Fighbird Ep. 36: Town of Vampires

Yoshiko wakes up from a nightmare. Haruka says that he probably dreamt about vampires because of the newspaper article sighting them in Germany, which is why everyone is flying there to meet Haruka’s parents. Haruka is skeptical about the existence of vampires, but Yoshiko tells her that they won’t know for sure unless they check. At the airport, Haruka is greeted warmly by her parents but the reunion is interrupted when airport security detains Hiroshi for being covered head to toe in crosses, garlic and wooden stakes. Haruka’s father Tasuku yells at Hiroshi for being a bad role model for Haruka, but Katori quickly defuses the situation by lifting the two off their feet. On their way home, Yoshiko notices that people are pretty calm despite the vampire rumors. Tasuku doesn’t believe the rumors, and tells Haruka that he plans to have live with them now. Hiroshi reminds him that it was his idea for Haruka to be schooled in Japan, but Tasuku retorts that he obviously made a mistake to entrust her to an eccentric like him. Haruka’s mother Natsue cuts their bickering short and says that the decision belongs to Haruka. Later, Katori wonders why Hiroshi and Tasuku don’t get along, and Kenta and Yoshiko explains that it’s normal for close family members to argue like that. Suddenly they hear a scream from nearby. They run to the source and find a woman being attacked by a mysterious figure with fangs who transforms into a bat and flies away. Katori tells Yoshiko and Kenta to take care of the unconscious woman while he chases after the vampire, with none of them noticing the small pin embedded in the woman’s neck. Katori manages to catch the bat, but another one knocks him away and transforms to a humanoid form. A whole swarm of bats follows and begins attacking all the town people. They collapse and get back up as purple skinned vampires. Elsewhere, Yoshiko can’t figure out what’s wrong with the girl and Tasuku still can’t believe that vampires exist. Yoshiko confirms what she saw and remembers that the girl was bitten in the neck, allowing her to finally find the needle. They relay the information to Katori who scans the needle on one of the town people attacking him. He reports to the others that it’s an electronic device, and Hiroshi announces that Draias is definitely behind this. Hiroshi tells Katori to rush to the nearby castle where the bats came from since the control device is probably there.

The controlled town people begin burning down the buildings and Hiroshi is unable to remove the needle from the unconscious girl for fear of damaging her nerves. Tasuku demands that Hiroshi not involve Haruka in the fight against Draias and Natsue spots something outside. Hiroshi nearly gets bitten by a vampire but Haruka quickly closes the window. They spot the controlled town people approaching the house. Katori knocks away another needle victim but a vampire grabs him. It tries to bite his neck but its fangs shatter. The rest barricade themselves inside the house but the unconscious girl finally wakes up as a vampire and busts down the door, allowing the rest of the town people in. Everyone rushes to an upstairs room but a vampire bursts through the window and lunges for Haruka. Tasuku intercepts him and gets bitten instead. Katori finally reaches the castle and finds Shura inside with the control device, which is part of a massive mechanical bat that bursts out. Katori summons the Fire Shuttle and combines into Granbird. He tries to attack Shura but the latter outmaneuvers him and knocks him down. Kenta blasts the vampire with his Flame Shot and everyone discovers that it’s one of Jango’s robots. Tasuku succumbs to the needle’s effects and starts strangling Haruka. Shura blasts Granbird and the latter distracts him the Breaster Jet’s missiles. Shura however emerges from the smoke and bites into Granbird. Hiroshi berates Tasuku for losing himself to the needle, distracting him long enough for Natsue to grab Haruka. Granbird rams Shura into the mountainside and destroys the control device with a rock spike. All the infected town people return to normal and collapse. Shura tries to retaliate with a barrage of fire but Granbird punches him and destroys the monster. The next day, Haruka says goodbye to her parents, having decided to stay with her grandfather. Hiroshi however says he’s leaving her here because he doesn’t need her to worry about him and starts bickering with Tasuku again.