Beast Wars II (anime)

Beast Wars II (anime)

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Synopsis

Beast Wars II follows the Maximal crew led by Lio Convoy who have pursued Galvatron and his Predacons to the planet Gaia. There, Galvatron seeks to mine and exploit the powerful but highly unstable energy source called Angolmois Energy which rests beneath the planet's surface. As they war below, the androids Artemis and Moon watch from the moon orbiting Gaia, gathering data on all the characters and delivering factoids to the audience via an out-of-continuity segment called the "Artemis & Moon II Report". For the first half of the series, no overarching plot is particularly evident, instead focusing on episodic adventures as the Maximals stop the Predacons from building new bases on hot-spots of Angolmois Energy. Short character arcs are focused on instead, as new groups of Maximals and Predacons are introduced in waves. The Insectrons, Autorollers, Jointrons, Seaconsand Magnaboss team all receive multi-episode spotlights throughout the first half of Beast Wars II. Once all the characters are established, a less episodic, ongoing conflict is introduced in the form of the Nemesis, an artificial planet built by Galvatron and slowly making its way toward Gaia. The objective of the Nemesis is to drain all the Angolmois Energy from the planet and become an invincible dreadnought under Galvatron's command. With the help of their comrades, the Maximals invade the Nemesis, kill Galvatron, seal the Angolmois Energy in capsules and destroy the artificial planet. The Maximals are left trapped in a wormhole at the show's conclusion, setting up the sequel series: Beast Wars Neo. Beast Wars II is noticeably sub-par in much of its production values, no doubt due to the haste in which it had to be produced in order to fill the gap between Beast Wars and Beast Wars Metals. A number of animation studios (listed below) were utilized to produce the series and the quality very noticeably shifts from episode-to-episode, depending on the ability of each studio. Though much more light-hearted and childish than the American Beast Wars series, Beast Wars II managed to dabble in some heavier material, especially in the back half of episodes when the actual plot began to kick in. One of the more ongoing dilemmas sees Lio Junior, the estranged "son" of Lio Convoy dealing with being rejected by his career-military father. Galvatron, who at first seems to be nothing more than a generic villain, shows a greater interest in molding Lio Junior into his successor than Lio Convoy, and expresses an honest yearning to bring peace to the universe (albeit by force via the Nemesis). In the conclusion, Lio Convoy and Lio Junior work together as comrades and family to stop Galvatron

Episodes

further information, see: List of Beast Wars II episodes The New Forces Arrive! White Lion, Run! Bighorn's Rage The Lake Trap Galvatron Revived Mystery of the Ancient Ruins The Insect Corps Arrive Friend or Foe? The Insect Robos The Strongest Tag Team? Autorollers Roll Out! Danger! Scissor Boy Galvatron Rampages Predacon General Offensive!† The Combined Giant, Tripledacus The Festive Jointrons A Fearsome Combination Plan? Who Is the Leader!? The Black Lio Convoy The Space Pirate Seacons! Who Is the Strongest Warrior!?† The Tentacular Scuba Megastorm's Reckoning Showdown in the Sea Face the Setting Sun The Final Battle Enter Lio Junior Megastorm Reborn The New Weapon, Tako Tank The Artificial Planet Nemesis† Gigastorm's Treachery The End of Starscream The Lio Convoy Assassination Plot The Great Angolmois Freezing Tactic Knock Out Nemesis Lio Junior's Revolt!? Emissary of the Fourth Planet The Crisis of Planet Gaia Fly Out! Planet Gaia Assemble, Thirty-Nine Warriors† Revenge of the Space Pirates Breaking into Nemesis Legend! The Green Warrior Farewell! Lio Convoy

Characters

Maximals

Lio Convoy (Hozumi Gōda) Apache (Sanryō Odaka) Bighorn (Masami Iwasaki) Tasmania Kid (Katashi Ishizuka) Diver (Kenji Nakano) Scuba (Yūji Kishi) Magnaboss (Yumiko Kobayashi) Lio Junior (Yumiko Kobayashi) Skywarp (Mantarō Iwao) Santon (Hiroaki Harakawa)

===Predacons Galvatron (Tetsuo Komura) Megastorm/Gigastorm (Takashi Matsuyama) Combatrons/Cyborg Beasts Starscream/Hellscream (Hiroki Takahashi) BB/Max-B (Takeshi Watanabe) Dirge/Dirgegun (Eiji Takemoto) Thrust/Thrustor (Junji Sanechika

Subgroup

Bigmos (Takeshi Watanabe) Powerhug (Takashi Matsuyama) Tonbot (Kenichirō Tanabe) Mantis (Hiroki Takahashi) Drill Nuts (Yūji Kishi) Scissor Boy (Norihisa Mori) Jointrons Tripledacus (Ryō Naitō) DJ (Ryō Naitō) Motorarm (Daisuke Ishikawa) Gimlet (Takeshi Maeda) Autorollers Autostinger (Tadashi Miyazawa) Autocrusher (Hitoshi Bifu) Autojetter (Kōhei Kowada) Autolauncher (Hiroki Takahashi/Masami Iwasaki) Space Pirate Seacons God Neptune (Kazuhiko Nishimatsu) Halfshell (Kazuhiko Nishimatsu) Sea Phantom (Hiroaki Ichinowatari) Terrormander (Hitoshi Bifu) Coelagon (Tadashi Miyazawa) Scylla (Miwa Matsumoto) Others Gaian Androids Artemis (Chieko Higuchi) Moon (Junko Takeuchi) Maximal Computer NAVI (Haruhi Terada) Evil Copies Copy Convoy (Hozumi Gōda) Copy BB (Takeshi Watanabe) "Copy Tasmania Kid" (Katashi Ishizuka) "Copy Scuba" (Yūji Kishi) "Copy Bighorn" (Masami Iwasaki) "Copy Apache" (Sanryō Odaka)

Production

The animation was handled by Ashi Productions, although most of the in-betweening and some of the key animation/episode production was outsourced to studios throughout Asia. Some of the studios credited: South Korea Park Young (博英), Echo, Hanil (韓一), Hee Won Entertainment (喜元), JiWoo (知遇), K-Production, Kyoe Sung (桂成), Sei Young (世映), Sung San (星山), YABES (裕振), San-Ho Studios China Shanghai Hongqiao Animation (上海虹橋動画), FAI Taiwan Far Eastern Animation (遠東動画) Indonesia MARSA Japan Studio Zain (スタジオ・ザイン), Trans Arts Co. (トランスアーツ), J.C.F (ジェイ・シー・エフ), E&G Film (イージー・フィルム)

Release

April 1, 1998 – January 27, 1999