Gatchaman Episode 66: “The Devil’s Fashion Show”

[Thank you, Saturn, for the screencaps!]

Gatchaman Episode 66: “The Devil’s Fashion Show”

BOTP Episode: N/A






The episode opens with a close up of Leader X. As usual, he doesn’t look or sound too pleased.

“Berg Katse, when exactly do you plan on destroying the Science Ninja Team and the ISO’s Mantle Project?”







Technically, Leader X, Katse has planned to do this in nearly every episode. Granted, what Leader X really wants to know is when this will actually be carried out successfully. But if Katse really could accurately predict a time of destruction for the Ninjas or the Mantle Project, he would probably also have succeeded in bringing it about by now.

“Well, uh, I don’t really know,” replies Katse nervously –but honestly. “Have you any idea?”

Leader X is not at all impressed and calls him a fool, but then instructs him to listen.

“Have you got a plan for us?” asks Katse, looking both relieved and apprehensive.

“According to my data, the Ninja Team has a secret patron,” says Leader X.

“In other words, a sponsor, correct?” replies Katse helpfully, “For funds.”

“Yes, it enables the Team to travel the world as they please.”

I guess having a sponsor doesn’t help the Ninjas much in their civilian lives. I mean, Ken can’t pay his tab at the Snack J and Joe lives in a trailer. Not that Leader X would know about that, though.

“Sounds like an excellent sponsor,” says Katse, hand on his chin as if contemplating how to get one for himself. Me too –I wish I had someone funding me to travel the world as I please! He asks if Leader X knows who their sponsor is, and Leader X responds that he thinks it is Princess Flake of the Monalince Kingdom.

“You will assassinate her!” declares Leader X.

“Kill her?” asks Katse, sounding oddly surprised considering how many of Leader X’s plans involve killing.

Leader X thinks that “a disturbance in the Monalince Kingdom should slow down the Science Ninja Team’s activities.”

So now Katse lays on some flattery, telling Leader X that only he could come up with such a brilliant plan. Maybe he’s just happy that, for once, it’s not the Science Ninjas that he has to try to kill.

But Leader X does point out that security around Princess Flake will be very tight, and getting near enough to her to kill her won’t be easy but Katse does one of his sweeping bows, looking confident of success.

So, now we get our first look at the Monalince Kingdom, and it is clearly a partying scene evocative of Rio during Carnival. Electric guitar music is playing, everyone is dancing in the streets, confetti is flying everywhere and there’s a parade going on.







“The Monalince Kingdom lies on the coast of the Doriapeace Sea,” the narrator tells us, “Every year there is an extravagant parade to celebrate the anniversary of the country’s establishment. On this day it seems as if the whole country is dancing.”

Based on what we’re seeing, though, it’s mostly scantily clad women who are doing the dancing.







“It is a small, newly established country,” continues the narrator, “But blessed with ample resources, and beautiful weather.”







But now we see that this footage of the Monalince Kingdom is being viewed on a screen by Dr. Nambu.

He turns away from the screen and announces “Science Ninja Team, you’re being deployed to the Kingdom of Monalince.”

Jun is there, and she sighs dreamily, resting her face against her hands, and cries “Famous fashion!”

“No,” Jinpei is telling Ryu, “It’s famous for its roller games. Their team, the Monalince Toppers, are the best!”

Joe is leaning against the wall with his hands behind his head, scowling. “Roller games and high fashion,” he says scornfully, “Who cares about that?” Maybe he’s more interested in the dancing women.

Well, Jun and Jinpei clearly do.

Jun doesn’t seem to be listening to Joe. She’s still rapturously contemplating their upcoming trip, saying “Far out, I don’t believe it!”







“Jun, go to the Monalince Kingdom and enjoy all the fashion your heart desires. I’m going to need you to play a big role in the next mission.”

“Mission?” says Jun, realizing now that, of course, this all comes with strings attached.

