An alarm sounds on the King Beal as Kappei heads towards a gate and Ichitaro tries to stop him. Uchuta grabs a hold of Kappei, but he escapes and jumps into the chair which brings him to the Zambird. Once in the air, he transforms into the Zambo Ace, thinking this time he’ll be able to get through the Bandock‘s barrier. The Zambo Ace heads towards the Bandock and strikes the invisible barrier, knocking Kappei out. He later awakens in a bed on the King Beal with his family around him. Kappei’s parents tell him he needs to stop recklessly charging towards the Gaizock. Kappei grabs his clothes and runs off again. He is unable to get through a sealed gate however. Heizaemon questions if they should risk their life this time similar to Kappei. Meanwhile, Killer the Butcher is using an exercise belt while eating and is praised by Barettar. Barettar proposes turning it into a Mecha Boost which Killer likes. Later the Mecha Boost Vibron heads out. Meanwhile Heizaemon proposes that they attack the Bandock from below, hoping that the barrier isn’t guarding it from the buildings below it. Heizaemon proposes that he attack personally, without using the Zambot. Gengoroh says he should be the one to do it, but Heizaemon says he is old and they need to carry things on for the Jin family. The Vibron knocks over some buildings and sets the city aflame. Heizaemon tells Kappei he needs to head off on the Mecha Boost, but Kappei complains, saying he is trying to destroy the base. Heizaemon tells him his plan to use the Zambot as a lure so they can attack the base. Kappei is happy to hear this and rushes off to the Zambird cockpit along with Chiyonshiki. The Zambird takes off. The Zambase and Zambull follow and the three crafts combine into the Zambot 3. The Zambot kicks the Vibron and starts fighting it, trying to lure it away from the Bandock. On the King Beal, Heizaemon has gotten dressed, ready to head out, but finds that Gengoroh has done the same and is set on going, saying none of them will survive if they don’t destroy the enemy ship. The two head out onto the water on a small craft. The Zambot and Vibron continue to fight each other. Heizaemon and Gengoroh get off their craft and head through a subway tunnel, finding it relatively easy since they are being underestimated. They climb up a partially destroyed building. The Vibron grabs onto the Zambot and starts electrifying it with its belt-like tentacles. Hanae and Ichitaro wonder how things are going while Kappei’s grandmother prays. Now directly below the Bandock, Heizaemon points out what appears to be a structural weakness and Gengoroh fires a harpoon at it, enabling them to climb up a rope into the Bandock.
Now inside the Bandock, Heizaemon and Gengoroh burst a hole into the wall and head through, further into the ship. They are immediately detected and attacked by Gaizock soldiers though, which Gengoroh shoots at. Butcher is told of the intruders and demands that they not be allowed to escape alive. Various Gaizock head through the halls while Heizaemon and Gengoroh hide. Gengoroh contacts Kappei, telling him they will turn off the barrier such that he can attack the Bandock. Heizaemon and Gengoroh believe they are at the barrier control center and kill the guards. They are able to pull down a lever which deactivates the barrier. The Zambot flees from the Vibron and manages to get close to the Bandock. The barrier is then reactivated, keeping out the Vibron. The Zambot separates into its 3 parts. Kappei tells the others he is going to sneak inside and blasts a hole into the Bandock, heading inside. Kappei grabs a gun and says he is going to meet the Gaizock boss. He heads through the halls and finds Killer the Butcher, who says he is a servant of the great Gaizock, ruler of space. He says it is the will of the Gaizock to destroy Earth, just like they had done to Beal. Kappei fires at Butcher but his the ceiling; the resulting blast enables Butcher to get away. Kappei says he is going to destroy everything and gets back into the Zambo Ace, attacking things inside. Butcher yells at Barettar for allowing them to get into the base. A voice emanates, the Gaizock, telling Butcher to show himself. Butcher heads to another