Gatchman Episode 56: “The Bird Missile of Bitterness”

[Thank you, Saturn, for the screencaps!]

Gatchman Episode 56: “The Bird Missile of Bitterness”

BOTP Episode: N/A







The episode begins with Jun zooming along a road alone through the countryside on her motorcycle, just as a storm is looming and the skies are dark. There’s no indication of where she’s going, but I could believe that she might like to do this sort of thing purely as a way to de-stress and enjoy herself.







This is one of those rare occasions where a member of the Team is shown wearing something other than their birdstyle or their civvies, though I think that if her birdstyle could convert to a one-piece suit (like what the guys wear), it might look something like this (minus a cape, of course).







Unfortunately this road appears to be popular with motorcyclists and Jun’s solitary zooming is interrupted by a horde of Blackbirds, all laughing jeeringly, who spot her and begin pursuing her on their own motorcycles. Soon, she is surrounded.







One Blackbird seems to be trying to shove her, with his own motorcycle, into the path of an oncoming car. Is this considered a form of flirtation within Galactor circles?







However, she’s the Swan so she simply leaps her motorcycle right over an oncoming car (to the consternation of its driver) and one of the Blackbirds, leaves the road and goes tearing off through a field.








“She went that way!” snarls a Blackbird, “Turn around!”

“Is she trying to make fools of us?” demands another.

They all leave the road too and pursue Jun across the hilly field. She leaps her motorcycle right across a gorge, but they all do it too and continue to chase her.









Perhaps she wasn’t expecting them to still be following her at this point, because the direction she’s taken is now coming to dead end at the bottom of a high cliff and she has nowhere to go.








She’s forced to stop now, turning her bike to face her pursuers, with the cliff at her back, and for the first time, she’s looking a bit nervous about the situation. One of the Blackbirds pulls up right beside her.

“Hey there babe, nice biker moves. Why don’t you come take a ride with us?”

Oh right, what girl can resist an obnoxious thug?

I think I might understand now why all the women in Galactor are Devil Stars and whatnot instead of goons or Blackbirds–to avoid the men. And no wonder they all fall for Joe…







Jun smacks him hard in the face, sending him and his motorcycle toppling over. The Blackbird immediately leaps to his feet and with an angry cry of “You wench!” he swings his fist at her. However, she quickly leaps in the air, such that his fist connects only with empty space, whips off her helmet and bashes him in the head with it on her way down. That sends the Blackbird sprawling, but now the others get off their motorcycles and close in on her, all in agreement that “she needs to be taught a lesson.”







Just at that moment, another motorcycle appears on the scene -except it’s up above, at the top of the cliff- and it draws everyone’s attention. Its rider is wearing a Blackbird-like helmet, but no Blackbird uniform, and his motorcycle is white instead of dark blue. Lightning flashes, obligingly adding a further touch of drama to his arrival

“Oh no,” complains a Blackbird, “It’s the Captain.”

And the Captain then skillfully takes his motorcycle down the steep cliff. Reaching the bottom, he demands “What are you boneheads doing? You know we don’t have time for you to goof off like this!”





He continues to berate them for their inattentiveness to duty –“We’ve got important things to take care of!”- but he also remembers that the plot requires Jun to be able to see his face, so he lifts the visor on his helmet.







Jun stares at him intensely…

He tells the Blackbirds to “Move it!” and they all get back on their motorcycles and go speeding back towards the road, and the Captain turns to Jun, telling her “Nothing good will come from hanging with guys like them.”

I think she knows that!

But Jun doesn’t care –she’s figured out who he is. “Koji, is that you?” she asks. Now, he realizes that he knows who she is too, saying “Jun? I didn’t recognize you!”

“It is you!” she says excitedly, “Koji Yabane!” and moves towards him.

He thinks that she’s looking well, and he ought to be able to tell –it’s not like her outfit is concealing much!









She notes that she hasn’t seen him in a long time and asks what he’s doing these days.

