OrgussReviews

Orguss Ep. 24: Mu

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Summary

Leeg flies out of Budoru’s ship on a scooter and turns around. Kei blocks him as the ship crashes into a beach, and Leeg insists he has to rescue Budoru and the space-time device. Kei gives chase, but Leeg crashes into the sand as the ship explodes. Olson quickly transforms his Orguss II into tank mode and gets in front of Leeg to defend him. Kei tells Leeg that there’s no point in crying over it and picks him up with Orguss to fly back to the Glomar. Maaie and Lieea ask Kei about Leeg, and he expresses disapproval over the fleet leaving so quickly without having a funeral. Kei wonders aloud where Mome is, and Lieea and Maaie joke that Kei is in a bad mood. In a corridor, Captain argues with Mome and Jabby, insisting that he’s ok and doesn’t need to be examined. He passes out when Kei, Orson, Lieea and Maaie arrive and ask what he’s been doing. Jabby theorizes that Captain is an older type of Mu robot and isn’t as good at human interaction as Mome. Everyone then helps to pick up Captain and move him for maintenance. Mome checks him out and concludes that he’s overheated, so it will take time to fix him. Kei and the others return to the rec room, and Mimsy notes that Leeg has become discouraged and Shaya consumed with her thoughts. Kei asks if the space-time device can be rebuilt, but Leeg angrily tells him it’ll be difficult. Olson agrees and explains that the prototype of the space-time oscillation bomb wasn’t used as a weapon. It was originally intended to change time and space according to a human’s will. For example, someone who has lost a lover can return to a time when they were alive. Mimsy becomes angry at Kei and pinches him when he mentions Tina’s name. Leeg comments that his work is useless now that the Chiram have completed the D system. Shaya tells him not to be disheartened, but he notes that his machine could only stop transformations and is far behind the scope of the D system. Shaya asks what the point was of everything they’ve been through up to now, and Kei notes that he and Olson would’ve disappeared if the D system was fully functional. Shaya says it’s never too late if they give it everything they have, so Leeg apologizes and vows to get back to work. Shaya asks Mimsy to come with her so they can speak with Manisha. The two leave the ship on a Drifand Dee.

As Leeg gets back to work, Shaya and Mimsy reach the flagship. Shaya asks Manisha for command of the fleet, in return the ability to lead the Thoov family. Manisha accepts, but Mimsy starts arguing with her and accusing her of still holding a grudge against Shaya. Manisha comments that Shaya is better than she thought and should lead the family. She says that Shaya has to live on for that someday, but Shaya wants to travel with her friends as a trader. Mimsy notes that Kei will have something to say about this development, but Shaya tells her to stop talking about him all the time. Manisha wonders if Mimsy is pregnant, which embarrasses her. Elsewhere, a Mu robot reports to a collective that the Chiram super dimensional system has affected Emaan ships, but the destruction of the Emaan system has impacted the Chiram. The robot concludes that once the D system is complete, it will surpass their current system. It states that the system is too dangerous for organic life forms to control and should be operated by robots. Because of this, it believes the organics should be eliminated immediately. The collective believes that only the Mu are capable of repairing the planet, so they issue the robot new orders to ensure that the organics don’t use the D system. Back on the Glomar, Shaya breaks the news that she’s in charge of the fleet again. Olson asks Kei what’s wrong when he walks away, and Kei says that he feels distracted and angry again. He reveals that he felt relieved when the space-time device was destroyed, because he’s not sure if he can bear the responsibility of repairing the planet. If he could, he’d prefer to run away from that responsibility, and he thought maybe he could once the device was destroyed. He says he’s not as strong and calm as Olson, but Olson tells him that he felt the same way, which Kei finds reassuring. Mome and Captain run over to show off that he’s been repaired. Mome tells Kei that she got rid of Captain’s inconvenient memories and upgraded his power. Captain walks off and yells at Mome to come train with him. Olson comments that sometimes losing memories isn’t bad, but Kei says he intends to keep his memories. An Ishkick picks up the Emaan fleet and reports its location to a larger force, which emerges from the forest to attack.

Commentary

Although there are some plot developments here, this episode really gets dragged down by a lot of moping and whining. First, we see Leeg being uncharacteristically irrational in trying to go back to Budoru’s ship as it was exploding. Luckily, he’s saved by Olson, but he spends much of the rest of the episode moping about the futility of his work. We’ve also got Kei moping about his responsibilities again, which is getting tiresome and repetitive. I understand that the weight of repairing a broken world is a lot for two men to bear, but the show has Kei in a holding pattern where one episode he’ll affirm his resolve, only to back down from it in the next. On the plus side, Shaya steps up to take command of the Emaan fleet, while the Mu conclude that organic life forms should be destroyed so that they can repair the planet. In any other episode this would make for interesting developments, but again, it’s weighed down by bad character work.

Overall Rating
2.5/5
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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