Mission 43
It’s been a week since the previous episode’s cliffhanger. Escapezord (I don’t know its real name) disappeared and hasn’t been found since. There hasn’t been any further Vaglass activity. A little suspicious? It’s now Christmas…or, near Christmas at least. At the EMC, the team make some Christmas decorations and whatnot for the Dainan District Children’s Centre. Yoko informs Nakamura that’s it’s a tradition of the EMC’s, at which point, Nick and Hiromu stumble in. Notably and surprisingly, Hiromu is dressed as Santa (even though the party is the next day…but you know, it’s better to do a dress rehearsal. Oh yeah, he’s juggling for the kids. Nice call-back). Ryuuji then utters the sentence ‘I hope the Vaglass don’t do anything during this Christmas time’. You’ve jinxed it, Ryuuji. You’ve ruined Christmas.
In a forest-y area Escapezord materializes and inside Escapezord, Escape talks to Messiah. Messiah demands more power, but Escape asks him to be patient and vows that one day she WILL give him a real form once again. Enter interrupts, forcing Escape to disembark. He reveals that two Messiah Cards have awakened simultaneously in the same location. They determine that if they change them into Metaroids, Messiah will grow even more.
The Go-Busters arrive at the Children’s Centre where they meet new teacher Kawai Namie. Nothing really happens in this scene, except that Ryuuji recognizes the teacher from somewhere. Curious. Meanwhile, in a storage room/garage/something, a katana and a shield begin their Metaroid transformation; but Enter intervenes, forcing them to become one combined Metaroid – Kentateroid. The male/female split-in-half Kentateroid invades a plaza, destroying all Christmas decorations in its path! Obviously, it doesn’t take long for the Go-Busters to arrive.
All of a sudden, data flows from the main three’s chests and into Kentateroid’s and they feel faint for a bit. What? They notice, but just continue their morphing and battle. After destroying a building, Kentateroid absorbs more data from an angered Yoko. This pretty much determines that this Metaroid is collecting data on anger. Enter and Escape even show up dressed in black Santa costumes to confirm this. They figured that Hiromu, Ryuuji and Yoko would be the perfect specimens seeing as their parents disappeared around Christmas. Perfect anger fuel! They fail to suppress the anger, and Kentateroid takes more data. The three unleash their anger on Kentateroid while Jin and J fight Escape. They’re no match against Kentateroid, until Hiromu uses his Powered Custom form and uses the Volcanic Attack, injuring Kentateroid enough for him to retreat.
In a forest, Escape thinks that Kentateroid has collected enough data and wants to use the cards to form Messiah right now. But Enter has other plans. He reveals that, even with one card, can grow infinitely, and he wants more data. Escape knows that one card isn’t enough though, but Enter proposes that they should create a new Messiah. AND THEN HIS EYE GLOWS. ENTER WANTS TO BE THE NEW MESSIAH? Back at the EMC, Hiromu asks if he can take on the Metaroid alone while the others take care of the Megazords. It seems that Hiromu has a plan. And then, for some reason, a Christmas tree just rolls in as Kurorin dispatches them. It amused me for some reason.
Hiromu rides into the battle zone while the others dispatch their Zords. There’s a nice little scene where Yoko thanks Ryuuji for making Christmas good again all these years, but otherwise, there’s nothing much to comment on. The two Megazords finish transporting, and the fight begins while Hiromu faces Kentateroid. He seems calm, and reluctant to put up a fight. Kentateroid tries everything to make Hiromu angry, but nothing. What’s his secret? It turns out that Nick is around the corner, playing that little wind-up musicy-thing from Hiromu’s parents – so all Hiromu can hear in his helmet is Jingle Bells. This leads into Nick jumping up and singing, which then leads to the most festive fight I’ve ever seen – A MEGAZORD BATTLE, WITH JINGLE BELLS AS BGM. It’s actually awesome. Of course, this lifts everyone’s spirits, and it’s not long before Kentateroid and the Megazords are defeated.
