First Impressions / Super Robot Wars OG

「黒い潜入者」 (Kuroi Sennyuusha)
“Black Infiltrator”

This was an episode about the Hagane crew resupplying in the Dukedom of Riksent and Kyousuke, Rai, and company serving as bodyguards for Princess Shine Hausen (Kaihara Reina), but the late arrival of Gilliam Yeager (Tanaka Hideyuki) and his Gespenst stole the show for me by reminding me of the Super Robot Wars 4 days. I still vividly recall the stage where Gilliam would suddenly show up in a slightly purple version of the Gespenst my main character was piloting (i.e. a Gespenst Mk.II Type-R), and destroy everyone with his Slash Ripper attack, which later left me dejected because he never joins as a playable unit. In any case, things got even better shortly afterward, when Kyousuke arrived in a temporarily provisioned Gespenst Mk.II Type-S and unleashed the Ultimate Gespenst Kick. In true super robot fashion, I just love how the system needed him to yell out the attack to execute it, regardless of how impractical that is. Now there’s something you won’t see in a Gundam series — a pilot screaming “Kyuukyoku! Geshipensuto Kikku!!!” at the top of his lungs. I got a good laugh out of how Kyousuke followed up that attack by saying that he’ll kick through any type of armor, which was an obvious play on words to his usual trademark line about piercing it. The whole serious yet-not-so-serious take on the robot genre is one aspect the SRW franchise that’s always appreciate as far as I’m concerned.

Story-wise, I like how things are progressing on several angles concurrently. It shouldn’t be all that surprisingly given how the first five episodes or so touched upon something new every week, but goes to show that none of that stuff was introduced without reason in the overall plot. Taking a backseat is Arado’s situation as he’s now confined to Hagane’s brig, while some ghosts of the past resurface for Rai when he comes into contact with Archibald during Neo DC’s takeover of the Earth Environmental Summit. This of course goes back to the Elpis Incident where Archibald made Rai’s older brother Elzam choose between saving the lives of all the colony inhabitants or his own wife Cattleya (i.e. his older sister-in-law). As a quick refresher, Elzam ultimately chose to save the colonists and kill Cattleya along with Archibald’s group of terrorists, causing Rai to break ties with Elzam and his family as a whole. Saying that he simply bears a grudge would be an understatement, as his first encounter with Archibald here showed. While the whole kidnapping princess bit may be a bit overused — especially in Shine’s case since she was kidnapped by DC before to take advantage of her precognitive-like ability — it was worthwhile for their encounter alone, though it didn’t hurt to have Shine protected by her beloved Raidiese this time around either. Other than that, there was a bit more on the Kyousuke x Excellen front, including a flashback to the shuttle crash during their cadet years where they were the only two survivors. I’m kind of wary on saying too much more than that for now, but will add that those two are going out despite what their behavior would lead most people to believe.

Finally, the last interesting bit came from the discussion with Ryouto Hikawa (Kobayashi Yumiko) about the R-Eins Personal Troopers that Neo DC deployed in the latest battle, which quickly became about the Grungust Type-3-like Thrudgelmir as well. Ryouto threw out the idea that they could have come from the future, but no one seems to suspect that they’re from another dimension just yet. During all that, Lamia’s been carefully observing them and how they’re getting closer to learning about the existence of Shadow-Mirror too, so I’m looking forward to see what happens when all of that comes to light. It’s kind of dumb how the good guys in SRW are always quick to take in random people they encounter or even previous enemies, but it almost always leads to most of them coming around at some point. In fact, it’s like a tried and true method, meaning that the possibility that a character will join the Earth Federation Army is never completely out of the picture. That is, unless you’re a character like Archibald Grims.

 

Preview

46 Comments

  1. Damn it! So, they made another lousy excuse why we won’t see the Huckebein Mk.III in this series. I’m guessing the EX Ryouto is talking about is just another Gespenst. >.<

    How did Gilliam smuggled his Gespenst inside the palace when the terrorists where having problems bringing in bombs?

    Lurker
    Reply

    2. According to the staff the EX will be the Wildschwein EX. Its apparently an entirely original mecha for the show. Bullet’s mecha is a Wildschwein Mk.II (not a Huckbein Mk.II). And no still no Huckbeins, I doubt they will show them in the show.

      fragb85
      Reply

      1. Why aren’t there any Huckbeins here, anyway? I mean, I’ve asked around and I didn’t get an answer. Is it known? Or is Lurker’s suspicion about Sunrise complaints due to the Gundam similarities (and similarities are where it ends) the correct version? I’m rather curious.

        I had to laugh about the ‘SHOUT NOW’ prompt before the kick, and at the Kyousuke line after. Even Excel-nee seemed thrown off balance.

        Jeremiah Bourque
        Reply

      2. @ Jeremiah ^:
        Because Huckebeins are just Gundams with another name. They’d probably run into copyright problems if they brought a non-MP Hukebein into the series (since the MP version already appeared in the OVA).

        Shiden
        Reply

  2. So lets list all the awesome things in this episode.

    -Latooni in her iconic dress. One step closer to the Fairlions!
    -Rai catching a bullet with his bare(cybernetic) hands!
    -Gilliam’s badass entrance including his Gespenst Type-RV
    -Excellen piloting in a dress.
    -ULTIMATE GESPENTOOO KIIIIIIIICK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    Plus Lune and the titular Inspectors on the next episode preview!

    I love this show.

    fragb85
    Reply

    1. I think the only part that I was hoping for was R-2 getting its ass kicked by Achibald and his graviton cannon… but dealing with a crippled R-2 would probably slow things down too much, so bleh.

