Episode 18: "Burning Soul of the Servant--Rescue Barizan!"
Screenshot Gallery
The Rainbow Butterflies. Yeah, sure, they
LOOK pretty, but... "Wow...!" Entranced, Yuushi stares at them out of
her window. Robots have a sense of beauty, too. On the way home
from doing some errand, Barizan stops to look at the rainbow as well. WHACK! Then _something_ thwonks straight into his
head, and he's out for the count! He gets up a bit later, seeming fine, but... Ooog... The next day, EVERYbody in town is sick... EXCEPT... the servant characters! Who are _very_ smug
about it. I just _love_ this expression on Cube's face; normally he's so humble...you
don't see him looking proud and full of himself very often. (And normally I find that
kind of personality revolting, not cute, but when it's on a guy who ISN'T usually like
that...) But Grenda quickly rains on their parade. Poor Gaga, with
his kitty-ears drooping...he just looks so totally _mortified_ here... Medical advice. Wait a minute, he's a butler, not a doctor! ;)
Anyway, Erumina seems to be affected by the "powder illness" worse than any of the other
girls, so here Cube leans back in his chair to offer some free advice. Not ALL the servants are fine... Barizan suddenly starts
smoking, then keels over! What's wrong? (An even _better_ question would be: Why is there
a cup of lemon tea in front of him? ;)) Erumina is instantly worried. I'd like to think that if Cube
got sick like this, Yuushi would go, "CUBE!" and rush over to his side, all scared, too...I
mean, I _assume_ that ALL the girls would do that; I just wanna see somebody saying that they
care about him, out loud, okay? (Aw, come on, allow me a moment of outright
fangirlishness...this is my favourite episode ever, and the last one in quite a long time
(I've seen up to episode 23) to feature Cube heavily, or like, at ALL. Let me have my one
last party. C'mon. Have a heart.) INteresting... The girls go to Drago-Sama for advice, and during
the conversation, we learn something rather _interesting_ about him from Grenda. (And later on,
Drago-Sama says that he knows Grenda's mother. Let me tell you, if they don't show Grenda's mother
at SOME point before the show actually ends, I am going to SMACK the show's writers. I'm not kidding.
I will FIND a way, somehow, to get to Japan, and personally smack them. But back to our story.)
Anyway, that's sort of tied in to the original storyline of Princess Maker 2..."the old dragon", whom
I've always naturally suspected Drago-Sama was kind of sorta maybe supposed to be, lived in the Western
Desert...not that far from the cave which was an entrance to HELL! So it wouldn't be that unlikely that
"Lucifon" and the other denizens of Hell would know him, in the game, too... Now there's a practical idea... Drago-Sama comes up with a plan that's so crazy,
it just might work. So they haven't faced danger before? Yeah RIGHT! But technically, this line
is only there to make sure the episode doesn't focus on the normal main characters, the girls--this is the
SERVANTS' episode and they are GOING to be the stars, dangit! You mean "Mistress", honey. But a nice brave, noble, properly responsible
sentiment from Erumina, nonetheless. I feel dizzy... and _she_'s out for the count. Again, so none of the main characters
will be in there. ;) Servants to the rescue! Cube volunteers to go in, no matter what the danger, and
Gaga and Chow agree. But they'll need to shrink first... and how to do that? With the "Pixie's
Pendant" (said in English...sort of), a device that Cube just conjured. And it works. REALLY well. Look how _teeny_ they are! Gaga THOUGHT turning into his cat form so that he could fly, not fall, into Barizan
was a good idea, but... here he is proved wrong, as Cube accidentally lands on top of him during the fall
and SQUASHES the air right out of the poor cat-thing! Ouchies. Cube rubs his neck after the hard landing. Inside Barizan. Yep, this is what it looks like. An interesting thing to note
is the fact that it looks about _identical_ to the architecture--the outside _cities_--of Heaven!
But actually, technology looking like the cities that made it is not that strange, or even new. Have you ever
seen a picture of a city--any large, modern-day metropolis will do--seen from the air? From WAY up high? All
those square buildings, and complicated right-angled streets, all looking very small and complex? Got that image
in your head?
Okay. Now picture a microchip.
