#genkimaru

Last time on SD Gundam Force, Deathscythe gave Tallgeese the Evil Sword Epyon with which to fight with, but his true goal was to create the Berserker Epyon.

Episode 32: Epyon’s Assault!

Okay, on top of a major crack forming (Looks like the Gundam Force Triple Attack did it), Captain scans the Berserker Epyon and determines he has the combined strength of not just Tallgeese, but the Griffin and Mercurius & Vayeate. And Epyon is hungry for more!

On the lower deck, Zapper’s gang have mixed feelings about the current situation. And by mixed, I mean everyone else is worried about Epyon, while Zapper wants to get back to cleaning.

Epyon goes on the attack, beating Zero away easily and putting the others on the defensive. Captain compares his speed and mobility to GunEagle. As the battle goes on, Zapper’s gang get pretty excited at seeing the Gundams get beaten. That’s when Genkimaru shows up to see what’s the matter. But when Epyon spots the kid Musha he makes him his next target.

Cobramaru senses the dangerous presence, and instantly breaks free of his stick prison. Meanwhile, Genkimaru flees from Epyon’s lunges, but soon finds himself cornered. But Cobramaru shows up to fend off Epyon, noting that he needs Genkimaru alive for his mission.

Not to be outdone, Bakunetsumaru fires off his Kenpu Tenkyo-Ken at Epyon. Shute tells him off, and Bakunetsumaru realizes that his attack could cause another crack to form- and indeed it does. As the Gundamusai rockets away from the crack, Zero fights Epyon. However’s he’s soon outmatched and facing down the business end of Epyon’s sword. However, Zero doesn’t despair, thinking back to Princess Rele. He will not be beaten here!

Zero’s conviction causes Fenn’s feather to glow, sending out a beam of light from his chest stone. That beam becomes a beacon, bringing a familiar face to the battle.

Fenn, the Feather Dragon!

Zero and Fenn merge, transforing the Knight Gundam into Zero Custom, Knight of Silver Wings. But this is just what Deathscythe wanted. He sent out the Evil Sword Epyon to find the Feather Dragon, and endangering Zero did just that. “All according to keikaku.”

Zero summons his Twin Buster Swords and does battle with Epyon. He does much better with Fenn’s power, but Epyon isn’t beaten yet. In Gundam Wing, the Epyon Gundam could turn into a Mobile Armor mode, which resembled a two-headed dragon. Berserker Epyon can also turn into two-headed dragon, and this one breaths tornados and lightning from each mouth!

Also, I like how instead of a light show, Epyon’s transformation is done by shifting his parts. It’s like he’s a Transformer, robots in disguise.

Deathscythe commands the Wyvern Epyon to bring him the Feather Dragon, and shows a bit of his true form. As Epyon grabs Zero with his claws, the magic sigil grows into a giant portal, and the Wyvern starts to push Zero through it. Captain orders RAIMI to take the Gundamusai into the magic circle, and while the ship complies, RAIMI notes that this is putting a lot of stress on the engines.

The other side of the portal is none other than the desolate kingdom of Lacroa. As they fly through the skies of his old home, Zero sees that there’s now a giant black forcefield over Lacroa Castle. And on a balcony is the petrified princess, Rele! And by her side of Deathscythe, who continually proves to be both a creep and a jerk by calling Zero, “The Feather Dragon that merged with Zero”

Epyon flies Zero away from the castle. As the Gundamusai follows, its engines start to give and the ship goes down. Zero wants to go save his princess, but Epyon is really insistent on getting his mid-Knight snack. As they fight, the Gundamusai tilts and swerves to avoid hitting rock formations. This causes Zapper’s Gang to fall off, along with Genkimaru! Seeing this, both Cobramaru and Bakunetsumaru jump off the ship after him, and that’s the last we’ll see of them for a few episodes.

Zero and Epyon continue their duel, but Zero clearly can’t concentrate and is put on the defensive. The Gundamusai finally completes its emergency-landing, and Captain orders the main cannons to shoot at Epyon. The cannon-fire gives Zero the opening he needs for his super-mode’s new attack, which comes with new stock footage.

