1st episode, 転身だアアツ, TENSHINDAAA!
A boy stands in a strangely quiet area, playing with a yoyo and singing a song. すきです、すきです、こころから。あいしていますよと。あまいことばのうらには、ひとりがらしの さみしさ。長渕毅 "suki desu suki desu kokoro kara, aishite imasuyoto, amai kotoba no urani(w)ha hitori garashino samishisa". The song is by Tsuyoshi Nagabuchi, by the way. A young man, Ryo, rides a bicycle carrying boxes on its back to the restaurant at which he works. He is sent out with the garbage promptly upon return, and a strange man wearing dark glasses watches him go by. Ryo sees and hears the strange boy playing with a yoyo and stares at the odd sight, until someone on a bike bumps into him and the garbage goes flying. A little girl, Yumi, comes to help him pick it up, when a giant tentacle snatches her. He pursues, sees it drag her into the ground and then is chased away, terrified, as the thing goes for his face. It chases him through walkways and smashes through fences (he goes over). He hides in a car lot and sinks down in relief, then hears the boy singing the song again. He looks at the child, and at that moment the tentacle catches him. There is a burst of flame from the sky, he sees a dragon in the smoke, the tentacle releases him and a huge, red and gold dragon picks him up. The strange man with the dark glasses watches all this.
Ryo regains consciousness in a peculiar room. There are computer terminals set about, glowing balls hanging from the ceiling and a giant hourglass. He sees a door swing shut with a creak and runs to it. Looking into the next room, he sees a number of colored motorcycles. The red one drives at him and he flees, up a staircase. He finds himself on the street outside the Tokyo train station. As he is staring about in fright, a thin young man stares back at him, then starts purposefully towards him. Frightened he turns, only to see another strange young man, this one in a handsome blue suit, come up from the subway entrance. Then a third in sports clothes comes around the corner. They take him back to the room. The first one shoves him inside. At last he speaks. "Who are you people? What's the meaning of this?"
(paraphrase)And then the strange man turns around and says with quiet dignity, "My name is Kaku. I saw you that time. You have another destiny than the one you expected. You have to fight the Gohma." To Ryo's astonished question, he says, "6000 years ago they attacked. Now they're back, and we must fight them. You have the power and so it is your responsibility, as well." Ryo cannot swallow what he is hearing. "I don't have any power!" Kaku can only demonstrate. He turns and gathers his ki, then flings a blast of wind at Ryo. Sank against a box, the boy cringes when Kaku picks up a knife and sends it flying towards him, despite his terror he shifts aside at the last moment, and the blade embeds in the box right next to his face. The young man in the sports outfit is pleased with Ryo's speed and whistles, getting up and coming to him. He pulls out the blade, offers Ryo a hand up and introduces himself as Shouji. The man in the suit comes forward with a friendly smile. "I'm Kazu." The sullen young man stays on the other side of the room and says, "I'm Daigo." Kaku sits down and explains about the Dairanger and the Gohma, briefly. The need to fight them is immense, otherwise the world will die.
The world is a strange place, off in color and tone. A tall woman materializes on a train track. She turns and looks up, then smiles at the sight of the giant globes hovering over the city.
A plane launches, a young woman watches it go, then wistfully picks up her bag.
A plane launches, a young woman watches it go, then wistfully picks up her bag.
 Shaddam |  Zaidosu |
They manage to combine running with introductions and swift discussion about what's up. The Gohma minions surround them, and our heroes manage to snatch some of the bikes. A bunch of waiters run out from a restaurant, but they are Gohma and attack, separating our heroes. Ryo and Kazu manage to drop their pursuers, Daigo and Shouji cut off the ones after them and Rin. They think they're safe, but they crash together into a truck and then hear the mysterious boy singing. He approaches them, and then becomes a golden demon who identifies himself as "Himodanshaku" and sends out his tentacles to catch the heroes and toss them around. Painful introductions to walls ensue. It has them all up in the air and aims to stab Ryo, who sees it coming and remembers the incident with the blade. He catches the stabbing tentacle, and then leads the change into their battle armor. Having changed, to the shock of their enemies, they each announce themselves. Which fighter, what their name is, and they are the Dairanger! Ryo Tenkasei, Daigo Tengensei, Shouji Tenjuusei, Kazu Tenjisei, Rin Tenfuusei.
Well, Kimodanshaku is surprised, but not disheartened. "Come on, baby!" he challenges them. Together with the minions, the Kottopotero, he attacks. Our heroes pull out their battle staves and do a lovely job in this, their first battle. Ryo is caught by the tentacle, then does ki strengthening as he faces Himodanshaku alone. He is knocked down, but doesn't stop fighting. This is no easy win here. The demon throws our boy to the ground, having gotten his blades from him, but Ryo telekinetically pulls the weapons back and is able to do serious damage. The creature is disrupted, and the children it has swallowed up are released. Ryo greets a still-stunned Yumi with relief. But Himodanshaku is not finished yet. He blows himself up, and our heroes send the kids away.
Kaku is channeling power on the astral plane. He summons the dragon robot, and in a moment, Ryo follows suit. Ryuseiyo comes and Ryo jumps aboard his head. They swoop into the skies and head for Himodanshaku.
Episode 2, 気力だアアツ!! KIRYOKUDAAA!!
The dragon swoops through blasts of fire. Ryo jumps into the cockpit and is there when the dragon blows flame. He calls for a change, and the dragon forms its humanoid shape. The others join Ryo in the cockpit. The demon challenges. Punching, biting, as Ryo moves and kicks, so does the robot. The demon falls, with a dramatic reach upwards. It closes its single eye. They think they killed it, but it was just fooling. On its feet again, it catches them in a tentacle. Ryo calls out the staff and they break loose, use a spinning attack. In a blast of whirlwind fire they disorient the demon, and then smash through it with the staff.
An exasperated Zaidosu walks to the streets with a bag. He dumps out its contents, the wallet demon. Shouji is training at the boxing gym, with a young boy (Kenbo) cheering him on when he falls, blood seeping from a split lip. Afterwards, Kenbo leads him as he jogs. Worn out, he stops and flops down. The boy pulls ahead on the bicycle, and stops to admire a group of men playing basketball. 
One is exceptionally tall, and makes baskets easily. The ball is knocked flying, and Kenbo follows its path. He stops in surprise as the basketball turns and comes back, over his head into the arms of the tall player. "You aren't returning home," the man says, and turns the ball in his hands. It becomes a mask carved from a gourd and he throws it with a jump, as a basketball into a hoop. It envelops Kenbo's head and he falls, screaming. Shouji hears the cry and runs around the corner to see the strange, tall man running off with the boy in his arms. And then the man vanishes. Shouji stops in confusion and looks around, but then something hits him and sends him flying. He changes into battle armor and lands, spinning to turn the attack on the wallet critter, which then sends gourds flying at him, knocking him hither and yon. He uses his special attack blast, but the blue light is negated as a head flies at him. "Adios!" calls the creature, disappearing.
Ryo is putting away supplies when the signal comes. It is Rin calling, at base with Shouji and Doushi Kaku. Ryo says he will come. Kaku apologizes to a customer he must leave and takes off. Daigo is dozing while fishing at a man-made pond but leaves that. The boys arrive together and Doushi explains what they are facing. Rin pats Shouji's shoulder in sympathy as Doushi tells them none of them should face a monster alone. All are needed. Then he sends the others off to search for Kenbo. He keeps Shouji back, though. He takes the boy into a training room where heavy balls hang from the ceiling. Shouji says mournfully, "I'm no good. I couldn't even save Kenbo. He loves me like a big brother."
Kaku plays a video of the attack on Shouji and explains the weakness that allowed our boy to get beaten. It is not a matter of power to power, but a matter of learning ways around it. Then Kaku stops the video and moves to the side of the room. With a burst of ki he sets the balls whirling at Shouji, who cries out and ducks in surprise. Kaku leaves the boy alone to learn how to dodge.
