CASE FILE 08 :
AN EXPLOSION IN THE ARTS
(This review contains some images that may be somewhat shocking.)
This glasses wearing youth is this episode's guest character, the poor artist Toba Kenji.
In the 30th century, he's considered a famous 21st century artist known to everyone,
but now he's still completely unknown and unappreciated.
As he's drawing in the park, the Londerz prisoner Nabokov appears and politely introduces himself
before promptly attempting to kidnap Kenji.
Nabokov is in love with Lila, and as we see his obsequiousness in the image to the left,
trying to get Lila to like him is his sole motivation.
His attempt to kidnap Kenji, which is also spurred by Lila's desire to have Kenji paint her portrait,
is prevented by the Timeranger's perfectly timed intervention,
but Kenji falls into a pond after being attacked and is on the verge of drowning.
While he's still catching his breath after being saved by the Timerangers,
he's instantly smitten with Yuuri, who suddenly enters his view.
Just as we viewers are made uncomfortable by his perverted smirk only 5 minutes into the episode...
Kenji uses fainting as an excuse to fall onto Yuuri!!
While adult viewers can't help but suspect that this guy must be faking his fainting for more sinister purposes,
the saintly Timerangers take Kenji, who apparently hasn't eaten for 3 days, to Tomorrow Research without complaint and feed him instant noodles.
Kenji smirkingly stealing glances at Yuuri as he eats his ramen recalls Ash furtively peeking at Misty's ass,
and we viewers lose all sympathy for him. (At least he's not an ass man.)
The Timerangers, who are about as poor as Kenji, don't provide even the cheap and nutritious standard topping of an egg for his noodles,
but that doesn't stop him from eating three bowls of their noodles back to back.
Hey, Kenji! You need to get some Gotsumori!!
(Gotsumori is a brand of instant ramen produced by Toyo Suisan and sold by Maruchan that's both cheap and high calorie. It's junk-y but tasty,
and loved by college students and young workers who are just scraping by.)
When I was in college I ate Kita no Yakisoba, an instant dry noodle produced by Nissin exclusively for my home prefecture, almost every day.
Instant yakisoba in general has extremely high cost performance, only costing around 80 yen but providing around 500 calories,
the catch of course being your health.
By the way, we get to see Kenji in his underwear in this scene, but it's a sight that's not even worth posting here.
The 30th century people are shocked to learn that he's the famous artist Kenji from the 21st century.
The Timerangers visit Kenji's house, expecting that the Londerz will come again in an attempt to kidnap the famous artist.
Even from the perspective of 20 years ago it looks very old-fashioned,
and considering that Kenji looks like he could be a part of a student protest movement from the 60s or 70s,
the scene has the harsh Showa flavor of a
Nikkatsu youth film or Toho youth film.
The landlord's dog John that the Timerangers had been looking for is also there for some reason, so that plot thread is abruptly resolved.
Kenji says that he'd like to draw Yuuri, who it seems has embodied the essence of Kenji-ism from the moment he saw her.
Going against the expectations of the other Timerangers as well as the viewers, Yuuri consents without hesitation.
Why would she do that for this guy!?
One high point of this episode is that we get to see the Timerangers acting like normal young people for the first time,
and can see that they've gotten used to 20th century life and grown closer to each other.
For example, while the other 4 Timerangers are waiting outside while Yuuri models for Kenji,
Domon gets irrationally jealous, thinking that maybe Yuuri has feelings for Kenji, and the situation unfolds as below.
Domon:"I'm way better than him, right?"
Ayase:"Nope."
HAHAHAHAHA!!
HAHAHAHAHA!!
Sion:"Look, Domon! Fish!"
Rock, paper, scissors!
While these 4 are creating fun memories together, Yuuri's alone with Kenji. Are you okay in there? Actually, she has a plan.
Leaving just the two of them in the apartment is a trap to lure the Londerz,
and she wasn't actually interested in modelling for the picture from the start.
Kenji senses this and can't draw as he likes, saying, "I can't see you. Your heart is somewhere else."
Whatever the reason may be, Yuuri is agreeing to sit for you, so maybe try to adapt to the situation Kenji?
Just as we're getting annoyed with Kenji's selfishness, Nabokov appears just as Yuuri had expected,
breaking through the wall and kidnapping Kenji with ease.
I'm more worried about who's going to pay for the repairs.
In the image on the right, the small dot resembling a piece of black sesame just left of center is Kenji's head.
Tatsuya, seeing Yuuri disappointed that her plan didn't proceed as intended, lashes out with...
"YOU IDIOT!!"
Brock:" WHAT KIND OF PEOPLE ARE YOU?!"
