Plot: Gilmore’s lab is attacked by the mysterious Cyborg X who leaves a message from his creator, Omega, challenging Gilmore’s cyborg, 009, to a match against Cyborg X to see whose technology is better. X is a reluctant combatant. He was formally a man named Naku who was deeply in love with a woman named Michi. But their happy lives were cut short when Naku seemingly died in a car accident. He was secretly whisked away by Omega and turned into Cyborg X. He has no choice but to follow Omega’s orders and forget Michi. Can X still be reasoned with before any blood is shed?

Breakdown: Who else has the post-holiday blues? I know I always do. So let’s remedy that by reviewing an episode of goofy old Cyborg 009!

Woops. I meant, let’s review a friggin’ depressing episode of Cyborg 009.

Seriously, this episode is so depressing Ishinomori himself might as well have written it….so…I guess in that respect, good job famed anime writer Masaki Tsuji.

The episode starts off with Gilmore’s lab being attacked by a flying vehicle piloted by our titular Cyborg X. The body of X is confusing. X seems like he’s mostly just mechanical from the waist down. He has this pure metal lower half. He still has to have cybernetics in his upper half since Omega can send painful pulses into his skull whenever he’s thinking of things Omega doesn’t want him thinking of, but for the most part his mechanical bits are all downstairs.

His ship is part of his power. He has outlets in his legs. Power cords plug into his legs from the ship, and then joysticks pop out of his knees to help him steer the ship……..It made no sense before, and it somehow makes less sense as I try to describe it. Why is all this leg stuff necessary? They never explain what the benefits are of this design. Especially considering that this vehicle has a big glass dome on top like a Jetsons car.

X goes through all this trouble just to place down a TV set that relays a message to Gilmore that it’s now been three years since Gilmore beat him to the discovery of a new theory. That doesn’t sound like it makes sense, and I have no clue what theory he’s talking about. In that time, Omega has made a single cyborg, X, and he challenges Gilmore to try to defeat X to see whose technology is best.

And, ya know, forget about making cyborgs. Can one of you focus on some medical tech to fix whatever the fuck is wrong with Omega’s head? My god. I don’t even want to think about what his skull x-ray would look like. How are you alive, sir?

003 notices that, as he left, X accidentally knocked down an arch of roses. He then turned around and picked it back up before leaving.

009 and 003 pursue, following the signal from a tracking device 009 attached to X’s vehicle before he fled. They try to contact 006 and Lil’ 007 for backup. No idea where everyone else is.

While our heroes try to track X down, X finds himself near an elevated highway. On the ground below, he sees Michi tearfully leaving flowers at a memorial site. X reveals himself to Michi who is shocked to see him. X was originally a man named Naku. Michi and Naku were lovers who adored the roses and the summertime. Naku was in a terrible car accident that Michi believes took his life.

They never elaborate on what happened to him after the crash, but we can assume it was something akin to how Black Ghost works and Omega just kinda came out of nowhere and went “Ooh a new body to turn into a confusing cyborg!” and kidnapped him from the site. No body could have been found, though, so I don’t know what exactly Michi thought happened.

Naku reveals himself to Michi to show her that he’s alive. She asks why he’s not getting out of the vehicle and asks if it’s really him. Naku responds that it IS him, but only his upper half as he stands and reveals his robotic legs.

I guess it’s safe to assume his accident badly mangled his lower half.

Naku explains that he’s not the same man who loves roses with her anymore. He tries to leave, but Michi begs him to take her with him. Naku refuses, especially as 009 and the others arrive. As Naku leaves, Michi tries to take chase, but she accidentally falls off this concrete ledge like 30 feet onto the ground below, seemingly landing on her neck. I thought for certain she’d die here and X would go crazy with grief or something….

She’s fine. The Cyborgs take her in after this next battle, and she’s perfectly fine. Unconscious, but otherwise completely uninjured. Are we sure SHE’S not a cyborg?

009 and 003 are in one car. 006 and 007 are in another car, and they confront X. The battle ensues. 006 and 007 aren’t so much helping fight as they are just running away. They wind up falling off the elevated highway because of a missile pursuing them. Because of their cyborg bodies, they’re fine. They wind up falling right next to Michi.

Meanwhile, 003 is somehow kidnapped by X….for some reason…The Cyborgs never once mention that 003 got kidnapped, besides as an explanation to Michi as to where she went, and X never explains why he’s taking her. We just see her being taken by him, and she’s later used as a plot device for us to see that Omega has a habit of jolting X with intense pain if he remembers the good times with Michi, because he can see his thoughts, I guess.

X leaves while proclaiming that the next time they meet, one of them will die.

