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「楽園からの追放者」 (Rakuen kara no Tsuibousha)
“An Exile From Paradise”
As suspected, any sort of potential suspense or shock from Lamia’s sacrifice was short-lived, after it was revealed she survived the Ash to Ash self-destruct. Taking its place wasn’t a decisive battle between Kyousuke and Axel however, and instead an explanation on Shadow-Mirror’s origin care of one Gilliam Yeager, a.k.a. Helios Olympus. It looks like I jumped the gun on that revelation back in episode four, but what I didn’t mention then was how Gilliam helped created the System XN dimensional warp device that allowed Shadow-Mirror to come to this world. Gilliam had taken the first of two devices, Agyieus, to reach the Original Generations world as the “First Jumper”, whereas they had taken the second one, Lykeios, in search of him. All of that was really just some more background on who the Earth Federation is dealing with, which served its purpose after the startling statement Vindel made last time on what they perceive as an ideal world. The real surprise came at the very end, when Gilliam and Lamia explained to everyone why Shadow-Mirror had come to this dimension to continue their work. Even as someone somewhat familiar with the story, it was still a bit of an eye-opening moment to see the cold open that the series premiered with finally cleared up.
The big emphasis of course was on Kyousuke’s fearsome and practically inhuman other self “Beowulf” who single-handedly chased Shadow-Mirror off, with the fallout being that Gilliam is also a dimensional traveler. It was undoubtedly a defining moment of this sequel, which may leave some people wonder why it was subtitled “The Inspector” instead of “Shadow Mirror”. After all, the focus has clearly been more on their involvement up until now. My take on it is that the Inspectors are more deserving though, seeing as they were able to occupy key military facilities throughout the world in one fell swoop with absolute ease. In comparison, Shadow-Mirror isn’t much more than an unexpected nuisance that the Earth Federation has to deal with alongside Neo DC, given that Kyousuke and the others have been able to drive them back on multiple occasions already. Rather than the dominant galactic power like the Inspectors have made themselves out to be, Vindel’s group is more of a manipulative one that pulls the strings in the background. They aren’t interested in wiping out mankind, and simply want to see a world with unending conflict. In any case, what I find interesting is how all of that comes together as problems continue to arise from the different factions. It’s a prominent theme in the games and one that gets brought up every so often in the stages themselves, where you’re pitting against two groups of enemies in a complete free-for-all. The different there is that the player generally wants to wedge their units right in between and reap the benefits of taking out all the enemy units. Here, not so much.
In terms of some specific developments, Sanger Zonvolt (Ono Kenichi) makes his reappearance in this sequel piloting his Grungust, equipped with an enormous Zankantou sword. It didn’t really take too long for him to make a rival of his strikingly similar counterpart, Wodam Ymir a.k.a. W-15, and start crossing swords with him like only super robots can. Along with Lemon’s decision to not fix Lamia’s speech in hopes of seeing her sense of individuality continue to grow, and granting her a Zweizergain/Soulgain-like Vysaga super robot as a parting gift, the sheer number of over-sized swords undoubtedly provided the most “oomph” this episode. What I personally took more notice to was Gilliam in his Gespenst RV and Rai‘s reaction to being reunited with his older brother Elzam. Also, there was the huge cast of characters assembled during the meeting, most of which didn’t have any dialogue to potentially save calling in all the seiyuu for a quick one-liner. In terms of production, I was curious the anime would handle the cost of a large cast from episode to episode, so I found only focusing on a handful each episode a smart way of going about it. I’m fine with everyone simply being around, such as Ryune in her laid-back choice of clothing. Anyway, I can’t see this recent revelation affecting the Earth Federation’s actions too greatly. If anything, it just finally cleared things up on who they’re up against.
Preview
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I wonder why Elzam dropped the facade of being Ratsel
btw possibly first
ratsel is his secret code name after hiding from earth federation forces after the L5 incident he needs hide in the shadows for a while observing what will the former DC member are plotting after Sophia Nate vanish in tesla institute…
Got to hand it to Obari and Terada, they know how to surprise me. I mean I know what will happen next, but they implement the story and mecha in such a way that it feels fresh.
I loved the debut of the RV and I certainly wasn’t expecting the Vysaga. Of course the real highlight is SANGER ZONVOLT THE SWORD THAT CLEAVES EVIL!!!! I was waiting for this moment and it was awesome, especially with the shot of the R-Eins face as if to say OH CRAP at the Zankantou.
thanks for the post…
I am not familiar with the game storyline since I didn’t have the system nor time to play them… so guess I will dive into them after the anime 🙂
Lamia’s new unit is one of my favorite though since I did play a little bit of SRW A…
I think this is the first time I’ve seen Katina in her uniform, rather than her pilot suit. Even in Divine Wars she was always in her pilot suit, including the final send-off party. The kill marks on her shoulder plate also seem to be drawn differently depending on how close the shot of her is, appearing sometimes as a single line and sometimes as two.
I suspect though that “The Inspector” has about as much meaning as “Divine Wars” had for the previous series. While “Divine Wars” did devote quite a bit of screentime to the Divine Crusaders, Bian Zoldark was taken out only halfway through, and the final battle was against the Aerogaters. We’ve seen more of Neo DC so far in “The Inspector” than we did in the half of “Divine Wars” after Bian was killed.
Which means that around now would be the time when the series returns to the Inspectors as the main focus. Shadow Mirror is gone for the moment, and now Neo DC and the Earth Federation are set to launch their assault on the Inspectors.
