Mirai Sentai Timeranger Episodes 15 & 16 - Summary/Review

 

Our quest from the past about a future team continues with 2 more episodes covered. Click "read more" for my full article.

Case File 15: Search for the Sniper (Analysis)

This episode's name has 2 meanings; the photographer, Honami, from episode 11 returns who wants to quit sniping pictures of the Timerangers, and Don Dolnero has hired a hitman sniper named Reihou to execute the rangers. Honami still has a crush on TimeYellow who she thinks is Ayase and Reihou kidnaps her thinking she has a lead to finding where the rangers are hiding. After some interrogating, Reihou finds Honami's picture of Ayase and TimeYellow. The rangers manage to identify who Reihou is by analyzing the bullet hole left in Honami's apartment and the search for her begins.

So far, this is a very well paced episode. Some real futuristic detective work going on and even a decent extra character getting some development.

Reihou lures out the Timerangers by placing a collar on Honami that sends a trackable signal for the rangers and is rigged to explode in 30 minutes. The rangers figure out her plan but don't have time to find Raihou and her sniper can pierce their ranger suits. Bad situation. Luckily, Sion is able to convert their weapon into generating a barrier to temporarily protect against the sniper shots. This plan is almost ruined when Honami sees Domon and tries to run away, but Toc was able to find Raihou just in time. Yuri and Sion save Honami while the other 3 fight against Raihou. 

It is a short, but decent fight. The grunts are summoned and quickly defeated, followed by the other 2 rangers showing up randomly and the fight immediately turning giant. This giant battle has okay back and forth action for a brief moment, but it is very short and the Time Robo transformation sequence is played twice which really made it underwhelming. 

Finally, the episode ends with Sion and Yuri finding Honami's Time Yellow pictures and believing she is in love with Domon. Don Dolnero and Lila return home from a restaurant completely oblivious to what happened this whole episode, and Domon and Honami start emailing each other. She still thinks it's Ayase not Domon. 

Final Thoughts

This episode  was pretty good overall. The fight scenes are still a lot shorter then I would like, but the characters are developing nicely (minus the villains) and this false love triangle should prove entertaining to some. Overall, it was a good episode, and a sign that this season is picking up. 4/5

Pros: 

• Real Detective Work
• Good character arc
• Well paced with good tension

Cons:

• Lackluster fight scenes
• replaying stock footage to pad time

Case File 16: A Dream of Soba - Summary/Review

We have an episode all about food. It begins with a new monster named Vincent attacking a restaurant because the main villains want to eat something fancy. While this is happening, Domon gets kicked out of the Timeranger's office for scaring off their clients with his half asleep behavior and is forced to find more. This eventually leads Domon to a failing Soba Noodle shop run by a Mr. Sugawara. Sugawara has been betrayed by his partners and wife and cannot make decent Soba which has put him at risk of losing everything. Domon, playing himself as the victim of the office situation, relates to this feeling of betrayal and makes it his mission to save the shop which is something the other rangers do not support. He abandons finding clients.

I can actually relate to the idea of trying to help someone else when you cannot help yourself. But, this is not making Domon look good.

Domon and Sugawara start researching better way of preparing Soba by eating at other restaurants and working farm fields. This causes Domon to not notice while Vincent continues to attack restaurants by disguising himself as a customer, criticizing the food, then burning the place down. Kind of funny.

Eventually, the other 4 rangers confront Vincent. They easily overpower the monster, but cannot finish the job because Domon is not there for their combined bazooka attack. That is nonsense. Ayase confronts Domon just as they perfect the Soba recipe, the two fight and Domon almost quits the Timerangers. He just revealed his identity in front of Sugawara without any reaction!

Everything comes full circle now. Vincent attacks and burns down Sugawara's restaurant saying that the food was almost satisfying, Domon saves Sugawara and they talk about the Soba not being perfect yet because their ingredients is not fresh enough, and Toc delivers these fresh ingredients while the other 4 rangers struggle against Vincent. This makes no sense at all on so many levels. 

the kanji in his eyes says "chef"

  Now the ultimate showdown. Domon as appeared on the battlefield with a food cart he got from somewhere and challenges Vincent to try his ultimate Soba to decide how their battle will end. A cooking montage and some dramatic music later, Vincent is blown away by the Soba and does agree to surrender. However, he chickens out and turns himself giant. Once again, the giant battle is underwhelming and short. I've actually timed it, it is just under 2 minutes of transformation stock footage split, 20 seconds of pointless banter, and roughly 40 seconds of actual fighting before the final blow. Lame.

The episode ends with Sugawara's Soba business with even his wife coming back too him, Domon making up with the team, and a not at all shocking reveal that finding fresh ingredients was Ayase's idea. The End!

Final Thoughts

This episode stunk; just as I was beginning to think the season was picking up. There were inconsistencies with how strong Vincent was, Domon had is Timeranger identity spoken out loud in front of Mr. Sugawara with no attention brought to it at all, and the whole episode really made him look bad. Domon blatantly abandoned his duties, with no consequences, and it implies was he right to ignore being a ranger to help a random struggling chef. When Sugawara's restaurant is burnt down, him and Domon don't seem to care as they only talk about was was still missing from the Soba. Also, why did they need him to make perfect Soba to defeat Vincent? During the first fight, the rangers had no trouble taking on Vincent and would have won if Domon was there to help form the Bazooka. 

Same re-occurring problems as well. The giant battle was insultingly short and the main villains sub-plot has no conclusion as they just disappear. However, if there was something I did like, it was actually the monster of the week, Vincent. His self justification for his actions on how he tries to correct the chef's cooking which escalates into destroying the business was over the time and funny. I even liked the overly dramatic cooking montage near the end. However, those are a far cry from making this episode a good one. 2/5

Pros:

• Funny Monster of the Week
• Cooking

Cons:

• Unlikable behavior from the Yellow Ranger
• Continuity errors & inconsistencies 
• Underwhelming Fight Scenes
• Encouraging immature behavior