Last week the Turtles go back in time to help Renet stop an evil mutant Time Master from damaging all of time and reality. Now they get dropped in Japan where their master, Splinter ( Hamato Yoshi), and Shredder (Oruku Saki) grew up. The Turtles get to see firsthand what happened between the two brothers.
Surrounded by Hamato ninjas, the Turtles fight for their lives. Unfortunately these ninjas are well trained and dangerously strong, not like the Foot clan they are used to back in New York. Their battle is interrupted when Oruku Saki appears and demands what is going on. The Turtles are shocked to see Shredder in human form and not the disfigured form they know and hate back in the future. Saki exclaimed a loud “Yokai” when he saw the Turtles. Mikey was able to use a smoke bomb to make their escape. When Saki told his master about the Yokai, Hamato Yoshi (Splinter) laughed it off and accused of Saki of being ridiculous. But his master and father as well, Hamato Yuuta told Yoshi not to discourage Saki of this discovery. Yuuta heard of a prophecy that when the Yokai arrive, tragedy will follow.
We finally get to meet Tang Shen, Yoshi and Saki’s love interest. Shen’s feelings for Yoshi are far stronger than her feelings for Saki. Shen wants to move out of the Hamato Dojo and live free without the influence the dojo, but Yoshi’s strong devotion to the dojo makes it hard for her to move on with him. Saki on the other hand wishes nothing but happiness for her and asks her to choose him over Yoshi because he feels that Yoshi is right for her and her baby Miwa. They both love her, but Saki is using Yoshi’s feelings and emotion towards her against him and saying that he his love has blinded his loyalty for the clan and him. Yoshi adamantly denies this.
The Turtles catch up with Tang Shen and try to convince her that they are not monsters and can be trusted despite what Saki told her. She believes and trusts them when little Miwa smiles and laughs. She takes them to her home and feeds them. She explains to them why they are named Yokai. Yokai are Japanese mythical creatures that are omens of disastrous tragedy, but can be prophecies of future events. Shen calls them Kappa Yokai “Turtle Yokai”. Leo gets to hold little Miwa while her mother talks to them. It is kind of cute watching Miwa play with Leo, with him knowing what her future holds.
Just like in Back to the Future, Donnie shows a picture of them with Casey and April. Casey’s image fades away and Donnie believes that just by being here has seriously changed the present and must be corrected. But Leo believes that Shredder must be stopped, but Donnie tries to tell him that is not good idea. If Shredder is stopped here, then Splinter will not move to New York, attain the turtles to raise, and help save New York from the Krang invasion.
Already events are moving in motion for Saki to take over and destroy the Hamato clan for his true ninja clan to rise, The Foot clan. The Turtles arrive at the ninja rally led by Saki. The traitorous Hamato ninja attack the Turtles while Saki makes his escape to find Yoshi and kill him. They meet up at the dojo and battle. Their fight is ferocious and damaging, both to each other and the dojo. During their fight, the dojo catches on fire, but they still fight to the death. Tang Shen sees them battling it out and runs into the blazing dojo. Tragically she gets killed when she comes between the two by Saki’s steel claw glove. The Turtles watch in horror as their master’s love fall by the hands of Saki (Shredder) and hearing his cry of pain for her. Saki runs out of the dojo with his disfigured face and sees Miwa left alone by a table. He picks her up and runs off. The next day, the Turtles hide in the woods when Renet finally appears saying she has been looking for them for six months. Donnie asked her why were they brought here? She explained it was the Scepter who brought them here to make sure Splinter survives. Leo finally realizes that it was them who saved their master from the burning house and this was their destiny to do so. The legend of the Yokai is them taking their place in history. Renet brings them back to the present where she bids them good bye. Mikey asks her if she would like to go out sometime, maybe in the future. She said yes, anything is possible, then kisses him.
This is a very important episode this week. We get to understand the emotion and reasoning of Splinter and Shredder and how they became mortal enemies forever. We get to finally meet Tang Shen and how she died. The Turtles understand their role in history and how important they really are in the universe. Now that they are back home, will they look at their master differently, and how they will approach Shredder when they next encounter him?