Back at Gilmore’s lab later, Michi is being tended to by 009. He gives her some soup. She says it’s delicious. 009 says “Oh great. We really need a woman like 003 around for this sort of thing.” First of all, nice sexism. Second, obviously you don’t need 003 for this sort of thing if you made delicious soup.

When 009 says 003 was kidnapped by X, Michi is shocked and realizes that these people are the enemies Naku was talking about. 009 explains that X said one of them will die the next time they meet. He doesn’t know at this point that Michi and X are in any way connected. There’s a huge super gun on the table beside her for reasons beyond my understanding. Michi imagines Naku getting killed by 009, so, while 009 is…..Okay, he’s washing her dishes….with a rag….in the bedroom…….There’s no sink….I….don’t know.

While he’s wiping her dishes, she grabs the gun. Lil’ 007 comes in with a bouquet of roses because he wants to hit on Michi.

I will give Lil’ 007 some credit. When he sees the gun, he immediately shifts into a tiger and lunges at Michi to get her to drop it. So, fine, he did one thing today. In the scuffle, she accidentally shoots a vase with roses. I actually didn’t catch that the first time around. That’s some nice symbolism.

Anyway, enjoy this ridiculous perspective shot that makes it look like the bed is the size of a pickup truck and Michi is teeny tiny.

Michi sobs with concern for Naku, allowing 009 and 007 to connect the dots.

Meanwhile, back on Omega’s island, 003 is being kept prisoner. Look at this plate of food Omega provided for 003. That’s pretty nice for prisoner food, especially when the guy keeping you prisoner is a rival cyborg creator to your own. He even called her “ridiculous.”

003 tries to reason with X, knowing he has a good heart since he picked up the rose arch from earlier. X remembers the summer roses he and Michi loved so much, but as his mind wanders to those memories, Omega shocks him into submission from another room. He tells him not to think about such things or else he’ll get more shocks. I realize now that the shocks seem to be coming from the helmet, which means he might really only be a cyborg from the waist down, but if that’s true……why doesn’t he just keep the helmet off? He was shown taking it off easily earlier. If that’s how Omega is making him do all this….Eh whatever.

X leaves while chiding himself for thinking like a human when he’s a machine.

Omega sends another message through the TV set he left at Gilmore’s lab proclaiming that 009 and X will have one climactic battle tomorrow at dawn at Sea Shore Park. He says he’s hidden a cobalt bomb somewhere in the park to prevent any funny business and ensuring that 009 will show up.

OH!…They took 003 so they couldn’t just find the bomb with her x-ray vision and thwart their plot that way. They obviously don’t say that, but that has to be the reason, writing-wise.

According to Gilmore, a cobalt bomb is enough to put all of Japan in danger, so they have no choice. 007 puts his foot in his mouth with Michi behind him as he declares that they’ll crush X. Michi says it’s okay because, if Naku really did ally himself with people so evil, he must have had his heart replaced with the rest of his body.

Look, I kinda get this, but wouldn’t you at least humor the idea that Naku is doing this against his will? She doesn’t have much faith in her boyfriend.

001, yeah he’s here now, pinpoints the location of the signal for this message. Lil’ 007 goes off to investigate. He arrives at Omega’s island and is immediately shot down by X. Lil’ 007 gets frustrated and explains that Michi wants them to beat up X, and she wants 009 to crush X. She told 009 to kill him. X throws Lil’ 007 on the ground. He’s kidnapped now too. I don’t know why.

X has a very melodramatic moment on a cliff. The waves are crashing. He’s holding a rose. There are storm clouds overhead. He’s saying that his and Michi’s summer rose has wilted. Before, he was only attacking because he was following orders, but now he vows to kill 009 of his own free will. I don’t really understand why X is personally motivated to kill 009 now. The Wiki page says he wants to kill him for ruining his one source of happiness, but 009 didn’t do that.

Later, Gilmore gives 009 a flying vehicle of his own to fight X. It’s a clunker, but Gilmore explains that this is the only thing they have that can withstand the special weapon on X’s vehicle – the needle cannon, which I assume is the theory he brought up earlier? I don’t really know. There’s no way Gilmore would know of that otherwise, right?

Gilmore explains that the needle cannon is a devastating weapon, but it can only be fired once. When it’s fired, 009 has to pull a lever on the control panel. He must not pull it beforehand. As 009 leaves, he tells Michi that he might not survive this battle. If he doesn’t, she must tell Naku that cyborgs are humans, not machines. He and his friends are living proof of that.

009 arrives at the park. Look at this weird angel statue. I almost thought it was Lil’ 007 it’s so goofy.

009 confronts X, and the battle begins. 009 is on the defensive since his craft can’t do much. However, he does catch X off-guard after he shoots a missile, causing it to change course to X’s ship, forcing him to blow up his own missile.

