Gatchaman II episode recaps - Episode 6

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 6:

We see three jet fighters flying in formation. The pilots chatter amongst themselves. One pilot sees an island and a brief flash of light. All the pilots seem to lose control of their jets. We see a passenger plane approach and crash into the jets, destroying all four planes.



A mechanical mountain on the island glints as it closes up. We see inside. It's a Galactor base. Inside is an ominous looking purple ball covered in blueish feeder tubes.



Gel Sadra speaks to Sosai X and (if I could speak Japanese) we get the backstory for the episode. Gel Sadra is suitably impressed with Sosai X's plan.



Cut to the G-spo, erm, G-Town (thanks for planting that thought ; ) Ken, Jun, Joe and Ryu speak to Dr Nambu. Jinpei appears to be missing. It looks like Nambu is describing the incident with the jets. We see an aerial shot of some kind of structure. Nambu elaborates. The team (minus Jinpei) take off.



On what appears to be the island shown at the start of the episode, we see a little girl playing in a rock pool. She picks up a conch shell and as she examines it she sees a con-trail. It's Jinpei streaking across the sky in his contraption. He looks to be running out of fuel. His contraption skates along the water and eventually crashes nose first into the beach.



While Jinpei tries to fix his contraption (he's working on the bottom, most of the damage seems to be to the front) the girl from the rock-pool arrives at the scene and tickles his feet.



Jinpei seems to be quite taken with the girl (she looks a little like Minmei) and has some trouble communicating. Jinpei grabs his head, the girl pulls out a little triangle and puts it on his head. The triangle grows until it is big enough for Jinpei to sit under (some kind of meditation pyramid?) and the girl (who appears to have no respect for personal space) lectures him about something (I think she's talking about her papa?)



Jinpei agrees to something. It looks like it involves prancing and running. Oh no, dad's arrived. He looks evil.



The girl runs to her dad. Jinpei removes himself from the situation.



On the God Phoenix, Jinpei is remembering his adventure fondly. The God Pheonix flies to the island. The team observes an glowing monolith (looks like the Washington monument) in the middle of what looks to be a gigantic water feature. Jinpei says "Look at that thing". It's not in a fountain but in a large man-made depression filled with onlookers.



A (slightly translucent) giant appears. The onlookers are amazed. The giant (who is the girl's father and a projection) speaks and the momument changes colour to a rich gold. The people are astounded. It looks like there are pyramids surrounding the momument as a light-show starts.



The girl's evil father mutters to himself. It doesn't sound good. We cut to a Captain of the week wearing a pharaoh's head-dress and sporting a pointy gold beard. He speaks to Gel Sadra. It sounds like he's asking about the ninja team. Gel Sadra seems confident that they're no threat.



The mountain shakes, and a giant pyramid takes off from inside (ooh, Stargate!) Gel Sadra laughs at the puny science ninja team.



Commercial break!

Lovely recap, CM! I had forgotten all about this episode, but you helped me a lot in recollecting some of my memories! So easy for a bad guy to be freed from all guilt just because of his redemption, after all the damage might have already been done! Beloved ones always pay for the others' mistakes ... why is it always too late, or almost, to come to this awareness?! No wonder Jinpei seems pissed off! He surely does not trust this man as being a good father for his new, little friend, especially when he's seeing where, as you said, the girl is being taken!!! Maybe he was a nomad before!!

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

The coolest thing about this episode is the use of the Firebird Shadow Separation.... I'm trying to recall, but off the top of my head, I don't think it's used again in the series (or in Gatchaman Fighter). Can anyone confirm or dispute this? Anyhow, it's a great maneuver to watch.

The other cool scene is Jinpei's crash landing. I love his expression of horror!

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