Gatchaman II episode 1 recap

So, since there is no proper English translation for Gatchaman II I've started watching it in Japanese (despite not knowing the language).

I decided to write down what I thought happened during the episode and then review Daniela's translated Gatchaman II scripts (thanks Transmute Jun!) to see how far off I was. Clearly, I'm not going to get all the scientific details, but since I'm mainly watching it for the character interactions that's not too big a deal. So far I'm not too far off, we'll see if that trend continues : )

Here's what I wrote for episode 1 (comments are in brackets), hope this is of interest/use to someone : )

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

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

Episode 1:

(So, the intro music sounds a little like the theme from Danger Mouse to me.. "mah kay hee hoo" ... "He's the greatest..." Ken, Joe Jun, Jinpei, Ryuuu, lol : )

On board a swanky boat full of high-rollers chilling to inoffensive jazz. A little girl, looking for her mother, calling out to her. Sinister music (Uh-oh, this can't be good : | )



The ship's crew see a bright light coming towards the ship from the sky. The ship shakes and cats escape. The golden light hits and tears through the ship, it looks like Sosai X's saucer from the end of Gatchaman.



The little girl from before is being sucked down to the bottom of the ocean. A corny looking spaceship from a 50's B-movie grabs her. We see inside the spaceship and she grows into a fully grown woman. A graphically improved (but not as cool looking IMO) Sosai X says a few words in an ominous tone. He finishes with the words "Gelu Sadura".



Cut to a car driving along at night, the car screeches to a halt. A weirdly dressed captain of the week, looking a little like a harlequin with a banana on his head, is standing in the middle of the road.



A scientist type guy gets out of the car and they exchange some words. The clown captain has a weird non-masculine voice. The car is destroyed. The flying saucer thing from before comes down and sucks the scientiest guy up in some sort of beam.



The captain of the week type has really spiky shoulderpads.



We're in some kind of chamber with important looking people in it (ISO?), the speaker looks like Anderson. It's laid out a little like the council chamber from Star Wars 1. They show a picture of the scientist guy who was just abducted along with some other pictures, perhaps these are other people who've gone missing. There's some discussion. Nambu makes an entrance, he looks very serious, those brass instruments sound serious too!



Nambu has the floor, he shows us a big viewscreen with a meteor coming down (Sosai X returning I guess). There's a commotion, I guess he's just told them that Galactor is back. Yep, he mentions Sosai X. One of the delegates is having some view-screen problems, but he fixes it with an open-handed smack. There's some more discussion, and I hear "Gatchaman". (Ooh, Nambu is the man) He flicks a coin with a G on it. (Do they have their own money?)



Cue the team. (Oh, they have new machines, and they also seem to be using some kind of makeup to keep their skin looking really clean...) Ken's plane now looks like a cross between an Eagle and an X-wing, not sure if that works all that well.



I guess Joe's not here so we skip him and go straight to Jun who's riding a blocky version of her bike. (It looks like a downgrade, poor Jun!)



Oh, here comes Jinpei (wearing a creepy smile) in his.. contraption.



The G5 looks cool though, blocky, but I like it.



We cut to some sort of underwater metropolis. I guess this is their new secret base? (Wow, those fish outside are HUGE!)



Nambu talks to the team. Ryu plays with some weird green booger looking thing...



Jinpei looks sad, Jun comforts him and sighs "Joe.."



Flashback to Joe, I guess we're hearing about his sacrifice in Gatchaman. Nambu says something that shocks the team.

Ken-less commercial break.

You're doing such a great job, Crescent Moon, and I'm totally liking, and enjoying all the comments you're writing whilst viewing Gatch II from such a new angle!

We didn't have to wait long before confirming that Joe2 was really "evil", didn't we?!! And, I agree ... I prefer most, if not all, of the vehicles in the first series over these, not even mentioning the chicken!

Thanks for this idea ... you're helping a lot in refreshing my own memories, as it's such a long time since I've watched this second series, and the blanks in my mind have also since piled up!

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

You are doing a good job CM. It is nice reading someone else's perspective on this series and seeing it through your eyes. Keep up the hard work.

And thank you Reboekah for allowing the use of your screenshots.

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Don't sweat the petty things and don't pet the sweaty things.

Thanks for the encouragement, it's looking like it'll be a fun project : )

Maybe this belongs in 'Episode of the Week'?

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Benefits, not features; benefits, not features

Crescent Moon, this is awesome! I commend you for taking on such a project. You've done a great job so far, and I love reading your insights!

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