Recap: Ressha Sentai ToQger, Station (Episode) 12 – The Rainbow Commuter Pass

Lamp Shadow has just broadcast his magnetic wave of darkness across the city. Conductor, Ticket and Wagon watch from the train, watching as Tokacchi, Mio, Hikari and Kagura can no longer see them. Not only that, but neither can the kids on the platform who say they should stop going to the amusement park, it’s so childish.

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Conductor and Ticket see the station has now become Yaminokage or Shadow of Darkness Station. The train announces the station has come under the control of the Shadow Line. Conductor tells Right to hurry on board. Ticket says there is very little imagination here and the trains will be in danger if they stay.

But what about Tokacchi-tachi? Ticket says they can’t board if they can’t see the Ressha. Right turns around and they’re gone. Ticket says to hurry on board, but Right says to go on ahead as he will go search for Tokacchi and the others.

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Right runs around the city and tries calling them, but the recording says the Rainbow Pass is not available. Lamp Shadow appears and says it’s no use trying to look for them. Right henshins, but Lamp Shadow asks Right to take a seat and allow him to explain.

Lamp Shadow introduces himself as the Emperor’s private guard. He says this is all part of the Emperor’s experiment. First, Lamp Shadow points out how Shadow kaijins exist to create darkness, but as his body shows, he exists to create light. Isn’t that funny? he asks.

“I don’t care,” Right replies. But Lamp Shadow says this is important. Zett may be the Emperor of Darkness, but this shows he is extremely interested in lights and sparkles. Which is why he has become very interested in what makes the ToQgers sparkle.

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Lamp Shadow takes Right on a tour, showing him the others unwittingly cooperating with the experiment.

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Tokacchi has a desk job in an office. Mio is a police officer.

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Hikari is an engineering student researching Enetron. (Hey Go-Busters!) And Kagura is a model.

Lamp Shadow explains the other ToQgers and the residents of the city are under his hypnosis. So please cooperate with the experiment. He takes his leave.

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Meanwhile at the Castle, Zett has installed a disco ball and strobe lights. It’s a party! Two Kuros applaud while everyone else is dumbfounded. Zett explains that the Shadow Line does not sparkle like this. He wants a shining darkness.

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Baron Nero is confused, but Madame Noa jumps in and says unlike him, she is interested in much more than darkness. Just like her daughter, Gritta/Glitter! who was raised to shine. Her wedding dress absolutely sparkles.

Oooo! Zett wants to see. But Madame Noa says she still has to prepare it. Darn. Zett says it’s depressing to look at their dark eyes, so he will be going out for a bit.

Baron Nero reminds Zett that as much as he loves the light, his body will reject it. “Shut up!” Zett says and sends Baron Nero flying towards the wall before leaving.

Baron Nero can’t believe it. The Emperor would be invincible if he focused on the darkness. Madame Noa asks a favor of General Schwarz. Please find Gritta.

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Gritta is sitting on the train, wondering what she can do to avoid marrying the Emperor.

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Right visits Kagura. She knows who he is and all, but doesn’t know anything about a train. He shows her his Rainbow Pass, but she says she’s never seen it before. Though she does remember how much he loved passes.

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Hikari doesn’t know what Right’s talking about either. You can’t ride a train with such a pass. Right pleads with him to remember soon because they need to defeat the Shadow kaijin.

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Tokacchi laughs, Right always says fantastical things. But he does remember the passes Right gave everyone for the secret base. Oh yeah, Right remembers, that was also a pass.

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Right goes to ask Mio about the Secret Base pass. She remembers they all decided on the rules. But “You can’t focus on being a child forever,” she says, “You need to grow up.”

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“It’s no use,” Right says, “they’ve all changed.”

He remembers the pass to their Secret Base. He had it with him when he woke up on the Shadow Line train but doesn’t know what happened to it after or why he had it in the first place.

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Suddenly, the Shadow Line is announced to be approaching. Right jumps out of the way as the train passes by. On the other side, Zett, the Emperor.

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Ooo nice! Zett likes to see Right is still sparkling. He calls Lamp Shadow who charges toward Right who quickly henshins. Right’s friends are all out of it and he has to face Lamp Shadow. Zett wants to see how long Right can continue sparkling under these conditions. Will it disappear or will it last until he dies?

Right refuses to take part in any kind of experiment. He tries to fight back against Lamp Shadow’s attacks, then tries calling the others, but Lamp Shadow says it’s no use against his hypnosis.

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That’s right, they don’t remember, Right thinks. But they did remember the pass from the Secret Base. And that they had rules.

Lamp Shadow takes advantage of Right stopping to think and delivers a blow that forces him to de-henshin. Lamp Shadow sends a power slash toward Right who falls to the ground, Rainbow Pass in hand.

He remembers the rules from the Secret Base pass.

Rule 1: The base is an absolute secret.

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“I finally understand,” Right says. “They haven’t lost their passes. They’ve had them all this time.”

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Right looks at his Rainbow Pass. It’s the Secret Base Pass!

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Suddenly, the Secret Base Passes pop up in the others’ possession as they and Right turn their passes over to reveal their rules.