Dr. Nambu explains that he didn’t show them the footage on the view screen for “sight-seeing.” “Of course you can enjoy fashion, or roller games all you want, after the job is done,” he adds while Joe and Ken now start paying more attention, “Princess Flake of Monalince has been generously donating a lot of money to the ISO every year. She’s also an enormous fan of everyone in the Science Ninja Team.”

“What an honor,” enthuses Jun while Ken blatantly yawns in boredom, “Princess Flake, the beautiful first lady of Monalince and fashion industry icon!”








“Enough about fashion already,” says Ken, clutching his head and looking exasperated. He wants Dr. Nambu to hurry up and explain the “job” to be done.

So, Dr. Nambu turns now to Ken and explains that Princess Flake will be hosting an enormous fashion show in her palace.

“More crap about fashion,” scoffs Joe, still leaning and scowling.

“That doesn’t have nothing to do with guys like us,” adds Ryu dismissively.

If Jun is annoyed that the guys are so contemptuous of something that matters to her, she’s hiding it well.

Dr. Nambu interjects that it does, in fact, have something to do with them.

Ken’s figured it out. “Galactor’s plotting something for the show, right Doctor?” he asks.

“Correct,” says Dr. Nambu explains that because Princess Flake is supporting the ISO, he’s certain that Galactor will target her.

Again, Ken has figured it out, that Dr. Nambu wants them to go to the Monalince Kingdom to protect her from Galactor attacks. Dr. Nambu confirms this, adding that the Princess specifically asked for the Science Ninjas to do this, and to do it secretly.

“Well, that’s an important enough job, I guess,” concedes Joe, now that he can look forward to some manly violence. He uncrosses his arms.

Ryu realizes that he too might get to join in on the manly fun, and cracks his knuckles in anticipation.

Dr. Nambu explains that on the day of the fashion show, the only people inside the palace will be the fashion designer Calidon’s models and the palace staff.

“There’s no telling how Galactor will strike,” he continues, “And at the same time, all of you must conceal your identities, which makes this mission complicated.”

Ken, frowning, notes that they won’t be able to use the God Phoenix inside a palace and therefore will fight Galactor “mano a mano,” and demonstrates by making a fist with one hand and punching his other palm.

Jinpei is happy for Ryu, who won’t be stuck piloting the God Phoenix on this mission and can “go as wild” as he wants.

“Yeah!” says Ryu enthusiastically, slapping Jinpei on the back so hard that he falls off the couch. Oops –someone doesn’t know his own strength.

So, Dr. Nambu orders them to move out –and he prays for their success.

It’s a bit odd to see the Ninjas on board a commercial jet liner, but that is where we next see them.







Ken and Joe are seated side by side, with Jun and Jinpei behind them, but Ryu is across the aisle, by himself –I guess rank determined the seating arrangements.







Jinpei is reading something that looks like a comic or a magazine, and Ken and Joe appear to be dozing.

Jun, however, is observing the woman walking up the plane’s aisle, returning to her seat several rows ahead of the Ninjas.







She leans over the back of Joe’s chair and says “Ken, the lady over there is Calidon, the designer!”

“So graceful,” adds Jun admiringly as Ken opens his eyes to see who she’s referring to. Joe doesn’t even bother to look.

Jun sits back down, still talking about what a thrill it is to be on the same plane as Calidon.

Ryu, from across the aisle, remarks “I’d take katsudon over Calidon, any day,” (katsudon being “a popular Japanese food, a bowl of rice topped with a deep fried pork cutlet, egg and condiments” according to Wikipedia). Apparently he’s got really food on his mind, adding “Jeesh, isn’t it time to eat already?”

But now Ken is looking out his window and sees that they’re approaching a coastal city –their destination in the Monalince Kingdom.

We get a brief look at some of the city’s buildings, and then we’re shown the exterior of a hotel. Inside, people are milling around the spacious, chandelier-lit lobby of the hotel. Jun and Jinpei are sitting on couches around a coffee table, and Jinpei is still reading his comic/magazine. Jun is watching Calidon walking across the lobby and she’s in awe that she’s staying at the same hotel as her, but Jinpei isn’t impressed; he’s complaining that he wants to go see a roller game –the Monalince Toppers, perhaps?

