Ep. 44: A Lovely Christmas Eve

A Lovely Christmas Eve is the forty-fourth episode of Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger, the Christmas episode of the series, and the tribute to Battle Fever J.

Synopsis
Gai gets Luka interested in Christmas just as Bibaboo of the Imperial Guard is sent to Earth, using his powers to turn those he attacks into dolls. A young girl, Sayo Kinoshita is put in the position of being a Gokaiger in order to save her little brother.

Plot
On the [Gigant Horse]], Ackdos Gill decides to hold the invasion back until the problem with the pirates is solved, as Dyrandoh decides to bring Action Commander Bibaboo to Earth. After Damaras's demise, Doc's bounty is increased and Navi also gets a small bounty on his head as well, but the rest of the team is still wondering about the true intentions of Basco who was put back on the wanted list for helping them against the Zangyack. Then, Gai chimes in with a tiny Christmas tree to remind them that Christmas is coming and he takes Luka to help him with the preparations. Gai and Luka stumble on a Santa Claus, accompanied by a panda. Luka gets excited at the thought of getting a present and approaches Santa. However he refuses, saying that he only gives presents to good kids, which angers Luka. Later, as Gai tries to calm her down, they find sister and brother Sayo and Seiji Kinoshita who are decorating a Christmas tree in the park with for group of children. Luka and Gai help out until Dyrandoh and Bibaboo appear. Bibabu uses his magic wand to turn their targets into dolls. During the fight, both Seiji and Gai are turned into dolls, just as the other Gokaigers appear to fight Bibabu. While as the Kakurangers, they attempt to take Bibaboo's wand and use a spell to turn everyone back to normal, but Dyrandoh joining the fray foils their plans. Later, as Sayo is worried about her little brother and feeling guilty because they have been bickering a lot, Luka comforts her and promises that she will save him as she comes up with her own plan.

She goes after Bibaboo on her own, but her attempt appears to fail when Bibaboo turns her into a doll. However, this is revealed to only be a distraction to allow Sayo to use Luka's Mobirates and Ranger Key to transform into Gokai Yellow, retrieve the wand (which is later broken by Gai) and turn everyone back to normal. With the team gathered, and Luka given her Mobirates back, the Gokaigers transform into an all Yellow team, consisting of TigerRanger, KirinRanger, GaoYellow, HurricaneYellow, Bouken Yellow, and Gosei Yellow to fight Dyrandoh and Bibabu's Dogormin before the main team transforms into the Battle Fever J team, and Gokai Silver manages to combine Gokai Red and Gokai Green's Ranger Keys to transform into Gokai Christmas, to take on Dyrandoh and Bibabu, ultimately destroying Bibabu and leading to Dyrandoh's retreat. Insarn makes Bibabu and the two Dogormin grow to giant size, leading the Gokaigers to form Gokaioh and Goujyu Rex to fight them. After using Magi Dragon, Gao Lion, and Furaimaru against Bibabu, the group forms Kanzen Gokaioh to defeat Bibabu once and for all.

Later, the Gokai Galleon crew joins in the park's Christmas celebration with Luka using the powers of MagiMother to make it snow. Unbeknownst to them, the Santa Claus from earlier was actually the former Battle Kenya, Shiro Akebono, and he states that the Gokaigers have been 'good kids' so they deserve a present. When the Gokaigers return to the Gokai Galleon after the Christmas party, Navi tells them that the Treanger Box suddenly started glowing. Opening it, they find that the Battle Fever keys are shining, having been granted their Greater Power. The Gokaigers are confused as they are unsure of how and when they earned it, when Luka guesses it was a present from Santa. Marvelous then states that Santa is 'awesome', when Gai notices that it has started snowing in the city and the other Gokaigers rush to look through the window, ready to enjoy Christmas.

