I was planning to get this review up by yesterday, but my internet had some issues and I lost the whole review after it crashed. Either way I'm doing it now so let's begin. In the last episode, Kibaranger as appeared suddenly and started to attack the team. Then Kibaranger has an Akibaranger logo on him, what is going on?
The first thing to cover is that Malshina has come back after her defeat nine months ago and she still acts the same from season one. The difference is that she is a pure villain, last time in season one she was the villain, but it was to keep Akibaranger going. So again I'm not completely happy to see Malshina like this, but she still keeps her charm and personality. Reminding me of charm this episode pulled off a more "mature" moment when she is showering. I have a feeling there are going to be more scenes like those in the future. Then add in her confusion on how she came back was funny. The Shogun which is the nickname for the main villain I am guessing had her say she was revived just like Hedrian from Denjiman and Sun Vulcan. She had no idea what it meant and I'm surprised that Nobuo of all people didn't pick up on that. So it's nice to have Malshina back as I still enjoy her as a villain.
While I am on the villains I forgot to talk about the new grunts, the Freakers as they remind of the Cotpotros, but just ten times creepier. In the last episode they were rubbing themselves all over Blue and Red, heck one shoved it's butt right at Blue's face! They even say some strange lines like in this episode they say "Eternally Hairless" and to add as I said they look like the Dairanger grunts, but add some different color and patterns and that along makes them look odd. I'm not saying it's a bad design since it gives the image of something very different. The blue and pink parts on the face show boy and girl and the pink side is more complex while the blue half is very simplistic. They even walk in a strange matter as they even rub themselves at times, just creeps me out. So yea these new grunts are plain creepy and that's the point so I may not like them, but they serve their purpose.
Just imagine if they team up with her.... no one would be safe from the creepiness!
Continuing on with the episode is how the team thinks of a way to get Dairanger back to being the original. What I liked a lot during this scene is how Dairanger was completely thrown out of history. It seems when Akibaranger was aired it's legendary, but for the wrong reasons. The show only lasted thirteen episodes, hmmm sounds familiar. Also it's known for being a black part of the Super Sentai franchise. They even find an image of Keiichi Wada dressed up as Nobuo as he played his character. They even start to realize some strange things about the series like how Akibaranger gets called Gosei Sentai. There were only three members so the team thinks that the other two not got revealed since the series got cancelled which makes Kibaranger's anger seem reasonable now. He completely vanished along with Akibaranger so he never got his time to shine. This part shows how the show covered it's tracks with any questions that were left by the plot of this arc. They pull out a great joke about their own series and it's realistic to see how a Akibaranger became a laughed at series.
Then we learn more about the villains as Malshina is working with the Shogun of course, but the two really don't get along well at all. They constantly bicker and it seems like Malshina doesn't like his plans that much. We do find out how he makes monsters by a device that brings them into the delusion world. This could then apply to how he can mess around with this world and then we know it still has connections to the real world so things can be changed by him. He creates a new monster which is the same one, but it's a HVD monster not a bluray. Then the team find out that he is a Gouma and this means that the Shogun is making his own fan made creatures which is great. This leaves a lot of possible moments for the MOTW since they will based on a series. The Shogun even notices the flags of defeat so he is no doubt a fan of the franchise, but why would he want Dairanger to be Chinaman then?
Luna still had an overall focus for this episode since she has a childhood connection to the Akibaranger series and she just found out that it's a bad series for the franchise. We all had this moment, there was that one show we liked as kids and can still like till this day, but then people will bash you for liking it. I bet if I look back to the things I watched I know about half of those things were bad, or just terrible, or even just so bad I had to forget about them. Then there would be that one show I still had a liking to even with the bad criticisms it gets. Now I didn't grow up with Super Sentai so I don't have a story with that franchise, but Power Rangers is close enough. I actually still like the first half of Turbo, many would disagree with me, but oh well. For me the show got bad with the new cast since there wasn't enough time to get a whole lot of great moments from them. So yea that was a nice moment there for Luna as she still kept strong with her liking for the show.