(pause)
Greetings, program! ;) "HOW long were you going to SIT ON ME?!" Oh, yeah, that...a heh heh heh. "Oh, were you here? I didn't notice." says Cube, which was of course the wrong thing
to say... Okay, Gaga, NOW you're just getting paranoid. I mean, he may be a mouthy kid, but he's
not a _murderer_...sheesh. "But you'll die soon anyway, so there isn't much point..." Oooh, what a MOUTH Cube has
developed! Man, he can be nasty, when he wants to be... Guys...stop it! Speaking of parallells...remember how, in the earlier days of the show,
Yuushi and Grenda used to get into fights all the time, and Kokoru would always try (and fail) to play the peacemaker?
Well, here we have Yuushi's _servant_ getting into a fight with Grenda's _servant_ and Kokoru's servant is the one
trying to break it up! As above, so below...? It's a maiden in distress! And that speech-pattern is awfully _familiar_... "HELP!!!!!" Yup, it's everybody's favourite (?) green-haired fairy...Berubel! Aw, now we have
the whole set (all five servants--four of them, and Barizan is who they're all in.) "I'LL save you!" says Cube, striking a dramatic pose. Ya know, normally I'm not really the
type who wants to be rescued, but (melts) oh MYY....(sighs) there's just something _about_ a guy who's normally all
quiet and humble, suddenly being strong, brave, confident...I...can't really explain it. But the fact that it's rare
makes it neat. A guy who's macho ALL the time, I wouldn't be able to stand. Cube as an ACTION-HERO type romantic
_leading man_! SQUEEEE!!
Okay, I'm better. Got it out of my system. ;) "EEE!" Berubel squeals in girlish delight as she realises that help is on the way. Kung-Fu Cube! Cube and Chow tangle with the "powders" and finish them off easily, with Cube ending in a cool
pose even. ;) (Well, bear in mind, this guy IS based off the character who, in the original game, could lay out the
most dangerous criminal in the entire KINGDOM with one, weaponless, punch...his roots are not exactly wimpish, so his
cartoon form should be able to fight at least somewhat, as well.) "Well aren't you amazing." says Chow dryly. (I think he suspects the cool pose at the end was
a bit much. :P) HEY! Gaga _instantly_ swoops in to steal the credit! The others stand totally dumbfounded.
(According to Cube, Gaga _always_ acts more arrogant, hits on girls more, etc. whenever Grenda's not around, which is _more_
interesting information to be filed away.) ACK! And Chow introduces himself in the most disturbing (to Gaga) way possible. (snicker) "Do I know you guys...?" Yes indeed you do...and last time, you _weren't_ fighting on the same
side! Hello... A horde of mini-Barizans shows up suddenly. Cube approaches the one in front, thinking
it wants to shake hands with him, but...no. (A second later, that arm that's reaching up into the air...BONKS him on the
head.) ATTACK! Definitely _not_ friendly, no. "AAAAAAAAAAAA!!!" Of course, they handle the situation with perfect style and grace. ;) Meanwhile, back in the outside world... Beth shows up suddenly, for, like, no reason at all, really,
I just, um, came by to, er, insult you guys some more. Yeah. That's it. Really. "Er...what's going on...?" Beth _desperately_ wants to ask if they've seen Berubel and if the way they're
all gathered around has anything to do with the fact that she's missing, but can't make herself ADMIT that she's asking them for help, so
she just does shifty-eyed expressions at Kokoru for a bit, then leaves, having found out nothing. Back inside the robot... Berubel tells the others the story of how she got here. You are getting drowsy... Not that I can blame her for doing this, though; I mean, if _I_ was that
small, and able to fly, I'D sure be tempted to put myself right in among the Rainbow Butterflies. And THAT'S what hit him. Berubel smacks into Barizan's head, an access port opens, and she falls inside!
(I wonder _why_ getting hit would make the port open, exactly...unless she happened to hit the exact button that does just that, on her way
down. Which is possible.) Where am I...? Berubel looks up at her strange new surroundings. And that's how I got here. "Cube _and the others_", huh? Heh! Looks like Gaga's little credit-stealing
didn't exactly _work_... Um, let me think about that...hmmm...NO. The mini-Barizans politely ask our heroes to let themselves be killed. Just what I was thinking. Well, the actual word that came into my head was "antibodies", but we were both on the same
general track. Alone in the ruins... The party is rescued at the last second by...POWDERS?! They charge in and fight the "antibody" robots,
thereby getting them off our heroes' backs. Wow, Gaga actually complimented Cube, amazing! Cube's idea was that they should go to Barizan's head, which is likely
to be the control center. They can find out more about what's going on from there. So what's our next move...? Another nice shot of the quartet together in the ruins. The worried mistress... Back out in the real world, Erumina is still very worried about Barizan. Aww. That flashback again. When her father was so cruel to her because she messed up _one little thing_ in her dance.
