This article is about an episode in Ninja Sentai Kakuranger. |
The New Year's Manga Hell (新春まんが地獄 Shinshun Manga Jigoku) is the forty-sixth episode of Ninja Sentai Kakuranger.
Synopsis[]
The Kakuranger become trapped in the manga created by a Youkai to be read by a boy which may cause their doom within the fictional work.
Plot[]
A boy named Akira runs through a park until he reaches a bookstore where he looks through various manga, including one called "The Last Kakuranger". Akira tries to purchase it, but the seller refuses, stating that "children should play outside" and not spend all their time indoors; the boy states he has no friends and reading manga is his favorite past time. When hearing this, the man closes the window and offers to give it to the boy under one condition: to read it alone; the boy states he always reads by hiding, making the man excited and sells it to Akira for 30 yen. The man starts laughing stating "this is the end of the Kakuranger" as he reveals himself as the Youkai Mujina. Later in Skeleton Castle, Daimao states that Mujina's year of waiting will finally pay off, the Youkai stating he had to wait for a boy like him after writing the manga, one who is isolated, lonely and loves manga, who when reading this book, will bring about a nightmare to the Kakuranger.
At a shrine, the Kakuranger pray for the New Year, Tsuruhime wishing for the end of the Youkai threat and for her and her father to reunite. Saizou buys a fortune but it shows it as "Great Curse", making him scream as he realizes it. On the bus, Akira begins to read "The End of the Kakuranger"; elsewhere, leading to a door near the shrine opening, sucking the five inside before closing. The Kakuranger appear in another world; Jiraiya is shocked by what he sees before pointing it to Saizou. As the boy reads the manga, the team sees another NinjaBlue running by, shocking them in thinking it was his ancestor Saizou Kirikage! But without warning another warrior appears who states he'll take their lives, using the Cloning Sword slashing the team until they all transform except Saizou, confusing him as the rugged man charges at them; Sasuke uses the Full Moon Cut but it's blocked and he's slashed down, surprising him.
Akira accidentally spills ketchup from the sandwich he's eating onto the page, blinding the Kakuranger as they're teleported to a new location, a temple. There, another NinjaBlue appears, welcoming them and reminding Saizou of his "Great Curse" fortune, explaining that as the reason behind why he can't transform; Saizou is shocked and throws Shuriken at him, but the NinjaBlue vanishes as the team is confronted by ninja warriors who beat them up with ease and knock Saizou down. Without warning, Akira's mother appears and strangles Saizou and Tsuruhime, grabbing them into a room where the room explodes at the ring of a telephone and they're stabbed by spears, hitting only Saizou. The duo are soon confronted by a monk who battles with them, knocking them around until they reach a rooftop, Saizou has enough but is easily tossed around by the warrior and he and Tsuruhime are knocked away into a grappling rope and into an arena. They soon face a wild woman who knocks Saizou on the head, making him accept his Great Curse before Tsuruhime defeats the female warrior. Saizou tries to run but then is faced by a bike riding warrior who throws him down into a street where he's saved by several paramedics and take him to a hospital where he's laid down as a police office rises up and says "Today is Friday in California" before shooting NinjaBlue as surgeons prepare to operate on him! Saizou tries to run through multiple doors over and over until he screams and charges back into where Tsuruhime is still fighting the wild woman.
They soon end up on a pier where they see a bouncing ball that turns into Mujina, who introduces himself as all the strange people that he became while referring himself as the "Shigeru Mizuki of Youkai". Tsuruhime asks about Sasuke and the others; leading to him firing ink revealing where they are but hitting the boy in his glasses, making him question the manga he's reading. The other Kakuranger appear from the inkblots, the Youkai welcoming them to his "Manga World" without any way out due to their fates to live out the manga he is writing. The team challenges it but they can't transform due to their powers not working in the manga world, allowing for Mujina to have the advantage, surprising the boy. He reads forwards and sees the Kakuranger killed one by one while seeing that the Youkai threatening the team; while in the Manga World, he prepares to defeat them. The Kakuranger try to charge against them as Mujina throws out the warriors he turned into prior to fight against the team, defeating them one after another while the Youkai laughs. Sasuke tells the team to get Saizou out of there; NinjaBlue tells them to not mind him but Tsuruhime states the team will work together as they continue to be attacked by Mujina's minions. The Kakuranger continue to stand as Saizou tells them to stop fighting for him with their caring being enough for him. The heart-felt speech makes Akira cheer for them as the team hear it, their comments are read by the boy continues to cheer them on and he sneezes, making them shake in the manga world. Akira confronts his mother but he hides the manga as she tries to take it from him, making him defy her about trying to read the rest as he grabs her wrist and runs off.
