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GaoGaiGar Ep. 18: A Promise Made in the Light

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Summary

After his last use of Hell and Heaven, Guy is once again rushed to the infirmary. Leo says that his body won’t survive another use of the technique. Taiga asks when the G-Tool will be complete, and Leo replies that while all the research is done, at present GaoGaiGar can’t handle the tool’s power. Taiga refuses to put Guy’s life at risk for it. Leo and Swan monitor Guy’s vitals, and an off duty Mikoto walks in to check up on him. Swan tells here that they’re done exchanging the parts and all he needs is rest. Leo thanks Mikoto for her concern and advises her to rest herself. Mikoto takes the elevator back up to the Space Development Corporation. A man in a magician suit walks into the lobby and the security guard recognizes him as Kouji Andou, one of the employers. Andou starts performing magic tricks and releases a flock of pigeons in the lobby that release some kind of powder into the air. Mamoru hangs out with his father at work to do interviews for school homework. On his way out he runs into Taiga, who offers to show him something interesting. Mikoto steps out of the restroom to find a crowd of employees formed around Andou. Eventually the powder spread by the pigeons lands on everyone and their eyes glaze over. Taiga shows Mamoru a slideshow of the corporation’s future project, an orbital space station, and explains how his father is an important part of its development. Suddenly the power goes out and the Bay Tower’s backup generator kicks in. Mamoru senses a Zonder. The corporation employees go crazy and start wrecking the equipment. Down in the 3G main order room, Hyuuma, Kazou and Entouji monitor the situation and call for an emergency meeting. Taiga can’t reach anyone from the conference room and Mamoru tells him that he senses multiple Zonders in the building. They run through the hallways past several crazed employees who try to grab them, including Taiga’s assistant Sakura. They find more employees in Taiga’s office, so he reaches for an iron from his golf bag and beats them aside before activating his desk elevator. On the way down, someone jumps at them from under the desk, and turns out to be Isamu.

Two days ago, Pizza appeared outside Andou’s apartment window and noted his love of magic before giving him a Zonder crystal. Isamu lunges again and Taiga knocks him out. Mamoru senses the Zonder on his father but notes the feeling is different than usual. Mikoto approaches Guy in the infirmary with mischief in her eyes. In the main order room, Entouji reports that the Z Sensor indicates that forty three percent of the Bay Tower is contaminated with ZO particles. Leo reports that he’s discovered Zonder nanomachines inside Isamu’s nervous system which the cause of his strange behavior. The reason Taiga and Mamoru weren’t affected was because the short wave frequency emitted by their 3G pagers blocked out the Zonder signals to the nanomachines, so a massive short wave broadcasted throughout the whole building should snap everyone back to normal. Mikoto starts sabotaging the infirmary equipment, causing Guy to yell in pain. His chest plate pops open and Mikoto’s pendant falls out of it. HyoRyu, EnRyu and Volfogg speed towards the Bay Tower to carry out the plan. Volfogg drives off HyoRyu and EnRyu’s cranes onto the side of the tower and reaches the top. He uses an antenna to broadcast the short wave and all the employees fall unconscious, with the nanomachines dropping out of their bodies. Andou blows a hole in the side of the tower and Pizza approaches him, saying he’ll give him more magic powers to play with GaoGaiGar. Andou becomes a swarm of nanomachines that combine to form EI-18. Mamoru powers up Guy’s G-Stone to speed up his recovery but begs him not to fight. Guy promises he’ll come back alive. Taiga can’t let Guy launch in his condition but Leo says the decision is up to Guy. Taiga begrudgingly tells Swan to take over Mikoto’s launch console. ChoRyuJin and Big Volfogg engage EI-18 but he blocks all their attacks with magic. He dissolves into nanomachines and throws them around until GaiGar arrives. Guy performs Final Fusion and the Dividing Driver is launched, but because of Guy’s less than perfect condition he fails to dock with the Driver. EI-18 attacks Guy and he retaliates with Broken Magnum, which passes harmlessly through a hole EI-18 forms in its chest. EI-18 dodges Guy’s Drill Knee and shocks him. Leo says that the only way to defeat the Zonder is to target the core directly. From afar, Pizza taunts GaoGaiGar and tells it to use Hell and Heaven. Left with no choice, Guy begins the attack. Mamoru senses something is wrong and yells out that the core is a fake, but it’s too late. Guy slams into EI-18 and grabs the core, which violently explodes in his hands. The unconscious Mikoto finally wakes and realizes what she’s done.

Commentary

In Japanese media, nanomachines and magic tend to be subjects that get huge liberties taken with. Combine that with Zonder metal’s morphing and energy conversion properties and you end up with one hell of a head scratcher… so I’m not gonna even bother. Moving on, we haven’t had such an intense cliffhanger in a long time. A fake core? Genius! I’m actually surprised they never reused this tactic again unless it can’t be done without a magically powered swarm of nanomachines (there I go again). It’s also nice to see that they didn’t throw the Z Sensor into the closet never to be seen again. In fact it’s been improved now since it can scan an entire building. Despite the mecha action being very brief, this is still a nice buildup to another dangerous situation that 3G must overcome. Though it seems the upcoming G-Tool should see to that.

Overall Rating
3.5/5

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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