With Chiram forces approaching, Captain wants to fight, but Shaya doesn’t. Olson decides to standby and wait for whatever Shaya’s decision is. Mome, Maaie and Lieea bake treats, and Olson searches the ship for Kei. He finds Kei with Mimsy and tells him that the Chiram are approaching. At the Chiram camp, a commander tells Roberto that his men won’t be joining the hunt for the singularities. Roberto objects, and the commander blames Roberto for his incompetence. Several soldiers block the commander, and Henry insists on going with a hand placed on his pistol. Henry asks the commander to give Roberto another chance, and he agrees to give Roberto one last opportunity. After launching, Roberto thanks Henry for what he did. Henry says that’s what he has to do as a subordinate, but he also wants to kill Olson for betraying the Chiram. Manisha calls Shaya and offers to hold off the Chiram, but Shaya wants to fight together. Manisha notes that the Glomar has the two singularities and says she doesn’t want to hear anything more of it. Captain wants to stay and fight, but Shaya shuts him up. Kei brings Olson some bread for them to eat before fighting. Manisha is informed that a second Chiram force has been detected in the area. Roberto spots the Emaan forces lying in wait and moves in to attack. Manisha orders her ships to ascend and attack the Chiram. The Emaan fleet destroys multiple Ishkicks, but more arrive and start destroying Emaan ships. Captain and Mimsy want to turn around and fight, but Shaya notes that it would be an insult to Manisha to turn back now. Kei takes off on his own in Orguss and heads to the battle.
Roberto tells his men to finish off the Emaan fleet, but Kei arrives and gets the attention of various Ishkicks. He bounces off canyon walls and uses missiles to destroy several of them. An Ishkick chases Kei, but it’s destroyed from behind by Olson’s Orguss II. Kei and Olson team up to destroy more Ishkicks, which gets Roberto’s attention. He orders Henry and his men to ignore the Emaan ship and focus on the singularities. Captain tells Shaya that the singularities are in danger, so she agrees to go back. Roberto’s Ishkick Command opens fire on Olson and gives chase. Olson flies away and tries in vain to ask Roberto to stop. Olson puts on the brakes to barely avoid crashing into a canyon wall, but Roberto isn’t as lucky and damages his mecha. He crashes into the ground and tells Olson to finish it and kill him. However, Olson lands and tells Roberto about the DK plan, which will kill everyone who isn’t Chiram. Roberto tells him to shut up and says he doesn’t care if only the Chiram are left. Kei lands nearby and comes under fire from Henry, who fires towing cables to pick up Roberto. Olson stops Kei from attacking and asks for another chance to convince Roberto. An angered Kei punches Olson’s Orguss II and says that letting Roberto go means he’ll kill more people. The Emaan fleet launches its Orguss II units, which confuses the Chiram pilots. Captain asks Maaie and Lieea to help him with firing on the enemy. Roberto asks Henry to find the Glomar and attack it to draw the attention of the Singularities. The Ishkicks open fire on the Glomar, so Maaie and Lieea try to lure them away in their M-Lovers. Mimsy asks Captain to fire, but he doesn’t want to waste bullets on small targets. Shaya tells him to forget that, so he opens fire and accidentally hits Lieea. Manisha tells Kei that he has to protect the Glomar, but Olson asks him not to go because it’s a trap laid by Roberto. Roberto’s forces hide in a forest and emerge behind Kei and Olson. Captain fires the cannon and damages Henry’s Ishkick Command, which is chased by Maaie and Lieea. Roberto comes to his aid and destroys Lieea’s M-Lover, forcing her to eject. Mome fires the cannon and hits Roberto’s Ishkick Command. Henry asks Roberto why he sacrificed himself, but his mecha explodes before he can answer. Henry then orders the Chiram to retreat. Later, Kei wonders why the job of saving Earth fell to two such mediocre men.
This is a pretty standard episode that’s notable only for the fact that Roberto finally was killed in battle. At the start, a Chiram commander decides to sideline him for his incompetence, but Henry and his other underlings basically commit mutiny to go into battle. It would be touching if Roberto was the kind of man whose actions garnered that kind of loyalty, but he isn’t. He’s just a generic loser villain who is obsessed with taking down his enemies because he’s such a bad pilot and can’t match their skills. I also struggle to comprehend why Olson tried to reach out to him. What would convincing Roberto accomplish? He’s not a high-ranking officer who can change things within the Chiram military. From the beginning, he’s been just a small-minded idiot obsessed with victory, and he’s never shown any empathy for non-Chiram people. I’m glad that he’s finally gone, and it’s fitting that he was killed not by Kei or Olson, but by a young robot girl.
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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