Yep, the team is now complete.
Nobuo just learned that Gosei Sentai Dairanger is wiped off the face of the planet, and is replaced by Gosei Sentai Akibaranger in the list of official Super Sentai teams! Before he can explain to Hakase the full situation, he ends up fighting a new sub-section chief named Chief Blu-Ray. Does he have something to do with Dairanger's disappearance?
Like I said in my review of the first episode, this is the official start of Akibaranger's 2nd season now that they are done doing all the ret-cons. But before we can go further with that, Nobuo ends up meeting Chief Blu-Ray and his special product, the Dream Ray Player. With this product, all you need to do is imagine what you want and presto, instant new anime! Problem is, once you get too deluded while watching the new anime, you'll end up wearing cardboard boxes at the end. Wait a minute, this plot sounds familiar, and the only difference is that you need to peel some sticker sheet with a lot of holes to reveal something not suitable for kids.
Nobuo ends up fighting him after placing the batteries to his changer. The fight in this scene is really amazing; it becomes more fun after Chief Blu-Ray used one of his special abilities, to fast forward stuff. Reading some message boards (you know what is that message board), one of them pointed out the similarities of its power to one Stand from JoJo's Bizarre Adventure named King Crimson. The problem I had with this guy is that just reading the description of its abilities is kinda confusing. Heck, even the illustrations didn't help in properly explaining it! To put it simply, I can't believe that Akibaranger Season 2 helped me understand King Crimson's powers better. Guess I should start rereading Part V then.
Anyway, aside from fast forwarding and rewinding stuff while the damage made from those rewinds continues to stack, his powers are something you can think of from a monster based from your Blu-ray player. It can change digital visuals to analog visuals and even convert 2D images into 3D, minus the glasses of course! While he is badly being beaten up by Chief Blu-Ray, Nobuo ends up landing on Ryu Ranger who is supposed to deliver some gyoza!
What's funny about Ryu Ranger in this scene is that he sounds different, his logo looks different and the biggest change is his eyes. By the looks of it, Ryu Ranger is demoted into something lower than a local hero. My assumptions are confirmed when he revealed that he is a mascot character and he is part of the team called Chinese Sentai Chinaman! To those who watched the Super Hero Taihen net movies, Chinaman is just a popular pre-production rumor for Dairanger, and since this it came from the internet, it is probably fake. For the sake of those who haven't watched the net movies, Urataros revealed that it is indeed fake and that revealed that Dairanger is supposed to be called "Daikenger".
As for my thoughts about Chinaman, the name is so racist that I can't help but laugh at it! Seriously, who in the right mind has thought of that rumor? Unlike Ryu Ranger, China Red is a coward. Thankfully, Nobuo was able to escape in one of the attacks made by Chief Blu-Ray thanks to the eject button. Later, he discovered that he might not be deluded after all thanks to Hakase showing him some official Akibaranger merchandise. Seeing Nobuo's smile of the thought that their team is actually official is one great sight to see. It is like every fanboy's dream to see the thing they created officially recognized by the source company.
Even if that is the case, Nobuo wants his favorite Sentai hero to be back to normal. Considering that Chief Blu-Ray has digital-to-analog conversion abilities, he assumes that one of it hit Ryu Ranger, causing him to transform into China Red. The theory sounds plausible, but how the heck one simple beam attack alter reality? I mean, if I based it on the show's ret-con, they haven't reached the point where they can break the walls of the Delusion World!
While they are talking about it, Nobuo heard someone singing a song from an episode of Denziman, which was only played once. This is when Nobuo finally meets the "big bad" of this season, and his name is General Pain. According to official material, he is a Super Sentai villain otaku and his place speaks for itself. What's interesting is that he is the man behind the creation of Chief Blu-Ray! Now I am starting to wonder how the heck he gained the ability to create monsters that can invade the Delusion World. Did he study the research made by Hakase's father about Moeshinsky Particles?
The meeting of this two is like a nerd off, except that it only happened for a second before Hakase and co. left his room. Because of the new threat they are facing, they need to look for a new Blue and this is when Luna comes in. Luna is surprisingly one good replacement for Blue when it comes to personality. She knows her Sentai stuff, heck she even does research on what Sentai directors like! She is so dedicated to get into a Sentai show that she agreed to become the new AkibaBlue right away!
More on Luna, she is a representation of every single actress in recent Super Sentai shows. She's an idol and she wants to get more exposure in show business as fast as possible. She is like the anti-Nobuo during first season's first episode; Nobuo wants to become a Sentai hero because it is his dream, while Luna here wants to become a Sentai hero to become more popular! What made Luna more interesting is that she is an avid fan of Gosei Sentai Akibaranger, and the last Super Sentai show Mitsuki watched on-screen was Gosei Sentai Dairanger!
Luna in battle is a bit trigger happy, she loves being a hero and enjoys every minute of it. Oh, and we meet the new foot soldiers, the Freakers, which is less classy than the Corporate Drones and freakier than them. Anyway, the opening credits implied that Yumeria got married and based on her appearance, she is far from that fujoshi we met back in the first season... that is until she wears her costume. Yup, she is still the same old Yellow that we know and love.
This is when we get into the fun part of this episode, the roll call. I just love how Luna keeps on messing up with the team roll call! Well it is understandable considering that she grew up watching Gosei Sentai Akibaranger and not Unofficial Sentai Akibaranger! Even though she grew up watching Akibaranger and did research on how to become a Sentai actress, she doesn't recognize the three Sentai heroes that appeared in front of her via stock footage. Oh well, at least she recognized the AkibaMeteor Cannon! Because of this slight misunderstanding with the material, it almost endangered their chance to perform the finisher. Thankfully, Nobuo was able to return the attack and successful performed the finisher!
Now that we are done with it, guess it is expected that everything is back to normal... or so we thought. Ryu Ranger is still China Red, and to make matters worse, Kiba Ranger is now part of Akibaranger! To make it more interesting, it seems that he hates being part of Akibaranger, much to the confusion of our heroes. But the bigger question is can China Red and Chinaman in general revert back into Dairanger? Or will these ex-official heroes stay in their mascot character state?
