Epilogue-NEW BEGININGS
The counseling sessions at ISO, dreaded and resented by the team at first, were finally serving the purpose of helping the Gatchaman team to heal from the loss of Joe. Ken, Jun, Jinpei and Ryu were all responding to the therapy in positive and progressive ways, venting and unburdening themselves to the objective, trained therapists and then coming together to share with each other. The team was bonding once more as each individual was coming to terms with the grief from loss as well as other issues that had come to surface during the sessions. Although Ryu's issues were mostly centered on a slight lack of self-esteem, he for the most part had what the counselors considered the best adjusted psyche. His sessions stopped after only three weeks when it was determined that he was grieving normally. Jinpei was next, even though he was counseled on getting a better hold on his emotions. His age however was taken into consideration and the counselors all agreed that as he reached maturity, he would handle circumstances in a less temperamental fashion. Ken and Jun were a different story as their counselors began to compare notes on the emotional upheaval present in them both due to Joe's loss and their own latent but newly surfacing passion for each other. Both counselors had unearthed enough psychological fodder in the Eagle and the Swan to keep the sessions for both going on with joint sessions on occasion. This rankled Ken for with each session he began to feel more exposed and he began to resent the sessions with Shou especially. Jun found her own sessions disconcerting too as her counselor, Mari who had tried to put a Freudian spin on the sessions and became more and more intrusive. Thoroughly annoyed, Ken and Jun went to Nambu for his help in halting the sessions, deciding that enough was enough. Nambu listened and agreed with his foster son and daughter and had the sessions ended. Both Ken and Jun heaved a collective sigh of relief but made the private decision to continue writing in their journals. And as they spent more time together, either at his shack or the Snack, they continued to lower old barriers, share thoughts and dreams, and allowed each other to help the other heal.
Jun and Jinpei were once more devoted to each other as brother and sister. Remembering with regret the way he had shamed his sister before and keeping uppermost in his mind Joe's last words to him, Jinpei treated Jun with care and consideration, even when he became annoyed with her. He appeared by all intents and purposes to be turning over a new leaf. Jun was surprised then pleased by her little brother's efforts to be agreeable and rewarded his efforts with her own actions of showing her care by really listening to him when he asked to talk seriously and not scolding him as much when he got on her nerves. He even began to teach Jun some basic kitchen skills and fundamentals about cooking. She didn't enjoy it any more than she had previously but she was determined to learn enough to be able to go over to Ken's and cook for him. Coming over daily, Ryu and Ken watched the two with approval as the harmonious atmosphere was felt as soon as they entered the J.
After a month and a half, Jun had decided that it was time to reopen the Snack J. Her resources had been dwindling and the need for income was getting serious. So she had flyers made up and distributed at the local university campuses in time for the fall semester and the Snack again was the favored hangout for the college crowds. And they came and crowded the place daily from the late afternoon hours until the early AM. With the large crowds she was garnering, Jun had soon made up enough in revenue to eventually hire a house band that she could play guitar with.
When not working on his air delivery business, Ken frequented the Snack even more than he used to, especially with the varied and sometimes jaded clientele that the club was attracting. Both he and Ryu acted as impromptu bouncers when the rowdies would begin their alcohol-soaked battles on the dance floor or occasional overly rambunctious college underclassmen would imbibe too much. Although he knew Jun was more than able to fend for herself, Ken also would move quickly to douse the numerous overly amorous advances made toward her as she served, making it clear to the offending parties that she was spoken for. He spent his evenings sitting at the bar conversing with Ryu and Jinpei, all while keeping a vigilant eye on the petite form in white pinstriped jeans and making sure that he was available should she need him. Ryu and Jinpei watched their commander surreptitiously in amusement as he forcibly made sure the Swan remained unmolested among the nightly throng. They both were glad that he didn't have his boomerang anymore because he would have probably decapitated a few of the wannabe suitors if he had.
They all had faced the inevitable, turning in the bracelets that transformed them into the birdstyle clad Kagaku Ninjatai. That was an emotional time, for it truly had signified the end of an era for them, and each member said good-bye to the God Phoenix, remembering the many, many forays she had gotten them through and then back home again. This was hardest on Ryu, who looked upon the Phoenix as his very own like any captain of a great battleship being retired. However, because the ability to transform was initiated by the bracelets, the individual vehicles could be retained for each person's private use. As far as the Condor machine was concerned, it was retired with the God Phoenix for its owner was gone and it remained nested in the nose of the huge airship, headed for mothballs. This was also a sorrowful endeavor for the team for it was another indication that their comrade was truly gone.
