Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger 20 – The Lost Forest


Also known as Fabulous Basco III! In this episode, Gai’s Sentai fanboyism reached new heights as they were able to figure out what team are they looking for and Gai’s first encounter of an actual Sentai member that is not a Gokaiger! Also, Hyuga wants to be GokaiSilver! Wait, didn’t his team fought space pirates?


I have been waiting weeks just to see this kind of interaction happen since the Carranger tribute episode in which we have equal amounts of Sentai Veteran action and equal amounts of current team action! In this episode’s case, they were able to connect Gai’s character development with the guest Sentai Veteran, in this case, with Hyuga. Okay, they did it with a couple of veterans before (namely the Dekaranger one), but one thing I noticed is that, the interactions between Gai and Hyuga seemed more personal compared to the previous tribute episodes which has this pattern, wonder around aimlessly, accidentally meet the veteran and get the power. Wash, rinse then repeat. Because of Gai’s involvement in this one, it broke this pattern and instead, they now have a clue on what they are looking for and they don’t have to wait for the hero to pop-out of nowhere, making this tribute quite dynamic compared to the rest.

Now for the tribute itself, I liked it. To be honest, I never saw any Gingaman but I saw Teruaki Ogawa in Kakuranger as Ninja Red, Sasuke so I was surprised that he has a very distinct tone as Hyuga. To those who haven’t watched Kakuranger, Sasuke’s voice sounds like Ban of Dekaranger except it’s deeper. As for the character, Hyuga, I love the fact that he secretly tested Gai if he is worthy to be GokaiSilver after Hyuga saw his lack of self-confidence, something that his brother, Ryoma doesn’t have years ago when he took the role of GingaRed after Hyuga “died.” How did I know all about that? Wikipedia and lurking on various forums and blogs (or blog), oh, and did you know that Hikaru aka GingaYellow’s favorite snack is donuts? Guess Hikaru will immediately accept these space pirates!


Now to the man of the hour, Basco; his return is one of the reasons why I love this episode. Even if he doesn’t have Navi, or the Gokai Galleon to aid in his quest in looking for the greatest treasure of the entire universe, he was able to find a way on how can he get a Grand Power. I dunno how did he figure out the proper tone to extract the Grand Power, which my guess, he tried it on to some past Veteran or like every guy who has a brass instrument, practiced till he finds the perfect tone; but hey, at least he is now even towards the Gokaigers in terms of treasure hunting equipment.

Asides from Basco’s return, he was able to summon four Extra Ranger Keys, namely, DekaMaster, Wolzard Fire, MagiMother and later, Black Knight. I just loved that the first three summonses can handle the Gokaigers evenly and at the end, able to beat them. But I was surprised that Marvelous was able to handle the three warriors in his civilian form. That was quite a surprise. And lastly, Ryoma’s appearance, it was short and it’s quite similar to Ban’s appearance in the Dekaranger tribute, and yes, I am quite disappointed with it.


Overall, it was a good tribute episode and probably, one of the memorable ones as well since Basco now proves to us that even with the lack of proper equipment, he can still match and out match the Gokaigers if he wants to. As for Gai’s first adventure in looking for the Grand Powers, it was fun and you can actually see the level of his dedication towards Sentai that he is armed with everything that is related to it. Namely, the picture book (which accordingly, might be written by the Gingamen’s writer friend) and a pen, in case he will meet a veteran and ask them to sign his picture book. Jokes aside, he finally proves to us viewers that he is not fooling around and not just living the dream of becoming a Sentai warrior, but he is serious about it that he is willing to shove Hyuga just to get his Gokai Cellular.

And since Hyuga appeared in the episode, in case of a Kakuranger episode and Sasuke is set to appear, will Gai break the fourth wall and do comments that Hyuga and Sasuke looked alike? That is unless Sasuke is wearing his civilian clothes and not his ninja gear. Did I mention that part of Sasuke’s civilian attire is a bandana?