Our other heroes, meanwhile, search for the missing boy. Rin passes a large phone booth, and the men inside step out and reveal themselves to be minions, who announce into a walkie talkie that Pink hamburger is approaching. A little boy is on his way home, passing under a bridge when a sound attracts his attention. He turns and the tall man appears, wicked and menacing. "You're never returning home," he says. The boy runs and the man throws the gourd. Rin hears the boy screaming and arrives in time to hear him calling for help even as he is taken away around a corner. She comes after him and rounds the corner, then the wallet demon grabs her! And Kaku asks of the other heroes, "She was KIDNAPPED?!" in incredulous shock.
The boys search desperately. Shouji finds Rin's earring. He sees a car with minions driving and pursues it. Gara and Shaddam are in the passenger seat. Gara says to close the window. Shaddam closes his eyes tiredly. Kazu, Daigo and Ryo get together on the street. Shouji continues to pursue the car and watches it drive up this huge gangplank into a cruise ship.
Minions are bringing flowers and decorations in to set a huge table. The villains arrive. Kaku hears from Shouji and tells him to stay put until the others join him. Shouji agrees and hunkers down, watching guardsmen patrol the walkways. He sneaks aboard, while his fellows ride their motorcycles to the ship.
The Saima sit at the table. The minions bring forward four children and Rin, all with their faces encased. The Saima extra-dimensional ships hover over the cruise ship, and cheering starts, led by Zaidosu. After a while Shaddam stands and demands silence to make a speech. "Listen! We haven't gone back, we've stayed here."
Gara interjects from her seat, calmly, "Thus we offer this sacrifice. To the Gohma."
Shouji hears the chanting and races upstairs. Caught in a cargo hold he fights off some minions. When silence falls, he hurries ever faster.
Gara draws Rin's chair up close, and a creature in a hockey mask, dressed in black with a scythe, comes up. He is about to slice and dice our girl, when Shouji arrives at the window and screams, "STOP!" Our boy smashes through the window and fights through the minions to the demon, blasting it away from the scythe and it proves to be the wallet monster. He slices apart the mask on Rin. To Shaddam's utter fury, the two fight together. Rin creates a whirlwind. Shouji slices the other kids' masks off and when Kenbo recognizes him, tells the boy to take off. Shaddam, Gara and Zaidosu proceed to trash Shouji and Rin, but before things can get too bad, the others arrive. The trio of villains vanishes, leaving only the wallet demon and minions to face the heroes. The wallet demon says "RUN!" as Shouji and Rin change. And the fight is joined outside of the ship.
Daigo uses his power of illusions, and the Gohma minions are hit by an illusory train. Kazu rewinds time for the minions he faces and blasts them when they're far enough away. Rin traps hers in a windstorm. And the demon goes after Shouji, thinking he is the weak link. But our young hero remembers what he learned from Kaku, and simply shifts slightly to let the attacks go by. He smashes the demon. Our heroes trap it between their staves and blast it. The poor guy screams, "Adios!" as it blows apart.
Shouji is jogging, Kenbo cheering him on and passes where Rin is watching him. He gives her back her earring and she thanks him, then watches with affectionate appreciation as he runs off with his "trainer", Kenbo.
3rd Episode, 魂ちょうだい! TAMASHIICHOUDAI!
Kazu, our vain hero, rides in his car, and then Shouji on a motorcycle pulls up beside him and teases him. The two begin to race, showing off their driving ability. They tear down a road, under a bridge.
A little girl, Kaori, walks with her brother, Masao, scolding him. Why did the teacher make him stand outside of class today? Exasperated with her mothering, Masao runs ahead of her and out into the street, only to see a car and motorcycle bearing down on him. He freezes in fear and Kazu and Shouji hit the brakes, swerving to a stop on either side of him. They jump off/out and go to the boy to ask if he's all right, but he only stares blankly. The two then start fighting, each blaming the other for such dangerous driving. Kaori shoves her way past them to her brother. To her he responds, nodding at her when she asks if he's okay. She turns to see the two young men and goes at them fiercely, "Idiots!" she shouts several times, whacking them. They are too astonished to do much. She gives them hell for such bad behavior and when they are starting to apologize, demands their names and addresses in case they've caused Masao any real damage. They are shocked. But they do.
That night, a man in dark clothing is going through the streets on rollerblades. Saying, "Key, key, key," he looks about. "Secret doors, doors that can't be opened... keys open them." His eyes fix on a house with open windows, and he smiles. 
Masao wakes to find this bizarre man standing over him. The man lifts his hand, indicating what he holds. "This is a key. I have a lot of keys. This key might be the one to open your soul's door." He drops his human face to show himself as a key demon, and pulls the blanket off Masao and opens him, then takes out his soul as a little ball. Kaori knocks on the door, attracted by the boy's startled cry. The demon vanishes away, and she comes in to see her brother, face white, eyes open and staring. She shakes him, calling him, but there is no response. Nobody's home but the chickens.
Kazu is arranging a lovely woman's hair, and she gives him a rather good tip, for which he apologizes (thanks, it's Japanese custom). Someone calls him to the phone and he recognizes the girl. At the hospital, Shouji and Kazu are trying to talk their way past Kaori's accusations as a doctor stands behind her. "It isn't our fault!!" She is sure it is, from the shock. Kazu asks of the doctor, but he says he does not think so. Several children have been brought in with this condition and they haven't a clue what's causing it. The girl is convinced it's yesterday, though. "You fix him!!" she demands of them, practically in tears.
They go outside, puzzling over this strange turn of events. Shouji accepts that it probably wasn't their fault, but what could it be? They do not notice something very small following them. They pass a car, whose door opens as the small thing slips inside, and then starts the car, pursuing Shouji and Kazu. Our boys jump halfway up a wall to keep from being hit. When the car backs up, Kazu dives into a garbage can and Shouji the other way. The car hits the wall and stops. Shouji yanks open the door. There is only a little, smiling gnome-doll sitting in the driver's seat. Shouji looks in the back seat, and the doll starts giggling. "You think I'm a doll!" it says, and then attacks, knocking a startled Shouji back. It flees, laughing. Kazu finally gets his head out of the garbage and so....
"BELIEVE ME!" Shouji begs the others back at base. Ryo has his doubts about this doll story and asks Kazu, who can only say with some sheepishness that he was stuck in the trash and did not see a thing. "Doesn't anyone believe me?" Shouji asks. Rin says someone might be playing some sort of trick on him with a remote control. Ryo says, "Even if it is a Gohma, if it's only a doll...." such sympathy. Hmmph. Rin says, "The two of you can figure this one out," and bends her head to look at something with Ryo. Kazu is somewhat offended by that remark.
Kaku leaves the room. Ryo decides to go, too, and invites Rin to tea. This leaves poor Shouji stuttering after them. He turns to sit down, angry, and Daigo stands up. "I'll help you. If only one of us thought it was weird, we all should think it was." He stands up, and a very relieved Shouji is thankful.
The key demon is rolling about, when the three Gohma appear. For all their outward calm, the demon is afraid of them. Zaidosu glares and demands what he's up to. Gara says coolly that he's supposed to be getting the souls, not turning his dolls loose. Shaddam adds that the Dairanger should be kept out of this, should not know early enough to do anything about it. Gara asks, "Do you understand?" The demon says it does.
Daigo, Kazu and Shouji are with Kaori, asking her if she's seen anything strange lately. Like a little doll moving by itself. Kazu points out to her a lot of kids have had the same thing happen to them. She glares at them, accusing them of trying to duck responsibility for Masao. It was YOU, she says. They've had enough, and Shouji and Kazu leave. Exasperated, she turns to find Daigo still there and he asks her gently what they did to Masao. She bites her lip, and they go off together. She tells him all about what happened, and he says he understands. They sit together on a bench and she crushes a tissue in her fingers, starting to weep. Her parents are on a business trip, leaving only her to care for the two of them. Daigo brushes her hair reassuringly, when he hears a child's cry. He jumps up and runs towards the noise.
