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Posted by Crescent_Moon on 18-02-2011 at 11:32:

Gatchaman II episode recaps - Episode 9

Disclaimer: Gatchaman belongs to Tatsunoko, no infringement is intended.

Screencaps: Reboekah has graciously given me access to Gatchaman II screencaps for inclusion in the recaps, thank you! : )

Episode 9:

Sosai X converses with Gel Sadra. Gel Sadra clicks on a console and a massive ship apppears on the little view screen. It sounds like she calls it the "Super rooper". It's been anthropomorphised and has menacing looking teeth and eyes which we see in a cool shot that makes it look like it cruises over Gel Sadra's shoulder. Gel Sadra says something about the science ninja team, probably thinking that it's their doom. Sosai X appears to have different ideas, his tone sounds like he's explaining something to a child.

We see an ice cliff and ice floes in the ocean. The God Phoenix is taking off underneath the water (have they found G-Town?) A radar screen shows a flashing dot moving towards the North pole. We see another shot of the God Phoenix moving underwater, cut to the Galactor ship with the big teeth.

Sosai X and Gel Sadra continue their conversation as green tentacles make an underwater appearance (reminds me a little of the tentacles from a Gatchaman I episode) And, well it is, we see Jinpei coming across an underwater base in his G4 (the original one) as a big anemone mecha creeps up behind him (So it was Episode 8 of the original series - Secret of crescent coral, I'm guessing this episode will be about trying to find G-Town)

We see the mecha swallow Jinpei, and Katse, the original phoenix and the wicked jaunty trumpet music (This must have been a cheap episode to make :P ) There are some explosions, Katse laughs, Ken smahes out some bird missiles, and the anemone explodes in a shower of tentacles. The team enter the now lifeless anemone mecha and take out the trash (I think that this is the first time that we see Jun's panties, did they make a decision to cut that out in the later series?) Katse is swallowed by one of the anemone's walls and makes his escape (creepy).

Gel Sadra has been watching this (and she's probably thinking, so my predecessor wasn't any better at this, yay! : ) Sosai X says something about Gatchaman, Gel Sadra looks horrified. We see the original God Phoenix return to Crescent Coral base (and yes, there is a fish parade : ) There's some talk about Berg Katse and now the animators have returned from their holiday and we see the toothy Galactor ship making its way through the ocean.

I was wrong, the animators just popped in to say hi before going back on holidays. We're back with another flashback, Katse inspects a moth/bat looking mecha and he believes that this time it'll be enough to defeat the God Phoenix. The mecha takes out part of a city with a tornado like wind. UN Forces might as well not have shown up (It's episode 44 - Galactor's written challenge) We see the original God Phoenix take off from the Crescent Coral base (I'm guessing that Sosai X is making some kind of point about where the science ninja team comes from and how to destroy them, I thought that they already knew all about the Crescent Coral base though)

The shockwave from the mecha shocks the team in glorious multicolour waves and the God Phoenix crash lands in the ocean. It takes on water and it looks like the team is in serious trouble.

Commercial break!

Posted by Crescent_Moon on 18-02-2011 at 11:41:

Sosai X continues his lecture to Gel Sadra. We see original Joe and original Ken . Ken skips some stones across the water and gets an inspiration. The God Phoenix takes off, Ken instructs Jun to give him some explosives, which he puts in his birdrang. Ryu says "Holy shit, here they are!" and Ken outlines his stone-skipping plan. Jun raises an objection but Ken dismisses it. As they get closer Ryu puts the plan into action (it consists of flying at a certain angle to get through the shock ray). Ryu has some trouble righting the God Phoenix, Ken helps him, gets out onto the top of the ship, birdrangs the enemy and makes it back inside as the enemy ship explodes.

There are now two blips on the radar screen (we're back in Gatchaman II time) and it looks like one is following the other. Inside the God Phoenix we see images of ice and icebergs. One shot pans across what looks like a secret Galactor base. The team confirms that it is and discover that they're being followed. Ryu tries to take off but the controls don't respond and electricity arcs across his console.

