Marchenland, The Man-eating Island

Marchenland, The Man-eating Island
Episode 19
Air date	July 17, 1979
Written by	Masaki Tsuji
Directed by	Miura Masanori
Episode guide
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Märchenland, The Man-eating Island is the nineteenth episode of Cyborg 009.

Plot Summary

The 00 cyborgs are invited to a birthday party by an old friend of Dr. Gilmore, which leads to a strange island in the middle of the ocean. Dr. Gilmore is hoping for a joyful reunion, but the past doesn't always hold good memories, as the 00 cyborgs find themselves targeted by an old man bent on revenge...

Recap

The episode begins with a short narration discussing how the ocean possesses an unfathomable deepness and how human nature will not allow it to suppress them. In fact, humans have recently embraced the deepness that once surpassed all imagination.

In the present day, the 00 cyborg's ship The Dolphin rises to the ocean's surface. Dr. Gilmore soon spots the Coelacanth, a blue submarine with a sharp yellow fin using the Dolphin's periscope. Joe Shimamura (009) notifies him that a communication signal is coming from the blue submarine. The owner of the Coelacanth turns out to be an old friend and colleague of Dr. Gilmore's, Dr. Gerhardt. Sukuna, Gerhardt's assistant, is piloting the Coelacanth. Upon seeing Sukuna, Dr. Gilmore is surprised to see what looks like a familiar face, but Gerhardt assures him that Sukuna is actually a feminine robot modeled from an old friend named "Astacia".

Dr. Gilmore soon recalls that Sukuna was presented as an creation by Gerhardt at the academia society. Gerhardt takes the opportunity to tout Sukuna as a mechanical being that is superior to both humans and cyborgs as well. Most of the 00 cyborgs, especially the male 00 cyborgs, are enraptured by Sukuna. Chang Changku (006) is so lovestruck that he accidentally burns Great Britain's (007) face with his flame breath. Albert Heinrich (004), however, is not amused by Gerhardt's comparison.

Sukuna then notifies Gerhardt that they have five minutes until they reach their destination. Meanwhile, aboard the Dolphin, Ivan Whisky (001) demands that he wants to sit where Geronimo, Jr. (005) is sitting on the bridge. Francoise Arnoul (003) chastises Ivan for being fussy, but Ivan uses his psychic powers to switch places with Geronimo, Jr. and take his seat. Elsewhere, Dr. Gilmore takes an old video cassette out of a white dossier folder and pops the cassette into a video player. The video contains an electronically transmitted message from Dr. Gilmore's old friend Astacia, a beautiful woman who once attended university with him and Gerhardt. Astacia reveals that the video was an invitation for Dr. Gilmore and the 00 cyborgs to attend a birthday party that she's throwing.

While the video plays, Dr. Gilmore reminisces on the past days of his youth where he would hang out with Gerhardt and Astacia. It turns out that when Dr. Gilmore was younger, he and Gerhardt were rivals and constantly tried to outdo each other in their respective fields of study. In the present, Dr. Gilmore is broken out of his wistful trance by Francoise's voice. Jet Link (002) then notifies Dr. Gilmore that no destination is in sight; it's all ocean.

Suddenly the 00 cyborgs violent underwater tremors. The source of the tremors is a mysterious island rising from the ocean's depths, to the surprise of all. While Dr. Gilmore, who has rather fond memories of Astacia, is impressed thinking the island was Astacia's doing, Francoise is suspicious of the island when Ivan mysteriously falls asleep during the island's appearance. After the island entrance opens, the Dolphin and the Coelacanth dock near the opening and the 00 cyborgs climb out. However, after the 00 cyborgs enter the island, Ivan fusses crankily in his sleep, alerting the 00 cyborgs' suspicions about the nature of the island itself.

Dr. Gilmore, who is excited to meet Astacia again, tells everyone that she mustn't be kept waiting. But when everyone walks onto a platform inside, the island's door closes behind them, making everyone tense and expecting an enemy. The platform then rises, revealing itself to be an elevator that takes its passengers to an upper part of the island. When they arrive, the 00 cyborgs are amazed at how beautiful it is, but Francoise picks up some strange electronic noises nearby. The sources of the noises come from a butterfly on a nearby bush, prompting Joe to investigate. But when he catches the butterfly, it explodes in his hands, revealing it to be a robot.