Cast

 * Ryota Ozawa as Captain Marvelous (Gokai Red)
 * Yuuki Yamada as Joe Gibken (Gokai Blue)
 * Mao Ichimichi as Luka Millfy (Gokai Yellow)
 * Kazuki Shimizu as Don Dogoier (Gokai Green)
 * Yui Koike as Ahim de Famille (Gokai Pink)
 * Junya Ikeda as Gai Ikari (Gokai Silver)
 * Yukari Tamura as Navi (voice)
 * Yuno Fuse as Sayo Kinoshita
 * Taito Honda as Seiji Kinoshita
 * Kenji Ohba as Shirou Akebono (Battle Kenya†)

Gokai Changes

 * Gokai Changes in A Lovely Christmas Eve:
 * Gokai Red - NinjaRed, GaoYellow, Battle Japan
 * Gokai Blue - NinjaBlue, TigerRanger, Battle France
 * Gokai Yellow - NinjaYellow, Bouken Yellow, Battle Cossack, MagiMother
 * Gokai Green - NinjaBlack, HurricaneYellow, Battle Kenya
 * Gokai Pink - NinjaWhite, Gosei Yellow, Miss America
 * Gokai Silver - KirinRanger, Gokai Christmas
 * Sayo Kinoshita - Gokai Yellow
 * With this episode, all 10 Extra Ranger/Bangai Hero Ranger Keys have been used in a Gokai Change at least once.
 * This also means that all 192 of the Ranger Keys that originated from the Great Legend War have now been used in a Gokai Change at least once.
 * This is the first time Gai transforms into a Ranger that is part of a core team rather than a Sixth Ranger or a Bangai Hero.
 * In the all yellow Gokai Change, the Yellow Rangers the Gokaigers change into are the same gender as themselves (Luka and Ahim change into Yellow Rangers that were originally female and Marvelous, Joe, Don and Gai change into Yellow Rangers that were originally male).
 * Also, like the all green change in the previous episode, the all yellow change is used to take out the Dogormin.
 * The Ranger Marvelous becomes in this change is GaoYellow, who was the leader of the Gaorangers before GaoRed joined.
 * This episode marks the second time that a Gokaiger directly changes into a past hero (with Luka changing into MagiMother).

Elements/Homages to Battle Fever J

 * Both Christmas and BFJ share a similarity in having origins in foreign ideas and concepts that were ultimately adopted within Japanese culture. Christmas came with the arrival of Portugese missionaries to Japan in the 17th century before it evolved into a modern secular holiday celebrated prior to the major New Years celebration. Likewise, BFJ came about due to the collaboration between Toei and the US' Marvel Comics, leading to a sentai which initially was to be a series based around comic book hero Captain America yet evolved into the series that revived interest in Super Sentai beyond its original concepts in Gorenger and J.A.K.Q.. Notably, while Gokai Christmas' color scheme uses the colors most associated to the holiday, it is also akin to the flag of Portugal, which is vertically divided between red and green, also matching the Battle Fever concept of each Ranger associated to a different country.
 * The sudden replacement of Luka in this episode as Gokai Yellow connects with BFJ having two cast replacements, the most of any Sentai series. Further, both cast replacements connect with Luka being the victim, being Miss America (the only female of the cast, going from Diane Martin to Maria Nagisa) and Battle Cossack (Luka's BFJ equivalent, going from Kensaku Shiraishi to Makoto Jin).
 * Coincidentally, two other seasons that featured replacement Rangers (Gorenger and Bioman) the replaced Ranger was the Yellow one.

Trivia

 * As part of Super Hero Time, this episode aired alongside Kamen Rider Fourze episode 16, Right and Wrong Conflict.
 * Shirou Akebono will later appear in Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger vs. Space Sheriff Gavan: The Movie, along with Kenji Ohba's other two major roles, Daigorou Oume (DenziBlue) and Retsu Ichijouji (Space Sheriff Gavan).
 * The leading guest actress in this episode goes unnamed for the entire episode. Magazine articles refer to her character as Sayo Kinoshita.
 * This is the only tribute episode to center around a Sentai team with no Yellow Ranger. Ironically, this episode centers around Luka.
 * When the Gokaigers transform into Battle Fever J, that team's theme does not play. That is probably because the Battle Fever J theme was already used in Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger The Movie: The Flying Ghost Ship.
 * This is the last one-episode story of the series. The remaining episodes are all tied to multi-part stories.
 * This is the only episode where a non-alien (not counting Gai) transforms into a Gokaiger. In this case, when Luka is turned into a doll, someone else transforms into Gokai Yellow for the time being.