The demon is removing another child's soul, under a bridge. It laughs and hears approaching people. Daigo sees it and rushes after it, Kaori right behind him, only to find they are facing homicidal dolls with fangs and meat cleavers, hovering in mid-air and attacking them. The dolls try to choke the girl, and she and Daigo fight them off. The dolls pin them, then others drive a car at them. Daigo pulls Kaori loose with him and the dolls all pile into the car. Laughing, they drive off.
Kazu and Shouji are eating together, frustrated with their failure to find out anything about these dolls. Daigo and Kaori are searching and find the car abandoned. He tells her to wait, but she says she wants to go with. He hesitates, then nods. They search and hear singing, little obnoxious voices. They follow the sound. There in a warehouse are many, many dolls and only some of them are animated and singing. The two searchers watch in astonishment as the demon, now in human face, strokes a Snow White-like doll, telling it how beautiful it is. He reaches into a bag and pulls out a child's soul ball, he inputs it into the doll, which comes to life and announces with happy giggles, "I want to have fun doing bad things!" Daigo gasps, and the demon turns and sees him.
The dolls catch the pair and shove them into the warehouse, where Daigo demands to know what the demon is up to. The demon happily explains and says they'll just take Daigo and Kaori's souls, too. Daigo launches himself at the demon. The dolls duck out of the fight area, but our young hero is no match for the demon alone. It goes into monster form, and so Daigo changes into battle armor and they fight. He is getting knocked pretty badly, the demon is a tough creature. It catches Daigo and throws him out of the warehouse, so they fight more in the open. Our hero hears Kaori crying for help and sees her running from a crowd of minions. Frantic, he calls for help. Kaku hears him and signals the others.
The girl falls and is surrounded by minions. Daigo gets away from the demon to join Kaori and try to get the minions away from her. He clears a spot, but then the three Gohma arrive and Gara gets first smack of Daigo, drops him at Zaidosu's feet. The minions pin our boy, but the Key demon calls out, "Look, you Dairanger!!" He is up a gravel pile with Kaori struggling in his arms. The three leaders laugh and vanish, to reappear up near the demon. And it opens Kaori with a key and takes out her soul, then pushes her off the edge. Daigo gets free and catches the falling girl in his arms. Just then, the other heroes arrive. The demon and three laugh at them, then vanish.
Daigo is left out of armor with the comatose girl. His teammates come to him. He sets the girl down gently, after a moment he turns and punches Daigo and Kazu with fierce fury. "Where the hell were you when I needed you!" Shouji might have responded angrily, but Kazu cannot meet Daigo's eyes. None of them can look at him very well. He glares at them all for a moment, then gathers Kaori up. She is so lifeless. He takes her to safety, ignoring his teammates.
4th Episode, 俺たち甘いザ!! ORETACHIAMAIZA!!
Kaku gazed in disappointment at the group. "I thought you would all work together on this, when Shouji was first attacked. I didn't think I had to say anything. You can't fight them alone. You have to believe each other. The Gohma think you're just little chicks. Just one mistake at the wrong time and you'll be gutted! Who will save the world then?!"
Distressed, Shouji interrupted, "But can we actually fight them? We aren't powerful enough! Yesterday we were just ordinary humans! Today we still don't know much about the Gohma!"
Rin added, "He's right. There must be better people than us to fight them."
Kazu cut in firmly, "I don't think that's true. We just need more practice."
Ryo said, "Yeah, we have to practice. We haven't been able to use our powers that much, right?"
Daigo had difficulty looking at his fellows. Kaku said, "I understand." He left the platform at their center. "I don't have anything to teach you." He left the room. Ryo called after him and sat down in frustration.
"You can die," Daigo said suddenly. Startled, they looked at him and he turned and glared around at them. "You can die with everyone else!" he snapped, and fled the room.
He went to the hospital, to the room where Kaori lay in a hospital bed next to her brother's, eyes staring blankly. Washing dishes, Ryo was too miserable to pay much attention and a dish slipped through his hands. His co-workers placed no significance on this as his boss sharply complained, "Every day you break dishes!" As Ryo knelt, cleaning them up, he apologized, remembering Kaku's words about believing in each other. Rin similarly was thinking of his words.
Kazu and Shouji were eating together, and Kazu said he was worrying about the kids, but there was really nothing they could do. "Well, see you." He got up to leave. But Shouji caught sight of something alarming and called him back. There was a doll going by on a skateboard. It looked at them, mocked them and went on. Furious, the pair rushed out of the restaurant. A stunned waitress at another restaurant turned to find the little doll demanding ramen. When she and the cook did not produce at once, a Santa doll with a small machine gun popped up. It began firing. Other diners around the city were interrupted by excited, menacing dolls who dropped into their midst and began gobbling up the food. A stunned man at the controls of a ride found himself under a gun and ordered to keep the roller coaster going. The Gohma dolls chased frightened patrons through an amusement park as Kazu and Shouji caught up with them.
The key demon laughed and delighted in his dolls' activities, as they ran down people on bikes, chased folks out of stores, stole children's toys and took their places on swings, started fires and other nasty acts. Shouji and Kazu eventually made it back to base to find Daigo and Kaku already there. Their eyes were closed and they were meditating. Stunned, Kazu and Shouji demanded to know why they were doing that and Kaku said, "Sit down." Rin and Ryo arrived and were told the same thing. When they argued with him, he said, "You can't kill them yet, so sit down and listen. Concentrate. You may yet find a way. For now it'll be all right. Sit down."
Stubborn, they finally obeyed him. Together, the six concentrated and power hummed in the chamber, centered on Kaku. The room shook, and soon they rose into the air and their attention shifted, bodies vanishing to the astral plane. They found themselves in a misty valley. (Actually, they are at the huge statue of the Kannon in a small town named Oya right in Japan. I've been there.) "Where are we?" Ryo asked. And Kaku replied they were in China. They looked up at a great Buddhist statue that Kaku identified as a relic of the Daosu Civilization, and talked about four thousand years of culture. There had been something amazing here. They hear music, and then the scene around them changes to a great fortress on a hill, surrounded by white, two story buildings. The attack of the Gohma on this place, led by Shaddam, Gara and Zaidosu. Shaddam announced they'd come to rule the city. Gara and Zaidosu said, "Give us everything you have, or die." People ran, screaming, through fire power. A mother huddled protectively over her son as they approached. They beheaded their enemies. And Kaku took the kids into chamber wherein people came because their gods were there. The Gohma could not get into that chamber. Six shadows on the wall, people assumed the mantle of the Dairanger, with the power to fight the Gohma.
Ryo came forward to a heavy block against the wall and brushed centuries of dust from it. "Hey, lookit!" The others came to him, brushing dust off the other blocks. The symbol of the dragon. Daigo found his lion, Shouji his pegasus, Kazu his unicorn and Rin her Firebird. They turned to Kaku for explanation.
"All of the Starbeasts came to fight, in the middle of the war." It hit Ryo with immense relief. His was not alone. There were more?
"Take a good look," Kaku told them. It was a scene of Tokyo, and Gohma marching anguished people through the destroyed city. This would happen in they lost. They could see the two children, Masao and Kaori, being threatened. And then it was over. Their bodies settled on the floor and they opened their eyes, turning to look. They knew who they were and their capabilities. Driven by Daigo and their own new determination, they went out to fight the marauding dolls. The little things were really quick, and our heroes missed more often than hit, though Rin knocked a bunch down. Kazu caught one but she sliced his hand. Daigo pursued a princess doll into a building and chased her against a wall. He thought he had her trapped, then she summoned a door that appeared in the wall and went through it. Daigo dove in after her, and the door closed and vanished. The others called him and tried to dig through the wall, but it was too late.
Daigo landed heavily on a beach. When he looked up, he saw a parasol, a black clad man drinking juice. It was the key demon, who did not seem to have noticed him. He got to his feet and snarled at it in challenge. The demon turned cheerfully around, "Oh, you're one of the Dairanger." Daigo flung himself at it, while his friends still struggled to get through the wall. But the minions came to fight.
