Everyone’s at home. Fuuka has just given her oniichan a haircut when Father comes in with a package from Tetsunosuke.
He greets them and asks how Lion Ha-Oh is doing. He hopes they can handle him well. For their summer gift, he’s created a new Combine Nin Shuriken for them. It must be to allow Lion Ha-Oh to combine with their other mecha.
They quickly try it out as they fight a Gashadokuro. But nothing happens.
Ariake no Kata is upset her plan did not work and grabs Kyuuemon’s gourd from her to use for her wrinkles. Masakage tells her just summoning Gashadokuro is plain reckless. But she says she needs to remain beautiful to prepare for Kibaoni’s arrival. She orders Kyuuemon to gather 10x more fear.
The Ninningers wonder why they failed to combine. Grandpa says it’s Yakumo and Kinji’s fault. They must learn how to control Lion Ha-Oh the way Takaharu has.
They head out to the forest to try it out. But neither Kinji nor Yakumo can Chouzetsu. Lion Ha-Oh refuses. He instead wants to play with Kasumi who bats him away.
Lion Ha-Oh decides to attach himself to Fuuka.
Yakumo tells Lion Ha-Oh to stop messing around. But Lion Ha-Oh says he’s still stronger than them even when messing around.
Yakumo and Kinji try grabbing Lion Ha-Oh from Fuuka. Nagi points out that Yakumo always calls Kinji “Star.”
Kyuuemon attaches a Sealing Shuriken to a railroad crossing to create Youkai Nurikabe.
Nurikabe goes around creating literal walls to box people in using the “walls” they must overcome in their lives like getting good grades or getting parents’ approval for marriage.
The Ninningers arrive and fight off the Jukkarages. Yakumo and Kinji take on Nurikabe.
Ariake no Kata reintroduces herself before Nurikabe traps Yakumo and Kinji in a railroad crossing. The Youkai then walls them in. And their wall to overcome? Takaharu.
Yakumo tries to use a Vine Technique to lift him up over the wall, but “Takaharu” protrudes out of the wall to block him. Kinji uses Fire Technique, but the fires just bounces off the walls.
The others are still fighting Ariake no Kata and the Jukkarages. Takaharu wants to go Chouzetsu, but Yakumo still has it.
Yakumo and Kinji try anything they can to get out of the wall, but it’s no use. Lion Ha-Oh chimes in and calls them boring. Yakumo tells him to go hang out with Takaharu if he wants.
Lion Ha-Oh says fine, they are fast thinkers, but are too stiff.
That clues them in. Yakumo uses Puddle Technique and Kinji uses Wind Technique to soften the walls. Instead of overcoming the wall, all they need to do is go through it.
In other words, when the mess around, they are stronger! Lion Ha-Oh is having fun now.
Ariake no Kata has no problem fighting the Ninningers, but suddenly, Yakumo and Kinji pop out of the ground.
Ariake no Kata decides to leave. Lion Ha-Oh tells Yakumo and Kinji to use him now, but Yakumo says Takaharu should use him. They can use Lion Ha-Oh when they’ve properly surpassed Takaharu.
Takaharu goes Chozetsu as Yakumo and Kinji henge.
Yakumo and Kinji tell Takaharu to use them to finish off Nurikabe.
Takaharu uses Yakumo and Kinji as human shurikens before sending a transcendental slash.
Nurikabe embiggens. Takaharu hops into Lion Ha-Oh with the others in ShurikenJin and Bison King. Takaharu uses the new Change Nin Shuriken again, but just like earlier, nothing happens.
Yakumo and Kinji decide to spin Lion Ha-Oh’s body and that initiates the combination.
The Ninningers have now combined into Ha-Oh ShurikenJin.
With their huge new power, they are able to finish off Nurikabe for good.
Yakumo and Kinji say they still have a long way to go to be able to control Lion Ha-Oh, but they will certainly catch up to Takaharu, no prob.
Nagi points out that Yakumo has finally called Kinji by his name. Kasumi says this is another step in the right direction for their British-American alliance.
“Let’s do our best Yakki!” Kinji says. The others think “Yakki” is a great nickname. Yakumo doesn’t think so.
Episode Thoughts
It was an alright episode. Yakumo and Kinji’s “trial” to get the combination to work didn’t really make sense. It wasn’t even really necessary since apparently all they had to do was spin Lion Ha-Oh around to get the combination to work.
It also didn’t really do anything for Yakumo and Kinji’s relationship since it’s not like they refuse to work together or anything. They merely argue over how to pronounce “easy.” So Grandpa’s “It’s your fault” at the beginning of the episode made no sense.
It would’ve been much better if this was an episode that helped set up the others also being able to use Lion Ha-Oh and go Chozetsu. But there’s apparently no requirements to be able to do so. Only that Takaharu is better than everyone.
Hmm… okay.
Anyway, Nurikabe’s design is fascinating. So random and weird, which is the best kind of design. Ariaka no Kata also has an interesting personality. It’s a little mix of Canderilla and Poisandra. I do like that Masakage and Kyuuemon have a common pain in the butt now, it appears.
So, okay episode. Nothing too special, but not horrible even with some nonsensical plot points.