L.GaimReviews

L.Gaim Ep. 36: Old Soldier

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Summary

At an old, worn out rebel city, a Lista battles a Bal-Bud piloted by Lily. Wassan wonders why Daba hasn’t shown up yet., but moments later Daba, Amu and Kyao show up. Lily, going along with a plan of Wassan’s, damages his Lista. Daba arrives and fights her. Wassan escapes from the wrecked Lista and shoots himself so he’ll be injured. Kyao lands and not knowing who he is, thinks he’s an injured rebel leader. The military’s forces quickly make an escape. The battle over, Daba tends to Wassan, who asks if he is Kamon Myroad. Wassan and a couple of his soldiers, also pretending to be rebels, thank Daba and bow before him. Later, Daba comes to see Wassan on the Turner. Wassan says his name is Zaba and he used to be of the Yaman Clan. Wassan tells Daba a story about how his city was destroyed and he had a son who was killed by the military and was around Daba’s age. Amu bandages him up and leaves the two fake rebels to stay with “Zaba.” Wassan is surprised at how easy it was to fool them. After they leave, Lilith asks Daba what he’s thinking. Daba tells Amu that he hopes the old man isn’t a bad person, but Amu is confused. Kyao tells Daba he let the rebels onto the Turner, but Daba is somewhat suspicious. Wassan and his soldiers have an easy time knocking out rebels and making it to the dock. Wassan plans to steal all the heavy metals. When he finds that the L.Gaim Mk-II won’t operate without the Viewy, he tells his underlings to blow it up. Semuj spots them and informs everyone that the old man isn’t really a rebel. The rebels attack the soldiers in the dock and the L.Gaim‘s arm is blown off. Daba fights Wassan with his beam saber. Wassan tells Daba he believes in Giwaza and that strength is required. Daba knocks away Wassan’s beam saber and says he thinks the story about his son was true, since it would be easier to fool people with a true story. Meanwhile on the Slender Skala, Lily and Gavlet are told the results of the battle. Lily laughs at going through all that effort for nothing and refuses to let more soldiers join the operation. She asks Gavlet if he thinks she is a bitch and he answers yes. Lily says she wants Poseidal’s head since she still looks like a girl. She wants to learn the secret of the “bio-relation” that she thinks is keeping Poseidal eternally young. Gavlet leaves, wondering why Giwaza’s underlings are so odd.

Semuj, Kyao and other rebels want to beat Wassan after what happened. Amu and Daba try to stop them. Wassan asks Daba what’s so different from him and Poseidal, and Daba says he wants to give the people freedom. Wassan thinks that will just lead to more war and says they are attacking Poseidal without even understanding her. Not wanting to live in shame, Wassan tries to kill himself, saying he wants to join his son, but Daba won’t let him. Wassan thinks of his son, Iza, and when he left. Soldiers arrive at the Slender Skala and tell Lily that the L.Gaim is damaged. Lily finally decides to go help Wassan, figuring the soldiers would steal the heavy metals to do it if they had to. She gets in her G.Roon and heads out. A soldier informs Gavlet of this while he’s in bed and he sees them heading out. A number of soldiers still left ask Gavlet to let them come along to save Wassan. Gavlet is surprised Wassan has people so loyal to him. Meanwhile, the rebels get ready to launch an attack. Kyao says the L.Gaim is still damaged and they shouldn’t use it, but Amu gets in anyway and heads out with Lilith accompanying her. Daba gets into the L.Gaim Mk-II and Kyao heads out in the D.Sserd. More rebels follow and the Turner takes off. Lily’s forces approach and she fires her buster launcher, which hits the ground near the place where Wassan is. Daba fights an Auge and tells Kyao to help out Amu. Lily thinks of how arrogant the L.Gaim is to come out with just one arm and she attacks, giving Amu a lot of trouble. Kyao tries to help, but Gavlet’s Bat-Shu interferes. Gavlet is upset at having a tough time with a D.Sserd. Lily continues fighting Amu and the L.Gaim is heavily damaged by her attack. The G.Roon attacks the cockpit and Amu is prepared to say goodbye. Luckily, Daba arrives to save the crashing L.Gaim. A soldier arrives to save Wassan, upset at how Lily isn’t cooperating very much. Semuj says to be concerned with the heavy metals, not him. The soldier saves Wassan and lets him use his Graia even though he is injured. Lily tells everyone to focus on the L.Gaim Mk-II, including Gavlet. Gavlet won’t listen, still having trouble with Kyao’s D.Sserd. Daba tells the Turner to make the proper calculations for him so he can fire the buster launcher. They have a tough time making the calculations, but Daba decides to fire anyway. The resulting blast destroys a number of the military’s heavy metals. Wassan pushes Lily’s G.Roon out of the way and his Graia is destroyed. The military’s remaining forces escape. Lilith wakes up Amu, who was knocked out. Daba tells everyone to prepare for their next attack.

Commentary

Wassan comes up with an interesting plan in this episode to fool the rebels and it succeeds for the most part, although he probably tried to steal the rebel’s heavy metals a tad too soon. It was interesting to get some info on his past, something we haven’t gotten all that much of from the villains in this series. Naturally, as always happens in a Tomino show, he ended up dead by the end of the episode, sacrificing his life to save Lily. It’s nice to see an honorable member of the Poseidal military, and unfortunate that he didn’t last longer. This episode is also notable in that it features the first mention of bio-relation, a mysterious power possessed by Poseidal that is keeping her eternally young. This mysterious power will become more important as the series approaches its climax.

Overall Rating
4/5

L.Gaim Info

Director:
Yoshiyuki Tomino

Writer(s):
Sukehiro Tomita
Hiroshi Ohnogi
Jiyu Watanabe
Asami Watanane

Mechanical Designer(s):
Mamoru Nagano
Hidetoshi Omori

Character Designer:
Mamoru Nagano

Musical Composer:
Kei Wakakusa

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

Airdates:
Japan 02.04.1984 – 02.23.1985
Streaming 02.17.2017

Video Release (OVA):
Japan 11.05.1986 – 03.28.1987

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