Gatchaman II Synopses

Note: The Gatchaman II synopses is an ongoing project, with some of this done by memory. More information is forthcoming and corrections will be made as I rewatch the episodes.

1. Governor X Counterattack: Sosai X is back, and nastier than ever. The first thing he does is plow through the Titanic-class cruise ship Queen Margaret, killing most of the passengers and stealing a little girl to mutate into his latest flunky general, GelSadora. Then he begins stealing key military figures and scientists and drawing back his soldiers to reform the Gallactor Syndicate. Upon hearing this, the UN beseeches Dr. Nambu to do something, and he announces the return of the Science Ninja Team. With new training and weapons... but they're missing their G-2. Joe has been dead for two years. Nambu announces to the team that Intelligence has selected a spy to take Joe's place: the mysterious and nasty Hawk Getz.

   

2. Mysterious Feather Shuriken: Getz has led the team into a temple full of traps and mazes and sprung his disguise: he's a Gallactor agent. But within moments of the team's escape from the trap he set for them, Getz is found dead, a feather shuriken embedded in his throat. Footprints lead from Getz's corpse to a series of underground caves which lead to a Gallactor base and the Garender Rocket, which GelSadora plans to launch at the ISO.

3. Black Knights from Hell: A uranium shipment has been hijacked by troops of soldiers in black stormtrooper armor. The Science Ninja Team is dispatched to deal with them, and a series of mysterious leads send them to the Alamo Prison, which conceals another Gallactor base. The Science Ninja Team is nearly killed in the ensuing battle, but are rescued by a mysterious and unseen benefactor. Could it be Joe? But Joe is dead, right? (Never mind that he figures prominently in the title credits...)

4. Joe Has Returned?!: An error made when a Gallactor drill slips into the Earth's mantle causes a series of devastating earthquakes. The Science Ninja Team is sent to check this out using a new supercomputer and drill probe, and are attacked by Gallactor soldiers, who are in turn mowed down by a mysterious gunman in a mini helicopter. Dr. Nambu provides the solution to more than one problem by claiming a new vehicle, the Condor Attacker, can end these earthquakes by tunneling underground and firing a missile into the mantle. But who will pilot this vehicle? Will the real Condor hurry up and take the bait already?

5. Mystery of the Primitive Man Invasion: A Gallactor ray turns ordinary citizens into raging cave people, and it's up to the Science Ninja Team to stop them.

6. Attack of the Pyramid Power: Jinpei crashes his Swallow Helico and while trying to repair it, is befriended by Yukari, the daughter of Dr. Sugata, a prominent scientist working with the effects of pyramid power. His expertise is used by Gallactor, and it's up to him to provide a way to defuse his own invention.

7. Fearful Mutant Operation: Involves Jinpei, a young friend, some mutant plants and giant butterflies. Detailed explanation forthcoming.

8. The Firebird in the Moon: Involves Jun and Jinpei's trip to visit friends in a space station, investigating incidents that have resulted in the mysterious disappearance of spaceships. Detailed explanation forthcoming.

9. Berg Katse's Downfall: While overseeing the operations of Gallactor's latest missile, the Sea Tiger, GelSadora is frustrated by X's constantly comparing her to Berg Katse. Through a series of flashbacks, we review Katse's fate. During the ensuing monstermech battle, the Science Ninja Team must go into Firebird mode, but they're missing the G-2 mecha. Joe goes back into the vehicle pods to "fix" the problem and after the Firebird is used, reemerges with his gloves in rags, but he is otherwise unharmed. Jun determines later that the only way he could have closed the circuit for the Firebird mode was to run the current through his own body.

10. A Blizzard at the Equator Gallactor's latest mecha generates a magnetic field that warps the Van Allen Belt, resulting in weird weather patterns and vicious snowstorms at the equator which kill the inhabitants of several tropical islands. While investigating the weather disturbances, Ryu and his Horned Tank are swept away in ocean currents and stranded on an island where Ryu befriends a cranky old island hermit named Rokko. The rest of the team track Ryu down in time to find Rokko dying of the cold. Ryu takes revenge in the old man's name by using Rokko's (non-metal) harpoon to disable the Gallactor mecha.

