Turboranger Episode 39

This one's called "The End of Ragon." Usually you see a title like that and you're like "C'mon, they ain't writing out the head villain at episode 39." And then you remember that Turboranger just killed three of their main villains 10 episodes back, so anything goes!

This is one of my favorite Super Sentai episodes, and one of Turboranger's best. And if Riki Honoo wasn't already on my list as one of my top favorite Reds (and he was), this episode alone would have put him there.

Yamimaru and Kirika stage a takeover. (Fitting with the themes of youth the show's explored, this sets off a kind of arc looking at the arrogance of youth.) The have their eyes on an item guarded by several Uras in the Bouma Castle, the Life Jewel, said to be the life of the castle. That's only part of their agenda in this episode, the other is...they kidnap Riki and drop him in the center of the Bouma Castle...they drop him RIGHT IN FRONT OF RAGON. Masao Minowa again directs, and I love how this reveal is handled -- Riki gets up with his back turned to Ragon, who sits silently in the dark. Suddenly, the light comes on revealing him, with Ragon growling out Riki's name in surprise. This is the first time Riki's set eyes on Ragon, he doesn't know who it is until Yamimaru announces it, and there's a "Holy shit!" moment before he steels himself in a fighting pose.

I already wrote at length at how great and intimidating I find the Ragon character/set-piece to be. He's one of the more truly imposing and actually frightening lead villains in Sentai (or any toku, IMO). And now we have one of our heroes standing before him alone, unarmed, unprepared. And if that's not bad enough, Yamimaru and Kirika place a spider-web-like barrier before Riki and Ragon, cordoning off the area they're in. Yamimaru informs them that the barrier can't be broken until either Riki or Ragon is dead, and if they hesitate, both their lives will be drained and they'll both be dead. (I like how Ragon fires at the barrier and Riki transforms to try to cut through it, like they don't believe Yamimaru.)

When we first see Riki in this episode, he's just strolling through a garden area. For all we know, he just woke up, it's a gorgeous day, he's just enjoying it and taking it in. And in one quick moment, Yamimaru and Kirika swoop in (literally; Yamimaru's on the Dragras, which picks Riki up in its claw), grab Riki and lock him in a death cage match with the show's main villain. Riki just woke up, he wasn't expecting this shit. But once they realize Yamimaru's telling the truth, the fight is on. Red Turbo doesn't hesitate, he's diving at the humongous Ragon with everything he's got.

And since the show knows they're getting rid of Ragon as we know him, they don't hold back with what they do with the set. There's stuff movin' all over the place, arms and tentacles extending dozens of feet across the room, they're setting off sparks and pyrotechnics everywhere. It's really cool the way Ragon uses one extended arm to hold Red in place (meaning Niibori is levitating on a wire) while holding a sword in another arm to fight on. It's a confined space, a seated villain who's technically more of a set-piece than costumed character, but they make the fight big and thrilling and dangerous and just epic, yet it still manages to feel really closed-in and personal. There's more ambition and action in this scene alone than there's been in the past ten years of toku action. (Toku action is a fucking joke anymore, ruined by CGI and stupid Bandai toys, but that's another topic.)

While Red and Ragon are engaged in MORTAL KOMBAAAAAAAAAT, Yamimaru and Kirika fight their way through Ura guards and steal that Life Jewel. With it, they plan to take control of the Bouma Castle and have it collide with Turbo Builder, proving their superiority over both Bouma and humans alike, and taking out their major enemies. And they come close! It's a tense battle between Yamimaru and the other four Turboranger while Red's still in a fight to the death with Ragon. When a panicked Zuruten appears on the other side of the barrier, crying out about Yamimaru's plan, Ragon remains confident...

I've said it before and I'll say it again: Takeshi Watabe is my favorite villain voice-actor, and he does a phenomenal job as Ragon. Especially in this episode, his work is outstanding. The evil, demented cackle he lets out when he thinks he has Red Turbo cornered. The freakish howling once Red Turbo gets a fatal jab in. The rage in his voice once Ragon makes his big move -- literally, transforming himself into a giant to take on his enemies on both sides...

