Great Battle at Sea is the sixteenth episode of Season 1 of the Monster Rancher anime series. It aired in Japan on July 31, 1999.
Synopsis[]
While on Horn's ship, the Searchers have to fight off the Zillas as well their leader, Gooji. Golem is forced to overcome his fear of water to save his friends from these aquatic monsters.
Full Recap[]
Moo continues travelling on his floating castle, heading North. He clenches his fist, hearing his body screaming for his soul, laughing maniacally. Below him, at sea, a Zilla with a mischievous smile that was swimming dives to reach a building underwater, guarded by four Zillas with spears. The first Zilla calls for his master, Gooji, and the others stop him with their weapons from getting any closer, telling him that Gooji is resting. The lone one protests and insists but the others remain firm on their stance. As they're about to fight, Gooji, seen only as a pair of red eyes in the darkness of his lair, awakens and tells them to shut up, asking what's all that scandal about.
The first Zilla then informs him that he got orders from Gali of the Big Bad Four, getting the master's attention. He tells Gooji about the Moo-defying Searchers being at sea with captain Horn, surprising him. Zilla concludes saying that Gali had ordered them to find and bring them down, and the other Zillas with spears ask for that mission to be theirs, to which Gooji agrees, telling them to get rid of Horn as well. After they swim away, Gooji's eyes glow brighter and his silhouette is perceived more clearly as he thinks of the captain.
At the Jolly Ranger, Genki climbs to the highest point of the ship to admire the sea with Mocchi on his back while the rest of the group has to mop the deck. Hare is surprised at Mocchi's eagerness and Holly reminds him that this is his first time at sea, followed by Suezo complaining about all the work they have to do. Captain Horn scolds him loudly for slacking off and Suezo counters that they, as guests of this ship, should be gods. Horn corrects him, saying that he, as captain, is the one god there. Before they get into a fight, Holly intervenes, and when Horn notices her, his focus shifts entirely to her. His pupil becomes a rosy heart and he showers Holly with compliments, remarking on her beauty, her class, calling her his sunshine and her favourite star and making her uncomfortable. Suezo gets in between them and tells the captain to stop, though Horn warns him that guys who get in the way of a man's love get cursed and die. He calls for his Rockies and four of them bring over a big chest filled with treasure. There are tons of golden pieces inside, calling Hare's complete attention as he assures that that much would be enough to have a great life for a long time. Genki gets off his high spot to join them and appreciate the gold as well. Horn acts humbly, saying that it isn't much and that it's a sign of friendship, a gift for Holly. Suezo gets away from there, bickering about the captain's constant flirting with her and almost end up fighting again, making her yell for them to stop.
Tiger interrupts this scene by saying that it's too quiet and he has a bad feeling about it. Hare agrees, recalling that this area is under Moo's control. Suezo asks Horn if this place is safe and the captain reassures him that he'll get all seven of them to their destination, though his sentence is interrupted when he counts the Searchers and discovers that one seems to be missing. Mocchi points away at a scared Golem, holding tightly to the mast. Horn is shocked to hear that a big guy like him is scared of water and tells his crew to take care of him. They immediately carry him away, to one of the sides of the ship and count to three before flinging him into the water. Golem cries as he falls into the sea and Genki becomes outraged at Horn's actions, though he justifies them by saying that it's the best way to get used to being in the water. He starts worrying when he notices several bubbles on the surface and Golem not trying to swim up, now realizing that he had made a bad move. Genki jumps into the water to save him, but he isn't strong enough to lift his heavy body and help him out of there. Genki exhales, losing his air and passes out right before a bunch of Rockies, with ropes on their teeth, swim rapidly at them. Horn leads the Searchers as they pull from the rope aboard the ship and they manage to bring both Golem and Genki back up. When asked if he's okay, the kid answers that he thought he was going to die. Horn knocks on Golem's arm and finally understands that he simply sank because his body is made of rocks, and concludes telling him to stay there and rest, as he can get Suezo to work twice as hard in his place. Suezo disagrees at first, but since Horn insists that these are the captain's orders, he ends up accepting this.
Genki and Hare are seen dabbing the ship's cannons and Holly is helping at the kitchen as Horn tells his Rockies to go starboard. Under Horn's orders, Suezo is seen carrying baskets with dirty clothes, mopping the board and carrying heavy boxes from one side to the other as Golem can only watch with his body wrapped around the mast.
