Review by Chris

July 25, 2001

George fights against Neo Portugal's Romario Monini and his Jester Gundam. He finds that Romario is mirroring his moves, and he loses to the Roses Bits. Later, Chibodee and his girls go to a local circus to study Romario's moves, because he is Chibodee's next opponent. Chibodee doesn't want to go inside, but Domon and Rain and the kids show up and drag him in. Inside, Romario performs tricks dressed as a clown. He imitates Domon and asks him into the ring. They begin fighting, and he mimics all of Domon's moves. He then fakes the Bakunetsu God Finger to make it seem like Domon exploded. Chibodee feels very uncomfortable, and Romario starts making fun of him. Later, Chibodee locks himself in his room. Cath discovers that Romario has hacked into the files about Chibodee's history. As Chibodee struggles to sleep, Romario comes to Chibodee disguised as himself and tells him the past is waiting. Chibodee is drawn to the circus by Romario, where he remembers being held by terrorist clowns. He calls out to his mother, and Romario starts laughing at him and making fun of him. Chibodee falls to the floor and begs Romario to stop laughing. Domon, Rain, and the girls arrive, chasing Romario away. Domon tells Chibodee that he can't allow himself to lose to the enemy's mind games so easily. Cath offers Chibodee a towel, and he slaps her and tells everyone to leave him alone. Shirley explains to Rain and Domon that Chibodee was found as a child in a circus run by terrorists. They ask Rain to help because she is a doctor, and Domon tells her she must decide for herself what she will do. Chibodee boxes in the Gundam Maxter's hangar, and he wonders what is wrong with him. Rain stands in the doorway and watches him box.

On the boat, Hoy and Ming discuss whether or not Rain will come back. Hoy thinks she will because he knows she likes Domon. Domon asks Hoy if he can teach him about a woman's heart, and Hoy and Ming run off to bed. Domon wonders if they might be right about Rain. Rain watches Chibodee box until he is exhausted. He tells her how people rioted in New York City to get to the colony, and how his mother finally got them tickets. They went to a circus to have as their last memory of Earth, and terrorists dressed as clowns took everyone hostage and demanded to go up to the colony. Chibodee is sure that his mother was killed in the gunfire. He asks Rain to sing him a song his mother used to sing, and she does. The girls arrive at the hangar and wonder what Rain and Chibodee are doing. They are sure that Rain will be able to handle everything. The next morning Chibodee feels confident he can defeat Romario. The fight begins on Queen's Road East, with Domon and George watching. Romario mirrors Chibodee's moves, and his mad laughter scares Chibodee. George tells Domon he lost because he felt like he was fighting himself. Romario binds Chibodee with rings and begins to beat him. The girls ask Rain to sing, and she refuses because she is on Neo Japan's team and says they should sing. Chibodee hears them singing and sees that they are like mothers to him. He breaks out of the rings and uses the Burning Punch to defeat Romario. He vows he will be the champion of the Gundam Fight for his four mothers.

This was certainly an odd episode, but at least it's a change from Domon VS random Gundam Fighter. Here we have Romario Monini, a mad clown whose real face we never get to see. Chibodee's back story is developed a bit, though it's odd that he's afraid of terrorist clowns. Then again, those guys were kinda freaky. I wonder if this episode was inspired by the horrible movie Killer Klowns From Outer Space, which seems to have quite the cult following. It also seems like the Domon/Rain romance is being built up, with Domon wondering if Rain likes him. Of course she does, but he's pretty dense about some things. He probably won't tell her how he feels until episode 49. These things can be a bit predictable.

Overall Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

Buy the Collection (eps 26-49) from DVD Empire

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