The Second Series: Gatchaman II
52 episodes
In the second season, which was done in 1978, Sosai X has returned, aged a 3 year-old-child to womanhood, and placed her in command of his organization. Her name is Gelsadora, and she fights a nasty case of the terrible twos throughout the series. Gatchaman is reassembled, and Dr. Nambu announces that he will be placing a new G2 among them. Replacing Joe. The team protest, but Nambu is adamant. The new member, Getz, looks and acts suspicious, because, it turns out, he's a Galactor. When he finally reveals his allegiance, the team fight him and a hoarde of Galactor flunkies, but he escapes. A few minutes later, though, they find him dead, a feather shuriken in his throat...
Ken, in his newfound recklessness, nearly gets himself killed twice in three episdes. The second time, he crashlands his plane, the Eagle Sharp, and hallucinates Joe's voice and face. When he finally awakes to the safety of a cave, it is with Jun and Jinpei and Ryu around him. A scientist named Dr. Rafael tells them that it was he who saved Ken, and from the falcon that sits upon his shoulder he accepts a feather. This he throws the way Joe threw his shuriken, reassuring them that Joe is not alive.
The team is attacked again in episode 4, and a man in a helicopter comes down and shoots off their enemies, saving them...but we can't see his face. Positive that the man is Joe, Jun runs after the helicopter, screaming his name. He is gone, however, and she falls to her knees, disheartened.
The team heads into the desert in hopes of stopping Galactor's latest plan. They need to head below-ground, and Nambu insists that he will do it in the G2 vehicle, which would have been Joe's. Ken lunges at Nambu, and the two of them seem that they will come to blows...and then they hear the first warbling notes of the Gatchaman whistle. All of them freeze, looking out across the desert. A silhouette appears on the horizon, the melodic bars rolling across the sand.
A few yards from them, the man stops. In a steel-blue racing suit, wearing sunglasses, he waits. Jun and Jinpei run towards him. With Ryu, they stop just short of him, staring at his impassive face. He reaches up, removes the sunglasses...without any doubt, it's Joe. Alive. Nambu and Ken race up, demanding to know why he didn't tell them he was alive. Well, Jun, Ryu, and Jinpei ask. Ken hits Joe. And Joe, once he recovers, happily hits him back.
He tells them that Dr. Rafael saved his life, but pensively avoids further explanation. But we quickly see that something is depressing him, making him feel alienated from his friends. When he starts directing killer electical currents through his body and tearing tanks apart with his bare hands, we get the impression that maybe something ain't quite kosher.
Joe is a cyborg, a man enhanced by machinery. His brain damage has been compensated for by technology, and his body has been made stronger, tougher. He can plunge his hand into lava and remain unharmed, survive explosions and escape car wrecks unscathed. But all Joe really wants is to be human...
Midway through the series, Nambu takes on an assistant, Dr. Sylvie Pandora, who has the male members of the team drooling and Jun charmed. Joe quickly looks past the pretty face and body to see a traitor, someone who's determined to kill Nambu. And when the team learns that Nambu has been shot in the head and has died, Joe tries to shoot her. Only Ken's wrestling the gun from his hands on the steps of the hospital keeps Pandora in one piece. Nevertheless, Joe and Ken are certain that Sylvie is to blame, and basically accuse her of betrayal. She calmly denies it. But she is to blame. Her motives, she insists, were the best. Gelsadora was trying to find Nambu via his brainwaves, so she had to make his brainwaves stop. By inducing brain death. Nambu, who is quickly resurrected, heartily agrees with her methods. (I'm sorry, Nambu? That shot damaged your judgement. The woman shot you in the head.)
A meeting between Gelsadora and Pandora induces a strange sense of familiarity for each...probably because, as we later discover, Pandora is Gelsadora's mother. Even when Gelsadora bears the guise of a man (Ritchman III, a world-reknown millionaire and the builder of an observatory), Pandora has that eerie sense of recognition. In search of answers, she slips into the observatory and begins to photograph some plans she finds. She is, of course, caught red-handed, and Ritchman comes to see the intruder for himself. He pulls a gun with the intention of shooting her...and discovers that he can't. One of his men takes the responsibility upon himself, but Gatchaman has arrived. And after Ken has taken out every last one of the Galactor flunkies, Ritchman reveals that he is in fact Gelsadora. Pandora is stunned.
