Half a century after first contact with aliens, Neo-Tokyo has become a place where humans can freely enjoy space travel. Robby is a man in his 30s who is not bad looking but has a weakness for beautiful women and good money. Currently, he is heavily in debt to loan shark Yang. When Hatchi, a part-time worker, shows up to collect the money, Robby tries to escape from Yang and the others on an old spaceship which he turned into his apartment. Having somehow managed to shake off Yang and his people, Robby comes up with the idea of going on a space trip to Isekandar to get rid of his bad luck, but it turns out Hatchi is still on the spaceship...
Robby chases a mugger, trying to recover his stolen bag. Without it, he won’t be able to pursue his one wish: not to have to do anything at all. Luck is not in his favour, however, as he is almost hit by several cars when crossing the street, has to find his way through a construction site, and finally is trampled over by an alien school trip. As Robby curses his bad luck, Hatchi comes over with the stolen bag he recovered from the robber he caught and tied up. To thank him for this, Robby offers to treat him to some food.
At a food stall, he asks the owner for the usual order but for two. His payment through a smartbracelet doesn’t come through, so he has to pay by cash, earning him a comment from the stall owner. This is waved off as Robby says he soon won’t have to do anything anymore, then recalls his past misfortune and various events which landed him in his current situation.
The recollection is interrupted by the order being served. Robby takes the food to a table and praises the fries, calling them the best in the world. Hatchi is not impressed; he mentions the caloric intake in fries and the fact that acrylamide is accumulated during longer cooking and instead opts for a salad.
Robby, on his way to sign a contract that will (allegedly) make him rich.
The two bicker for a while, with Robby laughing at the way Hatchi eats, but then he protests against being called “mister”. This leads to the first proper introduction between the characters: Robby says his name with ease, while Hatchi at first says he’s no one important enough but eventually introduces himself as well. He says his wish is not to be bored, so he searches for interesting things. Everything is predictable to him and nothing can surprise him. Robby says that nothing will ever surprise him unless he goes off rails every now and then, but then goes away to finalise his deal to finally never have to work again, leaving behind a very surprised Hatchi.
After signing the contract, Robby goes to celebrate in a club where he plays the saxophone on stage and then joins two women who mention to him they would like to go to Isekandar. Robby waves it off, saying he doesn’t believe in such things. Meanwhile Hatchi, alone in the streets, receives a call that informs him about a job he will have to do and is sent information about it.
Robby convinced the two women from the club to go back with him to his “top-floor penthouse”/”high-rise condo with a nice night view”, but they see the state of the entrance, decide it’s too rundown for them and leave, clearly dissatisfied. Robby walks back home alone and collapses on the sofa. He is greeted by Ikku, who says the man reeks of alcohol and leaves.
In the morning, he is woken up by ringing at his door – it turns out the one who came is Hatchi and he demands a settlement of the debt Robby has with Yang. Hatchi, using his skills, easily overpowers Robby and leads him inside, continuing his demand for the debt to be repaid. Robby protests that he cannot return the money now, but his new investment is happening as he speaks so he soon will be able to. Just then, he receives a call and is informed a tanker ship collided with the shrimp hatchery he bought the previous day and wiped them all out. Hatchi comments it obviously had to be a scam and Ikku recalls all the past flopped investments: wagyu beef ranch, nata de coco plant, gambling scheme and click-fraud malware.
Allo and Gras, with Yang in the background, waiting to see if Hatchi can collect the debt.
Hatchi threatens to take Robby back to Yang and turns down all offers of being bought more food if he doesn’t do that. Meanwhile, just outside, Yang himself is waiting in his car and eating candy, accompanied by Allo and Gras.
The discussion between Robby and Hatchi turns into a wild chase around the apartment which ends with Robby successfully trapping Hatchi in the airlock. Just as the hatch closes, the doorbell rings again – it’s Yang with his crew in person. Too scared to open, Robby decides to leave the premise, revealing his apartment is actually a camouflaged spaceship called Nagaya Voyager. It has been inactive for over a decade, but manages to power up and lift off just before Allo, following Yang’s instructions, can fire at the entrance door to blow it open.
Yang waiting for Allo to blow up the door to Robby’s apartment.
Ikku points out that even though they lifted off, there is no way Galactic Immigration will let them leave without a reason, so Robby comes up with the idea that he will visit Isekandar to change his luck. Hatchi, who was still trapped at the ship when it took off, enters the cockpit at this and expresses his interest in going too, despite Robby immediately telling him to leave.
Before the argument can be concluded, they realise Yang is following them in his own ship and caught Nagaya Voyager with tractor beam. Due to the pulling the duo is thrown against the wall. Hatchi is having fun, stating he cannot predict what will happen next, but becomes more serious when he’s told being caught means not going to Isekandar.
Pushing a button on the wall opens the door and reveals two small spacecrafts that Robby didn’t even know were there. They both board a chaser each and fly out, intending to cut off the tractor beam. As Yang’s ship starts to shoot at them, the consoles in both ships light up. Pressing the lit section causes music to suddenly play from the speakers while the spacecrafts automatically combine and transform into a robot called Hizakuriger.
