Grand Delusion! Yes, supplementing our ‘official’ Sentai coverage, the GLORIO crew will also be taking a sideways step into the second season of comedy spoof/knockoff/homage/whatever Unofficial Sentai Akibaranger! Given trying to accurately summarise the first season is nigh on impossible, we’ll be assuming a certain amount of familiarity if you’re coming in at this point. And remember, good boys and girls shouldn’t be watching this show, okay?

Unofficial Recap: 9 months after events that bear a passing resemblance to Season 1, Nobuo Akagi returns to cafe Secret Base to reminisce about his adventures…

Aqua’s Thoughts: They’re back! When a second season of Unofficial Sentai Akibaranger was announced, many people wondered how they would write around the incredibly meta last quarter of the first (and clearly intended to be only) season. The answer is the easiest way out: by simply not acknowledging it. Season 2 of of Akibaranger takes place in an alternate universe, where the show’s writers never tried to retool it. Hakase’s father never became Doctor Z and the Akibarangers never managed to become heroes in the real world. This results in a confusing first half of the episode, in which Nobuo and Hakase essentially talk their way through a clip show, with random events from last season being shown in a different order. When some of their memories begin to outright contradict the first season, however, you know this is not your average clip show. Nevertheless, it is not very exciting to watch.

This all changes when the second half rolls around, however. Nobuo reveals the Akibarangers recently managed to beat their arch-nemesis Malshina with some help from the official Jetman, Dekaranger and Boukenger teams. In an awesome and hilarious battle, the Akibarangers team up with their idols and their, uhm, giant robot to fight all the monsters they fought throughout season 1, and save Akihabara from being usurped by the other districts of Tokyo. However, at the end it is revealed that Mitsuki got recruited by the Pentagon (instead of Nobuo in season 1) and decided to leave the team. While we knew she would not be around for this second season, preferring to pursue other interests, it is nice to see Kyoko Hinami show up for a few brief scenes nonetheless. That said, could she not at least cut her hair? In the scene showing her being recruited by the Pentagon, she can still be seen with short hair in the footage recycled from season 1, whereas she has long hair in the new bits!

My feelings about this episode are very ambivalent. While the second half was amongst the most badass and hilarious Akibaranger has ever produced, the clip show at the beginning was the absolute worst way to get people pumped for this new season. Why didn’t they try to explain what preceded this alternate reality in a more creative way? How awesome would it have been if they had done it using action figures! Nevertheless, failure and hilarity going hand in hand has pretty much become a series staple for Akibaranger by now, and the big twist at the end of the episode sure makes for an intriguing lead into this new season. For how much longer will we be able to call this show UNofficial Sentai Akibaranger?

Random Delusions

• Z-Cune Aoi is getting two recap films and one all-new one, hmm? Where have I seen that before?
• While it is awesome to see the Akibarangers teaming up with three full teams, role call and all, it is rather obvious they only got five suit actors, as the three ‘official’ teams are never seen alongside each other.
• Kozkoz, the adorable waitress/cosplayer/dancer at Secret Base café, seems to be cosplaying as male Sentai characters in this season. In the this episode, we can see her dressing up as ShinkenRed… with an apron.
• They cut the new AkibaBlue out of the opening credits in a pretty fun way, but then ruin it by showing her in the ending credits.
• Yumeria’s story about Mitsuki using her sex appeal to beat a monster might just be a reference to what Kyoko Hinami has been doing since Akibaranger, as evidenced here. (Zigg’s note- How was I not aware of this?!)
• I wonder what the story is behing Dairanger being the show getting the shaft in favour of Akibaranger. My best guess is that it may not “exist” because the Dairangers were the only team that never got a Power Rangers equivalent, but I have no idea what the heck that would have to do with Akibaranger.

Zigg’s Thoughts: Confession time – While I greatly admired Akibaranger’s inventive mix of comedy, spoof and loving tribute, I never fell in love with the show in the same way many others did. In particular, I found the exceptionally post-modern and deconstructionist tone of the last third of the series a little bit clumsy and self indulgent. It’s something of a refreshing surprise then to discover that officially (unofficially?) none of that stuff happened.

What’s not such a refreshing surprise is that essentially the first half of our season premiere is a clip show. Now, granted, it’s a clever and interesting way to explain how the timeline has diverged, and they mix up the sequence of events just about enough to keep it interesting. But come on guys, a season premiere is meant to be a best foot forward affair, and using a bunch of clips that we’ve already seen is poor form. Yes, there has to be some exposition to make the very existence of the series possible, but as Aqua suggested, why not turn it into a joke? Use comic panels, or cardboard cutouts, or action figures, just don’t resort to cheapo stock footage.Of course, the cheapness is why it’s being used in the first place, but it’s still a bummer.

Having said that, at least this was a plain and simple way of getting the important plot related ramblings out of the way, and there are some cool moments where it toys with your expectations, like when creepy paedo guy turns out to be Deluknight or when it’s Mitsuki approached by the Pentagon (rather than Akagi as it was in the original). Moegi’s delusions of sexy bikini Mitsuki is a pretty good out of nowhere joke to cover a plot gap and the fact that the production was able to get Kyoko Hinami in to shoot some new footage helps smooth the transition nicely.

The big draw here though is absolutely the brand new final showdown between Deluknight and his commanders and the Akibarangers. The show again shoots itself in the foot by using some of this footage to open, accompanied by an incredibly annoying crappy playback effect that’s just not bad enough to be funny, but the fight itself is neat enough that when we finally do see it much can be forgiven. I actually feel the choreography is rather lacking here, a rarity for Toei, but it’s compensated for by the presence of three full Sentai teams, plus a ton of silly jokes and surreal moments.

None of this though can match up to the car crash majesty of the ‘giant robot’ fight, which has to be seen to be believed. I laughed almost continuously through this, and it’s filled with glorious moments, like the mecha actor picking up the Machine Ittasha and it ‘attacking him’ (read: he hits himself in the face) or the completely stupid ending. It’s exactly the sort of rubbishy, sly self-aware comedy I want the show to major in, and it’s the undoubted high point of this episode.

Ultimately, given this is a recap, there’s not too much to say plotwise, but it does successfully re-establish the tone of the show and the twist at the end is absolutely glorious (helped by crazy otaku guy). I think you’d be naive to believe that the decanonized events of Season 1 won’t eventually pop up as part of some sort of meta-plot, but for now it looks like our delusion is headed in an exciting new direction.

Random Delusions

• Also pretty funny – the co-ordinated action figure attack at the beginning. Plus, any excuse to play those rad Jetman and Dekaranger themes again.
• The long-haired Mitsuki is such an obvious continuity flub it can’t be anything but deliberate. I think it’s pretty amusing myself.
• How did Mitsuki use her sexy cosplay to overcome the one villain who’s gay?
• I’m reminded Karin Ogino is an uncannily good crossdresser.
• The barely half finished OP is a great joke which becomes less funny when you realise they’re going to sell that thing as a single.
• There are a few hints to the unseen events of season 1 – Hakase’s father is still described as being the creator of Z Cune Aoi and we also hear the voice of Dr Z. However, Nobuo doesn’t know Hakase is the voice of Aoi.
• As ever, we’re relying on the fine fellows at Over-Time for our subs. They’re the best out there.

• UPDATE: I cannot believe I missed this the first time round, but crazy Otaku guy is played by Yuu Kamio, better known as Doctor Maki from Kamen Rider OOO. He even has a doll on his arm!