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This page is dedicated to Ray and Collette Miller, without whom it would never have gotten off the ground. Ray provided nearly all of the material that went into making this site including the books from which the graphics were obtained, the episode synopsis for the entire Orguss series and many, many tidbits of advice on what to include and how to include it. Collette kindly put up with my many visits and provided much advice and moral support. They have made this shrine to Super Dimension Century Orguss possible.
Mail me and let me know what you think. Suggestions are welcome. Contact me at 
stouty69@comcast.net
Super Dimension Century Orguss was the second "Super Dimension" TV series turned out by Studio Nue in the early 1980's, the first and third being, respectively, Super Dimensional Fortress Macross and Super Dimension Cavalry Southern Cross. Orguss ran for 35 episodes in Japan from 1983 to 1984; U.S. Renditions released 17 of the episodes (dubbed) on video, but never finished them. Since then subtitled versions of Orguss have appeared on DVD, of varying quality. The sequel, Orguss 02, is a great story and has nice animation, cool mecha designs and a good plot; although it has little to do with the original story.
The story begins on Earth in the year 2062. The nations of Earth have condensed into two major superpowers. These two nations combined their efforts to build the Orbital Elevator, a massive elevator that stretches up and out of Earth's atmosphere to the space colonies above. The elevator makes it possible to send materials into orbit quickly and easily, so naturally, the two superpowers begin fighting over who will control it. The two main characters of the series, Kei and his friend Olsen, are fighter pilots for one of the superpowers. The superpower they fly for has decided to end the conflict by getting rid of the Orbital Elevator. They plan to pull this off by sending the elevator into another dimension through the use of the Space/Time Oscillation Bomb (Trivia Note: In the show, it's given the codename Chocolate Parfait Monster). Kei and Olsen are assigned to fly with the bomb and guard it until the engineers have activated it. However when enemy fighters begin swarming into the area, the engineers flee. Thinking he can do something, Kei begins to fiddle with the bomb. The bomb is booby-trapped against tampering though, and activates. But the bomb does not work as planned. Instead of sending the Orbital Elevator into another dimension, the bomb shatters all dimensions parallel to Earth, turning Earth into a mish-mash of every possible parallel dimension. The Earth is surrounded by a dimensional shell that can't be breached, and within this shell different realities fade in and out almost constantly.
Kei blacks out and when he wakes up, finds himself on an Earth he doesn't recognize. Kei is found and pulled out of his fighter by the crew of the Glomar, an Emaan trading vessel. When he comes to, he learns from the Emaan that the world has been fractured into many different realities, with large portions of the Earth being controlled by 3 main powers; the Emaan, the Terram, and the Mu. The Emaan are near humans, identical except for prehensile tentacles that grow out of the backs of their necks - males have one, females have two. The Emaan are very technically advanced and make a living out of travelling around, finding and repairing technological items and selling them at "markets". The Emaan are a fairly peaceful race. The Terram are humans, probably directly descended from the people of Kei's world. Their society is built around their military and they tend to be a bit hostile at times (why is revealed later). The Mu are a robotic race, they were created to serve, but turned on and wiped out their creator race. The Mu are the most dangerous because they seek to wipe out all living sentients and take over everything. They also have some mastery over the dimensional shift technology, which they use to instantly transport themselves to practically anywhere on the planet and this makes them all the more dangerous. Fortunately for everyone else, the system doesn't always work right.
Kei is introduced to the crew of the Glomar: Shaya the captain of the Glomar, Mimsy whom he accidently kisses when he first wakes up (good first impression), Maaie and Lieea who are sisters, Sray who is Mimsy's intended, Leegh who is the resident technical genius and mecha designer, Govu who is an old man who just kind of hangs around and dispenses wisdom, Poputei a sad, widowed woman with twin baby boys, whose husband was killed in battle with the Terram and Jaby who is a sentient dinsosauroid. Kei quickly finds out that he is a wanted man for some reason. The Terram launch attack after attack against Kei and the crew of the Glomar and eventually the Emaan figure out that Kei is one of the "Tokuiten", and that somehow he is tied in with the dimensional effect (or Dai-Tokuiten) that now surrounds the Earth. The Terram have been working on a device to eliminate the dimensional effect. But this device is also intended to reshape reality so the Terram will be the dominant power when everything returns to normal. Kei finds most of this out from Olsen, who is now part of the Terram military, having appeared in this world many years before Kei. As it turns out, Olsen is the other Tokuiten, and that they together are the key to ending the dimensional effect.
Kei finds himself without a ride early on, as he attempts to fly his fighter through the dimensional effect and gets it trashed. The Emaan realize that Kei is a damn good pilot, so Leegh rebuilds the shattered remains of Kei's fighter into a unique mecha. Jaby names the mecha Orguss, after his peoples' god of war. With the Orguss, Kei is able to fend off attack after attack by the Terram, who continue to follow the Glomar in their attempt to capture Kei. It is in one of these battles that Olsen spots Kei, and sneaks up later to talk to him. Kei learns of the Terrams' plans and, to his dismay, that one of the most dedicated Terram pilots after him is none other than his own daughter, Athena!
