Review by Chris

April 10, 2001

Mashymre's soldiers hold a funeral for Panpa and the other pilots killed by the Zeta Gundam. Mashymre doesn't understand what's going on, and Gottn says that on Earth the custom is to bury the dead in the ground. Mashymre tells his soldiers that according to Haman, the best way to pray for the dead is to get vengeance. Meanwhile, everyone on the Argama prepares to leave the colony. A signal flare is fired, and Elle tells Judau that Chimatter has been captured by the junk collector's union. Beecha explains to Bright that they are greedy and control the colony's industrial exit for profit. Roux takes off in her Neo Core Fighter to rescue Chimatter, followed by Judau in the Zeta Gundam. After hiding the Zeta Gundam in the trash, Judau finds Roux in the crowd that has formed to listen to Gemon talk about the crimes of the Argama crew. Chimatter is tied up on the floor, while Yazan offers him some roast pork. Elsewhere, Mashymre orders the Endra to take off and leave the colony. As they pass through the junkyard, he spots the Zeta Gundam in the trash and fires at it. Judau frees Chimatter and kicks Yazan in the groin. Gemon and Yazan run to their Gezes to attack Judau and Roux. Roux and Chimatter escape in the Neo Core Fighter and are chased by Gemon. Roux accidentally drops the signal flare Judau tosses, and the blue color signals that the door is open. Bright thinks that the hatch is open, so he orders the Argama to depart. Roux escapes into a car tunnel, and Gemon slams into it. Judau uses a Petite mobile suit to dig out the Zeta Gundam, but he stops when Yazan and Gemon show up. Yazan pauses when he sees the Argama appear from behind a mountain of junk.

Leina worries if Judau will return safely, but Shinta and Qum tell her it will be okay. Fa and Elle sit down at the gun control room to operate the Argama's cannons. Gemon and Yazan begin throwing junk at the Argama, and Judau uses the opportunity to dig up the Zeta Gundam and get inside. Mashymre sees the Argama and has the Endra prepare its main guns. Judau flies up to the Argama and tells Bright that the door isn't open and that the signal flare was a mistake. Yazan attacks Judau and blames the Zeta Gundam for ruining his life. He says he was fine with the Titans, but after losing in the last battle he has been disgraced. Judau says that has nothing to do with him, but Yazan doesn't care. Judau briefly escapes and knocks Gemon off the Argama's bow to stop his attacks. He pulls out his beam rifle and destroys Gemon's Geze. Roux and Chimatter break into the control room and open the door to let the Argama out. Yazan grabs the Zeta Gundam and tries to slam it into the Argama as it turns to exit the door. At the last moment, Judau transforms into Waverider and escapes. He then slams the Zeta Gundam into the Geze and forces Yazan to jump out and parachute away with his jacket. The Geze crashes into the Endra and explodes. Mashymre doesn't want to damage the colony, so he decides to go out in the prototype Hamma Hamma. As the Argama enters the exit door, Bright fires the mega beam cannon at the Endra and causes substantial damage. Judau flies around uncontrollably and manages to finally transform back to mobile suit mode. After returning the the ship, Bright tells him that Roux is flying ahead to guide them to La Vie en Rose. Mashymre and his soldiers hold another funeral, and he sees how much they want to avenge their comrades. He orders Gottn to quickly finish assembling the Hamma Hamma for him.

Finally, this episode broke the mold of that generic storyline that had been running in episodes 2-7. I'm glad to see that the Argama is finally leaving the colony and returning to space. However, it probably could have been done without taking up the entire episode. It was good to see Yazan actually do something aside from stealing pigs, but here he eats pigs and gets beaten by Judau. Also, though we don't see his death on screen, all of my reliable sources say that Yazan is indeed dead. I imagine parachuting with a jacket is not really a good way to survive. It's a shame that someone like him has to be degraded in such away, but this series seems to enjoy doing that to all the surviving characters of Zeta Gundam.

Overall Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars

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