Guy is rushed to the infirmary. The effects of the last battle took a severe toll on his body due to the immense energy released by Hell and Heaven. Elsewhere, a man cramming for an entrance exam to Tokyo University struggles to remain calm just as Polonaise appears from his closet. A club recruitment event at a local university is cut short when an artillery shell reduces the entire campus to a crater. This repeats for five days straights for several universities and the 3G staff note that the bombings all occur at the same time everyday. Hyuuma thinks it might be a meteor, and Leo says he may be right. Based on the data, Leo surmises that a large cannon is firing the shells at supersonic speeds. Entouji calculates the size of the shell to be around 80cm, and Kazou reveals there’s only one weapon that uses ordinance that large: The German train cannon Gustav, which was found after the second World War and modified for use on Japan’s railways. Since a head on approach is impossible, they decide for now to dissipate the explosions with the Eraser Head. Taiga orders 3G to deploy to Hongo, deducing that the next target will be Tokyo University. At Shin Yasuda Academy, Mamoru and his friends are attending a ballet performance by Hana, who’s beside herself with stage fright. At noon, the tracking satellite picks up the shell and HyoRyu and EnRyu immediately deploy. They combine into ChoRyuJin and fire a large Eraser Head at the incoming shell, dissipating it skywards. The victory however is short lived as another shell is detected. Kazou can’t believe it because the Gustav normally requires ten minutes to reload but Leo says that its Zonder abilities render those limitations moot. Left with no choice, ChoRyuJin uses his cranes to extend his Mirror Shield and try to block the shell directly. The explosion melts the shield and all contact is lost with ChoRyuJin. Hana’s performance ends without a hitch just seconds before the entire theatre feels the shock of the explosion. EI-16 retreats into a tunnel, but not before being spotted by Volfogg.
The Amphibious Armored Maintenance Vehicle speeds towards the explosion site where they find HyoRyu and EnRyu severely damaged but alive, having managed to separate just before the explosion hit. Back at 3G, Volfogg reports in with the location of EI-16. Kazou complains that they still can’t approach it head on but Guy jumps in and says he has an idea. Leo asks if he’s alright and Guy replies that he can’t be lying down when HyoRyu and EnRyu are putting their lives on the line. Guy has the 3G Mobile Corps approach the target location from different angles to distract EI-16. Just as it comes out of its tunnel, Guy performs Final Fusion and jumps behind it. However it constrains his legs with the train tracks and morphs its shape so that the cannon is now facing him. Guy tells Kazou to launch the Dividing Driver towards him, and he catches it just in time to cause a dimensional split in front of the shell. The distortion begins absorbing the shell’s kinetic energy and EI-16 prepares to fire the second shell. Guy slams the driver into the first shell and destroys it at the cost of GaoGaiGar‘s left arm, then fires a Broken Magnum into EI-16’s barrel. With both arms lost, Guy is powerless to stop the explosion from the second shell or retrieve the Zonder core. Luckily, Guy manages to survive the explosion and discovers that Big Volfogg protected the core with his Mirror Coating. Mamoru purifies the core and cries tears of happiness for Guy’s miraculous survival.
If you thought they couldn’t top the last episode, think again. The Zonders are becoming more dangerous and the stakes are higher. 3G is lucky the Machine Kings never thought to Zonderize an entire cram school, because what could be more powerful than energy generated by dozens of stressed students desperate to get into college. On the other hand, GaoGaiGar’s happy go lucky world might be stretching its limits here. I’m no explosion expert, but I can’t imagine the level of casualties resulting from enough force to level entire buildings to be anything short of catastrophic. Not only are the potential deaths not mentioned at all, there isn’t even any hand waving like saying the buildings were empty or something. Thankfully the issue didn’t stick out too badly because the episode was fast paced and we also got a quick cameo of the pizza delivery girl from episode nine.
GaoGaiGar Info
Director:
Yoshitomo Yonetani
Writer(s):
Yoshitomo Yonetani
Ryosuke Takahashi
Fuyunori Gobu
Yuichiro Takeda
Mechanical Designer(s):
Kunio Okawara
Takahiro Yamada
Takehiro Kirao
Character Designer:
Takahiro Kimura
Musical Composer:
Kouhei Tanaka
Format:
49 episodes
Airdates:
Japan 02.01.1997 – 01.31.1998
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