Recap / Mashin Sentai Kiramager Ep 11 Time Is Cycling

Time Is Cycling

Original Airdate: June 21, 2020
Written by: Tete Inoue
Directed by: Katsuya Watanabe

Summary:

Tametomo gets caught in a "Groundhog Day" Loop while also having to deal with an e-sports rival of his.

Tropes specific to this episode:

• Armor-Piercing Question:
  • Yojiro asks Tametomo if his previous match with him was actually a serious match or not. It gets Tametomo to actually take him on seriously and form a plan to defeat the MOTW.
  • Juru indirectly asks if Tametomo is actually being serious or not. This is what directly leads to his rematch with Yojiro and his plan to defeat Reset Button Jamen.
• Break the Haughty:
  • Tametomo gets a mild case of this thanks to the time loop, learning not to get complacent after getting advice from Juru and through a rematch with Yojiro.
  • Reset Button Jamen gets this hard thanks to Tametomo blasting the reset button multiple times. After an indefinite amount of time loops later, he breaks down and gives up on trying to fight the Kiramagers.
• By the Hair: Tametomo's hair happens to be the target of aggression by Yojiro, an e-sports rival of his. It's to the point where Yojiro actually takes out chunks of Tametomo's hair and puts them into a weird jar of his to fuel some "curse". It's both offputting and hilarious due to Yojiro's narmy vibe.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: Tametomo subjects Yojiro to this twice in Tekken 7, one not so seriously and one seriously.
• Early-Bird Cameo: Kiramai Silver makes a short appearance before The Stinger as he suddenly appears in Mabushina's mind.
• Genre Savvy: Tametomo quickly figures out that he's been placed into a time loop, but he doesn't figure out exactly how until later on into the episode.
• "Groundhog Day" Loop:
  • The main premise of the episode has Tametomo getting caught up in a loop that repeats the entire day after accidentally hitting Reset Button Jamen's reset button.
  • This is how he manages to defeat Reset Button Jamen. Instead of taking him on directly, Tametomo decides to continuously shoot the reset button until Reset Button Jamen becomes despodent from the repeated loop. To put it into simpler terms, Tametomo mentally broke the MOTW into submission. (It takes Galza to actually defeat him for good no less!)
• Heroic BSoD: Tametomo emotionally shuts down of this after experiencing the time loop with no end in sight. It takes Juru pulling off an indirect Get A Hold Of Yourself Man for him to snap out of it and form a plan to defeat the MOTW.
• Mood Whiplash: In a way. At the end of the episode, Mabushina suddenly has a vision of KiramaiSilver as they are all celebrating Hellico’s birthday.
• Mythology Gag: In the many loops where Tametomo shoots the MOTW's reset button, Shovellow shouts "Que bom!" in one and "arriving like a gale" in another.
• Pop-Culture Pun Episode Title: The episode title is a reference to the 2005 movie Tobi Ga Kururi To. ^note  The Japanese title is "Toki ga Kururito".
• Shout-Out:
  • Tametomo says "Game Start" when confronting the MOTW.
  • How Tametomo defeats the MOTW is very akin to how Doctor Strange defeated Dormammu in the climax of the film, except Reset Button Jamen is on the receiving end.

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