Recap: Bakuage Sentai Boonboomger, Episode 25 – Six-Wheel Fireworks

The Boonbooms are all excited about the summer fireworks tonight. Sakito says he could hate everything about Earth, but never fireworks. Taiya suggests they should all go to enjoy them together, but Shashiro says he is not a fan of crowds. Genba offers to bring Shashiro some food from the festival and asks what he would like. Shashiro shyly says he would like a candy apple.

Meanwhile, seeing how little progress they’ve made with their gassholin-collection, Cannonborg decides it’s time they use “that”. The General3 are shocked that is has come to this point and ask if Cannonborg really plans to scrap this planet. Cannonborg zaps them to shut up since he is their commander.

The General3 call Cannonborg a coward, saying if he is the commander, then he should lead them and fight on the frontlines like MadRex instead of just hiding away. Hearing MadRex’s name annoys Cannonborg very much and recalls a moment in the past where Cannonborg scolded MadRex and declared that it was he who is the wisest, truest and strongest in the universe.

Back at the Garage, an alarm sounds and Investigator Shirabe alerts the Boonbooms to a large object approaching Earth. Sakito recognizes this object as Jackie Hoihoi, a weapon used to forcibly collect gassholin as it orbits around the planet. This is Cannonborg’s last resort and Byundi says it will leave Earth as a dead planet once it is done.

They only have 62 minutes until it arrives in Earth’s orbit. Taiya says the Cars are not capable of intercepting space enemies yet.

All they can do is find Cannonborg and stop him from sending the power-up signal to Jackie Hoihoi. Though they have never been able to track Cannonborg’s whereabouts, Mira, Jou, Sakito and Byundi hurry out and do what they can to try and find him anyway.

Taiya makes a call to buy a satellite and Genba heads out to secure it and its staff. With Investigator Shirabe’s help, Shashiro is able to alter the satellite’s path into a collision course with Jackie Hoihoi. Though the satellite makes impact, Jackie Hoihoi remains intact, undamaged and still in orbit.

Just then, Investigator Shirabe gets a call on the ISA emergency line.

The people of Earth begin to see Jackie Hoihoi in the sky and Cannonborg is about to start the gassholin collection process. But Sakito arrives and shoots at Cannonborg’s staff to stop him. The others run in to join Sakito as they were able to find Cannonborg thanks to help from the ISA. Cannonborg cannot believe it.

The Boonbooms henshin and roll cal. Cannonborg suddenly installs an receiver on the heads of the General3, allowing him to control their bodies and forcing them to fight the Boonbooms. He tells them to buy him some time until he can reboot Jackie Hoihoi.

With the Boonbooms needing to hold off the General3, Taiya tells Sakito that he is the fastest one who can go after Cannonborg. The Boonbooms all toss Sakito their weapons.

“The Earth is in your hands,” Taiya says. Sakito accepts this as a job and he runs to catch up to Cannonborg.

Cannonborg says if Sakito cleans him up, he will miss out on an ideal opportunity. Cannonborg offers Sakito a job. If Sakito can cleanup and defeat Hashiryan boss Waruido Spindo, then the two of them can have the entire universe in their hands.

Sakito rejects the job offer, saying what he wants is to be with the other Boonbooms to watch the fireworks. Cannonborg is enraged by Sakito’s defiance and he fights him.

Sakito says racing with the others is what makes him faster and stronger and more Bakuage. He tells Cannonborg to look around and see why he can’t keep up. Cannonborg calls him cocky just as Sakito is able to deliver a finisher.

As he absorbs the attack, Cannonborg flashes back to that moment with MadRex. MadRex had also said that Cannonborg will always be slow because he chooses to race alone.

Cannonborg curses everyone as he explodes. This releases the General3 from mind control.

The Boonbooms join Sakito and he fist bumps Taiya.

Just then, Cannonborg emerges from the flames. He triggers an emergency summoning device in Yaruka which causes him to fly into Cannonborg’s hand. He orders Yaruka to embiggen Dekotorade and Ittasha. But Yaruka is able to refuse and get himself out of Cannonborg’s grasp.

Cannonborg cannot believe this. Yaruka embiggens him instead and the General3 run off to leave him to fend for himself.

