Madame Noa is upset Baron Nero has sent General Schwarz to pick up the Emperor of Darkness without even consulting her. Nero says he was able to collect enough darkness to open a line to the Emperor’s personal route.
But Gritta’s wedding dress isn’t even ready, Madame Noa says. They are not ready to welcome the Emperor. That won’t be necessary, Nero says. He will personally welcome the Emperor. “Are you trying to push us out?” Madame Noa asks.
“Interpret it any way you like. When the Emperor of Darkness appears, the world will be revolutionized. It will become a world full of darkness for the Shadow Line!”
The ToQgers are enjoying their breakfast when Ticket and Conductor announce the next stop is Star of Dreams Amusement Park. And since amusement parks are full of Imagination, they’ll be here for a while. Woohoo!
The ToQgers are very excited. Right says they will go on all the rides. Hikari braves his fear of heights when they go on the roller coaster and a parachute drop-thingy.
Then they hop on the carousel before enjoying ice cream cones.
After taking a spin in the spinning baskets, Kagura goes into a haunted house and has to imagine herself as Super Girl again to get through it. She gets a little too super inside.
Meanwhile, a mysterious man asks the bunny for a shiny, sparkling star balloon.
Baron Nero and an army of Kuros are waiting on the platform as General Schwarz’s Kuliner pulls into Castle Terminal. The Kuros salute and Baron Nero bows as the Kuliner door opens.
But instead of the Emperor walking out, it’s his personal guard, Lamp Shadow. Baron Nero tells him to get out of the way and looks for the Emperor, but Lamp Shadow says His Majesty disembarked halfway to Castle Terminal.
Baron Nero scolds Schwarz for not even knowing the Emperor disembarked, but Lamp Shadow says His Majesty had grown bored from the long trip. Nero is upset since this land is not yet ready with enough darkness. So he suggests they go look for him.
What a blunder, Madame Noa says. She decides she and Gritta should go look for the Emperor too so they can meet him first. Gritta can’t believe it. This is it, her time has run out!
The ToQgers have just finished their lunch. Except for Right, who has just ordered more food. The others tell him to call when he’s done eating.
They leave him alone and the man with the balloon stops in front of Right. “You seem to be enjoying your meal!” he says as he takes a seat next to him.
“You’re sparkling,” the guy says. Just like the balloon he’s holding. Just like this place, everyone here sparkles. He likes it, all this kirakira-ing.
I suppose, Right says. He asks if this is the guy’s first time at an amusement park. The guy replies that this is his first time for everything, like being in this very bright place. He’s been in a place so pitch black, people from bright places can’t even imagine it.
Oh, I don’t really understand, Right says, but the guy must have gone through a rough time. He offers him some chicken, but the guy says No, thank you and runs off.
Right turns his attention back to his food when he hears a commotion nearby. The guy is trying to make his way onto the carousel in front of all the kids in line. He has no clue about what a ticket is, nor does he care as he shoves the ticket-taker aside and walks up to the carousel.
Right hurries over and gives the ticket-taker one of his tickets, apologizing for his new friend.
The sparkly guy enjoys the carousel.
Right walks with the guy afterwards. He still holds his sparkly balloon.
“It’s no longer the age of darkness. It’s the age of light, don’t you think?”
Well, it’s true that the brightness is better than the dark, Right says. And he comments how the guy seems very bright himself.
“Really!? Do I sparkle?” he asks as he turns to look Right straight in the eye.
Right is taken aback. He sees the guy’s eyes turn pitch black and then feels a shiver down his spine.
The others come running toward Right, having been looking for him all this time since he didn’t call. They ask who his new friend is. Oh, Right never asked his name.
Right says his name and the guy is about to says his as well when suddenly, an announcement is made.
A train from the Shadow Line is about to arrive. Black lines appear and the announcer warns them to stay behind it.
‘They’re here already!?” the guy says to himself.
Baron Nero and General Schwarz disembark from one train and Madame Noa and Gritta disemberk from the other, both flanked by a dozen Kuros each.