Along the way, Kei buys a child-like android named Mome, who develops quite an attachment to him as she washes his clothes, gives him massages and generally pampers him. After one battle Mome finds, and pesters Leegh into repairing and reprogramming, a Mu named Tai. Once reprogrammed, Tai becomes a staunch ally and friend, and eventually sacrifices himself to save the others.
Kei also picks up enemies quickly. A Terram captain Robert and his subordinate Henry are in constant pursuit of Kei, harrassing him battle after battle. Robert becomes obsessed with capturing Kei and finally dies in that pursuit, oddly enough not at Kei's hands, but Mome's. Henry snaps after Robert's death and vows to kill Kei, defying orders he goes rogue and continues his crusade to eliminate Kei. Henry meets his final end in battle with Athena, as he finally gets to see who is the better pilot.
Kei also finds himself growing closer and closer to Mimsy, despite their initially rocky start. After Sray dies defending the Glomar, the two fall completely in love. Just before the final run on the Orbital Elevator (see below), everyone realizes that Mimsy is pregnant, much to Kei's delight.
Kei also eventually reconciles with his daughter Athena, who initially disliked Kei immensely. She goes along with Kei and Olsen to protect them on the assault and ascent of the Orbital Elevator. We also find out that while Olsen and Athena have a kind of uncle/niece relationship, they both care about each other much more than they let on, although Athena has always had a bit of a crush on Olsen.
Things come to a head when the Mu begin making serious advances into both Emaan and Terram territory, and the two former enemies decide to join forces against the common foe. Emaan and Terram scientists, with no small help from Leegh, figure out that Kei and Olsen have to ascend past the dimensional effect to it's center, which is above the Earth. The only way to get past the effect safely is to make the ascent in a special capsule in only one location - the Orbital Elevator, which is now deep inside Mu territory. The combined Emaan and Terram forces fight their way to the Orbital Elevator and get Kei and Olsen up and through the barrier. Mome "dies" before they get there. She gets shot down by Mu and finds Mimsy, who blacked out and crashed her mecha while coordinating the battle from above. With Mimsy unconscious, the mecha disabled and Mu advancing, Mome plugs the mecha's beam gun into her own power supply to fire on and destroy the Mu. Kei finds them shortly after, but Mome's power supply can't be recharged and she "dies". A grief-stricken Kei, now realizing how much she meant to him, takes her body along and releases her into space outside the dimensional effect. Tai is destroyed while covering Kei and Olsen's ascent up the elevator. They arrive up into the heart of the dimensional effect to discover the Time/Space bomb still running, with their younger selves trapped along with it! Kei and Olsen realize that the only way to end it is to eliminate their counterparts, and all four draw their guns and fire.
The ending of Orguss has been argued quite a bit. The ending scenes are a montage showing all kinds of different scenarios, Kei with Tina, Kei with Mimsy, Olsen with Athena... Basically all realities were restored, so that any and all outcomes were possible - at least that's the best explanation.
| Human/Terram | Emaan | Others |
|---|---|---|
| Kei Katsuragi | Shaya | Jaby |
| Olsen | Mimsy | Mome |
| Athena | Maaie | Tai |
| Robert | Lieea | |
| Henry | Sray | |
| Leegh | ||
| Govu | ||
| Poputei |
The Orguss world is a land of beauty, wonder and confusing impossibilities. The world is a mixed-up jigsaw puzzle of different realities run together. You may go from a blazing desert directly into a freezing arctic wasteland in a few steps. Different areas phase in and out almost constantly and you never know when the middle of a field might suddenly become occupied by a mountain or a section of ocean! The three largest and most stable sections (stable being a VERY relative term) are the Emaan territory, the Terram territory and the Mu territory. In between and all around are countless little sections of other realities, from rugged hills inhabited by stone age barbarians, to lofty castles overlooking medieval villages, to the skyscraper-strewn landscape of a modern city. Anything is possible in the Orguss world. Ironically, the Orbital Elevator is also here, though deep inside Mu territory.
The dimensional barrier looms over all of this, hanging a mere 500-1000 feet above ground. Any attempt to breach the dimensional barrier is doomed to failure. The barrier shorts out electronics and burns up any machine entering it - this is how Kei very nearly met his end early on. The low ceiling not only restricts flight, but also makes surpassing many mountain ranges difficult, if not impossible. The barrier also causes the reality shifts which occur frequently, but are thankfully localized (usually only a few mile area). At least in one instance, the barrier has acted as a giant magnifying glass, focusing the sun's light into a deadly heat beam which burned an entire city and its inhabitants. The barrier generally makes life hard on everyone, not to mention unpredictable.
Another unfortunate effect of the barrier is that it creates a Greenhouse Effect, slowly raising the temperature of the Earth. The barrier would eventually render the Earth uninhabitable. One further problem is the garbage still floating in orbit around the Earth, outside the barrier. The Emaan and Terram discover that a huge asteroid called the "space island" is on a collision course with barrier and could cause horrible space/time distortions when it hits. This further strengthens their alliance and common goal to restore all dimensions to their proper places.
