Lately I’ve been more home-bound than
normal thanks to school and a significant lack of finances. While
that means I haven’t gotten out for many seasonal adventures or
snack-food hunts it has allowed me to catch up on some chores and
entertainment. That being the case we’re left with little choice
but to continue our Sentai catch-up with further adventures of
Lupinranger vs Patranger. Let's get to it.
Episode 34 walks a fine line between
introducing a new toy and providing some dramatic character moments.
It begins with the police busy themselves with a Gangler obsessed
with collecting firearms. Notably absent from this fight is Noel who
we soon learn has been caught in an old trap set by Arsene Lupin
himself to guard a special collection piece.
Good-Striker informs the Lupinrangers
of the situation which leads them into a cavern full of dangers which
they navigate with little issue. They discover Noel passed out in
front of the treasure itself, a vastly overpowered gun called Lupin
Magnum. This trap locks each thief into a fantasy realm where they
must kill their most adored person to obtain the gun. These visions
actively encourage people to shoot them yet the emotional strain of
aiming at a best friend or lover is simply too much for most people.
Kairi however finds his resolve and kills his imaginary brother,
vowing to continue as he sees fit.
This one's a bit of a mixed bag with
some fine drama, but there's little in the way of plot development.
We still don't know who Noel lost, and Lupin Magnum, while cool, is
just another gadget for flashy action.
Episode 35 proves to be entertaining
though a little problematic. The story is that Kogure is blasted by a
Gangler that splits people in three. One being is all good, the other
all bad, and the original is just leftovers. If all three parts
aren't put back-together within six hours the person dies.
Not a ton to comment on here. There's
a very creative giant robot fight thanks to Lupin Magnum and a series
of tunnels. There's also some fun to be had with the good and bad
Kogure. Beyond that we learn a little of what the butler does to
track down jobs for the thieves and how he feels remorse for
constantly sending these kids into danger. That last part is where
things get troublesome. For the majority of the series we've seen
hints that Kogure is up to something potentially dangerous or
sinister, and now the only story focused on him acts as if these
moments don't exist. Perhaps my outlook on this adventure will change
once we finally learn what has been going on behind the scenes. Until
then, it's just alright.
Episode 36 shifts attention back to
the cops as they deal with one of the nastier Gangler's to appear in
quite a while. On his own shoots spikes that increase a persons
likelihood of screwing up, an ability he uses to great effect on
Sakuya. This same baddie also has a piece of the collection that
grants him extra intelligence resulting in a plan to blow up the
city. He accomplishes this by using his human disguise to hand out
stress-relieving necklaces that collect anger to power the bomb. Guy
seriously lucks out when Sakuya gives one of these to Keiichiro.
For a green ranger adventure this one
is pretty solid, giving everybody something to do. Kei's angry
outbursts are terrific and Sakuya actually does something pretty cool
near the end. I especially enjoyed the rile-reversal when Tsukasa
attempts to protect the Gangler from the Lupinrangers so she can get
him to reveal the bomb's location. Her plan is pretty ingenious in
how it uses the monsters' abilities against him.
Even with my general enjoyment during
this outing there were a few moments that felt off. Consider
Tsukasa's attempt to keep the Gangler alive. Instead of asking the
thieves for help she fights both parties at once and is then
surprised when they help her out. There are further odd occurrences
such as people being mean to Umika for no reason, and Sakuya himself
being extra needy. I looked it up and this is from the same writer as
the clip-show and gender-swap episode. Clearly someone who values,
goofy fun over consistent characterization.
You may have noticed a trend of uneven
stories within this recap. Luckily episode 37 does an excellent job
of giving both teams plenty of screen-time along with a proper
balance of action, comedy, and the deeper stuff. The monster of the
week presents a unique problem as he can blast people back into their
homes, which removes nearly all of our heroes from battle. Unaffected
by this attack is Kairi, seemingly because he doesn't consider the
bistro, or anywhere for that fact, to be home. Touma is troubled by
this revelation, not to mention a bit disappointed his friend thinks
so little of them. Getting the collection piece and taking out the
Gangler takes precedence over feelings though.