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Rule #1: The base is an absolute secret.
Rule #2: When in a pinch, give the secret signal.
Rule #3, the final rule of the Secret Base…

Right sits up and says he knows his friends will show up. “We’ll defeat the Shadow Kaijin the way we always do, together!”

“I can see it.”

Zett does not understand and Lamp Shadow offers to finish Right off. He approaches Right and takes a swing, but…


The others arrive. They shoot at Lamp Shadow, saving Right. They’re back to normal!

They happily run toward Right and they remember when they first made those Secret Base Passes.

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The final rule of the Secret Base: The five of us will always help each other out!

Their Secret Base Passes become their Rainbow Passes once again and they share a happy reunion. Lamp Shadow can’t believe they broke his hypnosis, but Zett loves seeing them sparkle!

The ToQgers henshin. Lamp Shadow summons Kuros and the ToQgers easily take care of them. They then transfer lines to take on Lamp Shadow.

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“What the point of all this line changing?”
“To defeat you!”

Zett takes a seat while he watches. Changing lines, interesting.

Suddenly, Gritta tries sneaking up on Zett with a knife. She slowly walks toward him.

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“You can’t do it if you shake like that,” Zett says. Gritta stops in her tracks. Schwarz-sama puts his hand on hers. “Your mother would be disappointed,” he tells her.

“So she is going to be my Queen?” Zett approaches. He likes what he sees. Despite being from the Shadow Line, her eyes actually shine. He grabs her arm, which makes her drop Schwarz’s handkerchief. Zett then kisses her on the cheek.

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Schwarz picks the handkerchief up and looks up to Gritta who is trembling.

The ToQgers switch back and deliver a Rainbow Rush of Fire Prevention buckets to take care of Lamp Shadow before he embiggens.

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The ToQgers summon the Resshas and Right tells Hikari and Tokacchi to take care of Gramps Ressha.

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“The Imagination energy is at its peak!” Ticket proclaims. Conductor tells them to do whatever they come up with. “Sure!” Right says. He has an idea.

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Right cancels linkup and Lamp Shadow thinks they are going for a pincer attack. No you don’t, he says as he jumps out of the way. But Right initiates combination of all the Resshas.

And they combine to form Chou ToQ-Oh.

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Lamp Shadow doesn’t back down despite Chou ToQ-Oh’s immense size. But the ToQgers unleash a Chou ToQ-Oh Full Burst Finish and officially take care of Lamp Shadow.

Very nice.

The town’s name changes back to Yumenohoshi-yuenchimae. The kids can see the Ressha again. Things seem to be back to normal.

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The ToQgers are happy to be back on board and back together. They are connected by their Rainbow Passes and they renew their resolve to take things one step at a time until they reach their hometown.

Wagon comes in with some delicious lunch.

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Episode Thoughts
I love this episode. Those scenes when the ToQgers arrive to save Right, total MaGMCMs. The tears were streaming down my face. Loved it. I think they, or Kobayashi, has done very well establishing the ToQgers’ relationships, their friendship and their dilemma. That’s why scenes like that of Tokacchi-tachi running toward Right and switching between their grown-up and kid selves are so effective and affecting. It was awesome.

And also very fun to see what the ToQgers would do in normal jobs.

The other really affecting scene for me in this episode was Gritta attempting to kill Zett. That was definitely unexpected, but a great surprise. I mean, you really feel for Gritta. I don’t know if it’s because she seems so young and that she’s being forced into marriage. It kind of gets a little creepy. She’s a young teen, it seems like and here’s this grown “man” who likes her sparkling, shiny eyes and her mother who wants to marry her off so they can be in control.

So you can really empathize with her. And then that scene where Schwarz-same picks up his handkerchief, sees her trembling with fear and maybe realizing how she’s feeling. Damn. Really good stuff.

On the lighter side, that scene at the Castle with Baron Nero and Madame Noa reacting to the Emperor’s strange disco party, disco ball and spotlights was hilarious.

I loved that fight on the hill and at the park between the ToQgers and the Kuros. The background music during that battle and when they transfer lines was amazing.

In fact, all of the music they’ve used on ToQger has been so good. The music they used during the mecha battle was really powerful. It used the theme song in part of it.

Again, I loved all the train scenes. First, there was them attacking Lamp Shadow from the tracks above and below him. Then that overhead shot of the Resshas heading straight for each other before eventually separating into different tracks to combine.

I know people still think the mecha is ugly, but I really like them. Chou ToQ-Oh may seem a big clunky, but that hasn’t stopped Sentai before. At least here, it kinda makes sense.

Anyway, an excellent, emotional episode. I loved it. Darn you (and by that I mean YOU ARE AMAZING) Kobayashi for making me cry!

3 thoughts on “Recap: Ressha Sentai ToQger, Station (Episode) 12 – The Rainbow Commuter Pass

  1. In the preview I thought that Kagura was a goth my bad sorry any way when Hikari and Kagura were kids she was taller then him and now he’s taller then her

      1. Maybe but when Hikari and Kagura were young she was taller then him and now he is taller then her. I don’t get it maybe Hikari had a growth spurt

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