Recap: Mashin Sentai Kiramager, Episode 27 – Big Pinch Runner

Juuru and Takamichi are cheering Sena on as she runs for Miki and Natsume Masaki from SCRTC who are sponsoring here. Sena feels like she’s in a slump. And though Miki and Natsume try to encourage her, Sena is a little annoyed by their peculiar way of speaking. Miki-san says it’s called Jan-go (Janspeak).

Turns out Sena and Natsume went to college together. Now Natsume works in research and development at SCRTC with her mother Miki who is director.

At the coconut tree, Muryou explains to Shiguru, Sayo, Tametomo and Mabushina that SCRTC is actually like a predecessor to CARAT. Tametomo has heard of the Gekirangers who were once popular in the esports community. Sporting goods company SCRTC developed weapons and equipment for the Gekirangers.

Back at the track, Miki-san buckles a new support gear device they are testing around Sena’s waist that will gather data on her running in real-time with the help of an accompanying drone that will relay the data to their computers. The data would help provide the best, tailored advice to each athlete.

Sena still doesn’t understand some of the things Natsume says. But she’s looking forward to trying the new device. She removes her Kiramai Changer and hands it to Natsume to avoid extra weight as she runs.

After Sena starts her run, Muryou calls Juuru about some Yodon activity downtown. Takamichi says they can let Sena focus on her training while the rest of them handle the Yodon. A certain tongue-lady, however, watches from the shadows.

The Kiramagers arrive and find Bechats sweeping up a small courtyard. They henshin to take them on.

While Sena is running, the support gear suggests she increase her pace. Sena thinks that’s a great idea. Back at the track, Miki-san senses something evil lurking. And sure enough, Yodonna and Garuza appear.

Suddenly, the device tells Sena that she must maintain a pace of 15km/h or it will explode. Sena tries calling Miki-san and Natsume, but they are not responding. A Jamenshi shoots a yellow glue onto the buckle of the support gear so Sena cannot remove it. She has no choice but to keep the faster pace.

The other Kiramagers take care of the Bechats, but the Jamenshi appears and shoots glue at them. This isn’t the same Glue Jamen the Kiramagers faced before, but his brother Super Glue Jamen. And the stronger paste has the Kiramagers stuck and unable to move. That allows the Jamenshi to mercilessly attack them.

Sena still cannot contact the mother and daughter. Whenever her pace falls dangerous close to the borderline, it zaps her and she must run faster. That is even as she has to overcome several obstacles along the way without stopping.

Sena is finally able to reach Miki-san who tells her that they are tracking her movements from here. Sena asks if something’s happened on their end, but Miki-san says it’s only “some zowazowa.”

Zowazowa, as Juuru correctly guessed earlier, refers to a monstrous villain. And in this case are Yodonna and Garuza.

Garuza has taken Natsume hostage and forced Miki-san to tell Sena to keep running until she gives up. This is all part of Yodonna’s experiment to study human endurance.

Yodonna says in addition to turning the support gear into a bomb, it can’t be removed until Super Glue Jamen is destroyed. Yodonna laughs, but that gives Miki-san an opening.

Miki-san charges toward Garuza and gets him to let go of Natsume. Garuza is surprised and realizes Miki-san is not just some corporate suit.

Garuza acknowledges her skills as a martial artist, but believes she is no match for him. She engages Garuza once again and tells Natsume to hurry and save the kyuikyui. Yodonna doesn’t chase after her and instead is focused on monitoring the experiment.

Muryou calls Sena’s Changer to tell her to help the others. Natsume takes the location and hurries over.

The Kiramagers are struggling bad. Juuru calls Kiraful Go Arrow, but Super Glue Jamen shoots at it and it gets stuck to a bicycle and buried under rubble.

Natsume arrives and Super Glue Jamen shoots at her too. But Natsume manages to dodge all the glue shots using her dance experience.

Sena starts to think about what might be happening. Yodonna forces Miki-san to increase the pace again. Miki-san informs Sena of the zowazowa increase in pace and tells her to head to “moramora” for the explosion.

Sena tries to decipher what the Jan-go words mean and she finally figures it out. She runs quickly toward a tunnel. The drone is unable to follow inside and suddenly, an explosion!