“Super Spirit-Magic…"

“Infinity Winds!”

The attack destroys Epyon, causing him to explode into countless Mmns. So does that mean all spirits in Lacroa are made of Mmns? Are Mmns basically spirit molecules? Zero explains that spirits in Lacroa are never truly gone. Both Epyon and the Griffin have become Mmns and returned to the earth and forest, to be the life force of Lacroa.

As Fenn separates from Zero, the Winged Knight muses that at long last, he’s returned to save Lacroa.

This meeting takes place underground, since the Zako Soldiers fell off the Gundamusai. Since they don’t have their screen, visuals have to be provided by Zako projection.

The talk about Epyon, and how the Evil Sword Epyon absorbed Tallgeese and became the Berserker Epyon. The other Zako Chef from episode 8 skips by, gushing at how Tallgeese became a Gundam. Zako 3 wonders if the Berserker Gundam is a Gundam, or a spirit.

A Pawn Leo shows up to explain, since the Zakos are too dumb about Lacroa stuff to answer anything. On top of ticking off the hosts, Pawn Leo states that Epyon is both a Gundam and a spirit combined. But Zako 2 wonders how a Gundam and a spirit can be combined? Pawn Leo guesses that the spirits might also be made of Gundanium. The Zakos assume that the Feather Dragon, Griffin, and even the Mmns are technically Gundams too. Even they realize how strange that sounds, so Pawn Leo tells them to skip it, as clearly they aren’t smart enough to figure out the answer. This gets him the boot.

The greatest warrior in the universe has appeared before you.

Remember the SD Gundam anime that aired on Toonami during the early 200s and then just dropped off without a real conclusion, only for the second half of the series to be released on a special DVD set about a decade later (I assume)? Well, while reception to SDG was...divided here in the west, Japan had a different view of it, and that soon led to a full-fledged manga-version of the series.

A series of about 20 chapters were made. This wasn’t a shot-for-shot remake of the anime, however. Instead, it was condensed revision of the series, generally the same concept- The Dark Axis is on the loose, 3 Gundams and an eager boy jump up to defend- but done in a drastically different way. Taking advantage of the art style, chapters were filled to the brim with sight gags, and battles were completed in a far more drastic style than you could accomplish on television. For example;

(Fun, huh?)

The downside was that this abbreviated storytelling meant that certain characters were given a far less amount of screen time and focus than they had in the anime, and story arcs were possibly rushed. For example, in the anime, Lacroa wasn’t restored until the end of the series, but in the manga, the kingdom was fixed right at the end of the Deathscythe arc. And Genkimaru, a prominent fixture of the second season, didn’t appear until the Gundamusai arrived at Ark.

Last time on SD Gundam Force, the fake Princess Rele convinced Shute, Captain and Zero to go to someplace called the Garden of Wisdom. But where are Bakunetsumaru and Genkimaru?

Episode 35: Genkimaru, Samurai Number One!

After falling from the Gundamusai, Genkimaru and Zapper’s Gang tumbled into a tunnel. Cobramaru followed close behind. Bakunetsumaru, on the other hand, landed flat on his face, making a lovely silhouette into the ground.

After a delightful comedy routine between Genkimaru and the D.A. Trio, the question is now where to go. Grappler wants to go back to the ship, Destroyer wants to get weapons, and Zapper wants to go find flowers to take care of. I love how even though Grappler’s idea seems the most rational, there’s no indication he knows where the Musai even is. It really helps sell how he’s “sane only by comparison”.

Genkimaru, once again proves to be the most logical. He picks up a faint breeze and assumes that’s the way to the outside. The D.A. Trio try to shut him up, but once again fall over. the Zako Soldiers are very impressed by Genkimaru’s charisma and common sense, and rush to follow him. Genkimaru in turns dubs the Zakos his “Genki Energy Force”. Watching from a shenanigan-free distance, Cobramaru finds himself intrigued by Genkimaru.

As for Bakunetsumaru, he’s having far less of a fun time. He’s now in the caves, but remembers how scary Lacroa had been for him last time. It doesn’t help that in the gloom of the caverns even the harmless Mms look terrifying to him. 

