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EPISODE 72: RUBINA'S DEATH
I believe that, at this point of the episode – during the night, when they are all gone at Umon’s house to sleep (interesting choice actually) -
Hikaru knows that Duke Fleed has met his former official girlfriend, the Princess of Vega, that they have talked together for a while, that the conversation has totally upset Daisuke and that, for sure, he holds a terrible secret, which is struggling him, but, for some reasons, he don't want to share it with anybody, and especially with her. Hikaru suspects that this secret is somehow linked to her, considering Daisuke’s behaviour both at the balcony and in the control room.
They all had a meeting with him in the evening, but Daisuke refused to explain any detail about his first encounter with Rubina, so Umon, anyway, suggested him not going to the second meeting with the princess (it’s what is implied in Koji’s speech in the bedroom).
Hikaru really cannot understand what is going on: what secret news could have Rubina told to Daisuke to let him be so upset? Why has he decided to handle a critical situation alone, without asking for support from her or at least from Umon? It’s true, Daisuke has always been a very reserved, but sincere person: instead of telling a lie, he prefers to remain in silence, so Hikau can be sure that, when he feels ready, he will tell the truth. But, in that moment, while the night falls, the fact that the second question Koji and Maria Grace have asked at the balcony has remained unanswered (“What did you speak about?”) is struggling her, and, for sure, she is not able to sleep. So, when Koji knocks at her bedroom door to inform her that Daisuke has decided to go to a second meeting with Rubina, despite all contrary advises, he finds probably her awakened (just as Maria Grace), and they can rush immediately to the Centre. Grendizer flies over their heads, so Hikaru knows that somehow her questions are going to be answered anyway soon.
 
 
And she is right. The night is slowly fading in the daylight, when Hikaru, seeing Duke Fleed near Rubina, but mostly listening to their conversation, suddenly realises what incredible secret has been struggling Daisuke in the last 12 hours: Planet Fleed has come back to life, the princess of Vega has asked him to return with her on his native planet, which inevitably means that she asked him to merry her, and… he thought to accept the proposal 1.
Hikaru does not know any detail, but the overall situation is perfectly clear for her. Daisuke would have been available to wed the daughter of the man who killed his parents, family and friends, who destroyed his own planet and enslaved his population, in order to save Hikaru and all the earthlings. This is why Daisuke refused to talk with everybody about the conversation with Rubina and he could not look at Hikaru at the balcony: his conscience was fighting between his sense of duty and his desire to continue to live his life, just as he supposed few hours ago. He has not even told his sister about Planet Fleed coming back to life, while it’s obvious from Rubina’s words that he knew already the information, but how could he communicate such a happy news when he still had to decide what to do with his own life? Well, it’s clear that Rubina is going to die soon anyway, so why should Hikaru worry for the situation?
Once the Irritating Princess is died, the wedding issue would fly away for good. Yet, Hikaru turns back with a painful expression on her face, holding herself to Marine Spacer.
  
This is another scene that has caused infinite discussions between fans for a quarter of century: what is its meaning? It’s located exactly while Duke Fleed is telling to Rubina that she should not die and they will go back to Fleed together (the big differences between the various editions are in the dubbing intonation, not about the content of the speech). Given the contest of the situation, I believe that Hikaru’s pain is related to her pity for both the Princess of Vega and Daisuke: she is nearly to die, and he is clearly starting to be overcome by his old guiltiness feelings 2.
 
A terrible tragedy is going on in front of Hikaru’s eyes: she has understood that Daisuke would have been available to sacrifice himself, in order to save millions of people around the universe, and now he is facing the failure of his plan and the possible consequent war recrudescence. Hikaru knows him so well, she is aware that feeling guilty for the death of innocents is the only thing that is able to destroy Daisuke’s spirit: she has already seen in ep25 what that sentiment can do to him. (Joe7's note: the first two images here below were took from ep25; the other two images from ep72)
 
 
If you notice, whatever intonation Duke Fleed’s international dubbers has used in that point, anyway Daisuke’s words show that he was being overcome by his irrational part: how could he suppose to come back to Fleed with Rubina, as she was clearly close to die? She knows herself this fact clearly better than him, as all her answers assume her to be dead.
Hikaru is suffering for Daisuke, not for herself. Yes, Daisuke would have been available to marry Rubina, but, of course, the generous Hikaru would have agreed with him, as his decision would have been taken for a good purpose. In my opinion, her pain, displayed in this scene, is not mostly referred to the possible perspective to lose him (of course, this is an added factor, but not the main one) but for seeing him suffering. I believe this is the correct interpretation of Hikaru’s behaviour at Rubina’s death scene, considering also what happens in eps 73-74.
Overcoming his guiltiness feelings for good has closed Duke Fleed’s personal journey, and, in a way, the main storyline of Ufo Robot Grendizer. But the war is not finished yet, and now a new ant called Planet Fleed is walking but in disordered file on the branch (Gerdha note: this is a metaphor). Daisuke Umon needs now to reassess his own life and his priorities once more. And all the other characters, and particularly Hikaru Makiba, will need to undertake the same process together with him, for what their respective lives are concerned.
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1 As far as Rubina has asked Duke Fleed to marry her, please remember that, in this analysis of 2003, I am referring to the content of Italian Version Historical Dubbing. In any case, even if, later, I found out that dialogues of Original Japanese Version pose the question in a bit different terms (see Naida and Rubina analysis), compared to the psychological analysis of Hikaru, the difference does not affect the arguments I have here, which would still be valid.
2 In this analysis, I have not dealt with this issue, since this is a dossier dedicated to Hikaru. In various discussions on the French forum, and in the TTOTC 3, I developed in detail my concept base for which - in accordance with poetics of Go Nagai, who mainly explores the dark sides of the human soul - the deep sense of the whole story of Ufo Robot Grendizer is made up of Duke Fleed's inner journey to overcome his guilt towards the destruction of the Planet Fleed, which he is believed to be responsible; the motive is to be found in various episodes scattered throughout the episodes, and in particular in ep25 and ep72. I consider ep72 as the true final episode of the anime, because, exactly at the end of that episode, Duke Fleed completes his process of elaboration and release: the final scene of ep72 is eloquent about it.
3 TTOTC: The Trial of The Century. It was a sort of role-playing game, in which a trial was performed on the characters. Gerdha had the role of Prosecution, Agnès was the Defense Counsel, the Judge was Jerome, the Jury were Suzi and all the other members of the forum who wanted to comment on the various posts.
Edited by joe 7 - 24/11/2019, 21:54
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