That's right, Red gets in a fatal blow, and the shot is impressive; just a wall of sparks emitting from the Ragon set, so many that they completely cover Red Turbo from the shot. Red Turbo's knocked back from the explosion, reverting to Riki. The barrier disappears, Ragon is gone. RIKI KILLED THE HEAD VILLAIN ON HIS OWN, IN A STEEL CAGE DEATH MATCH! With nothing but his courage and awesomeness and skill in battle. No Bandai toys or upgrades, no magical catchphrases to spout. A plain old up-close-and-personal and ugly battle.

Ragon's vanished, but uses the last of his strength in order to steal the Life Jewel from the Nagare Bouma's hands, then returning to the Bouma Castle to reveal a normal, standing form. (This reveal is shot with such ominousness, as Ragon stands before Riki, covered in shadows and mist.) "I'll not hand over the Bouma Castle to anyone. I'll revive in order to protect it and the Bouma Hyaku Zoku." He then becomes a giant, going to the surface and setting his sights on the Turbo Builder.

Since Hideaki Kusaka plays Turbo Robo, I'm not sure if the substitute is in the Turbo Robo or the Ragon suit, but whoever's playing Ragon really makes him seem giant and formidable; he carries himself confidently, projecting such strength. The design is interesting, but it looks far more arachnid to me than the regular Ragon did, which looked more snake-like.

Knowing of the fight-to-the-death scenario, Team Turbo is understandably freaked when Ragon appears, thinking that means Riki must have lost and paid with his life. The four carry on, fighting Ragon with Turbo Robo, which is no match for him. Suddenly, a Garzoku ship lands -- Red Turbo, heading off to get the Rugger Fighter to join the battle! I would have liked to see Riki navigate the Bouma Castle, finding a Garzoku ship and piloting it. That's all pretty crazy sounding, and I assume he probably threatened Zuruten or an Ura to show him the way. This episode should have probably been a two-parter. Anyway, Super Turbo Robo is still no match for the giant Ragon, so Dazai hauls out the big guns, telling them to merge the Super Turbo Robo with the Turbo Builder. This is the big reveal of Super Turbo Builder, the first we're seeing of it, but the Turboranger act like they've known about it and have just wisely been waiting for the right time to use it. A blast of its powerful energy seemingly defeats Ragon...

Yamimaru and Kirika take over the Bouma Castle, announcing their rule. Zuruten seems cowardly to fall in line, instructing the Uras to do the same. The episode ends with a shot of the Life Jewel, returned to its original spot, with an image of Ragon appearing within it, warning he won't die so easily.

Damn! What an episode. They don't make them as intense as this anymore. Go watch it.

Turboranger Episode 38

Now THIS is a Bouma plot. This episode is Mami Watanabe's second of three scripts for the series, one that's a little more traditionally Turboranger, prioritizing an eerie vibe with a memorably creepy monster of the week. Director Masao Minowa gives the episode a sense of dread, a quiet spookiness, a tense pace and inventiveness.

When Shunsuke breaks the art class's model statue while goofing off, his punishment is to clean and rearrange the storage room. (Shunsuke was hauling out gymnastic moves in order to look up classmates' skirts. Modern viewers will look back on this episode and cringe, but it was way inappropriate in even 1989. He gets punished at least! Even though it's probably more for knocking over that statue...) As he's cleaning, he backs into a painting, knocking it over, unknowingly breaking its wrapping. He doesn't realize what he broke was a seal bearing Rakia's image, and that the painting is a Bouma-Beast. Shunsuke takes a look at the painting, which looks like every early '80s metal album cover -- a demonic beast menacingly hovering over a hellish landscape, its right index finger dipping into a multi-colored pond -- gets weirded out and hides it from sight. He turns his back to continue his cleaning, as we get a POV shot from the monster, extending its hand out to Shunsuke, who gets out of harm's way just in time, being called to by his friends. (They're headed to a museum for a school project; it doesn't interest Shunsuke, but I guess it's better than cleaning up the filthy and creepy storage facility!)

