Android Kikaider Volume 04: Silent Journey - Anime Reviews


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Android Kikaider Volume 04: Silent Journey

Now that Jiro and his siblings know the location of Prof. Gill’s base, things are going to heat up quickly. But what about the fallout from the last battle?

Episode 11: The Destroyer

Since the latest battle, Jiro has been under the control of Saburo in the belief that Jiro will become more powerful once he gives in to his anger. So at every opportunity, Saburo torments Jiro by letting him realize the damage and harm that he’s been doing then taking control to increase the destruction.

Meanwhile, Mitsuko discovers the blueprints for Jiro’s conscience circuit. Remembering more of the experiences with her father’s research, she realizes that the only way to complete Jiro’s circuit is by him having positive experiences in

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life – much like regular good people. Now that she thinks that she can help Jiro, she believes that he would head to his “birth place” to avoid police pursuit.

Arriving at the site, she finds Jiro and he immediately tries to get her to stay away from him out of fear that he could hurt her. Refusing to abandon him, she

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tells him that she believes in his conscience which allows him to break Saburo’s control and attack him in battle mode. One big fight later, Saburo reveals some startling information: Dr. Komyoji’s brain is in his body.

Episode 12: The Machine That Dreams

Starting off the episode with Saburo and Prof. Gill, we see that Dr. Komyoji’s body has been preserved. Saburo and Gill don’t appear to be working well as a team, as Gill is angry at Saburo for not destroying Jiro and wasting obvious advantages and chances. The base is a flurry of activity with Gill still working aggressively in building a robot army as well as completing construction of his “ultimate weapon.”

Now trying to heal and repair from the last battle, Jiro and company are hiding out in a secret room underneath the wreckage of Dr. Komyoji’s former laboratory. After some repairs and a heartfelt revelation, Jiro sneaks off by himself.

On route to Prof. Gill’s base, Jiro is once again confronted by Saburo and the two battle. Jiro has his hands full on this one: he doesn’t want to harm Dr. Komyoji’s brain then Mitsuko shows up to complicate things. Realizing that Jiro won’t attack because of the brain, Saburo is about to destroy it when his other arm stops the attack and Dr. Komyoji takes control of Saburo’s body and begin to speak to Mitsuko. Then the episode ends… dammit!

Episode 13: The End Of The Dream

Now that Dr. Komyoji has control over Saburo, the team plans to invade the Dark base. Faking injury, Saburo carries a prone Jiro into the base. The plan is for Jiro and Saburo to open the perimeter so that Mitsuko and the detective can slip in and get away with the Dr. Komyoji’s body. Now inside the base, Saburo expresses his regret for the robots that he’s built and tells Jiro that he intends to kill Prof. Gill himself.

Enter the secret tricks up the evil mastermind’s sleeves: 4 duplicates of Saburo and an army of robots. Jiro arrives in time to try and help, but is unable to prevent Saburo from having his arm blown off or head removed. Seeing his friend hurt, Jiro releases all of his anger in one torrent. Mitsuko and the detective arrive on the battle scene to a sea of smoldering components and to Jiro who is holding the head of Saburo containing Dr. Komyoji’s brain. He tells Mitsuko to escape with the brain and the body, but he is going to remain behind to stop Gill (and generally blow things up).

Flash forward to the future, Mitsuko is greeted by the detective and his assistant who inquire about the health of Dr. Komyoji. Mitsuko tells them that the operation to save him was a success and that they will soon be travelling oversees for additional therapy. The detective asks about Jiro, and Mitsuko admits that while he hasn’t returned so far, she believes that he is still alive.

With the ending of Kikaider, I must admit that the series provided an interesting balance of emotion and action. It’s rare to see a robot series of this type do such a melodramatic style of storytelling.

- Tazman

(March 6, 2004)

“Of course I was wearing my seatbelt. Do you think that I would get into the car of a guy wearing a blindfold and not wear my seatbelt?”

- Dell (3-South)