Verifer’s pilot is ordered to fire missiles at Liboh, but they’re destroyed or deflected. Lasers are fired next, but a shield appears and protects Liboh. Verifer continues to fire lasers and missiles, but they prove entirely ineffective. A Zafrin seeker dies, and Liboh appears in the air above Verifer. Perion opens fire with the finger lasers and laughs maniacally as he destroys Verifer. At the space elevator, Captain tells Lean that huge Armors were created on his world as final weapons, with Liboh being the most notorious among them. Only a few were made, and they used a system that linked the pilot to the machine to increase maneuverability. However, the machine would feed too much data back to the pilot’s brain, causing them to go mad and attack everything. As a result, all units were destroyed, so Lean wonders how one can still exist. Captain thinks it must be due to the shifting dimensions during the space-time collapse and explains that the Armors on this world come from the future. They are the weapons humans have yet to invent, so Lean wonders if there’s any point in trying to get rid of them. Captain counters that negativity creates nothing, so the future can only be changed through one’s will. Lean asks if the space-time oscillation bomb can be activated while Liboh exists, and Captain answers that it can’t. He then wonders how it interferes with Nataruma’s psychic wave, and Captain thinks she must have something in common with Liboh’s pilot. He says they both hate people deep in their minds, and nothing oscillates more easily than hate. Elsewhere, Toria and Shil stay with Manning’s ex-wife, and her young son Ryan starts hitting on Toria. Liboh appears in the skies above the Zafrin capital Alumasurah and kills its population with biochemical missiles. Perion proclaims that Alumasurah’s dead will make good fertilizer for the plants that will grow there. He debates which city to destroy next, but Manning tells him that he’s accomplished his objective. Perion asks if Manning doesn’t want more flower gardens, and Manning answers that the war has been won. Perion yells that it isn’t war and that all he loves is flower gardens.
Nataruma dreams of being a child outcast and the death of her mother. She was captured by the Zafrin military for the purpose of controlling Verifer, but her memory turns into a nightmare of skeletons drowning her in blood. A hand reaches out for her, and she wakes up and finds Lean. Nataruma sees a vision of the old Zafrin man from the wagon at the cemetery burying his granddaughter. Liboh appears above them and fires a biochemical weapon. Captain tells them that most of Zafrin’s major cities have been destroyed. Lean asks Captain if he can pilot Orguss 02, and when Captain notes that he can’t see, Nataruma offers to be his eyes. Captain feels they’d go no matter what he says, so he offers instructions when they take off. Perion flies over another town and decides to burn it to the ground with lasers. Captain advises that Orguss 02’s beam weapons won’t damage Liboh, so Lean has to use missiles. There are only six missiles, so Captain suggests aiming for the cockpit in the head. Captain can’t offer any further support and wishes them good luck. Lean fires two missiles at Liboh and misses the cockpit, but he severs the right arm. Nataruma tells Lean to wait because the arm crashes into the town and kills many civilians. Lean decides to move the fight to an unpopulated area and flees, with Liboh giving chase. Liboh catches up in the clouds and fires missiles, but Lean fires countermeasures to deflect them. He turns around and fires two more missiles, which Perion deflects. Perion opens fire again, and Manning tells him that they’re near the Rivilian city of Darlia. Perion keeps up his barrage and sees that Orguss 02 is moving through telekinesis, so Manning assumes that Lean and Nataruma are piloting it. Perion overhears Lean telling Nataruma that they have to get in from behind to fire their last missile. As they close in, Manning grabs Perion from behind and snaps his neck. Manning calls Lean on the radio, but he’s grabbed by Perion’s cables and has his arm broken. Lean rips open the cockpit and aims his rifle at Perion, but he gets grabbed by cables. Perion targets Nataruma with the cables, but she deflects them with her power. Manning helps Lean aim and shoot Perion in the head. As he dies, Perion launches all of Liboh’s bombs, which are enough to destroy the world. Nataruma signals Captain, who is able to activate the space-time oscillation bomb. He thanks them both and phases out of the world, along with the space elevator and all the Armors. Nataruma tells Lean she has to say goodbye because she doesn’t belong in this world. As she starts to phase out, she tells Lean she doesn’t want to leave this world and that she loves him. Orguss 02, Nataruma and Liboh vanish, causing Lean and Manning to fall to the ground. Toria runs over to help Lean, and Manning is greeted by his ex-wife and son. Later, the small countries annexed by Rivilia and Zafrin become independent, leaving Rivilia a small republic. Two years later, Lean has returned to Geran to run Zante’s repair shop. At the market, Toria runs into Manning, who is now a discount merchant with his new wife Katarina. Toria returns home and asks Lean why he hung Zante’s rifle on the wall, so he offers to explain over dinner. After the space-time restoration, Nataruma appears naked on the Emaan world and is found by two children. They ask where she came from, and she answers that she’s from very far away.
Orguss 02 wraps up in this final episode, which brings an end to Armors and the conflict between Zafrin and Rivilia. As expected, Perion is driven insane by Liboh and starts attacking everything, resulting in an untold number of deaths. The explanation of the feedback overloading the pilot’s mind is not unlike the Zero System seen later on in Gundam Wing, but the effect is obviously much more extreme here. Even after having his neck snapped, Perion isn’t dead and is able to use all these cables like some tentacle monster. It’s rather fitting that despite all his power, it just takes a bullet to the head from an old rifle to bring him down. Captain’s 200-year plan comes to a successful end, with the space-time oscillation bomb removing all Armors from this world, along with himself and Nataruma. We don’t see what happens to Captain, so I’m curious what the Mu world developed into over the last two centuries. Nataruma ends up on the Emaan world, and both Lean and Manning settle down into civilian life. While I enjoyed the relationship between Lean and Nataruma, it stretches credibility for her to fall so deeply in love with him in such a short time. While there were definitely several one-dimensional characters like Kerachi and Miran, the series has lots of fun with Manning, who is supremely self-centered with occasional bouts of altruism. Orguss 02 definitely works as a standalone title, but I think it functions best as a definitive conclusion to the original series. In that respect, it excels beyond its cousin Macross II. Whether you’ve seen Orguss or not, this OVA is worth the time.
Director:
Fumihiko Takayama
Writer(s):
Yuji Kishino
Hiroshi Yamaguchi
Mayori Sekijima
Mechanical Designer(s):
Kunihiro Abe
Takashi Hashimoto
Character Designer:
Toshihiro Kamamoto
Musical Composer:
Torsten Rasch
Format:
6 episodes
Video Release:
Japan 12.05.1993 – 04.25.1995
U.S. 09.30.2003
MAHQ is now officially on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/mahqdotnet.bsky.social.
Our future on this cursed app is unclear, but expect more posts over there.
Cutaway diagram of the VF-1J Valkyrie Fighter Mode from “This is Animation Special: Macross Plus”(1995). Larger versions on my DA profile:
https://www.deviantart.com/marchly/art/Macross-VF-1J-Valkyrie-Cutaway-Diagram-detailed-973372931
https://www.deviantart.com/marchly/art/Macross-VF-1J-Valkyrie-Cutaway-Diagram-clean-973371729
Art by Kiyomi Tanaka. Original concept by unknown Macross fan. Image built by me
#Gundamn278; Next Episode! With our special guest, Sophia, we finally tackle the second half of the latest chapter of the #Gundam Franchise; #WitchFromMercury! Join us live on 07/20/2023 @ 10:15 p EDT! #MAHQ #Mecha #Anime #Podcast #G_Witch
Live Stream: https://youtube.com/live/fqw4pnuOYF4?feature=share
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