Joe's trailer was also relegated to storage, for it remained unoccupied and the trailer park had asked that it be removed in order to rent the space to someone else. Ken decided to take on the task, with Jun's assistance and together they packed Joe's meager personal effects in boxes, cleaned what food he had out of his nearly empty refrigerator and cabinets, and then had the trailer moved to a remote area off of Ken's private airstrip. It took a short amount of time to accomplish the task, for the Condor had led a spartan existence and lived with bare boned simplicity. Although they had packed everything, neither Ken nor Jun could bring themselves to make a move to take the things to a charitable agency or throw them away.
The final move forward was to hold a formal memorial service in Joe's honor which all four remaining Gatchaman team members reluctantly but conclusively agreed to. Nambu had finally convinced the team to perform this last bit of closure by sharing with them operative reports from Cross Karakorum and the surrounding area that in spite of the painstaking searches, there was no sign of Joe Asakura's body. For all intents and purposes, he had disappeared, possibly when the Galactor base exploded. The team read the reports and persuaded that Nambu and ISO had done everything humanly possible to try to locate the Condor, all came to the realization that Joe, indeed was dead. So Ken, Ryu, Jun, and Jinpei warily agreed to the memorial service. It was to be held on the official burial ground that overlooked the ocean reserved for ISO dignitaries and war heroes. Ken took note of the irony that a monument was erected for Joe not far from the one that had been set up for Kentaro Washio, Captain of Red Impulse, his father. Well at least I won't have to go to far to visit Joe when I come here to see my father he sullenly mused.
The day of the service was partly cloudy and breezy, with the sun peeking out from behind large cumulous clouds in short intervals. It was a small group gathered there which had consisted of Nambu, President Anderson, a few staff and the Kagaku Ninjatai. They stood at silent sentinel, Ken, Ryu, Jinpei clad in dark suits and ties and Jun in a sedate black dress as a Catholic priest said a brief liturgy, for Joe had been baptized in the Catholic Church by his parents, Giuseppe and Caterina. Afterward, each person was invited to place flowers before the simply etched stone and spend a moment to bid farewell. The team waited until the others had paid their respects and then it was their turn.
Ryu stepped up to the headstone and placed a few flowers on the ground before it. The big man wiped at his eyes as he spoke.
"Well, Joe I guess this is it. You went down fighting like I knew you would. But I still hate the fact that you tried to take 'em down single-handedly. We were a team, man and you should've realized that. But you never thought clearly when it came to Galactor, you wanted your revenge. Well, you got it now." Ryu sniffled as he turned away from the stone, not wanting the others to see his distress.
Jinpei was next. He broke away from Jun, who had her arm protectively around his shoulders and knelt before the monument.
"Joe-aniki," the boy sobbed. "I-I wish you were still here. Even to pick on me, I miss you so much!" He broke down in absolute sorrow, unable to go on. Ryu took him gently by the shoulder to step back and guided him away down the hill.
Of the small gathering, Jun and Ken remained. Jun stepped forward carrying a single pink rose. She laid it gently on the ground before the granite stone and knelt in front, brushing her hand across the etched letters of his name.
"Joji," she began, using the endearing inflection of his name. "What can I say? You're gone but I still see and hear you as if you're still with us. You will always be with us, Joji, in our minds, and definitely in our hearts. I'll miss you and the way you always made sense out of things for me. You truly were my brother and I'll love you forever." Jun's voice broke as she too shed the tears that had gathered in her eyes since the ride over.
Gentle yet firm hands held and squeezed her shoulders as Ken joined her, kneeling beside her. Jun wordlessly arose and stepped back as she allowed the Eagle his time to bid farewell to his second.
Ken took a deep, grief-filled breath. His eyes stared grimly ahead as he tried to find words, words to express his feelings as he just spoke his heart.
