Recap: Kaitou Sentai Lupinranger VS Keisatsu Sentai Patranger, Episode 44 – The Truth Found

Noel is able to get away from Satoru. He finds a place to sit and rest, but Good Striker comes flying in, saying he’s been looking for Noel. And he’s led the Lups here to him since they want to ask him something.

Kairi and Tooma aim their blasters at Noel. They want an explanation about Noel not being human.

Noel admits he should have explained everything before it reached this point.

They head inside a warehouse, out of the rain and Noel proceeds to reveal everything.

The Lupin Collection was originally created by his ancestors. One thousand years ago, Noel’s people lived in the same world as the Ganglers and many tribes lived together in peace. That is, until the Ganglers attacked and took over. The surviving Lupin people escaped to Earth and were scattered among the humans, along with the Collection.

Noel, Kogure and all who work for the Lupin family have that blood running through them. And technically, they are not humans. Arsene Lupin himself is one of them.

A hundred years ago, Lupin gathered all the scattered Collection Pieces and his wish was granted. Noel says they can only believe Lupin’s words.

But Kairi asks if they can believe someone who comes from the same world as Ganglers.

Noel insists everything is true. He too has someone dear to him that he wants resurrected or unfrozen. So if it isn’t true…

Noel understands if the Lups can’t trust him. He says sorry and leaves.

Over at the GSPO, Commander Hilltop cannot believe Noel is the spy. Sakuya doesn’t believe he is either. He can’t fathom the idea that everything they’ve been through with Noel has been a lie.

Tsukasa tries to get Sakuya to look at the obvious, even if she too struggles to accept what appears to be the facts and no matter how much she too wants to believe in Noel.

Keiichiro and Satoru are still in the car in the rain. He can’t gather his head around the idea that Noel has betrayed them. Satoru takes his earpods out as Keiichiro flashes back.

When Satoru was still Nigou, he was able to stop Keiichiro and Tsukasa from fighting by explaining that they should listen to each other’s feelings instead of just talking over each other. Doing so will help them understand each other, like music.

Keiichiro wonders if he’s tried to listen to Noel’s feelings too. Satoru says there’s no need since Noel is the culprit. Before Keiichiro can speak, Satoru gets out of the car, saying he’s got something to care of. And they’ll meet back later.

Keiichiro sees Satoru left his mp3 player in the car.

Over at Jurer, the Lups are trying to understand the huge bombshell Noel dropped on them earlier. Kogure pops in and says the person Noel wants to bring back is Arsene Lupin himself.

Kogure proceeds to tell the story. He says Noel and all the Lupinaliens owe their lives to Arsene-sama. Noel especially. He had been alone and suffering as a child. But Arsene Lupin saved him and raised him.

Lupin taught Noel about the world and how to modify the Collection. All this gave Noel the will to live. But then the Ganglers suddenly attacked. And Noel was too late. Arsene Lupin died.

But Noel believed Lupin that collecting the Pieces would grant their wish.

Kogure explains that his book is connected to the Lupin safehouse. And if the Lups are still willing, they can place the Pieces they collect into the book. They are “the last hope.” He bows and leaves the book with them.

Back at the GSPO, Sakuya points out that there have been leaks even before Noel arrived. Tsukasa realizes then that it wouldn’t make sense for Noel to leak to the Ganglers about transporting Yoshii when he told France HQ himself.

Tsukasa and Sakuya realize GSPO Japan isn’t the source of the leak.

The Lups think about how Noel is the same as them. Can they believe in Arsene Lupin’s word?

Next day, Keiichiro calls Satoru over to under the bridge. Sakuya and Tsukasa are also here. And they are ready to confront Satoru.

Noel is not the leak. The leak came from France HQ and that Satoru lied to frame Noel. The Pats realize that the Satoru in front of them isn’t the same Satoru that was their comrade before. Keiichiro figured that out when he saw that Satoru’s mp3 player was empty and Satoru had been pretending to listen to music.

Keiichiro asks if Satoru is really who he says he is. Suddenly, the Pats pull their blasters out and point them at each other. They are being controlled by “Satoru” who turns out to be a Gangler.

Noel arrives and helps to release the Pats from the Collection Piece power. The Gangler had used the same Piece to point his blaster at the Pats yesterday.

It turns out Noel had used Jim’s computer to search for the leak and saw that it did indeed come from France HQ. He tosses a card at “Satoru” to reveal his true Gangler form, Narizuma Shibonzu, and his two safes that hold Collection Pieces that can control people’s bodies and change his voice.

Narizuma had used Commander Hilltop’s voice to lure Noel so he could expose him to the Pats yesterday.

Tsukasa asks why Narizuma used Satoru as a disguise. Narizuma doesn’t seem to know why either. But he assumes that if Satoru is available as a disguise, then he must dead.

Keiichiro realizes where the Ganglers’ human disguises come from.

The Pats morph and give it all they’ve got against Narizuma.

But Narizuma again uses Tokageil’s Piece to control their bodies again and have them point their blasters at each other.

But the Lups arrive just in time to take the Collection Pieces and release the Pats from Narizuma’s control.

Kairi lends Noel Siren Striker and he goes super. The Lups leave everything to the Pats.

Good Striker flies in and Keiichiro, Sakuya and Tsukasa go Ugou. They and Noel deliver finishers at Narizuma and that takes care of his first life.

Goche appears and says she’s looking forward to having fun with X in the future. She embiggens Narizuma and leaves.

The Pats hop into PatKaiser and X Emperor Slash/Gunner. Noel tosses Siren Striker to the others and Keiichiro, Sakuya and Tsukasa upgattai to Siren PatKaiser.

That gives them enough firepower to finish off Narizuma for good.

