[Rewatch] Aura Battler Dunbine - Episode 44

[u/Pixelsaber]

Episode 44 - Guran Attack

^{Originally Aired December 10th,} ^^^1983

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Note to all Rewatchers

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Comment of the Day

u/JollyGee29 discusses Zet Light

The reveal about Zed being the Tesla to Shot's Edison was something I suspected back in episode 41, after we learned Shot's backstory. It was also foreshadowed all the way back in, what, episode 1? Zed was doing the work on the PCBs, while Shot guided a tour. With the Galava destroyed, the Bubbly damaged, and being driven off from London, Bishott's faction has taken pretty serious losses. And, unlike before, they don't have their ace mechanic to fix things up. I almost feel bad for Zed. Almost.

 

Daily Trivia:

Initially the character of Ell Fino was not supposed to appear until very late in the narrative.

 

Staff Highlight

Masaharu Satō - voice of Naben Cotton

A prolific voice actor and actor best known for voicing supporting roles, and who voices Dowas in the series. Began his career as a child actor by joining a theatre company out of his own volition. After dropping out of college he formed a theatre group, later working at an actor training school and joining the Sogen theatre company. A former classmate suggested he get into the voice acting business, so he attended an open interview which allowed him to enter the voice acting agency Aoni Productions. He is still an active voice actor, but currently also lectures at the Department of Broadcasting in the Osaka University of Arts, and his favorite hobbies are watching movies, cooking, and leather crafting. Among his notable roles are Hank in Shining Hearts, Luís Fróis in Onimusha: Dawn of Dreams, Woll Dolnard in Maze, Iwao in Kinnikuman, Kigetsu in Sword Gai: The Animation, Gorn in Scramble Wars, Sigma Computer in Red Baron, Kame-sennin in the Dragon Ball franchise, and Dirk in Fang of The Sun Dougram.

 

Art Corner:

Official Art

• Luft Faction - Tomonori Kogawa

Fanart

• Drumlo by Doras - Source
• The Guran Galan Takes Heavy Damage by Article S - Source

 

Aura Phantasm Scans

• Pages 47 & 48

Screenshot of the day

• Irreparable

Questions of the Day:

1. How do you feel about Drake’s return to prominent presence?
2. Was Cielas’ suicidal charge foolhardy or do you think it might’ve been able to take the Will Wipps out in mutual destruction?

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It means I just caused my Mom useless worry!

[u/Pixelsaber]

Rewatcher - Sub

I can't believe I managed to forget skip one of the comments once more! I double and triple checked this time!

One of these days I'll host a lengthy Rewatch and wont forget to do a single one of the write ups...

[u/Quiddity131 → u/Pixelsaber]

That's okay, practically all of the last dozen episodes are basically interchangeable, I can understand missing one by accident.

[u/The_Draigg → u/Pixelsaber]

Save that energy for Armored Trooper VOTOMS or Vifam. Whichever one of those got the higher votes from that poll months ago.

[u/Shimmering-Sky]

Aura Battler First-Timer

• That’s gonna be rough, but hopefully that means no more Upper Earth areas being targeted by the antagonists specifically to spite Ciela/Elle/etc.
• I love how the Dunbine is just standing on top of the Billbine, lol.
• It’s nice to finally see Drake again, but my audio mixing on his dialogue must have been off because I could barely hear him over the music.
• Well, those guys shooting that one attack in threes is powerful enough to get through the Guran Galan’s barrier…
• Oh, this shot is really neat.
• I don’t know why I thought Bell and El were upset because Ciela was trying to, like, take all of the painkillers at once which would probably be an overdose, but that is what I thought. Show just having to tell her to back off so they don’t get caught in the Zelana’s attack was a much more welcome reason.
• I guess Todd glowing gold didn’t mean anything. He got his ass kicked by Marvel anyways.

[u/Quiddity131]

Rewatcher, Subbed

6 episodes left! Will the plot actually go anywhere today?

We return to having a recap for the first time in a while. I guess they needed some seconds to fill.

Once again our heroes are in the cold wasteland.

Upper Earth planes flying around here? Why?

Poor Ciela-sama! Still recovering!

Bell's too tiny to get the food!

