Saber Marionette J episodes

Otaru, his Marionettes and the entire population of Kasahari Apartments are all going to have an outdoor barbecue by the river to celebrate Lime's recovery from last episode - or just because they really wanna have a barbecue. However, even though the weather is nice and everyone gets off to an early start, they are unable to ditch Hanagata successfully - though late and still clad in his official Otaru PJ's, he arrives, loudly bemoaning his mistreatment. After Lime breaks the generator that Gennai brought, Otaru is sent upstream to a potter of Gennai's acquaintance to get some earthenware so that they can barbecue the old-fashioned way. At the mention of Gennai's name, the potter agrees to lend some real nice dishes 'n' stuff to Otaru and shows him the kiln. The potter and his assistants have found an underground plasma reservoir that, though quite temperamental, can cook up pottery 10 times as fast as a normal kiln when it's working properly. This gives Otaru an idea... Meanwhile, Lime is getting very bored without Otaru around to entertain her. Hanagata tries to introduce her to fishing, but an argument over technique leads to the creation of a whirlpool by Lime that opens a chasm in the riverbed that drains all the water into an underground cavern. Meanwhile, Otaru is busily painting pottery and Geltland is testing a device, similar to the Tower of Babel in Nadia, that cuts through the smog above the Geltland capital, giving it the first sunshine some of its inhabitants have seen in generations and sending all the nasty weather elsewhere... Sure enough, all the weather winds up right on top of the barbecue, bemusing Gennai and making Lime worry about Otaru's lateness more than ever. At last Otaru returns, plates in hand, and apologizes to Cherry and Bloodberry for his lateness - walking right past Lime. Though unintentional, this sends Lime into an even deeper funk, and she goes and sulks in the rain. Even when the rain stops and the steaks are being sizzled up in a most appetizing fashion, she continues to sulk. However, the amusing spectacle of a gluttonous Hanagata being fed a rock (Bloodberry: "I just said it was done!") is interrupted by Gennai's discovery, on his portable Sirius Cybernetics Corporation Omni-Magneto-Sens-O-Matic, that there is a massive electromagnetic disturbance in the plasma below the ground below them, further evidenced by massive explosion coming from about where the big plasma kiln is/was. Otaru takes off for the pottery barn at a run, just in time to find the potter in a reflective mood. Perhaps a mountain of plasma is too much for any man... but Otaru should consider himself lucky otherwise! However, what Otaru sees tends to convince him otherwise. The Marionettes meet him on the way back, including Lime who, though still unhappy, realizes how much she's worried everyone and is prepared to apologize unilaterally. She hugs Otaru, causing him to drop something out of the little bag he was carrying. It's a tall Japanese-style teacup, obviously handmade, with a painting of Cherry. At least, it looks like Cherry, in the same way that Crayon Shin-Chan looks like a real four-year-old boy. There's another one in the bag, of Bloodberry. These, Otaru explains, are to mark the solid year that the Marionettes have spent with Otaru. However, Bloodberry and Cherry notice that there's no crappy teacup painting of Lime in evidence, and they close the book and gracefully decline the gifts - the Marionettes are a package deal, man, dis one and you dis them all! Otaru, when he gets a chance to finish, brings out the third piece, the one he was going to try to finesse a bit. It's Lime's teacup - except, thanks to a little plasma-kiln mishap, it's sort of sagged into more like a bowl. Otaru needn't have worried, tho: Lime is simply in hysterics over her picture on the teabowl, and promises to keep it forever and ever. The voice of Lorelei, which Lime continues to hear even after she was repaired, asks Lime if she's happy. Lime replies, out loud, "Yes!"