Daigo fought alone against the key demon, while our heroes were getting pretty well beaten until they changed into battle armor and fought back as best they could. Ryo called Ryuseiyo and rode him into battle. Daigo was getting trashed, but changed into costume to fight. Ryo finally spied him from the sky and Ryuseiyo spit fire on the demon, who rolled out of the battle and into it's key-face. The heroes gathered, announced themselves and the official challenge, full-battle, was joined!
Unimpressed, the key demon sent his minions to fight them. Daigo fought the demon while the others fought the minions. Daigo called up his power of illusion, trapping the demon and sending illusions of jets to fire on him. Then he called in an image of the door. The startled demon was not sure what to think, but Daigo challenged him to find a key that would open it. He chose a key and opened the door, whereupon it blew him up. In astonishment, he was too stunned to duck when they blasted him with their combined power and destroyed him.
In his workshop and around the city, dolls went limp, their power gone. Glowing lights left the little bodies, and children woke as their souls returned. Kaori and Masao woke and hugged each other in delight. And our heroes, determined more than ever before, marched to their destiny.
Episode 5, あっタマきたっ, ATTAMAKITA!
Rin is leaving school when a young woman calls her. She is uncertain, for she cannot remember the girl's name, but that doesn't faze the other woman. She cheerfully reminds Rin that she is Megumi Amano, and she has brought our young heroine a gift. A symbol for her, a gold-colored hair clip of a phoenix. Megumi wants to get to know her and asks about her friends, but before Rin can quite speak up (for she really has no friends yet, she's been so busy with the Dairanger) Megumi is already off. Just as she calls after the girl, a hand descends upon her shoulder. It is Ryo, come to pick her up and somewhat shy about it. "Why are you here?" she asks. He is just answering, when there is a scream. Megumi is standing staring at a pair of giant, floating purple lips that laugh, and then energy flows out like a tongue and the monster appears, and chases, then catches Megumi. She swipes purple lipstick across the girl's lips and Megumi drops like a rock.
Ryo and Rin catch up and the demon makes Megumi vanish, then summons in a group of tuxedo-clad minions, each holding a conductor's wand. They start the music for Beethoven's 9th, then attack. Ryo changes into armor, then Rin starts to change, but the minions tackle and pin her before she can finish. Ryo digs her out from under them, and then goes up against the lipstick monster, which injures him. Rin is trying to protect him when the rest of our heroes arrive on their cycles. They give Rin space to change and threaten the monster. She responds by laughing and blasting them. Rin tries to attack on her own and gets blasted, but succeeds in throwing her stave, so it slashes the monster's face. The others gather around her and Shouji shouts at her for trying to attack on her lonesome, when the monster screams in rage.
The minions are holding a mirror for her. She's furious at the slash on her cheek. "You ruined my pretty face!!" She knocks the minion and mirror away, then pulls out the bomb to blow herself up, issuing revenge-challenge to Rin. Kaku is listening and watching events playing out on a television screen, and sits in lotus position to help them. Ryo calls in the Dragon robot and joins with it. Lipstick laughs, unimpressed with the flaming attack. Ryo changes formation to humanoid shape and the others join him aboard. Just as he is about to start the attack, he begins to choke and strangle. The robot suffers with him and falls to one knee. "What's up, Ryuseiyo?" asks the lipstick monster mockingly. And then she summons her own reinforcements, five ensorcelled young women, Megumi among them. They begin singing, a strange, beautiful note that attacks the ears and renders our heroes helpless. As they struggle, so too does Ryuseiyo. But the lipstick demon is easily able to attack.
The Gohma dimension intersects with ours, gigantic spheres hover invisible over the city. Shaddam, Zaidosu and Gara appear to watch the fight. They are all quite pleased. And then they join forces to blast Ryuseiyo. Suffering under the attack is also Kaku, who is trying to help his students. He is knocked sideways off his perch and hits a crate with force, temporarily stunned. The lipstick demon is having a grand time. Between the four of them and the singing, it looks bad. But Ryo grabs the monster by her throat and flips her away. When she lands, stunned, the women fall silent. Our heroes are quick to press their chance and call in their stave for a whirlwind-fire attack. They clinch with the monster.
Kaku, back in position, is trembling with the effort to help his charges. He glows with golden fire as he pushes their strength up. They slash through the demon's defenses and both are thrown down by the backlash. Our heroes tumble from the cockpit, and into their civilian clothing. The lipstick monster staggers to her feet, says something like "I'll get you for this!" and teleports away. Our heroes scramble to their feet, calling Ryuseiyo, which still has energy bolts scittering across it. In distress, it reverts to dragon-form and takes off, fleeing. Ryo calls frantically after it.
They return to base to find Kaku collapsed, unconscious, on the podium in the center of the room. They turn him over, calling him to wake. He opens his eyes and they help him up, but he is very unsteady. He explains dazedly that he tried, but he cannot help with Ryuseiyo. Ryo presses for further information, confused. Ryuseiyo had not been answering to him, but to Kaku's power? How do we get Ryuseiyo back?
For Rin there is the agony of her failure in battle. She is sure it was her fault, that she could not help Megumi. Kaku tells them they have to help the kidnapped women. They start off. Ryo stops Rin and tells her she must stay here. Bewildered, she turns to Kaku as the others leave. Then she races after them. She pleads, "Wait, I have to go with you! It's all because of me, this fight with lipstick monster!"
Shouji tells her firmly, "You aren't bad. But we have to do this." They race off, only Daigo pausing to meet Rin's distress.
Left alone, she walks next to a lake and stares miserably into the water, kicking a stone. She remembers Megumi giving her the present, the fight with the demon, Kaku collapsed helpless. Staring at a rock, in fury she uses her ki to smash it to dust, then on a tree, which slowly topples. Birds fly in panic and she turns to blast something else, when Daigo catches her wrists and stops her. "Leave me alone, Daigo!" She pulls away from him and prepares to blast something else.
"Stop!" he calls, rushing after her. He shows her how she's frightening the birds, tells her this will not help anything. She should not use her powers like this, to kill things. Then he has to run off. Rin starts to follow him, when she steps into a vision of six whirling, colored globes of light. They fly at her from the stars and she is in a desert under a hot sun. Pillars stand out of the sand, pitted with time. A huge, weather-beaten statue looks like it might fall against the cliff-face behind it. She hears a sound in the sky and looks, to see a phoenix-like shape in blue lights against the grey-green sky. It's shadow passes over her and she ducks, then finds herself back, ducking against a tree. Birds cry in the woods. "What was that about?" she mutters in confusion.
The lipstick demon is in utter fury, for the slash in her face remains. She kicks the minion who holds the mirror for her and injures it. Gara is becoming annoyed with this behavior. She wants to set the demon to its attack again, but it does not want to fight anyone unless it can get Rin.
Rin sits in the base, thinking. Kaku comes to join her, asking what's the matter. She stutters, calling him Uncle, about how unfit she is to help the others, and about something strange that happened to her. He chuckles and sits to ask what she means, and she tells him about the colored lights. This startled him and she has his complete attention. She adds how she saw this strange bird and he tells her to stop. Muttering half to himself, he says she must have seen the "Spheres of Heaven." When she questions him, he explains that in the far past there were star-beasts for each of them. But he only has Ryuseiyo left from his escape six-thousand years ago. If they had the balls, they could control the creatures. Her dream is important. And she asks, "Why am only I having these visions?" But then Ryo's emergency call comes in.
Our heroes are facing the monster, who calls in her soprano choir. The song renders our heroes helpless and the minions are able to cause considerable damage. Rin comes and the lipstick demon faces her, but Rin only jumps over it, changing into armor and attacking. In the midst of battle, her vision comes back at her, five balls this time. She falls and shimmers in golden light. Shaddam, Gara and Zaidosu witness this in amazement and sudden suspicion. While she's down, the lipstick demon is about to slice and dice her. But she vanishes as the sword comes down. The shock for everyone is complete, Gohma as bewildered as Dairanger. Only Kaku has a clue what is really happening. And perhaps Shaddam and his lieutenants have an idea of it. They take off, followed by the minions and the monster. In the chamber, a stunned Kaku says Rin has gone to China.
