Ep. 4: Delusional Goddess

Hikonin Sentai Akibaranger Season 2, Episode 4

## Episode Guide

**Delusional Goddess** (妄想女神, *Mōsō Megami*) is the fourth episode from Hikonin Sentai Akibaranger Season 2. It marks the debut of ©Na's armored form and Super Akiba Red.

## Plot

After Hakase fails to convince Luna not to quit the Akibarangers, learning of her manager Tojo while unintentionally ruining the video Luna was going to post on Nico Nico Tube, Akagi finally learns that Yumeria has married into the Yokoyama family yet is keeping her otaku lifestyle under wraps as new mother-in-law Yasuko insists it to be an embarrassment to the family. While looking to get over the building angst, Akagi finds a strange man disguised as a priest who uses his powers to remodel all *Z-Cune Aoi* merchandise nearby to assume a darker and edgier appearance much to her fans' despair. Upon realizing that the man in question is another Baros lol monster, Akagi confronts the exposed Machine Lifeform Smapho Monger in the Delusion World.

Enough though dealing with a Sun Vulcan monster could set him at ease as Akiba Yellow joins the fray, Akiba Red's angst gets worse when Malseena arrives with her own Moe Moe Z-Cune-esque device, the "MMZ-00 Moya Moya Z-Cune". With Akiba Red giving her the notion, Malseena uses the MMZ-00 to transform and overwhelms the two Akibarangers while having Smapho Monger give spoilers on the upcoming "Z-Cune Aoi" movie. Akagi and Yumeria are forced to retreat, and the effects of the dark changes in *Z-Cune Aoi* keeps spreading to the point of affecting the entire franchise to the point of being a short lived series with Hakase effected as she ends up on the verge of bankruptcy. With Akagi desolated by the fate of his favourite anime series, Yumeria is instructed to keep their delusion strong by drawing her manga and taking a disguised Akagi to the Yokoyama mansion to distract Yasuko, while Hakase heads to Luna's talent agency to convince her to rejoin the team.

Once finishing her manga, Yumeria reveals it to be a *Z-Cune Aoi* dōjinshi created specially for Akagi in which Aoi admits her feelings for him. Reading the dōjinshi rekindles Akagi's passion as he returns to battle with a renewed spirit, with him and Yumeria surprised to find Luna joining them. Though overpowered, Akiba Red refuses to give up as the boost that Yumeria's dōjinshi gave him allowed him to manifest the Munyu Munyu Zubaan to transform himself into Super Akiba Red and restore the *Z-Cune Aoi* franchise before destroying Smapho Monger. Once returning to reality, Akagi and Yumeria are surprised to know that not only Yasuko was aware of what they were doing all the time, but she approves her daughter-in-law's hobby after seeing first hand while revealing herself to be both an anime otaku and singer.

## Cast

* Nobuo Akagi: Masato Wada (和田 正人, *Wada Masato*)
* Luna Iwashimizu: Shione Sawada (澤田 汐音, *Sawada Shione*)
* Yumeria Moegi: Karin Ogino (荻野 可鈴, *Ogino Karin*)
* Hiroyo Hakase: Maaya Uchida (内田 真礼, *Uchida Maaya*)
* Kozukozu Mita: Kozue Aikawa (愛川 こずえ, *Aikawa Kozue*, of Danceroid)
* ©Na: Honoka (穂花, *Honoka*)
* General Tsu: Ryo Horikawa (堀川 りょう, *Horikawa Ryō*)
* Yasuko Yokoyama: Mitsuko Horie (堀江 美都子, *Horie Mitsuko*)
* Announcer: Mari Takahashi (高橋 麻理, *Takahashi Mari*)
* Evangelist: Takayuki Shibasaki (柴崎貴行, *Shibasaki Takayuki*)
* Smapho Monger (Voice): Katsuyuki Konishi (小西 克幸, *Konishi Katsuyuki*)

## Gallery

Vlcsnap-2013-05-06-08h52m48s182-e1367850464417.pngTakayuki Shibasaki as human form of Smaphomonger.Vlcsnap-2013-05-06-08h52m23s152-e1367850473436.pngYumeria's new business card as her name was now Yuuko Yokoyama after her engagement.Vlcsnap-2013-05-06-08h53m44s207-e1367850444245.pngMalshina holds DX Moya Moya Z-Cune before her transformation scene.Scg051013 2341 34.jpgFeeling depressed after he was didn't invited to Yuuko's engagement ceremony, Nobuo stares to the Z-Cune summer movie poster, stating that Aoi-tan is only his reliable partner when he was in harder times.Vlcsnap-2013-05-06-08h54m16s54-e1367850436159.pngAt Yuuko's mansion, Nobuo was tied upside down as Yuuko wants him to be her reference model in order to complete her dojinshi comic.Vlcsnap-2013-05-06-08h55m00s225-e1367850426794.pngProving his true love for Aoi, AkibaRed finally obtained the Munya Munya Zuuban for the first time...Scg051013 2343 01.jpg...and transforms into Super AkibaRed.Scg051013 2348 11.jpgHaving find out that Yuuko's mother-in-law was a tokusatsu fan, Akagi and Yuuko dance together while Yasuko sings a parody of Tatakae! Ninja Captor during the credits.
## Tropes and References

