Cops and robbers super sentai is back with a 23rd episode which is very hard to predict. Last episodes preview for this one revealed that the new monster of the week will force Tooma into a gameshow. What could that mean? Click "read more" to figure out what this episode has in store.
Analysis
This episode begins with the main villain (Dogranio) getting a surprise visit from his nephew Raimon and two other Ganglers named Giwi and Ushibaroque. This trio of monsters (who is established as Raimon Corps) have arrived simply to announce that Raimon will become Dogranio's successor. Basically just announcing themselves as the new monsters of the week. Can't fault the episode for not wasting time.
 |
| :Left - Giwi :Middle - Ushibaroque :Right - Raimon |
Cutting back to the Lupinranger's Bistro, Noël Takao is leaking information to the Lupinrangers about new Gangler activity. Teachers from culinary schools have been disappearing due to a Gangler that the Patrangers have been unable to track down. So, since Tooma is a culinary expert, Noël believes he can be used as bait to catch the Gangler. Tooma agrees to the plan on the condition that he can take the collection piece. Cut to intro!
Very simple premise but this episode does have potential. I do love stories about culinary arts.
Noël Takao plan is put into motion and Tooma begins giving cooking classes. How the heck did he arrange that? Tooma is actually a very good culinary teacher and seems to be secretly enjoying himself. This success does attract the attention of the Gangler who hides among his students.
Let's play a game of spot the odd one out. Be careful, it is totally not obvious.
Big shocker, the tall student wearing the dark clothes with a cross on them reveals himself to be the Gangler Ushibaroque in disguise. The plan works; the Ganglers "captures" Tooma and Noël Takao and brings them to a ship that they are trying to find a chef for. That's all their plan was? Regardless of simple minded monster plans, Lupinblue and Lupin X are now aboard and begin battle with Ushibaroque. In the middle of this ship battle, Ushibaroque reveals his lupin collection pieces power, shooting super hot hyper-oscillates matter, or basically microwave beams of heat.
 |
| That's the first time Lupin X took damage |
The other two members of Raimon Corps join in when Noël Takao sees the gold safe on Raimon and panics. Tooma attempts to steal Raimon's collection piece but his VS Vehicle fails to break the combination of his gold safe and gets destroyed by a counterattack. The situation gets bad for the two Lupinrangers so Lupin X shines a bright light and retreats. It is nice to see monsters that can fight back for a change.
While hiding, Noël Takao and Tooma hear one of the Ganglers announcement over a PA system about a cooking duel for all the chefs they captured.
Fortunately, the Raimon Corps trio didn't see them henshin so Tooma can still enter to buy some time for Kairi and Umika to arrive. Not so fortunately, with his VS Vehicle broken, Tooma cannot henshin and doesn't trust Noël Takao enough to leave it with him for repairs. However, 
Cops and robbers super sentai is back with a 23rd episode which is very hard to predict. Last episodes preview for this one revealed that the new monster of the week will force Tooma into a gameshow. What could that mean? Click "read more" to figure out what this episode has in store.
Analysis
This episode begins with the main villain (Dogranio) getting a surprise visit from his nephew Raimon and two other Ganglers named Giwi and Ushibaroque. This trio of monsters (who is established as Raimon Corps) have arrived simply to announce that Raimon will become Dogranio's successor. Basically just announcing themselves as the new monsters of the week. Can't fault the episode for not wasting time.
|
| :Left - Giwi :Middle - Ushibaroque :Right - Raimon |
Cutting back to the Lupinranger's Bistro, Noël Takao is leaking information to the Lupinrangers about new Gangler activity. Teachers from culinary schools have been disappearing due to a Gangler that the Patrangers have been unable to track down. So, since Tooma is a culinary expert, Noël believes he can be used as bait to catch the Gangler. Tooma agrees to the plan on the condition that he can take the collection piece. Cut to intro!
Very simple premise but this episode does have potential. I do love stories about culinary arts.
Noël Takao plan is put into motion and Tooma begins giving cooking classes. How the heck did he arrange that? Tooma is actually a very good culinary teacher and seems to be secretly enjoying himself. This success does attract the attention of the Gangler who hides among his students.
Let's play a game of spot the odd one out. Be careful, it is totally not obvious.
