Akibaranger Episode 7 Review: Tear Down The Wall!

The episode begins with the team telling Hiroyo about Malshina appearing in the real world. Of course Hiroyo is shocked, but more important she wonders what Malshina looks like. The team is confused since she monitors the fights, sadly though she can only hear what is going on when a delusion is occuring and she says she doesn't even know what the Akibarangers look like. To help Hiroyo is out, Moegi draws what the Akibarangers look like and it's dead on. She even draws Malshina and like the last one it is very accurate and Hiroyo is speechless for a while. Nobuo asks if she recognizes her as she says no. It seems that she does know of Malshina though as she talks to herself. Hiroyo then tells her that the team must have been seeing things and try to calm them down about the issue. Later that day when the cafe is empty we see Hiroyo looking at the picture some more and she goes to a safe in her office and in it is another picture of Malshina. On the original picture is a name and the name also matches to the blue prints of the Z-cune gun. Hiroyo talks about why her father left theses to her. Then at night we see Malshina looking for a place to stay at as she finds a building.

Going to the next day we see that Mitsuki is cosplaying as Aoi-tan and Moegi is Satomi and of course Nobuo is just loving this. The two girls play out a scene and there is a guy following what they are saying. Mitsuki is a first timer with role playing, but she is happy with it and Moegi is experienced with this and it always makes her happy. Soon the Ponpoko boss shows up and Nobuo hides. She carries flowers with her and on them is a card about a new cafe with Malshina on it. The three head off to investigate the so-called evil base and find Malshina sitting in a chair. They talk for a while, but Malshina says that people are being turned into vampires as the three look out the window. It seems to be true as the team head off to help out the people and there they transform. For the fight it seems that there are only grunts around, but a fight is a fight. The team perform their role calls as Red talks about Commander Sugata from Maskman, Blue doing her long, but awesome roll call, and yellow rambles on like usual. Before they finish it though, Blue brings up the fact that Malshina isn't around. Malshina actually played a trick on them and with the help of civilians acting as vampires she got the team into the delusion world.

This time the MOTW is actually a grunt, but it's special because it has a spider on it's back. The spider is actually the monster as it can control it's host. Yoyo is much tougher than the team thinks as it as incredible speed. He is also strong as he kicks the team around. While on the ground the team try to shoot him, but that is what the creature wanted as he is now gonna try to take their weapons. Hiroyo is confused why the creature wants those items and soon Malshina appears in the cafe. One of the workers try to fight her, but she is defeated quickly and Hiroyo is held at gun point. There Malshina knows who she is and it is because she is somehow related to her father. There Malshina sprays her with knock out gas as Hiroyo passes out. Back with the fight, Yoyo is performing many flips heck he even flips on walls. He knocks the two guns out of Blue's and Yellow's hand as they get into the hands of the grunts. Meanwhile Red takes punches a grunt down to the ground and soon Yoyo appears and knocks his gun and it also goes into a grunt's hands. Malshina is also imitating Hiroyo's voice as she tells the team that they need to get them back ASAP. The grunts and the team go through a hurdle, but sadly Yoyo eats the devices! The team try to get him, but he sprints away with amazing speed.

There is no need to worry though since their car appears when Red calls for it. They get close to him thanks to Yoyo though he makes a bike appear and he gets much faster. Malshina gives them more advice about focusing only on the monster as they can break through the walls of the delusion. Hiroyo wakes up and asks Malshina what she is doing. It seems that Malshina was always trying to find a way into the real world and now she wants the wall to be broken since something will happen as she takes Hiroyo. The team then only focus on the enemy as the environment changes into a Tron like world and the monster transforms into a giant spider. They need to fight it and soon they transform the car into the robot and send the monster into the sky. Both of them get on different platforms and fire at each other soon though Yoyo jumps into the sky and blasts them with a fireball. The team begin to fall and they get stuck in the rubble of the ground. The monster then summons another fireball, but this time the Z-cune guns fall out of the grunt. I think they try to get their blasters back, but the robot hand pushes them into the wall and a bright light appears. A portal appears and now the Akibarangers are in the real world!

The monster also follows them and the fight continues as Malshina and Hiroyo watch along with other civilians. The team throw a sign at the monster and soon it becomes a gun! With it the team finish off the monster and the robot vanishes for some reason. The team confront Malshina who is holding Hiroyo as a hostage as she shoots at them. In the background we still see that even though Akibaranger is in the real world in reality the team actually don't transform. We see the three in a corner like how the team usually is when they are in a delusion. When they see themselves the Akibarangers vanish as the three try to think what exactly happened. Malshina then lets go of Hiroyo and leaves saying the team did a great job. While recouping the team now are real superheroes now since the Akibarangers have appeared and fought in the real world. Ever since that day Malshina hasn't appeared for a while as we see the three living out their normal lives. In the cafe we see an employee dressed up as Mei and dances to Aoi's theme song. There's a phone call as Moegi picks it up and says it's for Hiroyo. The call is not from Malshina or any villain, but from Tsukasa a producer for Toei!

Episode 7 is very good as it actually seems Akibaranger is going to have a story. The story is actually really interesting right now as there are many things that haven't been cleared up as it builds up on a nice mystery. Malshina is doing something, but we don't know exactly why yet, but she knows a lot about the real world and the delusion world which makes me wonder how she even knows that. There is a connection with Hiroyo's father as he is probably Malshina's creator and the one who made the Z-cune guns. As Hiroyo wonders I am also wondering why things are happening. The villains are really getting good! Malshina is a very smart villain as she plots to break down the wall between the delusions and the real world. I am even surprised that she has some control of the delusion as she gets her minions to do as she says even though she isn't there anymore. Now that the Akibarangers have appeared in the real world this mostly means that there will be more fights in the real world and I love that idea. In this world Sentai is just a show and the unofficial team is the real one. Overall this is probably a near perfect episode, it wasn't as funny like some of the other episodes, but the writing is very good and I am surprised that this series is having a story like this, an A+

Next Time: Cannon Finisher!