 This article is about an episode in Ninja Sentai Kakuranger.
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The Old Man's Baby-Cry (子泣き爺いぢゃ Ko-naki Jijī ja) is the tenth episode of Ninja Sentai Kakuranger.
Synopsis[]
A Yokai desiring family steals the souls of humans to place into dolls, forcing the Kakuranger to find a way to get them back from him.
Plot[]
In a shop called Neverland, a father is purchasing a doll for a girl; the lonely salesman wonders what it would be like to have a family despite being surrounded by pretty dolls despite his loneliness. He picks up a doll and wonders if he can give souls to his dolls to make his own family; using his power to create a baby carriage. Wandering through a park, the salesman finds a woman stating he will steal human souls as he vanishes and the baby carriage begins to move on it's own. A baby cries as the woman approaches it seeing a baby inside that she tries to comfort, but it grabs her, revealing itself to be a Yokai that strangles her before vanishing, making her daughter, Kaori, yell at something being wrong with her! Kaori rushes to Nekomaru nearby, telling Tsuruhime that something happened to her mother. Later, the same baby carriage is stopped by a police officer, who sees a baby inside; picking up thinking it's abandoned, the baby turns into a rock that drags him down before turning into it's true Yokai form, Konaka-Jiji, and strangling him to take his soul!
The Announcer explains how Konaka-Jiji lures people in with it's cry before becoming so heavy that it crushes it's victim on the ground.
Nekomaru patrols the city as the baby carriage begins to fly past them, forcing the team to pursue it as it travels on. Konaka-Jiji tells the Kakuranger to chase after them, but they're attacked from above by the Yokai as it goes on a nearby bridge before escaping. In the hospital, the Kakuranger find out about the souls being stolen by the Yokai, confusing even the doctor and stating even medical science can't figure it out. Tsuruhime worries about what will happen if they can't defeat the Yokai as five more people arrive in the hospital with stolen souls and making the duo worry. At Nekomaru, Saizou, Seikai and Jiraiya complain about Konaka-Jiji's heaviness and dirty methods but Sasuke and Tsuruhime redirect them to concentrating on defeating it and getting the souls back to prevent anyone from dying; but Saizou worries that they don't even know where he is! Sasuke gets an idea of using a decoy stroller to lure him out. The team finish one up out of junk, with NinjaRed deciding they use rock-paper-scissors to decide who will be the baby; but before they use regular methods, Saizou reminds them of the "ninja method", each one praying that they aren't going to be it; with Sasuke ultimately losing and being forced to dress as a baby to lure out the Yokai to his distress and the delight of the other Kakuranger.
The stroller is left in the middle of the city as people wonder about the weirdo stuck inside, making Saizou realize it isn't working and yell out this is a "Yokai stroller" before telling his teammate to act cuter. Without warning, Konaka-Jiji's human form notices the stroller even as the team watch from afar. A soccer team rushes past the stroller with one of them kicking a ball towards Sasuke, hitting him and covering him with a white powder making him fall asleep! The soccer team then rush with the stroller forcing the Kakuranger to stop them from moving; the team kick explosive balls at them revealing themselves as Dorodoro the team ends up fighting against yet with one getting away with the stroller with Sasuke inside.
At Neverland, the shop is closed as Sasuke finds himself in a room filled with dolls tied up as Konaka-Jiji enters; he states the sleeping powder has worn off while sitting down in his Yokai form; Sasuke realizes he was hiding there while wondering where the human souls are, the Yokai explaining he wanted a family like humans do and be the head of this family; using his power to make the dolls come to life and tormenting Sasuke with their calls for his death as the Yokai asks for forgiveness on their bad mouths. Sasuke realizes the dolls have human souls, with Konaka-Jiji admitting they're his family as he rises up and takes on a larger form while claiming he's so happy he has an actual family now as he summons the dolls to him. The Yokai decides to take a family photo while Sasuke works on trying to free himself, using Konaka-Jiji's action to alert the team to his whereabouts. Konaka-Jiji plots to keep stealing souls to make the biggest family in the world, but Sasuke tells him he won't get away with this any further and he will face his judgement; the Yokai taunts him in whether he can escape and that he will die if he tries to escape.