Another thing I like about Luna is how honest she is. She knows that saving Dairanger would mean getting rid of her childhood series she grew up with, but she will still help. Her reason is that she wants to learn more about acting so when she heard the team will passionately reenact Dairanger she wants to see how they will do it. Now it may seem selfish, but this is just a television show and for Luna she needs to learn more things about being an idol and new skills can help her out a lot. So she puts her past behind and helps the team with their goal.
Now how will the team save Dairanger, well by showing Dairanger to the two heroes of course. The heroes actually had to remember past scenes from Dairanger since they couldn't look it up since it's gone from history. Also they make many props to help their cause. The first thing they do is reenact the Dairanger opening with handmade props. They had to make their own Ryusei-oh and have paper masks on their faces. They had the faces of the characters and the Sentai helmets. They even tied China Red up to a chair and put a fake television in front of him to make this illusion. Now I am a big Dairanger fan and I will cover each of these great moments, but YES! I loved this scene so much, it was funny because of the mess up they had like one of the masks broke and Yellow and Red were going to collapse soon. Red had to use an exercise bike for when the characters rode their bikes in the opening. Also they sing the whole first verse of the song, just so much greatness here. Even if you aren't a big Dairanger lover you can still find this scene very funny because of how hard the heroes try to recreate the opening.
They then get into trouble when the villains return with Kibaranger and the new HVD monster. The fight doesn't last long, but the scene was funny cause the team run away with China Red and put him in the trunk of their car! The first time they got him was by a tranquilizer and I bet they put him in the trunk the first time as well. So after they get away they quickly move onto another scene and it's...... the third Jin and Ryou fight from episode 27! Red pretends to be Jin as the team dresses China Red in a muscle shirt with the metal chains on him. This is one of the greatest scenes of Dairanger and my personal favorite and finally some love for the best Yukata role! It's nearly dead on accurate all thanks to Nobuo who did make some errors, but this was from memory! The scene even used the instrumental song that was used in episode 27. The best part is that it works and Ryuu Ranger awakens and does exactly what he did in episode 27 when Jin made an opening after noticing Aki. Oh yea Yellow then dresses up in a nurse outfit and pretends to be Aki as well. Then when Ryuu Ranger gives the final blow, Red even pretends to spit out blood! Just perfect absolutely perfect!
Another thing that was handled very well as Kibaranger since as I said before his story comes out very well. He never got to appear so he wants revenge on the Akibarangers for that. He even used his ability of sound manipulation and he uses Yukio Yamgata (singer of the Gaoranger theme) and Mojo (singer of the Battle Fever J theme) to blast the team with great Sentai music. Even preparing the attack was shown just like how Dairanger did it in the series. Then the team saved Kibaranger thanks to Yellow pretending to be Lin as she talks about her idol career from episode 33! Yellow even does the poses that Lin did in that episode. This gets Kibaranger to realize who he is since he remembered what happened to Lin in that episode. Now that the heroes have been saved it's time for them to get their payback!
This fight was great cause it had the Dairanger feeling a whole lot. This is thanks to some nice camera shots of of Ryu Ranger doing his technique on the monster and even Red and Yellow were pulling some Dairanger off. Blue was being more free style like last time just not as crazy though. It really felt like a rough edition of a Dairanger fight and Wada is doing the voice for Ryuu Ranger! Lastly it's time for the new power for the Akibarangers as they get two hand blasters. They can combine to make a cannon as it easily represents when the team puts their hands together for the Chi-Power Bomber! Malshina just left as well before the fight started because she is like that and for no reason as well.
Oh my was this episode just amazing! For a Dairanger fan this just makes my heart soar with happiness. I loved seeing the team recreate the great scenes from Dairanger and the opening as well. This is such so much love for Dairanger. Also the humor was well done and even the action had was nice thanks to the two official members. With that I would give this episode an A+!
Next Time: Luna come back!
No comments:
Post a Comment