Turboranger Episode 49

I love the intro of this episode, how it's filmed; just a quiet scene as Kirika approaches Kashim's memorial, the way she stops herself from praying as soon as she senses Yamimaru watching her from afar. The episode's title comes up in a striking red-colored font.

The Turboranger are chilling one evening when they notice the stars of Rakia fading, with the Mark of Bouma appearing over the constellation. This understandably concerns them and Shiron, who notes it's a bad sign of something stirring up. It might have a little something to do with Neo-Ragon performing ancient rituals at the Bouma Castle, trying to locate the Big Seal -- an area where 108 Bouma-Beasts are sealed together. Dazai tells the Turboranger that the Big Seal was hidden so deeply, nobody knows its exact location. Shiron tells them that it's begun to rumble and possibly break because the Earth continues to be polluted. (Even though people have begun to change the way they treat the environment, the Earth won't just suddenly repair itself, says Haruna.) "And that's why we need you guys!" Dazai tells the team. "Right now, the Earth is healing its wounded body. And while it's weak, you must protect it!"

Meanwhile, Zuruten's zipping all over Japan, trying to track down the Big Seal. When the Turboranger set out to stop him, they're interrupted by the Nagare Bouma. Riki again tries to get through to the two, talking of Kashim and his wife's hope for the Nagare Bouma to become a bridge between humans and Bouma, with only Kirika showing signs of cracking. I like the exchange between Riki and Yamimaru here. Yamimaru says "For 20,000 years I've put up with wounds and pain caused by humans and Bouma. That pain lessens and disappears only with bloodshed!" Riki replies that it doesn't have to be that way, they can all just get along and live happily. Yamimaru laughs his ass off. "Are you telling me to love humans? Bouma? There's only one person I love. And we're going to build a kingdom ruling over the worlds of both humans and Bouma."

Ordinarily, if a villain says something vague like there's only "one person" they love, you kinda assume they're talking about themselves. Here, they cut to a surprised Kirika when Yamimaru says that, which pretty much confirms what fans only theorized. He then masks himself and attacks them, eventually talking Kirika into attacking, as well. However, tremors caused by the weakening Big Seal lead to an explosion which breaks the fight apart, with Riki taking the injured Kirika to a remote, safer location.

As I said, Kirika's shown signs of cracking in this episode. First, by trying to say farewell to Kashim. And then she hesitates as Yamimaru's attempting to make his trusty old spider, Yamikumo, into a Bouma-Beast. Now, weakened and bleeding, she asks Riki why he's taken her. He tells her that she's important; her veins flow with the blood of a human who loved a Bouma, and a Bouma who loved a human. She's the result of beings who saw past hate and opted for love, that she's a beautiful symbol and representation of all that her parents wanted, conveying their message from 20,000 years ago. This breaks through to Kirika, to the point when Yamimaru arrives and he orders her to attack, she doesn't. He fights with Riki, preparing to destroy the locket that's caused so much doubt and hesitation on Kirika's part, only for her to throw herself between Yamimaru's blade and the pendant-wearing Riki. Her hands clasp the sword, bleeding, as she cries and apologizes to Yamimaru. He looks shocked and upset, then turns his back on her. "Even though I'm alone, I'll fight," he replies, before ordering Yamikumo Bouma to attack, as the other Turboranger arrive just in time. (I like how Yamikumo Bouma pulls Red Turbo into a different dimension to fight.)

The episode ends with the Bouma still hunting the location of the Big Seal, with the heroes desperate to stop them. Meanwhile, Kirika sadly looks on as Yamimaru walks alone, fearing what his next move may be.

It's funny, I usually complain about villain redemption arcs, but it works here with the Nagare Bouma. At least more so than it worked in Liveman, I'll say. (Only Obular and MAYBE Ashura's redemptions work for me. But Mazenda? KEMP?! No way.) But these two were such good villains, that it's a shame to lose them as villains in these final few episodes, you know? That's a big threat eliminated, and I think that's probably the main reason they kept the possibility of bringing Ragon back. Neo-Ragon pops up in episode 46, when the show's practically over! I think they were setting the redemption storylines up and were like "Shit! Who's the Turboranger gonna be fighting in the finale then?!"

Villains turning good not only runs the risk of making a villain look foolish or indecisive or not threatening, but there's many times where these scenarios can make the heroic characters look bad, too. Sometimes they can come across as wishy-washy goofs or really naive or unbelievably good or too trusting. I talked about how the Liveman started to look like chumps in those later episodes for letting their psychotic friends off the hook. But this works here, especially homing in on Riki and Kirika and going back to that first episode of hers, where he felt bad for her and showed he genuinely cared about her, and he knew she was a good person and wanted to appeal to that side of her when Yamimaru was swaying her, and the fact that she really, really liked Riki.

So there's that part of Riki who had always wanted to help Sayoko, but a big motivation for him here is honoring Kashim's dying request. Riki isn't some pushover who suddenly becomes some big supporter of Bouma rights or anything, but he felt bad for the old man. He knows that the sentiment of unification meant something to him, and that he wanted Kirika to understand, so he will try to get her to understand the unique situation of her parents. Even though Riki had that line about cutting ties with Sayoko in 32, he's still known Sayoko as a classmate, so he has to care for her on some level. But in a similar way to how he pushed aside his anger at Yamimaru for Yamaguchi's sake in 22, he's going to dedicate himself to helping Kirika for Kashim's sake. (And will do so with Yamimaru for Kirika's sake in the next episode.)

Now for some complaints, though. Mainly that, when we're shown the army of hell that the Big Seal is holding back, that are ready to march if the Big Seal breaks, it's a big reunion of old Bouma-Beast suits. But smack dab in the middle of this crowd is the Ragon suit. What the hell is that doing there? Now, I know they made this show not thinking anybody was going to be watching it 30 years later and poring over it, but it's soooooo easily noticeable. Why include the instantly recognizable suit of your head villain in the first place? Is it just supposed to be some other creature in the Ragon family? It's distracting.