ReviewsZone of the Enders

Dolores, i Ep. 6: The Getaway

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Summary

While “sleeping,” Dolores has another vision of Idolo, then followed by an image of a swarm of Raptors and the Orbital Elevator’s Central Station exploding. The dream ends with Idolo standing amidst the flames, and Dolores asks what it is. In the real world, her systems reactivate and the Metatron that makes up her body starts to slowly pump energy. She launches power cables that attach to the walls in her hangar in preparation for regeneration. Meanwhile, a beaten Noel and Pete run from several policemen in the Central Station sewers. She tries to evade them by escaping through a grate to the surface level, but more police wait for her there and she gets caught. In some hotel room, James wakes up and is immediately embraced by Melinda Gargoyle. Basilisk also reveals himself, adding to James’ confusion. Melinda demands to why the police have a warrant out for James, and Basilisk yanks her off of him and explains that Melinda promised to stay beside him if he rescued the “old man.” James asks if Basilisk knows what her business is yet, and Melinda just says James is being rough. Basilisk then apologizes for hitting James, but the shop was full of police so he had no choice. James asks about his children, to which Basilisk says he doesn’t know and Melinda asks if James really did kill somebody. James shakes his head and says he and his family were framed, but he doesn’t know by who. In yet another part of the Elevator, Leon awakens to find himself chained in a construct area with very little gravity. Yans walks over to him and asks how he’s feeling, and Leon remembers he was the one that killed the two police officers. Yans explains he saved him there, and Leon demands why while trying to yank off the manacles. Yan asks him where he hid the orbital frame they gained, and Leon explains with disdain that it was destroyed with his father. Yans punches Leon in the gut and sends him flying back, only for the chains to yank him back. Yans then grabs him and explains a Type-C orbital frame with a Metatron mantle is not easily destroyed, although that wouldn’t help the runner. He demands to know where Leon is planning to meet up with Isis, and Leon realizes that this is the guy that framed James. In WIRED’s station HQ, Baan demands from Sameggi why they haven’t caught Leon Links yet, and Sameggi apologizes, and explains Central Station is too large for WIRED to grasp entirely. Sameggi asks what Baan intends to do with them, and Baan tells him he’ll have Noel and the impounded Ender disposed of without being sent to Earth. Sameggi reminds him that if they die before an interrogation, they’ll never find out who the real perpetrators are, and Baan just says he hates the thought of Martian spies on Earth. Back in the hotel, James gets up. Melinda asks what he’s about to do, and James tells her that he’s going to find his children, but Basilisk tells him to give it up. The police are now all over Central Station, so James would just get arrested in the lobby. One of Basilisk’s men knocks at the door and Basilisk goes to answer it. With her mafia boyfriend away, Melinda suggest that she and James runaway together, but James doesn’t like the idea. Melinda slumps and remembers that James’ wife is still alive, so maybe it’s time she just settle down somewhere. Basilisk returns and informs James that Noel has been caught by WIRED and that she’ll soon be executed. In the hangar, Dolores starts to draw energy through her power cables. Pictures of James appear all over her cockpit and she calls out to him. In the hotel, Basilisk uploads a map of Central Station in a holographic projector and shows a ventilation line to James. He explains it’s the best escape route and that he’s used it to smuggle things into the Elevator. However, there are tons of debris floating around there, and that except himself, no one else had survived that area. James sighs and says he’ll go, since Noel and Leon mean more to him than anything else. Basilisk slaps him on the back for that and tells him it’s alright to cherish his family. In the hangar, Dolores uses Station surveillance to track James to Basilisk’s hotel, and more pictures pop up in her cockpit. Meanwhile, Yans beats Leon and yanks him around to the point where he’s losing a lot of blood. Yans compliments him for being tougher than he expected, and Leon asks Yans him if he really framed James. Yans says that’s pointless and Leon spits some blood at Yans’ cheek. Yans punches him yet again, but he stops when he sees the lights flickering. While running through an alleyway, James also sees lights flickering around him. In Station Control, reports of electric power loss are coming up from around the entire station. The control staff try to get backup power online, but the mysterious surge is also draining from the reserves. Even from outer space, lights are seen flickering around Central Station, and Yans sees that it’s not an ordinary blackout. A wave of energy channels down some railing and washes over Leon’s chains. By the time Yans looks back, Leon has vanished. Leon has escaped from the construct and now floats with what little life he has left to the sound of Rachel’s singing. Unfortunately, he’s left a trail of blood for the Yans to follow, and after going down a ventilation shaft, he soon tracks Leon down to the glowing, regenerating form of Dolores.