Enter however, manages to steal the Messiah Cards at the last second, BUT THEN, Escapezord appears and steals the cards – gaining an upgrade in the process. Escapezord then picks up Enter. Escape tells him that neither her nor Messiah need him anymore…and THEN SHE CRUSHES ENTER AND HE DISPERESES HIM INTO DATA. I was honestly not expecting that. I think Enter will be back though; it’s a pretty unceremonious death for a major character. Finally, Escape goes crazy and blows up everything. TO BE CONTINUED
I like how these few episodes have been (sort of) continuous. It just adds to the end-of-season craziness and it’s great. I really liked this episode though – it felt festive and Christmassy and whatnot, but it wasn’t forced at all. AND, it wasn’t a filler Christmas episode, it actually contributed to the ongoing plot! 5/5.
Mission 44
So yeah, the Megazords are blown back and are helpless…until Ace jumps in! Well, Ace doesn’t do much damage either and is soon thrown back in fireballs and whatnot. Oh, and Hiromu’s helmet breaks once again. The repair team must hate him by now. The other Megazords soon recover though and Escapezord is knocked back. The others suggest that they retreat, but a determined Hiromu refuses. Kurorin gives the orders though, forcing everyone to retreat and regroup. Back at the EMC, they detect multiple Megazords in transport – 10 of them in fact! 10! TEN!
Hiromu is taken to the infirmary due to his injuries while the others strategize. Yoko wonders what happened to the card Enter disappeared with and whether Jin’s data was on it. Jin tells her to stop thinking about that, and he assumes the card was destroyed. At the infirmary, Hiromu tries to return to battle, but Nick doesn’t let him until the treatment has finished. Hiromu is determined to shut down Messiah since his parents trusted him to do that all those years ago, and Nick just doesn’t want Hiromu to be reckless. He reminds Hiromu that his parents didn’t trust him with a mission, but with their lives.
In the city, Escapezord (now known as Zeta by the Busters) gathers data from surrounding buildings, giving it new and improved limbs. The Go-Busters are dispatched once again as the first wave of Megazords finish transporting. Their retreat almost seems pointless. Replacing Hiromu for the moment is Nick in Ace. Four Vaglass Megazords arrive, but it doesn’t seem to take the Busters long to take them down. Two more Vaglass Megazord appear, but Go-Buster Oh and Buster Hercules don’t waste any time in scrapping them.
Things get real as FOUR Vaglass Megazords appear at once! Instead of allowing them to attack however, Zeta absorbs them as ANOTHER TWO VAGLASS MEGAZORDS attack the Rangers. Zeta grows into this data-y spin-y vortex-thing, which eventually becomes Messiah Rebuilt! (Oh, while this is happening FS-0O from the Movie appears and takes out those two new Megazords (Why has FS-0O been hiding all this time. Surely they could’ve used it in other battles?)) Oh, and Messiah decides he doesn’t need Escape anymore, so she’s dissolved into data! Is this the end of Escape? I’m not sure!
Basically, Zeta is about four or five Megazords tall. At the EMC, Hiromu sees this, and with Kurorin’s permission, takes Lioh into battle. Great Go-Buster can’t even damage Messiah Rebuilt! Things are THAT bad. Lioh arrives just as things are blowing up everywhere…and things continue to blow up everywhere. The city must be in pieces at this point. The team transform into Go-Buster King and that actually manages to do SOMETHING to Messiah, but not enough.
The team are demorphed in a fireball, but they refuse to give up. Great Go-Buster stands; and the familiar tune of ‘Busters Ready, Go!’ begins, followed by a suitless (sort of) roll call (sort of). I love this scene as Great Go-Buster deflects all lasers and blasts, jumps up, and stabs Messiah in the heart. Messiah explodes in the biggest fireball you could imagine. The best part of this scene may actually be Kurorin’s little celebration back at the EMC.
At the children’s centre from last episode, the EMC team help with celebrations, Rika appears, Ryuuji finds out that the teacher used to go to the children’s centre as a child (hence Ryuuji recognizing her), and all is good again in the Go-Buster world. Well, that’s until Enter appears in the snow.
I liked this episode, not as much as the previous, but I did like it. I’m just not as enthusiastic with the Megazord stuff I suppose. 4/5.