11. Struggle! Hyplunium 600: Gatchaman's tribute to Hitchcock's The Birds (look for Hitchcock's appearance in the hospital scene) in which GelSadora threatens to unleash deadly flocks of mechanical crows on the city of Queens if the ISO doesn't deliver a load of Hyplunium 600 to a prearranged location. In an effort to peel off a layer of attacking crows that they've managed to stick to the ship with one of their own magnetic missiles, Joe puts the New Godphoenix into a steep power-dive, and the inhabitants of the other Gallactor Mecha of the day find they are... screwed (sorry, see the episode and flame me about the puns later).

12. Dr. Rafael's Secret: Dr. Rafael is the ex-physician and mad scientist responsible for Joe's rescue from Cross Karakoram at the end of the first Gatchaman series. Rafael is also the one responsible for, in his attempt to contact extraterrestrials, calling Sosai X to Earth. He employs a technology called the Leap Wave, which X warps into a signal to launch nuclear weapons in the Gatchaman equivalents of America and Russia. Only Joe's marksmanship aboard a manned missile prevents the start of World War IV.

13. G-2's Youth: Sent by Nambu to defuse a Gallactor magma missile, Joe meets Kashi, a bubbly young female agent with the same agenda. He soon finds out that she's a cyborg created by Dr. Rafael and that Joe must stay alive for an ultimate purpose, right before she dies in a suicide bombing. Joe wonders if it's possible to fall in love in 24 hours. Joe fans will be reaching for their stomach medicine within five minutes.

14. Red Impulse of Space: This just goes to show you that some people never learn... Ken nearly loses all grip on common sense when a member of the Space Defense Command, presumed to have been abducted by aliens, tells Ken that his father, the Red Impulse commander, is alive and aboard the UFO. In actuality, Gallactor has force the soldier to deliver this ruse by holding his son hostage--something that Joe, in a scene of poetic justice, puts an end to.

    

15. The Pure Heart of G-5: Ryu the Horned Owl learns about the fickle female heart when he rescues an island girl from villagers who accuse her of burning the village. Suspicion of Gallactor activity brings the entire team to the island, and the island girl ignores her savior (Ryu) in favor of romancing the Gatchaman. Ken will have none of it, however, and rebuffed, the girl takes her frustration out on Ryu by challenging him to take a flying leap off a cliff and into the ocean. He does, and thus discovers the enemy's installation.

16. Blackout Joe: While transporting a Gallactor microfile to the ISO, Joe begins experiencing blackouts and is rescued by Jun. After the two crash a convertible off a cliff and lie unconscious, we discover through flashbacks how Dr. Rafael rescued Joe after his death at Cross Karakoram. Joe discovers that the blackouts are caused by a small rogue transmitter on the microfile just in time for the Gallactors to appear and shoot Jun. This makes the Condor angry enough to tear apart a tank with his bare hands.

17. The Devil's Equation: Jun must set things right after the death of a good friend. Detailed explanation forthcoming.

18. The Spaceship that Doesn't Respond: While checking out the mechanics of a spaceship, Jinpei is hijacked by a little girl in search of her father who is lost on a space station. He is forced to launch the craft and travel to the station alone, where he finds it overrun with Gallactors. Detailed explanation forthcoming.

19. Trap in Another Dimension: While chasing after Joe (who's gone off to work on increasing his resistance to extreme heat), Ryu is trapped inside a Gallactor mecha that generates its own mini-dimension. The New Godphoenix is also swallowed by this machine, which is then set to blow up. Joe must brave firestorms to rescue Ryu, and the entire team must get out of the dimensional trap before it explodes.