Well, a bunch of nasty guys who have Galactor logos on their chests are taking orders from him –what do you think he’s doing, Jun?

Koji frowns at this question. He tells her that he’s no longer a Grand Prix racer; now he’s just a stunt racer working for the Prime Minister. It’s starting to rain and he clearly doesn’t want to linger. Jun says “Koji!” and puts her hand over his, but he answers “It’s been a long time, and I’m not the same guy you used to know.”









He adds, “Take care of yourself,” and then he abruptly speeds off on his motorcycle. But Jun quickly gets back on her motorcycle and follows him.

Koji is now leading the pack of Blackbirds through the rain and lightning, but he’s recalling memories of Jun.









She’s wearing her #3 civvies (and bracelet) in his memory, so I take that to mean she was already living at Dr. Nambu’s when Koji knew her, though I don’t think it necessarily means that the Science Ninja Team was active yet. He closes his eyes briefly, thinking “I can’t believe I ran into Jun at a time like this.”

Meanwhile, Jun is still following him, and recalling memories of him.









She’s also wondering why Koji wants to avoid her now, and what “important things did he want his gang to take care of?” It must be assumed, then, she didn’t notice the red Galactor symbols his gang was sporting on their uniforms. Or, she’s in denial regarding their likely significance.

Now we see some place that resembles an airport. “Carved into a mountainside on this country’s outskirts,” explains the narrator “Lies an air base for the National Defense Force. It looks like a landing strip for their primary fighter squadron, but in fact it hides an underground armory for air-to-air missiles.”


Koji and his gang are speeding towards the chain link fence that surrounds it, and soldiers carrying rifles are rushing out to confront them. However, Koji and his gang all leap the fence easily on their motorcycles, knocking the guards down as they land on the other side. Then, they all head into the air base.








More soldiers open fire on them, but they succeed about as well as goons do when they try to shoot the Science Ninjas, so Koji and his gang, still on their motorcycles, are able to get into the underground missile armory. They go tearing down a corridor and a large drill attachment now protrudes from the front of Koji’s motorcycle. They approach a heavily guarded door, but the soldiers here have clearly abandoned all hope of success and don’t even bother to fire on the intruders. So, using the drill, Koji quickly breaks through the door and his gang follows. Koji pushes a button on a wall panel, and a large door slides open to reveal a tough-looking (and probably high ranking) military type, flanked by two machine gun toting soldiers.

“This will be our springboard towards world domination,” gloats Katse, as we see that the man in the manacles is Koji. I guess he didn’t get too far before Galactor tracked him down.

“We paid you handsomely for your support when you were just a beggar!” growls military traitor guy, propping up Koji’s drooped head with his whip’s handle, “We had so much faith in you we made you Captain of the Blackbirds Squad, and you betrayed us!”









Koji doesn’t answer so he begins whipping him, so hard that it starts shredding his shirt.

“That’s enough, Commander,” intervenes the on-screen Katse. “Commander” looks annoyed that his fun is being stopped but he complies. Koji just sags limply in his manacles, but he opens his eyes at Katse’s next words and looks up.

“I’ll give you one last chance. The President will be attending tomorrow’s motorcycle race. Your orders are to assassinate him! If you fail to do so, then Galactor will execute you! Understand?”

Koji hangs his head again.


Now we cut to Jun, sitting glumly at the Snack J counter all by herself, and staring up at a photo on the wall of herself on her motorcycle.







The photo changes to an actual memory of Jun’s, of her riding her motorcycle as music plays that evokes happier, more carefree times of the past







In this memory, she’s accompanied by Koji, also on a motorcycle.







“Come on, Jun!” he calls out, briefly going airborne as he crests a hill in the road. She laughs and calls “Wait up!” as he laughs too. However, her motorcycle skids off the road and pitches and she falls onto the grass and lies still. He cries out “Jun!” and goes rushing over to her.