The Galactor ship is approaching with some kind of sonic beam that's disrupting the God Phoenix's instruments. The God Phoenix is trapped in the beam and on a collision course with a wall of ice!

The God Phoenix hits the ice and the team is thrown around the bridge. Their momentum pushes them through the ice and out the other side, only to find another ice wall approaching.

A schematic of the God Phoenix appears and one section seems to be damaged. Jinpei doesn't look impressed. Joe says "I'll take care of it". The team isn't happy about this, but they let indestructible Joe go.

Joe acts as a circuit breaker between two cables as the God Phoenix turns into the firebird (wow, so Joe's taking on all the firebird forces and all that power, I wonder what his cyborg brain works on?)

The tactic is successful, the ice shifts and massive ice blocks rain down on the Galactor base, destroying it as the God Phoenix makes its escape.

The God Phoenix has surfaced amidst the ice, and we know everything's either going to be alright or really really bad as we see a mum and very cute baby polarbear watching with interest.

Ken, Jinpei and Ryu are calmly discussing something as Joe makes his entrace (you'd think that the first thing they'd do would be to check on Joe) Joe laughs and holds up a hand showing a shredded glove.

Jun is examining the cables that Joe connected (and there's a panty shot, so my theory about no Gatch II panty shots was wrong) Jun doesn't know what's going on, she's probably thinking that Joe should've died (who is that masked man!)

Sosai X is not pleased. Gel Sadra does some quick talking. There's a lot of "Gatchaman" this, "Gatchaman" that. The final shot is the God Phoenix flying into the sunset across the ice.

Next episode preview:
In quick succession we see a little child, a fishmonster captain of the week, Gel Sadra, Ken, Ryu (who's crying) an old man, and Ken and Jun.

Posted by Transmute Jun on 18-02-2011 at 15:02:

Great review,. CM! Ah, so you saw the hint that Joe's not all he seems! ROFL 2 This one's hard to miss, huh?

At this time in the series, the plan was to have Jun figure out Joe's 'secret' and confront him with it, then encourage him to tell the others, with her support. You can see the seeds of that idea in this episode. However, that flew out the window when they decided to extend the series to 52 episodes and add in new characters and plotlines... hence all we get is a quick reveal *much* later on and from another source. Too bad! I think Jun is a smart cookie and she should have figured it out... for that mater, so should the others have done.

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Posted by Crescent_Moon on 18-02-2011 at 16:17:

Yeah, they're not hiding his indestructible nature. It's amazing that Nambu hasn't tried to run some tests on him to find out what's going on.

I've watched a few episodes ahead now and I did think it was a little weird that Jun just kind of stopped caring about Joe's new super powers. Ryu's just started to get suspicious (either that or he's developing a man-crush on Joe based on how he's stalking and looking at him. Ewww)

Also Jun is definitely kick-ass in the last few episodes (15-20). She's fast becoming my favourite character and she has the best "i'm about to rip you a new one" expressions : )

Posted by Transmute Jun on 18-02-2011 at 20:38:

Unfortunately, Jun starts to lose that kickass attitude when they replace her with Ms. Mary-Sue Pandora. Ugh...

If you're talking abut the 'Ryu trapped in another dimension' episode, then yeah, Ryu's suspicious of Joe's indestructible nature. No man crush. Ewwww.... makes me gag just thinking about it.

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Posted by Crescent_Moon on 19-02-2011 at 01:21:

quote:

Originally posted by Transmute Jun
Unfortunately, Jun starts to lose that kickass attitude when they replace her with Ms. Mary-Sue Pandora. Ugh...