Station Control is still monitoring the power drop out on all levels, and an official wonders what would need so much power. In the hangar bay, the aura around Dolores vanishes as her regeneration is complete. She disengages her power cables, causing power to return to the station. Leon floats into her cockpit and she closes the canopy. Realizing that Dolores had used the station’s power to restore itself to full capacity, the Yans throws a smoke grenade and escapes before Dolores can pursue him. The smoke soon clears and Dolores remembers the mysterious man as the Raptor runner a while ago. Rachel’s singing still echoes in Leon’s head, and he sees an image of her before awakening. Dolores is relieved at seeing Leon awaken, and explains that they are going to where everyone else is. Leon thinks about his father, and Dolores tells him that James is safe, and that they are flying to him. Leon laughs at James’ stupid luck as tears start to well in his eyes. Dolores breaks through a barrier into the living areas of Central Station in her search for James, and thus starts a panic among the local populace. In a disposal area of Central Station, James hijacks a construction LEV and jumps into the ventilation shaft before it’s closed off. All the while at Basilisk’s hotel, Melinda throws a nasty fit that involves throwing dishes and pottery at Basilisk for letting James run off. Basilisk tries to explain that if he stopped him, he wouldn’t be a man, but Melinda tells him if James dies, then she’ll curse him forever. However, the fit abruptly stops when Dolores flies up to their window and asks for James. At first, Basilisk is confused because Dolores refers to James as ‘Uncle’ as she usual, but Melinda realizes who she’s looking for. Dolores cockpit then opens to reveal Leon, and Melinda recognizes him as James’ son. Leon asks where James is, and Basilisk tells Leon that James has gone back to his ship to rescue Noel. Leon tells Dolores that they’re heading to the docks, since James is going to try something impossible again, when a group of police surround Dolores and demand for Leon’s surrender. Basilisk realizes they are surrounded and tells Leon he’ll show the way if he and Melinda can ride on. Dolores takes Basilisk and Melinda in her hand, and Melinda embraces Basilisk for going after James. Dolores engages her binder thrusters and flies off, but she’s tracked by surveillance. Baan jumps out of his chair in WIRED HQ when he recognizes Dolores, and Sameggi wonders if James Links is alive too. Baan laughs and says he’s obviously going after his daughter, and orders all WIRED squads to close on the dock around the Ender. Dolores soon breaks into the ventilation shaft and catches up with James’ LEV. She fires a pair of homing lasers into the shaft’s filter so James can fall to the bottom, and James is awe-struck at seeing Dolores functional again. Melinda waves and James, but James just asks Dolores if she’s really alright. She explains that thinking about James made her feel better, and Leon wishes he had that ability. The cockpit opens and James is shocked to see Leon beaten, but Leon states that James was right about everything and that they still have to rescue Noel. Thus, Dolores forms her arm into a blast and fires a laser shot through a side wall, giving her an entrance to the Ender’s hold. James jumps aboard Dolores’ hand with Basilisk and Melinda and they all fly through, but upon landing, the lights activate and Baan calls out to “John Carter.” A group WIRED agents in riot gear appear and take aim at James and co. while Baan and Sameggi walk up with Noel and Pete. James calls out to Noel, but Sameggi has her at gunpoint so she cannot escape. Baan taunts James and tells him despite the warrant for his arrest, he doesn’t like sending Enders back down to Earth, so he’ll just kill them all here. James demands to know what he really thinks Enders are and Baan laughs and just says they’re tools to benefit the Earth, so he and his family should act like tools. He orders the agents to fire, but during the taunting session, Dolores snuck one of her wire cameras behind the agents and uses it to trip them off their feet when they fire. With the confusion, Noel knocks the gun out of Sameggi’s hand and jumps down to James. Baan tries to shoot her, but Dolores moves her hand to block the shots and Noel safely lands in James’ arms. Baan orders the agents to fire again, but Dolores blocks their shots and gets everyone into the Ender. James and co. immediately get into the cockpit and start everything up, but a squad of Phantomas surrounds them during launch preparations. Sameggi orders them to take control of the Ender, but Baan overturns that order and just has the squad open fire. Dolores puts up her barrier shield and activates an arm sword, then proceeds to slicing the Phantoma squad to pieces. With no opposition, James has the Ender take off, to the sound of LAZY playing on the stereo. The Ender blasts into space with the remaining Phantomas in pursuit. James says they’ll just have to follow them wherever they end up, and puts his transport ship into full thrust.

