This episode basically starts like episodes of the series tend to end, with Zone Fighter (Kazuya Aoyama) fighting and defeating yet another giant monster, this time the rather generic Dragon King who tries to capture Zone Fighter under a rock and then destroy a local dam - ultimately to no avail. And since Zone Fighter has so far all of the Garoga's Terror Beasts, Gold Garoga (voiced by Munemaru Koda) opts for a different approach, and he has Hotaru (Kazumi Kitahara) aka Zone Angel, Zone Fighter's sister, kidnapped and replaced by Garoga 13, who has taken Hotaru's form and likeness. She is to destroy the Zone family from within, first trying to poison their coffee, and when that fails by setting up a time bomb. But she's found out by Mama Zone (Sachiko Kozuki) when she spots the skin between her fingers, something the Garoga for all their shapeshifting abilities have never learned to overcome. So the fake Hotari tries to beat mama to a pulp, but is ultimately saved by Zone Fighter. In the meantime, friend of the family Takeru (Hideaki Ohara), who has witnessed Hotaru's kidnapping, tries to save her but is quickly outnumbered and overcome by the Garoga. But he helps Hotaru send out a beacon for Zone Fighter to come rescue them. And rescuing Zone Fighter does, and then he learns about the timebomb and saves his family in the nick of time. Which means of course the Garoga's plan has failed, so another Terror Beast, Gilmaras, a monster with a detachable nose that can shoot fire from where its nose has been, is sent to earth, but Zone Fighter has no problems defeating that one as well ...

One of the more entertaining episodes of Zone Fighter, as it strays from the formula a bit - but not by depriving us of monster fights in the process - and actually adds moments of suspense to the proceedings (even if nobody doubts there'll be a happy ending for the Zone family). And while the first monster fight is (within reason) rather well-staged with some good miniature work, it's really the monster with the detachable nose that sells this entry.

review © by Mike Haberfelner

 

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