*Episode 12 & 13*
At the start of the episode Nobuo believes the person behind the change of direction is whoever has their name first on their opening sequence. The names shines when the opening starts, Hatte Saburo which is really a collective pen name used by Toei’s producers but treated like a real person in the show. He intends to take this show and cancel it. At the Delusion Empire base Delu-Knight wants to be upgraded so he can take on AkibaRed.
Nobuo thinks foreshadowing character development that will take several episodes to get though will make the show last longer. Yumeria goes and tells KozKoz that she loves her plus Mitsuki mentions she has a martial arts tournament in 3 mouths and must beat her rival. KozKoz tells Yumeria she loves her too and Mitsuki’s rival turns up with a broken leg. It also turns out Sayaka is back in Japan.
Back at the Delusion Empire base Delu-Knight is laying on table with Dr. Z operating on him. Malshina appears and knocks out Dr. Z as she doesn’t want him to be manipulated anymore. She goes to destroy Delu-Knight but he takes her gun to shoot her and Dr. Z. Hakase thinks it’s impossible to become an official team now as they are fighting the producers but in a beautiful speech Nobuo knows any nerds like him who would see this show will never forget it and I’ll never forget it.
Delu-Knights kidnaps Sayaka drawings the Akibarangers to him but they try their very best to avoid any final episode tropes while rescuing her. Delu-knight gets shot by Dr. Z and Malshina but the TV swipe acts again and Dr. Z calls a giant robot to destroy the city. Machine Itassha appears and grows giant then puts the Akibas on itself to fight. Nobuo trying to stop the fight make Itassha shoot missiles at itself but the plan fails when Yumeria throws a can at the enemy robot causing it to explode. Nobuo saves Dr. Z from a falling piece of wreckage.
Back at the sentai café Dr. Z apologies to Hakase in a happy reunion ending. The Akibarangers go to fight Malshina who will make the fight last at least 6 months. A the end sign appears and Akibaranger fight it along with the drones until a hand appears ending the scene.
Episode 13 is basically a clip show with the framing device being Hatte Saburo sending a dvd for them to watch. The letter says it’s for them to learn what they did wrong but near the end Nobuo figures out it’s to fill an extra slot on the episode schedule. To pander to the audience to help them get a second season they do a helmetless roll call.
GRADE
This was a fantastic end to the series did feel a little anti-climactic to me yet fit perfectly with the tone of the show. The ending troupes where great tributes to sentai as a whole. Hatte Saburo as the villain was a great idea and a very smart in joke. I would’ve liked to see the penultimate powers as bigger part of the plot instead of just advertising for the figuarts but that just the nature of these kinds of shows. The built up relationship between the Akibas and Malshina was well done and they were almost friends in the end. There are a few questions left unanswered but the meta direction the show took can gloss over them pretty easily. Episode 13 was a very well done clip show with smart jokes and pointing out things you might’ve missed the first time round. You can really see how they set up the direction changes. I really hope there is more Akibaranger in some form in the future. Overall this was a great series and deserves many re-watches. 12 – 5/5 13 – 4/5
