Summer is beginning to slow down and I
find myself in an odd position. The last four months of the year are
always the busiest and best part of the year. This time around
however I'm facing down more responsibilities than usual with school,
writing projects, and game designs. This leaves the month of August
as a staging ground where I have to prepare as much as possible for
the upcoming barrage of activity while finding just enough time to
squeeze in some good old-fashion loafing.
When it comes to lazy time we know how
I enjoy some Sentai. I also enjoy the opportunity to tie-in the life
aspect of my updates with episode recaps and this one's easy as can
be. Just as I'm in a warm-up for a surge of activity, Lupinranger
vs Patranger takes a little time to forge relationships before
giving the audience a big moment to mark the halfway-point of the
series. Told ya I could tie it all together.
Episode 22 gives Noel a chance to
start bonding with his fellow monster fighters beginning with playing
matchmaker for Sakuya and Umika. It's fairly stereotypical as his
time in Paris has left him obsessed with matters of love. His initial
plan to bring these kids together involves stealing Sakuya's phone at
lunch and sending Umika to return it.
The two meet up in the park where our
green cop attempts to ask her out on a date, any date, just a walk
around the park would be nice. Poor guy has it bad. Shame he's so
rudely interrupted by the newest baddie. This particular critter
temporally turns people into goldfish before trapping them in a pot.
In the confusion of his first attack he kidnaps Umika. This shall not
stand!
Feeling guilty for how his actions
placed the yellow thief in harms way, Noel teams with Sakuya to save
her. Let's cut off your totally woke question of why she can't rescue
herself, she considers that option except her next door neighbor is a
fellow captive. Transforming into Lupin Yellow means giving up the
whole secret identity angle. Not to mention the cops would know it
was someone in that pot and she's still a suspect from before. Given
the situation she decides to hold out a little longer as Kairi and
Touma are sure to attempt a rescue.
While not a very important installment
it is fun to see Noel and Sakuya bond as one looks up to the other as
his love guru while the other finds his green partner to be a very
nice and loyal man who happens to have piss poor luck with the
ladies. On the other side we see some hinting that Umika actually
likes her admire but won't go down that path as she's busy enough
with a life as a vigallante/thief/high-school dropout. She seemed
genuinely surprised to see Patran 2 and X coming to her rescue rather
than her usual partners but she still doesn't give Sakuya that date.
For episode 23 Noel pairs with yet
another underdog of the series, Touma as they attempt to lure out a
Gangler with an obsession for kidnapping chiefs. Little do they
realize that there's a new trio of baddies called the Lymon gang
looking to make their mark. Two members of this new force don't offer
up much of a threat but their leader is something special.
In the short time Noel has been around
he has yet to encounter major villains like Destra or Zamigo. If he
had then he would point out they are the same as Lymon in being
classified as Status Gold. This means their safe cores are made of
gold and can damage Lupinranger tech that tries to open it.
The first fight with Lymon leaves
Touma unable to transform until Noel can repair his device. This
serves as the catalyst for improving their relationship. For as
serious as one is about cooking the other is equally passionate about
protecting the Lupin collection. While he works to repair the broken
device, Touma faces off against a monster in a biblical cooking
battle and naturally wins the day. Overall this was better than most
Touma adventures and managed to deepen the story ever so slightly.
Still not what you'd call essential viewing but not a total throwaway
either.
Of all the potential pairings on this
show, I'd put the least amount of thought into kairi and Tsukasa yet
that's what episode 24 gives us, and it proves to be a damn smart
move.
There's been a recent trend of good
luck charms appearing around town that actually work, bestowing
people with lotto winnings, good dates, everything. This seems just a
bit too good to be true so Kairi hunts them down to a nightclub where
he hopes to get his own in order to learn if this is the work of
Ganglers or something else.
During his visit the club is raided by
the Patrangers who've figured out the owner is in fact a Gangler.
Tsukasa takes Kairi out of the scuffle and proceeds to take away his
charm and fret over his welfare. She wants to look out for him,
explaining that she learned of his brothers fate when they observed
the bistro crew as potential criminals. After apologizing for those
actions she reveals a bit of her own past as someone who lost her
parents at a young age only to be brought up by her overprotective
grandparents. This explains her role as a protective big-sister to
everyone around her while she also reveals her promise to her
grandfather to stay safe. She intends to return to a quiet life in
the country once she's insured peace through her current work.
Later in the episode it's revealed
that the charms turn on their wearers after using up all their luck
by covering them in life-draining plants. When everyone is battling
the Gangler it's revealed he can't be hit by anything thanks to his
collection piece providing freakish powers of evasion. Tsukasa
wonders of the charm could be used to overcome his ability but
hesitates at the threat to her own safety. Lupin Red snatches the
charm away and slows the villains down enough for his team to steal
the collection piece. Tsukasa seems both ashamed of her own inability
to put herself in harms way and in awe of the thieves willingness to
do whatever is necessary. She has little time to think on the matter
as things immediately move into the giant-robot phase of battle and
once they beat this guy, Lymon shows up to reveal he can grow massive
whenever he wants and beats down the police.
Episode 25 picks up right where the
previous entry left off with the cops recuperating from their
beating, most of all Noel who's bedridden with the Lupin crew
watching over him. During his recovery he learns Kairi still doesn't
trust him and offers little to change that outlook.
Meanwhile Lymon hopes to rebuild his
crew by recruiting Zamigo, only the two of them don't get-along so
well and a fight breaks out, alarming both teams of the monster
wherabouts. Patrangers show up first only to get their butts sorely
beaten when they realize Lymon's collection piece allows him to
regenerate his body no matter the damage. Noel arrives with a little
gadget and an obsession with finding how to open a Status Gold safe.
He figures out that gold safes have six-digit security codes which
requires two devices to unlock instead of the usual one. He pays for
this information with a sound beating. Once the Lupinrangers arrive
he finally admits to being in the same boat as them, he too wants to
bring someone back and needs the collection to make it happen.
As team Lupinranger unsuccesfully
combats Lymon, Tsukasa informs her crew that it's time to lend a
hand. For the first time, both teams goals are perfectly matched
giving us the opportunity to finally see all these heroes work
together. It's a wonderful moment that was totally worth waiting for.
It only gets better when Good-Striker announces his plan for all the
machines to come together in the biggest robot formation yet. This
thing is so large it has multiple pilot chambers and Goody can switch
out who goes where, which comes in handy as he separates the two red
rangers from each-other.
As things stand, the two groups still
aren't on perfect terms, nor have they shared their identities, but
they've made a huge step towards peaceful co-existance. Furthermore
Noel has revealed a key element of his role in all of this though he
assuredly knows more about the larger game being played. Lastly the
big boss Dogranio thinks it may be time to consider these kids a
serious threat now that they've taken down someone as nasty as Lymon.
Truly an outstanding way to mark the half of this show.
You're all accustomed to me gushing
about this series by now but if there's one thing I'd like to see
improve in upcoming installments it's the villains. There's been a
lot of hints about their motives such as human experimentation or how
Kogure may be in on it. Something needs to come to a head soon before
they loose all credibility as a viable threat. Other than that I'm
down for the ride and am still eager to see the point when identities
and agendas are revealed.
Alright kids, story time's over. I've
got about eight things to do today and knowing my luck I'll
accomplish three of them. During my free time, a.k.a. Bathroom
breaks, I've been planing topics for this years Halloween coverage.
If you have any requests for certain subjects, now's the time to make
it known. Ta ta for now.
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