20. G-Town's Critical Moment: An impostor has invaded G-Town wearing the wings of the Swan and deactivated the base's cloaking device, leaving G-Town vulnerable to attack. The real Swan Jun must uncover the mystery of why the young woman named Eva was compelled to attack the ISO (she was told her father was killed by the Science Ninja Team) and take revenge in Eva's name. The Swan really shows her skills in this episode.

21. Youth's Broken Wings: Ken reunites with two old friends from his flight academy days to find that one of them is working with Gallactor. Detailed explanation forthcoming.

22. Mysterious Stonehenge: Detailed explanation forthcoming.

23. Love Vanquished at the North Pole: Ken loses an old scientist friend in the Arctic. Detailed explanation forthcoming.

24. Suspicious G-2: Gallactor begins testing its transmitters (precursors to the Solar Shift Plan), which release a powerful and destructive magnetic field. When the Science Ninja Team is sent to investigate, they find all their mechanical devices have failed and they must battle Gallactor with the most basic of techniques. Joe is badly injured, and is rescued by Dr. Rafael, who takes him to his laboratory/stronghold and repairs the damage to Joe's cyborg body (this is the episode where Joe's "secret" is revealed to the viewers). After a recharge, Joe is determined to go back to the base, but Rafael warns him that the magnetic fields could completely disable him. To Joe, leaving his friends behind and in danger is not an option....

    

25. The Cyborg's Sorrow: While investigating reported Gallactor activity, Joe is attacked by a group of cyborgs. They turn out to be allies, guarding their cyborg colony created by Dr. Rafael, and Joe is taken to meet him. Meanwhile, one of the cyborg guards is captured by Gallactor and the colony's location extracted from him; Gallactor promptly bombs the colony. Joe arrives in time to find Wolf, one of his cyborg friends, still alive within the wreckage, and Wolf gives him a microchip to take to Rafael. Joe is horrified to discover what this chip contains: research figures that will result in Joe's rebuilding as an ultimate weapon against Sosai X. Initially he refuses the rebuild until Rafael tells him that the grueling endurance tests Wolf and the other cyborgs underwent would be in vain if Joe refused. Joe eventually agrees and receives a cybernetic makeover, including a "black box" containing a micro space bomb designed to go off in the proximity of X.

26. Mysterious Private Secretary Pandora: Dr. Nambu hires Dr. Pandora as a private executive assistant and assigns the Science Ninja Team to transport the new hire to his office. They do so incognito, and are shocked to find Dr. Pandora is an attractive young woman. Yet there is much more to this woman than meets the eye: her uncanny awareness that they are being tracked by Gallactor; her research as a cyberneticist, and the gunning down of Dr. Nambu shortly after she arrived.

27. Dr. Nambu's Death! Shot under mysterious circumstances, Nambu languishes in the hospital on the verge of death. The team immediately suspects Pandora, who brushes off their concerns and dispatches them on patrol. Only this doesn't sit well with Joe, who, upon news that Nambu has died, returns to find that Pandora is using Nambu as bait to attract GelSadora's latest creation, the ID Creature. Joe manages to fend off the creature himself, only to have Pandora inform the team that he is a cyborg.

28. Love Stolen by a Feather Shuriken: The late Hawk Getz had a girlfriend--the leader of a biker gang--and she wants revenge on Condor Joe for killing her fiancee. But she doesn't have the whole story on what really happened to Getz--he hadn't been killed by a feather shuriken after all.

29. Life or Death! Evil Demon North Wall: Joe is having a rough time adjusting to his new cybernetics, and the rest of the team can't help but notice. So when Dr. Nambu sends Joe on a mission to ferret out a Gallactor installation by climbing the notoriously deadly North Face of K3, the team--Jun in particular--is determined to join him. Joe learns there is more left of his humanity than he thought.

30. Ryu's Homecoming: Ryu's trip home to visit his family becomes a harrowing experience when he is forced to play the coward in order to preserve his identity as the Owl. His father and little brother aren't impressed, thinking him a coward. But there's so much to Ryu that he can't show them.

