Hi, folks! My review of Ressha Sentai ToQGer Station 37: ‘Unfair Quiz‘ is now boarding!!
There’s a theme in this episode, too! I wonder what it is?
This episode starts off with Akira…FINALLY WEARING THE JACKET WE’VE SEEN HIM WEARING IN THE OPENING SEQUENCE SINCE THEY ADDED HIM WHAT.
Now, that’s out of my system, Akira is on the hunt. For what, I wonder?
It’s lunch time on the Rainbow Line, everyone quickly choosing what to eat…
Except Tokatti. He can’t make up his mind and has another existential crisis because of it.
Hikari gets a call from Akira: He’s found a junction point.
Time to go to work, kids.
Everyone hops into Drill Express, even Akira this time, and heads on down to Georgia the Shadow Town, hoping that it’s Pleiades’ Shore….
And it’s not. Bummer.
Well, Akira’s ready to blow this popsicle stand. He’s a man on a mission and time is running short.
Except that the kids aren’t going to let him. Nope, they’re not abandoning any Shadow Town like it’s their ohana or something. Also, what do you mean there’s no time?
Enter stage left: Knight not Right Shadow and his trusty steed, Justaway!
Right charges into battle, disregarding the 30 second time limit and Hikari borrows Mio and Kagura’s ressha and follows him.
The pair square off with Knight but with him using Justaway’s super speed, they just end up getting knocked around.
Tokatti wants to help but can’t make up his mind. Again.
And winds up getting caught in Knight’s crosshairs. Fortunately for him, Akira pushes him out of the way.
Knight goes for a second shot and Akira takes Tokatti cliff-diving.
Hikari, realizing they are not going to win, distracts Knight with a dirt cloud so they can escape.
Meanwhile in the Shadow Terminal, Mork recaps for Zed and gets shut down.
Nero deduces like the Sherlock he is that Zed hasn’t fully consumed Gritta and Noire most likely knows and is probably planning something.
The kids, sans Akira and Tokatti regroup at a playground. Mio expresses her worry for Akira and Right is like ‘Naw, it’s cool. He’s cool’ and they decide to go find them.
Tokatti, sleeping by a creek, much like that guy who lives in a van down by the river, awakes to his glasses missing, no, not again, and finds them on Akira’s face.
I am a fan of this.
Tokatti thinks that he’s no good and bad at making decisions, especially, like come on, he’s so wishy-washy, even Mio said so. Akira agrees. Akira don’t sugarcoat.
PEOPLE PEOPLE PEOPLE WE FINALLY LEARN WHAT SCHWARZ’S REQUEST WAS HOLY CRAP. Akira has to join Schwarz when the time comes and be his right hand. And if the ToQGers stand in their way, Akira’s gotta take them out. Oh, damn.
That’s why Akira’s moving like he’s got canned heat in his heels. He wants to get them back to Pleiades’ Shore before Schwarz calls him back to the dark side.
Tokatti’s persistence pays off and gets Akira to agree to save the Shadow Town instead of abandoning it, but he has to promise that when the time comes to make a really tough decision they have make it.
Pinky swear.
Schwarz is found at the junction point by Nero and the two square off.
Right, Hikari, Mio, and Kagura stumble upon a crossroads where some townspeople are frozen. Knight quizzes them: explosions to the left, bullets to the right.
Ding! Times up! You gotta make a choice, stay and be stuck in the darkness or move and die.
Akira and Tokatti’s turn: hungry hungry dino to the right or venomous snakes to the left. Same rules.
Ding! Times up! Good thing Akira’s got his bucket hat.
Knight reappears and Akira transforms to fight him.
Meanwhile, Schwarz and Nero are still fighting, but Schwarz bounces because he’s got better things to do.
ToQ-6 tries to shoot Knight, but with Justaway, he’s justa way too fast!
Timed out, Akira goes beast-mode to fight.
Now, Tokatti’s gotta make a decision again. Go find the others and leave Akira, or stay with Akira until the others come. He chooses Akira and comes in for the save.
He didn’t choose sacrificing anything. He chose to not make that kind of decision. Yeah, that makes sense. It does to Akira, too.
The others join them. They decided to neither freeze or die. They just ran right on through the explosion!
They also decide to beat Knight in 30 seconds too, each taking a group shot before hitting him solo.
Tokatti gets in the last shot to distract Knight so Akira can grab Justaway, wresting it from Knight, throwing the steed just away from planet Earth itself!
Farewell, Justaway. You left us justa way too soon. (Okay, I’m done beating this dead horse!)
Tokatti becomes Hyper ToQ 2-gou and uses the Support Expresses for the first time in the Hyper Drill Express attack, destroying Knight.
The Shadow Town becomes all un-Shadowy and Knight is embiggened. They summon Super Duper ToQ Dai-Oh and Hyper Express Emperor.
They beat on Knight a bit and Knight tries to run away thinking he’s still faster than them, but Super Duper ToQ Dai-Oh catches up to him easily and knocks him back over to where Tokatti’s waiting in Hyper Express Emperor to finish Knight off with Giant Flash.
Akira apologizes for wanting to leave behind ohana, convincing the girls that he’s back to normal, but that still doesn’t deter him from wanting to find the next junction point as soon as possible.
You better remember that pinky swear, Tokatti.
Ominous parting scene with Zed and Gritta is ominous, isn’t it?
Final Review
Did everyone figure out this episode’s lesson? That’s right it’s decisions! I wonder if this is going to be a trend?
Anyways, compared to last week, this episode was deeper in story and action.
Personally, I love the stories with Akira and Tokatti teaming up. They really have good chemistry, their differences and similarities play off each other nicely. Much like Right and Hikari, Mio and Kagura. I do hope they don’t rest on the laurels of these groupings and try out a variation or two in the episodes we have left.
Episodes like these, ones that both drive the overarching story and give character development are so wonderful. I’m glad we’ve gotten to see Tokatti grow a little more and be able to make some decisions for himself. Granted, he’s still technically in primary school, but lessons learned young. I also think Akira learned something from Tokatti in this episode too. He learned that self-sacrifice isn’t always the best way, especially when friends are concerned.
All in all, the fights in this episode were great, it’s nice to see the Zaram suit do things other than mope around. Knight and Justaway were justa way good designs. I also really enjoyed getting to see the Support Expresses used in the finishing attack more. They are way underutilized.
I give this episode 4.5 good decisions out of 5.
This is Amber/pan2dapan leaving the station!
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See you next time!