Review by Chris

February 6, 2003

As the Adrastea approaches Earth, Katejina tells Cronicle that she wants to attack the Reinforce Junior. He tells her that is dangerous, and she says that if they damage the ship it won't be able to enter Earth's atmosphere. Cronicle and Pippiniden give their approval, and Katejina launches in her Gedlav and Einerad, followed by Lupe and Goze. As the Gedlav squad approaches, Uso launches in the V2 Gundam, followed by Marbet's Victory Gundam, Connie's Hexa and Odelo and Tomache's Gunblastors. Odelo and Tomache argue about what the enemy is planning, and Uso flies by them and tells them not to break out of formation. The Gedlavs begin their attack, and Connie tries to slice into Katejina's Einerad with her beam saber. Marbet tells Odelo and Tomache to use her as a shield to fight, but they find that their beam rifles can't penetrate the Gedlav's beam shields. Katejina swings her Einerad on a chain and uses it to attack the Reinforce Junior. Uso gets caught inside one of the Einerads, and he uses his wings of light to break free. He returns to the ship to fight Katejina, and she throws her Einerad at him. Odelo and Tomache jump in and slice into it with their beam sabers while Uso destroys it with his beam rifle. He thanks them for saving him, and they tell him that if he dies they'll be picked off much easier. The Adrastea deploys its beam shield to enter Earth's atmosphere, and Uso flies towards it. Marbet tells him it is too dangerous to enter the atmosphere with a mobile suit, and he says that if he can damage the Adrastea during re-entry it will help him. The Adrastea fires its guns at him, and Katejina attacks him again. He asks her why she is fighting for Maria, and she says that as he becomes more powerful it makes him unlovable. As their suits begin to burn up, Uso breaks away and tells Katejina to get out of the atmosphere before she dies. Uso activates his beam shield and gets behind the beam shield of the Reinforce Junior to safely enter the atmosphere. After landing in the ocean, the crew of the White Ark detect ship wreckage and wonder if it was from a Motorad ship. Nearby, several armed men open the cockpit to Katejina's damaged Gedlav. The Reinforce Junior docks at the underwater city of Underhook, and the crew goes inside the city for a tour. When Shakti spots an unconscious Katejina being driven into a tunnel, Uso runs after the hovercraft.

Katejina wakes up in a room belong to a cult of Maria followers. Uso begins knocking on the door outside and demands to be let in. The tour guide tells him he can't go in, and he keeps pounding. He tries to smash the door, but it opens and causes him to fall on his face. Uso asks the cult leader where Katejina is, and she says she doesn't know anything. Katejina tells the cult members that Shakti is Maria's daughter, so they grab Uso and take Shakti away. Warren and Odelo begin pounding on the door as well, so Katejina leaves with Shakti and the cult members. Uso and Odelo run after the hovercraft Shakti is on, and Odelo splits off so that he can tell Marbet. Nearby, the Adrastea approaches Underhook and Lupe launches in another Dodgore unit. She begins attacking the Reinforce Junior, and Gomez fires missiles at her and has the ship leave port. Stray missiles hit Underhook and destroy one of the glass barriers. As tons of water rush in, Uso is caught in the flood of water while chasing Shakti. He manages to find an oxygen tank and gets some air. The White Ark takes off, but Odelo wants to wait for Uso before going into battle. Uso emerges from a hatch with an octopus stuck to his head and jumps into the V2 Gundam. Nearby, Katejina and Shakti board a submarine belonging to the cult members. Citizens of Underhook want to escape on the sub as well, but they are told it is only for followers of Maria. Shakti asks the cult leader to let the citizens board, but she refuses. Uso, Odelo and Tomache head underwater to fight Lupe, and she traps Odelo and Tomache in a net. Uso fires his beam rifle and sees that it causes the water to explode violently. As he fights Lupe, he sees the sub with Shakti float by. While pinned to a rock, he attacks Lupe and slices off one of the Dodgore's arms. He then flies out of the water and is chased by Lupe in the air. He tries to slice into her cockpit, but she separates from the tail and attacks him with that. Uso is caught up in the Dodgore's spinning tail, but he uses his wings of light to generate enough force to make them stop. He then fires at Lupe and causes her to crash. The Adrastea surfaces nearby and fires at Uso and the Reinforce Junior while retrieving Lupe and the sub. Shakti asks Cronicle to stop what he is doing, but he says they have to keep fighting if they want to evolve the world and make Maria's ideals a reality. He tells her no one likes war, and she sees that the war will continue.

As I expected, we saw an atmospheric entry battle here not unlike most other series. Now that the Motorad fleet has arrived on Earth, you have to wonder what their exact objective is. And why bother using gigantic tires to move around the planet instead of just flying? Lupe gets beaten pretty badly again with her Dodgore. I guess this proves that if you have some weird prototype that fails, why, you have to try again. We briefly see the city of Underhook before it is destroyed, and it's a bit too convenient that there happens to be a Maria cult there ready to help Katejina. Shakti is captured yet again, which means that Cronicle now has her and Muller to use as hostages against Uso.

Overall Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

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