KR Den-O Episode #38: "The Train King inside the Train"

And now, a collection of thoughts and revelations about this week's just-aired episode.

Double Action Spoiler Warning! Form

Last week saw our heroes between a rock and an extra-hard place as Ryuutaros, acting under pressure from the mysterious Kai to fulfill his destiny, let the Leo Imagin & his goons into the Den-Liner, and proceeded to send the Zero-Liner going out of control with an EVIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIL Rider Ticket. And then the Zero-Liner took the Den-Liner with it. Oops.

As if things couldn't get any worse, Momo & the crew were ambushed by rehashed Zectrooper costumes while Ryuutaros (still in Ryôtarô's body) found himself unable to transform (since his pass is in the Zeroliner) and had to be saved by Yuuto. Naomi & Deneb are on the crazy trains, the Owner and his lookalike are proving about as effective as ever (meaning, not at all) and Kai is yukkin' in all up.

While Zeronos duels with the Leo Imagin, Ryuutaros summons his back-up dancers (despite the fact that they're still in the middle of the Desert/Time Vortex/Wherever, but I think it's been firmly established by now that they can pretty much show up wherever and whenever he wants them too, so screw logic!

Also, it's worth pointing out that in the OP credits, Naomi now gets third billing after Ryôtarô & Yuuto. I'm not going to confirm or deny the whole "Hana's actress might not come back" thing simply for the fact that I have absolutely no idea what it's all about (I only just heard about it today), but make of this what you will.

Unfortunately, Kai turns Ryuutaros' dancers against him, and another breakdance fight ensues. Zeronos hits Leo Imagin with a fully-charged slash (twice), but the big golden guy escapes to fight another day.

His goonsquad doesn't fair as well: out main 3 Imagin use their respective moves (similar to the different forms' killing moves) to clean house. I like Urataros's little slide kick. Kohana shows up to bring them out of their little moment of euphoria and back into the plot.

The Zero-Liner & Den-Liners are still going crazy, and Naomi is getting the entire place dumped on her. Deneb's also onboard though! Shame that doesn't help things much. I love Deneb, for all his ineffectualness, he never quits, does he?

The Owner and his lookalike are eating Chahan, what else is new? We also find out that the other Owner is actually a Worm. No, he's not, but that would probably be cooler than the vague explanation we're given, that he's "symmetrical". Maybe we'll learn more about this in the future. This scene does have a great little exchange though:

"We'll search for them."

"Who will?"

"The Station!"

Deneb manages to get to the control/pilot/driver/whatever room on the Zero-Liner, but can't pull the pass out.

Commercial break: Hey, a preview for NEXTy! That song... that song's pretty silly, but the movie looks awesome! *Ahem*.

Ryuutaros (still possessing Ryôtarô) goes to see Airi. She realizes something's up at last (notice how ever since Hana reverted to a kid, Airi seems to be getting smarter?) "You're not Ryôtarô". she says, causing Ryuu-Ryôtarô to get all angsty and run out, where Yuuto follows him. It's sort of refreshing to have the usually-irritating Ryuutaros get put in his place for once, but on the other hand, by the end of this episode, I defy even his biggest critics to not feel a pang of regret. But we'll get there in a minute.

The King-Liner, which is in fact the station itself, activates. Also, is it just me or are there several King-Liners there? Anyway, the The King-Liner saves the out-of-control trains. This is a pretty nifty scene, but it does beg the question as to what exactly else the King-Liner is good for. Or will this become a reoccuring trend now?

Kai finds Ryuu-Ryôtarô & Yuuto, and continues to deliver a performance that makes late-episode Mishima look restrained by comparison. I like the evil guy, I really do, but he really is like Ryuutaros if we were supposed to utterly loathe him as opposed to begrudgingly tolerate him. Especially with his "Ryuutaros wa BAAAAAAKAAAAAAAA!" line earlier on. I like over-the-top, but what with the Imagin-of-the-week-antics lately, it'd be nice to have a fairly grim and completely straight-laced villain for a change. Well, I guess that's Sakurai (the watch-holding one's) job.

Yuuto aks Kai about what he is, and the evil one is as vague as an early Kabuto episode (he literally shrugs or gurns in response to everything.) Leo Imagin decides it's a good time to get back in the game, and prepares to smash our heroes into the pavement. The Den-Liner shows up and Kohana gives Ryôtarô (who has since expelled Ryuutaros from his system... yeah, that doesn't sound right either) his pass back. It's go time!

As he becomes Den-O Sword form, Kai pulls out a book of dates, and selects 1/19/2006. In a moment of badassity that just about makes up for his wackiness thus far, he pulls himself in half and lets Leo Imagin jump into him to the past. He leaves, but curiously not only tells Den-O where to go, but leaves him still with the ticket (in his Rider Pass) and thus the means to go back and stop Leo Imagin.

The Imagin emerges from Kai in the past, and Sakurai (the watch guy) is there to see that everything goes as it should. Kai vanishes into sand, but don't worry, he'll be back. The Den-Liner arrives, but unfortunately Momotaros is thrown out of Den-O again, thus necessitating the use of Liner-Form. Super-duper amazing wowee Den-O easily defeats Leo Imagin, and promptly collapses.

Later, as everybody repairs the Den-Liner, Ryuutaros actually manages own up and utter and apology. I won't spoil the next scene, but let's just say it's a pretty memorable one. It's the aforementioned "damage control" for Ryuutaros, and it's quite touching.

Meanwhile, Kai is back where we first met him (on some building in Tokyo during the night) and looks up to see countless balls of light in the sky. Countless Imagin.

If we learned one thing from this episode, it was:

• No matter where or when you are, the power of hypnotically-enforced breakdancing compels you.
  

Next Time: Yuuto's past! And surpisingly, he didn't hang around with a bunch of guys who would go camping, throw CDs at each other and set things on fire.

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