The 00 cyborgs, Dr. Gilmore, Gerhardt, and Sukuna soon enter a large house that turns out to be full of surprises - the stairs to the entrance are really an escalator, while in the main hall there is a large red comveyor belt that takes everyone to a large, empty room. Suddenly rows of spear-wielding knights in suits of armor rise from the sidelines amid thunderous fanfare, and the curtains fall away to reveal a beautiful brown-haired woman sitting on a throne dressed in pink robes.

Both Gerhardt and Dr. Gilmore are shocked to see that their old friend from their youthful university days hadn't aged at all. The woman, Astacia, thanks everyone for attending her birthday party and requests a favor from Dr. Gilmore, to the old man's delight. Astacia then voices her desire: to see whether Dr. Gilmore's 00 cyborgs or Gerhardt's robot assistant Sukuna is superior to the other. However, Astacia is certain that nine against one isn't fair and picks Joe, as he seems to be the most capable fighter of the 00 cyborgs, to combat Sukuna. This strange request alerts the suspicious of all of the 00 cyborgs, who note that something is not right about Astacia.

Astacia's request angers Dr. Gilmore, who refuses to let any of the 00 cyborgs battle Sukuna. But Astacia refuses to change her request, and implores for Dr. Gilmore to remember his school rivalry with Gerhardt. Suddenly, Francoise detects the same electronic noises she heard from the robotic butterfly. With her enhanced senses and hearing, she discovers that "Astacia" is actually an electronic hologram. This prompts Albert to shoot at "Astacia", but she laughs as she disappears, revealing that the bullets hit the throne instead.

After this, the knights surrounding the room raise their spears against the 00 cyborgs, preventing escape. A hole opens up beneath Joe's feet, causing him to fall through. The rest of the 00 cyborgs are separated when the room reveals itself to be a trap, walling off everyone from their teammates and sending each group to different parts of the island.

Jet and Chang notices that they have been split up. Great Britain, who was trapped when a part of the floor squishes him to the ceiling, manages to survive by transforming into a flying manta ray and comes to Jet and Chang's aid. Meanwhile, Dr. Gilmore, Francoise, and Ivan are taken and thrown into a dark room. Francoise tries to wake Ivan up, but a voice tells her that Ivan was forced to fall asleep by a special EMP device that disrupts mental activity by sending waves into a person's brain, essentially "turning off" Ivan's psychic powers.

Gerhardt reveals himself, but he quickly reveals that he had been against Dr. Gilmore and the 00 cyborgs all along. He hatefully explains to Dr. Gilmore that their old friend Astacia was actually long dead and that while Dr. Gilmore was gone (due to being employed by Black Ghost), Gerhardt and Astacia were happily married. Gerhardt was able to achieve fame and fortune during his marriage to Astacia, but that came to an abrupt and tragic end when his beloved wife got into a fatal car accident that left her severely burned, blind, and at death's door. Before dying, however, Astacia accidentally reveals to Gerhardt that she had always been in love with Dr. Gilmore.

Astacia's dying confession drove Gerhardt insane and he dedicated himself to ruining his old rival Dr. Gilmore ever since. He rants over how his happy life was "nothing but a meaningless shadow" and challenges Dr. Gilmore to a duel. Then he activates a large television screen that shows the island's cliffside...and Joe. Joe finds Sukuna, who challenges him to a duel, which confuses and surprises the 00 cyborg. Sukuna explains that she doesn't know why she wants to fight Joe, but as a robot, she is programmed to follow her creator's orders. At that moment, her "normal" face breaks a part to reveal a sinister robotic face before Skuna engages Joe in combat.

Joe tries using his Accelerator to evade Skuna's attacks, but her electronic brain predicts Joe's every move, an ability explained by Gerhardt to Dr. Gilmore. To protect herself from Joe's attacks, she erects an invisible barrier that deflects Joe's fire. Sukuna then fires a pink laser ray at Joe, who narrowly misses the attack. She gloats that Joe's Accelerator device is useless against her.

Meanwhile, Pyunma (008), Albert, and Geronimo, Jr. fall down a chute into a room whose walls absorb every attack they make. Elsewhere, Chang blows a hole in a wall with his flame breath, only for him, Jet and Britain to fall down a chute in the floor. They end up in the same room as their fellow male 00 cyborgs, to their frustration. Then Gerhardt reveals that the room they're in will be dissolved and eaten away by gastric juices in five minutes, turning their prison into a stomach-like death trap.

