Hikaru Calls for Help across the Waterfall
Danbei checks on his horses early one morning. They are acting a bit strange. Shiraba, one of the horses, breaks out of its stall and charges out of the barn. Danbei runs after it but then stops when he sees a Vegan ship just over the horizon. It has disappeared by the time he wakes the others. They assume he is seeing things again.
Daisuke and Kouji go to see Professor Umon who tells them that what Danbei saw must be a Vegan saucer beast. It must be looking for Grendizer. The professor tells Daisuke to investigate but to use Route 7 which comes out far away from the Space Center.
Hikaru shows up at the Center. She is looking for Daisuke. She tells the professor and Kouji, who claims not to know where Daisuke is, about how her father went after one of the horses. Kouji agrees to go look for him with Hikaru once he hears which direction Danbei headed, the same one that the saucer beast was headed.
Duke Fleed and Grendizer find Saucer Beast Giss Giss just before Danbei, who has arrived on horseback. The horse gets spooked by the saucer beast and takes off. Danbei falls off the horse but is still attached and gets dragged quite some ways until Kouji and Hikaru show up in a jeep and save him.
Grendizer continues to fight Saucer Beast Giss Giss, unaware of what else is going on. Grendizer's weapons seem to be for the most part ineffective. The saucer best starts to pull Grendizer into a mountainous crater lake. Grendizer breaks free. The saucer beast receives orders from Blaki to return to base. He thinks that they already have enough information.
Grendizer tries pursuing the saucer beast but it disappears into a dark cloud formation. Minifos emerge from the clouds and attack Grendizer. Duke Fleed is able to dispatch the minifos and is ready to continue looks for Saucer Beast Giss Giss but Professor Umon instructs him to return to base. He suggests using route 4 to throw off the Vegans.
Blaki discusses his findings with Gandal and Lady Gandal. He believes he now knows the general area where Grendizer's base must be. He plans to destroy the local dams, there are three of them, which should flood the area. This will create chaos and force Grendizer to reveal his location.
Daisuke return to the ranch where he is confronted by a very angry Hikaru. She wants to know where he was and blames him for what happened to her father. Daisuke doesn't know what to say. Kouji shows up and tries to defend Daisuke but Hikaru turns on him. Kouji backs away. Danbei comes out, determined to go after the missing horse. Daisuke offers to do so but Hikaru beats him to the punch, jumps on the nearest horse, and takes off in search of the missing horse. Daisuke gets another horse and goes after her.
Daisuke catches up to Hikaru but she still won't listen to him and wants to know where he was that morning. He still won't tell her. Her horse gets spooked and she falls over a cliff. Daisuke transforms into Duke Fleed in order to save. After he has rescued her he tells her who is and how he came to be on Earth. She is still angry and he slaps her. She takes off on her horse.
Duke Fleed heads for the dam only to encounter Blaki. He has captured Hikaru and threatens to toss her over the side of the dam if Duke Fleed doesn't do exactly as he is told. He wants Duke Fleed to bring Grendizer and land him at the base of the lowest dam. Daisuke returns to the Space Center. He tells Professor Umon and Kouji about what it going on. Kouji agrees to get everyone at the ranch to safety.
Duke Fleed returns with Grendizer. Blaki has the saucer beast destroy the lowest of the three dams. Duke Fleed in Grenzider tries to prevent him from destroying the middle dam but that one is also destroyed. Grendizer and the Saucer Beast fight. Grendizer looks like he is down for the count. Blaki orders Saucer Beast Giss Giss to destroy the last of the dams. Duke Fleed wakes up just in time, thanks to Hikaru. He prevents the saucer beast from destroying the dam. He then uses just about every trick in the book, all of his weapons, and destroys the saucer beast.
Hikaru apologizes to Daisuke. They reconcile. The missing horse comes running up just as the episode ends.
Thoughts
This seems like a pivotal episode. There's a lot to chew on here.
The biggest thing is Hikaru's discovery that Daisuke is really from another planet. It takes her some time to accept that. He shouldn't have slapped her but that probably isn't that uncommon in Japanese cartoons from this era. I believe something similar happened in episode 1.12 except it wasn't Hikaru but a little girl that Duke Fleed slapped.
I thought this was a very well constructed episode but it hasn't aged well. There's a little too much going on. Things happen a little too quickly but I can appreciate what they were trying to do and how they went about doing it.
One thing that struck me about this episode was how early Grendizer's first battle with the sauce beast occurred. It usually seems as if that doesn't occur until well into the episode.
Blaki landed on Earth. He's fought Grendizer in saucer beasts in the last couple episodes but this is the first time that I can remember him taking the lead like he did here. He usually seems to lead from afar.
The title for this episode is close but not right on target. The title on Wikipedia is Hikaru's Screaming Torrent, which sound much worse to me. The french title is Le déluge des nouveaux mondes which translates to The Deluge of New Worlds, better but still not spot on.
This is probably one of my favorite episodes to date. I like the juxtaposition of the fight with the Vegans and Daisuke's relationship with Hikaru. It doesn't feel like the show is treading water. It feels as though the overall plot is really getting moved forward.
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