Wait.. What? Oooohhhh... (googling Mary-Sue Pandora didn't help, but at least now I know what a Mary-Sue is, lol : )

quote:

Originally posted by Transmute Jun
If you're talking abut the 'Ryu trapped in another dimension' episode, then yeah, Ryu's suspicious of Joe's indestructible nature. No man crush. Ewwww.... makes me gag just thinking about it.

That's the one : )

Posted by Transmute Jun on 19-02-2011 at 05:07:

LOL.... Dr. Pandora's name isn't *really* Mary Sue (it's Sylvie) but as you watch, you'll see why I'm convinced that she's someone's Mary Sue. And now that you know what a Mary Sue is... Wink

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Posted by gatchamarie on 19-02-2011 at 09:19:

Tee hee ... TJ, right now I'm ROFL 2 at seeing that you finally mentioned Dr. Sylvie Pandora in your style! I was wondering when her name would have come out with so much love!!! But, yes ... she literally takes the highlight away from our Swan, as the strong female image of the show, and albeit her real good intentions this does lessen some sympathy from us towards her! Nevertheless, I didn't wish her the ending she has had!

Such a pity that of not continuing with Jun's suspicions! As a viewer, this leaves me feeling a little bit lost ... such as when the same happened during the final part of the first series, when Joe started to feel the symptoms of his illness but then, all of a sudden, these symptoms somewhat vanished for a couple of episodes, leaving us with a question mark, to come back to view again as suddenly as they had disappeared!

CM ... again thanks a lot for another one of your lovely recaps!

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Posted by Transmute Jun on 19-02-2011 at 16:50:

Marie, all of the truly terrible characters in Gatchaman die by being shot off in a rocket into space. Devil1

Why should Pandora be any different? Wink

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Posted by lborgia88 on 19-02-2011 at 22:21:

I got inspired to make a gif...

Actually, I don't mind Dr. Pandora so much -I applaud the writers' attempt to do something about the scarcity of female characters- but (similarly to how I feel about Red Impulse) I think they could have handled her better. To me, making her young, pretty, brilliant and a long-lost relative of another character wasn't the best way to go. Maybe if she'd been older and had been presented more as a scientific colleage of Dr. Nambu's and less as action-girl/know-it-all, I'd like her better.

Posted by clouddancer on 19-02-2011 at 22:48:

great gif LB!

I agree with you on liking her strong character, but not liking that she could "do everything," and some of it better than the SNT could.

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Posted by Transmute Jun on 20-02-2011 at 01:21:

You pretty much nailed what's wrong with her, LB!

Oh, and if you want the episode where she falls all over Ken (to add to your gif) it's Gatchaman II episode 42. Wink

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Posted by gatchamarie on 20-02-2011 at 08:00:

Oh, that's such an awesome gif, LB, and I totally agree with what you said about Dr. Pandora! That's the same way I feel about her!

TJ ... by refreshing our memory regarding episode 42 you managed to instantly add another reason, at least for me, to hate her!! ... she falling all over my, and especially Jun's Ken ... no way!!!! That's adding insult to injury!

This notwithstanding, she did leave an empty spot in Joe's and Ken's hearts after her death, and at the beginning of the third series, after all! Both of them talked so longingly about her! But that lasted only for the first episode ... after that, they forgot all about her!!*grin*

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To be or not to be a gatchamaniac - that's the dilemma!

Posted by UnpublishedWriter on 20-02-2011 at 12:12:

I only hope that the doc's Mary Sue tendencies are because she was a last-minute addition to the cast, and the writers were trying to ensure that the audience knew that she was a capable and competent character. (The other reason might be that, until recently, women in Japan weren't expected to be very assertive. The writers might have gone too far in the opposite direction because they weren't that experienced -- Okay, I'm assuming the scriptwriters for Gatch II are not the same as the writers for the first series.)

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Posted by Springie on 20-02-2011 at 12:42:

Animeclap LB, that gif is a riot! I agree, Pandora is annoying. I had to laugh at Jun's reaction when they first met her...she was not a happy Swannie!

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