She is crumpled, once again in her civilian clothes, in the desert. She walks past the remains of ancient columns, following she knows not what.
Episode 6, 風よブッちぎれ, KAZEYOBUCCHIGIRE
Rin calls into her bracelet, the names of her companions, but there is no answer. She drops down in frustration, but then the spheres cross her vision once more. This time the vision includes images of a group of glowing beasts, travelling. She sees above the mists the giant statue. The spheres enter her forehead, and she is in the desert again. She remembers the images they had seen on the wall of a dead chamber, and starts determinedly across the desert.
The boys have arrived and drive a jeep across seemingly endless sand. They try to call Rin, but there is no answer. Nothing can get through. They have no clue where to go from here, so all they can do is keep going.
The four Gohma appear in the dry valley, near struggling trees. Shaddam points out that this is where the first Dairanger got their Spheres from Heaven. The others follow him willingly. He sends off the lipstick monster, he and the other two wait.
Our heroes don't see balloons that appear above them and become minions, who drop on them. Rin arrives in the valley first to be chased by minions, then finds herself confronting the lipstick monster. They think they have her trapped, but she is not giving up. The two fight one-on-one, Rin getting thrown about before she changes into battle-armour. The demon is so furious, she slashes even minions on her way to kill Rin. The attacks are starting to wear through our girl, and then she is knocked out of armor by a powerful blast, and her Aura-changer falls from her wrist. Without it, she is forced to run. The lipstick monster calls in the girls. They stand in front of Rin and begin singing, putting our girl in sheer agony. When the demon comes at Rin, our heroine jumps over and past her, up the cliff-face, and gets away.
The boys drive and then Daigo sees Rin's bracelet on the ground. They continue on in. Rin races and finally she sees the great statue. Her vision hits her again, communication desperate. The five glowing spheres head into a cave and Rin pursues. Here are the stone blocks that they had seen when "travelling" with Kaku on the Astral Plane. Only it seems they really were here, for the dust has been wiped away from the images painted thereon. Pegasus, Kirin, Dragon, Lion... Phoenix. Rin stops to brush her fingers over the image and whisper its name. Then she hears a strange, growling groan. She follows the sound through a corridor and finds Ryuseiyo, miserably hiding in the back of the cave. She is sure he is what brought her here. "Where are the spheres?" she asks. He turns his head and she sees the five, glowing balls embedded in the wall. She is running to retrieve them when the ground quakes, and stones begin falling on her.
The lipstick demon in large size, in her frustration, is slashing out at the hills all around, trying to flush Rin. Ryuseiyo cringes under the falling rocks, pushing against the walls. Rin can't get to the Spheres. Outside, the lipstick monster is gloating until Ryuseiyo pops out of the ground, growling in anger. Rin is aboard. They are shaken by a blast from the creature, and Ryuseiyo falls. The lipstick monster gloats as he cannot seem to get back up. And then the boys arrive to help Rin, all crying in horror at the sight of the downed Ryuseiyo. Rin tells them where the spheres are, but falling rocks have sealed the entrance to the cave. The lipstick monster blasts them and they fall, but Daigo gives Rin her Auro-changer, and the group together changes into armor. Ryo boards Ryuseiyo and they change to humanoid mode to fight.
Unimpressed, the lipstick monster calls out the girls and starts them singing. The agony is terrible. Rin cries to Megumi sto stop, and the lipstick monster attacks the near-helpless Ryuseiyo. The minions come and are doing severe damage to our heroes, while the dragon robot struggles to fight. The three Gohma are gloating. Rin manages to get past the minions and starts digging through the rubble to get into the cave, but she falls under the music.
The winds blow, the trees speak, and for Rin silence falls as the world acts to protect her. She is able to channel the winds and knocks the singing girls to the ground, blasting open the cave in the process. The spheres come flying out, each to their particular Dairanger, to land in our heroes' palms. With a cry of sheer joy, Ryo channels the power of his sphere and Ryuseiyo gets back up. The others call in their beasts. "Pegasus!" "Lion!" "Unicorn!" "Phoenix!" and they come! Each hero boards their beast.
Dismayed by these developments, the Gohma watch helplessly as the robots attack. Pegasus telekinetically lifts a bunch of boulders and throws them at the startled lipstick monster. Lion traps her in a field of illusion, where she sees a vision of Shaddam coming at her. "Shaddam?" she asks. Down below, Zaidosu and Gara both look at a startled Shaddam, who points at himself in surprise. Explosions wrack the lipstick monster, and the illusion of Shaddam pats his buttock mockingly as he vanishes into the green mists, laughing. She tries to defend herself at the coming Kirin, who blasts her with fire-bolts. And Phoenix creates a whirlwind, which spins her until she falls hard. Then our heroes form together, standing united to attack. They whirl through her blasts and reach her, Ryuseiyo launching ahead with his stave spinning, and it tears her apart. She falls.
The three Gohma watch and snarl in fury. With hisses, they spin angrily and stomp a few steps as they teleport away.
In the valley, the purple lipstick vanishes and the five young women regain consciousness. "Where are we?" And in the skies, Rin rides the Phoenix.
Back in Tokyo, Rin walks with Kaku to stand on a bridge. "You did well, Rin," Kaku tells her warmly. She cannot quit, she is very important to them, and he tells her so. She is relieved and shy of his praise, and walks with him across the bridge.
Episode 7, 裏切り者オッ! URAGIRIMONOO!
Under the great, floating spheres, invisible to the eye but still there, in a warehouse... a frustrated Shaddam punches a white statue half-heartedly and growls to his companions: "Damned Dairanger mess up everything!" Gara is pacing past a closed-eyed Zaidosu and agrees with him. "We have to get this done quickly!"
Then laughter is heard in the distance, becoming louder, echoing off the ceiling. Started, Zaidosu opens his eyes and searches for it furiously. "What is this?!" The candles blow out, and a group of minions fade in. They are carrying a palanquin, in which is a man in red with a white, cone-shaped cap, seeming to be praying. (This actor is caucasian, by the way.) He accepts the homage of his minions happily. Then they set down his equipment and roll out the red carpet for him and he steps out, walking in curl-toed black shoes, laughing all the while. As the minions toss rose petals and part for him, he says in a grating voice, "Been a long time, hasn't it, Shaddam, Gara, Zaidosu?" They are floored and quite not happy to see him. At their demanding questions, he says he's come to help them defeat the Dairanger.
Shaddam is less than enthused about this statement. "There are already the three of us, we don't need an annoying prat like you to help further the Gohma cause." (I'm seriously paraphrasing, here)
This does not phase the other man. "It's taking you too long!" They flinch, knowing it to be true. "We need someone to fight Doushi Kaku, yes? Thus I've brought...." He waves towards the further wall. Mist appears, and then a man in heavy black armor walks from the mist. "Tetsumenpi Chouryou!" Zaidosu is the first to identify him with total fury. Shaddam nearly bites his tongue off snarling, but Zaidosu attempts to blast the newcomer, yelling "DIE, Chouryou!". His blast is simply deflected, to his shock and Gara's. Shaddam is beginning to look more philosophical about it. And the old man attacks Zaidosu with a blast of pure, red power. Zaidosu is pinned against the wall and falls. The old man intends a killing shot, but Shaddam shifts until he is between them and holds out a warning hand, ordering him to desist.
With a sigh of exasperation, he walks over to the fallen Zaidosu, who is still shaking from the electric blast. "Poor guy," he says mockingly, defusing the shakes, and leaves Zaidosu lying there. Less than grateful, our villain glares fiercely at Chouryou.
Ryo and his little sister Youko head to the family memorial markers to pray for their father. He is so serious, Youko giggles. He asks if she ever dreams anything about their father. She points out that she was just a baby when he died. But Ryo always dreams about him. Running on the beach towards their sweet-faced mother, looking up at his father, whose face is shadowed by the bright sun, who holds him close with love. "But I can never remember his face. Why?" He pulls himself up and they leave.