      Shiden
      Reply

      1. where did that alt gespent come from exactly -its not in og2 -though i think there is some newer version of it that might have introduced it. Things are getting interesting with the last of the 3 major enemies showing up next time around.

        chaos
        Reply

      2. @ chaos ^:

        It’s the Mk.II-S (with a new color scheme and design tweaks, compared to the OG2 version). In OG2, it’s a secret unlock for Kai later in the game, complete with the Gespenst Kick.

        Shiden
        Reply

  5. Holy crap.

    I was just thinking to myself the other day, it’d sure be nice to see Kyosuke (or Mai) doing their Gespenst kick in the anime, but thought it’d probably never happen… and there it is :V

    And hey, it’s Lune! Which means there’s gonna be some Valsione/Cybuster action! Sweeeeet~

    reV
    Reply

    1. all i know is its no type of gespenst ive seen before so its possible its an original made for the anime or a slightly modded version of one of the others, and its mainly their i guess to let them do a gespenst kick like in the endless frontier game or the other ones

      chaos
      Reply

      2. I’m not sure what Gespenst he pilots in OG, but he’s seen in his PTX-007-1 Gespenst Mk.II Type-R in the classic timeline (i.e. the one with the Slash Ripper). The Type-RV is the only variation with a PTX-001 designation, namely PTX-001RV, but the letters “RV” weren’t seen in the close-up shot. So hmm, I guess he might just be in a plain old PTX-001 Gespenst Type-R after all.

        For a list of the different Gespenst variations, see here.

        Divine
        Reply

    2. I’m surprised you guys haven’t noticed how inconsistent the anime has been when it comes to robots that can or can’t fly. Just take the last ep for example, the MP Wildschwein that Arad was in was airborne the entire time even when it wasn’t being held by the Rapiecage.

      You really can’t keep the robots on the surface the entire time because then it’d be boring.

      Also, it is 001R not RV. RV looks quite different besides the giant flight pack.

      Dendoh_fanboy
      Reply

      1. Well, even in the games the units can “fly”… how else would Alt be able to Stake airborne units?

        That said, it looks like the breakdown is something like – Tesla drive: unlimited, high speed/mobility flight (Lion series, Weissritter, etc). Everything else: slow flight, or at least, the ability to operate in the air.

        Shiden
        Reply

    1. Anime excuse: They need to have a working unit as soon as possible. This leads them to scrap the [Huckebein] Mk.III and just settled on finishing the [Wildschwein] EX.

      Real reason:
      1. Hajime Katoki designed the Mk.III and the other Huckebeins.
      2. The Huckebeins are, in essence, the “Gundams” of SRW universe.
      3. Sunrise owns the copyright to the Gundams.
      4. ???
      5. PROFIT!

      Lurker
      Reply

  11. I am absolutely amazed with this episode. In this episode:

    –Shine’s fangirl side over Rai!
    –Rai catches a bullet with his artificial hand!
    –Gespenst Mk.II Type-S Kyosuke Nanbu Custom!
    –Gilliam actually has his right eye! (Note, neither the games nor supporting material related to them never really state whether or not he’s hiding it behind his hair or if he lost it in the past)
    –“CALL! GESPENST!” scene adapted straight from OG Chronicle! (minus Gilliam crashing through a wall; Archibald’s reaction to that was beautiful)
    –GESPENST KICK!! (Poor Mike*)

    I will say that I am a little bummed out that The Inspector is kinda reducing the W-Series to basic super soldiers when the game made a big deal about their reveal.

    *=This is what Japan has dubbed that Lion pilot Kyosuke kicked. Mike, of course, being short for microphone, as Toshiyuki Morikawa has broken microphones in the past.

    Thrudgelmir
    Reply

      1. I wouldn’t really call the soldier a failure. It seems alot of people (including Latooni fans)seem to forget that underneath that moe goth loli exterior is a TRAINED SUPER SOLDIER. I’m just glad to anime was able to show us these.

        fragb85
        Reply

  13. i am a little annoyed that the huckebein 3 is out because it looks like a gundam but what can you do i just hope we get some other mech i wouldn’t mind it if they had the mark 2 huckebein or at the very least upgrade teh gespents as they aren’t very good stuck on the ground or give them r schniters so they can go toe to toe with the r eins as the schniter

    chaos
    Reply

  14. I still can’t believe they actually showed an attack Kyosuke can only use if you put him in a different mech in the game .Totally optional. Now that’s fanservice.
    And that Latuni pantsu shot. Oh My Gawd. I cried while watching this.

    Rockmanshii
    Reply

  17. Oh and looking from the preview the titular Inspectors will make their appearance next week with Lune and her Valsione.There should be Lefina and her crew too.Show Spoiler ▼

    Rockmanshii
    Reply

  18. I have to say that this episode made me amazed. There are a lot of cool scenes, but there are some sweet scenes, cute scenes, and somewhat-hilarious scenes as well. This episode showed another ‘side’ of Rai and Kyosuke which made me going ‘aww’ (no, not in the first scene where they’re being grumpy over Excellen’s attitude, of course ^^;).

    Anyway, Gilliam’s entry… Gawd. He’s really cool. >.<

    Oh, and I wonder if Morikawa-san broke the microphone while (or maybe after) doing the Ultimate Gespenst Kick, anyway. M-maybe he did broke some… ^^;

    LittleLoveless
    Reply

  19. Shout now!

    Anyhow, seems like we are moving on to the main deal, aliens (I’m guessing since I haven’t played any of the games).

    Talking about coming around, Lamia, my favourite I think, I hope she defects to the Earth forces, at least she’s throwing around some cues that she is moving towards them.

    Greg
    Reply

    1. ValsionE(with an E at the end), not Valsion – VALSION is that big, ugly, red mech piloted by Bian Zoldark back in DW. The one we see in the preview, which Bian made especially for his darling daughter, is VALSIONE.

      Ring_Mao
      Reply

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