This Week in Tokusatsu – Week 6, 2019

This week, the Lupinrangers face off with Zamigo. The Ryuki arc of Zi-O begins with a twist, and the live-action Tokusatsu GaGaGa keeps moving right along!

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Lupinranger vs Patoranger Episode 50

It’s finally time for the showdown between Kairi and Zamigo! This episode is full of frantic action, as well as dramatic character moments seeing how the teams interact. The Ganglers are on the offensive, as Dogranio himself enters the field to continue what he started last week. Umika and Touma manage to get out of police custody and out of the hospital, despite their serious injuries, and vow to fight on. Confronted at GSPO HQ by Tsukasa and Sakuya, they are faced with a choice and don’t back down when they need to prove their conviction.

This leads to the police willingly handing over their gear, so the remaining Lupinrangers can save their friend. What unfolds from there is a 3-on-1 battle that is interrupted by Dogranio, whose safe we finally see in action. Zamigo insists on not being interrupted by anyone during his battle, including Dogranio, and as such, he asks to take refuge in Dogranio’s safe. As it turns out, the Ganglers’ leader holds an entire world inside his safe, containing all the Lupin Collection items not seen up to this point in the series. This world is where the battle against Zamigo takes place. In the end, the Rangers are victorious but still trapped. As previously indicated, Dogranio opens his safe on command, but it is impossible to break out.

Next week’s finale sees the Patorangers and Dogranio face off, while the Lupinrangers remain trapped. For the first time, this episode also marks the debut of a new form for a primary ranger, in the form of Super Patren #1, using Siren Striker. It’s fundamentally identical to Super LupinRed and Super LupinX, but flipped. The finale of Kaitou Sentai Lupinranger vs Keisatsu Sentai Patoranger airs on Sunday, 10 Feb, at 7:30AM JST. Stay tuned for a full series retrospective once the series has concluded!

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Kamen Rider Zi-O Episode 21

The Ryuki arc kicks off this week in an interesting fashion. A series first, the primary Rider of the previous season is not the focus of this arc. Instead, we’re met by the contract being formed between Uhr and the mirror-world Kido Shinji, Kamen Rider Ryuga. Using the Another Ryuga watch, he becomes Another Ryuga and begins attacking through mirrors. The stakes are high, as the original Ryuga can’t exactly be convinced to lend his power. It seems as though Another Ryuga is unbeatable, until White Woz comes up with a plan: Kill Kido Shinji, Kamen Rider Ryuki, and his mirror self will simply poof out of existence and cease to be.

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White Woz brings this plan to Geiz, who immediately rejects it and intervenes in White Woz’s attack on Kido. Conversely, Black Woz seems to be putting a plan into motion as well, using the Zi-O II Ride Watch that was shown last week to give Sougo Mirror-World access. Inside the mirror world, Sougo meets himself. This is a darker version. The parts of Sougo that could become Oma Zi-O are brought to light and Sougo ends up fighting himself. The episode ends there, on a high note of dramatic tension that promises to pay off in next week’s episode. Keep an eye out here for more!

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Tokusatsu GaGaGa Episode 3

More shenanigans are afoot this week, with a focus on the Extra Hero trope of Tokusatsu media. As Nakamura and Yoshida get closer, they begin to wonder if they can get their own “extra hero” to coincide with the reveal of Jushowan’s fourth member, silver ranger Celotol. Over the course of the episode, Nakamura also has to deal with the lingering paranoia that she’s been outed, after finding the capsule toy Kitashiro left in her locker at the end of episode two. The first candidate is Nakamura’s coworker, Yuki, who is a fangirl of the blue ranger from Stranger Five. Her love of this actor does not extend to tokusatsu in the way Nakamura and Yoshida hope, though.

There are lot of laughs, some physical comedy and a lot of cutaways to tokusatsu scenes and Scrubs-style daydreams. It’s over the top in the best ways, but also has a heavy dose of reality, thanks to Kitashiro’s judgment of Nakamura. When it comes out that Kitashiro does know about Nakamura’s tokusatsu obsession, it’s crushing, with Kitashiro saying Nakamura should be ashamed of herself. She is outright called a disgrace, but the tables turn before long.

As it turns out, Kitashiro is a closet idol geek, with her wallet being outed as carrying the symbol for a boys idol group, Bee Boys. Yoshida finds out, and gives Nakamura the information before encouraging her to try to turn Kitashiro into a friend, letting the older woman know she’s not alone in being a closeted geek. Kitashiro goes along with this about as well as one would expect, and that is what sets up next week’s episode.

What did you guys think of this week’s shows? Leave a comment and let’s discuss!