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Fighbird Ep. 6: Bullet Train Crash!

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Summary

Kenta teaches Katori how to ride a bike, which he picks up quickly but ends up slamming into a tree while trying to show off. Hiroshi meanwhile is waiting for an invitation to the World Science Council to arrive in the mail. When it doesn’t, he decides to show up anyway to warn the world about the increase in minus energy. He decides to take the linear motorcar to the council and everyone tags along. In Jango’s lair, Jango tries to convince Draias to attack the Science Council. Draias thinks that Jango has a grudge against them, but the latter retorts that with the world’s top scientists gone it will make world conquest easier for them. Jango then explains that they’ll accomplish their task by attacking the nuclear power plant situated in the city where the council is held. On the way to the council, Hiroshi keeps going to the bathroom due to his nervousness and Kenta tells Katori that they’re riding the fastest train on Earth. At the conference building, Satsuda inspects the stationed police troops and warns that Draias might attack, however everybody thinks he’s overreacting. Zol and the Teshitas bust into the nearby train control station. On the train, Hiroshi’s remote minus energy detector goes off. The train operators prepare to stop at the upcoming station but discover that the controls aren’t responding. The train speeds past the station and the control room operators realize that Zol is going to crash it into the terminal. Hiroshi grabs a conductor and demands to know what’s going on. The conductor reluctantly informs him that the train is out of control. The passengers panic but Hiroshi tells them that he’ll take care of it and marches with Katori to the operator room. The operators however refuse to let him in. Katori overhears them saying that they can’t contact the control room and the train keeps gaining speed. Hiroshi then realizes that the train is going to crash into the nuclear plant and set off an explosion that’ll destroy the whole city. Katori quickly informs the Baron team of the situation and tells them to launch. Guard Star receives the transmission and says that he’ll evacuate the conference building. He fakes a police dispatch call to Satsuda and informs him about the runaway train. Kenta and Haruka are relieved but Hiroshi says that even if Ace Baron arrives he can’t stop the train easily without slowing it down. Their only hope is to gain access to the control station, and Katori volunteers to do it.

Katori jumps off the train and borrows a bike from a nearby woman. Pedaling with incredible speed, he catches up with the train then ramps off a car into the just arriving Fire Jet. Katori speeds off to the conference center and tells the Baron team to handle the rest. Satsuda tries to get the Science Council cancelled but the police chief retorts that headquarters did not issue any warning about the train. Everyone thinks someone played a prank on Satsuda, but the latter picks up the phone and orders the building to be evacuated regardless. Katori arrives at the control station and disposes of the Teshitas guarding the entrance. The Baron team in jet mode attaches cables to the train cars and Kenta reminds them not to cause an abrupt stop. Katori takes out more Teshitas and gets attacked by Zol. The operators tell Katori to hit the emergency stop switch but Zol throws the former aside and smashes it. He turns his attention back to Katori but the latter leaps over him and runs out of the room. The scientists evacuate the building in a panic and Satsuda directs them to the other end of the station. The Baron team attaches the final set of cables to the train but are now seconds away from hitting the terminal. Katori combines into Fighbird and rides on top of the Baron team. With no choice left, he uses his arm cannons to blast a way for the train through the terminal. The Baron team manages to lift the train safely but they’re immediately attacked by Zol in a giant spinning top monster. Guard Star transforms to robot mode and starts firing at the monster. Fighbird joins in with his arm and shoulder cannons but their shots are deflected by the monster’s centrifugal force. Fighbird then pulls out his Flame Sword and slices the monster’s axis point to stop it from spinning. The Baron team sets down the train safely, but Zol lifts up using the monster’s internal rockets. He restrains Fighbird with a tether and knocks away Guard Star. The Baron team quickly combines into Thunder Baron, who uses his Thunder Cannon to free Fighbird. Fighbird then proceeds to finish the monster off. Afterwards, Hiroshi complains that the conference got cancelled and everyone wonders how they’ll get home. Katori points to a nearby bike and suggest they use that. However, before they can tell him that he’s practically stealing the bike, Satsuda spots the group, forcing everyone to run and Satsuda to yell after them.

Commentary

This episode gives us the classic runaway train scenario and displays more of the Space Police’s impressive teamwork and Jango’s extreme hatred towards his fellow humans. Satsuda’s paranoid nature also worked in his benefit this time as his order to evacuate the building saved a lot of lives. I only wish we saw the look on the police chief’s face when Satsuda turned out to be right all along. One lingering mystery that’s been bugging me for a while is how Katori changes back to his human form. You can clearly see that he burns off his clothes and artificial skin when he combines with the Fire Jet but after the fight is over he’s not only back in his normal clothes but his lab coat and glasses as well. One theory would be that he stores spare clothing and skin paste in the Fire Jet but the show never explicitly states that. In the end of course it’s one of those things you try not to think about too hard.

Overall Rating
4/5

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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