Putting that aside, the entire coup of Mission Harpa seems to have been conveniently ignored. Daitetsu and Lefina seem too principled to stand for such a thing and follow orders, but there is no indication they’ve been chased off or rebelled. Or if they have, they’ve been remarkably laid back by the whole thing and the EF has decided not to go after them.
Super EPIC!!
Kinda wished Lamia knew Shadow Mirror Ryusei was killed, just so that I could see his reaction when he finds out he was killed by Kyousuke in the other world.
Sanger Chestoooooo is epic!!
Loved this episode. Having Sanger’s theme play as he made his entrance really set the mood of the scene.
Love Lune / Ryune’s dress sense too – she always seems to dress like she’s doing her laundry or something! Just don’t say it to her face or the last word’s you’ll hear are “Cross Smasher”.
“Ryune”
……….
“Lamia”
Thats Ramia.
“Gilliam”
Thats Giruriamu.
“Elzam”
Thats Eruzamu.
Seriously, stop this foolishness with Ryuune and stuff. Just go by OG script. Do you not know how anal Japanese are with names translations ? Have you not read that the spelling was handed down from Banpresto themselves for OG games ?
http://www.mania.com/aodvb/blog.php?b=3754
You clearly have little understanding about Japanese romanization
It’s “Giriamu” by the way.
Weaboo detected.
First they make Kyousuke do the Gespenst kick, then they add the Vaisaga for Lamia, I wonder how can they make this adaptation even successful now. Because you have to realize guys, they just added a secret mech in the anime! One that you only get in OG2 if you finished the game once and replay it!!!Isn’t this is, like, the best fanservice ever?
An english patch for SRW J on GBA has been released btw.Go play this game if you never did.
Quote: Because you have to realize guys, they just added a secret mech in the anime! One that you only get in OG2 if you finished the game once and replay it!!!
Thats only true if you mean the Gameboy version but PS2 version don’t have that requirement.
Vaisaga is like one of my top 3 favorite mech so hell yea I say they bring in this mech. Robot with cape means pwnage.
Gilliam Yeager is pretty much like Kamen Rider Decade Tsukasa Kadoya that whenever he slides to another dimension he gets a Undead Tax Exception identity. When he came to the OGverse he was already a former Aggressor. Like Decade Gilliam was a big boss of an evil organization of evil organizations,which included also Shocker, and was an amnesiac who became comrades with those who were supposed to be his enemies,Ultra Seven, Kamen Rider Black, Amuro Ray.
Thus Hero Senki theme is appropriate. Heck Gilliam even said the same thing from Hero Senki this world is an experiment to Axel, another would be victim of laser guided amnesia.
what where you expecting they would use an ash saver the enemy is using those and buy the end they will have lots more so it makes more sense to use the other. Plus its the save scale as her previous one both are super robots.
Also they did skip a little of the conflict between some of the pilots but time is limited. Im currious as to what the next episode will be considering Show Spoiler ▼
I am interested in seeing a few more all out fights considering the number of mechs they have they are going to have to pull out the srx soon because otherwise they have too many units to cover.
Yo, Red. Fancy meeting you here.
Seeing you makes me want to consider a VC/OG cross :p
Anyway, the highlight of this episode was of course “CHESTO!” but it’s nice to see everyone in action and kicking ass, and nice to see Vysaga. Looks like Lamia fulfiled the secret condition afterall!
I do wonder if Kai will still get the Gespenst Type-S, or if his MkII will be upgraded to the Gespenst Custom from OG Gaiden… with the first we get gratuitous Gespesnt Kicks, but with the second we get Jet Phantom…
…also we need him to take center stage for once, kicking ass accompanied by Rushing Dandy. Too bad Obari and Terada weren’t doing Divine Wars – Ryusei’s route had plenty of standout moments for Kai. As one troper put it, every time you use Kai alone in OG1, it’s a Crowning Moment of Awesome.
Well, after the slower pace of 11 and 12, it’s nice to get back into the action.
What’s also amusing is Kai’s comment that the Aggressors aren’t totally normal…
Ratsel: “I knew it, Gilliam, you weren’t a normal human…”
Kai: “If you’re saying that, you know the Aggressors aren’t exactly normal…”
Let’s see: Gilliam: Dimension Jumper, final boss of Hero Senki, spreads the Gespenst line throughout the SRW verse.
Ratsel: Ace Pilot Lightning Bruiser, son of the famed Branstein family – rich, powerful, has a hot wife, Aggressor.
Sanger: Sword That Cleaves Evil. Samurai.
Tempest Hawker: …actually he was pretty normal, until he defected to the Neo DC and went mad thanks to the GEIM system.
Kai: Badass Normal. The ONLY one of the crew who’s still in a Gespenst MkII during OG1-2, with the only mod being green custom colors instead of standard blue.
Don’t forget Trombe for Elz…Ratsel.
“Sanger: Sword That Cleaves Evil. Samurai.”
You mean HOT-BLOODED Samurai.
Seriously. Sanger is like, a walking CMoA.
Also yeah, Kai is badass. But you know who else is badass? Latooni (Currently playing through OG2 on my GBA, and I kicked Bullet out of the Hückebein MkII to give it to her instead(Actually, I gave it to Rai first, then Latooni once Rai picked up the R-2P in Scenario 7). Dunno who I’ll give it to once she gets the Fairlion.