Uchuu Senkan Yamato Episode 14
宇宙戦艦ヤマト Ep. 14 (TV, Anime)

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: The Yamato has been trapped within the dangerous Octopus Planetary Group for three weeks while a massive space storm prevents them from safely navigating. As such, the crew has little to do, so Daisuke and Susumu play a game of Shougi in the ship’s lounge. Susumu is losing and realizing he’s made a mistake, he wants a do-over, but Daisuke won’t allow it. This irritates Susumu who decides to toss the game board. That angers Daisuke and the two come to blows. However, the fight is cut short as the captain summons the department heads to a meeting.

Daisuke gives a presentation of their current situation. According to the schedule that had been laid out when they left Earth, Yamato should have been at the half-way point (Planet Balan) of their journey to the Magellanic Cloud and the planet Iscandar. Unfortunately, due to the battles with the Gamilons, to say nothing of the 3-week delay within the Octopus Planetary Group, Yamato is now 60-days behind schedule and in danger of not making the round trip in time to save Earth. Daisuke believes there to be a strait within the Octopus which would allow them quick passage through. Since traveling around the Octopus Planetary Group will take another 40-days, Daisuke feels that even if they have to wait another 20-days for the storm to pass, it will still be quicker. However, Susumu forces Daisuke to concede that he’s not sure such a strait even exists.

Susumu is frustrated with this waiting around and decides to take out his fighter to search for this supposed straight. Fellow fighter pilot Kato is on the hanger deck and tries to stop Susumu, but fails. Susumu launches his fighter, but the storm immediately grabs his tiny ship, slamming it into Yamato and destroying it. Susumu, Kato, and one other are summoned to the captain’s Ready Room where Okita assigns Susumu the duty of cleaning the hanger as punishment. He gives Kato the same punishment for not stopping Susumu. However, when the two arrive at the hanger deck to clean it, they find it full of crew members who’ve also been punished with cleaning duty.

Yuki asks the captain for permission to make rice cakes for New Year’s but Okita rejects the request since they only have a 2-month supply of food and no idea of when they’ll be getting a resupply. Elsewhere, Daisuke is on an observation deck when Yuki joins him. Daisuke is concerned that maybe the strait he believes is out there is in fact not out there. Yuki asks him if he believes it is there and he does. As such, Yuki is sure they will find it. If Daisuke isn’t confident, then they should immediately head around the Octopus Planetary Group.

The following day, the storm finally clears and an opening through the planetary group can be seen with a Gamilus ship on the other side. Since it is not a battleship, Okita refuses Susumu’s request to fire the enemy vessel. Instead, he sends Susumu out on a fighter to scout for Daisuke’s strait. Susumu does find a strait but when he reports his findings to Daisuke, he learns that his investigation had been sloppy, so there is no way of knowing if Yamato can make it through the passage or not. This leads to another fist fight between Daisuke and Susumu.

Yuki, having just received permission from Okita to make her rice cakes (mochi), comes upon the fighting guys and breaks it up. Since the two are supposed to be at their stations, they race to the bridge where Daisuke flies the ship through the strait. After a while, they re-enter the storm and steering the ship becomes tough, so Susumu helps Daisuke with the controls. When Yamato finally emerges on the other side, both men laugh and congratulate each other. Yuki enters the bridge with beverages and is envious of the friendships of men.

Thoughts/Review: I’m not sure if the scene showing all of the crew members cleaning the hanger deck is an indication of Captain Okita slowly losing it (remember, he didn’t give the order to defend the ship against a missile attack) or just an indication of how discipline on board ship is slipping. It could be a bit of both, but I think it would be more interesting if it were the captain losing it.

I did like the tie-back to episode 13 with Susumu’s dream. Continuity is a good thing. Otherwise, Susumu was an annoying loser this episode. Too bad his punishment for destroying a fighter after losing his cool was so light. He should have been clamped in irons, I tell ya!

I get a kick out of all-purpose girl Yuki. I know I’ve mentioned this before but every time I see her doing “this” or “that,” I just chuckle. Add “cook” to her resume, y’all, though making mochi may not be that difficult.