In this next set of Magma Taishi (Ambassador Magma) episodes, things look increasingly bleak for the good guys. Goa's monsters continue to hunt for Murakami Mamoru, and only Magma and Gam can save his bacon from increasingly difficult predicaments. Goa goes from strength to strength. He is fully recovered, and his minion, the oni Udo, has as well. While some of the agents in National Agency have wised up about Goa's intentions, the higher-ups persist in their delusions of negotiating, even when Goa's warships are in the sky all over the world.
And then, Mamoru makes a heart-breaking discovery. Our heroes have truly entered the Slough of Despond™.
The arc opens with Mamoru and his mother Tomoko once again pursued by a super-powerful pseudo-human.
Rescued by chance, they end up at the home of Imai Kazuo, a typical family man with a wife, Yuki, and a daughter, Midori. But something is off. Midori is actually a pseudo-human, who took the real Midori's place when the latter died of illness. (Who arranged this? Goa was still a disembodied spirit back then.) Pseudo-Midori immediately recognizes what the viewer has suspected for some time: that Tomoko is also a pseudo-human, real name Altemira. Both have developed feelings for their human families, compromising their missions.
And when Hilda, the blonde pseudo-human that bamboozled the Intelligence Agency back in episode 5, shows up to kill or capture Mamoru, those compromised loyalties are tested to the breaking point.
Meanwhile, Murakami Atsushi, his family, his sidekick Junya, and girl reporter Umemura return to investigate the restricted area around Mount Onitono.
In a long flashback to "ancient" times, an oni called Udo is shown terrorizing local villages until he is defeated by the first Asuka Miki. (Udo presents as female normally but as male in battle mode.)
In modern times, Udo reawakens just as the gang, and the Intelligence agents under Kunisaki, discover its lair. They all barely escape with their lives when Goa teleports Udo to his spaceship. Udo has only one request: to settle the score with Magma before Goa conquers the planet.
But to get to Magma, Udo needs the flute (whistle) that Mamoru uses to summon Magma. The craven higher-ups at the Intelligence Agency have the same idea. Both sides are willing to kill Mamoru to get what they want.
Artemila rescues her "son" from a threatening Intelligence agent, but at the cost of revealing her true identity.
Then Udo tries to get the flute by torturing Atsushi and his cohorts. In the ensuing struggle, Artemila is killed, and Gam is knocked out of action. Mamoru summons Magma, but then suddenly the whole group, and the land they stand on, is transported into some sort of gateway or black hole. Now what?
New seiyuu play the Kazuo family:
- Hikita Yumi (Imae Yuki) played Mirei in Condition Green, Android 1026 in Oz, and appeared in Zetsuai: 1989, all Orphan releases.
- Mitsuishi Kotono (Imai Midori) played the title roles in Excel Saga, Birdy the Mighty, and the Maze TV and OVAs, Mink in Dragon Half, Katsuragi Misato in the Evangelion properties, Rosalia in the Angelique franchise, Kagura in the original Fruits Basket, Eri in Love Get Chu, and of course, Sailor Moon in the Sailor Moon franchise. She played the leads in Mother: Saigo no Shoujo Eve and Oshare Kozou wa Hanamaru, as well as Watanabe Yumi in Tsuyoshi Shikkari Shinasai: Tsuyoshi no Time Machine de Shikkari Shinasai, Oshina in Hidamari no Ki, and appeared in Gakkou no Yuurei volume 1, Blazing Transfer Student, Nagasarete Airantou, and Yamato 2520, all Orphan releases.
- Tsuji Tsutomu (Imai Kazuo) appeared in Next Senki Ehrgeiz, an Orphan release.
The voice actors who play Hilda, female Udo, and male Udo, are not identified. This is odd, because the show is normally quite scrupulous about identifying even small roles ("man", "alien").
The staff is unchanged. Yume translated. ImAWasteOfHair timed. I edited and typeset. Paul Geromini and Uchuu QCed. The encoder was an anonymous friend. As before, this is a dual-audio release, with a signs-only subtitle track to go with the English dub. Please note that I've put essentially no effort into the signs-only track, except to cut out the song lyrics and dialog. Accordingly, it shows the translated versions of episode titles, rather than the versions spoken in the English dub track.
Magma Taishi is now past the three-quarters mark, and the endgame is less clear than ever. Goa seems to hold all the cards. The forces of good are totally outclassed. Can they emerge victorious? You'll have to continue watching to find out. Meanwhile, you can get this set of episodes from the usual torrent site or from IRC bot Orphan|Arutha in channels #nibl or #news on irc.rizon.net
