Hikari Sentai Maskman 18 – Haruka and Her Doll

Haruka wants to buy her old doll back and because of this, Tube's plan this time around to have one of their Ground Beast enter the said doll so that it can suck Haruka's blood once it wakes up at night! Little did they know there is also a kid who wants the said doll.

We all know that Haruka was trained as a ninja since she was a kid. Little did we know that part of it is throwing her childhood away. In the case of this episode, they took it both in a literal and symbolic sense. Throwing a girl's doll and eventually, selling it like saying to someone that she should mature as fast as possible. Granted, it is her father's way just for her not to get distracted by her ninja training, but at least give her some time to enjoy her childhood even just for the weekends! That is why I understand her desire of buying the doll back, she wants to relieve bits of her lost childhood.

Now that she has enough funds to buy the doll, she ends up eventually giving it to a little girl who wants that doll. This scene showed us how much she matured as a person. She is not anymore that little girl who is forced to end her childhood because of ninja training. She is now that responsible adult is out there saving the world, and now she has to make the choice if she wants the little girl to have a memorable childhood or not. At the end, she ends up giving her doll after she remembered that's how she looked like when her father threw away her doll.

Little did they know that the doll is possessed by a Ground Beast and once the clock strikes 6pm, it will suck the blood of anyone around the said Beast! The plan is originally meant for Haruka but because she gave the doll to the little girl, it ends up becoming a plot of making Haruka lose her desire to fight because of the regret of not saving the girl. The plan sounds brilliant in paper, but it ended up failing because of Baraba. This lunatic here decides to tell the plan to the Maskmen, giving them the reason to follow the girl and save her before the clock strikes 6!

And thus, the chase to find the girl and her mother begins because the two are returning to Sapporo after the death of the girl's father. Along the way, Haruka ends up fighting some foot soldiers. The fights are seriously fun to watch but the last one in this chase scene is my personal favorite. Haruka is badly beaten up and it seems that she is now less determined to save the girl now that they only have a few minutes left. What add up the intensity of this scene is that the clock is often flashed from time to time and that we hear clock ticking noises every now and then.

Finally, they reached the airport and that they only have a few minutes left before the Ground Beast wakes up and kills the girl and everyone around them. Haruka lost her hope of every finding the girl. This is when Takeru comes in and snaps her out of it. This scene reminded us why they are the Maskmen. They are the only ones who can do things other people can't do. In short, they are the ones who can save the girl.

Conveniently, they were able to find the girl. I like this scene, I love that the girl's face looks kinda selfish that she doesn't want the original owner of the doll to have it one last time. But at the end, the girl gave the doll to Haruka. Now that there are only a few seconds left before 6pm, Haruka throw the doll to a place where there are no people so that she can face the Ground Beast residing it! The Beast is finally out and it is time for the final battle of this episode! Haruka is fantastic in this episode, though she only created two clones this time around, at least she was able to utilize it in her own advantage.

At the end, the Ground Beasts are defeated, the giant fight happens and the monster is finally defeated. Haruka returns the doll to the girl and she said that dolls don't suit her anymore. Well yeah, she is now an adult tomboyish ninja and not a doll collector. It makes sense that dolls don't suit her current image.