On the Bandock, Killer the Butcher looks at himself in a mirror, wearing various types of jewelry. Barettar comes in, showing him a gemstone he has created. Although dirty looking, he says it can reflect anything and shoots at it. The blast bounces back and hits Butcher, destroying much of what he was wearing. He slaps Barettar and talks to one of his other underlings, telling him to put this substance all over it. Meanwhile on Earth, Kappei calls out for Kouzuki in the ruins of the city. Kappei sees someone running behind the Zambo Ace and heads back. It is revealed to just be Uchuta. Uchuta says everyone is upset since he ran off. Kappei says he should worry more about his mother, who has spoken out against the fighting. Uchuta tries to punch him for making fun of him, but Kappei jumps in the Zambo Ace and takes off. Uchuta returns to the Zambull and takes off as well to follow him, and they return to the King Beal. Inside, the Jin family work on fixing the controls in the ship and Ichitaro is able to get it working again. Kappei and Uchuta return and Ichitaro demands to know where Kappei went. With the repaired radar, they are able to spot the new, bat-like Mecha Boost Garuchak heading towards Tokyo. The Garuchak is fired at from the ground but it swings its wings and flames burst out of its mouth, destroying those who are attacking it. Kappei and Uchuta are about to head out but Uchuta’s mother Sumie says they are going to leave the ship and head back to Tokyo. They see Tokyo burning up on the screen, including right around their house. They want to head back but Ichitaro says the ship is not fully repaired yet. Heizaemon tells Sumie that many other have had their homes destroyed and they shouldn’t worry so much about their personal belongings right now. Kappei asks Uchuta what he is going to do. Kappei heads down to the Zambird along with Chiyonshiki and they take off. The Zambull and Zambase take off shortly afterwards. Kappei’s grandmother complains about Sumie to Hanae and almost falls off the ship when they try heading to the 2nd ship part of the King Beal. Ichitaro calls out for Sumie and the other members of the Kamie family to stop, but they still decide to head out to try and save their house. The Zambo Ace attacks the Garuchak, which launches its own attack. Keiko tells Kappei to use the magnum and fires her own laser at the Garuchak, which merely deflects it off. Uchuta launches a punch attack which also gets deflected back. The three crafts combine into the Zambot 3 and land in front of the Garuchak.
The Garuchak blasts at the Zambot with its fire breath. The Zambot throws its Zambot Buster attack at it, but it fails to work. Attacking with the sais also fail to have an effect, as does the Zambot Blow. Uchuta tells Kappei to use the Moon Attack, which he does. Even this gets deflected back. Meanwhile the Kamie family approaches their home, which they find on fire. They are able to spray it with water and put it out. Uchuta calls out to them. Uchuta’s father wants to go help, but his mother says no and that he should come help them. Kappei launches another Moon Attack which again gets deflected back. Later on the King Beal, Kappei is treated in the medical bay by his grandmother. Keiko tells him that Uchuta returned to his home. He wakes up there, finding his mother cleaning up. She wants to stay and protect the house. Uchuta’s little brother and sister notice he’s up. He asks his mother if she’s going to simply cling to their home. Uchuta’s dad says he’ll talk to her and that he should leave her be for now. Uchuta’s brother wants to head with him, but their mother refuses. Uchuta says he is envious of Kappei’s family and leaves to be with Kappei and Keiko. Suddenly the Garuchak starts approaching from the air. The Zambird, Zambull and Zambase take off and avoid the Garuchak’s attack then combine into the Zambot 3. Kappei launches another Moon attack on the Garuchak, which is deflected again. On the King Beal, Ichitaro receives a report showing that the Garuchak has no weaknesses. He tells Kappei to run away since they have no chance at winning due to the metal surrounding it which deflects all attacks. Kappei asks about Uchuta’s home and Ichitaro says to give it up. Kappei doesn’t want to. Uchuta thinks he knows a way and tells Kappei to separate the Zambot crafts. He says that the Mecha Boost may not be coated inside, and they should shoot at its mouth. He tells Kappei to ensure its mouth is opened and combines with the Beal 2nd ship. Kappei transforms the Zambird into the Zambo Ace. Keiko sends him the Zambo Magnum weapon and shoots the attacks the Garuchak launches at it. Sumie tells her family to get inside and her husband slaps her. Uchuta combines the Beal 2nd with the rest of the King Beal. Heizaemon tells him that even with all their energy they’ll only be able to fire once. They transfer energy to the King Beal‘s Ion Cannon. Uchuta tells Kappei that he is about to fire and to open the Garuchak’s mouth. Kappei goes ahead and does so. The King Beal fires its Ion Cannon and is able to destroy the Garuchak. The head of the Garuchak crashes into the Kamie family’s house and blows it up. On the Bandock, Barettar is surprised that they have failed. Butcher shoots at the stone causing it to deflect onto him. On the King Beal, Heizaemon is concerned about the Kamie family but thinks there is still hope due to the three pilots.
A bit of a setback compared to the last several episodes. Uchuta’s mother is extremely selfish in this episode, and while I think it would have been interesting to have a storyline where part of the Jin family has second thoughts about what they were doing, this is not the way I would have liked seeing it! She was so over the top about it that I was hoping their home would get destroyed by the end of the episode and it did. This rather pointless storyline combined with several drawn out sequences (in particular having two separate Zambot combination sequences and Kappei moronically using the Moon Attack three times when he knew after the first that it would deflect back) makes this little more than a filler episode. The one interesting thing about the episode was the design of the Garuchak. It having a second face on its body reminds me a bit of some of the mechs from Gurren-Lagann and I wonder if this was an inspiration for that show. Since they did take some of the design from the Zambot 3 for the title mech in that show (its head in particular), I wouldn’t be surprised if that was the case.
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
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