Various crew members on the Iron Gear work on repairs and cleaning out their Walker Machines and cannons. Chill and Rag get in an argument after soot makes everyone a mess. Elchi approaches and says she still hasn’t approved Rag’s return to the Iron Gear. Jiron says three days have already passed and she’s proven herself, but Rag volunteers to go back in her caged bed. Returning to the bridge, Elchi wonders why she is so fixated on Rag and realizes she is acting just like Jiron did when he wanted revenge for his parents. She wonders if her interactions with Jiron have changed her. Kotsett continues repairs on the deck of the Iron Gear, talking to Jiron. Suddenly a nearby landship starts firing missiles at the Iron Gear. In her cell, Rag wonders if it is Horla attacking. Elchi on the other hand thinks it is Karas attacking them, which she is correct on. Karas on his landship wonders where his wife Greta is. One of his men says they attacked too early and he says to contact Greta and tell her to hurry up. Elchi orders the Iron Gear to get moving. Karas is frustrated as they can’t use their main cannon. Greta tells Karas she is approaching on the north side and will avenge his brother. Jiron gets in the Xabungle and asks Elchi to let Rag go. Rag has already left her cage and Elchi tells her to head out. Rag gets in the second Xabungle and brings ammunition to Jiron, continuing to reload him as he fires. An attack hits them from the front, led by Greta’s ship. Greta is sitting in a pool, naked, as the attack is launched. Not recognizing the Iron Gear, she orders her landships to flank it and thinks she shouldn’t let her guard down since they took out Gully. Greta puts on clothes, boots and earnings and heads to the bridge. Blume and Elchi are surprised at the scantily dressed woman leading the landships in front of them. Karas tells Greta that they’ll corner the Iron Gear in Mortar Valley and to drive them there. Elchi wants to put up a smoke screen while they head along the cliff through a narrow gorge. Greta laughs at them falling into her trap. Karas’ landship approaches Greta’s and Karas flies over via some rope, kissing her. Karas starts crying about Gully and she says she will avenge him. Karas returns to his landship. As the Iron Gear continues, Jiron heads out on recon, but Greta’s landship quickly approaches and starts firing. Jiron yells back at the Iron Gear about it. Using an Iron Arm claw, Greta’s landship grabs and starts crushing the Xabungle, but Jiron is able to blast it and jump back. Jiron tells Elchi to put up another smoke screen and they should prepare for hand to hand combat.
The Iron Gear continues to fall back as Greta’s landship pursues. Greta gets confused by the smoke trails, wondering if they have two landships. Greta contacts Karas about it and he too starts to wonder if they have split up into two groups as well. They start talking about the meal she will cook him after the battle. Jiron and Rag’s Xabungles continue through the gorge, causing the second smoke trail. Karas’s ship starts firing into the gorge and the Xabungles jump out of it and head back to the Iron Gear. The gorge around them widens into a large circular area. Jiron says that it’s a dead end and they should retreat. The Iron Gear turns around. Karas orders his men to fire a volley and launch the Walker Machines. Elchi asks Jiron if they can smash their way out of here. Jiron is doubting, but Rag wants to go ahead with it. The enemy forces quickly approach the Iron Gear, and Jiron is forced to fight off the Walker Machines. He gets scared upon seeing the wreckage of a Walker Machine with 2 skeletons in it. Jiron punches through another Walker Machine and causes its pilot to flee. Another Walker Machine attacks and is blown away by Rag. Some of the mechanics on the Iron Gear start panicking, as they pilot their own Walker Machines to help the Xabungles get resupplied. Jiron helps them out by blasting away the enemy. The mechanics are able to defeat one of the enemy Walker Machines after falling down from a cliff onto it and grabbing its pilot. Aboard the Iron Gear, the dancers help by firing off the cannons. Chill and Dyke head down to help. Elchi gets angry about how people are taking action without orders from her and feels alienated from everyone. Karas tells Greta to leave the enemy engine operating and continues to talk about the meal they’ll have after the battle. Greta’s landship starts launching exploding canisters towards the Iron Gear. Rag’s Xabungle runs up the cliff towards them; she is willing to die if necessary to make up for her past betrayal. Greta says she will get in her Walker Machine Promeus to finish off the Xabungle. Rag says she isn’t doing this for the Iron Gear, but for Jiron. Elchi yells at her, saying her microphone is still on. Jiron tells Elchi to transform the Iron Gear. Greta heads out on her Promeus and Rag quickly starts having trouble as the Xabungle won’t hover properly. Greta points her gun directly at the cockpit of the Xabungles and the two start getting into an argument over their age. Jiron shows up in his Xabungle to save Rag. Greta gets worried as the Iron Gear transforms into Walker Machine mode, having not been told about this ability. She fires at the Iron Gear, which easily crushes Greta’s Promeus. It then easily smashes through Greta’s landship as well. Karas starts sobbing, thinking Greta was killed and starts retreating as the Iron Gear chases it. Karas and his men are able to flee their landship as it crashes and blows up. Elchi tells Rag she won’t let her get away with this behavior. Greta gets out of the damaged cockpit of her Promeus and starts crying, over how she is dressed, saying she can never dress this way in front of her husband again. She wishes she could become a bird and fly away, imagining herself doing so. Karas continues to run with his men, thinking about the grudge he has against the Iron Gear now due to his brother and wife.
Virtually the entire episode this time is focused on the battle, resulting in an episode that flies by pretty quickly but doesn’t feel as fulfilling as it could. The most notable event of the episode is the introduction of Karas’s wife Greta. The relationship between these two older characters (looking to likely be in their 40s or 50s) gets quite a lot of focus, not something you’d expect in a mecha show that is primarily targeted at teenage boys. Poor Karas sees his landships and Walker Machines all destroyed, and although he and his men are able to make it out okay, he believes his wife to have been killed, which is bound to set him off even further than when his brother died last episode. Elchi’s anger at Rag continues to simmer and she realizes she is acting much like how Jiron used to act. Rag mistakenly expressing her desire to help only Jiron, not the Iron Gear to everyone is unlikely to help the relationship between the two though. The episode features a funny scene focusing on a few of the more minor Iron Gear crew members piloting a Walker Machine, including one of them proclaiming he’s not a main character. Fatman also gets a lot of abuse in this episode getting struck by either Elchi or Kotsett three separate times when he quietly sneaks up on them.
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
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