Nagaya Voyager takes off from Odawarla. In order to go on the pilgrimage to Isekandar, Robby, Hatchi and Ikku have to pass through the Galaxy Highway Checkpoint No. 1 at planet Haccone.
The group lands on Haccone, looking forward to enjoying the open-air hot springs, but discovers they cannot pass the checkpoint without a travel permit! Robby and Hatchi, who don’t have their permits, decide to ask a man known as the “Don of Haccone” to issue these to them. But who is this Don, really...?!
The episode begins with a close-up on Yang, panting from effort until eventually he utters Robby’s name. It is only then revealed he was running in a marathon relay race on planet Tottuka[1] and finally managed to cross the finish line.
Yang complains that even though the three of them – him, Allo and Gras – managed to finish the race, they have not found Robby. In this moment, a large screen which was playing Isekandar commercial switches to Galaxy Business Satellite news and the anchor says an Odawarla oarfish was recently caught. The screen then presents a photo of Robby, Hatchi, Ikku and Gyo-Gyo with the oarfish. Yang says he will catch Robby just as Robby caught himself a fish.
Robby and Hatchi blaming each other for not checking the travel requirements beforehand.
Meanwhile, Robby, Hatchi and Ikku are intending to pass the Galaxy Highway Checkpoint No. 1 also known as the Haccone Gateway. The checkpoint is full of people. It turns out that additional fees have to be paid to continue the journey – these are so high almost all money remaining from the reward collected on Odawarla will be used up.
At the counter, a local kappa-looking clerk informs the travellers that as of April passport alone is not enough for travelling and an additional permit is required to proceed. Neither of the group knew this – Robby blames Hatchi for not checking it beforehand unlike all the restaurants, Hatchi retorts that Robby could check something himself for once.
Robby and Hatchi before going into a hot springs facility.
As they cannot travel any farther, the group decides to spend some time on Haccone and try to think of any solution. Robby mentions wanting to go to hot springs and Hatchi immediately checks the top 10 most popular spots. As it turns out, Haccone hot springs are the same as they are on Earth. Robby heads inside, excited for shared baths, but Hatchi stalls for a bit to talk to Ikku. As he says, travel permits can be only issued on one’s home planet. Going all the way back would be tedious, but also for him is impossible now – though he doesn’t say for what reason.
Ikku, after hearing the story about the Don of Haccone.
The hot springs don’t offer mixed baths – a fact that disappoints Robby, who says Haccone should learn from Edo culture. Hatchi overhears two aliens talking about how they obtained travel permits and asks them for how they accomplished it. Later the group discusses this discovery – Haccone has an underworld boss who goes by many names. He can issue travel permits which are considered to be even more important than those one can get at their home planet, but meeting him is a dangerous feat – some cannot recover from it, however, no one wants to provide any details about this.
Nevertheless, the group decides to go to the Don of Haccone to talk to him. His home is guarded by black egg gatekeepers. Just as they approach the door, it bursts wide open and some aliens flee, visibly terrified. They comment what they went through was a horror show that no one should have to experience, but then run away before giving any details. Hatchi, not deterred in the slightest, walks over to the guards and demands to see the boss, but Robby drags him away before anything else can happen.
A bit later, at a café, Hatchi keeps laughing that Robby and Ikku found black eggs menacing while Robby argues he saved them from having their souls sucked out. Ikku is tired with the situation. As they still have no idea what to do, they sit down to drink a local delicacy: peach hot spring coffee which is pink but tastes like regular coffee. Hatchi comments how according to reviews it’s supposed to go well with peach hot spring manju[3] buns – something he quickly verifies himself – and Robby once more complains Hatchi doesn’t check important things but focuses on food instead.
Ikku tries to urge them both to act as eventually they will run out of money for the tolls if they keep idling around Haccone. Robby suggests Ikku could go alone back to Earth to get their permits, since he, as a robot, cannot enjoy hot springs anyway, and then runs off to some tourist girls. Hatchi stays where he is, but comments he noticed the café owner has been eavesdropping on them.
After talking to the owner, Hatchi has some new information: the man’s daughter Kapako fell victim to the Don. Now she works at the ticker counter for cruises on the pirate ship of the Lake Udenoko.
Coincidentally, Robby is also there – the tourist girls didn’t want to go to the baths with him, instead opting for hot spring shaved ice made with natural Haccone ice and seeing the ship in question, so he followed them there. However, as soon as the girls see Hatchi, they start fawning over him, call him cute, ask to take pictures with him and drag him to go on a cruise – leaving a very frustrated Robby behind.