At night, the whole crew has dinner together, and an exhausted Suezo laments all the hard work he had to do all day, and as he's about to eat to his heart's content, he suddenly gets blue and runs away to throw up. Everyone wonders what happened and Tiger replies that he's seasick. Hare finds it hard to believe since he had been all day on the ship, but Tiger simply states that he's slow. After eating, Holly visits Golem and asks if he got at least a bit used to water, but he replies negatively. She kindly asks him to bear with it a bit longer, and he promises to do his best. Holly sits by his side and marvels at the beauty of the stars in the night sky, telling him that they've come very far, though she gets discouraged, doubting if they'll actually find the Phoenix someday, since Moo's rule on the continent across the sea is stronger, and thus, the baddies there must be stronger. Golem comforts her, saying that no matter what happens, if the seven of them put their strengths together, they'll be able to overcome anything and find the Phoenix. She cheers up and thanks him for his words.
Later, when everyone's asleep, Suezo wakes up, seasick again, needing to breathe fresh air, away from the others. He gets on the deck, throwing up on the side as Golem watches, telling him to get over this. A Rocky previously seen sleeping on the crow's nest sees a huge wave coming towards them and hitting the ship, waking everyone up. A Zilla then emerges from the sea and jumps high over the ship, right before others like him come swimming towards the Jolly Roger. The barrelman yells from above to warn captain Horn about the Zillas' attack. He, already awake and at the helm with two other Rockies, replies to him and tells the others to turn to port. As the ship turns, the Zillas approach and Horn gets excited at the thought of a fight breaking out, preparing his men for it. The Searchers come up to meet Golem and a heavily seasick Suezo, with Holly choosing to stay by Golem's side and the others choosing to participate in the fight. The Zillas start headbutting and tail slapping the ship and Horn tells his crew to shoot their cannons, hitting them. As the cannonballs hit the water, they cause some to splash back up, showering Golem and making him uncomfortable, but Holly tries to reassure him by staying there. She tells him that he's always helped them and now they'll be helping him. Suezo, still feeling sick, wishes she'd help him too instead of ignoring him. Captain Horn encourages his men to keep shooting. One of the Zillas tries to force the rest to keep attacking, but another approaches him and says that their enemy is too strong. When the other complains and calls him a coward, a cannonball flies in his direction, exploding upon contact, damaging him. That's enough for him to reconsider and he ends up telling the others to retreat as he scaredly swims away. Genki and Mocchi see this and start celebrating, but Horn isn't so content.
The Zillas swim all the way to where Gooji is, and when he notices they failed, he tail slaps one of them against a rock. The others, terrified of him, tremble and step back when Gooji tries to get closer to them. Then, he claims to have no use for weak henchmen. The scene abruptly changes to Horn feeling a disturbance that he describes as something in his horn, warning him that Gooji is close. When asked about him, Horn describes him as "the devil of the sea who sinks everything resembling a ship", and "the destined rival of this honourable Horn". The Jolly Roger is swayed along with the sea as a large, single horn breaks the water's surface, Gooji emerging from below, standing nearly as tall as the ship. Horn recognizes him, with the Searchers being shocked at his massive size.
Gooji, in turn, calls the captain by his name and tells him that this is his end before charging at his ship. Horn leads the attack on him and the cannons start firing at the enormous Zilla, though he suffers no damage from this, unsettling Horn. When he tackles the ship, the Searchers are forced to the opposite side of the deck, and Gooji asks if they're the ones defying Moo. Immediately after, he extends a paw at Holly and Horn runs towards her, trying to protect her, but Gooji slaps him away and grabs Holly as Golem simply watches. Genki tries to intervene, getting to the highest point of the ship and jumping down to kick Gooji so he releases her, but he's too light to damage him. Gooji slashes Genki, forcing him back on the deck though without actually injuring him. Suezo overcomes his sickness, retrieving his natural yellow colour. He and Horn order Gooji to let Holly go, but he laughs and squishes her in his grip, making her scream in pain. Everyone watches in horror and Golem slowly loosens his grip on the mast, finally standing up when Gooji threatens to crush the others and moves his other paw towards them. Golem intercepts his claws, holding them in place and tells the others to save Holly. Tiger fires a lightning attack at Gooji's horn, causing him to lose his balance and release Holly. As she falls from his paw, both Suezo and Horn rush to catch her and accomplish it by extending their tongues to meet her before she meets the deck. The two compliment the other for their catch and she's relieved though later disgusted at their tongues holding her up. Gooji, now enraged, lunges at Golem, but he uses his tornado attack to send him flying backwards into the sea.
