ReviewsZambot 3

Zambot 3 Ep. 6: The Day My Father Returned

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Summary

Various ships head over the ocean towards the mainland. One of the men is looking forward to seeing his wife but is told by the captain, Kappei’s father, Gengoroh Jin, that things have changed there. Gengoroh receives a telegram from the King Beal. On the King Beal, Hanae receives a message that Gengoroh will be heading to the Yaezu port, to enable the crew to return to their families. Kappei is happy to hear that they heard from his father. He jumps into the chair and heads down to the Zambird. Chiyonshiki follows him. Kappei wants to surprise his father with the Zambird and takes off. Suddenly an SOS is received by the ship from the number 4 Ryujin Maru ship. However the ships are unable to receive the signal due to interference. Heizaemon says to contact Kappei and send out the other two crafts. Gengoroh watches as the Ryujin Maru ship sinks due to a Mecha Boost. The number 5 Ryujin Maru ship is attacked and destroyed shortly afterwards. Gengoroh tells his crew to abandon ship. He jumps off just as the Mecha Boost launches its attack and destroys the ship with its tentacles. Killer the Butcher watches, happy with the performance of the Elegin Mecha Boost. Ichitaro reaches Kappei and tells him about the Mecha Boost attacking his father’s ships. Kappei approaches and sees the Elegin rise out of the water. The Elegin launches a spinning blade at the Zambird, which is able to knock it away and destroy it. The Elegin launches another attack and Ichitaro tells Kappei to use the Tremble Horn attack so it won’t be able to hit him. Kappei activates the tremble horn, which causes a wave of energy to hit the Elegin and scare it off. Kappei tells Ichitaro that he wasn’t able to finish it off though, which Ichitaro thinks is due to the low energy. Kappei heads towards the ships, finding their remains and supplies floating in the water. Kappei looks around for his father floating nearby on a piece of driftwood with 2 other people. Kappei uses the Ace change to turn into the Zambo Ace. Gengoroh realizes this is Kappei. He gets into the Zambo Ace’s hands and encourages his colleagues to follow. Kappei tells him he wasn’t able to find anyone else. The Zambo Ace flies off. Gengoroh’s crew members think this is the robot that destroyed their ship. Heizaemon tells Kappei the Elegin is moving. Kappei sees it nearby. Heizaemon tells the Zambase and Zambull to head after it while Kappei returns to the King Beal to drop them off. Uchuta launches an attack on the Elegin from the land. Keiko helps him out when it shoots a spinning razor at him. The Zambo Ace heads to land where various people start yelling at it. Kappei lands and drops off the men. The crowd is angry at Gengoroh and his family. Gengoroh tries to explain but the mob won’t listen and attacks him. Kappei is struck with a stick and knocked over while Gengoroh is tied up. Kouzuki arrives on his motorcycle. Kappei thinks he tricked people into feeling this way, but Kouzuki says it wasn’t him. He kicks Kappei in the head. One of the men tells Kappei to return to the ship and tell them that if they agree to leave, they’ll return his father. Kouzuki wants him to use his motorcycle, and Kappei initially refuses, saying the King Beal is in the ocean and too far away, but agrees when his father tells him to go along with it. A nearby mountain bursts open and rocks head everywhere. Kappei uses the confusion to get in the Zambo Ace. The Elegin rises from the mountain, revealing its full body for the first time.

Kappei takes off in the Zambo Ace and asks Keiko to send him the Zambo Magnum, which she does. The Elegin climbs onto land and starts chasing people, then sprays them with poison from its tentacles. Kappei sets up his gun and fires at the tentacles, blowing them apart. The Elegin tosses two additional razors at the Zambo Ace, which it initially avoids, but they soon return and strike it in the back. Kappei wants to use the grenade launcher but Uchuta tells him he found the Elegin’s weak spot, behind its wings. Kappei aims at them and fires with his grenade launcher, which simply causes the Elegin to counterattack. Meanwhile Kouzuki is dragging around Gengoroh with a rope. Gengoroh tells him he is being foolish and is misunderstanding things. He says he believes that they will eventually believe him and that if he dies while tied up like this Kouzuki will regret it the rest of his life as he’s not that type of person. Kouzuki tells Gengoroh he was separated from his family and unties him. The Elegin continues on, spraying more people with its tentacles. The Zambull fires at it and Uchuta asks Kappei about his father. Kappei tells him the wings weren’t its weak spot. Uchuta asks Keiko to help so Kappei can get away and look for his father. Kouzuki gets trapped under a fallen telephone pole. Kappei arrives in the Zambo Ace and asks his father to get in and that he can’t transform into the Zambot until he rescues him. Gengoroh tells him to wait and goes to help Kouzuki. Kappei wants to leave him, but his father tells him to lend him a hand. Kappei does so with the Zambo Ace just as the Elegin attacks him. Kappei tells Uchuta and Keiko to cover him. They fire at the Elegin’s face, giving Gengoroh a chance to get in the Zambo Ace’s foot. Kouzuki refuses Gengoroh’s pleas to join them and walks off. The Zambo Ace, Zambase and Zambull combine into the Zambot 3. The Zambot avoids some missiles launched at it and swings at the Elegin with its sais. The Elegin continues to swing at it and Kappei forms the Zambo Cutter which it is able to stab into the Elegin’s face. The Elegin launches a number of spikes into the Zambot. Heizaemon tells Kappei that there are two components on its tail and they should try to attack it in two places at once. The Zambot fends off an initial attack by the Elegin but it is then struck by waves from the Elegin. Kappei wants to do the moon attack but Keiko says it won’t work since it can only attack one target. Gengoroh thinks they can use the Buster and tells Kappei to try to escape and then use that as an attack. Doing so, the Zambot is able to attack the Elegin in two places at once, stunning it. Kappei then launches the moon attack, destroying the Elegin. Killer the Butcher watches and chuckles, thinking of the new Mecha Boosts he’ll be creating. Later on the King Beal, Kappei tells his father Kouzuki is ignorant and Gengoroh slaps him, saying Kappei doesn’t understand what position the family is in. He says the people don’t understand the truth behind things and that they’re the only ones who can protect them. Kappei is still upset over how Kouzuki treated his father and all the stress he has been under, saying Kouzuki doesn’t understand. Gengoroh says he understands and isn’t that enough. Kappei cries in his arms then playfully punches at him.

Commentary

Kappei’s father Gengoroh finally makes his first appearance after being talked about being away for the first 5 episodes of the show. He seems like a decent and respectable guy and I look forward to seeing if he can get Kappei to mature a bit more as a result. His reaction to Kouzuki’s actions in this episode were a heck of a lot better than Kappei’s. The Elegin is yet another bizarre, but interesting looking Mecha Boost. While the battles in this show haven’t been the most interesting, at least the mecha design has been pretty good thus far. I would hope that we could spend less time on the battles and more on character development (in particular Uchuta and Keiko have both been woefully underdeveloped thus far), but given the era it was made in I don’t expect that.

Overall Rating
3.5/5

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