Geltland has been busy. Apart from their cloud-clearing device, they have completed another Saberdoll, of sorts: the Saber Beast Leopard. Also, once they have the otome kairo from Lime, Cherry and Bloodberry, they will be able to complete the Sabelberg II, the sequel to the big bunny-eared blitzbomb that was so soundly defeated by JaponesGar a while back. The Marionettes have fun new toys, too: their custom-made limited edition one-firing-day-only Otaru Mamiya teacups. Bloodbery is on her 15th cup of tea of the morning, Lime refuses to eat or drink out of anything but her teabowl, and Cherry has given her teacup a place of honor at the family shrine. However, they don't get to revel for long - their pleasant lunch with Hanagata (who simply will NOT behave himself) is interrupted by the arrival of Hikozaemon in Baiko's body, who summons Otaru and his girls (and, by default, Hanagata) to a conference at the royal palace. Ieyasu in the body of Tamasaburo is presiding, and present are the leaders of the other free countries of the world: President Joy (male) of New Texas, Wong of Xian, Villé of Romana and Alec of Peterubulbu, which is technically no longer a free country, being overrun by Geltland. The leaders of the free world are sick of Geltland's antisocial behavior, and since Otaru has been to Geltland before and even took out a supercomputer there once (by kissing it full on the lips, true...), he is the perfect person to go in and whack Faust once and for all. At this moment, the Marionettes sense something, a disturbance that only their otome kairo can perceive: the approach of the Saber Beast Leopard. Following close behind it is a massive body of Geltland panzers, led personally by Faust. Faust is still haunted by his memories of Lorelei - his ancestor, all of whose memories he has, was in love with her, and resolved that he, or one of his clones, would someday come to save her. Unfortunately, all of Japones' human population has been completely earthbound and unable to reach the Mesopotamia, still in orbit... until now. While Faust is thinking this, Otaru is absolutely refusing to be a murderer, no matter the circumstances, and Hanagata and the girls are backing him up. President Joy points out that there is no true hero who never had blood on his hands, but the prospect of being the outright Savior of Terratoo temps Otaru not. The one thing Otaru has retained from his meager schooling is that, when the six original settlers crashlanded on Terratoo, they all helped each other found their various countries, and Otaru refuses to be any more of a party to their current conflict than he already is. As if to break the tension, the Saber Beast Leopard chooses this moment to crash through the ceiling. As the heads of state make a quick exit, Hikozaemon in the body of Baiko and Ieyasu in the body of Tamasaburo attack the Leopard, but they are no match for it. Otaru and his friends try to sneak off, but the Leopard catches them in the palace courtyard. The voice of Lorelei whispers to Lime that they mustn't fight it, but Lime, Cherry and Bloodberry all attack it, to little effect. Otaru draws his sword and charges, but he is likewise unable to make a dent in the creature. Meanwhile, the inert hulk of the Mesopotamia, in orbit about Terratoo since the founding of the colony, suddenly stirs to life. It fires a landing pod towards the surface, which embeds itself in a hill near Japones town, and fires a beam of light into it. A bright flash of light covers the town, and the three Marionettes and their assailant are suddenly engulfed in arcs of electricity. The Leopard releases the Marionettes, and they fall to the ground. Barely able to move, Lime whispers, "Mesopotamia..."

Fifteen generations ago, Lorelei, an Earthling scientist on board the colonization ship Mesopotamia, designed a central computer for the new colony to be established on Terratoo. Evidently something of an Evangelion fan, she used three different aspects of her personality to give the computer humanlike thoughts and emotions, making it almost as if it were alive, and thus able to think creatively and kill off the crew if they become a problem and so forth. In fact, by the time the Mesopotamia reached Terratoo, she had nearly finished it - all that remained was to iron out some emotional instabilities... Flash forward to the present. The same computer, still aboard the Mesopotamia, has awakened and appears to be attacking those dwelling on the planet's surface, firing probes that smash the ground open and produce flashes of electrical energy that paralyze any electronics within range, including Marionettes and Saberdolls. One of these nearly causes Faust to be crushed by one of his own tanks, but he is saved by Panter and Luche. He asks where Tiegel is, but answers his own question: she died like a dog! Needless to say, this does not sit well with her comrades, and Faust has to shoot Panter to keep her from stepping out of line. Meanwhile, the Leopard is still attacking Otaru and crew, having recovered from the electrical jolt. The Marionettes take off over the rooftops, hoping to draw it away from Otaru, and this works out very well considering that the Marionettes, or, more specifically, their otome kairo, are the targets. Telling Otaru to join the rest of the population of Japones in the underground shelters (more Eva), the girls dash off back toward the ruined part of the city and succeed in crushing the Leopard under a falling building. But it's not dead, it's just resting. Though much of its simulated flesh has been ripped off, exposing its endoskeleton and eyeballs, it'll be back to terminate the Marionettes, so they dash off and hide in an apartment building until they think of something better. It turns out to be too little, too late: Cherry is quickly subdued and relieved of her otome (fooled by the simple ruse of mimicry of Otaru's voice), and Bloodberry, cornered with Lime in a garage, decides to cut their losses by pushing Lime outside and closing the door, to face the Leopard alone. The Marionettes aren't the only ones having a bad day: there's massive political unrest in Geltland, and Faust is a bit busy to deal with at the moment, being in mad pursuit of the three otome kairo still loose in the world. Cherry and Bloodberry have already been taken care of and Lime appears about to follow rapidly, but Panter and Luche can't help but admire the sheer determination on her face. However, it looks as if Lime is going to go down all the same, when out of nowhere, Otaru, who was supposed to be in an underground shelter, smacks the Leopard upside the head with his sword. The Leopard grabs Otaru, but Lime suddenly experiences an unbelievable surge of energy and smacks the Leopard six ways from Thursday, causing it to drop Otaru. Lime is feeling an unbelievable heat - and strength - from her otome kairo, and Bloodberry and Cherry, who quickly have their otome restored by Otaru, get more of the same. Ieyasu in the body of Tamasaburo appears and informs Otaru that this is the result of the Marionettes finally reaching the peak of their growth. So the Leopard lies prostrate on the ground, and the same could be said of the Faust regime in Geltland. The proletariat has taken the capitol, Faust's advisors are fleeing and Faust is all ready to take it out on his two remaining Saberdolls. This prospect doesn't frighten them: they're still completely attached to Faust despite his behavior, and they would much prefer the honor of being killed by him to having to live without him. As another probe lands very close to the battle site and all the others present run for cover, Faust (who can't believe he lost to a bunch of "hearts") appears to have lost the energy to preserve his own existence, and Luche and Panter are ready to die with him.

For reasons that Faust cannot fathom, Panter and Luche saved him from being killed by one of the Mesopotamia's projectiles, and they, Otaru, the Marionettes, Ieyasu and Hikozaemon are now underground, safe for the moment. Wasting no time, Ieyasu lays out the plan: Japones is prepared to use JaponesGar to attack the Mesopotamia, but since the current incarnation of JaponesGar is stationary, Japones needs Geltland's plasma diffuser (see episode 21) and rocket-booster technology to escape Terratoo's somewhat hostile atmosphere and get to the offending spacecraft. At this point, Otaru interjects that he was under the impression that the Mesopotamia was completed destroyed 300 years ago - that's why the six survivors were sent to the surface with little or no hope of survival, right? As it turns out, the admittedly harder-to-take truth is that the Mez is, in fact, still there. Its artificial-intelligence computer, the one Lorelei designed, went insane, took over the ship, killed most of the crew and took Lorelei hostage. Actually, it took Lorelei for a mate, and she's been in suspended animation ever since. Faust was going to save her himself, but then Otaru SCREWED EVERYTHING UP! However, he is interrupted in mid-blame by a spookily familiar voice. Out of the darkness of the cavern lurches Tiegel, supported by a tangle of RCA cables and missing a few parts. One such part is her memory - the only thing left is her knowledge of the pre-brainwashing Faust she used to love and pamper. She mutters something about the lorelei being in bloom, then collapses into Faust's arms. Greatly disquieted, Faust orders everyone but Otaru into the next chamber. If Otaru thought the Mesopotamia thing was a shock, he doesn't know from being shocked. Faust, once he and Otaru are alone with the inert Tiegel, finishes the story of the Mesopotamia. It seems that the purpose of Faust I and Ieyasu I in creating the otome kairo was a desperate plan to free Lorelei. Using Lorelei's same paradigm of a similacrum of humanity, Faust and Ieyasu each created three devices that, taken together, formed the three essences of the human female heart - purity, devotion and the maternal instinct - and implanted them in Marionettes, hoping to grow them using life experience and love until they could be passed off as human. The completed kairo would then be given to the Mesopotamia's computer in place of Lorelei. Only Ieyasu's otome kairo grew successfully, and it appears that the Mesopotamia, judging from the wrath it is unleashing against the surface of Terratoo, is wise to the plot anyway. Tiegel awakes briefly, mistakes Otaru for Faust, gives him a heartfelt valedictory, then is silent forever. Faust asks if Otaru will be able to give up his loved ones for the sake of the planet, and Otaru replies, "no." During the reconstruction and modification of JaponesGar, a fire breaks out at Otaru's apartment complex. By the time Otaru and his party arrive, everyone has been safely evacuated and the place is an inferno, but Lime plunges in nonetheless (with Otaru right behind her and Cherry and Bloodberry helping her make an exit). Why? To save the teacups/bowls Otaru made for them. Otaru is furious with relief that Lime, who after is now alive, is safe, but Yumeji, whom we haven't seen in 22 episodes, asks of his big brother Hanagata if everyone's going to die. Hanagata turns to Otaru and begs him to, somehow, save the people of Terratoo. The Marionettes, who overheard Faust's entire explanation, declare that they'll gladly go to the Mesopotamia, but Otaru forbids them from doing so. He'll go to the Mesopotamia, he'll go alone, stop the computer, save Lorelei - and come back alive, he promises. The remodeled Sabelberg takes off for the ionosphere, JaponesGar in tow. On board are Otaru, Ieyasu in the body of Tamasaburo, Hikozaemon in the body of Baiko, Luche - and the Marionettes, who stowed away. Lime cites Otaru's promise that he and they would be together forever, and Ieyasu accepts part of the blame as well. Furious but not to be deterred, Otaru fires up JaponesGar - only to find that the Marionettes have hacked into its controls and ejected him from the ship. While he can still hear them, Cherry thanks Otaru for giving hearts to what are, after all, marionettes, puppets if you will; Bloodberry expresses her thanks that she could give Otaru a proper farewell, and Lime shouts "Otaru daisuki!!" But as Otaru's capsule disappears in the haze of Terratoo's atmosphere, all three have tears in their eyes.