But then Jinpei’s voice calls out “Hey Sis!”

“Check him out,” remarks Jun, “It looks like he’s got roller skating down.”

“I’ve got something to show you –check out my whip!” says Jinpei, skating towards them now, hand in hand with the kid who’d asked if he was a Gatchaman fan. This kid swings the arm that he’s holding onto Jinpei with and then lets go, sending Jinpei shooting off ahead, fast –and right towards Joe. “Whip!” yells Jinpei.

Suddenly Ken looks up, thinking…

Meanwhile, Jinpei is skating circles around Joe, literally.







“There you go, what do you think?” calls out Jinpei, clearly pleased with himself.

Jun’s less confident in his skating ability and warns him to be careful.

“The whip…” murmurs Ken to himself, still watching Jinpei.

Jinpei, laughing, apologizes to Joe –who calls him a pain in the neck- and then skates off again, singing to himself.

“I’ve got it!” announces Ken suddenly, standing up.

Jun and Ryu are curious.

“Jinpei just showed me something really interesting,” says Ken, “Galactor’s in for a big surprise.”

And now we cut to a roller skating rink.







Japan versus the United States? Heh, no, I’m sure that’s not what the acronyms represent –especially as “Japan” lost.

I guess the rink is closed and the Science Ninjas have snuck inside the place since there’s no one else there at all, and the Ninjas are all on roller skates now.

Joe is skating along, holding onto Jinpei, and he calls out “Whip!” and swings his arm to hurl Jinpei forward.

Jinpei goes zooming past Ryu, who’s clearly struggling with this whole business of roller skating. I sympathize with Ryu –I can ice skate but I was always terrible on roller skates.

Now Jinpei is zooming up behind Jun and Ken, who are skating hand in hand –Awww!- and he ducks under their hands and keeps going, smiling smugly.






“Cool, Jinpei, way to go!” calls out Ken. Meanwhile Ryu is doing “comic relief” duty, as both of his feet try to go in opposite directions –a groin pull injury looks imminent!

Joe cannot resist this opportunity to amuse himself at poor Ryu’s expense.

He approaches Ryu, who’s now clutching the boards, asking “What the heck are you doing?”







Ryu insists he’s doing a “whip” but Joe smirks and declares he'll show Ryu how to do a proper “whip.” And I am reminded of the many times, as a kid, that my evil older brother offered to teach me how to do something –run away, Ryu!

Except Ryu can’t –he’s on roller skates.

“I’ll show you how it’s done,” says Joe, with sinister friendliness. He pries Ryu away from the boards and shoves him towards the center of the rink.







“Ahhhh! What do I do?” cries Ryu, waving his arms frantically as he zooms across the rink, struggling to keep his feet beneath him.

It doesn’t end well.







So now Ken has his plan all figured out. “All right,” he says, sitting on the boards beside Jinpei as Joe lounges nearby, “We’ll call it… the Bird Whip!"

Um, that doesn’t exactly rank up there with “Tornado Fighter” or “Firebird” in terms of sounding fearsome and dangerous.

“Far out!” enthuses Jinpei –I guess he thinks the name’s okay.

Jun sounds quite skeptical, however, as she asks “We’re going to use the 'bird whip' to dodge the ring bombs?”

Yes, that what Ken’s plan is, and he attributes his idea for it to Jinpei.





Jinpei, relishing this praise, smirks at Jun and asks “Hey Sis, you still got a problem?”

Jun turns away, her nose in the air.

But now Ken is telling her that it’s her turn.

“My turn?” she asks, confused.

“You need to somehow infiltrate the palace and tell Princess Flake the Science Ninja Team is looking out for her,” Ken explains.







“Boy, I’m glad that’s over,” says Ryu with relief, skating unsteadily back across the rink towards them.