Outside on the island, Joe flees from a pursuing Sukuna as he fires at her with his blaster gun, which once again proves ineffective due to Sukuna's barrier. While Joe focuses on trying to fight Sukuna, his fellow male 00 cyborg teammates are trying to escape their prison by firing at its only entrance door before they are killed by the gastric juices. They manage to make a hole in the door, but it closes on Britain when he changes into a flying lizard and tries to fly through the hole. However, Britain was able to use his reptilian tongue to press the door's switch, allowing the other 00 cyborgs to escape.

Joe tries to fire at Sukuna but he is hit by an electrical barrier. Sukuna laughs and fires two solidified laser beams at him, but Joe manages to catch and divert the blasts elsewhere. The relentless Sukuna pursues Joe all the way to the top of the island, leaving him with no place to run. Dr. Gilmore and Francoise are worried for Joe's safety because despite being a 00 cyborg, he fights like a human.

As the other male 00 cyborgs climb the chute they fell down in, Chang notices that they've been climbing all this way with no end in sight. A question from Great Britain prompts Chang to burn a hole in the chute with his flame breath, inadvertently leading his teammates to a secret control room where a large machine is held. On top of the island, Sukuna gloats about robots being superior to human cyborgs and tells him that her internal computer systems can predict all of his actions before he can do it. Joe is determined to defeat Sukuna and uses his Accelerator, but Sukuna shoots at him while he's jumping in the air. Sukuna then shoots two blasts at Joe that disables both of his arms.

In the control room, the other male 00 cyborgs destroy the machine, which is actually the same device that Gerhardt is using to suppress Ivan's psychic abilities and put him into a forced slumber. This causes Ivan to wake up, and when he sees Joe cornered by Sukuna at the edge of a cliff, he uses his psychokinetic powers to trap and throw Sukuna into the throne room of "Astacia". Ivan's psychic attack messes with Sukuna's robotic systems, causing her to destroy everything in sight. Now interpreting Gerhardt's orders as an order to destroy all humans, Sukuna tries to find Gerhardt, laughing as her face shifts from her normal human face to her robotic face and back.

Ivan teleports Francoise, Joe, and Dr. Gilmore outside the island, where they are found by the other 00 cyborgs. Ivan tells them all that Sukuna is on a rampage and they must leave the island. Meanwhile, Sukuna breaks into Gerhardt's control room and kills him by firing a laser beam at him. Angry that both Astacia, the love of his life, and his own robotic creation betrayed him, Gerhardt activates the island's self-destruct sequence before dying. Sukuna rants about how robotic beings like her are far superior to humans and cyborgs, and laughs as the island explodes.

Fortunately, the 00 cyborgs manage to get to the Dolphin and escape. As the team watches the island's smoking ruins in quiet contemplation, Dr. Gilmore sadly muses on how his oldest friends are dead, and sheds a single tear in mourning.

Characters

The 00 Cyborgs

• Ivan Whisky (001)
• Jet Link (002)
• Francoise Arnoul (003)
• Albert Heinrich (004)
• Geronimo, Jr. (005)
• Chang Changku (006)
• Great Britain (007)
• Pyunma (008)
• Joe Shimamura (009)

Allies

Dr. Isaac Gilmore

Enemies

• Dr. Gerhardt
• Sukuna

Video Release

This episode was released on Disc Three of the Cyborg 009 1979 Collection Blu-Ray Vol. 1 set in Japan on November 11, 2015.

Vol. 1 Blu-ray Set

Notes

• A variation of the 1979 anime's opening theme "Taga Tame ni" plays when the aforementioned Marchenland island appears and when the 00 cyborgs explore the island.
• The acid trap in the island and its "man-eating" nature is loosely based off of the abilities of Cyborg 0012 (aka: "The Man-Eating Mansion"), down to the gag of it eating holes in a handkerchief. The Greek architectural theme of Märchenland, and it being an isolated island, may also harken back to the Mythos arc. The name "Astacia" is also derived from Greek mythology.
• The name ゲハルト can most commonly represent the German name Gerhardt/Gerhard, though it is also occasionally used for the name Geghard.
• Märchenland means "fairyland" in German.