Recap: Kaitou Sentai Lupinranger VS Keisatsu Sentai Patranger, Episode 12 – The Magic Bracelet

Jim Carter alerts the Pats to a Gangler, but it seems to be moving around the city at a very fast pace.

A young boy, Yuki, is sad he hasn’t been able to break his own 100m time. But he is amazed seeing the speedy Gangler Jenko Kopamino speed through downtown. Yuki watches as the Lups appear. Jenko boasts about being able to run fast thanks to his Collection piece.

Kairi and Tooma distract Jenko by complimenting him. Umika is able to grab the Collection piece, but Jenko slaps her and the piece goes flying. Yuki picks it up.

Before Jenko can get it back, the Pats arrive and shoot at him. That allows for Yuki to run off with the piece. Tooma runs after him. But Yuki is too fast.

Yuki visits his friend Haruka at the hospital who cannot walk. She feels discouraged at her situation, but Yuki tries to encourage her and promises to make her happy. He invites her to watch his meet tomorrow.

On the way home, Tooma asks Yuki to hand the Collection piece back. Yuki says he was scared so he threw it away. He even asks Tooma to search him. But Tooma knows he just hid it somewhere.

Tooma asks if Yuki just wants to show off for his girlfriend. Yuki says Haruka dreams of becoming a singer and perform on stage, but it is difficult now that she cannot walk. But he doesn’t want her to give up on her dream.

Tooma says Yuki should win on is own merit then, not with the bracelet which won’t even help him anyway. Yuki says Tooma is lying. He saw the Gangler with his own eyes and the bracelet resembles the one in the story Sein of Hinano Valley. That causes Tooma to pause and allows Yuki to run home.

Back at Jurer, Tooma apologizes for not getting the piece back. He was distracted thinking about the storybook. Kogure appears with just that book about a magic bracelet that allows you to run as through you were flying. The author lived in the same era as Lupin and legend has it they knew each other. So it is possible the story is based on the Collection piece.

Kogure says the magic bracelet is pure fiction as most of the Lupin Collection is unusable.

Tooma says he doesn’t believe in things like this, but his fiancé did, especially from the storybook. She wanted Tooma to believe in the impossible more and to have fantasy help him tackle reality sometimes.

Tooma asks the others to leave the retrieval of this piece to him. He tosses a card through Yuki’s window saying he will take the Collection piece before the meet tomorrow.

That night, Yuki heads to where he hid the Collection piece to check on it. He decides to leave it there in case Tooma goes to his house to steal it.

Over at the GSPO, the Pats discuss Jenko’s power and how to counter them, especially his bombs. Tsukasa reasons they would be able to take one or two direct hits.

“Theoretically, yes, but that’ll hurt a lot!” Sakuya laughs.
“Suck it up,” Tsukasa says.

Over at Jurer, Kairi and Umika wonder what is going through Tooma’s head.

Next day, Jenko attacks Yuki and demands the Collection piece. Yuki says he threw it away. Jenko decides to just kill him then if he doesn’t have it. Yuki runs to where he hid the Collection piece.

Tooma, Kairi and Umika appear at the temple as well and they morph when Jenko catches up.

Tooma tells Yuki to take the bracelet and run, but it will only work if the person using it believes in themselves as well. Tooma encourages Yuki and tells him to hurry.

As he runs, Yuki begins to feel differently. He begins to feel faster, like he used to.

Meanwhile, Podamans arrive to keep the Lups busy. The Pats also arrive on the scene to keep Jenko from running away. Kairi uses the Scissors to boost and finish off the Podamans and Jenko himself.

Goche embiggens Jenko and Good Striker decides to work with the Pats this week. They form PatKaiser and finish him off for good.

The Lups head over to the meet just as the race begins. Yuki takes off, but seems to slow down. In his mind, Tooma gives him a push. Yuki thinks of Tooma’s words and he is able to encourage and push himself.

Yuki speeds ahead and not only wins his race, but breaks his own record too for a personal best. Haruka, watching from the side, is excited for her friend and promises to do her best with her dreams too.

Yuki sees the Lups and he runs after them. Yuki wants to return the Collection piece to Tooma, saying seeing Haruka’s face made him ashamed of using it. But Tooma reveals that the bracelet he has is a fake. He switched it out the night before after following him to the temple where Yuki hid it.

So Yuki won the meet on his own.

Tooma tells Yuki to continue to do well with his own power, though believing in fantasies are good sometimes too.

Episode Thoughts

Another okay episode. I hoped this episode would make me empathize with Tooma a little more and it actually did, but not by the way I expected. His whole story is about his dead (let’s face it) fiancé, but I haven’t really felt for him or empathize with his character that much so far. None of the Lups actually and it’s all because of the kind of lacking way in which their characters have revealed their backstories and their current personalities. And of course the imbalance between the Lups and Pats.

But I definitely liked Tooma’s relationship with Yuki because it put Tooma in a great older brother role. It made him much more relatable and sympathetic.

Which is odd, because the connection between Tooma and Yuki was the romance angle and a random children’s book. A very flimsy way to connect the two. I wonder if maybe it would’ve been better to even let Tooma’s backstory be that he lost his younger brother. But I guess that’s Kairi’s story. Though I don’t know if this episode’s plot would’ve worked for Kairi.

Anyway, Tooma being an older brother was a very good look and definitely added a lot to his character beyond being a broody Blue.

Elsewhere, the Pats weren’t sidelined as much as other episodes. My favorite part had to be Tsukasa telling Sakuya to “Suck it up!” about absorbing any bomb blasts by the Gangler. I like the show reiterating how tough Tsukasa is. And definitely as a contrast to her plush toy-loving secret side.

Also great to have the Pats getting the mecha battle this week while the Lups, or moreso Tooma, being the overall focus of the episode. They should continue that. Have the main focus of the episode be on one team and let the other team handle the mecha toy commercial. At least to give the other team something to do. Anyway, it was great to see PatKaiser in action finally after a long time.

Also, I definitely recognized that Collection piece as an old morpher. I haven’t really paid attention to the other recycled props, but I definitely recognized this one.

Overall, an okay episode that did a lot for Tooma’s character.

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