Hikari Sentai Maskman 09 – A New Alien Friend

Takeru receives a call from outer space coming from a kid named Loro thanks to their auras being similar in nature. He wants to meet Takeru soon, but for what reason? Meanwhile, Tube's latest plan has something to do with darkness... by cutting down a city's electric supply.

This episode is yet another Takeru focused episode and this time around, he meets someone who has the same aura frequency like he has. What's interesting about it is that we learn that Aura Power has no limits as it can reach the farthest regions of outer space. As seen in this episode, Takeru met his new friend, Loro thanks to his aura. What's more, thanks to the meeting of two auras, it created a new power that can cancel the electric field created by the MOTW! This made me wonder, what if the other Maskmen meet people with the same aura like there’s. What new power can it create?

Loro is one interesting kid of the week character. I find him interesting because he only wants to meet a friend with the same aura like he is. He is not aware of the battle between the Maskmen and Tube and just lands to our planet, unaware that his new aura move cancelled a Tube attack to destroy an electric field! Because of his new move, Oyobu wants to defeat the kid because his move can hinder their plans.

Later, the Maskmen fight Baraba in a power plant, one thing to comment about it is the electric pincer attack generated by the Magne and Dogler creatures. This kind of move is one of the reasons why I love the monsters in Maskman. After this attack, Baraba reveals that Loro is in their clutches and he has until sunset or else he will die! Takeru wants to save Loro, but the question is where is he? Once again, we saw the power of Aura Power as his power can reach the barrier that traps Loro! But the problem is his aura is not strong enough to free Loro.

Sugata's suggestion of raising Takeru's Aura Power and its dangers in Loro's life made me like Sugata more as a commander. He knows the dangers of this attempt to save Loro but by the sound of his voice, he is confident that Takeru can do it. Because of this condition, he realized that the best way to raise his aura fast is to fight. This made me smile for the reason that Takeru just hit two birds with one stone! Aside that he saved his new friend; he can also defeat the MOTW!

Takeru's fight in this episode is fantastic; it's fun to watch and at the same time, shows us what he can do just to save a friend. Another thing that I like about this fight is how they showed us how strong Aura Power is in battle. Heck, it is because of Aura Power that it cut the ground in three! It is also because of Aura Power that Takeru can just easily beat the crap out of the MOTW. My only disappointment though is that before they can perform the Shot Bomber finisher, Takeru's move is just one clean aura laser attack.

The giant battle in this episode is fun and that's about it, there is nothing interesting aside from the cool shots of the Great Five. At the end, Loro leaves our planet and learned that there is a treasure greater than Aura Power, its friendship. The lesson about friendship is not surprising but I expect more that the lesson has something to do with the beauty of our planet thanks to Loro's observation while he is looking at the ocean.