* The monster of the week is General Tsu's "original character" Monger. Mongers are the monsters from the Machine Empire Black Magma, the villains from *Taiyou Sentai Sun Vulcan*.
* When General Tsu successfully completes his mold for SmaPhoMonger, he rips off *Kyoryuger's* catchphrase "You'll be surprised when you hear this!" (*Kiite migoto odoroke!*) at the beginning of the episode.
* The man who plays the human form of the monster this week is one of Toei's toku directors, Takayuki Shibasaki.
* Some of the Sun Vulcan's references mentioned in this episode:
	+ The time attack references a monster in Sun Vulcan that beat this attack by attacking in the time it takes them to shoot the attack again.
	+ During the fight, they sang the first ending theme song, Wakasa wa Plasma, but they can't finish it because they're missing AkibaBlue.
* ©Na's armored form might be reference to Escape, Go-Busters' villainess who starts out as human form but later gain an ability to transform into monster/armored form, Escape Evolved.
* Nobuo's fake name "Naoya Kaijou" is a combination of Akarenger's name (Tsuyoshi Kaijou) and his actor name (Naoya Makoto).
* Zubaan Aoi is a reference of Great Swordsman Zubaan from *Boukenger*. Both can transform into a sword, and tends to produce sound effect "Zubaan!" in it.
* The ending for this episode, *Kyaputan Chu-Chu-Chu*, is a spoof of *Tatakae! Ninja Captor!*, the opening of pseudo-Sentai series *Ninja Captor* as depicted within the Akibaranger universe. The series opening theme song was performed by Mitsuko Horie, who plays Yasuko Yokoyama in the episode.
	+ Yasuko's artistic name, Etsuko Horimi, is also a wordplay with Horie's name.
	+ The originally scheduled ending for this episode was a cover of *Tengoku Samba* from *Carranger* by Nobuo.

## Notes

* During Luna's first attempt to record her dancing videos, she says that she wanted to be popular like Kozue Aikawa, the real name for Kozkoz. Kozue became famous through Internet sites such as Youtube/Niconico since Kozue is a member of DANCEROID.
* From this episode onwards, Yumeria's name was now known as Yuuko Yokoyama following her marriage.
* Smaphomonger was voiced by Katsuyuki Konishi, who lends the voice for GoseiKnight in Tensou Sentai Goseiger.
* In the laptop, Nobuo uses the Poodle website when he accidentally looks up the browser's history full of yaoi references. Poodle is a parody of Google.
* When Yuuko tells Nobuo that she needs his help to complete Zuuban Aoi comic by midnight, Nobuo surprisingly shouts, "Are you Ishinomori-sensei?!". This refers to Shotaro Ishinomori as a fast-writer.
* The delusional sequence where Akagi is interacting with Aoi marks the first time, official or not, that human characters from Super Sentai have been seen in animated form.
	+ This is especially unique as Super Sentai is the only tokusatsu franchise to not have any OVAs or anime produced for it. As its sister series, Kamen Rider, had SD Riders and Imagin Anime and its rival series Ultraman had several OVAs such as Ultra Nyan, Ultraman Kids, and the anime series entry, The Ultraman. The Metal Heroes series had an unofficial animated OVA entry in the form of Gakuen Tokusou Hikaruon and the Garo Series by Tokuhoushinsa had Garo: Honoo no Kokuin. The closest equivalent is an episode of *Tsuribaki Nisshi* that was associated with a similar crossover between that anime and *Abaranger*

## DVD/Blu-ray releases

*Hikonin Sentai Akibaranger Season 2* Volume 2 features episodes 4-6: *Ep. 4: Delusional Goddess*, *Ep. 5: Delusional Import*, and *Ep. 6: Delusional Niangniang*.

AkibarangerS2 DVD Vol 2.jpg*Akibaranger* S2 Volume 2, DVD coverAkibarangerS2 Blu-ray Vol 2.jpg*Akibaranger* S2 Volume 2, Blu-ray cover