As he complains loudly that tourist girls have no appreciation to older men like him, Kapako, the cashier, comes over – she was wondering if Robby was from Earth, and after confirming this, she says all Earthlings love hot springs. She also mentions the person who got her the current job, aka the underworld boss, loves the Earth and talks about its hot springs a lot. Robby suggests continuing the talk about them in an actual hot spring – Kapako happily agrees and they walk off. Left behind, Ikku screams in anger that Hatchi is still on the pirate ship.
This hot spring doesn’t have mixed baths either, but Robby and Kapako talk through the wall that separates the two sections. This place was built by the Don himself, the same as Kappappa Hot Springs (which Robby and Hatchi had visited before) and basically all hot springs on the planet.
Robby and Hatchi in hot springs.
After a while, Kapako says she is leaving, so Robby gets up too, but then he sees Hatchi has just entered – he was exhausted after the cruise, but the tourist girls quite literally dragged him to the hot springs. Hearing about the girls, Robby decides to stay inside after all – he glues himself to the wall to listen to the other side, something Hatchi is very not amused with. However, as soon as he learns that Kapako could be on the other side, he jumps at the wall himself, knocking it down in progress – the two of them have to run away.
Eventually, they manage to find Kapako already outside of the hot springs. Hatchi approaches her and says that while he realises the memory must be very painful and that she was deeply hurt, he still needs to know how to deal with the underworld boss. She answers that the boss will very likely issue them travel permits, but the problem is that no one who meets him is left unaffected. He possesses the strongest power of love – the only possible defence is not to look at him.
With this new information, the group comes back to the Don’s home and once more asks to be let in. At first glance, there is no one inside, but soon they spot someone hidden behind a wall. The boss asks what can he do for his visitors and Hatchi bluntly asks for travel permits – the wall slides up to reveal the Don is a pink wombat. Despite previous warnings, Hatchi uncovers his eyes to look at him and, noticing this, Robby does too, afraid for what will happen to the other. All three of them then fall victim to the aforementioned power of love – including Ikku, who jokingly said before he has nothing to worry about as he cannot be damaged nor fractured mentally.
After the encounter both Robby and Hatchi are left wobbly and red-faced, but they have the necessary travel permits. When they present them at the customs, the clerk jumps away with shock. Just as this happens, a group passes next to another counter without presenting any permits, just saying they are going to Isekandar. It turns out the Space Tourism Administration issued a notice visitors to Isekandar don’t need travel permits, so there was never any problem to begin with. Soon, Nagaya Voyager is cleared to go and the group starts travelling down the hyperroad.
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.
[00:08] Allo & Gras (Yang finishes his relay run)
[00:32] Isekandar (Isekandar ad plays)
[00:47] Yang (photo of Robby, Hatchi, Ikku and Gyo-Gyo comes up on the news)
[02:34] Isekandar (opening section)
[02:44] Galaxy space (arriving at Haccone)
[03:00] Comedy (at Haccone checkpoint area)
[03:53] JPS-19 (arguing about not checking travel permits before)
[04:20] Visit (at Haccone street)
[04:46] Conversation (at Kappappa Hot Springs)
[05:57] Miserable (Hatchi overhears aliens talking about the Don of Haccone)
[06:31] Unrest (Hatchi telling Robby and Ikku about the Don)
[08:08] Suspense (in front of the Don’s place)
[05:52] Crisis (Hatchi talks to the guards)
[09:06] Laid back (at a café)
[10:49] Hatchi (Hatchi talks about the café owner)
[11:08] Heart (Hatchi talks to the café owner)
[11:27] Up tempo (Robby with tourist girls)
[12:00] Unrest (Hatchi tells Ikku what he learnt from the café owner)
[12:31] Jazzy (Robby arrives with the tourist girls to the lake)
[13:10] Conversation (Robby complains how the tourists left with Hatchi)
[13:41] Love (Kapako walks over to Robby)
[15:11] Melancholy (Hatchi got off the cruise but is dragged to hot springs)
[16:00] Funny (Robby hears the tourist girls in hot springs)
[16:47] Slapstick (Hatchi knocks down the wall at hot springs)
[17:27] Emotion (Hatchi questions Kapako about the Don of Haccone)
[18:34] Suspense (in front of the Don’s place again)
[19:11] 怖っ！/So scary!* (introducing the Don of Haccone)
[20:13] 癒しのラブシャワー/Healing Love Shower* (Don of Haccone revealed)
[20:47] Freedom (at Haccone checkpoint area again)
[21:08] Journey (presenting travel permits)
[21:47] Galaxy space (Nagaya Voyager cleared for travel)
Yang: For crying out loud, anywhere we go it’s “Isekandar”, “Isekandar”.
Robby: Damn it, I thought you were the type who checks things out ahead of time.
Hatchi: You could stand to look into things once in a while, yourself, Mr. Relies-on-others-for-everything. Robby: What?! So tell me, is food the only thing you research? You travel like a girl!
Hatchi: What’s wrong with the way girls travel?
