| Title: | Juusou Kikou Dancouga Nova |
| Episode: | 8: Escape from the Past |
| Synopsis |
| After plunging into a giant cave, the Dancouga crew find themselves unable to communicate with base. With Dancouga immobilized and being hammered by missiles, they abandon it and split up into two pairs to seek an escape route. Hidaka and Sakuya wonder who is attacking them. Ardaigun has in fact returned to it's base, where it's pilot is questioned for failing to finish Dancouga off. Will--he seems to serve both sides--explains that the true objective was not to destroy Dancouga but to provoke it to "awaken it's true power". FS is also in communication with Will, and is unhappy that this latest encounter failed to "advance Dancouga's evolution". Will admits that the outcome was unfortunate, but insists he will not stray from his goal of making Dancouga "an entity that surpasses even God". Kronkite is outraged to learn that the worldwide press has recieved a mysterious message forbidding any more reports on Dancouga, and intends to obey it. She quits, to carry on her investigation alone. Meanwhile, Kurara disables a powered armor suit and questions the pilot--but why is this man so hostile to Dancouga when he was on the losing side? |
| Comments |
At the end of this episode I could only laugh and ask myself "what the fuck"? I'm still enjoying it, I just don't know what to make of this wild ride through subterranean caverns, an encounter with an Egyptian-ish Queen (I think), and the revelation of some of the other hardware that the Dancouga organization can call upon. I guess "Escape from the Past" is a reference to the backward attitudes of the defenders of the island; this could have been better explained. Seeing as this is episode eight out of twelve, we're two-thirds of the way through the series and it may not have been wise to go off on a tangent here. Will seems to serve both sides (or maybe it would be more appropriate to say that both sides serve him), though I wonder how many people are aware of this fact. It seems that Dancouga and Ardaigun duel as a sort of highly realistic training to further develop them--"That is the true reason Ardaigun exists" Will comments. Nothing new this time about the enemy they are being prepared to meet; Eida Rossa appears briefly (at least if she was at a commercial shoot she couldn't have been the masked pilot of Ardaigun!) and the Dancouga crew discuss their motivations for joining the team. Despite some problems (like Kurara taking down a powered armor suit with a mere pistol), I'm satisfied. Not one of the best episodes, and you might be able to skip this one without missing anything too critical to the long term plot, but the mystery is still intriguing, and I laughed at the end because I was having fun!
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