But it’s not over for Ryu. Ken orders him to continue practicing his roller skating –much to Ryu’s dismay. “I’m not done yet?”

“Nope,” says evil Joe, “I’ll give you a nice, thorough lesson. Come on!”

And he hauls poor Ryu away…







As inept as I always was at roller skating, I think I actually would try it again now, if only Joe were my instructor. I don’t think Ryu, though, is quite so eager to take lessons from the Condor!

“Damn, Jinpei, this is all because you showed them some silly stunt! Jinpei, I’m blaming this all on you!!”

Commercial break!


Somehow or other, Jun has gotten inside the palace. She enters a room, shutting the door behind her, and looks around in happy awe as she realizes she’s in the room that contains all the clothes intended for the fashion show.







“How fabulous,” she sighs, approaching a rack of dresses. She takes a yellow and orange gown off its hanger to admire it closely –very closely.







“Calidon, take me away!” she says swooningly, and puts the dress on over her clothes and preens before a set of mirrors.

Um, I think it makes your hips look big, Jun.






Suddenly Jun hears someone laughing, and she turns around in alarm.

It’s Calidon herself who’s come into the room, though she doesn’t look put out that Jun’s been trying on the clothes.

Jun, however, feels embarrassed and ashamed and hangs her head. “I’m so sorry,” she gasps, turning away. But Calidon looks interested in Jun and walks over to her.







“That’s all right,” she says, “It looks great on you. It’s perfect, I think.”

With these encouraging words, Jun turns around to face her.

“I was just here, and…” Jun’s is trying to figure out an explanation but Calidon starts adjusting the dress on Jun, saying “You’re the same lady who was on the airplane with me, isn’t that right? I was thinking then you had a very nice figure.”







“Wow,” says Jun, putting her hands to her face as she experiences the dream of, I am sure, many a teenage girl –being discovered by a top fashion designer and told that she should be a model.

“I was looking for a model who could pull off wearing this dress,” continues Calidon (who is probably having trouble there, as this dress seems to makes any wearer’s hips look wider), “Could you? I would love for you to try modeling, at least for the show tomorrow. I’m sure Princess Flake would be quite thrilled to have you as well.”

Jun is overjoyed and spins around excitedly, saying it’s like a dream.

Calidon explains that she is staying at the palace that night to get ready for the show, and she says that Jun should stay too as her guest.

Next we see Jun, she’s still with Calidon and they’re seated in another room with Princess Flake’s ladies-in-waiting, as guards patrol outside.

The senior lady-in-waiting is telling Calidon how much Princess Flake is looking forward to the fashion show and that she hopes Calidon gets a good night’s sleep. As the lady-in-waiting leaves the room, Jun stands up.

Next we see Jun, she’s walking through a dark corridor in the palace.







She approaches a large, ornate door, clearly trying not to be seen or heard, opens it and peers inside.

Now we see the star-filled night sky. Princess Flake is standing on a balcony alone, saying to herself “The gala fashion show is tomorrow, and I hope everything goes well. I wonder where the Science Ninja Team are?”

“Please, rest assured, Princess,” says Jun’s voice from inside the room behind Princess Flake, causing her to turn around quickly and demand “Who’s there?”

“I’m Science Ninja Team, G-3, Jun the Swan,” says Jun, although we can’t see her (she might be concealed within the very large chandelier).

“Ah, I knew you would be here,” says Princess Flake, looking happy (though I can’t help but wonder if she’d be happier if G-1 or G-2 had snuck into the palace to visit her instead –I know I would be), “Where are you?”






The chandelier now swings back and forth slightly on its chain, though Jun isn’t visible. Then she stands and can be seen within the chandelier, in birdstyle now, and her shadow is cast across the ceiling.






She assures Princess Flake that the Science Ninja Team is at her service, whenever she calls, and then she soars from the chandelier out the window, and nimbly leaps over various bits of palace rooftop and disappears into the distance.

In her wake, all is quiet and peaceful within the palace grounds.

But not for too long. The ground shakes and a statue breaks and topples over, a big chunk of it falling into a gaping crack in the ground.