Look at this picture and try not to sniffle, oh, geez... "I would like to see your dance." Back then, on that day, Barizan was the only one who was kind to her. He's kind to her
all the time, actually...and that's why she cares about him. Can't take the heat? I wonder _why_ the heat is, too...maybe they're going past Barizan's central fuel cell? (i.e, his
"heart"?) But we have to go this way... don't we? "Er, well, actually..." This seems to be a major trait of the denizens of Fairyland! _Saying_ you know where
something is when you actually don't, I mean. FACEFAULT! Cube and Chow react to this news about how you'd expect them to. "But I was sleepy at the time!" That _is_ a valid excuse, actually. By the way...this shot, with the narrow
bridge across the round chasm of fire...is anybody else being reminded of that one scene from "The Sword of Shannara", or is it just me? Poor Gaga! Actually I've always seen him as more _felinoid_ than amphibian, but whatever. (The soundtrack even has
a "ding!" sound effect at this point, as if to say he's "done". Oh, man, that's just _mean_..!) (giggle) "I didn't want THIS much water!" I'd ask WHY a robot has water inside itself in the first place, but I'm all
logic-nitpicked out for the day. YOU do it. :P Can't...get...out... Cube struggles to pull himself out of the flood. Something hooks around his hand and the whole party is pulled out. They're rescued! But by whom...or what? "Thank you so much...er..WHAT?!" The _powders_ saved them? Not AGAIN! She must be getting sick of this. "You ALWAYS say that!" Cube has finally had ENOUGH of Gaga's always saying that he (Gaga) has "served for over 1,004 years"
and this time, a REAL fight breaks out. Even Chow is angry, as you can see here. "Well, FINE, then! I don't need your help anyway!" I love the totally snooty "Hmph!" expressions and poses in this picture. "Hey, wait, I didn't actually MEAN it...!" Aww, look at this expression...poor...er, whatever he is...shape-shifting cat/frog
thing... So you came back already, eh? Gaga, they're not running TO you, they're running PAST you, and you just might want to
stop and ask yourself: WHY are they "flocking this way"? ;) THAT'S why! Pretty good reason, I'd say. YIKES! They're shooting _lasers_ at them! (Well, of course; what _other_ type of weapon would you expect little-bitty (but
still high-tech) robots to have?) Don't worry, he's not an enemy! And look who's back! I'm not sure what "assistant character" is supposed to mean, though...
maybe it was translated funny. I think something more like "I'm just a filing clerk, I can't tell the police what to do." is more what the robot means. SMASH! Berubel explains that the white robot had the powders working _for_ it, to bring her here, because she's the one who broke
this thing (in picture) when she fell into Barizan's head...probably it's like his CPU or something. Pretty important anyway. And then she smacked into a wall while freaking out over the damage. OUCH! This girl is just accident prone, isn't she? "I want to help too!" says Berubel, showing a very commendable increase in spunk and backbone. Putting Barizan's marbles back together. A shot from the "fixing" montage sequence. A very special memory... The white robot hands Berubel a data-crystal type thingie. And just what IS this special memory? Why, it's Erumina, as a child, dancing and happy, of course. Aww. As fellow servants, we should strive to care for our masters this much, too. Actually I thought that was a lesson they
_didn't_ need to learn; I mean, they already care about their mistresses quite a lot. And they're back! Poor Gaga on the bottom again, as usual. Oof! Berubel lands on top of Cube's head. "Maybe she was worried about her servant, too... Kokoru figures out why Beth was there. First in a series of "servants and mistresses together". First, Yuushi GRABS Cube's hand and drags him back home... Chow and Kokoru together. Then Chow plays a little prank to amuse Kokoru... Grenda and Gaga fly home together with Grenda giving Gaga some very stern looks, for some reason... Erumina rides home on Barizan, glad that he's okay again, and finally... Somewhere in the forests of Fairyland, Berubel goes to sleep on top of Beth's stomach. (And she's the only one of the
servants small enough to do that.) Serve you right for being so smug earler! And finally, in the end, the servant characters get their comeuppance for being so smug
about not being sick earlier...by getting "pollen sickness" themselves! Poor guys. :P
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