I find it kind of interesting and creepy that a sealed Bouma was actually on the school grounds. Throughout the show, we've seen that sealed Bouma are spread out and the regular Bouma had to seek them out if they wanted to use them. It gives the show a freaky little addition that probably spooked the younger viewers, the idea that "you never know where a Bouma could be lurking!"

Once Kirika finds the Bouma-Beast, she takes him before Ragon. This Bouma-Beast looks down on Nagare Bouma and doesn't want anything to do with them, while showing respect to Ragon. (There's a moment where an outraged Kirika is about to give the monster what for, but Yamimaru holds her back. He has his reasons which will be revealed at the end...) So this monster prefers to work alone.

This Bouma-Beast is interesting and unique; he resides in a painting, which is where he traps people, torturing them in excruciating pain, draining them of their "colors" until they cease to exist. He's able to leave the painting and fight as a traditional toku monster, but when he's out of the painting, the show will add these lighting effects around the camera frame, which lends a surreal touch. The Bouma-Beast's name is Jigokue Bouma; the Japanese apparently have a precise name for paintings which depict Hell, and it's "jigokue." Jigokue Bouma has a pretty crazy yet appropriate design, too, looking like a goat, with blood red wings and skull armor...he's the dream mascot of a metal band. Eiji Maruyama voices the monster (he's one the regular monster of the week voices in the Showa era) and does a typically great job here, making him sound just so vicious and angry and confident. The design, the performance, the writing all make Jigokue Bouma stand out as an intimidating monster of the week, a confident one, and it's a great way to make up for Metal Zuruten Type being so random in the last episode.

The Jigokue Bouma places itself on exhibit at the museum the Turboranger are at. Haruna's the first to find it, and they make the painting seem ominous. The episode is pretty quiet, not having a lot of music, which gives it an unsettling feel. The monster quickly consumes Haruna, Daichi and Youhei; Shunsuke fights it off, wounding the image of Jigokue Bouma on its forehead, with him exiting the painting in order to fight the remaining two Turboranger. (In an interesting design quirk, Jigokue Bouma's right index finger is made entirely of bristles, which he uses to repair any damage done to him, the "painting.") He proves formidable and the two retreat.

Riki and Shunsuke are back at base, panicking that their three pals are trapped within the hell painting. (I give the production credit for trying to creatively depict the characters in the painting; they have wide, twisting colored cloths stretching across the actors, indicating the colored pond of the painting, with the actors just convulsing and twisting, selling the idea of the pain they're meant to be in.) Meanwhile, Jigokue Bouma tries to lure them out by absorbing more people as hostages.

Shiron reveals to them the way Jigokue Bouma drains people of color, absorbing them as "paint" into himself. They'll eventually die, and any attempts to destroy the painting will kill them. Dazai comes up with a crazy plan -- if Jigokue Bouma's taking "colors" away from his victims to power him, he has to be pulling it all somewhere; every color together makes white. So not only should the Riki and Shunsuke be able to safely enter the picture using their white Kuuga Growing Forms (leaving no color to be drained by the monster), but if they find anything white within the monster, that's where all of the energy is going, and it's probably susceptible to attack. (It sounds like it shouldn't make sense, but the episode makes it work.)

Red Turbo and Yellow Turbo then goad Jigokue Bouma into absorbing them, discharging their energy in order to turn white just before they get into the picture. Not-so-Yellow-anymore Turbo finds a white marking on Jigokue Bouma's head and strikes him, freeing everyone from the painting. Upon seeing Jigokue Bouma's defeat, Yamimaru makes cryptic remarks to Kirika, that that's what one gets when under Ragon, and that it's no longer Ragon's era. They join hands, setting up the next awesome episode.

The unique monster-of-the-week and the atmosphere this episode has makes it memorable to me. It harkens back to some earlier Turboranger feel in its depiction of the monster, its supernatural tone and the balance of humor and seriousness, while also making creative use of the Turboranger's white forms we haven't seen for a while.

