun, came along and fought the bullies off, standing up for her and getting beat up in the process. After he managed to chase them off, she tied her flower-stitched handkerchief around his wounds and they then had a fun day playing at the beach together. Neither SHUNsuke or SAYOko/Kirika realize they were the ones who shared a day of fun and this memory together. A cherished memory for Shunsuke -- his best memory, if you want to believe Shiron and Dazai -- is at the same time a painful one for Kirika. The episode ends with Shunsuke just taking in that memory one more time, noting that he'd like to meet Sayo again, and that he's sure she's become a good person...

Well, we know otherwise, but this episode is tying itself back to Kirika's introduction, where she's meant to feel sympathetic and understandable. So, I feel like this episode is also trying to hint at the idea that maybe Kirika can be saved if she gets past the hate.

The direction in this episode is good, though, especially in that scene with Kirika attacking Shunsuke, as it jumps back and forth between Shunsuke's memory of the event and Kirika's, making clear the different perspectives of the same memory, gradually giving us the entire picture of that day's events. If Shunsuke hadn't dropped the handkerchief when he left Dazai's, and had that when Kirika found him at the beach, I wonder how differently that scenario would have gone. Maybe it's better for Shunsuke to not realize his puppy love grew up to become his opponent, but maybe it would have been better for Kirika to remember that there were people who stood up for her. A bittersweet story either way.