With China Red still China Red not Ryuu Ranger, our heroes want him to become official. Problem is, Malsheena is back and is now under the New-Dimensional-Mental-Correction-Subterranean-Neo-Empire Baros LOL! Can our heroes find a way to revive the Dairangers? Oh, and there is that Kiba Ranger.
Before talking about Malsheena's return, let's talk about Kiba Ranger in the opening fight scene of this episode. His attack on the Akibarangers is really, really amazing. Seriously, he just made them listen to tokusatsu music till their ears bleed, or in this case, explode! It's one simple attack and just one strike might be the end of our heroes. Thankfully, the villains left and so our heroes back to the real world. Now it is time to talk about Malsheena's return.
Malsheena's return is kinda unexpected considering that it is implied that he died in the explosion in the first season's finale. Having her return being a direct homage to Denziman's Queen Hedorian is one nice touch. Unlike the said Queen Hedorian from Denziman who returned in Sun Vulcan with a different costume, it seems that there are no changes with Malsheena's costume. She is still wearing the same uniform from the first season. But there is at least something new with her, in this case, she has her own version of the MMZ-01 that has a different paint job from the regular MMZ-01. As of this episode, its only purpose is her communication device with General Pain and the acts as the receiver once General Pain sends a new monster.
Speaking of General Pain, he is one amazing villain. For starters, he knows the things that make a villain lose in your standard Super Sentai series. He knows the death flags and the sure ways for the hero to win, but that's not all, he creates his own monsters! What I like about General Pain is the fact that he wants to be over the top as much as possible when it comes to simply transporting the monster or just saying his lines in some scenes. It is also during these scenes when we learned that there is such a thing as evil meetings, whose main objective is to discuss the usual dialogue to say on screen.
As for our heroes, they learned that Gosei Sentai Akibaranger is a dark part of the Super Sentai franchise and only lasted for 13 episodes, even though they hired Toshiki Inoue to save the show thanks to the mess created by Naruhisa Arakawa. Considering that Toshiki Inoue is one amazing screenwriter back then, I guess his writing prowess is not enough to save a dying show... or that Toshiki Inoue's "bad" writing side appeared early on, which sealed the final nail in the Akibaranger coffin. Did I mention that info about why Akibaranger is one bad show needs some citation?
Aside from that, Luna's reaction that Akibaranger is good in her book is the same reaction of every kid who learned that their childhood Super Sentai series is considered bad. Take me for instance, my childhood Super Sentai series is Chikyuu Sentai Fiveman. Older fans think it is a bad Super Sentai series and you should feel bad about it if you love that show. In my case, I don't care what fans say about Fiveman, Fiveman is my childhood Sentai series, it defined parts of my childhood. I don't care how bad the show is, all I care is how much I love the Fiveman team as a kid and Arthur becoming the team cannon, oh and the opening and ending themes.
Since Dairanger doesn't exist, what happened to its cast members? Much to their surprise, Keiichi Wada played Nobuo Akagi in Gosei Sentai Akibaranger. Considering his smile in the promotional image, it looks like he is doing the show just for the money, which is so sad. With that in mind, it is time for the Dairanger Revival project! What I like about it is that the actions of the core cast less Luna is made because of their love for the show. Even though Yumeria doesn't have reference images, she tried her best for the masks and the props to be show accurate.
But if there is one guy I salute in this one that would be Nobuo, I mean he wrote down the Dairanger script out of memory! It can only mean one thing, he watched the show countless times, so many times that he even memorized the lines of the entire series! Based on the paper he throw, he makes some mistakes till he remembers the exact lines said in a specific episode of Dairanger. Ladies and gentlemen, this is a true Super Sentai fan, a man who can memorize lines of his favorite show and can write it down. As for Luna, she's just in it because of the acting experience.
Now is the moment of truth, after kidnapping China Red and placed him in the back of the Machine Itashar, it is time for their performance of the Dairanger opening theme! I love how they recreate the sequence, granted there are some problems along the way, but they were able to recreate the entire opening sequence perfectly. Did I mention that they just hummed the Ryuu Ranger lines so that China Red can remember that he is Ryuu Ranger? That's cool that I even ended up singing along with them!
The bad guys arrived but they were able to escape and now comes the time to see how they recreate one of Dairanger's greatest scenes, the final showdown between Jin Matoba and Ryou! Though I haven't reached that part in Dairanger, I was able to watch that clip. I love how they use the original music of the said scene and even say the same lines from that episode. After a few beatings, it seems that China Red is now remembers that he is Ryuu Ranger! At the end, China Red remembers that he is Ryuu Ranger and did the same move he did in the said episode.
The only thing that is left is Kiba Ranger, unlike Ryuu Ranger that it took them a fight scene, it only took one AkibaYellow dressed up as Lin aka Houou Ranger just for Kiba Ranger to remember that he is the pervy kid named Kou who has his sword talk for him in most episodes. Now that the Dairangers are back to normal, it is time for the final fight scene in this episode! But before talking about that, it is time for the roll call. For starters, it seems that Luna is back to normal, she didn't grew up watching Akibaranger and she is back as that unpopular idol. In short, I just love that she still messes with the roll call, this time, she did it naturally.
The fight scenes are fantastic, and just like the previous official Super Sentai teams; they gave the Akibarangers their Penultimate Power. The said Penultimate Power is just a pair of hands but once combined, it can create a strong Qi-Powered Bomber! At the end, the Dairangers are now back to normal, the Akibarangers are unofficial... again and that Luna sees no point in transforming because she doesn't gain any benefits from it and leaves the team. But since she is still in the opening sequence the next episode and the episode preview, I guess this will only be temporary and she might find her reason in staying, the same reason why Mitsuki stayed in the team originally.