More Galactors arrive, and Pandora and Ken flee to the God Phoenix. When Pandora awakes in a hospital, Nambu tells her that the plans of which she took pictures show that X intends to shift the sun out of orbit. Another of X's minions, Marstora, is destroying Earth's bases on Mars, as well as firing a Main Beam Cannon at the Sun...testing the weapons that will eventually be used in X's Solar Shift plan. Gelsadora is, of course, horrified by X's use of a leader besides her, but there's not much she can do about it. Marstora fires a Main Beam Cannon at the sun from the base he has on Mars, creating explosions on the sun's surface which have disasterous effects on Earth. X intends to build two more Main Beam Cannons, one on Earth and one on Venus, which will then simultaneously be fired at the sun to complete the Solar Shift Plan. Nambu dispatches Gatchaman (Ken) to destroy the Mars base.
Ken engages in a battle that he is not winning, but a last-minute gamble destroys the base. And leaves him drifting helplessly in space with only two days' worth of oxygen. Joe goes out to save him and, of course, succeeds.
Meanwhile, Marstora is working to repair the base, and X makes plans to initiate the Solar Shift Plan within three days. On the third day, the just as the Mars Beam Cannon is about to fire, it explodes.
In hopes of destroying Gatchaman, Galactor begins killing off young men. Ken, sick and disgusted over it all, goes to sit on a a rocky shore to consider. When Joe appears, Ken admits that he's thinking about giving himself up. So Joe hits him, which seems to be just what Ken needs.
Elsewhere, another young man is captured by Galactors who are sure he's Gatchaman. Ken, upon learning that "Gatchaman" has been captured, dons a Galactor uniform to watch Gelsadora torturning the man she believes is him. She notices him because he is unfamiliar to her, and when she has his mask pulled off he leaps away, crying "I am Gatchaman!" and transforming into bird style. He saves the other man and the two of them escape, but now Gelsadora knows Gatchaman's identity.
The Solar Shift Plan, though it has not yet been executed in its terrible entirety, has already caused problems all over Earth. A huge tidal wave is heading straight for Utoland and ISO headquarters. Having discovered that the ISO has gathered many scientists in hopes of disarming the Solar Shift Plan, Galactor attacks. Gelsadora manages to corner Nambu, Pandora, and the scientists on the 31st floor, from which she then makes an egotistical announcement to the world about how her victory -and impending tyranny- is inevitable.
Nambu warns her about the approaching tidal wave, but she ignores him. And refuses to believe his explanation on what the Solar Shift Plan will really do, refuses to believe that X is lying to her, using her.
The tidal wave approaching, Gelsadora decides it's time to go. The Gatchaman team arrives to save the scientists and the radar machine that they hope will stop the Solar Shift Plan. But ISO headquarters itself crumbles into the water.
As the series draws towards its close, we find Joe feeling more and more urgently that he,and only he, must destroy Sosai X. X, realizing that Joe (and Dr. Rafael, Joe's creator) are a significant threat, has Joe attacked by Galactors on cycles. They corner him in an alley and submit him to a beating that no human could survive: Smashing into him with their bikes, catching him in laser crossfire. Joe refuses to stay down and, in a hulklike show of rage, destroys all the bikes and kills each of his aggressors (except the one who's smart enough to run away) with his bare hands. Joe stumbles away from the encounter, but he is unable to renew his energy. He goes to Dr. Rafael's lab in search of help, and is attacked again by more Galactors. These, too, he defeats, and goes back outside to find a wounded Dr. Rafael being tended by Ken. But a Galactor stands above them, taking aim at the doctor. Joe tosses a feather shuriken at the same instant that the Galactor fires. Having sworn that no one but Joe can destroy Sosai X, Rafael dies. Joe, in another rage, goes after the shooter, fulling intending to tear him to shreds. Ken stops him, shakes his head. Joe refuses to obey, and Ken hauls him away from the man, slugs him. Chastened, Joe slowly climbs back to his feet.