A large, whirling drill bit emerges now from this gaping chasm and it’s quickly apparent that it’s attached to a mecha that’s just infiltrated the palace grounds.

She manages to land on her feet and now she’s the first to decide that the ring bombs are their best chance against the Ninjas. She fires off several of them at Ken. He just manages to avoid their explosions by leaping high into the air and grabbing on to a balustrade. Down below, Jinpei is cowering behind the badly-damaged remains of Princess Flake’s chair. More ring bombs now target Joe and Ryu, putting them on the defensive too as they dodge explosions.

An explosion causes the section of balustrade to which Ken is clinging to crumble and with a cry of alarm, he plummets, surrounded by rubble. But as he falls, he calls out “Bird Roller technique!”

And next we see Ken, he’s wearing roller skates (I wonder how they managed to get their birdstyles to incorporate a roller skate option –that’s probably one of those things we’re not supposed to think about too much) and he's skating hand-in-hand with Jinpei and telling everyone to get ready to do their ‘bird whip.”

Behind them, Joe and Jun are also skating hand-in-hand. Ryu is by himself, but he’s skating well and declares his practice has paid off (I guess Joe managed to be a good teacher too).

The Devil Stars are completely confounded to see all the Ninjas approaching them on roller skates –can’t say I blame them!







“Don’t be intimidated! Use your ring bombs!” yells Katse, and the Devil Stars now do just that. But, using their “bird whip” technique, the Ninjas are able to dodge the explosions.

Jinpei zooms towards a Devil Star and knocks her down, and when she manages to get up, he just zooms back and knocks her down again.

Up on the balcony, a Devil Star fires ring bombs and Ken and Ryu, who are skating together but Ryu “whips” Ken right up into air towards the balcony where he punches her in the face and sends her falling to the ground below.

Elsewhere, Joe and Jun are skating together, weaving such that the Devil Star they’re heading towards hesitates in firing her ring bombs, and then they knock her over.








And while she’s lying there –Ryu runs her over, leaving wheel tracks on her face!







Now Ken is skating along the balcony’s railing and he knocks down another Devil Star, leaps towards the ground and clobbers another one.

“Come on,” yells Katse, “You girls can do better than this!”

Now Ken is calling “Bird Windmill! Come on, everybody!” and all the Ninjas assemble again and join hands. Ryu is the anchor at the center and the rest form a rapidly spinning “arm.”









This creates intense wind, similar to the “Tornado Fighter” technique, and causes Devil Stars to go flying and tumbling across the ground and crashing into pillars.







A very angry Katse is now yelling that they’ve no choice but to retreat. “Call for the mole tank!” he cries.







So, a big crack appears in the ground and the mole tank reappears.


Katse wastes no time whatsoever in leaping aboard it, abandoning the Devil Stars to their fates, and quickly the mole tank disappears back underground.







Now, all is calm and the Ninjas are staring at the hole where the mole tank disappeared. “As usual, he’s got a flawless escape plan,” mutters Ryu.

“And, of course, we can’t chase him underground either,” complains Jinpei.

Ken is silent, staring at the ground where Katse escaped and looking grim and angry.

But, suddenly it’s party time again in the Monalince Kingdom now that pesky matters like the assassination of the country’s ruler have been dealt with. The parade is happening, more girls are dancing, and Calidon’s fashions are being displayed by the genuine models (who I will assume, were rescued from the closets and untied). No sign of Calidon herself though –I hope she’s not still in a closet.







You’d think that maybe Jun would be up there too, modeling, but she’s standing in the crowds with Ken.

“I have to admit, Jun,” says Ken, “the Monalince Kingdom is a country of great fashion.” (For Jun’s sake, I hope it’s not the dancing girls’ scanty outfits that he’s admiring).


“It’s such a drag,” replies Jun, “to wear the same outfit all the time like I do, you know?” ( I wonder if Ken was able to see any of Jun’s modeling work in the palace fashion show –he might have liked seeing her in different outfits too).