They run toward the guy. He is the Emperor of Darkness!
The Kuros push the ToQgers aside.
What are you doing here, Schwarz asks them. He introduces Baron Nero and Madame Noa to them.
The Emperor says he was just in the middle of saying his name. He introduces himself. He is the Shadow Line’s Emperor of Darkness, Zett.
Conductor, Ticket and Wagon are watching from the Resshas. They are shocked.
Then, you’re not human? Right asks.
Appearances aren’t everything, the Emperor replies. Am I shining or not?
Gritta hides behind a lamppost, afraid of the Emperor.
Nero and Madame Noa tell the Emperor he should not waste his time on these ToQgers and that they’ll take care of them right now. Madame Noa uses her umbrella to send a flurry of shots at the ToQgers and they quickly henshin.
Emperor Zett is intrigued by the white line and the bright colored suits.
The ToQgers first face the Kuros and take care of them pretty easily.
But now it’s time to face the real Darkness.
Schwarz takes on Right.
Madame Noa takes on Hikari and Kagura and uses her umbrella as a shield and to unleash a barrage of explosions.
And Baron Nero takes on Tokacchi and Mio with some swordsmanship and his spinning hat while stepping on Mio’s neck.
Emperor Zett watches (bored?) as the ToQgers are completely overpowered. Baron Nero lets out a huge wave of darkness from his hat, forcing the ToQgers to de-henshin and fall to the ground.
This is your last stop, Baron Nero says. But Right replies that he can’t see their last stop yet. They will themselves to get up and Emperor Zett’s face brightens.
Madame Noa laughs and is about to use her umbrella to finish the ToQgers off for good until Emperor Zett asks to wait a second. He sends out a wave toward both the ToQgers (which forces them back to the ground) and the Shadow Line inner circle.
“What is the meaning of this!?”
Don’t you see it? Emperor Zett says. “They’re sparkling! Can’t you see that they’re shining?”
“Darkness is too old fashioned. This is now the sparkling age!”
Emperor Zett walks toward the ToQgers and looks at Right, “Isn’t that right?”
They both have a strange feeling. Emperor Zett takes a look at Right, then the others.
“You guys have been swallowed by the darkness once before!”
The ToQgers are shocked, but suddenly, Emperor Zett keels over, letting go of his glittery balloon. Schwarz stands in front of the ToQgers as Nero and Madame Noa jockey for position to tend to their Emperor. But Lamp Shadow swoops in and whisks Emperor Zett into their personal Kuliner.
Madame Noa, Baron Nero and General Schwarz do the same.
The Ressha arrive and Ticket tells them to hurry on, as they will chase the Shadow Line. The ToQgers henshin and hop aboard.
The three Shadow Line trains are speeding ahead when three Kuliners surround the Ressha. Baron Nero orders the Kuros to stop the ToQgers. The Kuliners transform into robo mode.
Diesel Ressha-tachi join the ToQgers. Right hops into Gramps Ressha to initiate Diesel-Oh while the others pilot ToQ-Oh.
They work together to fight off the three Kuliner robos.
Meanwhile, on the white/gray Shadow Line train, the Emperor comes to. Pitch black again. He asks Lamp Shadow how the ToQgers are doing and he shows the Emperor a live feed.
“These guys, even their robos sparkle! I wonder if they will endure…”
“What do you mean?”
“That sparkling!”
Emperor Zett tells Lamp Shadow to go back and play with the ToQgers a little bit.
The fight doesn’t look good, but Right says they can beat the Kuliners with one move, their combined attack.
“Do we have a combined attack?”
Right says he just thought of it now and he (literally) whispers the plan to the others. He used his Imagination! They try it.
They unleash a Double Ressha Super Combination to take care of all three Kuliners. But the bad news, the Emperor got away.
Two little boys see the Ressha at the train station and of course their mothers have no idea what they’re talking about.