The other Kakuranger arrive to save their teammate, but merely see Konaka-Jiji's living dolls taunting them; stating that Sasuke will "fall from his junk stroller and die". As they try to figure it out, the Yokai carries Sasuke via their stroller to an incline with a keg of gunpowder at the end that will explode once NinjaRed hits it! The Yokai sends down the junk stroller down a flight of steps as the rest of the team arrives to try and stop the action, but the stroller continues to roll until it finally hits the gunpowder, exploding and appearing to take Sasuke with it! But within moments of the eruption, NinjaRed stands alongside his teammates; he reveals that he used the Rope Escape ninpo to escape; the Announcer reveals it's the dislocation of joints to escape from rope capture. The team transforms and NinjaRed kicks Konaka-Jiji away, slashing at him to tell him to prepare to die; but Konaka-Jiji appears to surrender until he uses the opening to use his Rock Hell jutsu to suffocate Sasuke, only for him to use an escape to abandon his one uniform and appear right before him again. Telling Konaka-Jiji he will show the teamwork of the Kakuranger, the team reveals the Kakuranger Ball which he uses for the Kakure Shoot and blowing the Yokai back.
Konaka-Jiji then uses the Yokai Cloud to grow; Sasuke confronts him with Red Saruder and kicks him; but Konaka-Jiji uses a tendril to capture him only for Sasuke to throw him about instead. The team quickly becomes Muteki Shogun and finish him with the Flaming Shogun Sword.
At the hospital, the souls of all those captured by Konaka-Jiji return to their bodies to the delight of the Kakuranger. At Neverland, the dolls lay lifeless without their souls with merely a picture of the Yokai and his family being admired by the Announcer. Stating that humans and Yokai need families, he feels sorrow for him as he wonders about why he can't have kids, taking the tall brunette female doll with him.
Cast[]
- Sasuke (サスケ Sasuke): Teruaki Ogawa (小川 輝晃 Ogawa Teruaki)
- Tsuruhime (鶴姫 Tsuruhime): Satomi Hirose (広瀬 仁美 Hirose Satomi)
- Seikai (セイカイ Seikai): Shu Kawai (河合 秀 Kawai Shū)
- Saizou (サイゾウ Saizō): Hiroshi Tsuchida (土田 大 Tsuchida Hiroshi)
- Jiraiya (ジライヤ Jiraiya): Kane Kosugi (ケイン・コスギ Kein Kosugi)
- The Announcer: Enjou Sanyuutei (三遊亭 圓丈 San'yūtei Enjō)
Guest Cast[]
- Konakijiji (コナキジジイ Konaki Jijī): Monsieur Tamura (ムッシュ 田村 Musshu Tamura)
- Kaori: Satomi Yoneda (米田里美 Yoneda Satomi)
- Kaori's mother: Yumi Chiba (千葉由美 Chiba Yumi)
- Doctor: Yasushi Takeuchi (竹内 靖司 Takeuchi Yasushi)
- Nurse: Akiko Yamada (山田明子 Yamada Akiko)
- Police: Masaaki Kurita (栗田聖佐晃 Kurita Masaaki)
- Dolls (Voice): Makoto Kousaka (高坂真琴 Kōsaka Makoto), Ikuko Honda (本多郁子 Honda Ikuko), Kiyu Morita (森田樹優 Morita Kiyu)
Notes[]
- Viewership: 4.8%
- Eyecatch
- Featured Kakuranger (Pre-Break): NinjaRed
- Featured Kakuranger (Post-Break): NinjaRed
- This episode was never adapted into Power Rangers.
- This features the debut of Kakurangers's arsenal, Kakuranger Ball.
DVD Releases[]
Kakuranger Volume 1, DVD cover
- Ninja Sentai Kakuranger Volume 1 features episodes 1-11.[1]
Kakuranger: The Complete Series (Shout! Factory)
- The complete Kakuranger series was released in North America by Shout! Factory in 2016.
References[]
Footnotes[]