Review by Corey

April 1, 2005

After HyoRyu and EnRyu transform into their humanoid forms, Taiga approves for them to use Symmetrical Docking. Mikoto watches the SympaRate drop as they attempt it, and the two fail. Without keeping a 90% SympaRate, it's impossible for them to use their ultimate weapon, Eraser Head. Mamoru races through the Space Development Center to get to the Main Order Room. Taiga greets him as a member of 3G, and says his manners are better than Hyuuma's. Taiga has Swan bring the floor down, into the Big Order Room, a room large enough for HyoRyu and EnRyu to sit and comment on things. An old boat captain sits on the beach in front of his ruined tanker, blaming computers and automation on it running aground. Penchinon asked if it would've mattered if computers were there or not. Mamoru is shown pictures of four figures that witnesses have seen at the source of every incident, calling them Zonderians. They explain to him that they use Zonder Metal to transform people with negative emotion at the time. Penchinon tells the Captain to realize his dream, giving him the Zonder Metal. Mikoto calls Mamoru's ability purification, and the Leo says that the plan from then on is to have the mobile units get Mamoru in close enough to purify the Zonder cores. Mamoru says that he might be able to purify Zonders before they become machines, but Guy reminds him what happened last time he encountered a Zonder face to face. Mamoru tells them that he can't stand seeing the city destroyed. Everyone comments on Mamoru's special predicament, and Hyuuma says that with that attitude he's a true member of 3G. Entouji says they can provide Mamoru protection from the Zonders, and EnRyu tells Mamoru that he's inspired by his idea. HyoRyu advises against it however, saying that he's calculated too great a risk. EnRyu replies that there's always risk for heroes, and HyoRyu thinks he's getting a fever for being a robot talking about heroism. They continue to argue as Leo mentions that their SympaRate is dropping. Kazuo notes how human they are, and Mikoto mentions how different they are despite identical AIs. Mamoru senses a Zonder, just as EI-07 begins to absorb gasoline from a refinery. Penchinon thinks that this will be the start of a great voyage.

The 3G team return to the Main Order Room, and Swan realizes EI-07 is over 300 meters tall. Entouji calculates that it's carrying over 100,000 tons of gasoline within its hull. If it explodes, it would be able to wipe out everything in a 20 kilometer radius, and it would take 3 hours to evacuate people from that large a blast range. GaiGar takes off docked to Stealth Gao, as Kazuo prepare the Eraser Head and Dividing Driver for launch. HyoRyu and EnRyu launch from the mirror catapult, and Mikoto thinks they're true heroes who can use the Eraser Head. GaiGar dodges jets of gasoline, and Penchinon knows that they'll attack EI-07 and destroy the surrounding area. HyoRyu lands safely, and EnRyu crashes head first. HyoRyu uses his Chest Thriller to put out the blaze, and EnRyu covers him from attack with his Mirror Shield. Guy warns them not to hit EI-07 directly. EnRyu and HyoRyu cover for GaiGar, fighting off EI-07 and putting out the flames simultaneously. Fighting back to back, Taiga notes that they don't even notice their SympaRate is quickly rising. Guy forms GaoGaiGar during the distraction, and fires the Broken Magnum into the ground. It comes out underneath EI-07, EnRyu and HyoRyu getting out of the way as the Zonder topples over onto its back in the ocean. Hyuuma has the Dividing Driver launched, and GaoGaiGar activates a repression field in the water around EI-07. GaoGaiGar begins Hell and Heaven, with EI-07 too big to even get itself back up. HyoRyu tries to warn Guy that removing the core will cause EI-07 to detonate, at the time GaoGaiGar is vulnerable. EnRyu realizes Penchinon's true intention; having EI-07 explode within the repression field will save the city, but there will be no way for GaoGaiGar to escape, and the concentrated explosion will kill Guy. Guy tells them to take care of things when he throws them the core, and EnRyu and HyoRyu race to stop him while he accelerates
toward EI-07. They say they can't obey the order he gave them, and their SympaRate maximizes. Taiga approves Symmetrical Docking, and the pair transform and combine into ChoRyuJin. Hyuuma launches the
Eraser Head, as EI-07 explodes. The blast expands, then goes straight up, firing straight into space. ChoRyuJin made it to GaoGaiGar in time, using the Eraser Head to redirect the energy into space and causing no
damage to be done. Taiga announces that a new hero has been born. Guy congratulates him, and he apologizes for not listening to orders. Guy says he has the best AI in the world. As Mamoru comes in to purify the Zonder, Penchinon vanishes with a passing cloud of smoke. Mamoru notes how awesome ChoRyuJin is, and Guy says they succeeded with their teamwork.

For some reason, it seemed to me that this episode came too soon. EnRyu and HyoRyu just showed up last episode, and having them become ChoRyuJin already felt like a cop-out. Are EnRyu and HyoRyu really so useless that they already needed to be able to form ChoRyuJin to stay up to pace with GaoGaiGar? None the less, we're introduced to the Eraser Head, which is even stranger in execution than the Dividing Driver. While I like the idea of the 'weapon', does it really need to look like an oversized... well, eraser head? It's tough to take ChoRyuJin seriously when he's lugging it around. Penchinon came up with a pretty good plan, and a plot device foiled it. This is probably the first episode where failure would be ensured if not for one thing, and it focused too much on the build up to that. You knew they would form ChoRyuJin in time, so was it necessary to make the 300 meter tall EI-07 completely incompetent to make time for the drama? On one positive note, I think this is the first time Hyuuma didn't break a walkie-talkie in his hand during an episode.

Overall Rating: 1.5 out of 5 stars



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