Before anyone makes any Vigo the Carpathian jokes about Jigokue Bouma, I'll point out that this episode aired about a week before Ghostbusters II premiered in Japan, so I don't think it was an influence.

Turboranger Episode 37

I LOVE the idea behind this episode, but I think the villain plan is pretty hokey and takes away from it.

The good part of the episode is that Yamaguchi-sensei's younger sister, Mika, tracks down the five Turboranger. Mika's training in kung-fu, so she's ready to crack some skulls, and she's also played by future Five Yellow Keiko Hayase, so the episode's a winner just on that alone. Mika first crosses path with Haruna, who in Mika's opinion is more than a bit suspicious in the way she's "practicing" baton. (Haruna is training, using the baton in the way she uses her W-Stick weapon.) Mika's young, a bit brash, argumentative, and she's soon in an actual fight with Haruna. When the villain dilemma of the day is keeping the other four busy, Haruna's communicator portion of the Turboranger keeps sounding off, calling her to battle, which catches Mika's attention. She's not successful in shaking Mika off, though.

The dilemma of the day, the weak spot of this episode, is that Zuruten has created a metallic clone of himself. The clone, the Zuruten Metal Type, is not only strong and made of metal, but also has the ability to place a collar around a person's neck and turn them into a mechanical being. Eventually the person will become entirely robotic. This is a ho-hum plot out of a cheesy superhero comic from the '60s. The second issue of Green Lantern or Fantastic Four probably has a story where aliens are turning people into robomen. It's really out of place here, IMO, not really meshing with the M.O. of the Bouma. They're paranormal, supernatural. A lot of the Bouma-Beasts are rooted in youkai folklore or the occult. This plan of Zuruten's is too technological, veering into sci-fi, the plan you'd expect from a villain group like Baranoia. (In fact, they do have quite a few episodes like this in Ohranger.)

I already thought they were pushing it in episode 26, when the robotic-seeming Bouma-Beast Fujimi Bouma was turning Daichi and the others into its metallic, robotic-seeming offspring. But now here's this episode, which just pulls this plan out of its ass and forces it to fit into the show. They couldn't even write in something like "Let the humans become cold pieces of metal like the technology they worship, BWA-HA-HA!" That would have worked! But, no, we just get Zuruten being like "Look what I can do!" and that's it.

Thankfully, this episode has Keiko Hayase, who is so badass that she consumes all of Haruna's time -- ordinarily, when a toku gives us a scenario like this, the hero is able to make a getaway to go help their teammates. Not here! Mika and Haruna remained locked in battle long enough for the four others to fail in their fight with the two Zurutens and regroup with her. There they learn who they're up against and why: Mika traveled to Japan from Hong Kong out of concern for her sister. Over summer vacation, Yamaguchi-sensei visited her sister (who lives in Hong Kong to train in kung-fu) and wasn't like herself; she was in a depression, lamenting that two of her students -- Nagareboshi and Sayoko -- have gone missing and that there's the other five who seem to hide things from her, that she can't get through or understand. It's making her lose confidence in her abilities as a teacher. Mika hated seeing her sister like this, so decided to pay a visit to these pupils that are causing her such unhappiness. Maybe to investigate them, maybe to beat sense into them, maybe not in that order, and maybe literally.

Haruna and the others are conflicted -- they feel bad for Mika and her sister, but they know they can't reveal that they're Turboranger. (Haruna noting to herself that if the teacher's worried about them so much now, knowing what they were up to as Turboranger would only makes things worse for her.) They're then called back into battle by Dazai and are off, with Mika not far behind. The two Zurutens are back in a public space, turning people into metallic humans. Once they face their opponent, Haruna spots a spying Mika and holds up having the others transform. Just then, they happen to notice Yamaguchi-sensei, who approaches the others trying to usher them to safety. Zuruten's metal monster manages to snap a collar around her neck and she becomes a metallic-human, beginning to attack. Not caring about Mika's spying on them anymore, the five transform to try to put a stop to the craziness.