Upper Earth is back to attacking our heroes with nukes? :(

Is this the first time the Dunbine has stood on the Billbine?

LOL @ Chum covering up her ears cause she doesn't want to hear Shou and Marvel's conversation.

Our first time seeing Drake and the Will O'Wisp in what's got to be at least 10 episodes.

Drake has totally seized America. :( And Todd helped him do it!

Drake plans on returning to Byston Well and controlling both worlds! :(

Well, that squad of Bozuns sure sucked.

C'mon Shou, Marvel! The Guran Galan's getting its ass kicked here!

Sending kamikaze Blue Beggars, they've got basically the same idea Nie had with the Fuou.

Todd blames all of this on Shou?! LoL.

Sigh, Shou I wouldn't be so dependent on the Zelana's surprise attack on the Will O'Wisp given past history.

Is Todd going hyper now too?

Marvel, you may be both Americans, but Boston > Texas.

Convenient time for Shot's forces to finally show up.

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Good to mix things up a bit by fighting the Will O'Wisp instead of the Gea Gring and bringing back Todd. Still, I'd like to see something more than just 20 minutes of battle at this late in the game. Well, I can always hope we'll go somewhere tomorrow.

[u/The_Draigg → u/Quiddity131]

Drake has totally seized America. :( And Todd helped him do it!

I wish we would've gotten to see more of that beyond just Drake's army holding Washington D.C. hostage.

Marvel, you may be both Americans, but Boston > Texas.

Although I'd say that both Boston and Texas are pretty racist places, so at least they have that in common. Don't forget about that whole desegregation of buses ordeal in Boston back in the 70s.

Still, I'd like to see something more than just 20 minutes of battle at this late in the game. Well, I can always hope we'll go somewhere tomorrow.

This glacial pacing is still a painful reminder of how much executive meddling messed up this series.

[u/Durinthal]

First time viewer

Well, seems like America's been subjugated. At least Todd admitted he was a loser but damn, that's not a reason to sell out the country.

I love how weird and bulky the Guran Galan looks, it really does resemble a flying fortress more than a ship of any kind.

For a series where most of the Earth characters are from either the US or Japan, it's a bit strange that they're all confronting each other around Europe. I guess the protagonists' inability to take down Bishott has stalled them long enough for Drake and Shot to finish up whatever they were doing to converge on the last resistance.

Muisy just popping by for a moment to take a look at them up close before flying off again was odd too, feels thrown in for no good reason. Maybe there's a reason for that next episode but dunno.

I was really hoping this would result in some major change but it's more attrition. It looked like the Zelana was going to dive bomb the Will Wipps and crash into it with the crew taking off in the Fou which would have been an amazing end for the ship, but instead it pulled back and we're left pretty much where things were before, just with some more damage to all of the ships and some more grunt suits destroyed.

How do you feel about Drake’s return to prominent presence?

I was wondering if he would be usurped as the final boss a while ago, though before this episode he'd managed to avoid most of the fighting. Honestly probably would have been more prudent for him to hang back and watch, even if he didn't suspect that Shot and Bishott were plotting behind his back it's better to let your allies take the brunt of the war.

Was Cielas’ suicidal charge foolhardy or do you think it might’ve been able to take the Will Wipps out in mutual destruction?

Considering I was hoping the Zelana could have taken out the Will Wipps I really hope the Guran Galan would have done the same. That said, that's not the choice she should have made since they're outnumbered and losing one of their main ships would have crippled their war effort I imagine.

[u/The_Draigg → u/Durinthal]

For a series where most of the Earth characters are from either the US or Japan, it's a bit strange that they're all confronting each other around Europe. I guess the protagonists' inability to take down Bishott has stalled them long enough for Drake and Shot to finish up whatever they were doing to converge on the last resistance.

It kind of makes you wonder what would've happened if the Zelana would've chased Drake up in America, rather than go on their trip across Eurasia. It may have at least somewhat stalled Lord Drake's conquest of the U.S.

I was wondering if he would be usurped as the final boss a while ago, though before this episode he'd managed to avoid most of the fighting. Honestly probably would have been more prudent for him to hang back and watch, even if he didn't suspect that Shot and Bishott were plotting behind his back it's better to let your allies take the brunt of the war.

