Recap: Mashin Sentai Kiramager, Episode 44 – Rest in Peace, My Friend

Mabushina and Muryou welcome the Kiramagers back to the coconut tree. Muryou tells them Takamichi sustained injuries battling Garuza and is in the medical ward.

But Mabushina, Muryou and the Mashins are shocked when the Kiramagers and Oradin inform them of Juuru’s death. Oradin says Juuru having been able to connect with Garuza exemplifies his pure heart. But he feels responsible for not being able to save him.

Fire refuses to believe it.

Over in Yodonheim, Carantula walks the barren wasteland thinking about how not a single person who has defied the Emperor has lived to talk about it. He refuses to be the same and has a plan to ensure it.

Meanwhile, Yodonna briefly mourns the death of foolish Garuza. But she can’t do anything about him not being as loyal as her. The Emperor contacts her and says they will now retrieve the other three Kanaema Stones.

Yodonna says the Kiramagers will no doubt do all they can to protect them. But Emperor Yodon says they will simply take the Stones by force and proceed to subjugate the entire universe. He tells Yodonna to leave the Illusia Kanaema Stone behind so as to keep it safe from the Kiramagers.

Back in the Operations Room, the Kiramagers mourn Juuru’s death. But Shiguru says they must set aside their grief for the moment in order to focus on protecting the Kanaema Stones from the Emperor. Sayo agrees. Sena gets up and points to Tametomo to present a plan for them to enact. And he has one.

Tametomo says they must use the powers of each Kanaema Stone in order to counter Emperor Yodon’s sheer power. He suggests the king imprison the Emperor, but Oradin is unsure if he’s strong enough to do so.

Tametomo says that’s where the Energia Kanaema Stone comes in. They can use it to amplify the king’s power. The others get the idea. They can then use the Destoria Kanaema Stone to smash the petrified emperor.

Muryou has been working on a new device that can use the Reversia Kanaema Stone, but he needs to finish up its firmware.

Tametomo looks through footage of Yodonna and realizes just what they need to do.

Just then, the alarm sounds to alert them to Emperor Yodon having arrived. Tametomo says Shiguru and Sayo will take Grateful Phoenix while he and Sena hop into Kiramaizin. But the Mashins notice Fire does not seem to be in a state in which he can fight. Because of that, Tametomo and Sena will hop into King Express Zabyun instead.

Mabushina notices Fire mumbling to himself.

Emperor Yodon is laying waste to downtown Tokyo while Mizuki and the other Bechat people are stumbling about adding to the destruction.

The emperor demands the Kiramagers hand over the Kanaema Stones. Tametomo and Sena in King Express engage the Emperor while they begin their plan. Sayo uses Energia to amplify King Oradin’s power as he shoots directly at the Emperor.

Emperor Yodon is able to repel the attack. Muryou calls to say he’s uploaded the firmware for the Reversia adapter.

Tametomo activates it and tells the Reversia Kanaema Stone to revert Emperor Yodon to his form ten days ago at 7:23pm. This reverts Emperor Yodon to Yodonna’s body, as Tametomo had seen earlier in the footage.

That allows King Oradin to successfully petrify Yodonna. Shiguru hops down with the Destoria Stone and charges toward the slab. But he stops in his tracks when it begins to crack on its own.

Emperor Yodon realizes what the Kiramagers are planning and knows the only way to get out of this situation is to kill Yodonna.

Emperor Yodon slashes at her several times. If she’s dead, the seal will be broken. A bleeding Yodonna cannot believe he would do this to her.

“Did you ever love me?!”

Emperor Yodon says the only thing he loves is himself.

Yodonna begins to unconsciously cry and wonders if this is the right time to do so. Emperor Yodon says she should be happy and joyfully laughing since she will be dying in service to him.

Yodonna goes up in blue flames. And her demise allows the Emperor to break free of the stone slab. Shiguru gets thrown back and is forced to downhenshin from Go Kiraful.

The Emperor embiggens back to his original size and mocks the Kiramagers for their well-thought-out plan failing.

Mabushina and Muryou watch in horror as the Emperor slashes at both King Express and Grateful Phoenix.

Takamichi watches from his hospital bed.

The Kiramagers are struggling hopelessly against the Emperor. Even as Sena and Zabyun are able to find that Emperor Yodon’s weakness is his true face under the mask, the mask is made of the hardest material in the universe and is indestructible.

Emperor Yodon delivers one decisive attack that forces the Kiramagers to get ejected and the Mashin to separate and get thrown all over the city.

Just then, Takamichi arrives in Gigant Driller and attempts to pummel the Emperor with all he’s got. He is able to slice off one of Emperor Yodon’s arms.

Back at the coconut tree, the Mashins say they need to deploy and help the others. But they see Fire is still not in his right mind so they decide to go ahead without him for now.

Mabushina asks them to wait a moment. She tells Fire that she knows he believes Juuru is still alive and that he has been calling out to him all this time. Fire admits that he has been trying to keep Juuru updated so that he can jump right in as soon as he arrives.

Mabushina is hopeful that Juuru has replied to Fire. However, even though Fire hasn’t heard a single reply, he believes he must be alive. He slowly starts to question that belief himself.

Mabushina says she understands what Fire is feeling. But for now, she asks Fire to join the others and help fulfill Juuru’s wish to save the world.

Fire agrees and the Mashin deploy.

Meanwhile, Takamichi is shocked when Emperor Yodon shows he can regenerate. The Emperor slashes at Gigant Driller. But the Mashins finally arrive and are fired up. They combine into Kiramaizin and the Kiramagers hop in.