People are shopping on this lovely day, and Rin has poor Shouji with her, carrying all the packages. She is almost run over by a crowd of children headed for a particular stand. The last boy is suddenly lifted in the air and cries out in protest. Shouji drops the packages and he and Rin race after the child. With a great jump, Shouji catches the boy and plucks him out of the air, down to the ground. Then a construction vehicle drops heavy beams at them. They duck and Shouji sends the child off, then races to confront the driver, but no one is there! He comes back and stands protectively with Rin, calling whoever is attacking them to come out. And the man in black armor steps out to mist. "Gohma!" shouts Shouji. "Come," says the man. And they do.
He hits them with a ki-blast just like their own power, but stronger. They change to fight and call their comrades. Youko is startled when her brother tears off without explanation. Meanwhile, the man in black is trashing Shouji and Rin. Daigo and Kazu arrive only to get knocked off their bikes. Together, the four attempt attack. The man dissipates Rin's fire-wind attack, then sends her flying with a golden spiral attack of his own. Shouji tries a bouncing ball illusion attack only to have it flung back at him, then the man in black levitates him and drops him on the cement. The others hurry to his side. Before they can attack again, the man in black sends fire-bursts that disorient them. Ryou is just getting there, when the man uses a most powerful attack, cracking the ground. Only Shouji escapes falling into the crack and fights. He is blasted from his armor and cringes in terror against a crate as the man sends a sword flying at him. It scratches his cheek as it embeds itself in the crate. The man struts coldly towards Shoji, telling him to send Doushi Kaku if he wants to help the other three, to a particular place. He only has until three o'clock, or the others are dead. Lastly he tells Shouji his name, Tetsumenpi Chouryou. He vanishes.
Ryo arrives on the scene to find Shouji gazing at nothing in shock and shakes him. All Shouji can say is that Daigo and the others are... are.... (Well, he can't say.)
They give Kaku the message. He turns away from them murmuring, "Tetsumenpi Chouryou." Shouji demands an explanation, and Ryo asks how Kaku knows the name. With quiet calm, not looking at them, Kaku explains that six-thousand years ago, when the Gohma came, there were five soldiers, the Dairanger, and Chouryou was one of them. He gave himself to the service of one of the most powerful Gohma, and led the others into a trap to be slaughtered.
Shouji snarls, "This man turned traitor six thousand years ago?" Ryo is even more furious. "I'll fight him," he whispers angrily. Kaku turns quickly to look at him. He watches the fury on the boy's face, then says "Come with me a moment." He leads Ryo down and into a room, then locks him in. "What the hell are you up to?" Kaku replies that this is his job. Furious, Ryo pounds on the door and demands to be let out.
Startled, Shouji asks for explanation. No explanation is forthcoming, Kaku simply says to stay here and make certain Ryo stays in the room. "We have to go with you." "You don't have the power." Seriously, Kaku bids him to stay with a glance at the clock. 2:15. There is very little time left. Shouji obeys, but is not at all happy.
At 2:45 Ryo is still pounding on the door. Shouji, miserable, is huddled outside. He refuses to obey the pleas and occasional insults. "I'm doing what Kaku said to!" he protests. Finally, Ryo sinks against the door. He glances up at the small windows and an idea strikes him.
Outside, Shouji hears glass break. Scrambling to his feet he resists the idea of opening the door, but when Ryo does not answer him, finally opens it and hurries inside. To his shock, the window is unbroken. But a glass vase lies in pieces at his feet. And then Ryo comes out from behind the door and punches Shouji, leaving him stunned. Ryo races through the city towards the rendezvous, which Kaku is approaching much more slowly.
It is almost time. Tetsumenpi Chouryou opens his eyes when he hears Kaku approaching. Chained to posts, gagged, the three captives struggle to scream warning as the two men confront each other. "It has been a long time, Kaku," Chouryou says calmly. "Why do you work for him?" Kaku asks. The other replies, "Shall we talk, now? I do this for the power to defeat death." For his power far exceeds that of the children Kaku has recruited. He has the power of all of them, rather than one.
"That kind of power is born in the heart, not from evil."
They will start their challenge now. They begin circling each other. Ryo arrives to see what is happening, and to see his friends up a cliff. He goes for them. The battle is joined. The two men become blurs of black as they attack each other, coming apart and slowing to be visible. Kaku uses a ki-blast and knocks Chouryou flying. The other recovers and flings his sword, but Kaku turns the blade and sends it back at its owner, who catches it. They blast each other, then Kaku raises boulders and throws them at Chouryou, who simply shifts planes so they do not touch him. He counters with flame spurts, which give Kaku trouble and send him flying. The captives scream.
"You're not as powerful as you were," mocks Chouryou as Kaku stands back up shakily.
Ryo gets to Daigo and minions surround him. Kaku is distracted, calling his name, and Chouryou gets in a good slice, then another, and another until Kaku falls. Ryo changes into battle armor and races to his teacher's aid, but Chouryou catches him in red lightning and disables the armor. Kaku is struggling to speak, to be heard over the battle, calling Ryo's name. So are his team-mates.
Chouryou thinks it quite fitting that he should kill this young man. He stalks the boy and prepares to slaughter him, perhaps amused by Kaku's hoarse, "Stop!" "Die," he tells Ryo. He raises his blade to strike and as it falls hears Kaku scream, "That boy... Ryo is your son!" Horror from the captives as they hear that.
And Ryo is staring cross-eyed at the tip of the blade in front of his face. Perhaps more astonishing is the startled eyes behind Chouryou's mask, that flick to Kaku and back to Ryo. It can't be, he thinks, drawing a shuddering breath. This can not be the father on the beach with his mother. And yet the eyes that suddenly search his are familiar, despite everything. He shudders and shakes his head in negation.
"You know it's true, Chouryou! Remember?" And the frozen tableau changes as Chouryou moves his blade aside, then turns and walks away. Ryo slowly sits up, too in shock to speak. He can only shake his head.
Back at base the other four stand around as Ryo shouts desperately at Kaku's back, "Please tell me it's a lie! How could it be true?"
After a moment Kaku answers him, pacing around. "It is true. You can believe it. He may have joined the Gohma six-thousand years ago, but about twenty years ago he left and married a woman. And you and your sister were born."
"It's a lie!" Ryo cries, whirling desperately. "My father died when I was five."
"No. He returned to the Gohma. He asked me to watch over his children. And you were chosen to be a Dairanger." He sets his hand firmly on Ryo's shoulder, but the boy pushes it away. Struggling against sobs, Ryo retreats to lean on a huge cannister. "My father is dead. I don't believe you." In fury and anguish, he whirls and shouts, "I can't believe it!" and flees. When Kazu would have led the others after him, Kaku restrains him.
Ryo goes to a rocky beachside, muttering to himself how he cannot believe any of this. He has pictures of his father, a good man. Something falls at his feet and he looks down. It is a photo of his mother, with him and his baby sister. Standing, he whirls. Chouryou is there behind him. He grits his teeth, trying to hide the shaking in his shoulders. Perhaps he cannot see the uncertainty in the way the man stands. "Tetsumenpi Chouryou," he growls weakly.
"My son, Ryoyou" Chouryou replies, and Ryo shouts, "NO! I'm not your son!" He throws the picture back to fall at the other man's feet. The father tries some sort of explanation, but no explanation for serving evil could ever be enough for Ryo. And Chouryou turns to leave. "WAIT!" demands Ryo. When the man stops he asks agonizedly, "Just tell me one thing. If you're really my father, why did you marry my mother? Why go back to the Gohma? WHY?" he practically screams.
It is not a question that can be answered. Chouryou leaves, and a breeze blows the photograph into the water.
Back in the warehouse, Chouryou is being punished by his furious master for letting Kaku go. For letting Ryo live just because he is Chouryou's son. The punishment is interrupted by the arrival of a snickering Gara, with Shaddam and Zaidosu. "Your tool isn't as effective as you thought," she says. Shaddam agrees coolly, "From next week we have the attack again," and he smiles mockingly. "What will you do, next?"