Big shocker, the tall student wearing the dark clothes with a cross on them reveals himself to be the Gangler Ushibaroque in disguise. The plan works; the Ganglers "captures" Tooma and Noël Takao and brings them to a ship that they are trying to find a chef for. That's all their plan was? Regardless of simple minded monster plans, Lupinblue and Lupin X are now aboard and begin battle with Ushibaroque. In the middle of this ship battle, Ushibaroque reveals his lupin collection pieces power, shooting super hot hyper-oscillates matter, or basically microwave beams of heat.
|
| That's the first time Lupin X took damage |
The other two members of Raimon Corps join in when Noël Takao sees the gold safe on Raimon and panics. Tooma attempts to steal Raimon's collection piece but his VS Vehicle fails to break the combination of his gold safe and gets destroyed by a counterattack. The situation gets bad for the two Lupinrangers so Lupin X shines a bright light and retreats. It is nice to see monsters that can fight back for a change.
While hiding, Noël Takao and Tooma hear one of the Ganglers announcement over a PA system about a cooking duel for all the chefs they captured.
Fortunately, the Raimon Corps trio didn't see them henshin so Tooma can still enter to buy some time for Goodstriker to find Kairi and Umika. Not so fortunately, with his VS Vehicle broken he cannot henshin himself and doesn't trust Noël Takao enough to leave it with him for repairs. Noël Takao pleads his case with a heartfelt speech and convinces Tooma that even if he cannot trust him as a person he can trust his passion for working on the lupin collection items. I could not do his talk justice with a summary but Noël Takao basically compares his passion to Tooma's passion of cooking. Now it is time for Iron Chef: Gangler edition.
The rules are simple; if Tooma wins he will get enslaved as the Raimon Corps personal chef for the rest of his life, and if he loses than he is killed on the spot. No pressure. It is also worth noting that the Ganglers said they already killed all the other captured chefs. The two competitors cook in polar opposite styles. Ushibaroque has his ingredients flying through the air and uses his power to cook while Tooma is just calmly preparing his dish. Now, the food will be judged by Raimon and Giwi.
 |
| Ushibaroque's dish |
 |
| Tooma's dish |
The cooking duel results in s crushing victory for Tooma. Ushibaroque does not take defeat well and goes on a rampage just in time for Tooma's VS Vehicle to be fully repaired. Kairi and Umika arrive to help Tooma and Noël Takao as well as Raimon and Giwi backing up Ushibaroque resulting in a 4 vs 3 battle.
The fight held promise but feels cut short most likely due to the episode having nearly exhausting its run time already. Kairi and Umika lose to Raimon and Giwi; but those two Ganglers just get board and leave without finishing them off. Now, all 4 rangers gang up on Ushibaroque and easily get his collection piece and defeat him.
 |
| Got to show the collection item design |
Ushibaroque grows giant, puts up a little struggle, but is ultimately defeated by a montage of giant mech combinations and attacks from past episodes.
The episode ends with two "job well done" scenes. Noël Takao reports what happened to the Patrangers (who get their first and last scene for the episode besides a quick flashback from the beginning), and Tooma tells Kairi and Umika that they cannot open gold safes. THE END
Final Thoughts
This episode felt a lot more traditional than most that this season has done. Most of that has to do with the fact that it only focused on one of teams, being the Lupinrangers. The main purpose behind this plot seemed to further establish Tooma as a passionate chef and build his bond with Noël Takao. But, it really is a shame that they didn't do anything with the Patrangers. Early on, it is established that they were investigating this Gangler case with a failed undercover flashback and then nothing.
 |
| I wish we actually got to see them try to cook |
I am not against the idea of giving both teams episodes that focus on them, in fact I'd call that necessary. But, how are we supposed to believe that the Patrangers were not doing anything with a chef kidnapper on the loose? It has been firmly established that all 3 Patrangers are devoted to their job. Also, one other thing that bothers me, every culinary instructor that was captured before Tooma was said to be brutally murdered and that fact just gets swept by like a minor detail. Granted, it is already established that the Lupinrangers don't care about the public, but the Patrangers didn't even ask about them at the end.
As a whole, this episode had its problems, but was still pretty ok. It was fun to watch with some better fight scenes and served a purpose in establishing Raimon Corps as well as furthering the relationship with Noël Takao to the Lupinrangers. So, I give it a pass. 3/5
No comments:
Post a Comment