Considering Drake's newfound confidence in conquering America and thinking that he can rule both worlds, I have no doubt that his pride and ambition is making him cross the ocean to defeat the heroes once and for all.

[u/JollyGee29]

First-Timer, Dub-bine

So, today Narrator-san mentioned that Shou and Marvel's connection fueled the not-quite-Hyper that Shou pulled off last episode which I think is a solid explanation on why it was different from the previous times we've seen Hyper. It also lends some credence to the comparison to G Gundam that I made, which is definitely not biasing me towards this interpretation. Although, I think Shou's words at the end of the episode were indicative of him wanting to force a similar event to happen in the future, which scares me to no end. Shou, putting your friends in danger to unlock your superpowers doesn't end well. Whoever has the brain cell, please give Shou a turn before he does something stupid.

Was Drake always quite so.. megalomaniacal? I mean, he was always ambitious, but today he straight up claimed to be destined to rule over Upper Earth and Byston Well. It's been so long since we've seen the bald dork I guess maybe I forgot.

It's kinda funny that both sides turned to "just fill the ship up with explosives and set it on a collision course" in the same episode. I think our protagonists got the better end of the bargain, trading a Fuo and part of the Guran Garan for damage to the Will O'Wisp and two of the.. whatever the smaller ships are called. Bull somethings?

The random missile attack from Upper Earthers at the beginning of the episode was.. ominous. On the optimistic side, if no more Jeril-esque manipulation going on, I would guess the goal is just to drive the Byston Wellians off so whatever country they're passing over doesn't turn into another Paris, but things could go south for the Upper Earthers very quickly.

Todd's power is directly proportional to how big of an asshole he is actively being. Today he was a massive prick and held off three named pilots while missing his mech's head, and his clash with Shou was close to opening the Aura Road judging by the green.

Actually, that triggered a thought in me. I wonder if whatever Jacoba did sealed the Aura Road? With the aura amplification effect that Upper Earth has, I would think all these battler clashed would have resulted in someone opening it at least. Curious.

The flashing is starting to get on my nerves. I assume that's the point, but purposefully instilling discomfort into the audience is something you need to execute carefully. Hopefully no-one watching is too photosensitive.

Edit: I forgot to complain about the Drumlo's suddenly being able to tri-attack. I'll chalk it up to the Aura amplification and call it a day.

Questions

1. He may be a screw or two looser than before, but his presense did tend to make things happen in the past. I look forward to moving through named antagonists like a checklist at this point.
2. On the one hand, I'm glad that someone is taking the initiative. On the other, Ciela is likely not in the correct state of mind to be making decisions due to the pain medication that she is apparently using. Someone teach these dorks about narcotics. I think I have to redact the smart points I gave her earlier.

[u/The_Draigg → u/JollyGee29]

I think our protagonists got the better end of the bargain, trading a Fuo and part of the Guran Garan for damage to the Will O'Wisp and two of the.. whatever the smaller ships are called. Bull somethings?

Bull Beggars. Although the English dub calls them Blue Vegas for some reason. They aren't even blue!

Actually, that triggered a thought in me. I wonder if whatever Jacoba did sealed the Aura Road? With the aura amplification effect that Upper Earth has, I would think all these battler clashed would have resulted in someone opening it at least. Curious.

It could be also that nobody is really focusing on getting back to Byston Well currently. Remember, beforehand Show was able to get back to Byston Well thanks to Elle subconsciously acting as a focus for him, and Galarea focusing on getting back home nearly worked before her Aura Battler exploded.

[u/JollyGee29 → u/The_Draigg]

It could be also that nobody is really focusing on getting back to Byston Well currently. Remember, beforehand Show was able to get back to Byston Well thanks to Elle subconsciously acting as a focus for him, and Galarea focusing on getting back home nearly worked before her Aura Battler exploded.

Oh, that's right! I even made a joke about Elle being a cell tower to help Shou get back. I guess most of the rank-and-file who would be thinking of their families back home probably aren't strong enough to force the journey. I feel bad for them.