“Are you all right?” he asks anxiously, lifting her shoulders. But it turns out she was just faking, and she opens one eye coyly while laughing.








He’s both amused and exasperated.







As she laughs again, gets up and runs off playfully, he chases after her.







Jun’s memory ends with her and Koji lounging by their motorcycles, watching the sun sparkle on the sea.








There are certainly romantic overtones here, but as she must have only been about 14, I’m going to assume this is largely innocent “puppy love” on her part and not the stuff of some torrid affair. The motorcycle she’s riding in this memory looks the same as her G-machine in its civilian mode. In fact, it could very well be her G-machine in its civilian mode. She’s already in her #3 civvies (and bracelet), and even if the Team wasn’t active yet when she was 14, it’s very likely their G-machines had already been developed. It’s likely she was already a motorcyclist (possibly already with a G-machine) when she met Koji, and that this shared pastime was the initial basis of their friendship. I suppose, as he was older and reputed then to be a “far out” biker, she might even have learned some of her motorcycling skills from him.

But, Jun’s memory of a happier and more carefree time in her past fades, leaving her still sitting at the Snack J counter, sadly trailing a finger through a puddle of water on the counter’s surface.

Lost in her nostalgic thoughts, she doesn’t seem to notice when Ken, Joe, Jinpei and Ryu all come walking in.







Jinpei is all ready to cheer her up by playing some music and getting some dancing going but Ryu, more wisely, is aware that now is not the time for that. Yes, it seems that an “intervention” of sorts might be in the works.







Ken gets to begin. He sits down beside Jun, tells her that he and the others are going to go watch the race tomorrow and asks her if she’d like to tag along.







Jun replies that Koji will be competing in that race, “Won’t he?”

“Uh, yeah,” says Ken a bit uncomfortably, as we see Joe over by the door, arms folded and eyes closed.

“I knew it; you’re keeping an eye on me and Koji, huh?” she replies sadly, with perhaps a touch of sullenness, “Did the Doctor order you to?”

“Yeah,” is all Ken says but now it looks like it’s Joe’s turn. He’s moving towards Jun.

“Stop acting like a spoiled brat!” he declares.

Oh, and he also smacks Jun across the face. So hard that her water glass also goes flying along the counter and smashes.







“Joe!” cries Ken. It seems that this wasn’t part of the plan!







Ryu and Jinpei look somewhat appalled too.







“Look, Jun,” says Joe sternly, “Whether or not this Koji guy is your friend, we have to watch out or innocent people could die! The Science Ninja Team has to investigate him because he’s the only clue we’ve got right now –you follow me?”







Jun’s still leaning forward, her face on the counter, but now she lifts her head, touching her face where Joe hit her and looking distressed.

“We believe in Koji as a person too,” adds Ken now (yes, he’s definitely taking the ‘good cop’ role in all of this), “If anything, we just want to help him.”







This seems to have an effect on Jun. “I understand, Ken,” she says, but she also stands up with a grimmer and more focused look on her face.







So, even knowing that the Science Ninjas are all trained, hardened fighters, used to violence, I never enjoy watching them hit each other (unless it’s done totally in fun), especially when Jun’s the recipient. Joe’s anger here can be interpreted as jealousy of Koji, either for himself (though there’s scant canon evidence that he feels that way about Jun) or on Ken’s behalf. I get more of an “over-protective older brother” vibe here, myself. I have an older brother and I can well believe he might have smacked me if he’d ever thought I was covering for some guy he deemed to be bad news. Mostly, I think Joe is representing here, albeit harshly, a valid point of view; namely that their duty as Science Ninjas supersedes their personal lives and feelings, especially when the lives of many innocent people are at stake. It’s a hard pill to swallow; Ken himself grappled painfully with the same dilemma back in the jigokillers episodes. Heck, even Joe himself initially punched out Ken for ultimately being willing to set the field of jigokillers (possibly containing Jun) on fire, before he came around and gave Ken his support. Still, Jun was clearly very upset when Joe and the others walked into the Snack J, and it would have been nice to see a little more regard from Joe for her feelings, even if they’re feelings that she needs to put aside in the name of duty! But then, Ken was there to fill that role –I guess he and Joe really do complement each other well.

