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Dunbine Ep. 14: The Battle to Capture Elf Castle

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Summary

Shou and Keen fly around and battle a Gatta, a giant winged creature which they use for parts in Aura Battlers. Shou has trouble with it but Marvel arrives in the Bozune and defeats it. Nie hears from Foizon that Drake is planning on attacking Elf Castle and take complete control over the land of Ah. As Shou and the others arrive he asks Nie to deliver a message to the land of Ri. At Elf Castle the King plays with a game Drake gave him. His advisor tells him that he’s heard Drake is planning on attacking, but the King doesn’t believe him since he’s so confident in his power. At Laas Wau, Shot and Zet complete work on the Bastole, an Aura Battler for Garalia. Shot doesn’t think Zet should get to close to someone like Garalia from Upper Earth. He decides to have Musiy follow her to see how the Bastole performs. Nie delivers the message to a soldier in Ri, whom he learns has already received a message requesting assistance from Drake. The soldier tells him he’ll deliver the message from Foizon, but the King will make the final decision on who to help. As the soldier leaves he tells them that Drake has already started his assault on Elf Castle, so they rush to the Zelana and head out. In Ah, Drake makes a speech proclaiming Furaon Elf incompetent and his troops head out. The three people from Upper Earth watch from one of the Bull Beggars. Drake’s force quickly approaches Elf Castle and the Castle’s Flan and Gedo units prepare to head out.

Drake’s troops attack the castle with ease, since the castle isn’t prepared for an attack. When the Gedo units head out Bern has no problem destroying them. Furaon Elf seems more concerned with the condition of his game board than anything else. One of Drake’s Bull Beggars land and dozens of soldiers head out towards the castle. Marvel wants to head out but Nie says to wait. He tells her he cares for her as much as Riml. The Flan heads out of Elf Castle and Garalia has little trouble destroying it. Furaon Elf is shocked to hear how poor his troops are doing and wants to contact Drake and end this battle. The Dunbine and Fou finally arrive at the battle and attack one of the Bull Beggars. Musiy watches Garalia fight from one of the ships. Chum accuses Nie of not wanting Marvel to fight but he does end up sending her out. Shou battles with Garalia and damages her Bastole. Bern is concerned that they sent out their land troops too early. Shou attacks Bern’s Virunvee and kicks it into the woods below. Bern is upset that a test product could be such a tough match for him. He attacks Shou again and has the Virunvee’s arm cut off. Bern retreats and tells his forces to withdraw. Marvel is surprised at how powerful Shou has become. Furaon is thrilled that the castle was defended, thinking that the Zelana is actually one of his own units. At Laas Wau Mizeru and Musiy report to Drake and Shot. Drake tells Shot to accelerate the training of those from Upper Earth and seems upset with Bern.

Commentary

Drake wastes no time in attacking his own ruler so he alone can control Ah. With the foolish Furaon Elf in charge one wonders why he didn’t do this sooner. The overconfident King’s forces consist of Aura Battlers even more outdated than the Dana O’Shee Marvel used at the beginning of the series, so I won’t be surprised to see Drake take over Elf Castle within an episode or two. This episode also reintroduces us to Musiy, Riml’s former piano teacher who now seems to be working for Shot. Shot and Zet appear to have some hidden agendas, perhaps Shot someday will try to overthrow Drake in a repeat of what’s happening now. Finally, this episode shows us just how far Shou has progressed as he’s able to defeat both Garalia and Bern, despite the fact that they each have much newer and more powerful Aura Battlers than he does.

Overall Rating
3/5

Dunbine Info

Director:
Yoshiyuki Tomino

Writer(s):
Minoru Yokitani
Yoshiji Watanabe

Mechanical Designer(s):
Kazutaka Miyatake
Yutaka Izubuchi
Tomonori Kogawa
Hidetoshi Ohmori

Character Designer:
Tomonori Kogawa

Musical Composer:
Katsuhiro Tsubonou

Format:
49 episodes

Airdates:
Japan 02.05.1983 – 01.21.1984

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