IdeonReviews

Ideon Ep. 21: Sink the Enemy Battleship

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Summary

Crewmembers work on the outside of the Solo Ship as it heads through space, about to head into DS Drive. Cosmo and Hatari work on checking the Ideon gauge. The Solo Ship enters Null Space. Meanwhile the Dorowa Zan enters Null Space as well as it heads towards the Buff Clan home world. Harulu wonders the reaction she will receive when she returns to the Buff Clan home world. When Lou plays with a frog-like creature aboard the Solo Ship bridge, Sheryl screams at Lin to keep Lou away from the bridge. The Ideon gauge lights up and Hatari realizes that there is something nearby. Bes suddenly notices the Dorowa Zan, appearing and disappearing above the Solo Ship. The Dorowa Zan also notices the presence of the Solo Ship and launches an immediate attack. The Dorowa Zan crew has no explanation for why the two ships have suddenly rendezvous with each other. Harulu wonders if the Solo Ship is the cause. Cosmo and Deck get aboard the Sol-Amber. Sheryl thinks they should fight, but Bes and Hatari think they should be careful since the barrier isn’t working very well. Karala says they should stay and observe the Dorowa Zan. Harulu orders a Giran Dou to head out. The Ideon combines into its humanoid form aboard the deck of the Solo Ship and launches. Harulu and her assistant realize that it would be better for them to escape right now. The Ideon easily destroys the Giran Dou. Karala tells Bes she doesn’t mind if they sink the Dorowa Zan and kill her sister. The Ideon focuses its attack on the Dorowa Zan, but its Glenn Cannons are damaged. The Solo Ship and Dorowa Zan continue to fire at each other. Sheryl is puzzled about the strength of the Ideon gauge considering everyone’s will to fight is up right now. Bento has trouble with the Ideon’s engine. The Ideon suddenly separates into three and stops moving. Harulu’s assistant recommends she put on a spacesuit. She wants to launch a Zigg Mack but can’t because it s still undergoing repairs.

As the Dorowa Zan continues to fight the Solo Ship, a transmission comes through requesting Harulu cancel Null Space flight. Harulu agrees to contact them and are given a transmission about where to meet. The Solo Ship intersects the message and Joliver has Karala translate the message for them. Karala translates the coordinates where the Buff Clan is planning to meet up. The Dorowa Zan departs from Null Space. The three units of the Ideon land on the Solo Ship deck, and the Solo Ship also departs Null Space. The Dorowa Zan arrives at the coordinates that were discussed, but the Solo Ship DS outs and arrives directly underneath it seconds later. Hatari wants to escape, but Bes says they can’t since the Dorowa Zan will fire at them. Bes wants to stay put and orders everyone to prepare for hand to hand combat. Sheryl tells Lin and Lotta to put on spacesuits and arm themselves. Harulu orders her troops to prevent the Giant God from launching and sends out soldiers to attack the Solo Ship directly. A large number of soldiers head out from the Dorowa Zan and attack. Cosmo finds that the Ideon gauge is still unstable, but the Ideon is still able to dock. A number of Buff Clan soldiers board the Solo Ship but the Solo Ship’s crew are able to defend themselves. Lotta freaks out when she kills a Buff Clan soldier. The Ideon launches and Harulu orders them to run away, but it s too late as the Ideon manages to punch into the ship multiple times. The Dorowa Zan‘s crew calls out for the presence that called them earlier. Harulu thinks it was a man called Daram Zuba and wonders why he called her here just to get her killed. Soldiers notice smoke coming out of the Dorowa Zan and head back towards it. The Solo Ship takes advantage of this to start separating itself from the enemy. The Dorowa Zan blows up but Harulu escapes on the escape capsule. The Ideon is about to attack the escape capsule when it is attacked by a powerful purple Heavy Mobile Mecha, the Ganga Lubu. The Buff Clan forces are able to escape due to the attack. The Dorowa Zan‘s remaining forces meet up with the Ganga Lubu on a nearby asteroid. Daram gets out of the Ganga Lubu to meet with Harulu. Harulu thanks Daram for the help but gets mad when he says they hesitated in order to observe the enemy’s strength. Harulu wonders why Daram has so few forces with him. Daram allows Harulu to use one of his ships to return to the Buff Clan home world. While heading there Harulu finds Gije among Daram’s forces. Aboard the Solo Ship bridge Sheryl agrees with Cosmo’s assertion that they are being manipulated by the Ide.

Commentary

This episode is a good improvement after the mediocrity of the previous two episodes and is one of the better space battles of the series. The hand to hand combat in this episode was a nice change of pace compared to the usual mecha vs. mecha fighting we’ve seen throughout the series. The creators must have agreed with me as a large portion of this episode is retained in the compilation movie. The show starts heading in a new direction as Harulu returns to the Buff Clan home world and Daram Zuba shows up on the scene. It also looks like Gije has returned under Daram’s command. The one thing that makes little sense in this episode is when Lotta freaks out after killing a Buff Clan soldier when she was about to kill Karala back in episode 13. Luckily this segment is removed in the movie version.

Overall Rating
4/5

Ideon Info

Director(s):
Yoshiyuki Tomino
Toshifumi Takizawa (movie 2)

Writer(s):
Sukehiro Tomita
Ken’ichi Matsuzaki
Yuuji Watanabe
Hiroyasu Yamaura
Arata Koga

Mechanical Designer(s):
Submarine
Kunio Okawara

Character Designer:
Tomonori Kogawa

Musical Composer:
Koichi Sugiyama

Format:
39 episodes; 2 movies

Airdates:
Japan 05.08.1980 – 01.30.1981

Theatrical Release:
Japan 07.10.1982 – 08.10.1982

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