Both teams independently come up with
the same idea to combat this enemy, by camping out and then keeping
the tent strapped to their back in battle. Unfortunately Touma and
Umika end up at the same camping spot as Keiichiro, which would out
their hidden identities should they charge into battle with their
camping gear. To protect their secret, they claim to have been in a
fight with Kairi which leads to Kei camping out at the bistro out of
concern for his young friend. As you might imagine, Kairi doesn't
care for this intrusion.
While the Patrangers take care of most
of the final ground battle, everyone unites for the giant robot
portion, Kairi's excuse being that he wants to get this over to keep
Kei out of his hair. Once again the day is saved, with Kei resolving
to watch out for his young friend, Touma feeling concerned, and
Sakuya sad at the missed opportunity to camp with Umika.
A good share of those emotions carry
on in the following adventure. Kei is still trying and failing to be
buddies, and everyone's sort of on edge. This allows to the show to
cover the persistent gap between between the three primary Patrangers
and Noel. The original trio are heading to a secret meeting when they
encounter two Ganglers with some oddball powers like remote
controlling vehicles. Lucky for them Zamigo reappears after a massive
hiatus and takes one of the monsters out. Don't worry, they cover how
this doesn't destroy a collection piece later on.
Anyhow there's an extra spiffy
collection piece in outer space that's about to reenter the
atmosphere near the mountains. Team Lupinranger is on the case with
Noel handling ground operations until he's ambushed by Destra. The
ensuing fight is quite nasty and along with a part of the following
episode it would seem the creators are setting up a rivalry between
these two.
Team Patranger arrive to rescue Noel,
noting that they have to since he's a human being, but there's some
unspoken feelings in there and finally a sense of unity among the
four. From then on out it's all action and new toy introductions,
making for a decent installment that once again gives everybody
something to do.
Finally we reach episode 39. Keiri and
Kei are still having issues, and likely inspiring plenty of shipping
article, while Noel learns about Zamigo for the first time.
Yeah,that's right, they've never interacted, and as Kairi ponders
later in the episode, which monster took out Noel's treasured person?
Anyway that Gangler who we though
Zamigo had destroyed is back. Turns out the icy guys power is to
teleport people with his ice bullets. Guess he's running some sort of
prison dimension, or an island where he hunts people for sport, who
knows. At first Touma wants to withhold info on Zamigo from Noel
until Umika, with some unwitting advice from Sakuya convinces him
otherwise. All three decide that is is likely their loved ones will
be freed once the evil icy cowboy is wiped out. While these threads
are going on, Kairi tails a Gangler to its hideout and meats Zamigo
face to face.
During this battle, Lupin Red gets
another nifty toy that grants him with armor and the ability to
foresee his opponents maneuvers. He almost defeats his opponent but
instead he has to make due with yet another robo combination against
the regular monster. Once again this is an outing that gives the
characters plenty to do, which is nice to see as we move closer to
the end game.
As you can see the show was hitting an
uneven stride within the 30s but is digging it's way out and offering
a better balance of the different elements that make it worthwhile
viewing. Sadly the writers are still playing coy with major plot
details which I can only imagine will damage the show in the end.
There's still no concrete villainous scheme, no clue what the Lupin
family is really up, who Noel's special person was, nothing. Instead
we have further set-ups for rivalries and what seem to be hints that
Kairi will either strike out on his own or turn temporary villain as
his emotions have been getting the better of him.
Much as those hinted developments
intrigue me, I can't help but feel the show should be in a much
different place by now. Imagine if the Lupinrangers were on the run
after having their identities exposed, or perhaps the two teams could
be struggling to integrate with the knowledge of a larger threat
approaching. There's so much to cover and very little time to savor
the outcomes when things finally happen. I still love this show and
these heroes yet I can't help but think the slow pace is going to
limit the series to only being really good when it easily could have
been fantastic. I suppose we'll find out soon enough as the 40s start
this weekend.
Now that we're caught up on Sentai, be
on the lookout for something different very soon. No way am I gonna
let Thanksgiving pass by without covering a few seasonal topics. Till
then you all stay classy.
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