By As 3G struggles to maintain what little energy they have left, Hyuuma wonders how this happened. Liger deduces that when Pasdar crashed into Mikoto’s home, it planted a seed of a new Zonder species into her body. The seed slowly matured and became immune to the G-Stone, finally evolving into a new machine life form. Taiga assumes that the Zonuda’s goal is complete mechanization of Earth just as the base’s gravity generation system goes offline. Mamoru has no choice but to reveal his powers to everyone and flies down to assist Galeon. He tries to sense the Zonuda robo’s core and is surprised to discover that it’s Mikoto. Guy is completely unable to move his body and Entouji reports that they can’t perform Final Fusion. The dragon robots and Volfogg offer to have their AI’s installed into the Gao Machines so that they can perform Final Fusion themselves, since they can’t move their bodies either and their AI barely survived the Zonuda’s draining effect. With no other option left, Taiga relents and orders all their reserve energy to be placed into the Gao Machines for their final operation. 3G rigs the latches holding the remaining half of Amaterasu with explosives and use Mic to calculate the reentry angle before setting them off. Mic says he’s glad to have been able to help before he runs out of energy completely and shuts off. Hyuuma and Taiga say that they’ve done all they can and the rest is up to the Brave Robot Corps. Galeon and Mamoru charge the Zonuda robo and try to penetrate its powerful barrier. Sueo asks what’s going on and Hana reveals that Mamoru was an alien all along who was fighting the Zonders to protect them. Mamoru and Galeon get knocked back and Mamoru’s friends cheer him on. Mamoru spots Amaterasu descending and the Zonuda robo destroys it with an energy blast. However the Gao Machines and the Goldion Hammer manage to drop safely. Guy wastes no time in fusing with Galeon and performing Final Fusion with the help of the Brave Robot Corps. He demands that the Zonuda robo gives back Mikoto and fires a Broken Phantom but the latter assimilates the Phantom Ring and retaliates with another energy blast. Guy tries to block with Protect Wall but the blast is too strong and knocks him flat on his back. The Zonuda robo fires its arms at Guy as he is grabbing the Goldion Hammer, wrecking his space booster and forcing Volfogg to disconnect the damaged parts before the assimilation spreads to the rest of GaoGaiGar. Guy tries to use the Goldion Hammer but the Zonuda robo easily blocks it and begins assimilating the hammer. GoldyMarg disconnects his head from his handle to save Guy and gets tossed aside. Guy uses Plasma Hold to restrain the Zonuda robo and attacks with Drill Knee but the latter’s barrier is too strong. The Zonuda robo breaks free and knocks Guy to the ground.
Mamoru and the Brave Robot Corps wonder if all this is happening because mankind made a lot of mistakes, and that perhaps they are the ones being purified. Guy however says that he believes in mankind and will fight to the end for the sake of life. He prepares to use Hell and Heaven asks the Brave Robot Corps to put their lives in his hands. The attack slams into the Zonuda robo’s barrier and causes a huge explosion. Mamoru tries to shield Guy but gets overwhelmed and blown away. Amidst everyone’s shock, Mikoto screams out in anguish and causes the barrier to weaken. With GaoGaiGar literally on the verge of falling apart, Guy summons one last burst of strength and brutally tears the Zonuda robo limb from limb before ripping out its core. The Zonuda robo perishes in an enormous explosion which wrecks nearly everything around it. The core regenerates back into its human form instantly and begins assimilating GaoGaiGar. Guy approaches the Zonuda carrying the unconscious Mamoru, and Mikoto begs him to kill her. Guy tells her that they will die together. As his body is being assimilated, he apologizes for failing to protect the one person he cares about the most. He tells Mikoto that he loves her and uses Mamoru’s pendant to purify them. A huge pillar of light erupts an illuminates the entire area. Hana gets up and looks down to see Mikoto restored to a normal human body, as well as Guy! Guy says that this body is a gift from God as a reward for their victory, and tells Mikoto that he will never let her go. Kanayago ascends and 3G confirms the destruction of the Zonuda robo. They release the Carpenters, hundreds of little robots capable of doing fast repairs, to begin reconstructing Tokyo as well as the severely damaged GaoGaiGar. Later, Mamoru tells his parents that he must leave Earth to try and prevent any new Zonder species from appearing again. His parents tearfully tell him to do what he must and remind him that their house will always be his home. As 3G sees Mamoru and Galeon off, Guy regrets that he can’t go with him, but Mamoru tells him that Mikoto would be angry if he did. Guy promises to use his new powers properly, and Mamoru tells him that maintaining peace on Earth is up to him now. 3G reminds Mamoru that he is their comrade and to contact them if he ever needs help. Mamoru’s friends show up with Hana in a wedding dress, and Mamoru gives Hana a kiss to her forehead. Galeon and Mamoru take off into space, where the Brave Robot Corps and the Orbit Base staff wave goodbye to them.
And finally the GaoGaiGar TV show ends. I had almost forgotten about Plasma Hold completely since this is the first time it’s been used since way back in episode two. If there’s one thing I love about Guy, it’s that he knows when something needs a careful approach or a hearty pummeling. Most other protagonists placed in the same situation would have spent half the episode worrying about hurting Mikoto before some magical solution presented itself. Not Guy though, and for his troubles gets a spankin’ new human body. Much to his parent’s grief, Mamoru decides that he can’t be sitting around when more Zonder surprises could suddenly pop up all over the galaxy, and gets one hell of a tearjerker send off by his friends and family. As a Brave show, it would have been easy for Sunrise to pad out the initial Zonder invasion plot for the entirety of the 49 episodes, but instead director Yoshitomo Yonetani went above and beyond the call of duty and gave us two major enemy factions and a last minute surprise. While the Zonder part suffered a bit from the usual super robot clichés, the Primeval part more than made up for it by keeping things fresh and exciting. Of course, the story of the King of Braves isn’t completely over since there’s still the Final OVA. So I’ll be seeing you in the sea of stars!
Comments