31. The Eagle is Shot Down: When the Eagle Sharp is shot down in the mountains during a test flight, Ken is rescued by a young girl and her little brother. They must keep him concealed until the rest of Ken's team can track him down.

32. G-1's Andes Love: The team is sent undercover to the Andes to determine what's killing the villagers. Ken and Ryu find out during a village party that the water is poisoned. While Ryu is rescued by the rest of the team, Ken has vanished, wandered off in a fit of delirium. He collapses at a small shack and is nursed back to health by a pretty young girl named Keina and her family. However, he has no memory of where he came from, and he works for the family under the name, "Titicaca." When he is finally discovered by Joe and comes to his senses, he discovers the pain of leaving his new life behind.

33. G-1's Anger: On a mission, the team is split up: Joe, Jun and Ryu are sent to investigate a missile and are caught by surprise when the missile launches. Ken and Jinpei are left without contact, and can only assume the worst. By the time Ken faces General Pansa on the Gallactor base and Jinpei is shot, Ken is ready for a good fight--and Pansa gives it to him. Meanwhile, Dr. Nambu is taken to task by the UN council regarding the "shoddy" performance of the Science Ninja Team.

34. The Evil Iron Beast of the Amazon: Jinpei takes a little excursion into the Amazon jungle and joins the kids of a group of researchers in their quest for a rare flower. Detailed explanation forthcoming.

35. Berg Katse's Legacy: Joe befriends little Rick and his father Kaiser after rescuing the boy from an oncoming car. Little does he know that Kaiser is an ex-Gallactor trying to break away and come clean. However, Gallactor's permanent employment clause comes into effect, and Kaiser is called back into service to command a giant bat mecha against the New Godphoenix, and he knows all is lost when he comes face to face with the deadly Condor....

36. Sorrow of the Underground City: Ken finds himself saddled with Mark, the disgruntled spoiled-brat son of the Underground City's chief engineer. Later he must defend this city from one of the most poorly drawn and animated monsters in any Gatchaman series.

37. Burn! Wings of Steel: Jinpei is forced to discard his childish ways in this "coming of age" episode. It starts when he adopts a puma cub and is forced to turn it back to the wild. His sadness at this must be put aside when Joe and Ryu are incapacitated by poison gas and Ken and Jun are nowhere in sight.

38. Electromagnetic Mecha Iron Demon Dragon: Joe and Dr. Pandora are sent on a mission to disable a dragon that generates a disruptive force field. Unfortunately, Joe is also vulnerable to this field, and Pandora, while capable, doesn't have a great deal of combat experience. Here we learn about Pandora's private pain: the loss of her six-year-old daughter during the sinking of the Queen Margaret. It is here that she comes face to face with GelSadora for the first time.

39. Crimson Condor: Most female G-II fans would be delighted to find a wounded Condor hiding in their clothes racks, but for gypsy dancer Chinita, this marks only the beginning of her problems as she tries to protect her wounded fugitive from searching Gallactor soldiers and her greedy boyfriend. Will Chinita suffer the same fate as the rest of the doomed women in Joe's life?

40. Fierce Battle! Evil Animal Operation: The ISO creates a device that enables humans to communicate with animals, and testing the device with some zoo animals and local kids seemed like a great idea... until someone started bombing the testing grounds. Joe is called to task for answering a call from Dr. Rafael and disappearing from his post.

41. Gatchaman vs. GelSadora: Showdown. Ken and GelSadora wind up facing off alone in hand-to-hand combat, and the Gallactor general proves to be a lot tougher than she looks.

42. The Observatory that Moves in the Dark: Detailed explanation forthcoming.

43. Invaders From Mars: Gallactor General Marstora makes his debut and gives GelSadora a run for her money with his Mars operation. Detailed explanation forthcoming.

