Recap: Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters, Mission 44 – Christmas Eve: Time to Complete the Mission

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“I’ll need you to die too,” Escape says as Hiromu arrives in Ace. But Messiah Megazord Zeta takes Hiromu’s sword and tries to absorb it. Hiromu manages to break free only to receive a big blow from Messiah. Hiromu’s helmet is cracked, his head bleeding. The others say they must retreat now, but Hiromu does not want to leave now. Kuroki says it’s an order and allows Jin to create a distraction to get them to safety.

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Messiah tells Escape that he wants more, that this body is not enough for him. She says there’s no need to hold back any longer.

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Nakamura is shocked to detect 10 Megazords in transport. The Buster Machines go in for emergency repairs as Nick pleads with Hiromu to go to the infirmary. He refuses before he collapses.

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Nakamura says the first four Megazords, two Alphas and two Betas will arrive in an hour and 12 minutes. Five minutes later, a Gamma and Delta will arrive. And in another 15 minutes, one each of Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Delta Megazords will get transported through.

“Is this a Megazord clearance sale or something!?”

Morishita says it’ll take an hour to evacuate all the civilians if any of the Megazords arrive within three kilometers of Zeta. Yoko wonders what happened to the card Enter had, the one with Jin’s data on it. Jin tells them it’s not important and says it disappeared along with Enter. He goes to the computer to mark the card as Deleted.

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Hiromu tries to fight his way off the infirmary bed, but Nick stops him and tries to calm him down. Nick says Hiromu must not be reckeless with his life. His parents didn’t entrust him with a mission, but with their lives.

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Meanwhile, Messiah continues to absorb everything in his path, allowing him to grow even more. Escape remembers Enter’s words about being a human copy and says no, “I’m pretty good,” and is looking forward to seeing her Papa grow even more.

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Three minutes until the first Megazords arrive. The Buster Machines are done with maintenance. Ace has been given temporary repairs, but it’s okay to fight. Jin calls to say a special Machine will join them later too.

Nick comes into the command center and says he can pilot Ace by himself so they can give Hiromu some time. You don’t even need to ask, says Ryuji and other Buddyroids say they’ll back him up too.

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They head into battle as the first four Megazords arrive. Ryuji says they need to finish this quickly. They take care of the four just as Messiah and Escape move forward and the next two Megazords arrive. Jin realizes the Megazords are to combine with Zeta.

They combine the five Buster Machines to take care of the newly arrived Megazords. The last four arrive and Escape moves Zeta straight towards them.

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At the infirmary, Hiromu wakes up and the doctor and nurse try to tell him they’re almost done with treatment.

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Messiah absorbs two of the Megazords and grows some more.

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Jin tells Kuroki it’s time and he deploys FS-0O and Enetan to combine with the others to finish off the remaining Megazords.

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Suddenly, Zeta grows immensely while continuing to absorb the city. Darkness falls and Escape is happy things are going well. But Messiah says it’s time for her to return to him. Before she can even ask Why and protest, Messiah absorbs her and says she’s no longer needed.

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Hiromu shows up at command center and sees the huge Zeta, reminding him of Messiah in the Subdimension. Kuroki hands him the Lioh Attache and says they all feel the same way. This all started on this day and they cannot afford to lose this Christmas.

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The others continue trying to push back against Messiah Zeta, but get pushed back and individual Buster Machines separate. Hiromu arrives and catches Nick and Ace as they get hurled back to the ground. Messiah grabs hold of Ryuji and Yoko in their respective Buster Machines, but Hiromu and Nick manage to fire to break Messiah’s hold on them. Messiah fires back and puts Ace out of service.

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The Go-Busters combine into Go-Buster King as Nick joins Hiromu in the cockpit of Lioh. They resolve to finally defeat Messiah, but he is unfazed by their attacks. He fires back at them, causing the Go-Busters to de-henshin, but remain in the cockpits. They are otherwise unfazed and get back up.

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They do an un-henshined roll call and charge forward through Messiah’s blasts.

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Kuroki, Morishita and Nakamura fear the worst.

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But Hiromu, Ryuji and Yoko merely get separated from Jin and J.

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Jin gives them a push and they continue forward. They hit right at Messiah’s chest.

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They use the memories of their families, what they saw in the Subdimension and all the kids hoping for a happy Christmas to power up a final thrust into Messiah’s chest. The energy causes Messiah to implode from the inside.

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Everyone again fears the worst, but they quickly see Hiromu, Ryuji and Yoko are fine. Command Center celebrates, Kuroki especially as J drinks a can of Enetron.

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They go to the Children’s Center to have the Christmas party with the kids.

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J is a tree.

Hiromu juggles as Rika arrives in a sexy Santa outfit, much to Nick’s excitement, but also Jin’s.

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Hiromu changes into Santa and hands out the presents to the children who in turn present them with flowers as thanks.

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The teacher thanks them for today, as well as for when she was a kid. She had also grown up in the center, but because of the Energy Management Center’s annual parties, she was able to love Christmas and decide she wanted to help kids too, which is why she became a teacher.

J senses snow and they all go to look through the window. Ryuji remembers the little girl and Hiromu points out how if they didn’t have the party, she wouldn’t have become a teacher. Because of what happened 13 years ago, she became a teacher.

“The lives our parents entrusted to us don’t end with us. It’s all connected. That might be the reason that we’re alive… why we fight.”

Ryuji and Yoko agree.

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Overlooking the city, Enter reappears and greets the Go-Busters a Merry Christmas while Hiromu and others toast to the holiday.

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Episode Thoughts
Well that was a helluva Christmas episode eh?

Amazing. An action-packed and highly emotional finale. Finale!?! Yup, Go-Busters has already had two finale-level episodes/two-parters. And excellent ones at that. Mission 43 and 44 as well as Missions 29 and 30 would rival any regular finale episodes of Sentai or even Power Rangers.

High emotion, high stakes and fulfilling endings. It’s amazing how here, they are again fighting Messiah, but yet it is still exciting and emotional. Those final scenes during the battle, especially Kuroki’s reaction were just incredible.

The storyline definitely lends itself to having these episodes air more than a month before the real finale. I think it is very fitting to have this climax air during Christmas week. It heightened that emotional connection to really make these two episodes that much more meaningful instead of just another simple ol’ mecha battle.

Once again, the pain of their loss is still very much present in the Go-Busters, but also again, they use it to strengthen their resolve. Just like Mission 30. And again, it all worked, even if we did see pretty much the same thing already. Christmas and the very real impact they have on others, as shown through the teacher and the children, made these two episodes more than work.

Now the debate about Go-Busters being “too dark” will long continue, but again, just watch the episodes. This one in particular, in the midst of literal darkness and almost certain death, they still manage to insert one-liners like Jin’s “Megazord clearance” or J calling Nick “bike.” And of course when it was all over, J getting drunk on Enetron and then becoming a tree.

It’s just hard to say Go-Busters (like RPM) is too dark or too serious. The better way to describe it/them, they were able to balance serious story and humor well. And that is something that will should appeal to a wide audience.

Anyway, we’re again at a point though where we have no idea what’s ahead after such a heavy, emotional climax. And I worry about the actual finale of Go-Busters. They are going to need to top themselves after delivering two amazing climaxes already.

But overall, another excellent, amazing episode.

Merry Christmas!
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