But before the Kiramagers, Kiramaizin and Takamichi in Gigant Driller can even attempt to deliver their strongest attacks, the Emperor delivers a Yodon Destroyer attack at them.

The Kiramagers get thrown onto their backs.

Emperor Yodon begins to summon a giant ball of energy, his decisive finisher.

But before the Emperor can unleash it, he gets shot at from the back and he explodes under the weight of the huge energy.

The Kiramagers are shocked when Smog Jouki comes barreling out of the black smoke. It speeds past a rooftop and drops off…

Juuru!

Everyone is shocked to see their friend alive and well. They hurry down to the rooftop.

The emotional Kiramagers and especially Fire welcome Juuru back home.

Juuru says he heard Fire the entire time and knew they were all fighting hard while he was gone. He explains that he did answer Fire’s messages, but they must not have gotten through.

Juuru explains that Garuza saved him. Before Emperor Yodon killed him, Garuza vowed to forge the purpose of his life starting at that very moment. He gave up his body and transferred his consciousness to Smog Jouki. When Juuru fell into the crevice, Garuza picked him up in the train.

Juuru is surprised to see he is alive. But Garuza says he won’t be lasting much longer. He tells Juuru that he needs to live for his sake. Juuru must continue drawing and shining.

Garuza tells Smog Jouki to work with Juuru from now on.

Before he dies, Garuza asks Juuru to tell Oradin that he hopes they can be brothers on better terms in their next lives.

Juuru says he believes Garuza wanted to pass his wishes onto him by being able to go on living after he saves him. And doing so would give Garuza’s life meaning.

Oradin says he is proud of his brother.

Shiguru asks what took Juuru so long then.

Carantula hops out of Smog Jouki.

Juuru goes on to explain that he decided to go look for the Illusia Kanaema Stone knowing that Emperor Yodon was on Earth. That’s when he found Carantula running through the wasteland holding it. Wanting to get out from under the Emperor, Carantula had taken the Stone himself to use as leverage.

Carantula says no one has defied the Emperor and lived to talk about it. Until now.

But more importantly, Carantula says he knows the Kiramagers are about to make their own history as well. He hands Illusia to Juuru.

Emperor Yodon is reviving. But the Kiramagers, now back together, are ready.

They henshin.

Episode Thoughts

I’m not crying, you’re crying!

Actually, I am crying. And I wouldn’t have it any other way. MaGMCM moments everywhere. An amazing episode and definitely one worthy of being a Penultimate episode on an amazing season.

As always, when the opening credits are omitted from an episode, you know it’s going to be a big one. And it certainly was.

What’s so good about it is that it was full of edge of your seat action. But all of it was supported by emotional, character-driven moments. Everything from the Kiramagers mourning Juuru to Yodonna’s shock when the Emperor murders her to them giving it all they’ve got to save the world to Garuza saving Juuru to the joyous reunion at the end, all of these moments are built upon the season’s character-driven foundation that has made it so good and engaging.

I don’t think the majority of these moments in this episode would work on a season that hasn’t properly built up these friendships and connections. All of these things aren’t simply big shock and awe moments thrown in because the show remembers the finale is next week. All of these moments are truly a culmination of a season’s worth of episodes. A true climactic finale event.

The stakes were obviously high. After “losing” Juuru, the Kiramagers had to push forward against the Emperor. We saw wonderful teamwork despite the odds. Tametomo again showing he is a strategic genius. It was a great plan, actually. But of course it’s not going to be easy going up against the Big Bad Final Boss.

Emperor Yodon has shown time and time again that he is truly evil. And him killing Yodonna like that is just another example. Such a brutal scene. Partly because Yodonna has been such a great character. But especially just the way the Emperor kills without a second thought. That shot of Yodonna with the blood out of her mouth. Insane!

Yodonna crying reminds me so much of Horobi, Jin and Izu crying on Zero-One too. They’re not supposed to cry! But the emotion was so great that they couldn’t help it. Of course, Yodonna has been learning all about humans. And little did we know her amusing “Is this the appropriate moment to laugh?” moments would culminate in her asking “Is this the appropriate moment to cry?” right before she dies. Perfect, emotional scene.

The mecha-Yodon battles were just amazing. The choreography (in those huge rubber suits!), the direction and of course the music all came together for some truly thrilling scenes. Definitely finale-level.

Garuza’s redemption has actually been great. It might be as simple as Emperor Yodon manipulating him and controlling his mind. But considering all that’s happened with the Crystalia Family and the scenes in these last few episodes of him coming to terms with what happened, it all works.

Though I would’ve loved to have seen Oradin, Mabushina, Takamichi and Garuza in a scene together face to face before he died, I did like what they did with that final message via Juuru. And just the fact that it was he who saved Juuru after them being essentially kindred spirits in the arts.

Mabushina comes through as the heart of the season again. Loved her scenes with Fire and the Mashins.

And of course, the final scene. When the theme song kicked in, so beautiful. Sentai and Kamen Rider really show why it is so important to have a distinct theme song. So they can be used in perfect moments like this one. It is the show’s identity. And many times, the songs are these huge, energetic and uplifting parts of the seasons. When they are used like this, it really drives home the emotions and the excitement of what should be resonant moments. And it was certainly resonant here.

I am so excited, but of course so sad that there’s only one episode of Kiramager left. Already, I can safely say it has truly become one of my all-time favorite seasons. And this episode was just one example of how and why that is.