Ep. 40: The Future is the Past

The Future is the Past is the fortieth episode of Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger. It is both the official tribute episode to Mirai Sentai Timeranger as well as a cross-over with the events of Tensou Sentai Goseiger, in particular the crossover movie they appeared in.

Synopsis
The former TimeYellow, Domon, tells the Gokaigers that they must go back in time to save a temple that was mysteriously destroyed. During their search for the culprit, they find the Shinkengers and Goseigers in their own battle.

Plot
During lunch time, the Gokai Galleon is suddenly shaken by the appearance of the GouJyu Drill, stationed outside. When Gai looks into it, he finds a Tomorrow Research badge, containing a hologram of Domon, the former TimeYellow.

Showing it to his teammates, they find it is a holographic message left to them by Domon, charging the Gokaigers with going back in time to October 2, 2010 and protecting the Megakure Shrine, which had mysteriously exploded that day, in exchange for one of the Greater Powers. The Gokaigers are puzzled, since they already have the Timerangers' Greater Power thanks to Gai, but accept the task nonetheless.

Arriving at the shrine in the past, they find a boy being accosted by many Strengthened Nanashi troopers, and had injured a few before the Nanashi mysteriously flee. Ahim tells Gai to tend to the boy while the rest of the team goes off to find whoever could be the responsible for the explosion.

In a quarry nearby, they spot the Goseiger and Shinkenger teams fighting against the Nanashi together, then later they find Shitari of the Bones rallying more of the Nanashi. Concluding him to be the villain, the Gokaigers decide to fight him, with Marvelous reasoning that he would be destroyed by one of the two other teams anyway. They jump down and take out the Nanashi, proceeding to destroy Shitari by using the powers of different Red warriors.

Meanwhile, Gai talks to the boy, who had run away from home (though he insists he was "moving out"), because his mother, a freelance writer, is always moving, so he has no time to stay and make friends. Gai tells him that, like the boy, he too moved from city to city frequently because of his parents when he was a child, but nevertheless, he had a lot of friends because he always tried hard to make new friends at every place he arrived.

Just then, Metal Alice of the Agent comes by, analyzing the Megakure Shrine and marking it for destruction, a task she assigns Zan-KT-0 of the Shot with. Zan-KT-0 is confronted by Gai, who takes him to a safe place, but cannot seem to break through his enemy's defense. When the Gokaigers arrive, they all decide to use the Timerangers' powers to fight and defeat Zan-KT-0, much to the amazement of Metal Alice, who has no data on the Gokaigers. Before leaving, however, she enlarges Zan-KT-0 with her Bibi Bugs, and GokaiSilver offers to fight him alone in the GouJyu Drill. Zan-KT-0 is defeated when Gai uses the BullBlack key on the GouJyuJin for a new attack, the GouJyu Eidan followed by the GouJyu Triple Drill Dream.

Later on at the Megakure Shrine, the boy's mother arrives, apologizing for her son's behavior, and as she is revealed to be Honami Moriyama (the girlfriend Domon had left in the late 20th century), Don reminds Gai to take a picture of them at the shrine to prove their success, asking Honami and her son, Mirai, to join them. In the present, the gang is relieved to see that the temple made it through to November 2011. Navi asks the team which Grand Power they claimed, however the Gokaigers are horrified when they realise that they never actually got what they were promised. Marvelous is furious with Domon for apparently lying to them to get them to save the temple, while Gai argues that Domon wouldn't do that. As the crew argue, the Gokai Galleon flies over the temple inside of which lies a mysterious jar...

In the year 3011, Domon enters the GoZyu Drill and finds a letter that Gai left on the cockpit for him. Domon reads the letter and then looks at the photograph. Initially upset that they interacted with people from the past (something they had orders not to), he soon recognizes Honami in the picture and, concluding that the boy next to her is the son he never met, Domon sits alone at the cockpit, crying.

