This week the Akibarangers are stranded…inside a SECOND delusion world!  Yes, General Pain has his claws firmly locked on our intrepid heroes!  What gives?!

General Pain has been located!  The episode kicks off with the Akibarangers discovering the secret hideout of their ultimate nemesis.  Naturally it turns out to be a trap; they somehow completely miss the foreboding “floor panel” he baits them on to.  Whammy! They’re in The General’s delusion world!

And of course the good General is no ordinary villain.  He immediately applies his carefully penned fan fiction to the team’s insatiable otaku habits, resulting in some pretty goofy situations!

 

Each script takes the form of a tropey episode archetype from the popular “Swimsuit episode” to the “Wedding episode“ and onward. General Pain really seems to have a handle on things, until Luna gets to strut her stuff during a strangely relevant miniature racing of the “Honolulu Marathon”.

As an aside, Luna’s character shines again during this episode.  I had a pretty good vibe going into the show about her and she’s totally paid off.  Her little quirks are so gosh darned adorable it’s hard not to like how hard she tries, and reading through Tv-Nihon’s awesome Akibaranger Wiki has enlightened me to her little mistakes when they do a roll call.  You can’t help but notice as she would tweak or adjust her poses to try and find one that looked just so, a sort of OCD with finding the “right look” in everything she does.  And in this episode again, she nails home the point that she’s only there because she wants to be famous and thinks working with them will help!  Stone cold!

So Luna has finally…ahem…eclipsed Aoyagi as the best thing to happen to the name of AkibaBlue.  But Luna’s victory at the “Honolulu Marathon” spells doom for the team.  General Pain has brought them all the way through a Sentai calendar year, to the point where the team is at its weakest…2 weeks before Christmas!  The Machine Itassha isn’t enough to combat the General’s new Buchi-mecha pet, and the Akibarangers are left mech-free.

On the run from General Pain, the gang squares off with a mind-controlled Malshina.  She’s powered up and far more focused in her combat now, easily keeping up with the team and even stealing the powers of the Penultimate Heroes.  Turns out that in General Pain’s delusion world, he can convert the heroes power to villain power, which he promptly does.

Three top shelf villains step in and lend Malshina their power, and she rocks the team with a staggeringly sexy special move.  Akibaranger is on the ropes…it’s all over when suddenly Hakase comes through with a brand new Itassha!  Albeit one slightly affected by her current budget for a new car.

Yeah, it’s not much to gawk at, but it has got spunk!  The new Itassha soon proves its worth and hops to, thanks to the indomitable spirit of Luna and her friends.

The newly christened Itassha Boy then takes to the skies against the monster-of-the-week in spectacular fashion, once again proving that Akibaranger knows how to provide an exciting battle no matter the limitations of the budget!

The episode this week was just another chance for General Pain to drive home the fact that when it comes to delusions he might be number one.  He manipulated every battlefield, tricked the team and stayed one step ahead for almost the entire show.  What comes next is anyone’s guess as show show enters the home stretch, but I can only assume more fourth wall breaking, mind-bending plots and big homages to Super Sentai.  Oh, and the scary mary on Hakase from season one appears to have returned…hmm…

And speaking of things from Season 1, my FAVORITE character might be making a big comeback, if the preview has anything to say about it!  Stay tuned this week for more from the grand delusion, and Akibaranger!  Visit our forum and share your favorite moments from this week’s episode!