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Episode
9: Bakunetsumaru's Struggle
Review by Chris September 12, 2003 Bell flies in a flying Ball and is chased by Bakunetsumaru. Bakunetsumaru tells him that he has to repair the Trans-Dimensional Gate, and Bell asks why he should do that. Elsewhere, a Grip Pappa robot and his son Gripo dig a tunnel for a highway. Four Zakos emerge from a Zakrello Gate, and Grip Pappa tells them to leave. In the Dark Axis dimension, Grappler and Zapper wonder if the Zakos need more training as Destroyer wildly blasts stuff. The Zakos attach a control horn to Grip Pappa and plan to tunnel into Neotopia and destroy the city. Gripo threatens to beat them up, and the Zakos attach a bomb to Grip Pappa to cause maximum damage. A Zako then tosses his heat hawk at Gripo to separate him from Grip Pappa. On the surface, Bakunetsumaru argues with Bell and tells him that he needs to repair the gate, but Bell walks away. Suddenly, Grip Pappa bursts through from the ground, and the Zakos make it dig underground again to head on to Neotopia. Gripo then climbs up and tells Bakunetsumaru and Bell that the Zakos plan to blow up his father inside Neotopia. Gripo then begins to cry, and Bakunetsumaru asks him to calm down so he can think. Gripo asks them to help him save his father, and Bakunetsumaru agrees to help. He asks Bell to help him disarm the bomb, but he refuses. Bell says he knows nothing about bombs and doesn't want to get blown up. Entengo grabs Bell, and they jump into the hole to follow Grip Pappa. Gripo wants to follow them and falls into the hole. Bakunetsumaru and Bell fall through the hole, and Bell sees that Gripo is going to crush them. Bakunetsumaru jumps off Entengo and uses his swords to slow down Gripo's rate of speed. After reaching the bottom of the cave, Bakunetsumaru jumps on Entengo and chases after Grip Pappa. The Zakos spot them and start tossing grenades in their direction. Bakunetsumaru and Bell jump onto the train, and Bell wonders how he can disarm the bomb. The Zakus begin spinning around the control horn, which causes Grip Pappa to continuously spin. Elsewhere, Captain and Shute ride on Gunbike through the cave and stop Gripo. Gripo explains to them that the Zakos took over Grip Pappa and plan to blow him up with a bomb. Gunbike asks Gripo to hook up to them, and they take off to catch up with Grip Pappa. Further down the tunnel, the dizzy Zakos realize they spun around too much. The Zakos plan to destroy Bakunetsumaru, and he dodges one of Grip Pappa's arms and is hit by another. Bakunetsumaru sees that he may have to cut off Grip Pappa's arms to stop him. He uses his special attack and causes an explosion, but it doesn't stop Grip Pappa. The Zakos have Grip Pappa move away, and Bakunetsumaru says he won't give up. They destroy the rock ceiling above him, and he is rescued by Gunbike. Meanwhile, Bell begins to unscrew the bomb's casing. The Zakos toss more grenades, but Captain destroys them with his vulcans. Bell removes the bomb's casing and sees the inside is just a simple piece of dynamite. Bakunetsumaru destroys the control horn and stops Grip Pappa. Bakunetsumaru punishes them by tossing them up in the air, and Bell tosses the dynamite up to them before it explodes. Grip Pappa is reunited with Gripo, and Bakunetsumaru tells Bell he did a good job. Bakunetsumaru begins to give him another speech, but Bell ignores him and leaves on Entengo. On the Zako Zako Hour, Zapper interrupts the show and complains that he never gets to appear on the show. He then begins to show off all his weapons, such as Gatling guns, machineguns, missiles and heat hawks. He complains again, and Grappler tells him that he doesn't get to appear because he complains too much. Destroyer then shows up and runs everyone over. For a nice change, this episode focuses mostly on Bakunetsumaru instead of Shute and Captain. Now this would normally be a good thing, but unfortunately he's teamed up with Bell, aka Token Black Kid. Bell becomes more and more annoying each time I see him. He seems to be a lazy, disinterested guy, and he doesn't even want to help Gripo and save Neotopia. This guy is probably the worst character on the show, and I really hope he doesn't make too many appearances. On the other hand, Bakunetsumaru is a pretty likable guy, and he's someone I hope to see more of as a counterpoint to Zero and Captain. Also, this episode's Zako Zako Hour was again more comedic than the rest of the episode. It has a hint of classic SD in it, but it still isn't the same. Overall
Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars |