「龍虎王顕現」 (Ryuukoou Kengen)
“RyuKoOh’s Manifestation”

For an episode where the title made it clear that Bullet and Kusuha were due for an upgrade, Excellen more or less stole their thunder with her sudden and mysterious arrival in the Einst-modified Rein Weiss Ritter. She had the Hiryuu Custom completely at her mercy too, and probably would have destroyed it had Kyousuke not been on board. The Choukijin, RyuOhKi (Dragon Lord Machine) and KoOhKi (Tiger Lord Machine), had a much slower entrance in comparison, because they had to check Bullet and Kusuha’s resolve before entrusting their powers to them to fight the good fight for mankind. The eventual manifestation of RyuKoOh after absorbing their Grungust Type-3 was still pretty cool, but I get the feeling it would’ve been even more so had they not been sharing the spotlight this week.

Of all the battles depicted thus far, this one against the Einst was probably the most destructive of them all. Civilians were being assimilated left and right after the Einst plunged themselves into a city, and then the massive 111-meter tall “robot” Einst Regisseur (Wakamoto Norio) appeared right in the middle, wiping out huge portion of it in the process. It was definitely a far cry from all the previous ones where casualties seemed to be slim to none. I did have mixed feelings about how RyuKoOh and KoRyuOh made short work of Einst Regiesseur though. While it worked well in emphasizing the power of the Choukijin, it came with the trade-off of making light of how powerful Regisseur is supposed to be. I wouldn’t go so far as saying they one-shot him, but it was pretty close to that once Kusuha used the “RyuOh Hazanken Gekirindan”.

Interestingly enough, a good chunk of the cast had lines in this episode, which left me wondering if the recording studio was jam-packed. I would’ve thought that the sheer amount of characters would have helped give off the impression that there’s a huge battle going on, but it actually had the reverse effect due to the brevity of all the scenes. Each of the characters would get a short scene to unleash their attack and that was pretty much the extent of their screen time. I gather there’s no real way around it given the sheer number of characters we have, but at least the focus was where it should be — i.e. Excellen/Alfimi and Bullet/Kusuha — with everyone else getting their five to ten seconds of spotlight time to provide some mecha fan-service. Cross Smasher and Akashic Buster? Yes please.

Judging by Dr. Radom’s little talk at the end, Kyousuke’s upgrade to his Alt Eisen Riese should be coming up fairly soon, while Arado’s Wild Wurger receives some weapon upgrades in the form of a Stag Beetle Crusher claw and Triple Vulcan Gatling gun. I’d imagine that we’ll be seeing a Jacket Armor purging before long, followed by either a Victim Beak attack or the Twin Bird Strike, as the preview seems to suggest that Seolla will finally be rescued from all the brainwashing. The Egret Machinery Children and Ouka look like they’ll be getting in his way, while a showdown between Sanger and Wodam takes place as well. I’m all for seeing Seolla finally coming to her senses, but the thought of some Dygenguar/Thrudgelmir action is pretty darn appealing in its own right. Big super robots clashing big swords. Mmm… do want.

* For whatever reason, the seiyuu for RyuOhKi and KoOhKi were listed as “???” in the credits.

 

ED2.5 Sequence

ED2: 「最後の旅」 (Saigo no Tabi) by 美郷あき (Misato Aki)
Watch the 2nd ED!: Download, Streaming ▼

I originally thought this was going to be a one-off ending theme to emphasize Kyousuke and Excellen’s relationship, but it looks like it’s here to stay as the actual second ending now that it has a proper sequence to go along with it. It’s a rather simple with still shots but nice nonetheless, especially if you ever wanted to see Alfimi having her way with Excellen.

Preview

38 Comments

  1. Divine now that RyuKoOh/KoRyuOh appeared, you can take the chance to show off all your knowledge about them from alpha :).
    About Regisseur, I also agree it was a bit stretched how they singlehandedly beaten the crap out of him. Guess he didn’t had as much hp as in the games lol.
    My jaw just dropped when I saw that Alfmi X Excellen pic. There’s a similar pic in the Original Generation 4-koma manga iirc.

    Next week… Dygenguar Vs Thrudgelmir, the ultimate clash of the gods we’re all waiting for.

    Rockmanshii
  2. Yea how they beat Einst Regiesseur all alone is all I have to complain about this episode, I mean in the game even if I have everyone attack, it still take a good 2 – 3 turn, so no way the Choukijin can do it all alone in a matter of few hits.

    arixx
    1. Yeah, but that was only in the games. In an actual story perspective, the Chokijins are as strong if not stronger than pretty much anything in OG2. They’re not ancient deities for nothing.

      Dendoh_fanboy
      1. They are Earth’s freaking defense system. The Einst come from Earth a long time ago. Interestingly from what Einst Regisseur said they’ve had dealings with the Choukijin or Nashim Gan Eden before referring to it as an ancient struggle. Could be something prior to the Choukijin Wars.

        ReddyRedWolf
  3. Cross Smasher, Akashic Buster, and then double Sonic Breaker? Why, yes, please.

    The Rein Weiss Ritter sure is a creepy thing, anyway–though IMO, not as creepy as the demonic Persoenlichkeit.

    Can’t wait for the next episode. Wodan vs Sanger ultimate showdown? DO WANT. I’m also eager to see Seolla returning to her senses and–reunited with her mate.

    LittleLoveless
  4. I was a little disappointed with the debut of RyuKoOh/KoRyoOh. The Einst Regisseur was the perfect target to show of its moves and all it gave where little unsatisfying smacks. Seeing Bullet poke Einst Wakamoto with the random spike ended up being hilarious.

    At least Earth Cradle is up next it would be difficult to NOT make that part awesome. (Except for the Machinery Children, those guys suck)

    fragb85
  5. Sorry to burst your bubble, but it’s episode *21* that’s named “Rest in the Cradle”. Next week’s episode will likely wrap up The School plot Show Spoiler ▼

    , then leave the last few minutes to set up the battle of the Earth Cradle.

    At this point I’d post something about my body not being ready, but then I don’t think my body was ever created Show Spoiler ▼

    As for this episode, the directors/animators do love associating Viletta with QUALITY. Seriously, what do they have against her being animated properly?

    J Jay
  6. this is seriously complicated. I mean, this is the first Super Robot Wars series i have seen, have not played any games either… if i had not done some reading on Exceleen, Kyosuke, and the whole Einst i would be totally lost as to what’s going on. Every time i watch an episode of the Inspector i have to do some research just to be able to follow the plot. It’s worth it but talk about a hassle…

    prejsu
    1. Consider yourself lucky then that you’re only focused on one show then. Each game is quite complex on its entire mish-mash of different mecha animes mixed with an original plot. And there are several dozen games.

      fragb85
      1. yeah, but on the other hand i had no knowledge whatsoever of the whole Super Robot Wars universe. I know nothing of the past of the main characters and i get confused with all these robot fractions, units etc. sometimes it’s just too much to handle you know? I mean, sometimes a robot or a character pops out of nowhere, all the other characters seem to know who it is or what it is, they refer to some past events and i’m like ‘who the fuck is that again? and what the hell is going on?’ thank god for the internet, cause otherwise i would not be able to watch this show and make any sense of it;)

        prejsu
      1. well i did not know there was some first season to begin with when i started watching the Inspector, i thought that it was some new series. Guess i’ll watch it then, should clear some things up for me

        prejsu
      2. Direct sequel is the wrong term really, more like its a sequel to the remake of the OG Saga. To clarify there was OG1 and OG2 for the Gamboy Advance. Then there was a remake on the PS2 called Original Generations which basically a remake of OG1 and OG2. Divine Wars is an adaptation of the GBA game. The Inspectors is based on OG2 as told by the PS2 remake. This is evidenced by some a retcons of the characters, most notably Axel. Hope that doesn’t sound too complicated.

        fragb85
      3. Divine Wars is not an adaptation of the gba version of og1, it is an adaptation of the story of og1 as told in the ps2 remake. The presence of Cobray is proof of that. In the gba version, Cobray was obviously absent. Also DW has a slight different ending that the gba and ps2 versions.. The Inspector too, i don’t think is a direct adaptation of the ps2 version of og2 because the R originals have yet to appear, and we are near the end. But who knows, maybe Obari will surprise us again!

