Recap: Ressha Sentai ToQger, Station (Episode) 42 – Words to Reach You

All the Resshas are at Hyper Ressha Terminal. Conductor, Ticket and Wagon are cleaning off the darkness dust that’s accumulated all over the trains thanks to the Emperor sneaking onboard. Even Right’s jacket is full of darkness.

Ticket complains that they should be doing the end of the year cleaning together as a team. So why do the ToQgers get to go out and play? Conductor says he felt bad about the ToQgers having to go through finding their town only to watch it sink back.

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Conductor’s face literally droops. Ticket snaps him out of it. Conductor continues and says he wanted the ToQgers to at least have one day to enjoy as children, so he set up a little end of the year party at a karaoke.

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Conductor has gotten Akira to help cheer them up by dressing up and singing them a song.

But the ToQgers are more concerned about the junction to Castle Terminal. Akira says he’s found the switch point, but it will disappear soon. The ToQgers are anxious to go, but Akira says Castle Terminal is covered in impenetrable darkness that even Drill Ressha cannot get through. And it’s all because of Zett.

Akira switches on the karaoke to his song.

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He also changes into an Elvis-y outfit, ready to sing. The ToQgers stop him.

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Right stands and says even if it is impossible, they have to at least try and make their way through. He runs out of the karaoke and the others follow.

Akira stops the ToQgers before they leave Hyper Ressha Terminal. Right says they were able to break into the Terminal before through cracks, but Akira says this is different. They will instantly be obliterated if they go in unprotected.

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The others insist they go, but Mio says maybe Akira is right. They’ve spent all this time searching for their town. Now that they’ve found it, they need to think carefully, otherwise they might make a mistake and their journey would have been nothing.

Right agrees. Akira suggests they go back to the karaoke and thanks Mio for helping.

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Akira, Hikari and Right walk ahead. Kagura takes Mio’s hand, but Mio stops. Tokatti sees her sadly looking up at the exit and thinks while Mio watches over and helps everyone, maybe she is keeping what she’s truly feeling inside of her.

Wagon suddenly butt checks Tokatti and calls the ToQgers back to the Resshas. She hands them paper and pencils for them to intensely write their feelings down to send to their families in Subarugahama.

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But how are they going to send the letters? With IMAGINATION!!!! of course.

Akira asks if he’ll be writing a letter too, but Wagon has something else for him to do.

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After a while though, Conductor, Ticket and Wagon see the ToQgers are having trouble finding what to write. Each of them are remembering the moments they presented their lanterns to their family members.

Tokatti remembers his older brother saying they would buy something to bring home to their parents since they couldn’t go to the festival that evening.

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Ticket tells Wagon her plan has failed. And Conductor’s face begins drooping again.

Wagon decides to give the ToQgers some bento to help encourage them.

Seeing the lunch box, Mio remembers bringing lunch to her father at work. Tokatti sees her deep in thought, but when Kagura starts crying, Mio again comforts her instead. Mio tells Kagura she doesn’t have to hold back her feelings.

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Tokatti thinks Mio is holding back her own feelings. Remembering a lunch with Mio, Tokatti gets an idea and hurries out of the Resshas.

Right finally decides to write about becoming a ToQger and swearing to save their town. The others think that’s a good idea.

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Right writes to his parents, his grandpa, Mai and Yuto. He begins by explaining they became ToQgers.

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Mio writes about travelling on trains to fight the Shadow Line.

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Hikari adds that they gained a new friend along the way.

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Kagura says they fight so that her Papa, Mama, Daiki and their town can return to normal using the power of Imagination.

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Over at Castle Terminal, Zett is sitting on the floor thinking about Schwarz saying he’d obtained his sparkle. He looks at himself in the mirror and it breaks.

Zett wonders why he can’t grab the sparkle even when he can clearly see it. He stands and walks toward the fallen disco ball, reaching out to it. Darkness emanates from his hand.

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At the same time, darkness smokes out of Right’s back. He feels something weird, but shrugs it off.

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Meanwhile, Mio is finishing up her letter and says to her father not to worry about her and she’s fine. Her ToQ Changer rings and it is Tokatti asking her to come out.

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She meets Tokatti by the water. He hands her a bag with a pair of onigiri in it. He wanted Mio to remember their field trip lunch together; how she told him about her father making lunch for her and them sharing the onigiris.

But why? Tokatti explains that he knows Mio wrote in her letter that she’s fine. And how she always worries about other people’s feelings before her own. That is both admirable and not. Tokatti says Mio should put herself first sometimes.

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Mio takes a seat and takes an onigiri. She unwraps it and takes a bite. Tokatti apologizes if he’s made Mio upset.

Mio sees the onigiri has a filling. She remembers how her dad would forget to put something inside the onigiri he made and how he’d get rice on his face.

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The memories finally get Mio to let her true feelings out. She says she wants to break through the Shadow Line right now so she can see her father again. Mio starts to cry and Tokatti takes a seat next to her.

Tokatti tells Mio to write that in her letter.

