SYNOPSIS

Karala tells the others of the meteors that are hitting planet Buff, seemingly launched from Solo. As Cosmo points out, the same thing has been happening to Earth. They link this to the Ide, and wonder if they'll ever be able to control it. Above the water planet, Harulu is preparing to head back to Buff, and tells Gyamus to bring her Karala's body and part of the Ideon to take back with her. He sends the 'Twin Devils' Doppa and Kiyaya Buff in Rogg Macks to acheive this. They take advantage of the Solo Ship's radar being down for maintenance to launch an unexpected attack. The Ideon units launch to fend them off, but are initially pinned down by the Rogg Macks. However, when Lou is hurt the Ideon Gauge comes to life, and the Solo Ship raises the barrier.

The barrier is briefly dropped to allow the launching of Ideon, at which point the four Rogg Macks attack. They ram the Solo Ship and fire missiles though it, but the Gauge reacts once again to Lou's distress, raising the barrier once more. The Solo Ship's cannon takes out one Rogg Mack. Doppa makes a suicide run to take down the barrier, breaking through only to be killed by the Ideon. The Solo Ship then makes short work of another Rogg Mack, and Kiyaya vows to make a suicide attack of her own to avenge her brother. The Ideon intervenes, and sends her mecha flying into the Sades Zan, killing both her and Gyamus. Back on the Solo Ship, the colonists realise the Buff Clan's fear of the Ideon means they can't afford to give up on chasing them, while Joliver posits the Ide has a willpower of its' own. Unsure of their next move, they repair the Solo Ship and leave Flag Star.

NOTES

Ashura Novak: Ashura is strong enough to pull a goat by its' tail. That's actually pretty impressive considering she must be, what, four. It's her job to look after the chickens on board too.

Karala Ajiba: Karala knows of the Twin Devils as well. For a hippy, she paid a lot of attention to this stuff, didn't she?

The Devil Twins: Doppa and Kiyaya do appear to have genuine telepathy - she hears his last words. Doppa (the male) is the eldest of the pair.

Buff: The planet has been hit with thirteen meteors in the past two years.

Sades Zan: The top section of this Gyamus' ship can detatch and descend as a mobile gun ship (the heavy mobile mecha still seem to launch from the remainder). This section is destroyed when the Ideon throws Kiyaya's Rogg Mack at it, but what happens to the rest of it is unexplained.

Earth: Earth is also under meteor attack - the first hit New York, again two years ago. By the time of episode 15, there had been twelve. The planet has some learning computers (another nod to Mobile Suit Gundam, were one of Gundam's big advantages was its' learning computer), though these are still quite rare.

REVIEW:

Despite again being largely formulaic, this episode is something of an improvement. It helps that the battle in this one is suitably panoramic, using the aquatic planet to come up with some very different visuals and ideas to usual, while the short-lived Devil Twins are an interesting change from the usual Buff Clan angry bastards.

Harulu very nearly steals the whole episode with a brace of chilling cameos. There's also the first real hint that the Ide is doing exactly what it likes, almost toying with both the colonists and the Buff Clan here.

It's also great to see the unpleasant cypher of Gyamus get an inglorious death - what there is of the character has been the worst of the Buff Clan aggressors yet, and it's a plus to have him out of the way.