Recap: Kaitou Sentai Lupinranger VS Keisatsu Sentai Patranger, Episode 15 – A Police Officer’s Duty

The Pats are rushed to the hospital.

ReNext morning, the Lups are oblivious to what’s happened yesterday until Commander Hilltop comes to the bistro to get some macarons for Keiichiro, Tsukasa and Sakuya. He tells Umika that Sakuya would love it if she visited him in the hospital.

Before he leaves, Commander Hilltop promises to come back for a proper meal with his wife next time.

The Lups decide they must find out more about what’s happened. But Umika doesn’t want to go to the hospital alone for fear of what Sakuya might think. So she decides to visit Tsukasa only, but Kairi must come with.

Commander Hilltop and Jim Carter visit Tsukasa and Sakuya in their room. They are both bandaged up, but must remain in the hospital for a week. Keiichiro, however, is very bad shape. The poison in his body can only disappear if Togeno is defeated. In the meantime, the hospital is giving him any medicine they can.

Tsukasa is upset at how stubborn and reckless Keiichiro was.

Destra meets with Togeno to tell him Dogranio is not happy. But Destra says he’ll give Togeno a chance to redeem himself if he tells him all about the Crash Brothers’ Collection Pieces.

At the hospital, Kairi almost immediately leaves Umika alone. As she turns, she bumps into Sakuya who thinks the flowers she’s holding are for him. She thanks her, but he apologizes and excuses himself as he has somewhere to go.

Sakuya asks her to keep it a secret from Tsukasa. But Umika is a little concerned about whether he’s well enough to be out and about.

Meanwhile, Kairi is shocked when he passes Keiichiro’s room and sees him unconscious in bed. Tsukasa is also surprised to see Kairi, but he says he and Umika came to visit once they heard the news.

Tsukasa tells Kairi about Keiichiro pushing forward with their mission even when poisoned. Keiichiro isn’t someone who steps on the brakes very easily. Kairi doesn’t understand why Keiichiro would go that far when being a cop is just a job. But Tsukasa says as police officers, it is their job to ensure the smiles of the peoples by protecting them.

Umika follows Sakuya who visits the school. The teacher says the noises up on the mountain have stopped and thanks him for what they’ve done. Sota, the little boy, still in his Lupinranger costume, says the Pats haven’t defeated the Gangler yet.

Sakuya says it’s okay since Keiichiro sempai did make a promise. And they will fulfill that promise.

Downtown, Togeno has begun shooting poison quills at random people. Out grocery shopping, Tooma is in the right place at the right time. He morphs and faces Togeno, but is too far for his shots to even leave a scratch. Tooma is unable to get closer as Togeno shoots quills at him. His new Collection Piece allows him to shoot farther distances.

Back at the school, the teacher is informed of Togeno rampaging in the city. Sakuya excuses himself, but Sota tells him to just leave it to the kaitous. Sakuya thanks him for worrying, but says he can’t just stand around and do nothing. He salutes Sota and leaves.

Sakuya heads back to the GSPO HQ to get changed and is surprised to see Tsukasa already there and ready to go.

“You’re late, Sakuya.”

Sakuya wants to know what she’s doing here, especially when her injuries are more serious. But Tsukasa is determined to go out, fight the Gangler and return safely. Tsukasa and Sakuya know they’ve got each other’s back.

Commander Hilltop looks out the window at them as they head out.

Kairi and Umika arrive and join Tooma who is trying to hide from Togeno’s quills. Kairi and Umika agree to quickly retrieve the new Collection Piece before the Pats arrive. Tooma wonders why the two of them are in such a hurry.

Kairi Boosts with Scissors and is able to shield himself from the quills. But when he gets to Togeno’s safe and reaches in, he gets quilled by a similar device Togeno installed in the Drill.

Kairi is forced to demorph. Tooma tends to Kairi, but Umika fights Togeno herself. Tooma asks her what she’s doing as they must retreat immediately. But Umika says they must defeat Togeno before the cops arrive.

Just then, Tsukasa and Sakuya do arrive. And they morph.

Tsukasa and Sakuya swap weapons and perfectly work together in sync against Togeno.

Back at the hospital, Keiichiro wakes up and overhears the nurses talking about the rampaging Gangler. They worry about Myoujin-san and Hikawa-san going out to fight in their condition. Keiichiro begins to get himself up.

Tsukasa and Sakuya are doing okay, until their injuries begin catching up to them. A small flinch provides the opening Togeno needs to gain the upper hand. He knocks them back to the ground and prepares to shoot at them. But suddenly, Keiichiro appears and shoots at Togeno.

Good Striker has accompanied a physically weak Keiichiro. But Keiichiro’s resolve is as strong as ever and he reiterates their responsibility as Global Police. Tsukasa and Sakuya second the sentiment.

Good Striker says he has an even better feeling about the Pats today than usual. Keiichiro morphs.

After a quick roll call, Keiichiro suggests they use Good Striker to fuse together. Sakuya says if they do, the poison will transfer to him and Tsukasa. And Keiichiro will then also feel their injuries as well. But Keiichiro says he doesn’t care.

“Don’t miss then,” Tsukasa says.