Akira arrives at Nekomaru and drops the manga in front of Ninjaman, making him yell to give it back. Ninjaman asks the boy to trust him due to being a Kakuranger ally but the boy keeps asking for it and telling him to not tell anyone about the manga, but Ninjaman opens the manga and reads it, telling them to hold on tight. In the manga world, Sasuke notices Ninjaman's cheers while they continue to be assaulted, making Ninjaman despair about what he can do about it until he realizes it's just a manga and he can throw it away and stop reading, making the boy upset he'd do such a thing! Taking it out of the trash, Akira tells Ninjaman they need to keep supporting them; while inside the manga, Sasuke is nearly ready to be slashed by Mujina's pen weapon. Sasuke hears the cheers making him realize they are reading it making him realize he has to do something. But as the Youkai drops the pen down, Sasuke catches it and kicks Mujina away before throwing it into the sky, ripping it open and freeing everyone from inside! Ninjaman soon flies over to catch up with the team while Sasuke confirms they're out of the manga world. No longer in Mujina's Manga World, Sasuke wonders how they'll handle the real world while Saizou declares they'll pay him back double for what he's done to them and transform. Mujina sends his warriors after the team with Dorodoro as the team and Ninjaman fight them off, the team defeats Mujina's minions one after another forcing the Youkai to use the Youkai Cloud and the Kakuranger to summon Kakure Daishogun and Ninjaman to grow giant, then into Samuraiman once called a novice where he's defeated by the Samurai Rage Bomber and by Super Kakure Daishogun's Iron Fist Flying Finish; as Mujina wishes he could write more manga as he passes.
Later, Akira rushes to the manga shop where Ninjaman gives him a new manga: "The Big Kakuranger Victory" as the team thank Akira for his support.
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)
- Ninjaman (ニンジャマン Ninjaman, Voice): Kazuki Yao (矢尾 一樹 Yao Kazuki)
- Daimaou (大魔王 Daimaō, Voice): Hidekatsu Shibata (柴田秀勝 Shibata Hidekatsu)
Guest Cast[]
- Mujina (ムジナ Mujina): Masahiro Sato (佐藤正宏 Sato Masahiro)
- Akira: Takaaki Hiyoshi (日吉孝明 Hiyoshi Takaaki)
- Akira's mother: Yoriko Umimura (上村依子 Umimura Yoriko)
- Assassin: Yoshinori Okamoto (岡本美登 Okamoto Yoshinori), Shoma Kai (甲斐 将馬 Kai Shōma), Kiyokazu Inoue (井上清和 Inoue Kiyokazu), Yoshie Seki (関 誉枝恵 Seki Yoshie), Yoichi Nishimura (西村陽一 Nishimura Yōichi)
Errors[]
- to be added
Notes[]
- Viewership: 4.2%
- Eyecatch
- Featured Kakuranger (Pre-Break): NinjaBlue
- Featured Kakuranger (Post-Break): NinjaBlue
- The costume worn by Mujina's Amazoness assassin is the one that was worn by Boi in Zyuranger.
- Mujina refers to himself as the Shigeru Mizuki of Youkai; Mizuki was a well known mangaka known for his youkai-related manga work, most notably the franchise GeGeGe No Kitaro.
Meme[]
Mujina's English line while dressed as a police officer "Today is Friday in California" has been the subject of memes and fan-art since the uploading of a fan-video clipping the scene. Since the video's upload, a dedicated Twitter account was created in which the clip would be posted every Friday (USA time). This scene was also subject to friendly debate in terms of the dialogue that Mujina speaks, in which people believed he said "Today is fine day in California" instead.
DVD Releases[]
- Ninja Sentai Kakuranger Volume 5 features episodes 44-53.[1]
- The complete Kakuranger series was released in North America by Shout! Factory in 2016.
See Also[]
- A Brush with Destiny - Power Rangers counterpart in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (Season 3). See comparison page.
References[]
Footnotes[]