Coming back to Lupinranger vs
Patranger we find the show moving away from the opening blitz of
introductions and onto smaller fun adventures. The value of such
stand-alone stories can vary depending on the series but given how
good this show has held up so far, it's easy to imagine a few
favorites are in the pipeline.
More importantly we'd best enjoy our
time with this more straightforward portion of the series as photos
have already begin to surface of the new guy who will be joining both
teams. Yes, you read that right, we've got a two-for-one kind of
deal. When working with Patranger he will be gold, and on the Lupin
side he'll be silver. The real challenge for the character lies in
finding the balance between the sillier cop stories and the more
serious thief stuff. If the usual protocol holds true, he'll most
likely turn up somewhere in the late-teens to early-twenties episode
wise. Fingers-crossed he'll be a good addition. Now let's talk about
what's been happening.
Episode 10 picks right up after the
outstanding cliffhanger from the previous week with a piece of the
collection seemingly destroyed and the Lupinrangers losing all hope
of seeing their loved-ones again. The opening is really solid with
Kairi livid at his team for screwing up only to storm out of the
cafe. While still fuming on a bridge he encountesr Keichiro who
realizes something is wrong and offers whatever he can to cheer up
his associate. Though kairi wants to throttle the cop for ruining his
one chance at seeing his brother again his mood changes when a
strange man who eats ice is mentioned.
Realizing this oddball with an ice
fetish is the one who killed their friends, Kairi sets off to take on
this villain in the hopes of restoring his brother and others. This
leads to a proper introduction for Zamigo who proves to be a true
threat in the ensuing fight. His main trick are constantly spawning
ice guns from his hips that can take someone out in just one shot.
The only thing that keeps Lupinred alive are the blade and scissors
weapons he received during the previous installment.
While red is off waging war, Umika and
Touma investigate the events that led to them loosing the collection
piece only to discover the Gangler has the ability to create decoys
of himself. This means the item is still out there which puts them in
conflict with the police yet again.
When all is said and done, the piece
is recovered, Zamigo gets away, and team Lupinranger decides to keep
the idea of taking on the ice man a secret from Kogure since he's
clearly hiding something. While I'm disappointed to see that killer
plot-twist from part nine reversed so quickly the show still managed
to find a way for it to affect the chemistry between both teams.
There's something of a casual respect now that paves the way for
their inevitable team-up.
Episode 11 officially breaks away from
the onslaught of main-plot developments by giving us a wacky comedy.
Patranger are filming a PR film to get ahead of the thieves in the
public eye. Little do they know that a crewmember is a Gangler with
the ability to change peoples genders. It's not long before the whole
team has totally different anatomy which makes their movie experience
all the worse.
If you're going to put together a
comedy based on such childish ideas the key to holding it all
together is fun. Thankfully this one stays lite and silly enough to
keep it entertaining. More than that I was surprised how far they
went with the gender-swap jokes as characters explored themselves to
find what had been removed/added. MVP goes to the suit-actress for
pink who attempts to scrape her hand off on the pavement after
discovering her underpants sausage.
Furthermore I have to give the show
some points for making the effort to alter the costumes. Both read
and green are treated to fake boobs and the traditional Sentai skirt
whole pink is given a male costume. Also since it seems like the
suit-actors stayed the same I can only assume they taped down her
boobs as well. It's a surprising amount of dedication for a
sight-gag.
It's not all dick jokes however as
there is some effort at adding some emotional depth to Sakuya. In
short we get some back-story on on how his teammates inspired him to
keep pushing forward and do his best, all that jazz. Could his goal
of finishing their crappy movie be so pure as protecting the police
force he loves so much? Actually it's more about finding new ways to
impress girls. Sakuya may not be the most interesting character, but
he certainly is the most realistic.
There's a history of Sentai characters
who for whatever reason are doomed to have lackluster focus episodes.
In our previous experience with the franchise Ninninger's Yakumo
serves as a fine example of this. A competently acted and fun
character, he was routinely saddled with lousy plots. Episode 12
makes it seem like Touma may be the next victim of this curse.
It's a really thin story about a young
boy who ends up with a collection piece that allows the user to run
at crazy speeds. He wants to use it in order to inspire a girl not to
give up on her dream of becoming an idol, despite her inability to
walk. Touma is torn between protecting the kid, getting the item
back, and helping the kid win a race. His motivation is memories of
the cheesy fairy tales his fiance used to fancy.
Nothing much happens and the kid
overcomes adversity thanks entirely to the placebo effect since Touma
leaves him with a fake collection piece. Honestly if this episode had
been part of a lesser series like Ohranger it wouldn't seem so
lacking. Still; this is some grade-A Sentai. Stories like this are
too weak to eat up are precious time with these teams. Not unlike
Touma's last time at bat back in episode three, this one rests near
the bottom of the barrel.
Overall we had one excellent
plot-heavy installment, a fun comedic adventure, and one anemic kiddy
show. Next week is bringing us a tale of girl-power when Tsukasa and
Umika spend the day at an amusement park where a monster chains them
together. I'm very eager to see this one as this has been the best
duo of girls the franchise has featured in years. Giving them a
little time away from all the macho stuff should be fun enough.
Opening up the series to stories where these groups have to work
together is also an important step towards having a Umika/Keichiro
team-up. Or maybe I'm just trying to cover up how much I want to see
attractive woman fight monsters at theme parks. I'll never tell.
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