The others are still writing their letters. Right talks about how the Resshas can turn into robots and he draws them too. He mentions his beloved grandpa Ressha.

Akira is at the switch point and calls Wagon to report that it is fading. Tokatti and Mio run back into the Ressha as Wagon tells them to wrap their letters up.

They head to the junction to meet Akira.

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The ToQgers have the Renketsu Bazooka and Wagon hands them Post Ressha which they will place their letters in. Wagon is sure their feelings will be able to reach the town.

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Just then, Diesel-tachi arrive. Conductor says he wanted a live band for their party, but it’s hard to get one this time of year. So instead, here are some of the Rainbow Line maintenance workers.

Ise Daiki and friends sing a nice little song for the ToQgers and it hypes them up. They quickly place Post Ressha into the Renketsu Bazooka and fire.

The ToQgers send all their intense feelings with Post Ressha as it travels through the junction and breaks through the thick darkness.

The ToQgers’ intense feelings spread out over the dark Subarugahama.

Zett watches the bright feelings spread out over the town.

The ToQgers are sure they will attain their Imagination of Victory.

They walk back to the Diesel-tachi and watch the performance. Akira joins in with his harmonica. Conductor and Ticket are dancing. The ToQgers remember all the wonderful times they’ve had so far. Wagon intensely dances too.

The ToQgers jump into Tank Ressha and happily sing along.

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Later that night, the ToQgers are at the temple. While Hikari and Kagura are waiting for Right to finish ringing the bell, Tokatti and Mio are alone.

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Mio apologizes for keeping Tokatti away from being able to write his letter. But Tokatti says it’s okay since it’s not the length of the letter that counts.

Anyway, he wonders how his parents and oniichan are doing. Mio laughs, maybe Tokatti is the one putting others feelings before his. Tokatti explains that when he thinks about his own feelings, he ends up caring about how others feel.

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That makes Mio think about Gritta and her putting Schwarz-sama before her. She realizes that it’s not about putting someone else first, but maybe that person really is the most important person in their life.

Maybe that’s… love?

Tokatti is shocked. Mio is shocked.

Tokatti freaks. He didn’t mean he loves Mio. They run around, all embarrassed-like.

Then they come face to face. Very close face to face. They intensely turn red.

Right, Hikari and Kagura walk by and tell Tokatti and Mio to hurry and pay their respects so they can have some New Years ozoni.

Akira rings the bell and the whole family wishes everyone a Happy New Year.

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Episode Thoughts

That was a great episode, even for a clip show.

I think ToQger has been great with character development and little character moments. For everyone too; the ToQgers, Conductor, Ticket and Wagon and of course the Shadow Line as well.

This was definitely a Tokatti and Mio focus episode even if it was a clip show.

They picked some of the best moments from the season and the clips were pretty short. Plus, they were presented in a natural way. The writing letters to their families again helped reinforce what the ToQgers are fighting for and what this whole journey was about. It reminds us that these are little kids who have been forced to mature and are eager to reunite with their loved ones whom they miss so much.

Those letters also helped add more to Zett’s character as well. He sees the shining feelings of the ToQgers as the feelings from the letters spread out over the darkness that is Subarugahama. Zett wants the light, but he’s just all darkness. It should be very interesting to see just what the reason finally is. It would be interesting if Zett was some kind of bully to the group of friends, or maybe even a friend of theirs before something happened. Whatever it is, I’m sure it’ll be something big.

And back to Tokatti and Mio, I definitely like how their relationship (yes, I said ‘relationship’) has developed over the season. It was great to see Kobayashi actually push through with it and not just tease a romantic pairing for an episode and then drop the plot point altogether. Tokatti’s crush on Mio started out cute and sweet. But this episode really showed just how much they’ve grown and matured since the start of their journey.

It is entirely possible that the ToQgers will end up reverting back to their real ages when they restore Subarugahama. But with how much they’ve grown and matured, it’s almost like there’s no going back anymore. They’ve grown up. There’s no way they can go back to being kids again. The idea that their families will not recognize them is a very real possibility. And it’ll be a very interesting thing to see how that will all play out in the end. Very exciting!

Definitely great to see the Rainbow Rush back. And great to squeeze in Post Ressha as well.

Plus having Ise Daiki and friends pop up as “Rainbow Line track maintenance workers” was great. Not just because it was fun seeing Ise Daiki actually performing the theme song on the show with the ToQgers themselves, but because it was a reminder that there actually are people on the Rainbow Line other than the ToQgers, Conductor, Ticket, Wagon and the President.

Overall another great, fun episode. Sad we have to wait 2 weeks for the next episode. But I guess we can take this time to prepare ourselves for what should be a rollercoaster final 5 episodes! (Nooo!!!! I don’t want ToQger to go!!!)

2 thoughts on “Recap: Ressha Sentai ToQger, Station (Episode) 42 – Words to Reach You

  1. I love this episode I made a video of them on youtube well a collab part
    Hikari x Kagura -Part 2
    Tokatti x Mio -Part 3
    Right x Ladt -Part 4. And I can’t wait for episode 43 Hikari and Kagura ~<3 😀

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