44. Fight! The Evil Base on Mars: After fighting a very Star Wars-like dogfight over Mars, Ken finds himself trapped in a broken spaceship, floating in space, his oxygen running out. The G-8 Rocket is dispatched to get him, but the mission is canceled as impossible. Unable to leave his friend to die, Joe steals the rocket and sets off after Ken, burning out his eyes in the process.

45. Evil of the Solar Shift Plan: More information on the ultimate Gallactor plot: to destroy Earth by plunging it into the sun. Detailed explanation forthcoming.

46. Gatchaman Unmasked: Gallactor's manhunt for Gatchaman's alternate identity is in full force, and young men close to Ken's profile are being killed one by one. The next in line is Sam, the nephew of ISO Chief Anderson. Ken cannot bear the responsibility of the young men's deaths and contemplates revealing his identity to Gallactor, an idea that earns him a good hard punch from Joe for being an idiot. Meanwhile, Sam is captured and plays along, claiming that he is Gatchaman--is his life forfeit as well? Interesting side note: The voice of Sam was played by the late Shiozawa Kaneto, the voice of Vampire Hunter D and of OAV Berg Katse.

47. Certain Death! Two Firebirds: The Kagaku Nimpo Hinotori (the Firebird) has so often been the undoing of many a Gallactor mecha that they decide to circumvent it and destroy the New Godphoenix in a two-pronged approach involving a freeze ray and several layers of polar ice. What Gallactor doesn't realize is there's another Godphoenix out there, though the pilot, not being a member of the Science Ninja Team, faces death by flying it.

48. History's Largest Tidal Wave: Detailed explanation forthcoming.

49. Burn! Condor: Joe's civilian identity has been public knowledge for years, but Gallactor hasn't acted on it since Joe's return from the dead... until now. A special motorcycle commando squadron attacks Joe on city streets, and while their attacks don't kill him, they injure him enough that he seeks Dr. Rafael's help. And then they track him to the doctor's latest hideout. Rafael gives Joe a tape containing crucial information about X and the Solar Shift Plan and tells him it's up to him now... right before a Gallactor bullet ends the doctor's life. Ken manages to stop Joe from pulverizing the assassin and demands to know what Dr. Rafael meant. But Joe isn't talking.

    

50. Mystery? Mystery! GelSadora's Mother: GelSadora has been plagued by nightmares of being separated from her mother, but she finds she has few memories of her parents. When she asks Sosai X about her background, the alien only mocks her and tells her to get back to work, so she does a little investigating of her own. Tracking the records of the Queen Margaret's shipwreck, she traces her lineage back to Domingo and Sylvie Pandora, and she brings Dr. Pandora to her base for a very special reunion that only ends in tragedy. After rebuffing her daughter, Pandora is killed before GelSadora and the Science Ninja Team's eyes when X traps her aboard a rocket and fires it into the Van Allen Belt.

51. The Sorrow of GelSadora: Joe's condition worsens, and while researching how to fix his damaged power source, Nambu discovers the black box next to Joe's heart and suspects its destructive function. Joe is then commanded to stay in bed for the duration--an order he accepts with ill grace and a couple of fisticuffs.
    Meanwhile, grief over her mother's death has affected GelSadora badly. So much that she's begun to question her position in Gallactor and loyalty to Sosai X. So when X moves to activate the Solar Shift plan only to discover that GelSadora has sabotaged it, he orders her killed. Wounded and tracking blood, she flees only to run smack into Gatchaman. Ken attacks her and demands to be take to Gallactor headquarters, but they are interrupted by Joe's appearance on the scene. One carefully delivered sucker punch later, Joe and GelSadora leave for a final showdown with Sosai X.

52. The Downfall of Governor X: Ken and the others arrive at X's command ship in time to see Joe sprawled on the floor of X's chamber and GelSadora dying in the outer hall. X is revealed in all his glory: a half-organic, half-mechanical being that fills the entire chamber. Ken attacks, hurling his cutting saucer at the base of X's conduits, and is shot down. Seeing this, Joe sums the last reserves of his strength to hurl himself into X's core....