A Guide to Assemble Insert

Episode One

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Note: This is a complete summary, so don't read ahead unless you have a low chance of finding your own copy of the episode!

Part One
Original release date: December 21th, 1989
 
The episode starts with Shouji and Taka watching a preview for "Kougaman" in the video store. Behind them, Yuuki is renting three pornographic tapes, one called "Sailor Uniform Scandal". As the guys stare at him, several blocks away, there is a police chase going after the Demon Seed. After having robbed a bank, the Demon Seed mecha destroy several police cars and fly away.
 
Back in the Special Operations office, Chief Hattori and the guys are watching a news report about the Demon Seed, which reports 26 robberies at jewelery stores and banks. The police haven't managed to arrest anyone, and they keep destroying property in the process. Taka comes in with a video tape, exclaiming that the bank recorded the entire Demon heist. He starts up the tape, but it turns out to just be a music video of Kagiri Sonoba. Taka and Shouji start talking about Kagiri, and Chief Hattori frustratedly starts yelling at them. Then, he explains that their jobs and office all depend upon a special battle project, that he wrote and submitted when he was drunk. In the meantime, a scientist named Dr. Shimokobe is designing the special battle suit in his basement.
 
The next day, the Hero Audition Finals are held to the public, but it's nothing more than 28 people randomly chosen off the street. The first contestant is Yoshiko Mikawa, a beautiful young woman who can bend iron bars with her bare hands. However, when she flexes, her face reddens and her muscles bulge out, so Hattori decides she's not fit to be an idol. After Yoshiko come dozens of lame contestant, and the audience slowly leaves. When the 28th contestant is due, nobody can find her, but soon a little girl steps on stage. Her name is Maron, and she explains that she really didn't want to enter the contest, but her mother and older sister entered her. As she speaks, everybody watches in horror as she wraps the microphone stand around her finger like a phone cable. Excitedly, Chief Hattori declares her the winner and the last hope against the Demon Seed. Outside the auditioning theatre, the Special Operations guys remember they need to put in "the sponsor segment", and a commercial for SupoVitan-C plays.
 
Maron's idol training begins as she records "Shiny Love" and takes dance lessons. Hattori tells Taka the reasoning behind his plan: the riot police can go out, destroy property and not catch the Demon Seed, or a cute little girl can go out and catch the Demon Seed with equal or less destruction. Hattori claims that Maron is their "future", and she needs time to grow into her role.
 
In the suburbs, two schoolboys walk past an enormous mansion sitting amongst all the normal houses. The boys joke about the house being a villain hideout, and how the gate's nameplate says "DE-MON". The house is exactly what they think, because inside, Professor Demon and his masked Demon Seed men are putting together their latest stolen money. Demon encourages them to spend the money however they want. As his men cheer, Demon calls the police station to hint about the Demon Seed's next heist. Unfortunately, he calls a suburban noodle bar, who forwards the message anyway.
 
The heist will be for the Ikebukuro Department Store's 6th floor museum, which has the Ancient Mu Empire Artifact Exhibit. Hattori announces that it'll be Maron's debut, to which the Special Operations guys panic about endangering Maron. As Hattori yells at them, someone throws a pipe bomb into the office. It's Dr. Shimokobe, whom has brought Maron's robotic costume. Maron is fitted for it, and Shimokobe explains that he'd previously made a tall mecha suit, but changed to a leotard after learning that the winning idol was a little girl. Shimokobe praises the suit and leaves, declaring that the suit "won't leak".
 
The next day, Maron and the Special Operations guys are at the museum, heping Maron rehearse. She's extrememly nervous, but the guys reassure themselves as back-up. In the meantime, Chief Hattori is being followed by reporters, whom are wondering is the Anti-Demon Seed project can do anything with such a small budget. Hattori casually tells them that price doesn't mean anything, and Maron Namikaze's debut is worth more.
 
Soon enough, the Demon Seed bash through the walls of the museum and begin looting, to no opposition. Maron is hiding in the hallway, and so Hattori urges her to go out and fight, saying that she's got the super-strength she was born with. Professor Demon mocks the police for having "given up" on them, and finally annoyed, Maron steps out and stares at Professor Demon. After a long stare-off, Maron worriedly informs the Special Operations guys that she can't remember her opening lines.
 
Enraged, Demon orders his mecha to attack Maron. Maron panicks and holds up her hands, easily stopping a robot's arm from crushing her. With a new round of courage, Maron beats up the mecha, while unfortunately smashing some of the surrounding exhibits. As the reporters go wild, Maron pushes the mecha, Professor Demon and the Demon Seed men out through the hole in the wall they cam from, sending them into the street below.
 
Later, the bust is a complete success, albeit Hattori remarking that Maron had a "three billion dollar debut, after all", given how Maron indirectly trashed more than half of the museum's exhibit. The office is being flooded with calls from the police, the prime minister, a feminist group and the Mu conservationist group.
 
 
 
 
Linear Notes:
  • The action team video playing in the video store ("Super Soldier Kougaman") is actually a sub-parody of Kyūkyoku Choujin R, Masami Yuuki's first manga series, and four of the five "fighters" are actually the manga's characters. Super Team Anime was common in the 70's and 80's, especially ones revolving around robots.
  • Video stores in Japan commonly have about 1/3 of their stock being adult videos, and it's often no surprise if someone is renting porn or idol videos.
  • The Demon Mecha #1 are similar to the Brocken Labors from Patlabor.
  • Chief Hattori is a charicature of Masami Yuuki's editor at Shounen Sunday, whom made way for the publishing of Kyukyoku Choujin R. Hattori appeared in that manga in 1985, as a police detective who trails R after hearing he was supposed to be a wold domination device.
  • The singer that Shouji compares Kagiri to, Akina Nakamori, is an 80's singer who was known for her powerhouse voice and costume variety. (I would almost call her a Japanese Pat Benatar...)
  • The scene where Hattori explains that a scientist is designing Maron's costume and the guys say "Some scientist? Some?" and it cuts to an image of a monkey over Dr. Shimokobe...all this is stemmed from a bizarre pun that will only be understood by Japanese viewers. The Japanese word for "some" is the same as the one for "monkey", being "saru".
  • Maron, despite what the subtitles say, is not a high school senior. To listen to her, she says "Jyu San Des(u)", which directly means "I'm thirteen." (In the early days of anime translation, it was common for translators to make female characters older than they were, in case the character be involved in any disturbing or sexual situations.)
  • The two women in the SupoVitan-C commerical are Maron and Kagiri's voice actresses.
  • More on caffienated vitamin drinks: In Japan, animators commonly have to work long hours, and are paid by how many cels they produce. (In the 1970's, Osamu Tezuka slept an average of three hours per night.) In order to stay up long enough to work, animators turn to caffiene drinks like SupoVitan-C to stay awake and work.
  • After Dr. Shimokobe throws a pipe bomb into the Special Operations office and claims it was "in the script", the book he holds up is actually the original manga of Assemble Insert.
  • The way Yuuki takes statistics of Maron is similar to the statistics in J-Pop idol books. These books contain creepy information about the idol's measurements, hobbies, health condition, childhood, favorite things...
  • The part with the accordian after Shimokobe's hint about "no leaks" and the reference to Yokomori Ryouzou (English subtitles on the 2001 release say "Yozo") is another complex word pun. The rough term for "no leakage" is 'yokomore kouzou', so Yuuki and Yutaka confused it with the name of a famous accordionist from NHK's Singing Contest. Yokomori personally played the accordian music used in this scene.
  • Many of Maron's battle moves are based off of those of the title character from Tetsuwan Atom / Astro Boy.

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