Tobe! Garudaīguru!! (翔べ！ガルダイーグル！！) is the 20th episode of Crush Gear Turbo. It was originally aired in Japan on February 17, 2002.
Synopsis[]
According to the synopsis from the DVD release of the English dub:
Kuroudo and Kyousuke are shocked in the finals of the Illusion Cup, when they have to face their old teammates and answer some difficult questions. Can the Tobita Club manage to win the finals to make their way to the Asia Cup?
Plot[]
The episode begins with Kyousuke awakened from his dream where Kuroudo said his last words before quitting Gear Fighting and Kyousuke running along a street while his former teammates are heard talking in the background. Then, Kyousuke says to himself that he should be thinking about his Hokkaido experience while looking at his notes and a picture of him with the Tobita Club. When he threw a paper ball in a trash can and successfully shoots inside (similar to a basketball), he sees the vision again with that of Garuda Eagle in surprise before quickly continuing his work.
Practicing the special release
Kouya is practicing Garuda Eagle's special release at the Tobita Clubhouse. He has made several attempts to throw his Gear at the release line, but all of them are unsuccessful. Jirou insists him to take a rest and Kouya makes a deal with him that he will do so after practicing for five release shots. While Kouya picks up Garuda Eagle in the ring, Lilika is amazed by his change of attitude while Jirou states that Kouya is determined to master the secret power of Garuda Eagle.
Meanwhile, Kyousuke is seen walking along a street while holding a disk containing Garuda Eagle data until he meets Kuroudo (who has just returned from kendo class) halfway. The former simply walks away when Kuroudo tries to talk to him. When Kyousuke arrives at the front door of the clubhouse's office, he overhears a conversation by his teammates about getting rid of something that is no longer useful and finding a replacement. Thinking that the conversation is aimed at him, the Gear Master leaves the clubhouse as soon as Kouya opens the office door. Kyousuke then locks himself up in his workshop and throws the disk to the table. The next day he is awakened by a door knock, and finds Kaoru and Kouya waiting outside the door to pick him up. Kyousuke eventually joins them despite feeling that they are going to replace him.
Mitsuki talks to Kuroudo
The Illusion Cup finals begin where the Tobita Club will compete against Team Griffon. Kyousuke is surprised when seeing his old teammates while Kuroudo recalls the eyes from episode 18 after he stepped out of the ring. Later, Kaoru's research reveals the dossier of Team Griffon members that shows all of them are 11 years of age. It is also revealed that the team's leader is Mitsuki and they win in five Crush Gear tournaments (which makes them qualify for the Asia Cup). Then, Team Griffon comes at the Tobita Club's bench with Kuroudo and Kyousuke being greeted by Mitsuki. When the latter is asked by Kuroudo, Mitsuki replies that he had done everything to stop Kuroudo and Kyousuke from leaving their team. Mitsuki further asks how did the two returned to Gear Fighting despite their stubborness. Kuroudo replies that it was Kouya who recruited them to join the Tobita Club. Mitsuki then turns his anger towards Kouya and determines to prove to him that Kyousuke and Kuroudo should have stayed on Team Griffon.
The first match is Kuroudo against Kazuya Shishigawa. Before the battle, Kuroudo states that he did not have the uniform worn by Kazuya and his teammates when he was with them. Kazuya replies that Team Griffon fell apart when the Gear Master and Kuroudo left them, and that the uniform is made to symbolize the team's shift of focus from the past. Both teams are amazed in what they have seen - Kuroudo is able to beat Kazuya in nine seconds by just a collision from Shooting Mirage, scoring a swift win for the Tobita Club. Next up is Kyousuke against Hiroshi Washida. In this match, Kyousuke delays his Gear release due to remembering his teammates' words. The Tobita Club are shocked with him ignoring the match by letting Dino Spartan being attacked by Hiroshi's Gear and the obstacles until it is sent out of the ring.
