SYNOPSIS

The Solo Ship leaves the ruined planet, the crew still divided as to the wisdom of allowing Karala to travel with them. The ship enters an asteroid field known as the Nimrod Zone, while Guhaba's Zigg Mack and a squad of Zlow Jick fighters follow. Hatari detects this force, and Bes hopes to lose it in the asteroid field. Elsewhere onboard the ship, an unseen assailant takes a pot-shot at Karala as she wanders the ship alone. By now, the asteroid field is buffeting the ship. The Ideon units launch, while Guhaba commits the Zlow Jicks to stop the ship from entering the Nimbus Zone itself. Inside the Solo Ship, Karala is shot and wounded by her mysterious tormentor. She manages to get back to the bridge, however.

After recovering the Sol-Conver (knocked overboard by an asteroid strike), the units are able to dock and form Ideon. By now Guhuba and the Zigg Mack have arrived to reinforce the Zlow Jicks, however, and they spring a direct attack on the distracted colonists. The Ideon Gauge fades, shutting down the barrier, and the Zigg Mack begins inflicting damage on the Ideon. Onboard the Solo Ship, it is revealed that Lotta is the one trying to kill Karala - she is thwarted by Deck. Meanwhile, Cosmo is able to partly separate the top of the Ideon, and use its' arms to destroy the Zigg Mack. Seeing this, the rest of the Buff Clan strike force withdraw. The Ideon returns to the Solo Ship, where Cosmo and Kasha find Bes, Sheryl and Joliver questioning Lotta over her actions. Lotta blames Karala for the destruction of New Lopia and the colonists' situation. Karala tells Lotta to shoot her, but all the bullets miss. Lotta collapses in tears, her sadness overcoming her hatred.

NOTES

Karala Ajiba: Karala's beverage-making antics seem to have landed her the role of the Solo Ship's official tea lady. In a nice continuity touch, she also wears a different outfit after her old one was shredded by Guhaba last episode. Presumably this one's easier to repair, as she'll wear it for the rest of the series despite Lotta blowing a hole in one of the sleeves the first time she wears it.

Lotta Banda: Lotta is in charge of cultivating the heat crop growing onboard the ship. She seems to be a genuinely bad shot - it's not until after she runs out of bullets that she calms down a bit, and before that seemed to really be trying to kill Karala.

Sheryl Formosa: Sheryl gives the Ideon crew monitoring devices to investigate their brains' behaviour when piloting the robot. She actually sticks up for Karala as well.

Moera Fatima: There's no distinct hand-over, but after acting as a relief pilot in episode 11, Moera seems now to be the regular pilot for the Ideo-Nova.

Kasha Imhof: Kasha continues to get more battle-hardened, and seems particularly close to the Sol-Conver.

Guhaba Gra: It's not made explicict, but Guhaba dies when the Ideon destroys his Zigg Mack.

The Solo Ship: The radar can't define between friendly and enemy units, due to being an outdated laser system.

Buff Clan: The Zlow Jick fighters are able to plant a further tracking device on the Solo Ship.

REVIEW:

Another strong episode. Some elements are a little flawed - Lotta's unique outfit makes it obvious it's her shooting at Karala immediately, while the escape through the asteroid field is something of a cliché.

However, Karala's characterisation is superb, conveying a real sense of guilt and shame as she reacts with quiet hurt to the initial attacks, lies to Bes about her wound for the greater good of the crew and then risks all to let Lotta exorcise her demons one way or another. It's nice to have a bit more depth to Lotta as well, and the forest confrontation is very tense.

The action scenes are well-handled as well, even if the Ideon being able to detach its' arms like that is absolutely absurd. It's a shame Guhaba gets such an early, low-key death, though - to date he's been the most tolerable of Harulu's catspaws.