Last week’s episode set up a few things to be looked into and explored this week. The first one was the mysterious appearance of the black Shin Getter Robo that showed up out of nowhere. It protected the Saotome Laboratory and then left. The second was the Getter Robo Arc crew appearing at the dinosaur empire for a mission that only Kamui knew about. Takuma and Baku are left completely confounded by it. A few things here that need to be explored further. Some things the episode does answer in some way.
The opening scene was so good that it completely over took the rest of the episode even with the rest of the episode being going. In this scene, we see why the Shin Getter went off on its own. Starting with Shou and Schwarzkopf in Antarctica fighting against the dinosaur empire when the Russians fire a nuke to destroy the whole area. Enter the Shin Getter Robo crewed by Go, Ryoma, and Tehir traveling there in three minutes, using Getter Rays to absorb the nuclear missile, absorbing the enemy, and then flying into space towards Mars. That was incredible. I wish we didn’t see the best scene of the episode first, but what else can you do here?
Following that encounter, we see Takuma, Kamui, and Baku in the presence of the Dinosaur Emperor, Gore III. Obviously since Kamui is half Saurian and has lived here before, he knows the etiquette of the situation and when to bow. Takuma and Baku know nothing and are quickly accosted by Kamui for this and its very fun and character building. General Bat from the last war knows about Ryoma and talks about him, Gore III doesn’t seem interested in the two humans at all and mention’s Kamui’s human mother. I feel like there were many layers in this throne room I didn’t know about and wont know about until later.
There is also the complications of Baku and Takuma in the Dinosaur empire. Especially since when they arrived, Hayato came in and told the three the idea was to work with the Dinosaur Empire to create a united front. Afterwards, there is some quick scenes through the hallways and areas of the Dinosaur Empire, some of the food they eat when the three sit down and Takuma saying he cares about Kamui, and many other things. There is also Kamui being told about being ranked as a Saurus General after the war and the scene with his human mother along with that attempt of merging Sauri and Human dna together. The dinosaur empire seen ends with Kamui meeting some people in a dark place and the humans meeting Dr. Han. Clearly, something is going to happen. Suddenly I am interested in Dinosaur Empire politics.
Ok, back to the black Shin Getter Robo. While all the dinosaur empire stuff is happening, that Black Getter is flying all over the Earth defeating Insectors everywhere. It’s pretty ok visually seeing it help out all of the Earth Forces because of how fast it can move. There was that scene with the general from the Andromeda Stellaration gets mad at the Shin Getter’s appearance and attacks only for him to get completely decimated by a massive Getter Beam. Yup, that was it and Shou and Hayato only reacted to it happening. It’s not one of those “this is kind of there” things because it’s important to the plot, but you know. Can’t wait for the tension of 6 months until a Stoker destroys Earth.
The first scene was the best Getter Robo has looked in all departments. In the case of great 2D animation, mechanical design, and cg animation for the Shin Getter Robo and other things, it wasn’t movie level, but it was fantastic. Especially for the scene where it absorbed the nuclear bomb and then attaching itself to the enemy units around it. Holy crap, that was creepy as hell. Especially with the way we saw the Getter Robo unit gaining more influence on Ryoma, Go, and Tehir. I just…I am sill thinking about it now hours after watching it and I just watched the Eva finale two days ago. That’s just crazy.
Afterwards, the visuals were just halfway decent to good. The Black Shin Getter Robo attacking enemies was a lot of ok stock footage until the Andromeda General showed up to be destroyed in seconds. Obviously, there was a lot of resting hands of Hayato and Shou talking to each other in the same room. The visuals on the dinosaur empire were pretty great. The throne room with its many characters felt alive with its good direction, the hallways of the Dinosaur Empire looked great with the food and other characters of different designs floating around. Even the walking animation wasn’t bad. Very Good.
Over all, this was a very good episode. I don’t think I have to say it again, but the opening scene was stellar and the mechanics around the dinosaur empire and its politics was interesting to me. I like exploring Kamui’s story a bit more and see what Takuma and Baku are doing in this foreign area and what they can do later on. The other Black Shin Getter Robo scenes were obviously scenes that were cut to for filler between these scenes, but it’s not like they were bad. Even the visuals were decent to amazing. That’s why it’s such a good episode.
Mechanical Anime Reviews 
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