Commercial break!

“Jun, is everything alright?” Ken asks her as soon as she appears on the bridge.








She doesn’t say anything, but just takes a seat, even as Jinpei tells her that he was worried about her.








Ken announces it’s time to attack the mansion as Joe adds “I sure am ready to shoot those guys some birds.”

Koji and the Blackbirds are in front of the mansion on their motorcycles. Koji sees the God Phoenix approaching and he thinks grimly to himself “I was blinded by money and I lost my way. If being killed by the Science Ninja Team is my only way out, so be it.”

With a last thought of “Please forgive me, Jun,” he lowers his helmet’s visor.

Now Koji and the Blackbirds all link up their motorcycles (with Koji’s in the front) to form a serpent-like mecha that takes to the air to face off against the God Phoenix.






The mecha fires two missiles at the God Phoenix, to no apparent avail, and Ryu mutters “The God Phoenix can’t be destroyed by a little missile, you dimwits.”

“Let’s counterstrike with some bird missiles,” growls Joe, who is very conveniently sitting right beside the shiny red button in this episode. “Wait!” cries Jun, rushing up to him.







“Hey, get off of me!” yells Joe, shoving her back, “You still don’t get it do you? You’re going to get us all killed!”







“That’s not it,” replies Jun, looking very intense, “I want to do it, with my own hand.” And she reaches for the red button. “I want to fire the bird missile myself!”








I think Joe is actually really impressed. She’s just scored big points in his book.







Everyone else looks kind of stunned by this.








“Okay, then,” says Joe, “Just don’t screw up.”

Jun nods, looking very serious, and retracts the glass over the button.

However, the mecha’s ends now link up, making it a circle, and before Ryu has time to evade it, it encircles one of the God Phoenix’s wings, to everyone’s alarm.







The mecha shifts its position more to the body of the God Phoenix as Ken realizes angrily that they can’t shoot any bird missiles at it. Saw blades now protrude from the mecha and it begins cutting into the God Phoenix.








Ken’s not at all happy about this development, but Ryu says he can’t budge the control lever. Ken tells him keep the God Phoenix aimed at the ground, like they are, until they reach maximum velocity, and then pull up hard. Ryu agrees to give it a try.

“That’ll be your only chance to blast them with a bird missile, Jun,” says Joe.







For an instant, an image of Koji flashes in Jun’s memory. Will she be able to do it?






The God Phoenix is still plummeting, nose-down, for the ground as Ryu anxiously counts down their decreasing altitude. On the mecha, Koji is clearly prepared to die, taking down the God Phoenix with him and he thinks “Jun, good bye…”

Now, I don’t think the Blackbirds signed on for a suicide mission –they were supposed to ram the God Phoenix (with Koji and his motorcycle being in the fore)- but I guess no one cares about them. Not Koji or Katse, at any rate. I’m trying to figure out if Koji accepts that Jun is the Science Ninja Team’s G-3 (he seemed to recognize her inside the mansion) or if he’s refusing to believe that’s the case. I don’t think he would be trying to destroy the God Phoenix if he thought that Jun was on it, however much it might redeem his reputation, so I’ll guess that he’s decided that female Ninja wasn’t really Jun.

“Two hundred!” cries Ryu, as they’re all about to crash right into the mansion.







Ken gives Ryu the word to try to pull up hard, and Ryu succeeds before they smash completely into the mansion (but it’s damned close).







But this also causes the mecha to break off from the God Phoenix and fall away, and now Joe tells Jun, “Come on, this is your big chance!”









Inside the mecha, Koji is clutching his helmet and thinking “Juuuuuun!!” as images of her from the past run through his memory. Either the mecha is too damaged to be controlled, or Koji isn’t trying to fly it anymore now; it’s just falling.


