Welcome boys and girls to Akibarnager S2E3.  At the end of last week’s adventure the gang was left with a pressing question, seen above.  The incomprable Kibaranger showed up to trounce some Akibaranger booty, calling them out for ruining his life! This week, our plucky heroes get a little further down the new rabbit hole.  Read on!

 

This, is the face of the ORIGINAL AkibaRed, Keiichi Wada.  THIS Wada is the original actor behind Dairanger’s red ranger, and so it’s fitting that he step in for Akibared’s Masato Wada (The “real” red ranger’s current actor and member of D-Boys idol group.)  Tons of inside jokes in this show.  TONS.

You see it turns out that in this season, Akibaranger the classic era sentai apparently sucked so hard, it got cancelled at Episode 13.  The guy at the toy store in episode 1 (Doctor Maki from Kamen Rider OOO) was being sarcastic!  What a twist!  Luna is a shocked as everyone else to learn that Akibaranger did so poorly, that they decide on a course of action…to get ChinaRed to remember his legacy as the leader of Dairanger.

Stepping back a bit, I gotta talk about the opening battle with Kibaranger.  He started with a little classic butt-kicking but quickly whipped out this amazing special move.  Summoning the sick as hell voice talents of the Gaoranger OP theme (back me up HJU with some names here), they blasted the Akibaranger’s timpanic membranes into jelly with their powerful voices.  You will dance along, and if you ever saw/heard the Gaoranger OP, you’ll jump for joy when that first chord hits.  Akibaranger takes the best of Super Sentai at every turn, and uses it to its advantage.  This is yet another perfect example.

Our favorite villaness Malshina makes her grand return as well, totally unaware as to how she escaped the mecha explosion from Episode 1.  She is able, however, to dazzle the new Monster Of The Week with her absolute region.  Oh Malshina, it’s good to have you back…

She seems to be in collusion with the well dressed, face painted new baddie creating the Monsters Of The Week…a relationship that I’m sure will develop and be explained but for now, Malshin’s legs.But the crowning achivement of this episode had to be towards the end, when the team enacted their grand plan to get Dairanger back on track.  Starting with an extremely impassioned (and full length) rendition of the Dairanger OP theme.  The amateur props will have you rolling, the presentation is spot on, and the rest of the episode plays out as a great love letter to Dairanger.

Akiba once again saved, the team is faced with a familiar challenge…but you’ll have to tune in to find out!  The next plot is starting, a lot of unknowns are on the horizon as well.  What is Luna up to?  Who IS this new bad guy making monsterkins?  And what is that fancy power-up Akagi has in the promo images! I have a feeling that we’ll have our answers to some of those questions at the end of this week, but Akibaranger keeps you guessing.  Stay tuned, or tune in for the first time. Akibare Go! Go!

And as always, be sure to sign up for the HJU forums and chat about this great show here!