And that’s when he gets the biggest scare of all.

It’s the goose!!

Back with the Genki Energy Force, they find some underground banana trees which Genkimaru quickly harvests. Why banana trees would be growing underground is beyond me, but that’s probably a Lacroa thing. More importantly, why weren’t they turned to stone like the rest of the kingdom? Either way, Genkimaru’s found a snack, although Zapper’s Gang, even the reformed Zapper, find the idea of a robot eating organic matter positively revolting. And Zapper especially hates that Genkimaru is littering!

A bit later, Grappler asks Genkimaru what his plans are. Genkimaru wants his Energy Force to conquer Ark, and figures that the tunnels under Lacroa should lead to Ark, as there are similar caves in the Musha Gundam country.

The war council is interrupted by the discovery of a flowerbed, much to Zapper’s delight. I’m glad the animators thought to included a ray of sunlight. It was nebulous enough that bananas were growing underground.

But, that’s when a giant Bagu Bagu shows up. Zapper tries to stop it from stinging his flowers, and surprisingly Grappler and Destroyer help, though they fail. After buzzing the Genki Energy Force a few times (Hey, buzzing) the giant Bagu Bagu releases a swarm of regular-sized ones that turn the bananas to stone. 

Genkimaru is almost crushed by the giant one, only to be saved by Cobramaru, who pulls him out of the danger zone. But Genkimaru ain’t feelin’ it, and portals to the top of the Bagu Bagu. Genkimaru declares that a true leader must protect his followers, something that I’m sure is unheard of in the Dark Axis. He then unveils his own ultimate technique, for the first and only time.

“Ark-style! Ultimate Axe Matsukari! Electric Double Shock!”

Genkimaru lands a good hit on the Bagu Bagu, but gets his axe stuck and the Bagu Bagu flies off with him. As he follows, Cobramaru wonders why Genkimaru bothered to save Zapper’s Gang. Thankfully, the flowers survived the battle.

Back with Bakunetsumaru, he briefly thinks Tallgeese is a ghost come to haunt him. But the Knight of the Tempest explains that he was freed from Epyon’s possession when Zero defeated him, and fell into the caves. Tallgeese has realized that Deathscythe used him, and now wants to have revenge, no matter what.

Perhaps it’s seeing Tallgeese’s determination even at his worst, or maybe it’s because this dedication to revenge reminds him of Kujakumaru, but Bakunetsumaru decides to help his former enemy. Tallgeese is a bit confused and suspicious, but Bakunetsumaru explains that this his way.

Whatever road trip movie we can script out gets cut short when a giant glowing flood gushes through, carrying both of them away. Tallgeese exclaims that it’s a River of Mms.

Meanwhile, Cobramaru catches up to Genkimaru, who’s fallen asleep. He takes Genkimaru to Zapper’s gang, who have been watching Zapper water the flowers this whole time. Grappler would much rather blast both Mushas with his missile-arm, but because the rest of the Gang loves Genkimaru so much, decides not to. Destroyer is surprisingly acrobatic when he wants to be.

Zapper’s watering can finally runs empty, but don’t worry, he gets a refill. And by refill, I mean the River of Mms hits all of them. At least this means Bakunetsumaru’s finally found Genkimaru.

Cut to Shute, who senses a disturbance in the Force. He thinks he heard Bakunetsumaru and Genkimaru calling him. while Dark-Rele observes how caring Shute is, Captain and Zero assure him. Bakunetsumaru knows how to take of himself, after all. Shute takes this to heart and cheers up.

Underground, Cobramaru marvels at how one can breathe in this strange water, while Bakunetsumaru utterly fails to take care of himself.

This meeting is being run by the Pawn Leos, making it the Pawn Pawn Hour. With no audience, it’s a wonder why they’re even trying. They probably saw the Zakos do their shows and decided to imitate them.

The Leos declare that they are much better than Zakos, and brag about their abilities…including the part where they’re only invisible as long as their magic cards are attached, and turn to dice when defeated.