Kigurumi Officer Squad: The Race to Beat the Bomb!

Mascots (kigurumi 1.0), as well as kigurumi sets, have always been the default characters introduced in big festivals and parties. They draw crowds, entertain children, and all attention is directed onto to them once they appear on stage or on the floor.

Yet, with all the focus that they attract, they never seem to incite the feeling of uncertainty. Well, except for a bizarre few.

This becomes especially important, when you're on an urgent mission to stop an possible imminent terrorist attack.

"Okay listen up. There's a bomb threat, and the only hope is to wear kigurumi."
"...say what now?!"

One ominous morning, your section chief assembles an emergency meeting. Long story short, reports of a bomb threat has been spreading over the internet. Specifically, it is rumored that some perpetrator plans to  cause a dazzling bang at the charity event near the Riverside Mall on that very day. 

Because the event is mostly aimed at families and children, dispatching a police team in their full uniform might cause unease to the attendees. In addition, the presence of uniformed officers would most likely alert the culprit, who might be forced to detonate the bomb sooner.

"They wanted to kigurumi disguises because our police uniforms are rowdy?"
"and why exactly do I have to be included in this assignment?"

The solution? Yep, none other than an ol' trusty kigurumi. The section chief has directly appointed Natsumi, Miyuki, Yoriko, and Futaba to go undercover and pose as staff members for the event.

"Hmm, that cat kigurumi already appeared on this blog somewhere..."

Naturally, Natsumi was the very first one who opened a string of questions about this operation. But, with no choice, and given a pretty technical reason for not wearing uniforms on duty, she immediately jumped in to choose one. Presumably, to leave the sillier selections to the other three.

As for who exactly wore what...

Natsumi immediately picked the cat kigurumi. The design is quite plain, but seems very, very peculiar due to the traditional red choker plus bell chime, and the odd, almost tiger-like stripes. As expected, she never stopped complaining from time to time even after wearing it for the entire operation.

Yoriko wore the monkey kigurumi. The design is as silly as its animal theme, and almost looks like some signature character from another in-universe series. Probably the one who eventually felt the most comfortable wearing the kigurum later on.

Futaba wears the chick kigurumi. Yes, that is indeed a young chick kigurumi. Though, one really can't help but get a strong impression of a duck with its color theme. Halfway through the episode, she eventually gave up correcting people that her kigurumi is not a duck.

Finally, Miyuki dons the mushroom kigurumi. Though quite obvious that it was the last chosen, she did also confirm that she had no choice. So indeed, she was the last to pick a kigurumi for the assignment. Unsurprisingly, the oddball nature of her kigurumi would turn out to become the most important as that day progressed. 

"So, how would the four of you search for the bomb wearing those?"
"We don't know, but the two-hour detonation time limit should motivate us enough."

Now that their introductions on stage are done. It's time to search for the bomb that is set to detonate within two hours. This... didn't turn out to be efficient to say the least. Though the four are well camouflaged from the potential culprit, and don't seem imposing to the visitors, they do catch an unnecessary amount of attention since well, they're wearing kiguurmi.

"Hey, what was that kick for?! Oh well, at least you kids aren't a few years older."

Especially Natsumi, who is very popular with kids in a "rowdier" way.

"Mom, why is that monkey and duck trying to dig into trash bins?"
"Well sweetie, maybe they're just looking for food... I hope."

Every single activity that they do that's related to the mission, is met with strange looks from nearby people. Unfortunately, without any clue as to where the bomb is, or what it might look like, their added efforts seem in vain at the moment.

"Not much officers around except for that shades guy talking to the kigurumi girls..."

Meanwhile, there are also two other developments also occurring while they were searching. First, the culprit is actually at the event already and is prowling the vicinity. He does notice the kigurumi girls, but his attention is currently at officer Ken, who is in full police regalia.

"Remember, just shout my name, and I will be able to hear it no matter where."

Second, is that a peculiar boy, Kazuki, and his little brother Shuu, managed to encounter our mushroom kigurumi lady, Natsumi. Sometime later, Kazuki would have to  deal with the trouble of Shuu taking a prize item at a booth without permission. Spoiler alert, this is what will lead the episode to its climax.

"He's searching for something... or someone! He's definitely searching for us!"

Somewhat understandably, the appearance of Ken greeting the kigurumi troupe and going around the area to aid in the search of the bomb made things worse for the brothers. Kazuki was totally into his thought that the officer specifically came there to catch him and tried all sorts of ways to hide or escape.

"Man, how was I able to climb here with my bro without any staff noticing?"
"Oh, so the officer was actually looking for a bomb... wait..."

Things then took turn for the worse, when he desperately tried to open a distance gap by climbing up the stage area. Up there, he finally overheard that the officer was actually looking for a bomb, and not him. With the usual impeccable anime timing, Kazuki spotted that very bomb, which is atttached on one of the stage balloons.

"Oh great. Now I'm torn between reporting a bomb threat, surrendering this shoplifted item, AND preventing Shuu from falling down to his death."

Meanwhile, his much younger brother Shuu, upon seeing his favorite tokusatsu character on stage, crawled out of the high area, and almost fell, if not for Kazuki's quick reaction. Unfortunately, even the five-year-old Kazuki can't keep holding Shuu for a long time.

"Mushroom lady, I need an assist! Right now!"
"Telepathy? No, I sense a perfect heroic timing!"

He then remembered the kind words of the mushroom lady. With further desperation than earlier, he shouted at the top of his lungs, and tried to call out to her. Backdrop setting location aside, Miyuki must have been nearby, or else that teeny weeny voice would have been drowned out by the stage sounds.

"Good thing the writers chose this mushroom kigurumi for me, or else that split second delay would have made the episode script dubious!"

Running towards the main stage, Miyuki dashed wide, and held out her mushroom hat to act as a cushion, saving Shuu in the nick of time. As for Kazuki, he was held by Ken the entire time.

"Technically, it was your bro that 'shoplifted', but we can't arrest three-year olds for that."

When everything was finally settled, Kazuki was relieved to learn that he will not be arrested for shoplifting. But wait... aren't they forgetting something?

"There's no time to dismantle it. We'll just have to get it far from here as possible!"

He overheard their conversation again, and immediately remembered that he was about to report the location of the bomb. At just less than five minutes remaining, the kigurumi troupe immediately sprang into action.

Natsumi ran towards the platform to detach the balloon.

Miyuki ran back to the patrol car as fast as she could.

All the while Yoriko and Futaba tried to evacuate the audience calmly and orderly without directly addressing the emergency.

"I guess this time that nitro button is what's gonna save everyone."

Still running at full throttle, they dragged the balloon towards the nearby river, and released it. When it finally exploded, they were...

"Uhh... so what was that heart-racing climax for?"

They were showered by bright and colorful confetti.

Turns out that it was a half-prank. The reports of someone planting a bomb was accurate, but the intent was to actually contribute to the festivities. It was set to explode just as the climax of the stage presentation was about to unfold, revealing a dazzling shower of confetti reflected by the broad daylight.

"You... do you have ANY idea of the trouble you've just cause?!"

Needless to say, the man was still arrested. But still, if the intent actually turned out to be malicious, they would have still been capable of eliminating the threat, all thanks to the report of Kazuki.

"Your did help us find the bomb in time, so here, Shuu can keep the toy car."

As a reward for telling the police where the bomb is, he and his brother was awarded with the same toy car that Shuu "shoplifted" earlier that day.

Another assignment, another day, in the extended world of You're Under Arrest: Full Throttle.