As they fight, we see Michi driving to the park.

It’s needle cannon time! The needle cannon is activated, and Omega explains that the super steel needles will cut through anything. Indeed, 009’s craft is being turned to swiss cheese. 009 pulls the lever, and the craft pulls a Dolphin and sheds its outer shell revealing a sleek newer model ship underneath.

This new ship is able to deflect X’s other weapons and easily maneuver behind him. 009 fires and breaks off the antennae from the ship, which….means something? I don’t know. X is hardwired into the machine, so I don’t know what that did. 009 hits the giant glass dome of a cockpit because of course he did. His knee joysticks hit the console, and X is sent into a tailspin, but manages to safely land his ship.

009 lands and tells X to give it up, but X won’t relent. He pulls a rifle on 009 and declares that he hates 009 for destroying his precious rose, even though 009 has no idea what he’s talking about. X shoots a barrage of bullets at 009, but Michi jumps in the way and gets shot up.

This is legitimately sad, but they made this scene too comical. She’s shot, but then she like spins around and around like a beyblade until she hits a tree. Why did that happen?

As Michi falls, she tells Naku to not die.

X immediately flings off his helmet in shock of what he’s just done and rushes to Michi’s side. He heard her tell him not to die, which contradicts what he thought she said earlier about wanting 009 to kill him. Michi says that their roses are still blooming, which is a metaphor for saying she still loves him.

It’s as good a time as any to mention this.

Michi DIDN’T tell 009 to kill Naku. She just told him to fight Omega and Naku to prevent the bomb from going off. Lil’ 007 is the one who said all that stuff about wanting to see him beaten up, crushed, and killed by 009. So everything that happens from this point onward is fully Lil’ 007’s fault.

Michi dies in Naku’s arms, and Naku is distraught. 009 points out that she was so dedicated to Naku that she even tried to kill 009 herself earlier. Naku realizes his error and picks up Michi. After an absolutely hilarious brief shot of slide-y animation as he carries her to the ship, Naku says he’ll release 003 and Lil’ 007. Eh, you can keep Lil’ 007….

He cracks open the pedestal that the weird angel statue from earlier was perched on to reveal 003 and Lil’ 007 were in there the whole time….WHY were they in there the whole time, you ask? So that Naku could free them conveniently, silly.

Naku then breaks open the angel statue to reveal that’s where the cobalt bomb was hidden this entire time. He grabs the bomb with his ship and says he’ll take care of it. God will make them both happy in the rose garden in heaven.

In a rather emotional scene, Naku flies him and Michi over the ocean as the sun rises. He cries and thinks back to that summer they shared together and how happy they were. But they’ll be happy together again soon. He approaches Omega’s island and holds Michi’s body gently as he dive-bombs toward the island. Omega realizes what he’s doing and panics, but he ultimately can’t stop it.

The cobalt bomb goes off, killing Naku and Omega and destroying the island.

You may be wondering why Omega didn’t shock him to stop him. The only reason I can think of is that Naku took off his helmet, which, if that’s the reason, then we just loop back around to asking why he even wears the helmet at all if that’s the one way Omega’s controlling him, and he can easily take it off whenever.

Later, the Cyborgs fly over the island in funeral clothes mourning the deaths of Naku and Michi. Gilmore says there are no cyborgs or humans in heaven – only souls, which I found to be an extremely sweet sentiment. They parachute down a bouquet of roses to the ruins of the island and leave.

Despite some of the silly aspects, this was actually a very good episode. It’s not much we haven’t seen before in the manga, but it was still touching in its own right. I legitimately felt awful for both Naku and Michi. We didn’t get a whole lot about their backstories besides that they both loved roses and spent at least one summer together, but their bond still felt very genuine.

And all that was wasted….because of Lil’ 007’s big mouth. I really can’t help but pin this all on him. You could argue that even if Lil’ 007 didn’t say all those things to Naku they still would have been screwed because of the cobalt bomb, but Omega didn’t trigger the bomb after Naku took his helmet off and ran to Michi, so I feel like if they had just defeated him without killing him they could have disposed of the bomb in some way. Maybe sent a drone off to the island with the bomb on it.

I guess you could also argue that Naku would have gone all the way against 009 anyway and things would have stayed the same, but if Michi intervened under different circumstances he might have been stopped. Ya know if they just took the damn helmet off.

But things didn’t work out that way, and now Lil’ 007 has blood on his lil’ stupid hands.

We certainly do need a pick-me-up around here, though. What’s the next epis—OOHHHHOHOHOOOOOOOOO!! YES! Oh we are gonna have some fun next episode. !

….Previous Episode

If you enjoy my work and would like to help support my blog, please consider donating at my Ko-Fi page. Thank you! ♥