As the Marionettes, aboard JaponesGar, approach the Mesopotamia and missiles begin to explode all around them, Luche feels the Mesopotamia's feelings - love for Lorelei, anger at those that would take her away - resonating in her otome kairo and Lime hears Lorelei's voice again, telling her to flee while she can. But then, the computer's chattering mind suddenly stops, and as the attack on the surface of Terratoo continues, JaponesGar punches through the Mesopotamia's hull. Once inside, it doesn't take Luche long to ascertain the location of the heart of the Mesopotamia's computer. Though the Mesopotamia's interior defenses are more than adequate, they're no match for the Marionettes and Saberdolls. In fact, one of the rockets launched at the Marionettes is quickly put to a most unintended use, as the girls turn it around and ride it down the dark corridor, laughing all the way. Bells on bobtails ring, making spirits bright, and Luche wonders at this behavior - how can the girls laugh and sing, Lime especially, since they'll probably die tonight? To answer this question, one must journey deep into Lime's memory, to a sunny afternoon when she and Otaru weren't doing anything in particular. Contemplating a vast grassy field, Lime asks Otaru about the nature of happiness. Otaru's view: happiness derives from the fact that the sky is blue, the clouds are white, the grass and forest are green. In other words, happiness is the fact that it's great to be alive. Thus did Otaru teach the Marionettes the nature of happiness - it's the beauty of the world and the smiles of loved ones and the very fact of being alive. As they rocket along on the rocket, Lime, Cherry and Bloodberry remember every happy moment they've spent with Otaru, and feel as if he were there on the rocket with them. Before they know it, our robotic protagonists have come to the vast, dark chamber housing the central computer. The motif is Creepy Biomechanical, and Ieyasu and Hikozaemon distract the mechanical tentacles as best they can, and the Marionettes and Luche approach the place where Lorelei is frozen, encased in solid carbonite. Cherry cries out that humans are meant for humans, and machines for machines, and that may the Mesopotamia accept the otome kairo in place of Lorelei and forgive the inhabitants of Terratoo. The girls are carried up on beams of light and slot their kairo into the computer console, and Lorelei is given up. The Marionettes' bodies seem to merge, and are absorbed and disappear. Much, much later, Hanagata has become the schoolmaster of the Otaru Elementary School, and is proving less than equal to the task of discipling and managing his class. Otaru, who still lives in the next room, reproves Hanagata for his temper, and when Yumeji suggests that they forget the education and attend the grand opening of the rebuilt Japones Pioneer Museum, Otaru agrees, though the place still harbors painful memories. The new museum is built in the style of a colonial mansion, and Lorelei is on the balcony. She proclaims peace to the massed onlookers, assures them that the cloned human females will soon mature and be at large in Terratoo society. However, one must not forget the valiant Marionettes that, for 300 years, held what was by any logic a doomed society together by filling as best they could the roles would normally be taken by women. In particular, three especially human Marionettes, whose names shall resonate through history as Lime, Cherry and Bloodberry, must never be forgotten - to that end, a heroic statue of them is unveiled. Otaru listens politely, then leaves silently. That night, Lorelei finds him and begs his forgiveness on behalf of Faust and Ieyasu for the enormitous labour and pain Otaru has been put through. Ieyasu needed someone to love the otome kairo in order to grow them, but completely failed to consider the effect that such a love would have on the giver. Otaru assures her that no apology is needed - what's over is over. However, later still, something is ejected from the Mesopotamia and falls to Earth. The next day, Otaru is cooking and cooking, and Hanagata, puzzled at first, realizes that Otaru is merely doing this to make himself feel better. But who will eat the food? The answer arrives soon enough, in the form of three young girls who act as if they never left...