The ToQgers are walking down the stairs to get to the platform. They think it’s very peculiar how the Emperor was so fascinated by the shiny, sparkly things seeing as he’s the Emperor of Darkness.
Across town, Lamp Shadow uses his lamp staff and sends a wave of darkness that hits Hikari, Tokacchi, Kagura and Mio. They find the Resshas are gone!
What are you talking about, Right says. They’re right here!
And they are. He even knocks on them.
No they’re not, Kagura insists. Hikari then asks if the Resshas were even there to begin with. They fall into a daze and Right tries to snap them out of it.
Emperor Zett watches from his throne, pleased.
Meanwhile…
Gritta is standing on a train platform by the water.
“I’m sorry, my dear mother,” she says. She doesn’t want to be the Emperor’s bride.
“Sayonara.”
Episode Thoughts
WOW. Well damn. I’ve been loving ToQger so much so far, but dude, this was an amazing episode.
I even found myself tearing up a few times. Like WTF? When Zett tells Right and the others that they’d been engulfed by the darkness before. Or when they come face to face with the Shadow Line bosses for the first time. Or Gritta with her little umbrella standing on that train platform saying goodbye to her mother.
Like, seriously. Those scenes hit me right in the gut.
The episode starts off with that typical amusement park episode set-up. The ToQgers, enjoying a day at the park. Giggling at Hikari’s fear of heights. Watching Right gobble up several orders of food.
Then BOOM. This strange, mysterious man arrives. A guy interested in a glittery balloon and the shining, shimmering splendidly bright world who ends up being the Emperor of Darkness. I thought that was a great set-up, even if was a little predictable as to who he was.
The in-fighting and politicking between the three Shadow Line bosses has been great to watch and even more so when it really takes a big step forward this episode.
That strange connection between Right and Dark Zett was both creepy and interesting at the same time. And that Emperor Zett can sense these five humans had previously been gobbled up by the darkness before sent chills down my spine. That’s the effect of having learned about their lives and really having grown to care about their predicament.
Visually, this episode was awesome too. I absolutely loved those shots of the trains pulling into the Castle Terminal and arriving at that huge platform with the long row of Kuros waiting and saluting. That and really any of the train scenes this season have been really stunning and very well done. Just like those Kuliners surrounding the Resshas on the tracks. These are some kick-ass scenes that I love.
Speaking of kick-ass, I loved the fights the ToQgers had, especially when they split up to fight Schwarz, Nero and Madame Noa. It’s always good to see the heroes get knocked around a peg, especially during this first meeting with the villains. It helps build up the excitement to when they eventually gain enough power and strength to defeat them.
Gritta though! I mean, how can you not feel sorry for her. Her running away though is both sad and hilarious. Sad, because yeah, you definitely feel for her situation. But hilarious because here’s this huge purple thing riding on a train with an umbrella. Can’t wait to see her next week.
Actually, I can’t wait to see everything this next episode. Of course. ToQger has already been so awesome, but now that we’re getting into the meat of the story, it’s going to get even more exciting.
Oh, and when Right saw that infinite darkness in the Emperor’s eyes, it immediately reminded me of another great show I enjoy, Grimm:
lol
Just a weird thought. One of the themes for ToQGers is rainbows right? Then it is already confirmed that ToQ-6 is orange. the only missing color to complete the rainbow theme is violet. Take a look at Emperor Zett’s wardrobe. Notice anything?
Yup, that’s definitely a theory floating around.
What I liked about this was when Hikari was trying to protect Kagura from Madame Noa. I only saw the preview but I will watch this I want to see how bad Hikari height fear is. Wait Hikari and Kagura are scared of different things so does that mean they have something in common they both get scared well Hikari is only scared of heights. But can’t help I’m a huge Hikari and Kagura shipper
It was fun to see Hikari, who we know is the serious one all time, be funny as they go on all the high rides hehe
I loved that Kagura is kind hearted because she kind to Hikari who is serious but thanks to Kagura he becomes a little bit less serious I can totally picture them as a couple