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EPISODE 74
I firmly believe that the production story of the final episode is still to be told. It’s really impossible that such an important episode could have been treated this way by Katsuta and Nagai, considering also that Tatsuo Tamura is a very good scriptwriter and his latest effort, before the final episode, has been ep71 (Morus' episode), an exceptional episode from a script point of view. The problem I personally have with ep74 is not the overall plot in itself, but the way it’s been developed. There are some fabulous ideas in the script (Gandal/Lady Gandal’s fight, King Vega wanting to destroy Earth, after all the efforts to conquer it refusing any possible alternative option, the inauguration of Cosmo Special, …) but they are not closely examined, and instead they are “launched” in a sort of “race against the time” of ideas, which is, somewhat, inexplicable from a pure storytelling point of view and it can only mean, in my opinion, that there have been a big package of production problems behind the curtain. Without talking about the final decision of Daisuke and Maria Grace to return to Fleed alone, which would not be such a problem, if only the script left somebody say, at the greetings scene, a small sentence about the reason why Koji and Hikaru remain on Earth and if theirs is or not a permanent decision.
I don’t say that it’s not possible to find an explanation to this strange final (I will try soon), but this does not change the fact that the issue is, at least, bad managed from a narrative perspective, and, considering what Ufo Robot Grendizer has been up to the final episodes, it’s out of question for me that what we see on the screen is the result of infinite compromises and of a decision taken at the very last minute, without having enough time to develop properly the final version of the script. By the way, ep74 has been a big issue also for Japanese audience: in fact, according to the Roman Album, soon after its airing, Dynamic was invaded by letters of Grendizer fans wondering about the meaning of the final. The company official answer (reported by Roman Album) 1 is that Duke Fleed and his sister had to rebuilt their planet, but not alone, as fleedian survivors would have surely gather from the space to their native planet for this purpose*. In that official statement (which, from the tone, seems to me even a bit embarrassed), there is no mention about Koji and Hikaru though, confirming my opinion that the plot of the final was not properly devised and it was a last-minute decision to satisfy some requirement imposed by somebody. Anyway, bad or good, this is the only ep74 I have, so I must analyse it, whatever sentiments I can feel watching once again that...crap.
Well, usually a final should be a sort of testament of the story. Is it so, also in case of ep74, for what Hikaru is concerned? Urgh, it’s difficult talking about psychological analysis in such an episode, where everything happens with such a hurry. Anyway, there are still some flashes in the night to enlighten Hikaru’s personality. First, there is the scene in the Research Centre control room, where everybody discuss about Lady Gandal’s proposal to let her live peacefully on Earth, if she kills King Vega. Koji and Maria Grace don’t believe her words and they suppose it is a trap;
 
Koji asks for Hikaru’s opinion, but, before she answers, he runs out of the room, together with Maria Grace.
 
Daisuke and Hikaru remain alone, and, only in that moment, she refers to him her opinion: Hikaru thinks Lady Gandal told the truth, she wants really to save herself.
Ah, Hikaru, despite all the tentatives to destroy your character, you are still the great strong rational girl we get to know, and still you are the only person Daisuke can trust. Yes, you have guessed correctly, Lady Gandal told the truth. And Daisuke accepts in fact your opinion, as he does not do anything, until the big vegan spacecraft appears in the sky.
 
Secondly, I like to underline what happens in the Japanese version of ep74, once the big cigar-like spacecraft of King Vega has finally exploded in the space 2. Everybody cries for joy, and Koji, Hikaru and Maria Grace appeal Daisuke. But each of them call him with a different name: Koji calls him “Duku”, Maria Grace refers to him as “Oniisan” (elder brother),
 
while only Hikaru appeals him as “Daisuke-san”.
 
During the whole anime, Hikaru is the only character in the Grendizer Team who constantly uses his adoptive name, Daisuke3, in reference to him, or calling him directly. She only refers once to Daisuke as “Duku Furido” (Duke Fleed): when she first meets Naida in the medical room, but it’s absolutely logical.
 
From this point of view, the Authors have developed her personality with constant coherency, even through “bad times” (so to speak…  ): Hikaru told Daisuke in ep23 he would have always been Daisuke Umon for her, and she has kept her promise.
 