On the anniversary of Pandora's husband's and child's deaths, Pandora dreams of the disaster that took them from him: X plowing into the ocean liner upon which they rode. Gelsadora suffers the same nightmare, but from the point of view of little Sammie. She remembers her mother screaming her name, but not her mother's face. She goes to X to find out about her childhood, which she cannot remember. X reveals to her how he aged her and trained her. He tells her to forget her mother; even if the woman lived, she would not know Gelsadora now. But Gelsadora cannot forget. She goes in search of information on the Elizabeth Moore, the ocean liner. When she sees a picture of Sammie Pandora, she cries, "That's me!" The man sitting on across the desk from her says that the mother, Sylvie Pandora, survived the tragedy, and finally the pieces fall into place for Gelsadora. Horrified, she returns to X, who humors her by assuring her that they can recruit Pandora into Galactor. Gelsadora quickly incorporates her mother into her recurring fantasy of ruling the world, and leaves X much relieved. But X calls her a fool once she's gone...
Pandora herself has gone to visit the gravesites of her late husband and daughter. A man approaches her, telling her that her child is in fact alive...and he will take Pandora to her. She goes, but upon entering the Galactor base is certain she has been deceived. Gelsadora, clad only in the face piece of her mask, arrives. After a moment, she tosses the mask aside, crying "Mother!"
Pandora refuses to believe it, even after X shows her how he aged Sammie. And Gelsadora shares her dream of the two of them ruling the world. Angrily, Pandora tells Gelsadora that X's only intention is to destroy the Earth via the Solar Shift Plan. X stops that fast, bringing a glass wall crashing down between the women. Finally, Pandora accepts that the blond giant on the other side of the glass is truly her Sammie.
Gatchaman has arrived, and X sends Gelsadora to deal with them. But when she encounters them, she doesn't want to fight with them. She turns back the way she came, crying for her mother. The team, in a sudden flash of understanding, are stunned.
Gelsadora's absence has given X just enough time to dump Pandora into a rocket, which he then fires into the sky. Gelsadora clambers onto the ramp and climbs to the top, screaming for her mother. But she and the Gatchaman team can do nothing more than watch the rocket explode. (One can only imagine the horrible flashback Ken must experience at this.)
Nambu, trying to help Joe, whose circuits are not regaining their lost energy, discovers the bomb in his heart. Ken knocks on the door, and Nambu swiftly shuts off the computer readouts and bids him enter. Ken explains that the team is going to try to stop the Solar Shift plan, and Joe weakly insists he wants to go. Ken refuses, and Joe goes after him; they are separated by Nambu.
Never one to do what he's told, Joe takes off, just like he did in Gatch I. (Nambu, won't you ever learn to lock that boy in?) He gives himself the energy to keep going by basically hotwiring himself using some of the electrical wires in Rafael's lab. Nambu contacts the New God Phoenix and explains the the team about the bomb in Joe's heart: When he gets near X, the bomb will explode, destroying both Joe and X, as Rafael intended. Ken promises Nambu that they will find Joe.
Gelsadora is finally realizing what a fool she has been in her blind devotion to X. Finally understanding that his intention was never to make her empress of the Earth, only to destroy it. In a daze, she wanders around her base, mumbling incoherently about her mother, about sunsets, about being empress of the world. Her men, in the meantime, have begun the countdown for the firing of the Main Beam Cannon. The Phoenix arrives in time to witness Beam Cannons all over the world transmitting to satellites which then fire other beams at the Earth. Assuring the rest of the team that they can stop it if they destroy the Main Beam Cannon, Ken takes the Eagle Sharp out.
X listens to the resounding zero of the countdown, and then, using a mechanical arm, presses a red button. Nothing happens. X tries again. Nothing. Gelsadora enters, waving a handful of wires. Screaming that she pulled the wires from his Cannon and is no longer his servant, she hurls the wires at his screen. Laughing maniacally, she runs to the room that holds the Main Beam Cannon and uses her laser to destroy it. X announces that Gelsadora is a traitor and must be killed, but the Galactors only manage to shoot her in the arm before she escapes.