The Boonbooms hop into Boonboomger Robo and Byunbyun Mach Robo. But Cannonborg shields himself in a dome, repelling all the Boonbooms’ attacks, no matter what they try.

Cannonborg deactivates the dome and uses his tentacles to grab both Robos to slam them together. He declares once again that he is the wisest and strongest in the universe.

The Boonbooms feel defeated. But Taiya says this is not the limit of what they are capable of. The others agree. They summon all the Cars and they decide to combine all together.

The Boonboomgers initiate Bakuage Formation for the first time to bring about Boonboom FullThrottle Edition.

With their new combined power, they lock on and deliver a Bakuage Full Throttle Bazooka finisher. It breaks through the dome and right through Cannonborg, sending him into space. He gets slammed into Jackie Hoihoi and they both explode. Cannonborg is finally defeated.

That evening, the Boonbooms head up on a rooftop to celebrate the festival and wait for the fireworks. Genba has prepared a great set-up for them.

Watching the others, Taiya is with Shirabe when she wonders out loud why the ISA superiors knew of Cannonborg’s location.

As the others call them over, Shirabe says they shouldn’t think about it now and just enjoy the evening together instead.

The Boonbooms gather together and happily enjoy the fireworks together.

Episode Thoughts

A great episode! My only nitpick is that I didn’t really feel the gravity of the situation. Like, I feel it should’ve been a bit bigger or something. I dunno.

But that said, I think the episode was perfectly Boonboom. They delivered a strong episode in the most Boonboom way possible. And I think one of the season’s major themes is becoming very evident. That is the friendships and bonds that bring people together.

Of course, we can infer a lot into what Taiya and Sakito might have experienced growing up. Even what little we know about Shashiro’s own backstory. But this episode does a great job of showing the Boonbooms and how much their relationships and bonds have grown in these 25 episodes so far.

First, that moment at the start of the episode where they were making plans for the fireworks and then their happy reaction to Shashiro shyly requesting a candy apple. It is so simple, yet means so much with regards to the characters and their own development. But especially for their relationships and the overall dynamic of the characters. Which in turn helps to support the plot developments that will come about.

Then there’s Sakito’s moment with Cannonborg which was wonderful. Whatever issues he might have with Earth and his potentially painful past, he is living in the present now. And is happy to be with his new friends.

In the last week, the Twitters was momentarily filled with debates regarding “Japanese Power Rangers” going hard. So I immediately thought of that during Sakito’s battle with Cannonborg because it was so exciting and dynamic. Really great action in that sequence. And a great, current example of the so-called Japanese Power Rangers going hard once again! The debut of the new song was really awesome as well.

From a story standpoint, having Sakito be the one taking care of Cannonborg’s first life is of course fitting considering how Sakito came to return to Earth after seemingly denouncing it all these years.

So Sakito shooting down Cannonborg’s job and confidently declaring his desire to be with his new friends was a wonderfully satisfying landmark moment in his story for the season.

This emerging theme applies to our General3 as well. I’ve mentioned how even if Dekotorade, Ittasha and Yaruka can be quite ruthless themselves, their relationship and bond is very real. They care about each other, probably over anything else. And that is such a refreshing dynamic to have on the villain side of the story.

It’s no coincidence that MadRex played prominently in Cannonborg’s farewell episode. Especially after we see that flashback between the two of them. Cannonborg going at it alone of course contrasts directly with the idea of coming together as a team. And so this was the perfect story and plot for the episode in which we see the Boonbooms and all the Cars come together for the first time. (And Full Throttle Edition is very cool looking!)

You are able to go even more full throttle bakuage when you are together rather than when you’re apart. A simple, yet familiar Super Sentai theme. And depicted so well in this episode.

Meanwhile, I really liked how this episode introduced Shirabe beginning to doubt her superiors at the ISA. It appears it is set up for next week. But I think it is also a great way to further forge that connection between Shirabe and the Boonbooms as well. And again, all coming back to that theme of friendships, relationships and bonds.

A great character-driven climactic episode!

Overall, another really great episode of Boonboomger. This season knows what it wants to do and it has consistently done it well. It is so fun and exciting to see week after week!