It had to happen sooner or later.
Michigan has been remarkably hospitable these last few weeks. Am
unsettling phenomenon for those of us trained to battle mountains of
snow & ice who were instead left with the freedom to do whatever
they wanted on soul-crushingly dark snowless nights. How do you west
coasters deal with that anyway? It's depressing as all fuck. Most of
us knew this moderate darkness couldn't last forever. One day we
would have to dig out our shovels and face old man winter. And so
today we're facing a grand old ice storm. Do ya know what that means,
kiddies? It means I'm stuck indoors for a while, so why not share
tales of ninja before the weight of a frozen squirrel destroys some
power lines?
That was all from yesterday, before I
curled up for a ten hour nap “cough.” Yeah, even I think it was a
bit excessive. As for the storm, it turned out to be a little
underwhelming. Sure if an event like this were to occur somewhere
like Atlanta there would probably be fire & chaos. Here though,
it didn't amount to much more than an inconvenience. Nice to have
some snow and the nighttime glow that comes with it. Would you
believe another day passed after this paragraph? At this rate I'll
finish by Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Better get a move on.
Episode 39
In something of a holiday miracle we
got a Kasumi focused episode that almost made her seem somewhat
human. We actually start a new story arc here as the evil baby born
during the last post grew up quickly and is primed for battle.
Mangetsu is his name and at first childish pursuits seem to be his
game. He's on the hunt for snacks and fairs quite poorly in his first
confrontation with the team. Looking to continue that momentum, our
ninja quickly follow one of Kasumi's plans to draw out this new
baddie and finish him off. It doesn't go so well.
Turns out, Mangetsu has been watching
events unfold over these many month from inside his mama,. Fucking
gross, right? Anyway his first plan of attack revolves around
convincing the heroes he's total pushover only to strike back with
full force. What this means is while the boys are off keeping the
basic goons busy, Kasumi and Fuuka draw out the beast only to get
their asses severely kicked. Fuuka is sadly the primary recipient of
the physical beating while Kasumi finally realizes what an
overconfident twat she's been.
After that we're treated to a quick
shame spiral from pinkie ninja until the others boost her mood a
little and all work together to formulate a plan to strike back using
some trickery of their own. The day is somewhat saved as they beat
Mangetsu but fail to kill him. Things end on a dour note as most of
the team celebrates while Kasumi continues to doubt herself. Great
strides were made for here character in this tale but she got Fuuka
hurt which is unforgivable.
Episode 40
During his morning exorcise, Takaharu
figures it's time to start Christmas shopping. Such a spirit lifter
is well needed at home where Kasumi is in a slump, crafting one
useless invention after another. Taka thinks it's best to just
confront her about her obvious overcompensation but the others
disagree, opting instead to let her sort it out on her own time.
Strictly dealing with emotional
imbalances wouldn't make for much of a sentai story so we witness the
work of an evil Santa who makes promises of wealth to people in
exchange for their silence about his activities. He marks them with a
ring which slowly turns them into paupers and continues his cruel
work.
Eventually the team has a proper
powwow once Taka says it outright that Kasumi is the sole population
of slump town. She fesses up, and Kinji admits that the reason he's
been so absent lately is because he's been hunting Kyuuemon on his
own in hope of recovering Tsumuji's powers. Everybody learns how
honesty is the best policy, Kasumi gets her shit together and turns
her new inventions into something useful. A truth telling machine
which Mangetsu quickly snatches away from her. Still, they defeat the
evil Santa while the nasty thief hunts down Kyuuemon, using the
machine to make him reveal that he too may be a part of the Kibaoni
family. Properly entertaining if somewhat lite affair. Not bad.
Episode 41
While out hunting for Kyuuemon the
team once again runs afoul of Mangetsu who invites them to a ceremony
declaring himself head of the clan. When they arrive it becomes a
multi-part gaming challenge against a drunkard yokai.
There are two main plot points within
this tale. One is how the kids have begun to ignore their elders to
forge their own path. The old lion spirit guy teaches them that part
of growing and leaving the nest is taking in all kinds of viewpoints
from different people, it's the adult way according to him. He goes
on to win the final part of their challenge for them, unwittingly
being drawn into a trap. That's the second important part. The
monsters breath allows it to gain control over others and it uses
this ability to take control of Lion Ha-Oh and the regular ninja
allies. With so much firepower on hand, the villains easily smack our
heroes down.
Episode 42
It's finally time to finish the fight
with Mangetsu and recover the ninja allies. The team disguises
Tsumuji as another one of those clockcat monsters in order to go
undercover and get the robots back while the kids deal with a serious
ground battle. Meanwhile the old lion guy attempts to talk gramps
into getting off his ass and lending a hand.
Really this episode is tons o
fighting. On the ground, in giant bots, both the regular crew and the
elders. When all is said and done, Mangetsu is finally defeated for
good, his last moments being a final meeting with Kyuuemon who
reveals himself to truly be the older Kibaoni child. The kids aren't
privy to any of that info though as they're busy celebrating
Christmas with the gifts Takaharu bought back in episode 40. Didn't
figure those would pop up again. Color me surprised, whatever color
that is. I'm thinking salmon.
Episode 43
It's New Years which can only mean one
thing for Super Sentai, a clip show. Half of one in this case.
Shurikenger (a past hero for those who don't know) has stopped by to
offer the kids some winter training in the form of a game of Karuta.
So we get a big spread of old fight clips & such until a yokai
messes with their game and starts to trap the ninja within their old
memories for rematches with upgraded foes.
From then on we get some pretty
interesting fight scenes, culminating in an ant-man sized fight
between Takaharu and the evil card responsible for this mess.
It would been a slightly fun yet
mostly forgettable tale if not for the ending. Kyuuemon reveals the
fate of Mangetsu to his mother who explodes into a fountain of fear
potent enough for Mr. fox to finally revive the biggest baddie of
them all, thous setting the stage for the final stretch of the
series.
It seems unbelievable but I'm fully
caught up with ninninger for the time being. There isn't supposed to
be another new installment until the 17th of January which
means this will be a shorter series than usual. It also means there
should only be one or two more recap features, depending on how I
decide to go about it. That's all in the future though. Speaking of
the future, I hope everyone has a nice New Year. I'll probably
continue my tradition of attempting to get bombed, only to piss it
all out before it has a chance to take effect. That's usually about
the time I settle in for a viewing of Mortal Kombat. Happy New Year,
Everybody!
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