The demon turns to them and, pouting, sneers back at Shaddam. "It isn't out of my hands yet, Shaddam." He changes form to show himself as a tall, sawblade demon. He demonstrates his power, cutting through some support beams and ignoring his fallen toy, Chouryou. The three Gohma are unimpressed and smile condescendingly at his antics.
Rin drinks orange juice at a cafe with the others. She says, "How can we fight him, if he's Ryo's father?" They are all equally distressed by the question. Daigo points out they have no reason to disbelieve Kaku. Kazu and Shouji mutter agreeably, disturbed. Then Ryo arrives on the scene to reassure his teammates. He looks at them with an effort at relaxing and insists, "He's not my father. My father died when I was five." They stare at him, and then look away, knowing he is only denying the truth. He sets a reassuring hand on Rin's shoulder when she says his name and touches Shouji, too, telling them they simply have to fight the Gohma with teamwork. He pushes Shouji and Rin's shoulders until they sit and takes another seat nearer the window, laughing. But his laughter has a hysterical edge.
And buildings explode. Kaku calls in our heroes and they head into the battle area. A strange voice calls them and they say "Who are you?" Then they are taken away, to a battlefield littered with branches on which are impaled human skulls. The sawblade demon faces them, laughing, and to their questions informs them that he is Tetsumenpi Chouryou's master. He calls forward his pet, who stands above them to their horror. He challenges them. They will not give in, and change into battle armor to attack. They are fierce with anger, but their power is easily turned aside. He mocks them for being children and returns their blast. They are knocked out of armor.
The demon assumes his human face, and takes Ryo. For fun, he lifts and throws the boy around, intent upon killing him slowly. Chouryou turns away from the sight, unable to bear it. And in his pain, Ryo remembers what Kaku had said about his father, having left the Gohma and married his mother, to father two children. And Chouryou's own words about that time. And Ryo can't help it. He calls weakly for his father, pleading for help. The demon is about to strike the final blow, when Chouryou cannot stand it anymore, and attacks his master.
Thus that killing blow is used on Chouryou, but he will not fall easily. He runs the Gohma through with his blade and twists it. The demon's power is disrupted, but not destroyed. Furious, he hits Chouryou with another powerful blast, forcing him away. But the black knight uses a ki-blast to send the Gohma flying, then falls.
Ryo scrambles over to him and turns him over, knowing his father is dying. Finally able to remember the face he hasn't seen since he was five. He pulls the mask away so he can see it. His father tries to reassure him, tries to apologize somehow. He whispers for Ryo and his mother and sister to please, please forgive him. Ryo weeps.
And then a voice calls, "Chouryou." They look up to see the spirits of the other four Dairanger, Chouryou's dead teammates, there. Dazed, Ryo's father asks if they've forgiven him, and they nod. He asks Ryo, all of them, to bring out their Spheres from Heaven. There are things, powers they do not know of. He and the others will pass those on to them. He touches the ball and it glows brightly. The others hold theirs out, and the ghosts pass the power on. "I love you, my son," he manages, before he disintegrates and flies off with the other ghosts. Ryo cries after him.
And then the ground quakes. The Gohma has gone large, and our heroes change into armor and call in their beasts. Assuming humanoid mode with Ryuseiyo, the others join him. They apply the power, the knowledge they've been given. The beasts form together, to the astonishment of their enemy. Dairenou. And the battle is joined again, et large. The Saw Gohma was not prepared, and he falls beneath their strikes. They sheath their blade in the light of the setting sun.
Ryo stares out at the water, remember playing with his father on the beach. His teammates gather around him, and from a distance Kaku watches and nods his relieved approval.
Episode 9, うぬぼれるなッ, Unuboreruna!
A falling star flashing through the night sky proves no star at all, but a mirror madly spinning as it falls towards the Earth. In Daigo's pet shop, the animals begin to react. The parakeets flutter. The dogs bark, and Daigo wonders at their sudden alarm, if perhaps they all need to be fed. But then something catches, pulls at him. He looks towards the street but is not in a position to see the mirror that passes overhead, rotating at a much slower pace than it had been earlier. He follows the feeling out onto the street and finds a peacock feather lying on the sidewalk. Where did it come from?
In the morning, he meditates in lotus position, hanging out on a rocky beach where the sound of the waves lulls his mind. In his mind he is surrounded in mist and he opens his eyes to see a peacock flying through the trees. He jumps up to call out to it, when beams of light travel from it to him and he ducks in surprise as they go into him.
Then he is awake again, finding he is standing defensively. "Who? Who is trying to reach me?" he mutters angrily.
The city, tall buildings, people wandering the morning streets. A lovely woman pauses when she sees a rather nifty-looking mirror. She stands in front of it to make certain her hair is in place. She gasps in surprise when its surface suddenly becomes like leather, and a long, pink tongue flashes out and ensnares her. She is drawn into the mirror. All over the city, women scream as the same thing happens to them.
The Dairanger meet at base. Shouji says, "A mirror is swallowing pretty women?" Kazu confirms, "It's hard to believe, but I think it's true." Rin gets to her feet semi-jokingly, "Maybe it'll go after me." But Ryo sternly reminds them that the Gohma could be behind all this.
Kaku walks in at that moment and confirms it, naming the monster for them. Daigo listens intently as he explains that the mirror will take the women's energy. The conversation briefly deteriorates into a mutter of how this thing must be perverted to only go after women. But Kaku cuts that off as he explains that the Mirror, Kagami Keshoushi, once went up against the Kujaku (Peacock). That gets Daigo's absolute attention. Ryo questions and Kaku tells the tale of the Peacock Buddha, and the woman who was his warrior, deadly against the minions. Everyone is quite impressed. And Daigo remembers his vision.
Evening, and a vain young man pauses in front of a mirror to check his hair. He is just smiling with pleasure at himself, when the image changes to reveal the faces of five young women, trapped within the mirror. Then the surface becomes leathery skin, and the tongue wraps around him as he cries out. He is sucked in, then the mouth gags and stutters, and he is tossed out. The demon abandons its mirror shape to try to spit the taste of the young man from it. He runs, screaming. The demon sputters after him, "When I was last here, six-thousand years ago, MEN never tried to admire themselves in my surface!" There was something about young boys, though.
At that moment Shaddam, Gara and Zaidosu appear and march on him. Shaddam inquires what he is doing, and mentions that if they're going to take over the world, it has to absorb males, too. When it tries to argue, Zaidosu points out that they need that energy as fast as possible. It tries to interest Gara (saying something about ice), but she will not look at it, only reminding the thing that she is quite pleased for it to hold Kujaku.
And the day is bright, as Daigo watches the city from a high building. He hears a scream, sees a flash as of the reflection off a mirror and gets there just as the mirror absorbs another woman. He launches a flying kick at it and is bounced away, but an energy tongue snakes out to grab him as the mirror's surface glows white. He struggles and manages to change into armor, and his attack causes the Mirror to assume its humanoid shape. The two face off in a park, in a samurai-like duel. The Mirror manages to get in a good shot, then uses its mirror-power to get in another one. Before it can do more damage, the other Dairanger arrive. It is driven back from their combined attack. Gloating, it mocks our Lion-ranger. But as it teleports away Daigo sees a peculiar energy halo of many colors surge from its shoulders.
They shift from their costumes and and ask him if he's all right, but he asks them, "Did you see that? A rainbow of colors!" "Rainbow?" They think he is behaving a bit oddly. They had not seen anything. But he knows he did see it.
He goes back to the beach and stares at the waves, remembering the vision he had while meditating. He is sure she is still in there. Or something is. Something creating that beautiful light.
