Review by Chris

June 29, 2001

In London, George finds himself in a losing battle with three time Gundam Fight champion Gentle Chapman. The reason George is losing is because Chapman is cheating by using a fog machine and dummy mobile suits. After disabling George, Chapman appears and finishes him off. Later, Domon enters a hotel where Chapman and his wife Manon are playing poker. Domon asks him about Kyoji and then challenges him to a game. While Domon has three aces, Chapman has a full house and wins. However, Domon grabs the dealer and shows that she was cheating by slipping cards to Chapman from her sleeve. Rain shows up, and at the same time Chapman's men pull guns on them. They take them to a hotel room and bring in a severely wounded George. George tells them how Chapman cheated by using the fog machine and dummy mobile suits to weaken him. What was odd was that he appeared in pain and misfired, which only grazed the head of the Gundam Rose. Chapman wakes up with a seizure and takes pills. The next day, he invites Domon and Rain for tea. Rain wonders if it is a trap, and Domon says it doesn't matter. He wants to see if what George said was true. Domon challenges Chapman to a fight, and Rain sees that Chapman is using pills in his tea. She pretends to slip so she can grab the pill, but Manon sends a man after her. Domon says again he wants a fight, and Chapman says that is the only thing young Gundam Fighters want. Domon tells Chapman that if he is simply holding on to his past glory he will definitely lose. He says he will defeat Chapman, and Chapman responds by pulling a gun on him.

Rain tastes the pill and determines it's a stimulant. She then stumbles into the hangar where all the dummies of the John Bull Gundam are kept. A servant appears and knocks her out. Chapman tries to shoot Domon, but his vision becomes fuzzy. He puts down his gun and agrees to Domon's challenge. He summons the John Bull Gundam and heads for the city, followed by Domon in the Core Lander. The fight begins, and Rain wakes up in Manon's control room. She tells Rain that Chapman needs drugs because of all the injuries he has had over the years. She is also directing the fog and dummy mobile suits without his knowledge. As the fog appears, it blocks all of the Shining Gundam's sensors. Domon figures that the same will be true for Chapman and that he will be blind too. He then comes under attack from several dummy suits. As more appear, they are destroyed by George. George tells him that Chapman's drugs allow him to see his opponents through the fog. He says if Domon doesn't stop him soon, Chapman will die from an overdose. Domon finds the real John Bull Gundam and attacks. He loses his beam saber and is knocked to the ground. Chapman aims for his head, but he stumbles and falls back. Domon hesitates, and Chapman tells him to fight. He calls him naive and says he should have a reason for fighting. Domon uses the Shining Finger to destroy the John Bull Gundam's head. After the fight, Chapman thanks Manon for her help and dies. Manon warns Domon and George that this could someday be their fate too.

Aside from a cameo by George, we get some backstory here about the Gundam Fight. Gentle Chapman has won the Gundam Fight three times consecutively, and Domon wanted to fight him anyway. However, that Chapman is not the same as this one, who uses drugs and dummy suits to cheat and win by any means necessary. Manon thought he didn't know she was helping him, but that's stupid. How could he not notice that in every battle fog and dummy suits keep appearing? In the end, he paid for using drugs by apparently dying. I say that he 'apparently dies' because though he seems dead, no one actually says 'Look, Chapman is dead'. Whether he comes back or not, we'll see.

Overall Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

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