Yodonna, Garuza and Miki-san head to the explosion site and find the support gear in pieces. Yodonna believes Sena is dead.

But she is not. Sena defiantly walks out of the smoke-filled tunnel and says she would never give up. Yodonna asks how she is alive.

Just then, the others arrive with Natsume and they are all safe and sound.

Sena explains that she finally understood that Miki-san and Natsume were captured by Yodon and that she needed to head to a tunnel where the drone could not follow her.

Yodonna says that’s a bit of hopeful extrapolation. But Juuru goes on to explain that Natsume told them of Sena’s situation. Natsume was able to roll the bicycle Kiraful Go Arrow was stuck to over to them. And with it, the Kiramagers were able to uphenshin and shoot a Sparkling Phoenix at the Jamenshi to finish it off. That released them from the glue as well as the support gear from Sena.

Sena had grabbed the support gear and threw it away before it exploded.

Sena says she was sure her friends would come to help her. Yodonna scoffs at the idea of friendship. But Miki-san says it’s because their friendship is nikiniki.

Natsume hands Sena her Changer and says they should show Yodonna what it’s like when people don’t give up.

Sena henshins and Kiraful uphenshins before shooting a Lightning Meteor attack at Yodonna. Garuza shields Yodonna from it and they get thrown back. Garuza declares this experiment over and he whisks Yodonna away.

Carantula sends over Super Glue Shellga. Juuru and Sena hop into King Express Zabyun while Takamichi helps out in Gigant Driller. Before they can deliver a finisher, Mach flies in with a Mach Tornado Attack, finishes off the Jamenju by himself.

Mach is sad that Sena did not rely on her today.

Back at the track, Sena is able to break the record. She tells Natsume that she finally understands how important nikiniki is. Nikiniki is thinking positively, always looking forward with lots of energy, being able to trust in others and enjoying the beautiful world.

Miki-san and Natsume smile and agree. Juuru and Takamichi are amazed Sena was able to get all of that from one Jan-go word.

But Sena is sure to take that nikiniki with her as she runs forward.

Episode Thoughts

Now that’s how you do a crossover/tribute! (Other shows take note!) I never even watched Gekiranger, but I felt so nostalgic and hyped to see Miki and Natsume Masaki guest star on the show!

Really though, the episode did a great job for uncultured people like me who haven’t seen Gekiranger in introducing these characters and immediately caring about them and what they represent. I got who they were, they were immediately likeable and they were fun as both veterans of the franchise and as part of this episode’s plot.

I think I remember encountering Janspeak once, maybe in Gokaiger. But I can’t even imagine how it must be like hearing that all season lol

For an episode, it was alright. And it went along with the positive message of the episode.

Kind of funny though how just a week or two ago, the show was talking about not surpassing your limits. And here, they basically say that you should never give up even if it feels like you’re at your limits. Uh… way to present some conflicting lessons there Kiramager! lol

But it was definitely a great Sena-focus episode. I wonder if the story would mean even more to someone who watched Gekiranger in terms of never giving up and nikiniki and all that. But as a Kiramager-only viewer, it all still made sense and was very meaningful.

Sena was feeling a little burnout with her running. And she would be able to overcome that by believing in herself and her friends and thinking positively. Simple message, but effectively done here.

I don’t know if there’s a specific reason they did a Gekiranger-tribute of sorts here. I only just now found out that the SCRTC logo was on Sena’s uniform the entire time. So it was a nice Easter egg that turned into a wonderful guest starring role.

Sentai does these things very well. And I think it owes a lot to Sentai not really caring about continuity and fans understanding that continuity isn’t something to nitpick about. lol

But I would love to see supporting characters from the past pop up randomly. Like, how is Nozuma doing these days? He must be in college now or something. And how is Wagon doing as the conductor on the Rainbow Line? (Still hoping for a huge kirakira Kiramager–ToQger crossover!)

Elsewhere, this was definitely an awesome use of the Toei drones.

And it’s very interesting to see Garuza now almost like a subordinate to Yodonna. Hope they do more with that dynamic in the coming episodes.

Overall, this was a wonderful episode. A great crossover and a great story on its own. Only positivity here on Kiramager!