Mika gets in on the fight, throwing some angry kung-fu moves at Zuruten's clone. They have no effect, and Pink Turbo saves her from an attack, both being knocked away from the battle, with Pink untransforming. Mika grabs the left-hand portion of Haruna's Turbo Brace, wanting to take matters in her own hands and fight to save her sister. She tries to transform by pressing the brace's button -- against Haruna's warnings -- and gets an electrical shock which blasts the brace off of her wrist. She's in a desperate panic, but consoled by Haruna, when the brace suddenly flies before them -- Shiron found it and is returning it to Haruna! And then...Mika briefly sees Shiron. Haruna gives her a condensed version of Shiron's history and the fight they're in with the Bouma before heading off to save the day, clearing up some of Mika's doubts about these five.

The other Turboranger are having a tough time of it, because they're being attacked by Robo-Sensei and don't want to fight back. Mika appears to help, but can't get through to her sister and is struck by her. Mika's locket unfastens in the attack, opening to show a picture of the two siblings. Robo-Sensei sees it and stops... She eventually turns to strike the Robo Zuruten in his weak spot, which causes all of the collars that's been attached to the fine citizens of Japan to short out and detach, returning the people to normal. (I like that Misa finds the strength to rebel. Sensei's tough!)

The episode ends with the Turboranger seeing Mika off at the airport, with Mika telling them that she put in a good word for them with her sister, without divulging any of their secrets. Imagine how different this episode would have gone if Mika happened to find Nagareboshi or Sayoko first! Good thing she found Haruna.

I like when they involve Yamaguchi-sensei more, and it was a great idea behind this episode, made even greater by getting someone as likable and kickass as Keiko Hayase to play the sister. (You can just tell she's going to be the star of a subsequent toku series.) The robo dilemma, though! Even though it's a Zuruten plan, it's not exactly played for laughs, but it comes across as pretty silly and you can't take it as seriously as the episode hopes you do. So putting Yamaguchi in this "danger" doesn't have the impact it should and that the episode is likely looking to have.

And it's not bad enough that the Metal People plan is lame, but the show doesn't have the money to depict it, so they just haphazardly slap some gray paint on their face -- yeah, gray, not even metallic silver like Jack Haley wore in The Wizard of Oz. Gray! And then they're directed to move robotically, but if they don't want to, that's cool, too, man, they don't have to. (There's only one of the extras who's REALLY into trying to move mechanically. He must be a mime.) It just doesn't make sense to me. If it's supposed to be a shock to see Yamaguchi like this -- lifeless, dispassionate, a tool -- that could have been conveyed by, like, having a monster that turned people into zombies or kyonshi or something. Why robots?!? Seems so random to me.

Mika seeing Shiron is a surprise, and an interesting development that they don't treat as importantly as they should. They kind of gloss over it. Haruna notes that Mika is "different" and that she's a believer, with the narrator saying at the end that Mika's someone else who shares the same values as the Turboranger (and therefore the fairies, I suppose). I like to look at it as...Mika's young and has a caring heart and was quick to pick up on all of the things like the Turbo Brace being weird, being open-minded about the strange and unusual. (That's one of the oldest jokes amongst Sentai fans. "Why doesn't anybody notice and comment on the weirdo watches these guys wear?") She's courageous and throws herself into battle with the Bouma for the sake of her sister. I think the show's trying to introduce the idea of magic and belief catching on and growing beyond just Team Turbo, and that's pretty interesting and should be delved into, but it's like they're hesitant. That idea has a symbolic power, but maybe the glossing over it is the staff feeling like it would take away from the uniqueness of our heroes, the stars of the show?

Think of earlier in the show, it's not just pollution and technology, but a loss in faith that weakened the fairies. So maybe throughout the course of their battles, the Turboranger have caused belief to grow and strengthen, if it didn't already exist to some extent within some people. The casting of an action actress like Keiko Hayase makes you imagine if this story had been told earlier in the series, with the character returning in an even more heroic capacity later on.

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.

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.