Commentary

Although this episode isn’t as suspenseful as the last, quite a bit still happens here. First we see Basilisk and Melinda again, but it’s different from the first episode. Instead of actually taking James captive like I assumed in episode 5, Basilisk actually saved James at the request of Melinda, and has grown to respect him for the risks he’s taking for his family. Even though he’s a temporary character, I rather like Basilisk, because he’s the kind of ‘good criminal’ character you’d see in Cowboy Bebop, not in a mecha anime like ZOE. Granted, I’ve said before Dolores, i isn’t your typical mecha anime, but having mob boss play this kind of role is still a welcome addition. On Melinda’s, it seems she actually does care for James, but since Rachel’s still alive, she might as well stick with Basilisk now. Ah well. Leon finally sees that James was right all along, and I have to say it’s about time. Even though it’s only been five episodes (one DVD), it feels like Leon’s been whining for a whole TV season about how James ruined his life and angsting over Rachel’s departure. The only other character that surpasses Leon in whining is Shinn Asuka from Gundam SEED DESTINY, and that’s because it’s been 40 or so episodes at the time of this review and Shinn still hasn’t gotten over himself. Thankfully, now that Leon knows that his father’s innocent, he’ll start to think of him in a positive light. On the mecha end, we see Dolores has repaired herself in a different way than what ZOE fans are used to. In the PS2 games, orbital frames could only regenerate with either Metatron ore or the MUMMY subweapon, and in the GBA game Fist of Mars, orbital frames regenerated with Self Sustaining Armor (SSA). Seeing that Dolores had to take power from the entirety of Central Station, including reserve generators, just shows how powerful Metatron really is and that it shouldn’t be misused. The only thing I’d critique is how stupid Baan and the local authorities were in responding to Dolores. Instead of deploying a Phantoma squad right off, the police surrounded Dolores with squad car and guys with batons (no guns) when she meets with Basilisk. And when Dolores enters the Ender’s hangar, Baan has a bunch of guys with heavy machineguns and bulletproof vests waiting. How would either of these stop a machine like Dolores? I know if I were in that position, I’d at least get some SWAT teams out there or try to get the local UNSF garrison to respond. Despite all that, James and company have now retrieved the Ender and have escaped Earth orbit. But without the Urenbeck Catapult, just how will they get to Mars?

Overall Rating
4/5
Dolores, i Info


Director:
Tetsuya Watanabe

Writer(s):
Shin Yoshida
Satoru Nishizono
Masanao Akahoshi

Mechanical Designer(s):
Tsutomu Miyazawa
Tsutomu Suzuki
Yoji Shinkawa (game)

Character Designer(s):
Kumi Horii
Madoka Hirayama

Musical Composer:
Hikaru Nanase

Format:
26 episodes

Airdates:
Japan 04.07.2001 – 09.29.2001

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