Zamigo has been watching the entire scene and is a little sad his source of information within the GSPO is now gone. But it’s alright.

Later, the Pats return to under the bridge. Keiichiro has Satoru’s old, real mp3 player. He asks Satoru look after them and promises to get to the bottom of all this.

Over at Jurer, Kairi places the Collection Pieces into the book himself. The Lups tell Noel about Kogure spilling the beans.

Kairi, Tooma and Umika say they are on board with helping collect all the Pieces. They hold out their blasters and invite Noel to join them.

They all share the same wish, after all.

Episode Thoughts

Wow! I really think this was a great episode. Maybe the best episode since Episodes 14 and 15. Which, coincidentally or not, were also Pat-focused episodes.

There was definitely a lot going on here. So let’s unpack a little.

First of all, I went on to watch Another Nigou after this, finally. And it was a pretty great, essentially one full episode worth of story. I wish they had just included the plot of Another Nigou in the series itself because it was such a great character piece for the three Pats. And something that was sorely lacking all season. For both teams.

But even before I watched the two-part special, the show did a pretty great job of establishing who Satoru was and what he meant to Keiichiro and Tsukasa. He was truly their comrade and friend. So the shock from the realization that he must be dead still resonated with me, even without watching Another Nigou.

That moment was so emotional and I think perfectly done. It plainly spelled out the possibility (or set in stone idea?) that all the humans the Ganglers use as disguises are dead. And they might even literally be in that person’s skin! (Ewe!)

But while painful and sad, especially for a children’s show, I think maintaining that Satoru is dead helps establish the heroism of him and the Lups and Pats. They are fighting Ganglers so that people won’t die. And knowing that they are putting their lives on the line with the very real possibility that they might die is really a powerful way to show just how amazing and heroic they are.

I’ve also said before that I would actually prefer all the people Zamigo froze in ice to be dead and not just being held prisoner. Since thematically, that would make for a story with substance and depth. It gives a heavy meaning and foundation to all that our heroes are fighting for.

But I do know that it is very possible that all the frozen people will come back. And now, the Pats might want to wish that Satoru is back and alive and well too. (Though how about all the people who die when the Ganglers rampage in the city, right?)

We’ll see.

And now with Noel’s past fully (?) revealed. It certainly was a very interesting and unexpected backstory. While the whole thing felt like another big information and exposition dump, I still very much enjoyed Noel’s story this episode.

It was interesting to hear about the Lupinaliens/Lupin people/whatever, but I think what was more impactful and emotional was the focus on the Pats’ relationship with Noel.

Noel helplessly wondering how to resolve the mess that Narizuma as Satoru set him up in, but Noel really had set up for himself with keeping his past a secret; it really drove the episode the most I think.

We see Noel struggling. We see the Pats truly hurt that someone they had grown to put their trust in might have betrayed them all along. The Lups had been suspicious of Noel for a while now and agreed they would just use him for their own goals.

But for Noel and the Pats, those scenes meant something because they really did form a bond since Noel first arrived.

There was a little bit of that with the Lups, but more so the Pats. They wanted to continue to believe in Noel even though all the evidence in front of them at the time tried to push them to think otherwise.

That focus on Noel and the Pats with minimal inclusion of the Lups really let the entire episode breathe and play out in a great way. And that’s a great thing considering Noel’s big reveal may be a little underwhelming.

Speaking of, I hope Kogure still has a secret or two. If this was it and he’s actually not keeping anything else a secret, then that would be a huge disappointment.

Another character moment though was showing how Satoru taught Keiichiro to just sit and listen from time to time. Listen to the music and try and understand its meaning. It made me immediately remember Mina, the girl that crushed on Keiichiro. He had given her the song to listen to and it obviously held the meaning that Keiichiro also had feelings for her, but it wasn’t the right time for him to pursue a relationship.

This episode and Another Nigou got me thinking that Keiichiro doing that for Mina stems from what he learned from Satoru. It was a great, positive learning experience for Keiichiro and he’s taken it with him even when the real Satoru transferred to France. More foundation to the idea that Satoru was more than just a simple teammate. They had formed a close bond.

These are the kinds of things I wanted more of this season. More character moments. Sincere ones. I still don’t feel any empathy with the Lups’ dilemma about their frozen loved ones. That’s a problem. And one partly caused by the way the Pats have been shoved aside.

But this episode had something that’s been missing from most of the season. It had truly meaningful moments for everyone involved. It presented a clear danger that the heroes had to overcome. And it effectively made us care about what is actually going on.

A really great, dramatic and emotional episode done very well despite some of the details and actual consequential developments being underwhelming.

4 thoughts on “Recap: Kaitou Sentai Lupinranger VS Keisatsu Sentai Patranger, Episode 44 – The Truth Found

  1. I Kinda dissapoint that noel just humanoid race in gangler world.

    I was expect he is one of gangler race but not part of member (no safe) or something like that.

    but the reveal of gangler human skin is pretty dark. maybe this is a reason why no ed dance song.

    also i don’t think lupin collection can grant the wish but who know story change a lot due from bad toy sales.

    1. Yeah, I was hoping Noel’s secret was something bigger. Though I do think the idea of him having a lonely childhood, like Misao of Zyuohger even, is a good idea. It’s just they didn’t really develop that part in the best way.

      The granting wish plot is very much like Gokaiger and Kamen Rider Ghost of course. I hope they try something different here.

  2. I sensed Noel can have difficult childhood, but I didn’t think about fact he isn’t a human! And I was shocked when I heard real Satoru is dead! That was very clever episode for me. I wonder how it will work for relations Lups-Pats? Anyway, now we’re almost ready for Christmas, Holidays and New Year 2019 😊

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