Turboranger Episode 34

Is this the only piece of fiction, in the history of writing, to have fart jokes with a purpose? To successfully weave fart jokes into a dramatic narrative? This is an episode where the word "fart" is thrown into serious lines of dialogue and...it works. This is still meant to be a comedically-tinged episode, but it reveals some backstory about Yamimaru and ties into it successfully.

Yamimaru lures Zuruten to a location with the vague idea that he's reuniting Zuruten with a "friend." The "friend" is really the latest Bouma-Beast, Hazer Bouma, who Zuruten's not very happy to see. And for good reason, as Hazer Bouma soon takes out a whip and begins lashing Zuruten so hard that he...lets one rip. Soon, Zuruten is on a leash, being pulled around the city by the monster, whipping him to get him to unleash some foul farts. Not only is it a nasty smell, but Zuruten's toots cause humans to fall into a deep sleep.

This episode makes me realize that maybe placing the previous episode where it is carries some logic. After that lackluster plan, here we have Yamimaru terrorizing the city with Zuruten's farts. Your first reaction is "No! Why do something so goofy? Why, after Kirika's face-less slave episode, would you have a fart plan? Why are they making the two cool new villains seem dumb?!" And I feel like 33 is there for that purpose, so this episode takes you by surprise, tricks you, and makes more of an impact as we're told the reasoning behind this episode's plan...

Yamimaru's out for revenge. He talks of his persecution from humanity, and we see a scene from ancient times of a wandering, exhausted Yamimaru catching a glimpse of humans at a camp fire. He uses some magic to make their fire grow, scaring them away, then flocks to the camp site and digs into their food. Shortly after, the people return with buddies, throwing rocks at and attacking Yamimaru. He tries to plead with them, he asks for their help. But they don't trust him because they know he's not human, so they attack him, stringing him up in a tree and firing several arrows into him, leaving him for dead.

For Yamimaru, taking over the world and punishing the humans in such a goofy manner is amusing and serves them right. But that's not all. Throughout the episode, Zuruten keeps trying to escape the Bouma-Beast. The Turboranger catch up with him and he's pretty pathetic. He's begging for their help; he knows he's lowly and a slob, but he doesn't want to go down as the Bouma who died farting people to sleep, he'd rather die in a battle. He's weak, exhausted, embarrassed. Yamimaru reveals that he's never forgotten how, after being left for dead by the humans, he sought help from the Bouma. He happened to find Zuruten with some Ura in a cave, and he pleaded for their help. Zuruten spat on him for being a half-breed and ordered the Ura to attack him, Zuruten eventually attacking him at this low point, as well. So the main goal of this whole plan is to humiliate and shame Zuruten for revenge. It kind of says to me that maybe Yamimaru expected such a reaction from humans, but not Bouma, and that he's maybe a little more angry with that side, as well as that side of him.

Riki decides to help Zuruten, despite the other four thinking he's insane. (We get some cool scenes of Riki riding the Speedster Zuruten bike as they're being attacked by Dragras -- Kenta Sato himself riding through some massive fireballs!) This is rewarded when Zuruten, feigning an attack on the Turboranger team, actually gives them something that counteracts with the sleeping gas, something with which Dazai can concoct a cure from.

An episode that mixes slapstick goofery with dramatic elements and the drama doesn't suffer, but still works, is a rare thing. (Especially in a toku show.) But Turboranger succeeds here.

Random note: at the end of the episode, Yamimaru and Kirika are flying on Dragras, with Yamimaru making cryptic threats of taking down Ragon. This is setting the stage for the awesome, awesome 39th episode.

Turboranger Episode 33

A quirky, light episode after the high-stakes 5-parter. The next couple episodes are in a similar vein; they're necessary tension breakers, but I have problems with this one. For this to be the first episode after Yamimaru and Kirika have been accepted by Ragon, and they come up with such a questionable plan just doesn't work. (I have a take on why this episode is the way it is and why the villain plan is so seemingly lame, which makes it more tolerable; it has to do with the next episode, though, so I'll talk about it there.) Add to that an unlikable guest character who gets his way when he's a total schmuck.