Keiichiro locks Good Striker in and the three Pats merge into Patren Ugou. Tsukasa and Sakuya feel the poison entering their body, but at the same time, the pain from their injuries has eased.

Togeno tries to run. But before leaving, Umika helps them out by using the Blade Boomerang to stop Togeno.

The Pats deliver a One Hit Strike at Togeno and it finishes off his first life. That immediately removes the poison from all affected.

Dogranio is far from impressed. Goche asks if she should revive Togeno. Dogranio says she can do whatever and he leaves the viewing party.

Goche embiggens Togeno. The Pats hop into PatKaiser. Togeno shoots regular bullets at them. Keiichiro pulls out Crane and Drill and Good Striker points out that it has a trigger now. Keiichiro locks it in and Crane and Drill attach to each hand forming PatKaiser Strong.

That does the trick and the Pats are able to finish off Togeno for good with a PatKaiser Break Up Strike.

The Pats visit the school. The teacher thanks them again. As they leave, Sota comes outside. But this time, he is dressed in a homemade Patren Ugou costume. He excitedly runs over to thank them.

Keiichiro steps forward and kneels down, ready to give Sota a big hug. But Sota runs right by him and hugs Sakuya instead. Sota says he wants to become a police officer when he grows up.

Sakuya whispers to Sota to go over to Keiichiro instead.

Keiichiro tells Tsuksa says it’s okay as he watches Sakuya happily pick Sota up and gives him a big hug back.

Episode Thoughts

Whew! Another great episode. And I think this might have been the most complete episode of the season so far. Maybe 2nd best after last week.

But what this episode did for me was that it almost provides justification for all the things I complained about so far this season.

The Pats being absolutely awesome and amazing here was made more impactful by them being forcibly made to look like fools all season. Not even of their own doing, but by outside forces, not the least of which being the Lups. So for some, both in-show and in the fandom, the Pats just weren’t cutting it. They were being outshined by the Lups. And it was in a way that really was harmful to the Pats’ characters especially moving forward.

Instead, all that contrived adversity and bumbling around made these last two episodes so impactful. We’ve seen the Pats do well before, only to get the rug pulled out from under them at the last minute. But this time, there was no rug pulling. The Pats finally got their chance to prove their worth and they did so more than convincingly.

And for the Lups, after Tooma got his own solo episode of finding his heart and thinking of other people (that track and field kid), Kairi and Umika get theirs here. They’ve been, arguably, selfish in their goal. And with a legit reason obviously. They want to save their loved ones. My criticism was I didn’t really feel it or connect to them. Especially when the Pats were being pushed down to prop the Lups up. But again, if they hadn’t been the way they were in the 14 episodes prior, seeing Umika have a change of heart and really acknowledging Sakuya’s efforts with the kid and Kairi acknowledging Keiichiro is more than just a hot-blooded cop (plus Umika getting to know Tsukasa more the other week) wouldn’t have had as big an impact either.

The Lups now see the Pats in a different light. They’re still on opposite sides of the law. But now Umika doesn’t think Sakuya is just some creeper and Kairi doesn’t think Keiichiro is just some overzealous cop. They see them and Tsukasa as honorable people just wanting to bring smiles to the people and keeping the citizens of Tokyo safe.

So I look at this episode as a big turning point. And I might just be setting myself up for disappointment. But this episode really raised my expectations of the show moving forward. I was feeling pretty down on the show, increasingly so, but these last two weeks have really given me hope that the season can still turn itself around. And these two weeks showed that they are capable of some great storytelling that allows both the Lups and Pats to get the spotlight, get good character development and do that without shortchanging or degrading the other team.

Everyone was cool in their own way. Everyone was awesome. You could love all six of them and root for them all.

Elsewhere in the episode, I really enjoyed using the originally comedic gimmick of the Pats merging into one Ranger into a clever and even emotional moment here.

The idea of them sharing one body, merging body parts and all that was one of those things played up to make the Pats seem goofy. And it did. But here, the episode turned that around to show how the Pats were more than willing to share the pain and the burden. Whether it’s Tsukasa and Sakuya getting poisoned as well or Keiichiro feeling the pain of Tsukasa and Sakuya’s injuries. And then the lesson! Sakuya pointed out how his pain lessened when they merged into Ugou. Aha! So the pain and the burden and the weight on one’s shoulders can be lessened or eased if they work together instead of alone! Imagine that!

I just thought that was a great and clever way to trot out that typical toku lesson, but using that goofy gimmick and making it work. While also then adding to the list of things showing how Keiichiro, Tsukasa and Sakuya are good, honorable people.

Overall, this episode (and last week’s) was just excellent. Maybe relatively so because of my criticism and nitpicking of the previous episodes. But I really think these were two excellent episodes. And two very complete episodes. They give me great hope that the show can continue along this new path.

2 thoughts on “Recap: Kaitou Sentai Lupinranger VS Keisatsu Sentai Patranger, Episode 15 – A Police Officer’s Duty

  1. I’m just waiting for that moment we get a broken helmet scene in this show. It looks like it would be a good idea too. Plus, Keiichiro has always been my favorite Pat the moment I saw him. I knew he was destined for greatness.

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