Ep. 5: Laaaaaame! ☆ Yellow Mama

Laaaaaame! ☆ Yellow Mama (イタイタ☆イエローママ) is the fifth episode of Hikonin Sentai Akibaranger. It is also the Mothers Day tribute episode.

Synopsis
Nobuo thinks that they must work together if they want to fight as team, as well as keeping their identities a secret even from their parents. They were surprised when they were visited by Yumeria's mother, who seems to be also a cosplayer.

Plot
Akagi returns to Café Himitsukichi to have some curry rice when he suddenly notices Yumeria cosplaying as an alien girl and telling everyone that her mother Masako from Mount-Pear (Yamanashi Prefecture) is visiting her. Later, Akagi, Mitsuki, and Yumeria go to the latter's home, which is decorated with countless anime and Super Sentai memorabilia. Reminded of several "parental visit" episodes of past Super Sentai series and fearing the outcome of Yumeria's mother finding out her hobby, Akagi starts hiding all of the memorabilia, only to stumble upon her collection of yaoi manga in her closet, which gets him kicked out of the apartment. Mitsuki suggests that Yumeria changes into a normal outfit to conceal her otaku identity when Masako suddenly enters the room. Everyone is further surprised when they see that she is also a cosplayer herself - known by her alias "Miyabi", and she reveals Yumeria's real name as Yuko Yamada. As the quartet go shopping in Akihabara, Yumeria reveals that today is her 24th birthday. While Akagi and Mitsuki leave mother and daughter alone for some quality time, they suddenly notice that several cafés and shops on the block have been replaced by host clubs. Upon entering a club, they once again encounter Malseena and a revived Kabukichō Mesugurohyōmonchō, who now plan to annex Akihabara into Kabukichō. Yumeria is summoned by Hiroyo to assist her comrades in battling Malseena and Mesugurohyōmonchō. Akiba Yellow is overpowered by Mesugurohyōmonchō when Masako suddenly intervenes, much to Akiba Red and Akiba Blue's surprise of seeing her in a delusional battle. She takes Yumeria's MMZ-01 unit and transforms into Akiba Yellow to brutalize the Chief Clerk before returning the transformation device to Yumeria for the Akibarangers to finish him off once and for all. Back in the real world, Yumeria reveals that Masako died in a car accident five years ago. Since then, she has celebrated her birthday with her mother in her mind, which resulted in Masako showing up in their delusion. Yumeria is grateful to her comrades that she was able to tell her mother everything she wanted to say to her. The entire café begins to celebrate her birthday when Kozkoz accidentally stumbles, causing the birthday cake to fly and hit Yumeria's face.

Cast

 * Nobuo Akagi: Masato Wada (和田 正人)
 * Mitsuki Aoyagi: Kyoko Hinami (日南 響子)
 * Yumeria Moegi: Karin Ogino (荻野 可鈴)
 * Hiroyo Hakase: Maaya Uchida (内田 真礼)
 * Kozkoz Mita: Kozue Aikawa (愛川 こずえ)
 * ©Na: Honoka (穂花)
 * Masako Yamada: Rica Matsumoto (松本 梨香)

Tropes and References

 * When Kozkoz asks Nobuo what style of curry he wants, she mentions Gon, Safari, and Dino. Each "style" is a nod to the snack shops that were hangouts for the respective team; Snack Gon from Gorenger, the Snack Safari from Sun Vulcan, and Dino Curry from Abaranger.
 * At the Sentai Cafe, Stage 24: As Your Teacher from Mahou Sentai Magiranger is playing on the TV.
 * This could be a flag for the return of Kabukichōmesugurohyomoncho due to his similarity in personality to Hades Beastman Belbireji the Incubus, who was also portrayed by Hikaru Midorikawa
 * When Yumeria first showed up cosplaying as a alien, the music from 2001: A Space Odyssey plays in the background.
 * Upon finding out Yumeria's mother is coming to visit, Nobuo says that this is a true Sentai stock plot, the "parental visit" episode.
 * Being a Sentai fan, some of the stuff in Yumeria's room is Sentai merchandise. Nobuo tries to hide her otaku stuff, explaining that it's a classic Sentai trope, when a parent visits, there'll be a fight over the risks their kids face on the team.
 * Nobuo speaks of the Chogokin figures his mom threw away.
 * Nobuo says they might be dealing with the second major trope in parental visit episodes, the marriage interview. He explains that there are Sentai episodes where a heroine's parents force a marriage interview, "for my daughter's sake.", but it's really a scheme to get their kid off the team. When Yumeria says that is unlikely, Nobuo notes that Chisato from Megaranger was still in high school, and her grandmother of all people brought it up. (the episode referred in this case was It's Over! The Explosive Granny Whirlwind)
 * Nobuo is saddened to find that a shop selling Sentai toys has been replaced by a host club, saying he was going to buy the Bioman Super Electric deluxe set.
 * When preparing to fight against the returned Kabukichō Mesugurohyomoncho, Akiba Red says that revived monsters are always weaker than the original.
 * In his roll call, Akiba Red says "My favorite parental visit episode starred Vul Panther!" (referring to Sun Vulcan episode Asao Hyou's Dad-Lord).
 * Although Nobuo doesn't point it out, the roll call in this episode features colored explosions behind the individual Rangers.
 * When Yumeria's mother becomes Akiba Yellow, Yumeria says that she mentioned cosplaying as Miss America once. Nobuo notes this is one of those episodes where the parent gets super-excited what the kid is doing.
 * This also refers to Miss America being the first female Sentai ranger to be replaced, going from Diane Martin to Maria Nagisa.
 * In the ending sequence, Hiroyo says that for her, Queen Hedrian is the strongest female villain in the history of Sentai.

Songs

 * Mahou Sentai Magiranger
 * Hikonin Sentai Akibaranger (opening)
 * Denji Sentai Megaranger
 * Heroic Lily
 * Ashita wa Akiba no Kaze ga Fuku (ending)

DVD/Blu-ray releases
Hikonin Sentai Akibaranger Volume 2 features episodes 4-6: Ep. 4: Forbidden Delusion! The Lame Blue Corruption!, ''Ep. 5: Laaaaaame! ☆ Yellow Mama, and Ep. 6: Soar, Master! A Lame Trap at the Delusional Studio!''.