Jun is also trembling, thinking “Koji” and recalling her own happy memories of him.









But she pushes the button.








The bird missile pierces right through the mecha just as it’s crashing into the mansion, and they all explode together.

The Commander, standing in front of Katse’s screen, explodes too.







In fact, the entire mansion and its contents goes up in a giant, flaming fireball. On board the God Phoenix, Jun is overcome by what she’s done (and Joe and Ryu seem to be pretending they don’t notice this –maybe they’re hoping Ken will do something).








Ken goes up to her and lifts her hand off the button.









“I’m proud of you, Jun,” he says quietly, taking her hand in his. Awww!







But Jun’s not entirely comforted. “I just killed Koji!” she cries, banging her hands on the console. Yes, it is the “Bird Missile of Bitterness.”







Later, they all gather at the still-burning remains of the mansion.









Jun finds Koji’s (rather charred looking) helmet and sorrowfully picks it up.







One last time, in her memory, she sees him driving away as he calls out her name…





“Koji,” she thinks, staring up at the sky.








But her Teammates are close by.







“Each Team member has been touched by the evil hand of Galactor,” says the narrator, “But the Science Ninja Team will continue to fight to protect mankind from Galactor’s merciless brutality.”

The End.

Oh yes...I do love this ep...so many ways to interpret so many things! Thanks so much for your hard work on this LB and Saturn!

Where do I begin? Let's see...

What I like about this ep:

1. Ken seems to be very attentive towards Jun here. Even though I don't love her whiny attitude over Koji, it is the only time we see her like this...so I'm guessing that Ken is concerned because she isn't herself. (I'd love to think he was jealous of her relationship with Koji...but sadly, there's no real evidence of that)

2. We get to see a rare peek at Jun's past. It's enough so that we can speculate that she had a relationship of some kind before the team. I've always wondered if Koji was some sort of mentor to her- maybe teaching her how to ride. And maybe a relationship grew from that...who knows. They do give the slightest inkling that Koji was a little more than just a "friend".

3. Whiny or not, Jun sticks to her convictions. One thing is for sure, she's a loyal friend...almost to a fault. She refuses to believe that Koji could work for Galactor- she's definitely in denial.

4. I believe that Jun decided to shoot the bird missile at the end because she did not want Joe to do it. Yes, she was probably angry and disappointed in Koji, but I think that she knew he *had* to be sacrificed. If you think about it, she would have no one to blame for Koji's death but herself. She wouldn't harbor any negative feelings toward Joe for killing her friend.

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There is no problem that cannot be solved with time, patience, and a judicious amount of high explosives.

Wow, Springie you have really thought on this eps. and have some very interesting insights.

Thank you for sharing them.

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

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Exaggeration misleads the credulous and offends the perceptive. ~Eliza Cook

The dubbed narration calls Koji her 'childhood friend' (I'll go back and check the subtitles when I get home). I always wondered how the team could NOT know about him if they had lived together from childhood. (Now that I know 'lived together from childhood' is more assumption and fanon than canon, that changes things.)

That remembered moment when she 'fell' off her bike and teased him by pretending to be hurt seemed more like the 16-17 year old Jun we know (mischievous yet innocent) than a 13-14 year old. I rather got the impression that her 'punishment' when he caught her after the chase was at least a good snogging.

I did have problems with Joe slapping her. We can fill in the sort of tension the team was under. The world had nearly ended a few weeks before, Ken just recently stopped pissing and moaning about losing his father, and Galactor is At It Again. It would be more surprising if Joe did NOT have some sort of outburst.

Koji could have been lying about working for the Prime Minister.

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Benefits, not features; benefits, not features

This episode implies that Utoland City is in the country Galactor wants to take over. President Zabal and an unnamed prime minister, and Zabal apparently runs the country (since that military officer wanted to be President).

Darn, it would be good to have a map and names.

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Benefits, not features; benefits, not features