（お前ら人間じゃねぇ!!）
Just as Takeshi (Brock) showed his passion for protecting Pokemon by screaming with a forcefulness unfitting to his facial expression,
Tatsuya aggresively scolds Yuuri abruptly and with a weirdly calm demeanor.
His point is that one shouldn't take advantage of someone else's pure feelings,
but until now Yuuri hasn't had the chance to build many relationships, so doesn't know how to respect people's feelings.
However, if you think about it, Kenji's first contact with Yuuri that made him fall for her
was when she was engrossed in her work and had no interest in his feelings at all, so I think he can enjoy that kind of coldness.
It seems that a healthy person like Tatsuya can't understand the perverted pleasures of a masochist like Kenji.
Meanwhile, Kenji has been brought to a studio and is being forced to draw Lila.
!?
Kenji is an artist who can only draw what he wants to draw. He's not interested in Lila and won't sell his soul for profit or fame.
It must be that commitment that will make his name famous in the 30th century. Nabokov, who had been behaving like an empty shell up until now,
takes the opportunity to act cool in front of Lila and makes a show of attacking Kenji in a rage,
just as the Timerangers appear, as ever, with perfect timing.
After having John smell Kenji's shirt, he was able to lead them to the studio, which means Kenji must seriously smell.
Yuuri, saying "I will protect you," apologizes for her prior rudeness to Kenji,
who is overjoyed that she came to save him, and transforms into Time Pink!
Kenji "Wooooooooah!!!!"
"Hai! Hai! Hai! Hai!"
Kenji "Wooooooooah!!!!"
"Hai! Hai! Hai! Hai!"
"Timeranger!!"
...moving on, one of this episode's other good points is that Time Beta,
reappearing after having taken a break for a few episodes,
finally regains some of its wounded honor.
There's an extended scene showing the Time Flyer morphing into Flyer Magnum,
and (though we've seen the sequence before) it looks cool shooting the Flyer Magnum while descending onto the enemy.
Beta even does a good job dodging Nabokov's beam attacks, kicking him with some weird spinning move,
and showing off what should have been its original strength. Or maybe the TTPB improved it?
The Voltech Bazooka on the other hand shocks no one by simply rebounding.
Bandai will probably start complaining soon, so they should really improve this one too.
Sorry to say it, but Nabokov looks really uncool getting beat down by Beta.
His signature move is shooting a beam while floating, which should be pretty cool,
but instead he gently floats toward us with a dainty pose resembling a Kewpie doll. LAME!!
In the end he's easily frozen while shouting "Lila!!" I guess he really liked Lila. Sorry, but he was the lamest enemy yet,
even though he's got a deadly seeming design with sickles on his arms and a mouth made of 6 gun barrels,
and it seems like his whole body could retract into the head area. Actually, I really like Nabokov's design, and am disappointed it wasn't put to use.
Instead, he was just lightly used and discarded by Lila. Poor Nabokov... 
It seems like Kenji's talent can't blossom in Tokyo, plus he has to take care of his parents,
not to mention that he probably doesn't want to deal with the repair fee for his apartment, so decides to move back to his hometown.
Yuuri (and the other 4) come to see him off at Ueno Station, and Kenji hands her a picture he drew as a sign of appreciation,
which was inspired by the courageous sight of her fighting to protect him.
Kenji liked Yuuri not when she was paying attention to him, but when she was just being herself.
That unique way of loving someone is what makes him Toba Kenji, the famous artist.
Here on the left we can see Yuuri as Kenji saw her.
This picture reminds me of the famous portrait of the shogun who ordered the creation of Kinkakuji, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu...!
It must be the way the back of his head blends into his back, which had always stood out to me.
I guess it's too soon for us common folk to appreciate Kenji-ism.
Yuuri seems really glad, so let's not disrupt their joy with any unnecessary art criticism.
I bad mouthed him a lot, but we're left with a good impression of Kenji at the end of the episode.
Good luck back in your home town!
As a final note, it was in this episode that we get Sion's famous quote regarding Yuuri's picture of a dog.
Sion:"It looks like a nubo from Galaxy IV."
SCORE:
Honestly, I didn't have much to say this time, so I added lots of images to lengthen the commentary. Personally I don't get too much from this episode. I have some issues with Kenji's and Nabokov's characters, but there were some good scenes here and there, and overall was a pleasant and enjoyable story. Yuuri did her best to learn from her mistakes, and I'm glad to see her becoming able to smile. Seeing the until now maligned Time Robo Beta finally function properly was also a positive point. There weren't really any problems and nothing really stands out, so while it's not a terible episode, it doesnt leave a strong impression, so it gets ★2. Sion hasn't been doing too much lately, so I hope he starts playing a bigger role soon.