OrgussReviews

Orguss Ep. 10: Barbarian

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Summary

Captain wakes up the entire crew in the middle of the night and causes a panic over an emergency meeting. Mome tells him he hasn’t adjusted to his new programming yet because this isn’t the army. Captain apologizes and leaves, allowing everyone to get back to sleep. The next morning, Kei finds Captain stretching on deck, and Jabby complains that he’s making too much noise. At breakfast, Goovu complains that he was never able to get back to sleep, so Maaie suggests that they disassemble Captain. Later, Mimsy beats Leeg at racquetball, so Maaie and Lieea take the next game. As Kei flirts with Mimsy, Leeg cautions Slay that if he doesn’t stand up for himself he’ll lose Mimsy. Slay asks Mimsy to join him on a drive, but when she tells him that Kei already asked her somewhere, he yells at Kei to stop stealing his girl. Kei says that each of them is free to choose their lovers, but Leeg cuts in and says their relationship is very important. Maaie and Lieea step in and tell Leeg he shouldn’t interfere. Maaie adds that Kei acts like Mimsy is the only girl around, so he asks if she’s jealous. Kei suggests a duel with Slay to solve their problem, but everyone thinks that’s barbaric. Kei says their problem can’t be solved by talking and tells Slay that if Mimsy is his girl, he should prove it by protecting her. On the ground, barbarians on horseback spot the Glomar and start chasing the ship. Shaya wonders if those are the barbarians they heard about in Warsaw and wants to send out Orguss, but Mimsy doesn’t think that’s necessary. The barbarians uselessly fire arrows at the ship’s hull, but their grappling hooks manage to connect and allow them to board the ship. Shaya has the ship pull up, but enough barbarians manage to board the ship. Maaie, Lieea and Kei open gun ports and start shooting at the barbarians with machine guns. Maaie hesitates to shoot a barbarian, so Kei steps in and kills him. However, the barbarian drops a grenade near the engine and causes serious damage. Kei yells at Maaie for hesitating, but she explains that she’s never had to shoot unarmed people. The Glomar is forced to land and is surrounded by the rest of the barbarians.

The barbarians pound the hull with axes and battering rams, and Shaya orders Captain to fight, but he says he has no weapons to fight people. Mimsy tells him to use Emaan weapons, but he says that doing so will cause him to lose his missile identity. Shaya orders the crew to take up arms and fight the barbarians. Kei mows down several barbarians and eventually runs out of ammo. He’s then surrounded by more barbarians and forced to run away. Mome mans a machine gun and shoots barbarians attempting to board the ship. Lieea runs out of ammo, forcing Maaie to make a kill. Several barbarians smash the control consoles of the M-Lovers and set Orguss on fire. Mimsy kills a barbarian and tells Slay to fight, but he does nothing. A barbarian grabs Mimsy, causing Slay to panic and drop his gun. Slay remembers Kei’s words and pulls out a saber to fight the barbarian, but he gets cut across his stomach. Mimsy picks up a mace and hits the barbarian over the head. Slay is placed on a stretcher, and Mimsy pleads with him to not die. Shaya asks about Slay’s condition, and Leeg reports that he’s not doing well. Outside, the barbarians continue their assault, and Shaya comes up with a plan. Kei sends Jabby out onto the deck, and the barbarians assume he’s a devil. When Jabby performs his fire-breathing trick, the barbarians panic and run away. Kei cracks a joke that Jabby doesn’t like and recovers by calling him a hero. The crew hoist a sail to help the ship fly again. Maaie is surprised the sail still works, but Shaya knew it would work. Maaie calls Paptee for a status report, and Leeg answers that it’ll take at least two to three days to repair the M-Lovers and Orguss. Shaya realizes it’ll be difficult, especially since the engine needs a complete overhaul. Kei asks Goovu about Slay’s condition, and Goovu explains that the injury wasn’t as bad as people assumed. Mimsy sits by Slay’s side in the infirmary, and Kei brings food for them. Slay wakes up and asks Kei if he’s come to scold him, but when Kei says he did a good job, Slay says he doesn’t want Kei to try and make him feel better. Slay passes out, and Kei puts a blanket over sleeping Mimsy.

Commentary

Given the intersection of all these different dimensions in this fractured Earth, it’s not surprising there’d be an area filled with barbarians. It’s somewhat amusing that even with their primitive weapons, they’re able to cause more damage to Orguss than the Chiram have, particularly losers like Roberto and Henry. The tension between Kei and Slay finally reaches a critical point, with Kei laying down the declaration that Slay should protect Mimsy. Given that the Emaan don’t have the same experience with hand-to-hand combat like Kei, it’s no surprise that Maaie hesitates to shoot or that Slay shrinks with fear when one of the barbarians grabs Mimsy. While he finally did stand up and try to fight, he managed to accomplish exactly nothing. At the very least, however, he’s got Mimsy’s attention focused on him for the short term, which for him is probably a victory.

Overall Rating
3/5
Orguss Info


Director:
Noboru Ishiguro

Writer(s):
Ken’ichi Matsuzaki
Hiroshi Ohnogi

Mechanical Designer:
Kazutaka Miyatake

Character Designer:
Haruhiko Mikomoto

Musical Composer:
Kentaroh Haneda

Format:
35 episodes

Airdates:
Japan 07.03.1983 – 04.08.1984
U.S. 06.11.2007 – 09.21.2007

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