Ep. 45: The Confused Ninja

The Confused Ninja is the forty-fifth episode of Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger. It is also the first part of a two-part tribute to Ninja Sentai Kakuranger, which concludes with Hero Eligibility, as well as a clip show of all of the previous events of the series.

Sypnosis
With the Gokaigers holding 29 of the 35 greater powers, and Basco with 5, the Gokai Galleon crew discovers that the only one left is that of the Ninja Sentai Kakuranger. Remembering Negakure Temple, the crew finds a strange pot containing the Kakurangers' ally Ninjaman who tests them to see if they are worthy of the Kakurangers' greater power.

Plot
The Gokaigers recap all of the Greater Powers they and Basco ta Jolokia have gathered, leaving only the Kakurangers'. Navi's prophecy implies that ninjas that can't be found won't be found. They recall the shrine that Domon had told them to protect, Megakure Shrine, and Joe deduces that it could be where the Kakuranger powers are. Once there, they discover that Ninjaman had been stuck for ten years in a jar, having been put there by his masters as a punishment for his overzealousness of defending a little girl (taking out an entire city block in the process). Gai informs him that his curse wasn't broken as the Kakurangers lost their powers in the Great Legend War.

While Captain Marvelous is ready to interrogate him about the powers, Ahim, Gai and Don insist they go about it without rubbing him the wrong way, by winning his approval first. Thus, the Gokaigers attempt to treat Ninjaman to snacks and a show (which ends horribly when Marvelous and Navi's act propells the robotic parrot into the food the crew prepared for Ninjaman, much to Joe's dismay), and later start telling him about the Ranger Keys, their Gokai Changes, their quest for the Greater Powers, and the battle against Zangyack, as well as the danger that Basco poses, having the ability to simply steal the powers.

Ninjaman, while empathetic to their plight, declines to simply hand over the Kakuranger's Greater Power; because his easygoing demeanor has put him in trouble more than once in the past, he has decided not to trust people so easily, so he decides he will live aboard the Gokai Galleon to observe if they are ready to have it. While Gai is ecstatic at the thought of being taken under the wing of a legend, the rest of the Gokaigers feel impatient.

Somewhere else in the city, Tsuruhime watches the Gokai Galleon sail across the air. She is impressed at how they found the hidden Ninjaman. She decides that she no longer needs to leave the Gokaigers to defeat the Zangyack on their own, and that it is up to Ninjaman whether they'll receive the Kakuranger powers, and swooshes away.

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)
 * Yukari Tamura as Navi (voice)
 * Kei Hosogai as Basco ta Jolokia (archive footage)
 * Satomi Hirose as Tsuruhime (NinjaWhite†)
 * Kazuki Yao as Ninjaman (voice)
 * Atsushi Hashimoto as Kai Ozu (MagiRed†)(archive footage)
 * Ayumi Kinoshita as Marika Reimon (DekaYellow†)(archive footage)
 * Ryuji Sainei as Banban Akaza (DekaRed†)(archive footage)
 * Noboru Kaneko as Kakeru Shishi (GaoRed†)(archive footage)
 * Runa Natsui as Kaoru Shiba (Princess Shinken Red†)(archive footage)
 * Kotaro Tanaka as Mikoto Nakadai (AbareKiller†)(archive footage)
 * Shun Shioya as Yousuke Shiina (HurricaneRed†)(archive footage)
 * Nao Nagasawa as Nanami Nono (HurricaneBlue†)(archive footage)
 * Kohei Yamamoto as Kouta Bitou (HurricaneYellow†)(archive footage)
 * Yasuhisa Furuhara as Sosuke Esumi (Go-On Red†)(archive footage)
 * Hiroki Suzuki as Jan Kandou (GekiRed†)(archive footage)
 * Yūji Kishi as Kyosuke Jinnai (Red Racer†)(archive footage)
 * Teruaki Ogawa as Hyuuga (Black Knight†)(archive footage)
 * Kazuki Maehara as Ryouma (GingaRed†)(archive footage)
 * Mitsuomi Takahashi as Satoru Akashi (Bouken Red†)(archive footage)
 * Kayoko Shibata as Matsuri Tatsumi (GoPink†)(archive footage)
 * Toshihide Wakamatsu as Gai Yuki (Black Condor†)(archive footage)
 * Shou Tomita as Yukito Sanjyou (AbareBlue†)(archive footage)
 * Kazuhiko Nishimura as Jou Oohara (Yellow Lion†)(archive footage)
 * Tamao Sato as Momo Maruo (OhPink†)(archive footage)
 * Masaru Shishido as Gorou Hoshino (OhRed†)(archive footage)
 * Keiichi Wada as Ryo of the Heavenly Fire Star (RyuuRanger†)(archive footage)
 * Hayato Oshiba as Kenta Date (MegaRed†)(archive footage)
 * Shuhei Izumi as Domon (TimeYellow†)(archive footage)
 * Kenji Ohba as Shirou Akebono (Battle Kenya†)(archive footage)

