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Fighbird Ep. 1: Enter the Miracle Hero!

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Summary

As school ends, Kenta Amano catches up to his cousin Haruka and asks how their grandfather’s android project is going. She tells him that it should be done by the end of the day and the latter runs off in excitement. At Professor Hiroshi Amano’s home the Amano Peace Labs, the minus energy detector goes off and in the confusion Hiroshi nearly chokes on his food. Haruka arrives and is greeted by her pet monkey Champ. In the kitchen she puts the dirty plates in the dishwater but thanks to Hiroshi’s terrible repair job it violently spits everything out. Kenta arrives and asks how the android is coming along. Hiroshi excitedly exclaims that his project will benefit world peace and will soon be completed. As they ride a hidden elevator down to the lab, Hiroshi explains that minus energy is filling the world and will plunge it into darkness if he doesn’t do something, especially now that Dr. Jango has made his presence known. Kenta wonder when he will get to show his friends the vehicles that Hiroshi built, and the latter says that he doesn’t want people to find out about them, especially the tax office. Quickly changing the subject, Hiroshi moves to where the android is stored and reveals that its name will be Katori Yuutarou, since an android modeled after humans should have a human name. Katori’s job will be to pilot the rescue machines in hazardous environments. As they prepare to power the android up, Hiroshi asks Haruka if the celebratory food is ready but the latter reveals that she’ll be standing by with a fire extinguisher in case something goes wrong. In space, a black energy sphere makes its way down to Earth and splashes down into the ocean. It eventually reaches Jango’s secret underground lair and embeds itself into an ornamental wall structure as well as two inert androids. The minus energy detector overloads and catches fire. The smoke from the overheating Katori triggers the sprinkler system and Hiroshi shuts off the water to avoid flooding the lab. Kenta tells Hiroshi that they can try again, and the latter exclaims that a cosmic energy life-form will come from space and bring Katori to life. Just then the fire alarm rings out alerting them to the fire in the mansion. They rush to the top but Hiroshi forgot to reopen the sprinkler’s main pipe, forcing them to put out the fire by themselves. However, the fire department arrives and Hiroshi frantically tells Kenta to close the secret elevator. They try the book switch but it’s jammed, so Haruka suggests they do it from the inside, forcing Kenta to descend into the lab again. Hiroshi tries to send the firemen away, but inspector Satsuda insists that they check inside the mansion. Haruka walks out and demands to see a search warrant, but Satsuda brushes her aside and barges in. Satsuda asks Hiroshi how he can afford such luxuries when he hardly has any income, and the exchange is interrupted by the arrival of five white energy spheres that embed themselves in a police car, a fire truck, an ambulance, Hiroshi’s rescue vehicles and the Katori android.

The android frees itself from its restraints and uses a picture that Haruka drew earlier to mold a human face for itself with skin colored paste. Satsuda burns his hand on the busted minus energy detector and gets taken away by the paramedics, but yells out that Hiroshi is connected to case of three billion yen that went missing three years ago. Hiroshi and Haruka rush back to the lab and find Kenta and Katori. After introductions are made, Haruka tells Kenta to get clothes for Katori and another alarm rings out alerting Hiroshi to an emergency. At an oil field in an undisclosed desert, Jango’s androids Shura and Zol emerge from a large crater and summon a giant mechanical centipede. Hiroshi orders Katori to head to where the monster is and Kenta tags along with him. They board the Fire Jet and take off from a hidden runway under the mansion. As the monster wrecks the oil field, Hiroshi orders Katori to extinguish the flames with water bombs before they reach the fuel tanks. Katori and Kenta land and the former recognizes the monster as the work of Draias. The Fire Jet suddenly transforms and Katori combines with it to form the giant robot Fighbird! Kenta is shocked and Hiroshi has no idea what’s going on. Fighbird proclaims that as long as he’s here no one will disturb peace in the cosmos and Kenta realizes that he really is a cosmic energy life-form. The monster attacks with flamethrowers and Fighbird summons the Flame Breaster jet, which combines with him forming a new chest and head for Fighbird. He pulls out his Flame Sword and blocks the flamethrowers with Flame Barrier. The monster rams into him and Fighbird retaliates by slicing off its tale and claws. Fighbird then charges up his sword and finishes off the monster with a single flaming slash. Hiroshi can’t believe that the Fire Jet turned into a robot because he didn’t design it with that ability. The field workers happily see off Katori and Kenta while Shura and Zol seethe with rage. Kenta’s excited that Katori is actually an alien, but the latter tells him that it’s too early to rejoice because Draias has begun his attempts to conquer Earth.

Commentary

The second Brave show starts off in typical fashion, introducing us to the principal cast and setting up the premise. Hiroshi’s your average goofball scientist who wanted to start a Thunderbirds-esque operation, but the arrival of the Space Police promoted that to defense of the entire planet. On the villain’s side, Jango got one throwaway line while Draias and his two minions didn’t speak at all in this episode. There’s a bit of a lingering mystery regarding where Hiroshi got the money to finance all his fancy gadgets, which will cause Satsuda to hound him for the majority of the show.

Overall Rating
3.5/5

Fighbird Info

Director:
Katsuyoshi Yatabe

Writer:
Yasushi Hirano

Mechanical Designer:
Kunio Okawara

Character Designer:
Hitoshi Ueda

Musical Composer:
Toshiyuki Watanabe

Format:
48 episodes

Airdates:
Japan 02.02.1991 – 02.01.1992

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