Horn tells his Rockies to get him and they dive into the water with ropes on their mouths to tie Gooji up. He tells his remaining crew to raise sails and go forwards at full speed before explaining to the Searchers, while pointing at a map, that they'll soon reach their destination and the match will be decided then. Gooji tries to resist being pulled away, but Golem grips the ropes holding him to restrain him more. Mocchi notices a whirlpool ahead and Horn tells his men to go port and drop Gooji into it. When they get close enough, the captain orders the Rockies to cut the ropes and they do, letting Gooji fall into the rapidly spinning water. The Zilla doesn't give up yet, though, and he curses Horn right before using his tail to propulse himself forwards and get his paws aboard his ship, saying that he'll take him down with him. He presses his body down the deck to force the ship to tilt towards him, causing everyone on board to slide directly into his open mouth, but Golem runs to reach his face first, kicking him and forcing the Zilla to shut his mouth, saving the others from falling inside. A blue aura surrounds Golem as his guts maximise and he uses his Brow Hit (subbed as Finger Punch) to break Gooji's horn. The Zilla falls back in pain, unable to react, and Horn orders his crew to get them out of there at full speed.
Golem saves the day.
Gooji falls into the whirlpool and the Jolly Roger makes it out in one piece; everyone on board cheers and Holly thanks Golem for saving them all again. Hare congratulates him for overcoming his fear of water, causing him to become conscious of the sea around them again and returning to his position with his arms wrapped around the mast. Tiger comments that he had forgotten about his fear while he was preoccupied about something else and everyone shares a laugh.
After sunrise, the Jolly Roger reaches the other side of the ocean and the Searchers are dropped on dry land again. They thank Horn for his help and he tells them to take care right before asking one of his men to hand something to Genki. When he opens the scroll he was given, he discovers a map. Horn tells him that it's a copy of his own and that it might be useful for them. Genki tries to look back at him to thank him but is surprised to see him gone. Instead, he's now standing next to Holly, telling her that this is a present from him, asking her if she'll accept it. She thanks him, kissing his cheek, immensely shocking Suezo and pleasing Horn, whose pupil turns into a heart. He runs to her right, asking her to kiss that other side of his face and Suezo scolds him for being greedy. The ship, with only its original crew of Rockies and captain Horn, leaves them and the Searchers look at the horizon, wondering if they'll find the Phoenix in this continent. Genki uses his catchphrase to encourage everyone to keep going.
Featured Characters[]
Featured Monsters[]
Trivia[]
In the Japanese version:
- Zillas end most of their sentences with "guji", (from their Japanese name, Gujira), as a kind of verbal tic. Gooji, on the other hand, ends them with "kong" (from his Japanese name, Gujikōn).
- When noticing that Golem is missing, Captain Horn counts the Searchers saying "hi, fu, mi, yo..." (literally "one, two, three, four"), using the native Japanese pronunciation of numerals, instead of the usual "ichi, ni, san, shi/yon", adopted from classical Chinese. This other, more traditional counting system is often used by older people, implying that captain Horn is an old monster.
- He does use the Chinese-borrowed pronunciation when he and his Rockies throw Golem into the sea, though.
In the English and Latin American Spanish versions:
- The scene where Golem sinks into the water was shortened, omitting the bits where Genki loses his breath and passes out. His subsequent line about almost dying is replaced by something much milder, without any mentions to death.
- The treasure inside the chest that Horn gifts the Searchers isn't shown.
- Almost every frame where Suezo is blue from seasickness was deleted. This affected the scene where the Searchers get out of bed and run to meet Golem and Suezo on the deck before Holly decides to stay there with Golem. There's a small exception to this, when Suezo and Horn are on the same frame and he overcomes his seasickness in front of Gooji.
- The scene where a cannonball hits the Zilla that insisted on continuing their attack was shortened briefly, removing the frames where the cannonball actually makes contact with his face.
- The moment where Horn hits a wall due to Gooji's slap as he tried to rescue Holly was deleted.
- Gooji's slash at Genki was deleted, making it seem like his fall alone was the one responsible for the deck breaking where he landed.
- When Suezo and Horn tell Gooji to let Holly go and he laughs and tightens his grip on her, making her scream, was omitted.
- The scene where Suezo and Horn catch Holly with their tongues was removed.
- When Gooji makes a last attempt on Horn and his crew, his original line that implied sacrificing himself alongside everyone on the ship was replaced with a warning for Horn not to underestimate his enemies.
- Golem's kick to Gooji's face to force shut his mouth and the moment he breaks his horn with his finger were removed.
