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Fighbird Ep. 3: All Members In! Space Police!

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Summary

At school, Kenta’s friends talk about how the robots that saved the summit were cool. Kenta reveals their names but before he can explain why he knows that, Haruka pulls him aside and reminds him that they promised Hiroshi not reveal where the Space Police are hiding. Satsuda stops by a koban and asks the officer on duty if there were any strange occurrences from the Amano Peace Labs. The officer replies that they’ve recently hired a new lab assistant who behaves somewhat oddly. He asks Satsuda why he’s so interested in that lab and the latter replies it’s because he thinks Hiroshi stole the money from the case three years ago. Satsuda sneaks up to the lab and runs into Katori. He tries to interrogate Katori but the latter gives him nonsensical answers. Katori however recognizes Satsuda’s police car and waves to it. Kenta and Haruka arrive and the latter chides Satsuda for trespassing. Hiroshi runs out yelling that he finished his latest invention but he trips and the tube he was carrying flies into Satsuda’s hands. Hiroshi tries to get it back but Satsuda thinks it’s a tool for a new crime he’s trying to commit and angrily slams it into a tree. The contents of the tube splatter and Hiroshi reveals that it’s a powerful quick acting adhesive, which has already glued Satsuda’s hand to the tree. Satsuda demands that they do something but Hiroshi assures that it’ll lose strength after half a day since he hasn’t perfected the formula yet. Hiroshi suggests they go inside to celebrate with cake, but Kenta spots Katori heading towards the police car and follows him. Katori says that he’ll introduce him to a friend and the two drive off in the car leaving Satsuda still stuck to the tree. The car identifies itself as Space Police member Guard Star and explains that Satsuda, oblivious to his secret, was sniffing around the lab because of his suspicion of Hiroshi. They all agree however that Hiroshi couldn’t have stolen the money and shift the topic to Draias. Kenta suspects that Draias has allied himself with Dr. Jango, who’s releasing minus energy all over the world. Down in Jango’s lab, Jango explains to Draias his new Project Genocide which involves killing the human population by destroying the ozone layer and bombarding the Earth with ultraviolet rays. Draias reminds Jango that he needs humans to work as slaves for him and the latter assures him that only small areas will be affected. Haruka wonders where Katori and Kenta went off to when the minus energy detector goes off. Shura and Zol attack a CFC gas plant and easily dispose of the security guards while the Teshitas steal the gas. Kenta and Katori catch the emergency call and head off to the location with Guard Star. The Baron team prepares to launch but Haruka tells Ace Baron to wait while Hiroshi prepares something. Fire trucks arrive at the plant to put out the fires which have trapped the plant workers inside. Kenta and Katori arrive at the scene and the latter spots an ambulance which he reveals is fellow Space Police member Guard Rescue. Guard Rescue excuses himself to help the paramedics transport the injured while the rest move on. Dr. Yoshiko Kunieda however finds this suspicious and Kenta reminds Katori that they shouldn’t be seen riding a police car.

Shura and Zol turn on a machine that sends the CFC gas into the sky. Guard Star bursts through the flames and Katori jumps out to confront Draias’ henchmen. Shura and Zol reveal their plan and start firing on Katori. Guard Star transforms into robot mode and joins the fight as well. A Teshita tries to shoot Kenta but Katori throws the tiny robot Wrister at it, which knocks it down then transforms into a wrist communicator that attaches to Kenta. Zol shoots at Guard Star and the latter retaliates with his own blaster, blowing Zol and the Teshitas away. Kenta alerts Katori to the trapped plant workers, and the latter orders Guard Star to rescue them. Guard Rescue and a fire truck, revealed to be the Guard team’s third member Guard Fire, arrive and transform into robot mode. Guard Fire puts out the flames while Guard Rescue whisks the trapped workers to safety. Shura and Zol retreat into the gas spewing machine, which changes into a giant shelled monster. Guard Star shoots at it but it’s unfazed and retaliates against him and the rest of the Guard team. Katori summons the Fire Jet and combines into Fighbird. Fighbird tries to kick the monster but it grabs him with tentacles. To save him, the Guard team combines into the giant robot Guardion! Guardion destroys the tentacles with machine gun fire and frees Fighbird. They both grab the monster and pull it away from the gas pipes while dodging its attacks. The Baron team arrives and fires missiles containing Hiroshi’s new adhesive at the ruptured pipes, stopping the gas leak. They then combine into Thunder Baron and join the fight. Thunder Baron and Guardion fire upon the monster while Fighbird pulls out his Flame Sword and finishes it off. Back at the Amano Peace Labs, Katori explains about the remaining Space Police members to Hiroshi and Kenta remarks that they now have more secrets to hide. Satsuda yells out that he’s still glued to the tree despite half a day passing, and Hiroshi thinks that he might have perfected the formula after all. Satsuda demands that they cut down the tree but Hiroshi retorts that it’s been there for centuries and he’d never cut it for something so trivial. He then assures Satsuda that he’ll have a neutralizer ready by tomorrow morning.

Commentary

Not wasting any time, this episode introduces us to Fighbird’s remaining support team, while Kenta gets a wrist device similar to how Kouta from Exkaiser had one. Since the Guard team is a trio of public service vehicles rather than something Hiroshi built, they’ll need to be discreet to avoid blowing their cover in front of their human operators. Meanwhile, Jango ups the ante on his schemes. Giving the population of Earth a lethal tan job is not something I’d expect a villain to be trying by the third episode, but at least you can’t accuse him of beating around the bush. Satsuda is this episode’s victim of Hiroshi’s inventions, which unfortunately for him worked a little too well this time.

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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