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HIKARU MAKIBA: THE "FLEEDIAN TRILOGY" (EPISODES 70-72)
I have personally re-named eps 70-72 as “The Fleedian Trilogy” because, despite very different contents, those episodes have a unique storyline in common: the re-appearing on the scene of Planet Fleed. Or, to be more precise, after having been only a pale ghost in a distant horizon for the whole anime, Planet Fleed suddenly becomes the star of the show.
I find really amazing the narrative approach applied by Katsuta and Nagai to Ufo Robot Grendizer, and, as far as I know, a similar storytelling is unknown to other sci-fi animes (maybe something similar has been done with Neon Genesis Evangelion, but for sure not at this extent). After having left in the background Duke Fleed’s past for nearly the whole story (few references and anyway no substantial news in rare episodes), suddenly the viewers are submerged by information about him, and in ep72 they are moreover literally smashed in the face with the most incredible news of all. If a dramatic atmosphere has been developing from ep62 to ep69, in the Fleedian Trilogy the Authors put every possible effort to let the story of Duke Fleed reaching the point they had in mind since the beginning: to close the circle, from Uchu Enban Daisenso (the film pre-Grendizer) to Uchu Enban Daisenso. It is somehow surprisingly how consistent is the storyline of Grendizer during the Final Arc, and how it is aimed to develop a series of sub-plots which are necessary to the script of ep72. I have already talked in TTOTC1 that I personally consider ep72 as the real end of Grendizer, and I confirm here my opinion. Anyway, in eps 70-72 Daisuke returns finally to be the main character of the anime – just to close the circle – but, for sure, all the happenings he must face in the Fleedian Trilogy affect also Hikaru for sure. And in a very surprising way…
EPISODE 70
I think ep70 is an underrated episode 2. Despite its strange plot and its not deniable plot holes, it is consistent in its meaning and it is strategic to understand the final of the anime. The last fleedian ghost still missed from the guest starring list finally appears, even if under a masquerade. It does not matter that the King of Fleed acting in the episode is a fake one: the kind of feelings, memories and relationship network which are displayed in the episode are evoked independently from the real identity of the monster driver.
 
Particularly, for what Daisuke is concerned, this episode is, in my opinion, crucial to understand his future attitude in eps 72-73-74. But ep70 is important also in the perspective of an analysis about Hikaru. Once again, after ep68, at the medical room, we can clearly see displayed the two-couples scenario.
To be more precise, maybe this is the first time we see Koji acting like a real boyfriend towards Maria Grace (and one of the few occasions where he is able to change Daisuke's mind for instance).
 
But, if somebody could have still doubts about the kind of link bolding Daisuke and Hikaru, his speech is a revelation. He talks to Hkaru about his experience in ep32 (in which the vegan Marine simulated to be his mother),
  
and about his feelings when he met his fake mother.
 
We know how much Daisuke is a reserved person, and never in the anime, up to now, he has been shown talking to anybody about his own feelings. He has talked about Fleed destruction in the past, for example, but without expressing how he felt during the event. Now he doesn’t talk to Hikaru on whatever topic, but how he felt meeting his “mother”.
  
Maria Grace had already left the room, so his speech is not directed to convince her. No, Daisuke talks to Hikaru about his own feelings in such a distressful experience in ep32, and, well, let me tell you that I highly doubt that, considering his personality, he would have shared a similar information with a friend. It’s too much a personal topic, he is too much a reserved person also, he could have talked about that experience only with a very special person.
 
I get the impression from this scene that it displays how much Daisuke relies on Hikaru, and how much they are sharing a life in that critical point of the story, where the poisoning injury has almost reached its peak and it is ready to kill him. And in this crucial moments, she is by his side, worried and aware that she cannot do anything to save him. It’s a very dramatic moment, and it’s clear that, without a miracle, Hikaru’s eyes will be filled with tears of desperation very soon.
EPISODE 71
Ep71 is probably one of the best Grendizer episodes, but curiously it lacks completely the two female figures. This is not a problem linked to the “Hikaru’s issue”, as also Maria Grace is completely visually absent; they are both included in the plot, but the writer (Tatsuo Tamura) thought it was not necessary to show them. Well, I agree with him. Maria Grace and Hikaru are not necessary for the good development of the plot. But it is not essential participating to an event for being involved in it. The script leaves the viewers see as the last scene of ep71 Duke Fleed’s tears of pain, looking at the scarf falling down from the sky,
 
and it avoids to show us the tears of joy of everybody at the Research Centre, when he comes back, announcing that the impossible miracle has instead happened and there is no more a poisoning injury threatening his life. A great tricky storytelling approach, once more: without taking into account those tears of joy, next episode would be only a stunning fragile little glass doll, instead of a giant wonderful strong wooden matrioska...
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1 TTOTC: The Trial Of The Century: it was an analyzing game on Grendizer's characters, treated as if they were processes, with as much defense attorney, and so on.
2 please note that Maria Grace, in the previous episode (Ep69), looked with envy because Danbei, Hikaru's father, gave her deceased mother's scarf: a situation which would have influenced her in this episode.
Edited by joe 7 - 24/11/2019, 16:41
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