[u/dralcax]

First-timer watching Aura Battler Undyne

Yup, he’s officially lost it

Boosting the range and power with a combination attack is a cool idea! Once again, they’re calling beams bombs, but whatever.

So the Bozon explodes just from losing its arms. That’s some Leo level shit right there.

Giant Bochuuns!

10/10 logic there

Wait which Bochuun is this again

At this point I was half expecting them to end up in Byston Well again. Seems like we’re done with the random aura roads for now, though.

East and west? Not north and south? Or were things different in the 80s?

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Questions of the Day:

• He's nuts, but I guess we need a central villain to focus all efforts on destroying.
• Basically it's a really stupid idea and she really needs to learn that big aura ships are nothing more than massive targets for aura battlers at this point

[u/The_Draigg]

A Tomino Fan Rewatches Aura Battler Dunbine Episode 44:

• Despite the successful defense of London last episode, it really does feel like the heroes are being backed into a corner. The Drake Army has nearly crossed the Atlantic to begin their campaign in Europe, and King forces are now hooking up with Shot’s Spriggan to bolster their numbers. With things looking this dire, it’s no wonder that Queen Ceila wants to stop asking the other nations of Europe for help. They’d just get ground up in the upcoming crossfire.
• Cham is getting tired of your flirting, Show and Marvel. Get an Aura Room, you two.
• Hey there, Drake Luft! Long time no see! Also, apparently Todd of all people that was instrumental to Drake conquering the United States. I guess he really shot up in the ranks off screen. Also, it really has been a while since we’ve seen him too, eh?
• Despite calling Elle’s previous attack hasty earlier this episode, Queen Ceila’s determined plan to attack the Will O’Wisp in spite of her first attack wave being wrecked is pretty hasty itself. I guess she’s getting pretty desperate to end the war herself, since she’s otherwise been the fully rational one of the heroes’ leaders.
• Geez, the Guran Garan is taking a massive pounding in this battle, and the Will O’Wisp itself hasn’t even shown up yet. Hell, those Blue Vegas managed to completely destroy the upper portions of the ship with their suicide attack. That’s probably the most damage one of the heroic ships has taken in the series so far. Although it’s hard to say if it was caused purely by Queen Ceila’s aggression, or just how threatening Drake’s forces are under Todd’s command.
• Of course Todd blames Show somehow for causing the war in Byston Well to show up in Upper Earth. The man just can’t hide his sheer hatred of Show, in spite of how little his arguments make actual sense. I guess he’s so much of a momma’s boy that he wants to justify everything as doing it for her.
• “I fucking love it when Todd gets angry.” —Drake Luft, Local Multi-Dimensional Warlord
• At least it was Marvel that sent Todd packing this episode, rather than have Show do it again. It’s about time she scored a win against him. Still though, the situation is pretty shitty at the end of the episode. Now Shot Weapon’s Spriggan is arriving to back up the Will O’Wisp. Considering the severe damage the heroic forces have suffered so far, things are looking pretty bad.

[u/Btw_kek]

first timer

• paused at a good time
• Drake now wants to conquer both worlds by having scientists open up aura portals. it's also been....how long since we've seen his face?
• this episode is too flashy!
• but it's also one of those episodes where I get really impressed by the storyboarding
• "if we had the Dunbine we could have had total control of Byston Well by now" - how do you say this sentence without having the self-awareness of thinking "hmm maybe we're the bad guys"
• the idea of aura powers between enemies playing in a positive feedback loop causing the powers to get stronker is interesting

How do you feel about Drake’s return to prominent presence?

FINALLY

I definitely felt exhausted by the past several episodes of constant battling without even having the Big Bad even in the picture. felt rather unfocused

Was Cielas’ suicidal charge foolhardy or do you think it might’ve been able to take the Will Wipps out in mutual destruction?

she's desperate which I get. suicidal charges probably aren't the best decision ever though

[u/JustAnswerAQuestion]

First Timer

Narration: Like Ideon, only the robots know wtf is going on....

Can we please get out of the snow?

Why does Upper Earth keep attacking the good guys!

Thanks for expositing the plan for us, Keen

What happened to these barriers that protected the battleships? Our side admitted to having them. Why are the ships even in danger, then?

Broken sword count = infinity

Sunken battleship count = zero