ReviewsXabungle

Xabungle Ep. 21: Falling in Love, Being Loved Back

0
Summary

Kid Horla talks to Karas Karas, aboard his landship. Horla tells him he can take over Elchi’s bazaar and trade route. Karas seems more focused on his own, which he handles with his wife and younger brother. Horla departs with Akon, asking him about Rag. Akon denies that he’s in love with her, but says she will be of use to them. He flashes back to telling Rag that he’ll someday overthrow Horla and deal directly with the Innocent. Meanwhile, Jiron, Blume and Chill sneak their way towards the Buffalo, with Jiron outrunning Blume. Blume wonders if Rag fell in love and Chill asks if she is permanently leaving them. Jiron and Blume head closer in. Aboard the Buffalo, Rag cooks some food. Jiron and Blume sneak up to the window and she sees them. She tells them she likes it here and got sick with hanging out with them. Jiron ask if she got possessed by a crazy animal and she shuts the window and leaves. Jiron and Blume pinch each other to confirm this is real. They knock out a man and flee. Returning to where Chill is, they continue to watch the Buffalo, and are soon spotted by Akon in his Walker Machine, resulting in them fleeing on their Hovergys. Jiron falls off the top of the Hovergy and is dragged along. Akon is welcomed back by Rag, who tells him those he spotted were her old comrades. She tells him she turned them away and of his ambition. Akon asks if she betrayed her colleagues on the Iron Gear and she says she was never really a crew member. Akon gets excited, saying he won’t stop until he becomes the world’s top breaker. On the Iron Gear, Elchi laughs upon hearing about Rag, and then gets angry since she was feeding her while on the Iron Gear. Kotsett jokes around with Blume and Elchi tells him he can’t rest as she wants to get to Karas’ bazaar by tomorrow. Elchi gets mad at people doing whatever they want and makes excuses when Dyke tells her she did something similar herself. Meanwhile Horla approaches the Buffalo in his Walker Machine and wakes up Akon. He tells Akon tonight is their opportunity to attack the Iron Gear, seize a Xabungle then use it to attack Karas. Horla wants to use Rag to steal the Xabungle. Rag says she’ll do it for Akon’s sake. On the Iron Gear, Fatman dresses in an old military outfit and struggles to take it off when someone approaches his room. Suddenly an explosion rocks the Iron Gear. The crew gets up to see one of the Xabungles driving off. Elchi quickly realizes it was Rag.

Jiron and the others realize that the other Xabungle’s cockpit was trashed by Rag. Blume and Chill head out on a Hovergy while Jiron, Dyke and Kotsett work on fixing the Xabungle, hoping Horla will not attack. Akon and Rag continue driving away on the Xabungle. Rag tells Akon he may be to topple Horla now that he has the Xabungle. She tells him how to transform it into its humanoid mode and goes back to untie the rifle. Akon transforms the Xabungle into its humanoid form. As it approaches the Buffalo, Akon’s men initially fire upon him until they realize it is him. His men tell him the plan is still on schedule and he should attack Karas. Rag kisses Akon, who is going to head out and attack on his own. The breakers fire a net that captures Blume and Chill. They are brought in front of Horla and Geraba and reveal they know that Rag and Akon stole a Xabungle. Horla claims he is fighting fair and will punish Akon. The stolen Xabungle attacks Karas’s landship Greta and bazaar and Karas wonders why Elchi is attacking him. Akon attacks the hatch of the ship to prevent Walker Machines coming out. Horla approaches in his landship and starts firing at Akon and his men. Horla wants to take out Akon now that he has played his part in making Karas think the Iron Gear is the enemy. Blume knocks out their captor and he and Chill run through the ship, knocking out another pursuer. In the Buffalo, Rag sits in her room, thinking about how Jiron and the others don’t really care for her and that she should put her faith in Akon. Chill flies a Hovergy towards the Buffalo, telling them that Akon is being attacked. Chill starts yelling at Rag and she lies to her about spying on the enemy. Horla tells his men to finish things, defeating another one of Akon’s fellow Walker Machines. Rag approaches in a Hovergy and fires upon the Walker Machine attacking him. Rag is knocked off her Hovergy by an attack. An enemy Walker Machine grabs the Xabungle and another fires upon it, but Akon grabs the enemy Walker Machine and fires upon the enemy. Another Walker Machine approaches from behind and punches the cockpit off, causing it to crash to the ground, killing Akon. Jiron approaches in his Xabungle and fires upon the enemy. Seeing the Iron Gear arrive, Karas comments on Elchi being like her father and has them retreat. Horla also tells his men to retreat. Jiron fires upon the remaining Walker Machines and Horla’s landship departs. Rag thinks everyone has forgotten about her and runs off in anger. Jiron walks around the remains of the battlefield and calls out to Rag, as he approaches the second, empty Xabungle. A sad Rag falls to the ground.

Commentary

Although a tad predictable in that Akon was going to die, this episode is a slight improvement upon the previous one. Horla’s scheme to get Akon and Rag to steal a Xabungle and attack another trader was a clever one, although he turned on Akon a bit too quickly. I expected Rag to return to the Iron Gear by episode’s end, but she does not, which I am happy to see as this will at least lead to something a little different than when Elchi left the Iron Gear. Multiple gags in this episode including Jiron and Blume racing on their hands and knees and Fatman wearing an old military uniform appear to be there to simply drag things out and go on a bit too long. On the bright side, this episode features the strongest character animation we’ve had in a while.

Overall Rating
3/5

Xabungle Info

Director:
Yoshiyuki Tomino

Writer(s):
Tsunehisa Ito
Fuyunori Gobu
Soji Yoshikawa
Yoshihisa Araki

Mechanical Designer(s):
Kunio Okawara
Yutaka Izubuchi
Tomonori Kogawa
Yoshiaki Akutagawa
Yoshiyuki Tomino

Character Designer:
Tomonori Kogawa

Musical Composer:
Koji Makaino

Format:
50 episodes; 1 compilation movie

Airdates:
Japan 02.06.1982 – 01.29.1983

Theatrical Release:
Japan 07.09.1983

Comments

Comments are closed.