HUBB
ARDIAN
CASE FILE 09 :
THE DON'S MELANCHOLY
Stories about the Londerz have started appearing in the tabloids, and Tatsuya, Domon, and Sion are excited to be mentioned alongside them.
Tac surmises that the government must have been restricting information until now to prevent panic.
In our time, information is instantly spread by things like social media, but at the time of the show's setting,
TV was the only way to widely spread information,
and it seems like information regarding even such sensational threats to public security such as the appearance of non-human creatures,
bombings of major corporations, destruction of buildings, and attacks on and kidnapping of civilians could be supressed...
which is pretty hard to believe, even considering the time period.
In 1996, every kid in Japan knew about the select glitch to get Mew through word of mouth,
which leads me to believe that the same not occurring regarding the Londerz isn't due to the government successfully suppressing information,
but due to the lack of interest created by Japanese people's numbness to these kinds of dangers.
In other words, it makes more sense to assume that to those living in Tokyo,
which is nearly destroyed by multiple different groups of alien menaces every year,
inconveniences caused by small-fries like the Londerz must not seem like a big deal.
It would then logically follow that the Pokemon boom was of more interest to the Japanese than were alien attacks.
This is unrelated, but the Gen 1 Mew sprite always creeped me out.
The back of Mew's head is in the style of Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, Hubbardian's patron,
which must have seemed strange to me as a kid.
There must have also been a lot of kids who felt guilty making Pidgey fight, whose battle sprite appears to be crying profusely.
This may be a minority stance, but I always looked at Metapod backwards as a half moon face seen from the side,
and thought he looked like a serious uncle-type character.
It was just recently that I realized the protrusion jutting from Metapod's body wasn't its nose,
and was shocked to realize that the uncle I'd known for 20 years was in fact a rather normal insect pupa.
Can anyone reading this relate to this shock?
I'm sure some people will understand,
and surely there will be some who leave this world thinking of Metapod and John Stamos as the two representative uncle characters.
I was almost one of them myself. The international release changed the graphic to make the correct orientation clearer,
so Uncle Metapod may be a cryptid that only appeared to those currently in their later-twenties to forties.
Sion's machinery repair business seems to be overrun with requests,
and Tatsuya's karate class is full of kids, so it seems like they're having no trouble supporting themselves financially.
Ayase is attending a driving school with the fake documents that Tac and Sion prepared.
These scenes, as well as the tabloids mentioned earlier, are examples of how, despite having a sci-fi setting,
Timeranger tries to portray a realistic sense of everyday life without contradictions.
Other Sentai series typically establish the setting in the first 2 or 3 episodes,
but with Timeranger beginning with the unrealistic situation of people from the 30th century coming to the 20th century,
it seems like it took the writers 9 episodes to get to a point where the characters could start to live normally.
Taking three times longer than usual makes us feel more familiar with the characters,
which is another reason the show found fans outside of those who usually watched Sentai.
To get back to the plot, the Londerz are attacking the city, and Ayase passes them by chance during a test drive.
Ayase fans, who haven't had much to enjoy for the last few episodes, get to enjoy the scene in my clumsy screenshot to the right,
with Time Blue protecting the townspeople with a jump kick from above.
The other 4 join and chase the Londerz away, and just as they're relieved...
A NEW CHALLENGER
MORIYAMA HONAMI
Although she's just doing her job as a paparazzi, it's not a very likable entrance.
The somewhat unresolved gap between her introduction as an annoyance to the important role she ends up playing
may be one reason some people still don't like her character 20 years later (or they may just be Domon x Sion shippers).
Her introduction does signal a new thread to the story however, so it's something to look forward to.
It turns out that she was the one who took the photos we saw in the tabloid earlier.
The Londerz who attacked passerby earlier was the corrupt officer, Arnold K. He's actually Dolnero's old friend,
and they were close enough that they used to eat the same food that they stole together.
