The cold and villainous Shibolena
Shibolena (Asami Jo) is the primary villainess of Denji Sentai Megaranger (1997). She was the direct general of Dr.Hinelar, created in the image of his deceased daughter Shizuka who died in one of his experiments, and the main strategist of Nezirejia who came up with various plots to take over Earth. Though cruel and callous toward her enemies, Shibolena was also loyal and caring toward her creator Dr.Hinelar, as well as her co-generals Yugande and Bibidebi.
Shibolena first appeared alongside Dr.Hinelar, Yugande, and Bibidebi, as the force of Nezirejia descebded upon Earth to destroy the I.NET base as the first operation. Though they were successful, the I.NET team led by Dr.Kubota and the Megaranger fought back against them and destroyed their first Nezire Beast, Stingray Nezire, and their battleship Nezire Crusher, forcing them to retreat back to Death Neziro and earning them a furious scold from their leader Emperor Javious the First.
Shibolena's primary role was to came up with schemes to aid Dr.Hinelar in taking over Earth, all of which were frightening and effective, earning her great praise from her creator, who never scolded or bemeaned her, in contrast to Yugande who prefered brute force and direct confrontation, even though the Megaranger eventually saw through her plans and stopped them. She also participated as field commander to ensure the success in her scheme alongside the Nezire monsters, disguising herself as a human female or transforming into individual involved in her scheme (such as Chisato Jogasaki/Mega Yellow and the "spirit" of Dr.Tanaka). Many of her schemes involve manipulating human through psychological warfare and brainwashing, driving the Megaranger to edge many times before they managed to counter her.
One of her most successful plans was to force the Megaranger to battle the Carranger, their predecessor, by controlling them with her blowing kiss, which could only be dispelled by the most powerful attack of the squadron.
Although the villainess was always cold, calm, and collective, she also displayed caring and protective personality toward her comrades, willing to go at any length to protect/avenge them. Notably, though she and the new commander Guirail got along at first due to their similar mindsets, Shibolena quickly realized that the latter was far worse than he appeared: willing to torture and modify the Nezire monsters and using disgusting method such as forcing Yugande to fuse with him and using the robotic general as a shield against the Megaranger's attack. The villainess would have eliminate the treacherous Guirail herself, had her creator not calm her down and properly explained that he didn't want her to dirty her hands, and did it in her place as he truely cared for her and Yugande, which made her happy. Humorously, she also disliked Yusaku Hayakawa (Mega Silver), for calling her out for wearing such a short skirt in battles that constantly exposing her panties.
Toward the end of the series when Dr.Hinelar was suffering a massive breakdown due to the destruction of Hinelar City at the hands of Megaranger and the realization that his body had begun to suffer "twisted phenomenon" after staying in Nezire Dimension for so long and had the preventative device damaged by the Neziranger, Shibolena and Yugande decided to go all out fight against the Megaranger and the INET, with the latter equipped with the Nezire Reactor for the final battle at her discomfort as she knew that the user would be at risk of over-expanding their energy. Though they managed to destroy the moon base and severely damaged all the Megaranger's mechas, it came at cost of Yugande's life as he began to lose the battle against the Megaranger as the Reactor's side effect manifested. As MegaRed prepared to dealt the final blow to Yugande, Shibolena rushed in to shield him from the attack, only to be gravely wounded herself.
Barely hanging to her life after witnessing Yugande's demise, Shibolena returned to Dr.Hinelar one last time to report her creator of Yugande's success and death at the hand of their adversaries. At this time, her body short-circuited with Dr.Hinelar frantically tried to save her. Knowing that she was beyond saving, Shibolena thanked Dr.Hinelar for that he had given this meaningful life to her and she was happy to have served as his general. She then let out her last words "Goodbye father" before she collapsed on the floor and exploded, with the devastated Dr.Hinelar left with only her broken robotic parts, and a picture of both of them together. Shibolena's death ultimately drove Dr.Hinelar over the edge, motivating him to go on the last and suicidal battle against Megaranger.
Trivia[]
- Her overall motif is loosely based on an angel, with both of her shoulder pads resembling wings, and she called herself "blue angel" in her image song Blue Devil's Smile, in a sharp contrast to the the dark and devilish features of the other Nezirejia's members.
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