Recap: Bakuage Sentai Boonboomger, Episode 20 – Yesterday Once More

Shashiro wonders what Sakito and Byundi are up to as they go around town promoting their new Fixer service.

Meanwhile, Mira’s ex-boyfriend Norio is crying and upset about how he lost Mira to those Boonboomger guys. The General3, who are working at this restaurant for some reason, try to cheer him up. But Cannonborg comes out of the kitchen and says Norio should take back what was stolen from him.

Cannonborg keys in a bowl to bring about Owan Guruma. And he also has a new invention. He hands Norio a steering wheel which can control the Kurumaju.

Back at the garage, BunBun serves an exhausted Mira some curry after she gets off work. But she immediately gets a call for an extra evening shift. She decides to ignore her tiredness and fills up on curry before heading out.

Just then, Jou calls them to report a Kurumaju on the loose. The Boonbooms hurry out and are surprised when the Kurumaju calls out looking for Mira. They quickly henshin.

As Norio controls the Kurumaju, it manages to capture a distracted Mira in one of his shoulder bowls. As the guys try to fight it off, Taiya realizes that it is being controlled remotely.

The guys are able to shoot the bowl Mira is in off the Kurumaju’s shoulder. But it is sealed shut because of how hot the soup is compared to the outside temperature.

Sakito arrives and sees Norio with the wheel. Taiya jumps in and Norio recognizes him. Norio says Mira easily gets sidetracked and it is Taiya and the Boonboomgers’ fault that they are no longer together.

Norio flashes back to happier times with Mira. One time in high school, he helped her finish a project she had taken over when others got sick. Another time, he had proposed to Mira and said she’d be coming with him to New York.

But Taiya says when you take the wheel for someone else, you become careless with your own. Norio demands Taiya return Mira to him. Taiya grabs Norio as he waves the wheel around.

Inside the bowl which is back on the Kurumaju’s shoulder, Mira snaps out of her miso-induced stupor and tries to fight her way out. Norio sees her fighting back and says he has never seen her like this before.

Norio says he just wanted to have Mira come back to him. All he wanted was for her to come back to him. Just then, the gassholin he produces fills the wheel and it overloads, causing it to explode.

The Kurumaju tries to shoot at Norio, but Sakito steps in and counters the attack, sending the Kurumaju back. Sakito asks Norio how it feels to take Mira’s wheel only for the Hashiryans to take his.

Sakito offers to clean this up. He henshins and takes on the Kurumaju. Sakito uses Byunbyun Gatling to shoot the bowl off of the Kurumaju’s shoulder.

Shashiro picks the bowl up and uses a trick, applying pressure to two ends of the bowl in order to release air and allow the cover to be taken off.

That frees Mira and she is very Bakuage as she dropkicks and wheels at the Kurumaju. Norio can’t believe it as he has never seen Mira like this. She had never shown this side of her. Taiya says no matter what, once you grab the wheel, you don’t let go. That’s Mira.

Flashing back to high school, Norio realizes Mira has been like this the whole time. He just didn’t see or take notice of Mira’s self-driving skills before. But he understands now.

Mira and Sakito work together, kinda, to deliver a pair of finishers at the Kurumaju. Yaruka embiggens the Kurumaju. The Boonbooms hop into Boonboomger Robo Builder. Sakito and Byundi join them as well. And together, while Norio proudly watches, they finish off the Kurumaju for good.

Later, Taiya drives Norio to the airport. Norio says it’s okay that he didn’t see Mira before leaving. He understands how kind-hearted Mira is and can get swept up in things. And once she makes up her mind, there’s no stopping her. That’s actually what he liked about her in the first place.

Episode Thoughts

As this episode played out, I didn’t know what to expect from it. But what a pleasant surprise it turned out to be.

This was a wonderful story about taking the wheel told through Mira and Norio’s relationship. And of course, by taking the wheel, it refers to being able to be yourself and make your own decisions. Things like that. The very first episode was centered around Mira taking that wheel and joining the Boonboomgers.

And it was great having this episode pick that back up. Not only to give us some insight into pre-Boonboom Mira, but also further the idea of being able to forge your own path. And allowing others to do the same. There’s nothing wrong with being a part of each other’s journey, but it’s nice to take turns at the wheel during the trip, yes? hehe.

After the first episode, I thought Norio would just be some one-off throwaway character. But the show really did a great job filling in his character here as well. Of course, it was to also help Mira’s character filling and development. But the show did more to develop his character in this episode than other Sentai and Kamen Rider seasons do for their characters during an entire year. (oop! lol)

His realization during this episode was well-thought out and very much made sense. Especially in the context of Mira’s character and on one of the season’s overall themes. I’d love to see him come back in the future maybe.

For Mira, the episode also showed that even while seemingly carefree and even goofy sometimes, she really is a kindhearted person. Someone who is driven (hoho! Lol) and still learning how to be a stronger and more confident person.

I think it’s all very subtle, but also very meaningful and impactful too.

Something Boonboomger seems to do quite well overall in these 20 episodes so far. Just another wonderful treat of an episode.

Also, I guess I fast forwarded through the opening credits the last few weeks because it’s the first time I saw this cute shot of the Boonbooms:

Love this squad!