Ninja Sentai Kakuranger 22 – One Gassy Villain

Badass exit? Badass exit.

In this episode, Seikai is smitten to some chick whose interest is creating the perfect solar car. Meanwhile, the monster of the episode is using a laughing gas in his plan to destroy mankind. Did I mention that this monster is made of exhaust coming from cars?

So let me get this straight, we have a monster that is created from car exhaust and can release various kinds of gas that will change the mood of those who inhale it? Am I watching an episode of Carranger before Carranger was made?! Apparently, it's kinda like since according to the notes released by GUIS about this episode, some Toei producers back then like to practice their plans for a future show by testing it on one episode. And to be honest, it kinda worked.

It worked in a sense that the car-related stuff is related to the mythology of the Yokai, making the modernize version of the Yokai worked. Its choice of attack works since he is a gas monster. The only part of the gas attack plot that didn't work for me is that for most part of the episode, he keeps using the laughing gas much. I know it's on the title of the episode but the monster didn't use the emotional gas attack in its full potential. But hey, at least it leads to some fun comedy scenes and comparing his way of laughing gas attack to the Joker less the creepy smile after his victims are done laughing too much.

Now for Seikai in this episode, he is simply fantastic. Aside from the occasional flirting with the chick and win her heart, I just love that the reason why he is doing it is for him to cheer up the girl after the failures she had with the solar car. The fact that he actually asked Nekomaru to make the girl think that he is powered by solar power just to make her smile is kinda sweet of him. Since solar powered cars are the exact opposite of gasoline powered cars, the MOTW obviously wants to destroy the solar panels of the "solar" car! This scene basically showed us why Seikai is such a badass that he protected the girl and the kids without transforming.

Even though he received a lot of bruises thanks to the beating he received from the MOTW, he keeps on fighting and even have this badass farewell speech... till he ruined it with the exit. Typical Kakuranger humor and that's why I like it. The scene still reminded us that even though he is badass in this scene, he is still one of those goofballs. As for his proper solo fight in this episode, it is really great. What I like about it is that he even inspired the girl and the kids to create an invention that can help him defeat the Yokai.

In true Kakuranger fashion, the weapon is kinda goofy, but it works. Like I said countless times in my other reviews, I don't care if the way they defeat the monster is goofy or the design of the item is goofy just as long as it works. I will not say what is the item but just seeing it in action kinda reminded me of Ghostbusters... except the item is just sucking the ghost and not destroying it, kinda like how Danny Phantom's thermos works. Since they are dealing with a smoke monster, it's kinda expected that it will grow in size. In short, it is time for the giant battle!

The giant battle is kinda interesting, it's interesting in a sense that they still remembered that the Muteki Shogun is a sentient mecha and probably capable of displaying emotion. As seen in the episode, it can cry and it can laugh and thanks to those attacks, our heroes ended up back to their normal sizes. As expected, the girl and the kids again save the day thanks to their new machine. If there is one thing that bothered me about it is how the heck they were able to come up with such machines? But since these guys are building solar powered cars in an early age, I guess it kinda makes sense why they can make such machines.

Thanks to the machine, the Yokai is now solid enough for them to finish it with the mecha version of their Kakuranger Ball. Comparing this version of Kakuranger Ball to the regular one, there are major differences except that they are now in the Juusho Fighters performing this move. So yeah, even though this is a Seikai episode, the one who performs the final kick is Sasuke. Speaking of Sasuke, he acts more of a field leader in this episode, sidelining Tsuruhime and thus making her that female hero in this episode. Speaking of sidelined characters, Prince Junior is not in this episode and his harem of cat ninjas! Oh well, the preview hints that Junior will play a major role next episode.

At the end of the episode, Seikai is again flirting with the girl, the solar powered car is fixed and last but definitely not least, Seikai needs to keep the eyes on the road first and not on the chick. This kid seriously needs to learn traffic safety.