UFO Robo Grendizer 2.23

I Saw My Brother in the Red Sunset

or La dernière survivante (The last survivor)

or I Saw My Big Brother In The Crimson Sunset!

Saucer Beast Deg Deg goes crazy after it is affected by radiation from Vegatron Bombs. It heads to Earth and starts wrecking havoc in Japan. One of the houses that gets badly damaged belongs to an elderly man. He tries shooting at it with a gun but he gets injured. Maria, his niece, returns home when she sees what happened to his house.

Professor Umon sees what it is going on, from the Space Science Center, and sends Duke Fleed in Grendizer to deal with the saucer beast. 

The old man explains to Maria that her real name is Grace Maria Fleed. She is the daughter of the king and queen of the planet Fleed. Her parents and her brother are dead. Her uncle saw Grendizer, the protector of Fleed, flying overhead. He assumes it was Grendizer that destroyed his house.

The old man tells his niece that he isn't really her uncle. He brought her to Earth after her relatives were killed. He tells her about how he believes that Grendizer is controlled by evil forces and that how necklace can help her to find Grendizer.

The saucer beast proves to be a little too tough for Grendizer. Professor Umon sends Kouji and Hikaru in Double Spazer and Marine Spazer to find Grendizer and help him. Together the three defeat the saucer beast.

They are confronted, after they return to the Space Science Center, by Maria. She attacks Duke Fleed with a dagger. She doesn't stop attacking him until she slashes open his shirt and sees that he has a medallion just like hers. It is then that they realize that they are siblings. Everyone gets very choked up, even Kouji, who is embarrassed by his tears.

Thoughts

This is a key episode according to Wikirak. 

There is new visuals for the opening and closing credits but the music remains unchanged. I was kind of surprised, considering the changes and the introduction of a new character, that this isn't the season opener for the third season. 

They didn't show anyone getting killed by the saucer beast but considering the amount of damage it wrecked there must have been casualties.

Usually saucer beasts are piloted by Vegans or other aliens. There is no mention of pilots in this episode. It is as if the saucer beast is sentient and pilots itself. That could explain how this saucer beast became insane.

Maria is shown riding a motorcycle before the saucer beast attacks. Maybe she rode a motorcycle to the Space Science Center. It is unclear how far the Space Science Center is from where she lived with her uncle.

This is at least partly if not mostly Maria's episode.