After General Pain discovered the wonders of the Grand Delusion and how it affects reality, it's time for him to execute his plan to destroy the Akibarangers! What is this plan and why our heroes recreating a couple of stock Super Sentai plots?
This episode is the nerdiest episode of the show's two seasons. It's so nerdy that there are a lot of times that I am geeking out! I mean, it's just that I recognize those stock episodes and the unintentional call backs they made to the previous season. For starters, Nobuo said that he wants a swimsuit episode in the previous season... and he finally has it in this episode only for it to happen in the wrong time! They also did the fake wedding stock plot, which lead to some great comedy considering that most of it ends with an almost kiss and Nobuo exaggerating the kiss is seriously fun to watch.
But what I didn't expect is that they feature a plot that has something to do with a marathon that happens before Christmas. I don't remember Super Sentai having that kind of episode that is until it makes sense when General Pain revealed his plan. Turns out that he wants the Akibarangers to experience all the major stock episodes of your average Super Sentai episode till they reach the part the team is at its weakest. In short, around the time they have introduced all the toys, which is in December. In short, the plan is so nerdy that it makes a lot of sense in a Meta fashion!
With that in mind, it is time to release the Coelacanth Kans, a giant enemy mecha inspired by the Mecha Giants from Choudenshi Bioman. What I like about it is that this Mecha Giant feels like an actual Mecha Giant from Bioman, except it is made with better materials. Another thing great about its arrival is the opening the battle, the use of the Bio Robo theme is really great and the CGI for the Itashar Robo looks so real that I wish that scene featuring Itashar Robo lasted longer, but nope, Itashar Robo must lose because that's how Super Sentai works.
But since this show is an authorized love letter that pays tribute to the Super Sentai franchise's very long history, it's obvious that our heroes will win! But since this episode is halfway done and they can't do the obligatory training episode, the only option left is a debut of a new mecha. To make matters more complicated, a brainwashed Malsheena is hunting our heroes! It's quite interesting seeing Malsheena not arguing with General Pain for once, I mean, she feels so lifeless. Her attitude that makes her one fun character to watch is now lost. But hey, at least she's got some new Wolzard like powers. What's more is that after she absorbed the Akibaranger's Penultimate Powers, she summoned 3 past Super Sentai enemy generals!
To be honest, the choice of summoned generals doesn't make sense. I mean it's not the counterparts of the respective Penultimate Powers and that there is no representative of the 80's and 90's enemy generals! I know it has something to do with cutting costs when it comes to costumes, but at least have one 80's or 90's Super Sentai villain! Oh well, at least the combined weapon based on the three villains looks rushed and I am okay with it.
Powerless, Hakase finally bought our heroes a new car that will serve as their secondary mecha... and it turns out to be a toy car. This is when things start to become interesting. Earlier in the episode, Luna once again emphasized that the reason why she became an Akibaranger is for her career. In this scene featuring the new mecha, she tries her best to say the words for the car to transform. The reason why she is doing it is because she easily accepts that the little toy car is their new mecha. This is when I realized something; her honesty is one of her strong traits. She just tells us what she feels and what she wants and it didn't help that she is sincere every time she says it.
Because of her actions, the two surprised Akibarangers accepted it since hey, it's their new mecha whether they like it or not. As per tradition, since this mecha is smaller than the main mecha, its name is Itashar Boy, and boy, he has some moves that your Itashar Robo doesn't have such as flight and can fight machines 10 times of its size, heck, make it 20 times of its size! Seeing this tiny mecha punch Coelacanth Kans is one amazing sight to see. I mean, it looks impossible but it is now happening that's why it is awesome! It didn't help that General Pain's facial reactions while seeing his precious monsterkins getting beaten up by a tiny toy robot is just priceless.
At the end, General Pain is shocked and a plot twist from the previous season returns. Yes, Hakase's scorpion mark makes a comeback but the bigger question is what the is mark's role this season? Also, we see more of Malsheena taking care of some guy in a hospital. The bigger question is who is the guy in the hospital bed and why Malsheena is taking care of him/her?