In some online spaces, the episodes are available with no addition, in others: with a short animation at the beginning indicating that Funimation was the show’s original licensor. The animation lasts for 7 seconds and ends with a purple screen with “Funimation” written on it.
For checking the timestamps for used music tracks, please select the tab that reflects the presence or lack of this short intro animation.
[00:00] Beautiful (opening section)
[00:28] Slapstick (chase scene)
[01:15] Hatchi (Hatchi appears)
[01:43] Isekandar (Isekandar ad)
[01:54] Jazzy (Space Potato and Robby’s flashback)
[04:05] Conversation (talking over food, about food)
[05:39] Up tempo (talking about money in Robby’s bag)
[06:57] Melancholy (talking about how Hatch is bored)
[08:24] Emotion (talking about not living a predictable life)
[08:58] Jazzy (Robby playing in a club)
[09:17] Beautiful (Isekandar ad plays on the TV)
[10:55] Hatchi (Hatchi arrives to collect debt)
[11:38] Isekandar (eyecatch, Isekandar ad plays)
[11:53] Unrest (Hatchi catches Robby)
[12:58] JPS-19 (Ikku comes to scold Robby)
[13:58] Yang (Yang’s Finance introduction)
[14:12] Hard fight (chase around the apartment)
[14:31] Suspense (Yang’s Finance rings the bell)
[14:56] Reverse play (Robby runs into the cockpit)
[15:27] Yang (Allo about to blow up the door)
[15:49] Take off (Nagaya Voyager takes off)
[16:16] Robby (flying off the Earth)
[17:15] Hatchi (Hatchi enters the cockpit)
[17:28] Main theme (Hatchi announces he wants to go to Isekandar)
Opening narrator:[About Isekandar] It is said that, if you go there, any dream can come true.
Robby: If you could have a once-in-a-lifetime dream come true, what would you do? If I was ever asked that, here’s how I would respond: “I wouldn’t do anything.”
Robby: […] you have to stop calling me “mister”!
Hatchi: Then what should I call you? Robby: I’m Robby Yarge. And you are? Hatchi: No one important enough to tell you who I am. Robby: Whoa, and there he is! You always wanted to say “no one important”, when really, you’re just itching to tell me your name. And then afterward, I beg you, “Please, just tell me your name,” and you end up having no choice but to answer, right? Well I hate to do this, but I’m not going to ask again. Hatchi: Hatchi Kita. Robby: Huh? Hatchi: That’s my name.
Robby: Whoa, you told me who you are!
Hatchi: […] all I want is not to be bored.
Robby: Huh? Hatchi: I’m searching for things that are interesting. Robby: Huh? Searching for interesting things? “Hey, look up in the sky at that cloud! Oh, it changed shape! Wow, how interesting!” “Look, down at your feet. There are ants walking in a line. Wow, how interesting.” Like that? You’re killing me, here.
Hatchi: No, not like that. To me, the world is one of pre-established harmony and all too predictable. Everything can be seen one, two, three steps ahead—even hundreds of years into the future, and holds no interest at all. Analysing a genome, which ordinarily would take years’ worth of time, and even predicting the weather can now be instantly accomplished with a quantum computer. Nothing unpredictable ever occurs anymore. Nothing ever happens in this world that can surprise me.
Robby: You know, it’s because you live your life on arrow-straight rails that it’s so linear and uninteresting, isn’t it? If you don’t get off the beaten path and run into stuff nothing unpredictable will ever happen.
Robby: Get real, idiot. Go away, right now.
Hatchi: How am I supposed to go away under these circumstances? Robby: Don’t talk back to me! Your name is Hatchi, right? Okay, Hatchi, you can go out through the hatch! Ikku, open the hatch. Hatchi: I just came in through that hatch, actually.
This episode uses the OP song at the end with displayed credits instead of the ED song. The first lines spoken by Robby in the opening (“Space – the final tourist spot. There, we’ll no doubt find epicurean feats to stagger the imagination and entirely new activities waiting for us!”) resemble a phrase used in the title sequence of Star Trek: “Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its five-year mission: to explore strange new worlds; to seek out new life and new civilizations; to boldly go where no man has gone before!”
The Isekandar ad which ends with “I know. Let’s go to Isekandar” parodies ads for Kyoto which have been airing for a while. These end with “I know. Let’s go to Kyoto”. While in Hizakurige Yaji and Kita also took a turn off the Tōkaidō (which is represented by the Galaxy Highway in the subsequent episodes), originally it connected Tokyo with Kyoto.
Hatchi: Not to mention that when a potato is heated to high temperatures, it forms a great deal of acrylamide. Small amounts are one thing, but too much of it-- (Hatchi is cut off)
Research states acrylamide is a harmful chemical compound. Frying causes the highest acrylamide formation in potatoes.
Ikku: You think that Galactic Immigration is just going to let you through while you leave the Earth system without a reason?