During the intermission, Kyousuke's teammates wonder about his performance in the last match. Kouya thinks that Kyousuke might have a bad day, but Jirou states that the club shares the same match result as Team Griffon. He also asks Kouya about whether he had mastered the secret power of Garuda Eagle and warns him of Mitsuki's tendency to destroy the Gear. Kouya confidently replies that the Tobita Club has a Gear Master in case Garuda Eagle gets damaged. Hearing this, Kyousuke says that the club should not have trust him and agitatedly admits that he lost that round on purpose which shocked everyone except Kuroudo, who smiles at it since he already knows about Kyousuke's behavior. Then Kyousuke confesses that he betrayed the Tobita Club when he was at the Manganji Laboratory in Hokkaido, and due to his negative perception of Gear Fighters, he states that the club will never find Garuda Eagle's secret power. Jirou punches Kyousuke in the face after hearing it and the Gear Master tells him to do it again. Jirou is about to do so until he is stopped by Lilika. Kouya then hands Dino Spartan to Kyousuke, and the former still accepts him as a friend and says that the team needs him despite what he did.
"The sword is its (Garuda Eagle's) wings!"
Kyousuke to Kouya
Before Kouya steps into the ring for the next match, Kyousuke tells Kouya to throw Garuda Eagle over the release line. Kouya successfully masters the Tornado Release, and Garuda Eagle manages to go over the release line and lands onto the ring while moving like a boomerang, much to Good Boy's surprise. The battle continues until Kouya hears Yuhya telling him to ride the wind. Still moving like a boomerang, Garuda Eagle emits golden feathers and Kouya launches its special attack, Shining Sword Breaker. Garuda Eagle then knocks Mitsuki's Gear, Griffon Nova out of the ring until it nearly hits Good Boy's right cheek. Kouya as well as the Tobita Club is declared the champion of the Illusion Cup. After being congratulated by his teammates, Kouya goes to Kyousuke to thank him and tells that the club could really trust the Gear Master.
On the Tobita Club's way out of the amusement park later, Kaoru talks to them about getting new computers for the clubhouse's office. It soon appears to Kyousuke that the conversation that he heard the day before is about getting rid of the slow office computers, not him. While Jirou hopes to meet Team Griffon in the Asia Cup, Kyousuke stops walking halfway until he is called by Kouya to rejoin them, thus ending the episode.
Trivia[]
Kuroudo beats Kazuya in only 9 seconds
- The Crush Gears seen in Kyousuke's computer at the start of the episode are Gaiki, Garuda Eagle, and a prototype Crush Gear
- If noticed carefully, the Variable in the V.T. (Variable Transmuting) Chassis blueprint screen at the beginning of the episode is misspelt as Variabla
- The flashing marqueed eyes from episode 18 reappears in this episode and later revealed that these belong to Mitsuki.
- This episode shows the fastest Gear Fight victory in the entire anime. Kuroudo defeats his opponent, Kazuya in only nine seconds without even using any of Shooting Mirage's special attacks.
- The third time a Gear Fighter loses a match on purpose. The first one being Takeshi in the first episode where he manipulated his previous Gear, Gougetsu to make it appear that it lost against Battlehawk during the Tobita Club elimination match against Kouya. The second one being in episode 8, where the Burning Octopus team admitted losing on purpose after giving the Manganji Cup invitation to the Tobita Club
- There is a similar episode in The Powerpuff Girls entitled Little Miss Interprets where The Powerpuff Girls misinterpreted Professor Utonium that the latter is going to replace the former through a conversation.
- Kouya picking up Dino Spartan while interrupting a tearful Kyousuke's tantrums is a reference to the anime film Dragon Ball GT: A Hero's Legacy Where Goku picks up a Dragon Ball while telling his tearful great-great-grandson, Goku Jr. that the latter must collect all seven Dragon Balls to grant his wish.
| Gekito! Crush Gear Turbo | |
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| Episode 19 (Takoyaking no Gyakushū!) | Episode 21 (Tobitakurabu Dai Shingeki!) |