        I hope this clarifies everything!

        Saga
      4. >Divine Wars is not an adaptation of the gba version of og1, it is an adaptation of the story of og1 as told in the ps2 remake. The presence of Cobray is proof of that.

        That’s incorrect: Divine Wars WAS an adaptation (albeit, an exceptionally LOOSE adaptation) of the first Original Generation for the Gameboy Advance, not for the remake on the PlayStation 2. The broadcasting date for Divine Wars was October 2006; Original Generations wasn’t released until June 2007, and only AFTER the show finished broadcasting did Banpresto began showcasing the remake in full detail.

        advent_child
    2. *Reiterating what Divine said. I was completely lost the first 5 eps or so. So I took a break to watch Divine Wars and when I came back everything made a lot more sense. If we weren’t so far in the series I’d say it’d be worth it to go back and watch DW, but if you’ve made it this far, it must not be too much of a hassle.

      Bossun
  7. So the Chokijin say they’re guardians of the earth. But I thought the Einst’s duty was the same thing, to protect the earth. So why were they fighting each other back in the first few episodes? If you have to answer with spoilers, so be it.

    Bossun
    1. The Aerogators, Inspectors/Guest and Einst all trace their origin on Earth.

      The Einst call themselves the original watchers of Earth. In Lovecraft terms they are the Old Ones. They have a Vorlon-esque obsession with order. Thus with avatars like Beowulf they enforce peace. When an Earth gets too chaotic like OGverse they want to reboot it. Reboot as in wipe everything out and restart it with an Adam and an Eve. As in after cleaning up they want their chosen Kyousuke and Excellen to make babies and restart the human race. The Einst see themselves as the true guardians of Earth. If you watched the Sentai series Goseiger they are like Brajira in wanting to destroy the Earth and recreate it.

      The Choukijin are creations of Gan Eden, an artificial deity created by Earth’s Precursor Human race. Gan Eden was tasked to protect it, to be its guardian. As such it created the Choukijin to defend Earth. Protecting Earth and Humanity from evil and destruction is the Choukijin’s duty. But for the Choukijin to operate at full power they need the Chosen, Psychodrivers with a sense of justice. The Choukijin are the Goseiger to the Einst’s Brajira.

      Hence Alfimi saying the Einst weren’t the only ones testing Humanity. By the Einst book with the Aerogators, Inspectors and Shadow Mirror causing chaos the Earth needs to be rebooted. The Choukijin being Earth’s defense system want to protect Earth at all cost. Notice KoOuki, the tiger Choukijin, awoke because he sensed a Psychodriver’s burning sense of justice.

      As I said the Aerogators or Le Balmary Empire and the Inspectors/Guest part of the Zuvorg Alliance also have their origin with Earth. For the simple fact they are Human. Seeded races like Earth’s Humans.

      ReddyRedWolf
  8. Divine, for the record, RyuKoOh didn’t actually use Gekirindan in this episode. It was just a normal Hazanken. You can clearly see the sword hasn’t transformed into the spiky version yet.

    Dendoh_fanboy
  9. man I don’t know about the games but this is one of the best mecha animes I’ve seen in a while next to Gurren Lagann. It introduces a lot of characters and mechas without feeling rushed. I wanna see Beowulf cross over to see Kyosuke’s reaction. Plus what’s so special about Excellen she has two separate versions of herself lurking about.

    Abe
    1. you should watch it after the inspector.. in the games, the events of the 3 OVAs are narrated in the first part of og gaiden (the third og game) that is chronologically after the inspector.

      Saga
  10. I totally fall in love with this anime! This quenches my thirst for big robots war (although I’m a girl), been a long time since I last watched fighting scenes that send chills down my spine!
    Maybe it’s just me, but why does the design for rein weiss ritter looks so ugly? I mean, I know it’s made by aliens etc but at least they can come up with a much better design. Although it’s really powerful and fast

    KGFJ

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