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)
 * Shuhei Izumi as Domon (TimeYellow†)
 * Tamao Yoshimura as Honami Moriyama
 * Asuka Komiya as Mirai Moriyama
 * Yudai Chiba as Gosei Red (voice†)
 * Rika Satoh as Gosei Pink (voice†)
 * Kyousuke Hamao as Gosei Black (voice†)
 * Mikiho Niwa as Gosei Yellow (voice†)
 * Kento Ono as Gosei Blue (voice†)
 * Tori Matsuzaka as Shinken Red (voice†)
 * Hiroki Aiba as Shinken Blue (voice†)
 * Rin Takanashi as Shinken Pink (voice†)
 * Shogo Suzuki as Shinken Green (voice†)
 * Suzuka Morita as Shinken Yellow (voice†)
 * Cho as Shitari of the Bones (voice†)
 * Tora Take as Zan-KT0 of the Shot (voice†)
 * Marina Inoue as Metal Alice of the Agent (voice†)

Gokai Changes

 * Gokai Changes in The Future is the Past:
 * Gokai Red - Go-On Red (movie footage), TimeRed
 * Gokai Blue - Bouken Red (movie footage), TimeBlue
 * Gokai Yellow - GekiRed (movie footage), TimeYellow
 * Gokai Green - DekaRed (movie footage), TimeGreen
 * Gokai Pink - MagiRed (movie footage), TimePink
 * Gokai Silver - Shinken Gold, KingRanger, TimeFire, Gold Mode

Elements/Homages to Timeranger

 * The title of this episode homages the main concept of Timeranger: heroes going back in time to perform actions that ultimately shape the future (in some ways creating a paradox even when the main team was trying to prevent paradoxes from happening in series)
 * Like every episode of Timeranger, a specific date is used to notify where it takes place, specifically placing it in a particular place and time. In the case of this episode, the date is October 2nd, 2010, which specifically takes places right between Goseiger episodes 32 and 33.
 * This episode furthers along the idea of Domon himself creating a time paradox at the end of Timeranger by conceiving his own ancestor with Honami Moriyama during the series, thereby forcing his protection so that his own existence would remain. This further connects to Timeranger's concepts of the connection of past and future, in a way similar to the need for Tatsuya Asami to be TimeRed due to his connection to descendent Ryuuya Asami, the TimeRed of the future.
 * Ironically, Domon himself didn't realize he had a child in the past until the events of this episode.
 * The main five of the whole team has dodged the blasts of a villan, while Gai (who does not know how to) is hit, which also happened in the first episode of Timeranger when Tatsuya Asami (who did not have Timeranger training) was also hit by bullets while his teammates avoided them.
 * When the Gokaigers battle Zan-KT-0, the style of the beginning of the battle is the same as the style of the Timerangers first battle against the Londerz.
 * When GoJyuJin defeats Zan-KT-0, GokaiSilver says "Time up", referencing to the phrase when the Timerangers defeat a Londerz Prisoner.

Connection With Tensou Sentai Goseiger vs. Shinkenger: Epic on Ginmaku

 * This episode explains why the Gokaigers were able to use the Ranger Keys during their cameo, even though the keys didn't exist until after the Great Legend War, which took place well after the Goseigers defeated Brajira.
 * The entire cameo from the movie where the Gokaigers kill off Shinkenger villain Shitari of the Bones is shown completely in episode as was done in the film.
 * A comparison between the scene as shown in both this episode and from the team-up show that the main cast did redub it, due to different lines and slight differences in unchanged lines. Cho also recorded new lines, as he talked about destroying the Shinkengers and Goseigers in this episode while he talked about betraying Brajira in the same scene in the team-up. Marina Inoue and Tora Take also recorded new lines, as they weren't even in Goseiger vs. Shinkenger.
 * Although it's only because the Gokaiger time traveled to before the Great Legend War, this is the third time Rangers other than the Gokaigers appeared henshined, after Gokaiger Goseiger Super Sentai 199 Hero Great Battle and the teamup episodes with the Hurricanger. This is not only due to stock footage from Goseiger vs. Shinkenger, as the brief shot of GokaiYellow pointing out the two teams was not from the movie.

Trivia

 * This is the second episode of Gokaiger to not feature any of the regular villains, but the only full story without either the Zangyack or Basco. (Dimension on the Other Side is the first, but it was the first part of a two-parter and the Zangyack appeared only in pt. 2)
 * This is also the first episode that Gai uses the Gokai Shooting Star finisher since its debut in The Amazing Silver-Colored Man.
 * This is the first time a Monster of the Week used in a past Sentai series is used in the following series.
 * It also explains why Ninjaman was not present during the Great Legend War.
 * When the Gokaigers travel to 2010, Gai points out that the Tokyo Sky Tree is still under construction. This suggests that Gokaiger, or at least this episode and beyond, takes place post February 2012, which is when the Sky Tree is expected to be completed.