Recap: Kaitou Sentai Lupinranger VS Keisatsu Sentai Patranger, Episode 14 – The Fabricated Trap

Keiichiro is fired up to find the Gangler on Mt. Tokiori. Yesterday, the Pats were called to a school. A teacher had gone to check the conditions on the mountain for an upcoming field trip the day before and heard a monster.

A little boy, Sota, was outside dressed in a Lupinranger costume and wanting to go to the mountain to take on the monster himself so as not to ruin his class trip. Keiichiro approached Sota and took his foam sword from him saying this is a job for the Patrangers. Sakuya is shocked to see Keiichiro smile, but Tsukasa says Keiichiro loves kids.

Keiichiro wants to pinky promise that the Pats will take care of the monster, but the kid says he likes the Lups better and runs off.

Back in the present, Keiichiro hears something underground so they ask Jim Carter to look into it.

Over in the underworld, Togeno Eibus wants to personally show Dogranio that he is different from the rest of the Ganglers angling for the successor slot. He invites Dogranio to the human world as he has teamed up with Ododo Maximov who lost his brother Anidara Maximov after the Patrangers, in PatKaiser, stepped on him.

Kogure informs the Lups about Togeno who is an assassin that kills for money. His Collection Piece allows him to make himself small.

The Pats are stopped by a man who seems to have been chased by Togeno. The Pats morph and take him on. But they begin to hear disembodied voices around them, throwing them off. That allows Togeno to run off.

They head back to the white-clothed man who hands them a VS vehicle he says he picked up. He hands it to them and runs off.

Back at HQ, Commander Hilltop confirms it is a Collection Piece. But Tsukasa says they should send it over to France HQ for them to check out thoroughly.

Jim Carter shows them that he has found a large object buried in the area the Pats had heard the sound in earlier. Jim Carter says it would be faster to find more information if they go themselves. Keiichiro says they can use the new VS vehicle to bore into the ground and reach the object.

Tsukasa and Commander Hilltop say it is too dangerous without thorough analysis. But Keiichiro says they don’t have the time. Sakuya asks if this is about his promise to Sota. Keiichiro nods and says it is the GSPO’s duty to make sure children can go on field trips to the mountain.

Across town, Ododo meets Togeno and says everything is going according to plan. Ododo is eager to get his revenge on the Pats for killing his aniki.

The Pats arrive at the monster spot. Only Keiichiro will go down into the earth. Tsukasa reminds him to pull out immediately if something isn’t right. Keiichiro activates the new drill VS vehicle. It pops out and Keiichiro hops in before it drills into the ground.

As he makes his way in, Keiichiro flashes back to when he was a kid. Someone had been terrorizing the local park so he decided to protect it himself. A police officer approached him as his mother had been worried sick.

Keiichiro refused, wanting to catch the criminal here in the park himself. The cop says he cannot. It is the police’s job to catch criminals. The cop pinky promises they will catch the one terrorizing their neighborhood.

When they do, Keiichiro is inspired to become a police officer like the one who promised him to catch the bad guys.

The Lups stop Togeno and Ododo in the forest. But Kairi finds Ododo no longer has a Collection piece. Togeno grabs his Collection Piece from his safe and tosses it deep into the forest. The Lups go after it and eventually find it.

Just then, poisoned spikes shoot out of the ceiling and right into Keiichiro’s back.

Keiichiro grows weak and he automatically demorphs. Togeno faces Tsukasa and Sakuya above ground. But the white-clothed man from earlier reveals himself to be Ododo.

Tsukasa realizes this was all a trap. She immediately tries to call Keiichiro, but Jim Carter tells them what’s happened. Togeno explains he made himself smaller so he could hop into the VS vehicle and install the poisoned needle shooter.

Keiichiro is still conscious, but can barely move. Commander Hilltop orders him to return to the surface, but Keiichiro says he must keep going. Jim Carter says it’s too reckless. Keiichiro says he’s not sure he even has enough energy to make it back to the surface anyway. So he must do all he can to protect the peace. He continues down into the earth.

Commander Hilltop calls to Keiichiro. Jim Carter says there is no response.