The Bouma-Beast in this episode is based on the youkai noppera-bo, the face-less youkai who steals people's faces. This one has an upgrade in that he can switch people's faces, but the features of those faces will eventually vanish just the same. Kirika thinks these face-less people will be so lost and in such a despair that they can easily be made slaves for Bouma, and if they outlive their usefulness, they'll then become food for Dragras. Ragon is giddy, thinking this is such a vicious plan, but maybe Zuruten is more on the money when he complains that it's stupid and crap. (He changes his tune once he hears the part about Dragras, though, calling the plan "cruel.")

This ties into a story of this dorky guy who Youhei knows, Kuwata, who's stalking the girls of the high-school fair. While some of the girls are rude to this guy, pretty much outright calling him ugly, there's something still just skeevy and unlikable about him. (That Kuwata is played by the actor who played the similarly sketchy guy who was obsessed with Ako in that awful ramen episode of Jetman certainly doesn't help.) The girls all go crazy when they spot Youhei, though, and soon after Sayoko/Kirika is enticing the guy to lure Youhei into a trap with promises that he "can be like Youhei." Youhei is brought to the Bouma-Beast, who switches his face with Kuwata's. Youhei's concerned about the situation, but Kuwata is happy, ready to face the world with his...uh, new face.

Kuwata returns to try to hit on high-school girls, now looking like the popular Youhei. (His crusty-ass pick-up lines, which failed when he looked like himself, are now successful when it's coming from Youhei's face.) He ends up sullying Youhei's reputation in this episode, looking pervy and cowardly, as he ditches the girls he's with once the Bouma-Beast shows back up. (The Kuwata-looking Youhei, on the other hand, arrives to save the day.) Kuwata inadvertently solves the face-stealin' dilemma, though, when it's discovered that a home-made zit-cream he has (and applied to a honking zit on one of the high school girls, because he's sweet and a gentleman) interferes with the Bouma-Beast's ability to swap faces. (The Bouma-Beast tried to swap the faces of two of the high school girls, one of them being the girl who has the medicine applied to her zit by Kuwata.) When he figures it out, Youhei takes the zit-cream so he can smear it all over the Bouma-Beast's hands, which act as the face-transplanters. The only semi-amusing thing about this nonsense is that, in the big battle, Blue Turbo finally gives the face-less Bouma-Beast a face by carving henohenomo onto it with his sword.

The episode ends with the high-school girls fawning over Kuwata -- get it, because Youhei looked like Kuwata when he was selfless and diving into the center of danger to save them all, while the Youhei-who-was-Kuwata abandoned them in terror? It's supposed to be funny, but it's just screwing over our hero, man. Kuwata tries to shoot apologetic gestures to Youhei, but you know he's not sincere, you know he's a scumbag. He's going to be taking advantage of those girls and use Youhei's brave accomplishments for his own ends. The "lesson" of the episode, we're told by the narrator -- and the schoolgirls now fawning over Kuwata -- is that the heart matters, not the face. That's...not a lesson this episode is teaching? Kuwata's a scumbag! It's not like he learned a lesson or anything, or that he was some funny looking bullied kid who stood up for the girls and Youhei was being a big-headed idiot trying to look cool or anything. The lesson of this episode is more like "Keep an eye on the weaselly scumbags, because they might take credit for your hard work."

Like...it's not only a weak plan for Kirika and Yamimaru to have, but what does the focus on Youhei accomplish? Fine, she's targeting a former classmate and now adversary, but Youhei panics for, about, one second before he focuses on saving the day, because he's a good hero. And...it shouldn't have effected whether or not Kuwata-Youhei could transform. He never does, so I don't know if that was meant to be part of the "drama," but I don't see why he couldn't have henshin'd? They just swapped faces, not bodies, so it shouldn't have affected the ability to transform.

There are worse episodes of Sentai out there, but this episode just bugs me. Kuwata sucks. Keiya Asakura goes a long way in making Youhei so cool and likable, so why drag him through the mud for the sake of a totally hateable guest character? (It's supposed to be funny, but really isn't. Again: Kuwata's a scumbag.)