I have to ask, did he eat it with that mouth? Or is that a tattoo? And is that an egg-yolk in his visor?
As adults, it seems like Arnold K. and Dolnero had a succesful relationship as a mafia boss and mafia cop.
However, Arnold doesn't trust Gien and Lila, and antagonizes them with his mocking attitude.
Dolnero tries to act as a mediator, but it's too late, and Gien and Lila come up with a plot to kill Arnold.
Dolnero's eyes shine as he eavesdrops on the two's plot.
Sion intercepts the police radio, and the Timerangers gain some info on Arnold K.,
who's in the city attacking an extra I know I've seen on other Japanese shows before.
The 5 rush to the scene, where Time Pink expresses her outrage as a fellow officer.
This episode's drama part is rather compact, so all 5 of them have time for some cool action.
As mentioned earlier, the show took some time establishing the setting, and it isn't until around episode 9 that it establishes a balance between drama and action.
This should relieve kids', who should be the main audience, frustration,
but it's probable that a lot of them have already given up on Timeranger and become Kuuga fans...!
Arnold K. is stronger than expected, and takes on Time Red one on one in a relentless attack, brandishing his gun after getting Time Red cornered.
It looks like a dangerous situation, but from afar Gien and Lila have a gun of their own aimed squarely at Arnold.
To Gien and Lila, their internal battle fueled by personal resentment takes precedent, and their current enemy is Arnold rather than the Timerangers,
who in this case they end up protecting.
When Arnold finally pulls the trigger, for some reason his gun explodes.
？
？
No one knows where the explosion came from, but Arnold is hurt and weakened, so it seems like maybe today the Voltech Bazooka will finally work,
but instead we just see the sad result that it can't function properly even against a weakened enemy.
With no further options, Arnold K. grows in size. The emergency system and transformation sequences are on the long side,
and Beta's improved performance continues from the previous episode,
but losing sight of Arnold K. and futilely searching for him recalls the sad pre-improvement Beta.
Arnold reappears and deals a pro-wrestling style choreographed chop.
Arnold K. finally gets freeze-compressed... this is recycled footage, isn't it?
It turns out that Dolnero specifically modified the gun he gave to Arnold K. to make it explode in order to settle the infighting within his family.
He could win the loyalty of his current allies by making it seem like he betrayed Arnold K., while also saving the life of his old friend,
succeeding in making everyone happy and while solving the problems in his organization.
Nice work Dolnero!! Hopefully Arnold K. will be able to understand this as he's trapped in his capsule.
Honami reappears after the battle. This face pisses people off, but I see it as Honami's special ability!
I like this about her character, but maybe because of its unpopularity, her individuality fades as the series continues.
A world without people like Honami seems too convenient, like Lucky Charms with nothing but the marshmallows, don't you think?
Congratulations! Ayase got his driver's license, yippee!
Tatsuya prepared champagne for the adults and a mysterious yellow drink (which I think is either Kiriri or Birely's, though I'm not sure) for Sion,
who's still a minor. Just as everyone shares a toast, Ayase's hand starts shaking and he drops his glass of champagne, leaving the room suddenly.
Outside, Ayase is actually experiencing intense heart pain.... to be continued. The episode really ends here?!
I'd like to close out this commentary by introducing some scenes that caught my attention in this episode.
The 5 descending from the Time Flyer in their preferred poses.
The Timerangers running from Honami at maximum velocity.
SCORE:
This was the first episode focusing on the Londerz Family, and we got a glimpse of Dolnero's charisma and leadership. If the episode had dug a little deeper into his past relationship with Arnold K., I feel like it could have been a 3★ episode. It was mostly used to set up new plot threads, such as Honami's introduction and the appearance of Ayase's symptoms. Like last time, we can forgive the episode's low level of content considering it's a continuing series. A lot of emphasis was placed on the fight scenes, and there weren't any problems in particular. On the other hand, there wasn't anything particularly good that stood out about it either, haha.