Ododo laughs at the Pats. Togeno proudly shows Dogranio what he’s accomplished. Tsukasa and Sakuya are shocked to see, for the first time, Dogranio sitting on a throne up on the cliff. He is flanked on either side by Goche and Destra.

“After calling me all the way out here, you had better not disappoint me,” Dogranio warns.

Tsukasa and Sakuya are resolved to finish these two Ganglers off and save Keiichiro. They morph.

Tsukasa and Sakuya each do what they can, giving Ododo and Togeno a good fight. But Ododo suddenly slams the ground and out pops large balls of cotton fluff. Tsukasa and Sakuya are able to get rid of them.

Togeno shoots poisoned needles at them, but Tsukasa knocks them away. One of them pierces Ododo’s chest. As Ododo writhes in shock, Sakuya shoots a finisher at him and he explodes.

Tsukasa and Sakuya turn their attention to Togeno. But suddenly, Dogranio taps the blade on his shoulder. Something shiny seems to travel around Tsukasa, Sakuya and Togeno. The blade. It lands in the ground before huge explosions surround the three of them.

Tsukasa and Sakuya are sent flying and are forced to demorph. They are bloodied and bruised, shocked by Dogranio’s power. Togeno does not understand why he would be attacked too.

Dogranio says he warned Togeno about not disappointing him. Togeno can never take his seat with “cheap tricks” like what he showed.

Dogranio tells Destra they are leaving. Goche embiggens Ododo before she leaves as well.

Tsukasa and Sakuya are in no condition to hop into their VS Vehicles. Ododo is ready to turn the tables and step on them like they stepped on his aniki. But just then, Keiichiro, inside the brand-new Crane VS Vehicle, bursts up out of the ground and knocks Ododo back.

The Crane was the large object hidden in the ground. Jim Carter says the Crane and Drill Vehicles were originally one and have now been able to link back up. And together, they were able to make it back to the surface.

Keiichiro uses every bit of energy he has left, along with Crane and Drill’s help, to finish off Ododo for good.

Tsukasa, Sakuya, Commander Hilltop and Jim Carter excitedly celebrate Keiichiro’s win and being safe.

But Keiichiro suddenly collapses and loses consciousness.

Episode Thoughts

You already know I loved this episode. This might be my favorite episode so far this season.

Finally the Pats aren’t the butt of the joke. They’re not the incompetent fools little kids refuse to be fans of. Instead, they were pretty cool and awesome and badass. And the Lups didn’t have to be degraded to show that. Imagine that!

It was just really refreshing to see the Pats in the spotlight, for reals this time. And for a big episode too. It was a toy introduction episode, but it was a big character episode for the Pats, especially for Keiichiro obviously. But the episode of course saw Dogranio pop into the human world for the first time and also show us for the first time just how powerful and scary he can be. A tap of the shoulder blade and you could be dead just like that.

All of this together made for a big, exciting episode. And it being a Pat-focus episode definitely got me excited.

The episode started out with the kid and Keiichiro. It reminded me of this episode of Ninninger:

In fact, that might even be the same kid. lol

But it was a nice fake out to show that no Keiichiro isn’t so obsessed with being more popular than the Pats. He just really has a strong sense of justice and does not forget how he was inspired by a cop when he was a little boy himself. It was a great moment and definitely in line with the Keiichiro we’ve come to know so far. (When not being made into a clown by the Lups.)

I’m glad the Lups didn’t swoop in with LupinKaiser again at the end of the episode. Obviously, this was a toy introduction episode as well. But in terms of writing, keeping the Lups to a minimum helped make what the Pats were going through and then that ending that much more impactful.

Keiichiro with the new toys just picking up Ododo like a little toy and absolutely wrecking him like that almost made me feel sorry for him. Especially as he called for his brother before he blew up. That’s says a lot about how powerful the new toys are. But it was also an interesting way to do that story by calling back to a previous episode. It was creative.

This episode was just great though. And it ended on a perfect note to lead into the next episode conclusion. I’m partial because I’ve been wanting to see more parity between the Lups and Pats. And the Pats finally got a chance here. But also, this episode helped to establish the tone of what our villain faction and big bad is capable of this season. Just a great, great episode. I hope there are many more like this one!

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