She crashlands on a beach; the same beach that Joe has crashed on. Ken confronts Gelsadora, who assures him that she is no longer X's puppet. She explains that Pandora was her mother, and that she will take him to Galactor headquarters if she is allowed to accompany him. A Galactor attacks them, but Joe arrives in timely fashion, wielding a feather shuriken. He then punches Ken, knocking him out. It is his duty to destroy X as Rafael intended, and he will not allow Ken to interfere. He and Gelsadora proceed to X's headquarters. There, Gelsadora is wounded, and Joe goes on alone to face X.
Ken awakes and summons the rest of the team. He leaves the rest to deal with the Galactors while he goes after Joe. Inside X's chambers, he finds Gelsadora slumped against the wall. X reveals a fallen Joe, and then his -X's- core self: an ugly mass of tubes and wires attached to a globe that looks suspiciously like one of those balls you shake to get a snowy scene.
Gelsadora reveals to Ken X's weak spot, and he dives for it. A laser takes off a huge part of one wing, and he plummets downward, only to be fired upon some more. He lifts his own gun to shoot, but magnetism tears if from his hands. He pops a bomb off the bottom of his shoe and lets the magnetism carry it into one of the lasers. He begins to climb back up, but there is too much laserfire, and when he leaps, bird saucer in hand, he is hit, and the saucer flies.
Joe plunges into the glass globe, shattering it. X screams, and a flash of light reveals the bomb inside Joe's heart. But the damage has been done, and X's cables and tubes crystallize and finally explode.
Outside, the others gather around a badly bruised and beaten Ken, but Ken is more interested in knowing why the bomb inside Joe didn't go off. Joe shows him how the bird saucer severed some of X's circuitry, preventing the intended chain reaction.
A dying Gelsadora struggles up the mountainside, crying for her mother. At the top, she looks down upon the lush field before her and mourns the things she has done in her life...asks that in her next lifetime that she might be allowed to make up for what she has done. Pandora calls to her, and Gelsadora staggers forward, only to fall. There, among the flowers, her child's body is restored to her. The young Sammie Pandora climbs out of Gelsadora's tattered costume and, in spirit, takes her mother's hand. The Gatchaman team, Joe leaning heavily on Ryu, watches mother and daughter ascend into the sky.
But a shard of what was once X lies aglow among the rubble...
My Ten Cents
Suffice it to say, the second season is sappier than the first. Every woman Joe falls in love with (and there are a lot of gorgeous women in this series) dies, sacrifices herself for him, or gets killed some other way. (I suppose you could call that a step up from the first series, when Joe himself killed a woman he'd fallen for.)
Ken, on the other hand, has women throwing them at him, and he's refusing them right and left. The melodrama of some of the music is enough to leave you rolling your eyes. Trust me on this. A particularly good example is the song that accompanies the loss of Joe's cybernetic love: Kathy.
The color scheme of Gatchaman II is an odd mixture of pastels and jewel tones that grew on me after a while. But no enemy that isn't color blind can miss the New God Phoenix. The art style is different, too. The characters' features are somehow less angular, though more consistent from one shot to the next. The second series is fraught with Little Orphan Annie eyes, and the characters' bodies change a lot from the first episode to the last. Whereas in Gatchaman I, the men were lean but muscular, they've developed barrel chests by the end of Gatch II, and the effect is uncomfortably reminiscent of Popeye on spinich. At first, I liked the way the second series was drawn better, but the more I've watched, I'd have to say that the last few episodes of the first series look the best out of all of them.
Gelsadora, the child-woman, looks and sounds like a buffoon right down to her clownish footprints. When she wishes to taunt Joe and Kathy, she even employs a toy jester that speaks in her voice. Granted, Katse had his moments of idiocy, but he was also graceful and had a sadistic streak Stalin might have appreciated. With all due respect, Gelsadora needs a sock stuffed down her throat.
The end of Gatch II is little more than a replay of Gatch I. The Galactor headquarters is immersed in fog. Joe is on a suicide mission. The bird saucer's chance aversion of disaster is more than a bit reminicent of Joe's feather shuriken accidentally wedging in the machinery to stop X's Black Hole Operation. And even Joe's words as he hurls himself at Sosai X are reminicent of Katse's before he leaps into the lava pit that will end his life.