Robby: *making noise by speaking into a fan*
Ikku: What are you, in grade school?! Robby: Shut up. You’re a robot, so stop being such a bossy pain in the ass, you piece of junk!
Ikku: I can’t help it! Just look at who my owner is!
Robby: He took all of my tourist girls away from me! I mean, why Hatchi and not me?!
Ikku: Tourist girls aren’t interested in older men. You take a lousy picture, too. Robby: They’re too young to understand the appeal of a grown-up.
Ikku: The greatest appeal of a grown-up is typically money. In that regard, you have zero appeal. In fact, make that negative.
Kapako: [about the Don of Haccone] He will probably be willing to give you transit permits.
Hatchi: Huh? Kapako: But I’ve never heard of anyone who has met him and remained unaffected. Hatchi: Is he really that dangerous?
Kapako: He is the person who has the most love in the whole universe. It’s just that the power of that love is extremely strong.
Planet Tottuka is named after Totsuka, which was also a station of the original Tōkaidō and now lies on the course of the Hakone Ekiden, a known marathon relay race. As the camera zooms in on the screen with Isekandar commercial playing, a statue can be seen on the right side. The statue is a real monument: Hakone Ekiden Monument, representing a runner.
Curiously, to understand why Yang even is on Tottuka, one has to listen to the second drama CD.
Planet Haccone is named after Hakone, also a station of the original Tōkaidō. It’s currently a spa town with many hot springs in the area.
Haccone Checkpoint reflects the actual Hakone Checkpoint of the Edo era. To pass it, one needed a travel permit – but obtaining a permit to travel to the Ise Shrine was relatively easy and allowed travelling on any chosen road, which is why at the end of the episode there is a group that passes with no permits just by saying they are going to Isekandar.
Unlike Robby, Hatchi and Ikku, in Hizakurige Yaji and Kita made sure to have their travel permits before starting their journey. As such, their adventures in Hakone are not described in detail. Moreover, Yaji and Kita paid a visit to Totsuka where they received food and sake for free, while Robby and Hatchi skipped Tottuka. However, Hatchi making the wall fall on Haccone could be a nod to Kita similarly falling through a sliding door in Akasaka after trying to eavesdrop on a newly-married couple (though in his case Yaji was also partially to be blamed).
Haccone local residents resemble kappas – humanoid demons from Japanese folklore.
Robby: Jeez, they don't have mixed bathing? You could learn a thing or two from Edo-era culture!
Mixed baths were considered the norm in the Edo period, but nowadays are rarely seen.
Haccone’s underworld boss goes under multiple pseudonyms: The Schindler of Haccone refers to Oskar Schindler who saved Jews by hiring them in his factories, the Godfather of Haccone refers to Don Vito Corleone, a fictional character in The Godfather novel and later films, who rules over a mafia empire, the Al Capone of Haccone refers to the gangster Al Capone and finally the Don Juan of Haccone refers to the fictional Don Juan who devotes his life to seducing women.
Hatchi: The travel permits he gives out are said to carry even more weight than the ones you get from your homeland. You get treated on a whole different level just by carrying one.
Ikku: What, like a black card? Or more like Mito Komon's lacquered case?
The black card refers to the American Express Centurion Card, known as the Black Card, issued to the wealthiest customers. Mito Komon’s lacquered case is a reference to a TV drama series with the same title which has been running since 1969. At the culmination of every episode one of Mito Komon’s attendants flashes his lacquered box which bears a crest on it. The evildoers, realising they are dealing with someone who holds incredible power, give up after seeing the crest.
The black egg guards reference Hakone’s local specialty food.
The types of local specialty foods – hot springs coffee, shaved ice and manju – can be actually encountered in Japan.
Lake Udenoko parodies Lake Ashinoko, where Hakone is actually located. Udenoko means “arm lake” while Ashinoko means “leg lake”. There are actual cruises on a pirate ship on Lake Ashinoko, too.
When Hatchi enters the hot springs after being dragged there by the tourists, a symbol can be seen on the door – it strongly resembles the symbol used to mark hot springs in Japan.
Opening: The hot springs planet Haccone – hardly a very sophisticated name (heh). Will they be able to clear the galactic checkpoint?
Ending: The local delicacy of Planet Hamama II is space eel. The Great Eel Festival is underway! Did you think ‘It’s the Day of the Ox, so why are they doing eels?’ You didn’t? In that case, excuse me. Ah, I’d like some broiled eel.
↑Tottuka is referred to as Tottska in Funimation subtitles, but listed as Tottuka in the fourth volume's booklet as well as some merchandise.
↑In drama track 3, Gras mentions a place that sells peach-coloured coffee, just like the one Hatchi drinks. It’s not explicitly confirmed whether it’s the same place, though.