Gokai Changes

 * Gokai Changes in The Confused Ninja:
 * Gokai Red - TyrannoRanger (deleted scene), Gosei Blue, GaoRed
 * Gokai Blue - TriceraRanger (deleted scene), Shinken Blue, Go-On Blue
 * Gokai Yellow - TigerRanger (deleted scene), Blue Dolphin, Yellow Lion
 * Gokai Green - MammothRanger (deleted scene), TimeBlue, ShishiRanger
 * Gokai Pink - PteraRanger (deleted scene), MagiBlue, GingaRed
 * Gokai Silver - DragonRanger (deleted scene), Aorenger, Gosei Knight
 * In the all-Lion Gokai Change, Ahim is the only one who does not transform into a Ranger of her own color. This is due to the fact that none of the previous Pink Rangers have a lion motif.
 * Like the all-Yellow Gokai Change from the previous episode, when the Gokaigers all transform into Blue Rangers, they change into ones that are the same gender as themselves (Luka and Ahim change into Blue Rangers that were originally female, while Marvelous, Joe, Don, and Gai change into Blue Rangers that were originally male).
 * Also, like the previous episode, the Ranger Marvelous becomes in this change is someone with a type of leadership quality. In this case, Gosei Blue, who was the tactical leader of the Goseigers.
 * Don and Gai are the only Gokaigers to transform into Blue Rangers with no connection to water.
 * This is the first time Gai becomes a Ranger from a team before Zyuranger.
 * Luka is the only Gokaiger where all of her (non-deleted) transformations in this episode come from the same series. In this case, Choujuu Sentai Liveman.
 * The Gokai Changes during the montage, outside the Kakuranger one, were all in series order from most recent (Goseiger) to oldest (Gorenger). Also notable is that every Gokai Change from a team with a tribute episode up to that point were in the montage.
 * Only Hurricaneger was not in the set due to the unique situation of the tribute two-parter. Their Gokai Change was from episode 2.
 * This is the last episode before the finale in which all six Gokaigers transform into past warriors.

Elements/Homages to Kakuranger

 * The title of this episode is similar to the Kakuranger episode 36, "The Hooligan Ninja!!", the original episode that introduced Ninjaman; the title in Japanese was Abarenbou Ninja!! (暴れん坊忍者!!). The title also echos another Kakuranger title: that of episode 45, "The Confused Santa" (慌てん坊サンタ, Awatenbou Santa), while ironically this episode is likewise released around the major holiday period in Japan around Christmas and New Year's.
 * When freeing Ninjaman, it is Ahim who breaks him free from the pot, reminiscent of how Tsuruhime, her equivalent in Kakuranger, freed him originally in the series.
 * After Ninjaman is freed, he explained the backstory of his imprisonment in the same way the Narrator talks to the audience during the earlier half of the season.
 * When Tsuruhime appears at the end of the episode they play the opening theme for Kakuranger. Back in Kakuranger, they sometimes played the ending theme in lieu of background music.
 * During Navi's Treasure Navigation, she states "Doro Doro Dororon", lines from the ending theme of Kakuranger, "Ninja Skyscraper Kids".

Deleted Scenes

 * During the recap, a Legend Shift is seen during the footage of Satoru Akashi (Bouken Red) despite the fact that the shift didn't occur in Ep. 21: The Adventurer Heart.
 * The Gokaiger change into Kyōryū Sentai Zyuranger as seen in the TV Asahi website. The Zyuranger (the five core members; with Dairanger's KibaRanger in DragonRanger's place) and Ninjaman suits were all part of the Kakuranger adaptation for season 3 of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. Whether or not it is an intentional reference remains to be seen.