English Dub Review: RobiHachi “Truth Found From an Octopus”

Be the Martian Octopus you want to see in the world.

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

Hizakuriger emerges to the surprise of everyone, though Hatchi’s pissed he got put in the bottom half. After some bickering, he and Robby seem to find their mech’s finishing move, which appears to be a chest beam attack that takes a while to charge up…into a total dud, but at least it gives them a good distraction to get away! Yang and his goons chase after them but decide to hit a spa planet first.

Robby explains he got the Nagaya Voyager from his parents when he ran away, and then let construction cover it up, though now that he’s using it again, they’ll have to go for fuel. He can’t account for the robots, though. The closest place is Mars so they stop there, finding the locals to be true blue Martian octopi. They enjoy the sights a bit while their ship is tuned up, with Hatchi enjoying his new experiences may be a bit too much. That is until he uncovers a startling secret: the Martian octopi are no octopi at all, but regular humanoids who were discovered by Earthlings while wearing octopus-like space suits. But in order to get people to keep coming back so they could rake in that sweet tourism money, they had to keep up the lie no matter what, even imprisoning anyone who might find out!

Robby also ends up finding out about this through the daughter of the mayor, then goes off to save Hatchi from being forced into shameless plugging (Bubbleblabber App now available!). Spurred on by the daughter’s worry that the entire planet will have to live a lie just to appease tourists, Robby pleads with the mayor to show the universe who the Martians really are, promising that they’ll still be accepted. The mayor finally lets go of the charade, the Nagaya Voyager is repaired, and Robby and Hachi start to accept each other a little bit more as well. And Hachi also finds something interesting: an old theme song for a cartoon from fifty years ago: Galaxy Traveler HIZAKURIGER.

OUR TAKE

Wait, there’s another one this week?

…okay, well, didn’t expect to be covering the next episode so soon, but good to know the show is keeping up a more or less consistent quality from one episode to the next. The dynamic between Robby and Hachi is still plenty of fun to watch since they’ve got something of a Red-Oni/Blue-Oni (or I guess Orange-Oni/Lightish-Pink-Oni) thing going on where one is more headstrong and direct while the other is usually calmer and more elegant and eccentric. And boy howdy is Hachi eccentric because his wide-eyed amazement for life is on full display this episode. Whether it’s possibly eating victims of cannibalism or getting jailed to preserve a tourism conspiracy, he just can’t stop seeing the wonder in the world! Makes me SICK.

We also see that Robby’s unique brand of charisma isn’t just a one-time thing as he ends up getting the whole octopus tourism trap to be undone simply by getting all of Mars to believe in themselves. I definitely didn’t sign up for wholesome life lessons when I started this show, but I’m certainly glad they’re here. Also goes to show that Robby does indeed have a charm about him that can sometimes get good things to happen. After about fifty bad things, obviously. My point is that these two are shaping up to be very interestingly formed characters whose odd personalities will likely help spice up an odd situation, which is a good sign two episodes in. Not sure I can say the same for Yang and his gang, who looks to be the Team Rocket of the show but so far have yet to really add a ton to this week, though there’s always hope.

And lastly, we should talk about the Hizakuriger and the Nagaya Voyager, which both get a bit of backstory this week. I initially thought that Robby had just ended up living in something he found out to be a ship but had never flown, though this explanation is fine too. Similarly, Hizakuriger seems to have just come with the dang ship but is basically being used as just any other tool…which I honestly kind of dig. Making these things mundane might sound like it would take away from the appeal, but it actually helps the world feel more real as a result. Plus next week seems to be some hint at its origins in television, so I’m psyched for that.