LayznerReviews

Layzner Ep. 34: Anna in the Crosshairs

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Summary

Anna reads from a book to a crowd gathered inside a dilapidated building in New York. The crowd reacts to the book’s message that hope remains, even in times of strife. At the Grados Tower, Le Cain imprisons Getty in a cell for losing the Dankova and allowing Eiji to escape. Getty begs for mercy, but Le Cain tells him he can prove himself by defeating his executors: Mangello and Borne. Getty tries to fight, but Borne holds him while Mangello slices at him with an ax. Giula brings Le Cain a report on Anna, who has become a symbol of the rebellion. Le Cain thinks she could be the second coming of Julia and blames Giula for having not eliminated her. Giula tries to defend himself by saying that Eiji protects her, but Le Cain wants to break that style of thinking so that people know Eiji can’t keep them safe. He orders Giula to find Anna and let the Demon Squad deal with her. At the new underground factory, Simone comments to Elizabeth that they’re creating military power when just three years ago she was sickened by the Cold War arms race. Elizabeth thinks it’s different because they’re working to free themselves from Gradosian authority. David runs by and speaks to Eiji about the Doll‘s computer systems. In New York, Giula’s men fly into a neighborhood on hovercraft and storm buildings to search for Anna. The El-Darr and Gashlan land nearby, and Matthew runs underground to warn Anna about what’s happening. He outlines how the Demons are tearing everything apart and killing people without restraint, so she has to leave. Giula’s men find the entrance to the underground area, and he threatens to put them all in forced labor gangs if they don’t talk about Anna. He threatens an old man who refuses to speak, so Mangello steps in to start torturing him. Giula threatens to shoot them for interfering with his job, so they pull back. With the old man seriously wounded, Giula decides to inject him with truth serum.

Giula reports to Le Cain that Anna is in an abandoned town called Northroad, which Rohan overhears. He also complains about the Demons and how they messed with his job. Eiji and David head for Northroad, but their truck gets a flat tire. Mangello and Borne fly to Northroad and spot the smoke from the chimney of the house where Anna is. A rebel reports the news to Simone, so she gets on a motorcycle and finds Eiji and David on the road. Gaw wakes up and growls when he hears Mangello and Borne sneaking around outside. Anna doesn’t see anything in the window, but Matthew hears a noise upstairs. They search the upper floors and are attacked by Mangello and Borne. Gaw keeps Borne occupied, and Simone smashes through the window in her bike. Simone drives up the stairs and slams the bike into Mangello. She then shoots at him, but he jumps around quickly and dodges. David and Eiji arrive, and Eiji uses his tonfas to fight Mangello. He knocks Mangello’s mask off and injures his face, which causes him to run away. Inside the house, David and Simone shoot Borne multiple times, and he falls out the window. Borne grabs Eiji in a choke hold, while Mangello gets into the Gashlan and opens fire on the house. Borne is angry at Mangello now, and Eiji jumps into Layzner when it arrives. Mangello jumps on Layzner’s back, so Eiji tries to shake him off. Borne gets into the El-Darr and opens fire on both Eiji and Mangello. Eiji jumps and breaks free, which allows him to use V-MAX and slam Mangello into Borne. Mangello’s drill smashes into the El-Darr, and he jumps back before it explodes. Eiji catches up to everyone on the road and lands Layzner.

Commentary

One of Le Cain’s main goals is to demoralize Earthlings to make them more submissive and accepting of the occupation. He wasn’t able to stop the rise of Julia’s influence, so he’s determined to prevent that from happening again with Anna. As of the end of this episode, three-fourths of the Demon Squad are dead, and all by their own hands. Mangello and Borne execute Getty at the start for his failures, and they join Giula’s search for Anna in the bloodiest way possible. This leads to them attacking Anna, an encounter that she barely survives. In a way, it’s comically amusing how bloodthirsty the Demons are and how they’ll turn on each other at the first opportunity. By attacking each other, they didn’t keep their focus on Eiji, which led to Borne’s death. Not that any of these deaths are really noticed since these guys are all one-dimensional psychopaths.

Overall Rating
3/5

Layzner Info

Director:
Ryosuke Takahashi

Writer(s):
Ryosuke Takahashi
Fuyunori Gobu
Yasushi Hirano
Tsunehisa Ito
Hiroyuki Hoshiyama
Endo Miego

Mechanical Designer:
Kunio Okawara

Character Designer:
Moriyasu Taniguchi

Musical Composer:
Hiroki Inui

Format:
38 episodes; 3 compilation OVAs

Airdates:
Japan 10.03.1985 – 06.26.1986

Format:
38 episodes (TV); 3 episodes (OVA)

Video Release (OVA):
Japan 08.21.1986 – 10.21.1986

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