UFO Robo Grendizer 3.01

Mortal Combat with King Gori

or La bête (The Beast)

or The Desperate Fight! Defeat King Gori

This episode picks up where the last one left off.

King Gori carries Hikaru to the top of a skyskraper. Kouji uses Double Spacer to fly Grendizer, which is now missing an arm, back to the Space Science Center for repairs. Maria distracts King Gori while Duke Fleed, her brother, rescues Hikaru.

Dantus joins the battle in his own ship, so that he can better control King Gori. Gandal and Zuril join the fight too in another spaceship. Gandal really doesn't want to help Dantus but Zuril convinces him that they should for now even though their ultimate goal is to bring down Dantus.

Duke Fleed and the others return to the Space Science Center. They are mulling over what to do when Danbei joins them. He says that they should use fire against King Gori. They take Danbei's suggestions to heart and use fire to try and destroy King Gori but it isn't a very successful ploy although it does buy them some time while Grendizer is being repaired.

Duke Fleed and the other return to the Space Science Center. They get there just before King Gori attacks the SSC. Duke Fleed jumps into Grendizer once the repairs are complete. Maria, Kouji, and Hikaru also join the battle in their spacecrafts. Double Spazer and Grendizer merge and attack King Gori.

Maria in Drill Spazer and Hikaru in Marine Spazer deal with the swarms of minifos. Gandal and Zuril lead Hikaru and Maria to Dantus' spaceship. Maria drills right through Dantus' spaceship, injuring him in the process. Maria and Hikaru then head back to the Space Science Center. Gandal and Zuril check on Dantus. They find him still alive. Gandal stabs Zuril in the back with a dagger, killing him. Zuril steps on the control device for King Gori, breaking it into pieces. 

King Gori ceases to be quite as effective. Together, Double Spazer and Grendizer destroy King Gori.

Gandal and Zuril report back in to Vega Daio. They tell him that Dantus was a great warrior who died in battle. Vega Daio orders them to establish a base on Earth.

Thoughts

This is a key episode according to Wikirak. Dantus wasn't in the show for very long so I don't think his death makes this a key episode. I think it is the change in the Vegan power structure and their approach to conquering Earth (at the end of the story) that makes it a key episode.

There's a lot of twists in the story here. I love how the bad guys turn on one another. It makes them and the story more complex. I was a little surprised to see Danbei play a part in this story. The fight scenes weren't great but that's nothing new for this series. I wonder how implementing Vega Daio's orders will alter the show over the course of the 21 remaining episodes of the series?