part of the ship and reports to the Lord Gaizock, who appears to be a large mechanical brain. Lord Gaizock says he should not forget his oath. 2000 years ago he was a barbarian chasing various planets and was granted immortality by the Gaizock to allow him to bring order to the universe. The Lord Gaizock tells him to not toy with the weapons he gave him or he’ll punish him with death, blasting him with an electronic ray. The Lord Gaizock disappears and Butcher exits the chamber. The Bandock shakes and starts falling apart. Butcher tells Barettar to follow the human’s tactics and have the Vibron attack their base. The Vibron heads towards the 1st Beal ship, which ascends from the water. Ichitaro asks Kappei to return to help them. Kappei is hesitant, but Uchuta and Keiko push to have them return. Gengoroh blasts at the barrier. The 3 crafts combine again into the Zambot. The 1st Beal ship fires missiles at the Vibron to fight it off, but it grabs at the ship with its belt like tentacles. The Zambot soon returns and kicks at the Vibron, then uses its Zambot Grap attack. The Vibron releases its hold on the ship and attacks the Zambot, which blocks its attacks. Meanwhile the Bandock lifts off just as Heizaemon and Gengoroh are getting out of the ship. The Bandock ascends, heading back towards space. Ichitaro tells Kappei the enemy base is retreating, but at that moment the Vibron attacks it again with its belt-like tentacles. Kappei wants to use the Moon Attack, but Keiko fears they’ll be caught up in the explosion. Kappei goes ahead with it anyway. This succeeds in blowing up the Vibron, and the Zambot is knocked to the ground by the blast. The Zambot tries to take off, but they realize is too late. Kappei says they’ve learned their lesson and yells at the Gaizock to never come back. Later, Heizaemon and Gengoroh return to the 1st Beal ship. Heizaemon tells Ichitaro about them encountering Killer the Butcher, and Gengoroh says there appears to be a true Gaizock controlling him that they need to find more about, as he is the true enemy.
A big improvement over the last episode. Granted, last episode was so bad that virtually anything would be an improvement, but this episode gives us some interesting revelations and moves along the plot, making it one of the best episodes of the series thus far. In particular, we realize there is an even larger villain behind the scenes ordering Killer the Butcher, the mysterious Lord Gaizock which seems to be a partly mechanical brain. We also hear a little bit of Killer the Butcher’s backstory. Seeing our heroes head into the Bandock was also interesting, although it was able to take off and head into space by the episode’s end. Kappei’s attitude as usual bugged me a bit during parts of this episode and we really didn’t need to have two separate elongated Zambot 3 combination sequences, but they don’t take away too much from this episode when you consider the good parts of it.
Director:
Yoshiyuki Tomino
Writer(s):
Fuyunori Gobu
Hiroyuki Hoshiyama
Soji Yoshikawa
Yoshihisa Araki
Katsuhiko Taguchi
Mechanical Designer(s):
Kunio Okawara
Ryoji Fujiwara
Character Designer:
Yoshikazu Yasuhiko
Musical Composer(s):
Takeo Watanabe
Yushi Matsuyama
Format:
23 episodes
Airdates:
Japan 10.08.1977 – 03.25.1978
MAHQ is now officially on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/mahqdotnet.bsky.social.
Our future on this cursed app is unclear, but expect more posts over there.
Cutaway diagram of the VF-1J Valkyrie Fighter Mode from “This is Animation Special: Macross Plus”(1995). Larger versions on my DA profile:
https://www.deviantart.com/marchly/art/Macross-VF-1J-Valkyrie-Cutaway-Diagram-detailed-973372931
https://www.deviantart.com/marchly/art/Macross-VF-1J-Valkyrie-Cutaway-Diagram-clean-973371729
Art by Kiyomi Tanaka. Original concept by unknown Macross fan. Image built by me
#Gundamn278; Next Episode! With our special guest, Sophia, we finally tackle the second half of the latest chapter of the #Gundam Franchise; #WitchFromMercury! Join us live on 07/20/2023 @ 10:15 p EDT! #MAHQ #Mecha #Anime #Podcast #G_Witch
Live Stream: https://youtube.com/live/fqw4pnuOYF4?feature=share
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