But now Jinpei is all excited to see a parade float coming by that features the roller skating “Monalince Toppers.”







“Great, Jinpei will be even crazier about roller games now,” says Joe, frowning. Joe’s standing with Ryu –maybe those two managed to bond a bit during Ryu’s roller skating lessons.







“Jeesh, I’m so through with that,” shudders Ryu, “Boy…”

Okay, maybe not.

And the parade and the anniversary celebrations continue.

This is one of those episodes that never got used in Battle of the Planets, though I think it would have made a good one, especially as, at least where I lived, roller skating was really popular in the late 70s (though I was really bad at it). The big fight scene at the end could have been edited a bit to remove the punching and kicking while retaining the “Bird Windmill,” the overall plot wouldn’t have needed much modification.

The End.

I agree as well. I have no idea why this wasn't used in BOTP. It seems perfect for it!

LB, you had such a great review, and Saturn, you again managed to capture some great screenshots! I think this one is actually my favorite, because it had me !



And while it's stereotyped and all, I can hardly blame Jun for being into fashion, seeing as she never gets to wear any herself (except in this episode, of course)! And when the guys say that 'fashion's not for them', I can't blame them either... they don't have to think about their clothes! Although i have to say, if the guys did get to choose their own clothes, Joe is the one I could see caring most about what he wears. Not to say he'd be 'dressy' or anything, but that he'd have certain items that he would wear and certain items he would refuse to wear. I can see Ken, Jinpei and Ryu putting on any old thing.

The weirdest part of this episode to me is actually Calidon seeing Jun trying on the clothes and then offering her a job as a fashion model. That seems a little far-fetched/contrived. And how could she see Jun's figure on the plane when Jun was sitting down? But I'm willing to let that go for the sake of story continuation, I guess.

I guess the Bird Whip technique wasn't so impressive, as we never see the Kagaku Nimpo Roller Skates again!

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It was one of the things that always irritated me - Poor Swannie being stuck with only one outifit!

It just goes to show that the ISO was solely comprised of men. Any woman would tell you that at least 3 pairs of shoes is ESSENTIAL, let alone several different outfits!

One of the things I love best about the OAV's is the getting rid of those silly shirts and having the pendants - so much more discrete.

Yes. I am also rather partial to the fact that the Condor habitually goes shirtless in the OAV's.

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"When I'm old, I don't want them to say of me, "She's so charming." I want them to say, "Be careful, I think she's armed." -G. Stoddart

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Don't sweat the petty things and don't pet the sweaty things.

Nice Recap LB! It's nice to be able to sit down and read one and comment on it for a change.

TJ, I think you have Joe pegged, not a clothes horse, but particular about what he wears, just like he'd be with his car and his weapons.

CD, definitely right on with Jinpei and Ryu. Jinpei being concerned with his popularity and such would be overly sensitive to being teased for wearing the wrong clothes and more likely to bend to peer pressure.

I'm not sure about Ken, though. Probably somewhere between Joe and Ryu.

And Green, thanks! I can already hear the Zark voice overs at the end telling us that Calidon (or whatever she might have been renamed if it had happened) was all right. -- Not a good thing to be hearing while trying to eat lunch.

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Perspective Alters Reality

Hey, I expectd a few comments about Jun in the equestrian get-up.

I'd like to think Ken finally realized she was a woman when she wore the dresses.

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Benefits, not features; benefits, not features

Great review, LB, and many thanks to you and Saturn for your hard work!

I remember at the time that this episode came out that roller disco was all the rage. It would make sense at the time to incorporate this fad in with a fashion show, and show just how trendy our birdies were. Today, it's hilarious!

You guys are right, it's too bad this didn't become a BotP episode. Not enough "space" references maybe?

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Swan Song

The real fuinding: Joe/Jason's racing winnings and takings from the Snack J

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"When I'm old, I don't want them to say of me, "She's so charming." I want them to say, "Be careful, I think she's armed." -G. Stoddart