Episode 4, "Clash! Mechanical Beasts vs Mazinger"
*****SPOILERS*****
Synopsis: Kouji in the Mazinger and Sayaka in the Aphrodai A are attacked by the Mechanical Beasts, the blade wielding Garada K7 and two-headed Doublas M2, while Baron Ashura attempts to bring Dr. Kabuto into the fold by choice or by force. Kouji finally gets used to the controls of Mazinger, but hesitates when he sees the innocent casualties of the battle. While the Robot Corps appears to assist, Dr. Kabuto controls Mazinger's rocket punch hand and uses it to bring him to Mazinger to instruct Kouji in person.
Comments:
This episode introduced a few new things. For one, it looks like the girl Sayaka and her Aphrodai A are part of a fighting force that protects the Photon Power Labs. Her colleagues don't seem to be particularly nice, though, only stepping in at the last moment so that they can observe Mazinger. Even then, it was Dr. Kabuto who actually seemed to save Kouji, with his complicated back up controls. This Robot Corps needs to get their act together. Ashura's group was messing up the city and killing folks, and they were sitting around fingering their assholes, not helping when they could have been. What a bunch of assholes.
I guess Ashura commands these "Mechanical Beasts", which seem to be giant robots with ferocious animal-like personalities that are probably unmanned. Neither of them looked all that threatening, though. I have a guess that there are probably much more where those came from. What's the deal with Ashura's ability to stay on their shoulders or backs no matter what? Why bother with Mechanical Beasts when Ashura seems plenty capable of taking Mazinger on his/herself? Super robot show, I know.
I still haven't figured out who that samurai guy is working for. One minute he's threatening Boss and his buddies and the next he's cutting Ashura down the middle. Either way, Ashura will probably recover soon, seeing as how Ashura is obviously some sort of demigod who can survive an explosion from up close. Then again, so could Dr. Kabuto.
A lot of cool-looking action happening here, and some comedy, too, but so far nothing all that special. Still, with Imagawa, it's all about building up to some large scale epic battle. Wait, is that what I saw in the first episode? Hm.
Overall Score:
3 out of 5
