Ep. 9: Delusion Number Two

Delusion Number Two (妄想弐號) is the ninth episode of Hikonin Sentai Akibaranger Season 2.

Synopsis
The Akibarangers face off against Tsu Shogun in the delusion world.

Plot
At last the Akibarangers find the hideout of Tsu Shogun, who happens to be a dental technician called Tsuguo Ushirozawa. However, he was waiting for them, and draws the trio to a trap that sends them to his own Delusion World, where they find themselves unable to bail out or transform by themselves.

In a reality fully under his control, General Tsu has the Akibarangers at his mercy until he sends his newly finished Mecha Gigan Coelacanth Kans against them. The Akibarangers summon the Machine Itashar to fight it, just to learn later that he just allowed them to do so for his monster to destroy it. The trio flees from the enemy and stumble on ©Na, who easily overpowers them. General Tsu reveals that ©Na who was freed by him with the spell of reincarnation used by N Ma from the Underground Hades Empire Infershia, making her stronger and fully under his control. To fight her back, the Akibarangers summon the Ludicrous Powers of the Dairangers, Zyurangers and Hurricanegers, but just before they form the Ludicrous Bazooka, ©Na absorbs and converts them into Long, Yaiba of Darkness and Phantom Spy Vancuria, using them to form the Darkness Ludicrous Cannon against the unofficial heroes.

When all hope seems lost, Hakase sends a second Machine Itashar to assist them, but it is revealed to be a toy car instead of a real one. Despite that, the Akibarangers use it to form the Itashar Boy, who proves itself powerful enough to take down Coelacanth Kans and allow them to return to reality. Back at General Tsu's house, the trio finds him lying on the ground in an unresponsive state, while for some reason, the scorpion tattoo reappears in Hakase's body, moving further to her throat, and the hospitalized man briefly appears once more.

Cast

 * Nobuo Akagi: Masato Wada (和田 正人)
 * Luna Iwashimizu: Shione Sawada (澤田 汐音)
 * Yumeria Moegi: Karin Ogino (荻野 可鈴)
 * Hiroyo Hakase: Maaya Uchida (内田 真礼)
 * Kozukozu Mita: Kozue Aikawa (愛川 こずえ)
 * ©Na: Honoka (穂花)
 * Tsu Shogun: Ryo Horikawa (堀川 りょう)

Tropes and References

 * The monster of the week is a Mecha Gigan Coelacanth Kans, the Neo Gear's Empire-inspired giant mecha from Bioman.
 * Mecha Gigans were not usually preceded by a normal sized monster. An ironic twist as the Akibarangers don't usually fight giant monsters.
 * Most of the Sentai tropes appeared in this episode:
 * Bathing suit episode, which usually happens around summer between July and August.
 * Wedding episode happens around autumn (except Shinkenger).
 * Christmas episode in December. At this month, lots of mecha will appear as a part of Toei/Bandai's marketing strategy to increase toy sales by encouraging parents to buy mecha toys as a Christmas presents for their kids during the festive season.
 * Another Sentai references also appeared in this show:
 * Samurai Sentai Shinkenger
 * Shinkenger 22.5. In Shinkenger, most episodes are known as Acts and the title is written in all kanji. The kanji say "The really exciting beauty in a swimsuit", but Nobuo reads out as "The nosebleed beauty in a swimsuit".
 * In the background, one can see Kuroko, the men in black that are prevalent in Shinkenger.
 * Engine Sentai Go-Onger
 * GP 33 1/2. Go-Onger episodes are typically written in kanji with the rest was written in katakana. The episode's initials are known as GP (Grand Prix).
 * When characters are coupled, the character's name who is on the left is typically the seme. In this case, Gold is the seme while Green  is the uke.
 * Choudenshi Bioman
 * Most of the Bioman's episode titles end with exclamation or question mark.
 * The comment of the Honolulu marathon matches Bioman's airing date, with episode 46 airing on the same day it occurred that year; but the date was incorrect: both the marathon and the episode were December 15th, 1984, not December 20th.
 * The Delusion Particle Cut by Itashaa Robo is a reference of BioRobo's Super Maser Bio Particle Cut.
 * During the escape scene, several posters of Bio Hunter Silva was seen in alley. The poster was written "Destroy!" in hiragana, katakana and kanji respectively.
 * When he ordered Malshina to destroy the Akibarangers, he did the Bio Hunter Silva's "Destroy! Destroy! Destroy!" pose.
 * Mahou Sentai Magiranger
 * The Wolzard's spell was mentioned. The spells used was Uu Ugaro, Uu Uzara. Uu means to erase, Ugaro means to fortify and Uzara means to transform. However, none of these spells were used in any episodes of Magiranger, they are all new in this show.
 * When Akibarangers summon the Ludicrous Powers, Malshina uses Wolzard's spells to convert Ryuuranger, Tyrannoranger and HurricaneRed into Long, Vancuria and Yaiba. Both evil trio shares the same theme with the summoned Red Sentai members.
 * Tyrannoranger and Vancuria: magic themed (Zyuranger is a mix theme of dinosaur and magic).
 * Ryuuranger and Long: kung-fu themed.
 * HurricaneRed and Yaiba: ninja themed.
 * General Tsu makes the Akibarangers go through three seasonal-themed scripts so he can destroy their first robot (Machine Itasha) around the time the Honolulu Marathon happens, which is typically when a sentai's First robot is either destroyed or rendered useless so Toei can introduce a second robot (in this case, Itasha Boy).
 * When Akibarangers nearly defeated by Coelacanth Kans, Nobuo said that they'll get crushed like Zydos. In one episode, Zydos was crushed flat by Daimugen.
 * Itasha Boy is named after the smaller extra robots who all have "boy" in their name such as Titan Boy, Tetra Boy, Tackle Boy, and Liner Boy.
 * Itashaa Boy being possibly more powerful and an upgrade compared to Itasha is similar to the power structure between Flash King and Titan Boy, where the latter was actually the upgrade and more powerful than the original mecha (due to the "Great Titan" formation).
 * Nobuo mentions to General Tsu that whenever a new robo turns up for battle it is 'super-powerful', a common Sentai trope in which the newly debuted mecha is almost always shown to defeat the previously tough enemy with ease.
 * Season One callbacks appeared in this episode:
 * AkibaBlue and AkibaYellow attacks Malshina using AkibaPylon and AkibaRod, which is actually a construction material. Reenacted from Episode 2.
 * Itashaa Boy drives an empty can of soda to the Coelacanth Kans' entrance is similar to how Boomerang Titan was defeated in last season's finale.
 * A scorpion mark reappeared on Hakase's upper right chest.

Errors

 * to be added

DVD/Blu-ray releases
Hikonin Sentai Akibaranger Season 2 Volume 3 features episodes 7-9: Ep. 7: Delusional Spy, Ep. 8: Delusional Beauty War, and ''Ep. 9: Delusion Number Two''.