The demon is wandering the streets. He starts to have power hiccoughs, and mirrors burst. A young woman's face is cut by flying glass, and we see an image of Gara, chuckling. A young man is cut by the glass as his mirror bursts, and we see Shaddam, laughing a high, mocking laugh. Then Zaidosu's. The next power-hiccough destroys the glass of a building. Police and aid cars rush to the scene. Our heroes get there, too, finding injured people amongst the smoke. Daigo and Shouji are about to search for the mirror together, when Daigo sees a young woman being rushed to an ambulance. Her face is bleeding and he can hear a child and people crying. He looks at the building behind him, with the upper windows shattered (actually, this is a building in the process of being built, but for the show's purposes the reason for the missing windows is they've been destroyed). A snarl of fury twists his lips, his eyes blaze.
He goes back to the beach and assumes the position again. Harshly, he demands, "Come out, Kujaku! You and I, together...." And he shifts into vision, seeing the bird again. This time he tries to absorb the rainbow lights it drops on him, and finds himself flying through an aurora. "I'll get you out of this," he thinks.
The mirror monster is about to start its next attack when Daigo appears in a burst of colored light and pretty much lands on top of it. Furious, they again challenge each other. Daigo changes into armor, and the demon calls in the minions. Daigo fights his way through them, including a few groin shots, until he faces the demon and its sword. The demon hits him with a flash attack, but Daigo catches it in an illusion of darkness. Surprised, it uses its mirror as a searchlight, trying to figure out where he is. When it tries a power burst, its attack comes back at it with Daigo's stern warning not to do that. Bewildered by the turn of events, suddenly it finds the other Dairanger racing out of the mist. Each holds a mirror. Any flash it tries will come back at it. Daigo brags that they use teamwork. It tries a new attack, a kaleidoscope attack. The heroes brace themselves, but each is hit by its blade.
Then Daigo hears a voice urging him on, telling him what to look for. And he sees it. Only one of the images in the kaleidoscope attack sheds the rainbow aura. Daigo blasts it. The demon's mirror is shattered, and they return to the real world. In fury, it makes itself big. But the mirror is still shattered. Our heroes call in their Star Beasts. They form Dairenou and face off against the monster. It tries to blast them, but its attack is ineffective and they strike back several times before giving it the final blow. And it falls. Lights flash away as those it had swallowed are freed.
Our heroes find the captives regaining consciousness on the stones of a beach. They help the women to their feet, Daigo frantically looks about. He is sure he can feel her. He starts to concentrate, and then there is a surge of power. A flash of rainbow light on the cliff above him. She appears. A beautiful woman, in gold, blue and red. Her expression is forbidding as she stares down at him. To his stunned inquiry, she answers that she is the Peacock Buddha's warrior, Kujaku. He is dazed. The others gather round him, Ryo realizing she's the legend Kaku had told them of.
And she says that after 6,000 years, she's ready to fight again. "That was you I felt?" begs Daigo. She nods at him. "I've been waiting, all these six-thousand years." She was able to reach him through his ki-energy, because he had the feather. He pulls it from his pocket in surprise. The colors are still vibrant. The feather had enabled her to reach him, and she smiles at him. He is still dazzled. Yes, it's kind of love at first site. She stares out at the sea from the cliff.
Episode 10, あア復讐の女神, AAFUKUSHUUNOMEGAME, Goddess of Revenge
The world is a profusion of flowers in hundreds of colors. Pansies, Daffodils, all kinds. Kujaku utters a soft laugh as she looks about. The beautiful Ibises in the zoo, turkesy, chickens, parrots. She meets Daigo where he is petting a bunch of tame rabbits. A group of large pigeons comes fluttering down and she feeds them. Daigo watches her in wonder. The other four keep an eye on things from behind a tree, delighted and curious. They did notice that Daigo was head-over-heels.
Something has been troubling him, though. He asks her gently, "How did you get caught by the mirror demon, six-thousand years ago?"
The question distresses her. She stands and looks away. She explains she was fighting the Gohma. She had injured Gara and followed the other woman to where she finally fell. Gara was too weak to run any further, coughing. Seeing her, Kujaku was moved to pity. She clasped the other woman's hand and touched her head, feeling the trembling. Gara asked why Kujaku was being nice, when she should be fighting. Gara stops her from treating the wounded arm, telling her how bad she felt for the destruction of the beautiful city. Then she is wracked with pain and coughing, asking for water. Kujaku helps her lean back and hurries to get some water. Gara murmers, "You're really a goddess," in bemused amazement.
Kujaku, getting the water, pauses just a moment to admire her reflection. And the tongue comes out of the water and takes her in. And Gara stands up, grinning. She had not been hurt at all. It had all been an act. Suckered by the oldest trick in the book and her own vanity, Kujaku was caught. Gara laughed and laughed.
Weeks, centuries... six thousand years had passed. The birds suddenly flocked, disturbed. Instinct turned Kujaku and she flung one of her feather daggers to stick in a tree. Gara materialized beside it, laughing. The others are startled. And Kujaku tries to strike, but Gara shifts planes and the feather-daggers pass through her, to damage the tree and frighten the local wildlife. The rabbits run. Daigo tries to stop Kujaku, but she fights him off and strikes him fiercely when he tries harder. "You can't imagine what it was like, trapped so long!" But Gara's work here is done, and she leaves. Kujaku pursues. The others gather around Daigo to make sure he is all right, but he is deeply touched and sorry for Kujaku.
The spring crowds are gathering under the cherry blossoms, delighted at the falling petals. They do not hear the voice that speaks, and it is too late. The spell takes effect and they go mad, fighting each other. The blossoms coalesce into a Cherry-blossom, Sakura Shishaku, demon.
Daigo takes care of the pets at his store, but cannot keep his thoughts from Kujaku for long. He pulls out the feather to look at it. She, on the other hand, has found a wall-hanging of the Peacock Buddha, and will take up residence within that. Daigo wonders where she could be. Then Kazu calls him desperately. The others are out trying to stop the mad crowds as these people try to slaughter each other. It is Daigo who recognizes that they are under a spell, and tells his teammates. Kujaku sees the struggle and catches a floating petal. She recognizes the monster. And then she tosses peacock feathers into the melee, piercing the fighters and they fall. Daigo sees her and she tries to explain about the Blossom demon. He is enraged at her attacks on the helpless victims of the spell, and takes a feather meant for another. It still sticking out of him, he hurries to the rooftop to confront her. Begs her to stop. But she had stopped once before and would not do so again. She threatens him when he comes at her. There is no way he could understand unless he goes through the same thing, she tells him. She vanishes.
Rin and Ryo are taking care of their teammates bruises and cuts. Kaku speaks of how in the past, Kujaku was the gentlest of people. The group heads out to find the Cherry Blossom demon, but Kaku calls Daigo back. He tells Daigo that no matter the feelings our boy has for Kujaku, he must be prepared to stop her if necessary. "You are a fine warrior, Daigo." He leaves.
A park full of berserk humans trying to throttle each other. Kujaku walks towards the tree, calling the demon. She would not be affected by his flowers. He almost blends in with the background, and greets her, inviting her to fight. She only wants to know where Gara is. Well, Gara is there. They face each other with swords, under the interested gaze of the demon.
Their fighting aura catches Kaku's attention. They stop fighting with swords and start using energy blasts. Kujaku attacks and injures Gara using a firebird peacock attack. The Dairanger catch up and witness the two women trying to blast each other. They are evenly matched and only end up flying in opposite directions in an explosion. And the demon gets the Dairanger's attention before they can go after either woman. It uses a flower-petal attack on them, and then they are facing the minions.
Daigo gets through to hit the demon, who gets his stave from him and bashes our boy about. But Daigo applies concentration, and when the demon comes at him next is able to evade each blow until he is ready to strike back. He gets his stave back and uses his own peacock attack to damage the demon, defeating it. The others cheer him.
The Cherry Blossom demon is a poor loser, and blows himself up. Our heroes call in their star-beasts and form Dairenou. They face off, the monster's blossom attack has no effect. They manage to kill it.
Daigo stands in front of the same image of the Peacock Buddha Kujaku had stood in front of earlier. He does not know that, though. He holds the feather he had first found and wonders wistfully where she is. He can almost sense her, and then sees a vision of her, injured, within the image. They have contact. He tries to ask her to become the gentle person she had once been. They are connected through their ki. But can he change her?