Hikaru has always loved Daisuke for his personality, she has never let any external factor influencing her opinion about him as a person. Ufo Robot Grendizer is a wonderful anime, and displays one of the greatest love stories of all. No charming princes and girls from the countryside: here there are only a man and a woman who love each other and fight against destiny to keep alive their feelings, despite everything.
That’s why I personally find extremely annoying the lack of details in the greetings scene. The fact that Duke Fleed and his sister decide to leave Earth for returning to Fleed in order to help their population in rebuilding their native planet should not be a problem: after all, it is more than logical.
But, from a storytelling perspective, it is a real “narrative crime” that the viewers find themselves switched suddenly from the aerospace to that flowered grass, without a word about the internal processes who brought the characters there. We don’t see anything about Daisuke taking his decision, the hard discussions between the two couples about what to do (it’s clear from Maria Grace’s words that she and Koji had a terrible argument on the topic, and it’s unthinkable that Daisuke and Hikaru had no conscience struggle on the matter too),
the fleedians communicating their final decision to Umon, Danbei and Goro, the preparations for the leaving,… must I go on? Moreover, contrary to the major opinion, I believe that the greetings scene takes place a while after the death of King Vega. It’s difficult to understand from the scene design if it’s located at the end of the summer (so few weeks after the final battle against Vega) or the following spring (so some months later). My personal impression, given the kind of flowers which are emphasised when Mizar is greeting Grendizer, is that we are facing an early spring ambient.
I tend to think that the timeline of the anime has become, in its final scene, once again aligned with the TV broadcast (airing date of ep74 is 27th February 1977) but… one year later. Anyway, it’s not big deal. What’s important really is in fact how the characters act in the greeting scene, which is to me the last little matrioska still left to be opened.
Despite the crappy narrative approach to that climax point of the story, in my opinion, the script succeeds anyway in using a tricky storytelling for the last time. Even in the final scenes, the visual aspects are telling us more than what the dialogues are referring. Face it: Hikaru should have a broken heart seeing Daisuke leaving, but she is the only one who does not cry.
She is moved, a soft “Daisuke” escapes from her mouth, she cries for a moment with Goro, but, after, she stops crying:
 
 
while Goro and Danbei cry with big tears and Maria Grace and Koji cry too later, Hikaru and Daisuke, plus Umon, don’t share a tear.
 
 
I have always found this hint very strange, but, if it could be understandable for Umon considering his personality, if Hikaru would be in that moment an abandoned woman facing her man leaving for good, I suppose she would have been designed as very angry or totally desperate. A similar situation does not allow to a normal human being a “soft” emotional approach, which is instead the impression I get from the images passing on the screen. It cannot be a mistake, because she is constantly designed that way for the whole scene. Moreover, Hikaru is moved (not angry), but she is the only character who does not greet Daisuke and Matria Grace. Everybody say in a way or another "goodbye", unless her. This is totally strange, in my opinion, and I refuse to believe it’s a mistake of the script.
 
There must be a reason behind her strange behaviour, and my theory is that, despite the suffering for the moment, Hikaru and Daisuke know that they are going to meet together again. Cosmo Special was built exactly for the purpose to allow the earthlings to travel in the deep space, and Koji was supposed to accompany Maria Grace to her native planet (ep73),
  
Tamura is the scriptwriter of both eps 73-74: the story was meant to end with the Grendizer Team leaving together for Planet Fleed, there can be no doubt on this. The fact that, very likely, production problems (probably related to Koji 4) forced the Authors to change the final does not mean that a little hint of their real intentions was kept as a perpetual reminder of the original plan. Hikaru cannot leave Earth now, as Goro is too young to take care of the farm and Danbei is too old to take care of it alone, so she needs some time to find a possible solution which could guarantee a safe future to her family (finding a new trusted farmer or selling joint ownership of the farm to a neighbourhood, or something similar).
But Daisuke cannot postpone his return to Fleed, as he must be there, when his population will start coming back to the native planet, so he is forced to leave without further delays. Hikaru understands the situation, and let him go soon.
Koji could not leave now too, because Grendizer can host only two persons, and if he took now Cosmo Special to follow Maria-Grace, then Hikaru could not reach Fleed later. The reason behind Maria Grace and Koji’s argument is, for me, the fact that Maria Grace refused the possible alternative to stay on Earth with him and to reach Fleed later with him and Hikaru.
But there is no doubt in my heart that Hikaru and Koji will join Daisuke and Maria Grace on Planet Fleed (together with Umon, why not?) as soon as a convenient solution for the Makiba farm is identified. But Ufo Robot Grendizer is not intended to finish with the greetings at the grass. Before the robot disappears in the light of newborn Planet Fleed, we see for the last time Duke Fleed’s face.
And this last image of the main character of the story shows him moved recalling Hikaru Makiba. Yes, also Goro appears in his memory, but it is another trick to divert the attention of Japanese boys from the situation.
Duke Fleed’s trembling eyes for commotion thinking to Hikaru are his last image in the anime, and I thank wholeheartedly the Authors for this precious gift.
I couldn’t really hope for more for reminding me and all the viewers that Ufo Robot Grendizer is a long file of beautiful matrioske, and that Hikaru Makiba is maybe the greatest of all: an incredible, wonderful, unforgettable character who is still waiting to be recognised as the most revolutionary female figure in Japanese robotic animes of the ‘70s.
  
 
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1 "The company official answer (reported by Roman Album)": this is an adaptation of Dynamic's answer and not a translation of the text.
2 "...has finally exploded in the space": At the time of writing the final part of this analysis, I was already in possession of OV (Original Version), but not of the translations of its dubbing.
3 "Daisuke" obviously in OV, Original Version.
4 "production problems (probably related to Koji)": After, I completely expressed my point in other posts on the French forum: Dynamic and Toei could not afford to "lose" Koji Kabuto, if they wanted to make a new Mazinger series.
Edited by joe 7 - 24/11/2019, 23:11
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