Ep. 30: Just a Lone Friend's Soul

Just a Lone Friend's Soul is the thirtieth episode of Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger. It is the tribute episode to Choujuu Sentai Liveman.

Synopsis
When the next fortune from Navi refers to a "skateboarding lion", Gai realizes it must mean Choujuu Sentai Liveman's Yellow Lion, Jou, while Action Commander Zaien begins his attempt to mass-produce soldiers like Barizorg.

Plot
When the next fortune from Navi refers to a "skateboarding lion", Gai realizes it must mean Yellow Lion of the Livemen. However, as Gai has no idea where he is, the rest of the Gokai Galleon crew decide to go out and find him. As the others have no luck, Joe and Ahim meet Joh Ohara as he and Joe save an infant. Soon after, the two pirates and Joh find a Zangyack scientist named Zaien who attempts to kidnap a boxer. Transforming in front of him, the two Gokaigers battle the Gormin while Joh gets the boxer to safety before fighting the Gormin. Using the Denziman Keys, the Gokaigers drive Zaien off. The two then find a scanner which Joh learns that it is a technical specification on turning people into beings like Barizorg. After learning the contents of the file, Joe asks Joh to find a way to reverse the process. Accepting to help him, Joh takes Joe to his laboratory to find the means, only to find that the process can not be undone. With this knowledge, Joe laments that he cannot save his friend, as Joh eases his pain by telling of his own tribulations of fighting his own friends and how he intends not to let history repeat itself. As Joe leaves with renewed conviction, he realizes that Joh is the Livemen's Yellow Lion. Meanwhile, after learning Zaien's scheme to convert physically fit humans into beings like Barizorg, the Gokaigers track Zaien down and free his captives before they are joined by Joe. Vowing not to allow others to suffer Sid's fate, Joe transforms into Gokai Blue. As Gokai Silver assumes Gold Mode to take out the Zugormin, the Gokaigers assume the forms of the Livemen to fight Zaien. With Zaien weakened, Gokai Blue personally finishes the scientist off with Sid's trademark attack. Enlarged by a content Insarn, Zaien and the Zugormin battle Gokaioh and Goujyu Rex. Using the greater power of the Livemen, Gokaioh summons Super Live Robo who takes out the Zugormin so Zaien can be destroyed by a Gokai Fuurai Attack/Goujyu Triple Drill Dream combo. Later, Joe vows to defeat Barizorg as he believes it is the only way to save Sid.

Cast

 * Ryota Ozawa as Captain Marvelous (Gokai Red)
 * Yuuki Yamada as Joe Gibken (Gokai Blue)
 * Mao Ichimichi as Luka Millfy (Gokai Yellow)
 * Kazuki Shimizu as Don Dogoier (Gokai Green)
 * Yui Koike as Ahim de Famille (Gokai Pink)
 * Jun Ikeda as Gai Ikari (Gokai Silver)
 * Kazuhiko Nishimura as Jou Oohara (Yellow Lion†)
 * Yukari Tamura as Navi (voice)
 * Hirofumi Nojima as Warz Gill (voice)
 * Gaku Shindo as Barizorg (voice)
 * Koji Ishii as Damaras (voice)
 * Kikuko Inoue as Insarn (voice)

Gokai Changes

 * Gokai Changes in The Friend's Soul:
 * Gokai Red - Red Falcon
 * Gokai Blue - DenziBlue, Blue Dolphin
 * Gokai Yellow - Yellow Lion
 * Gokai Green - Green Sai
 * Gokai Pink - DenziPink, Black Bison
 * Gokai Silver - Gold Mode
 * With this episode, Ahim has transformed into all 4 of her male counterparts at least once.
 * Both of the Gokai Changes in this episode involve teams guided by artificial lifeforms who do not resemble typical robots:
 * Denziman: Denzi Dog IC (a machine formed like a Shiba Inu dog)
 * Liveman: Colon (a machine formed like a humanoid Chinese girl)

Elements/Homages to Liveman

 * The title of this episode refers to the concept of "Liveman", which involves fighting (and saving) friends who betray the main characters to work alongside the main evil adversary.
 * Though not directly appearing in the episode, the voice actor for Action Commander Zaien is Joji Nakata, who played main Liveman villain Great Professor Bias. Like Bias, Zaien was a mad scientist who attempted to use his genius to cause chaos.
 * The concept of the episode of Zaien turning people into cyborgs (such as Barizorg) was akin to the plots of Doctor Mazenda, who became a cyborg in her attempts to prove her genius to Bias over her two companions.
 * Also, when Zaien grows giant, he says "The word 'defeat' doesn't exist in my dictionary!", which is what Great Professor Bias says in the first episode of Liveman.
 * During Jou's speech to Joe, a scene is seen of three scientists (two males and a female), releasing glowing butterflies into the air. This is similar to a scene in the Liveman opening, where the main Liveman trio release butterflies into the air which are subsequently shot. The butterflies in both cases are symbol for life and it's fragileness, but in the opening it particularly stood for the two friends killed by the three traitors.
 * Navi's Treasure Navigation for this episode has her say "Hop, Step, Love, Jump", which is the name of the character song for robotic ally Colon.
 * Although Jou mentions in his speech that he had "lost a friend to evil", he actually was the only one who succeeded in saving his friend, ultimately rescuing Goh Omura from his evil ways as opposed to watching them die while working for evil like the other traitors. However, Jou's speech may have more been a general idea about the concepts of Liveman and the initial betrayal by all three, including Goh.

Trivia

 * This is the first episode that Gai uses Gold Mode for combat since its debut in episode 19.
 * With this episode, two kinds of Super Sentai teams have had their Greater Powers unlocked:
 * All 4 Sentai teams with a female Blue Ranger.
 * All 5 Sentai teams that started with 3 Rangers, but later gained at least 2 new members (the Go-Onger's Greater Power was already unlocked during the events of Gokaiger Goseiger Super Sentai 199 Hero Great Battle).
 * Coincidentally, the two Greater Powers used back to back in this episode are Liveman and Hurricaneger, both of which have the same trio set for the original three (a red bird, a blue dolphin and a yellow lion)