EPISODE 8
This episode is just basically pleasing Bandai for holding off so long on getting Ohranger Robo. Total nonstop mecha action. There are things that are cool on paper, but there's just no feasible way of conveying the scenario on a 1995 toku budget. (Baranoia chains Ohranger Robo and throws it into the sun, where quick thinking by Oh Red leads them to using the alternate headpieces to get them out of the jam.)
Here's a problem I have with this episode, and it's something that happened in the previous one, too. We see the Ohranger as being so skilled and confident, but the minute something's not going their way, they're ready to give up. I don't want overly confident heroes to the point of them being cocky, but when even Oh Red is like "The mecha won't move! Baranoia's won, they're going to take over Earth, we're fucked!" it's just a little too much. And they ALL freak out like that here. At least have Red be the calm voice of reason.
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EPISODE 9
Before some know-it-all wants to feel fancy and cry "stock plots" or "tropes," I'm here to say that some writers just have pet scenarios they'll often revisit. Toshiki Inoue's one of those writers. A lot of Changerion is Inoue cutting loose with a lot of his favorite scenarios...
The first scene of this episode is something that's done more believably in Changerion. In short, the gals of the show are shopping and wind up selecting the same dress and exchange some insults. Inoue likes this plot of having heroines who bicker but end up having to put aside their differences to work together. It works in Changerion, because Eri and Akemi always had a simmering competitive thing going between them, and their fallout drives the episode for when they team up. Akemi's actress is also noticeably younger than Eri's, so the "obasan" jab works there. Here it's just used as a humorous way to kick off the episode, and it just doesn't seem very Juri or Momo-like. Call me judgmental, because we don't exactly know much about these characters at the moment, but Juri never seemed like the type to shirk duty to go shopping and find a rad outfit to attract guys. Momo and Juri also seem in the same age range, so their brief beef seems more mean-spirited than it should. (Juri is supposed to be 22 and Momo 20; however, in real life, it was the reverse -- Tamao Sato was older than Ayumi Asou.)
Other than that, this episode sees Inoue also visit his Turboranger script in which Haruna feigns defection in order to get the antidote for the poisoned heroes. The disappointing thing here is how easily and quickly the three Ohranger guys are taken down. But it's meant to be comedic, and this is a comedic episode. People target this episode as the first of Ohranger's being "retooled," but I think a comedic episode was required and probably going to land at this point anyway.
And it deviates from the Turboranger scenario in that the focus is on both heroines -- with things meant to be somewhat bleak because the tough Juri has "defected," leaving things up to seemingly timid Momo -- and that the monster is aware of the deception. (Momo calls the monster's bluff by outdecepting HIM and tricking him with...a holographic projection of the seemingly-healed Ohranger guys? When did she get that made?!) Toku heroes pretending to be bad is always hard to buy, but maybe Juri would...I didn't peg her for the type to want to play dress up for guys, so maybe she *would* join Baranoia, eh?
There's some bizarre shit in this episode, like the already-mentioned holographic projection, and Miura misleading the heroines into thinking they have less time than they do in order to motivate them. Inoue crammed all the silliness he could into this one, but it's a fun showcase for our heroines. I'm an Inoue apologist and Tamao Sato fanboy, so...
EPISODE 10
Uehara's first script for the show! And it's kind of plain. Don't get me wrong, he gets nuttier than I care for later on. It's just surprising that the episode feels kind of like...an extra episode was ordered, so they scrambled to throw this thing together. You know, like how a lot of the Sentai movies feel.
I think Bara Hacker's cool, though, and I like his memorizing all Ohranger attacks and trying to get into the secrets of their mecha. Yamaoka's back, so there's some great looking action shots.
Oh, and they force in a new toy for no real reason! Ohranger ends up getting really bad about trying to somehow save their sinking ship by piling toys onto it. I think this thing is the earliest and most pointless introduction to a Sentai. (At the time, anyway. Nowadays, they get new pointless shit in every single episode of a Sentai. Every. Single. Episode.) The Giant Roller...is a bit goofy looking, I'm sorry. Especially when they cut to Red inside it, and he just looks like he's in the Human Hamster Wheel from Super Sloppy Double Dare. The sentiment is nice, with the wheel being one of mankind's oldest and most important technological creations, tying back into Ohranger's theme of ancient technology. It also just debuts here without any fanfare. "Bara Hacker knows all of our moves! Well, let's haul out the Giant Wheeler we've been working on!" Older shows would have had a reference to it previously, or show it being built, even if just at the start of this very episode. Very rushed and seeming like an afterthought.
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