Gatchaman Episode 2: The Monstrous Aircraft Carrier Appears

The Science Ninja Team must infiltrate Galactor’s aircraft carrier to rescue two kidnapped astronauts, and the device they had with them.

Episode Summary

A capsule containing two astronauts makes its way back to Earth. They safely land in the ocean where they are immediately captured by two manta-shaped submarines – smells like Galactor!

Meanwhile, Ken leans back in his chair and plays with a baby tortoise when his wristband beeps, calling him to action. On the bridge of the God Phoenix, Nambu appears on one of the screens and orders the team to rescue the astronauts as well as the Earth Compact, a super special device that was in the space capsule.

In a Galactor submarine deep underwater, we once again see our old friend Octopuss, who has gathered information taken from the Earth Compact about where to find uranium and other energy sources. He forwards this information to Berg Katse, who can never seem to make decisions on his own without immediately consulting Leader X.

Search and Rescue

The God Phoenix dives underwater where the space capsule disappeared. Eventually, after encountering a whirlpool, the team locates the Galactor submarine, or “monster-sized aircraft carrier” as Jinpei calls it. I’m still going to call it a submarine. Ryu wants to blast it with Bird Missiles. Yes, Ryu, not Joe this time. Ken and Joe (!) stop Ryu and tell him that destroying the submarine would mean killing the astronauts.

Ken puts on scuba gear and sneaks inside the submarine so he can rescue the astronauts and recover the Earth Compact all by himself. Inside, he finds himself surrounded by Octopuss and several bright spotlights. And some guards, too, but they’re quickly dealt with. Octopuss has the two astronauts brought out and used as hostages; Ken is forced to surrender. To make matters worse, the astronauts were already dead.

Fortunately, Jinpei comes to the rescue, and the remaining guards are taken out. Ken asks Octopuss for the Earth Compact by violently shaking him against the wall. Octopuss gives it up and Jinpei destroys the submarine by pressing a lot of random buttons (really).

The God Phoenix surfaces, but so does the head of the Turtle King. Octopuss is inside and under orders from Berg Katse to ram into the God Phoenix. Ken quickly pulls a lever to activate the Firebird, and the flames of the phoenix engulf the Turtle King, destroying it.

Thoughts

I wasn’t fond of this one. It was just okay. It’s main flaw is that it’s pretty much a redo of the first episode, but with less focus on the team. Ken and another Gatchaman member sneak into a Galactor vehicle, beat up all the goons, and escape, destroying the enemy with the Firebird, but failing one of their goals (recovering the uranium in the previous episode/rescuing the astronauts in this one).

After watching this, you might think that every episode will end with the God Phoenix defeating Galactor with Firebird, ala Voltron’s Blazing Sword; however, as we’ll see in the next episode, this isn’t the case.

All in all, it’s not horrible, just not great.