"Joe. So it finally came down to this, huh? Somehow, I kind of always knew it would. From the day you came to live with me at hakase's I figured that you'd find some way to try to strike out alone. You always were focused, relentless, driven in your quest for revenge. Even sick as you were, you wouldn't stop, not till you could get your licks in. Too bad it took you sacrificing your life to do it." He wiped at his moist eyes and went on. "I'm gonna miss having you by my side fighting Galactor and fighting me, you kept me honest. "You're my best friend, Joe even when I wanted to knock your block off when you'd disobey orders." Ken sighed as he rambled on. "Forgive me for leaving you on that cold, foggy yard, Joe. I didn't want to but you of all people could understand that I had to. You were the one who pointed out to me when I wasn't being a good leader that I had a job to do and I needed to put feelings aside. You told me to do that when I lost it and when I tried to help you, you beat the crap out of me. We always had that kind of relationship though didn't we, either best friends or bitter adversaries. I'll never forget that or you. Good-bye my friend."
Ken got slowly to his feet and turned toward the ocean waves below the graveyard. The brisk sea breeze blew his long mahogany mane forward in his face, veiling it and hiding the hot tears that ran in rivulets from the corners of his tightly closed eyes. His mind teemed with memories of Joe, his brother and best friend until he felt the delicate touch of small, caring hands, soft as a swan's feather on his back.
"Juni," he murmured, knowing it was she without having to turn to see for himself.
Jun gently grasped Ken's arms to turn him around. As she cupped his face in her hands to gaze at him, he found himself drawn into the comfort that was waiting there, buried within the forest pool depths of her eyes. The Eagle wrapped his arms around the Swan and they lost themselves in each other as they mourned together for their brother, the Condor.
END
Final note: I wrote the Ken/Jun connection as I saw it-I know that most believe in Gatchaman I that Ken's feelings for Jun were non-existent or at the very least, deeply buried but I saw differently by nature of body language, subtle facial expressions and especially eye contact that took place between them fairly often. And his behavior and reactions during episodes 39 & 40 (before he slapped her) pretty much displayed (to me at least) that he was suffering from more than just guilt, he was devastated. He really loved her. There was one other time he screamed in agony like he did at the end of episode 39 and that was at the end of episode 53 when his father died. And her feelings for him were always present. So that's how I based my story.
The counseling sessions at ISO, dreaded and resented by the team at first, were finally serving the purpose of helping the Gatchaman team to heal from the loss of Joe. Ken, Jun, Jinpei and Ryu were all responding to the therapy in positive and progressive ways, venting and unburdening themselves to the objective, trained therapists and then coming together to share with each other. The team was bonding once more as each individual was coming to terms with the grief from loss as well as other issues that had come to surface during the sessions. Although Ryu's issues were mostly centered on a slight lack of self-esteem, he for the most part had what the counselors considered the best adjusted psyche. His sessions stopped after only three weeks when it was determined that he was grieving normally. Jinpei was next, even though he was counseled on getting a better hold on his emotions. His age however was taken into consideration and the counselors all agreed that as he reached maturity, he would handle circumstances in a less temperamental fashion. Ken and Jun were a different story as their counselors began to compare notes on the emotional upheaval present in them both due to Joe's loss and their own latent but newly surfacing passion for each other. Both counselors had unearthed enough psychological fodder in the Eagle and the Swan to keep the sessions for both going on with joint sessions on occasion. This rankled Ken for with each session he began to feel more exposed and he began to resent the sessions with Shou especially. Jun found her own sessions disconcerting too as her counselor, Mari who had tried to put a Freudian spin on the sessions and became more and more intrusive. Thoroughly annoyed, Ken and Jun went to Nambu for his help in halting the sessions, deciding that enough was enough. Nambu listened and agreed with his foster son and daughter and had the sessions ended. Both Ken and Jun heaved a collective sigh of relief but made the private decision to continue writing in their journals. And as they spent more time together, either at his shack or the Snack, they continued to lower old barriers, share thoughts and dreams, and allowed each other to help the other heal.
Jun and Jinpei were once more devoted to each other as brother and sister. Remembering with regret the way he had shamed his sister before and keeping uppermost in his mind Joe's last words to him, Jinpei treated Jun with care and consideration, even when he became annoyed with her. He appeared by all intents and purposes to be turning over a new leaf. Jun was surprised then pleased by her little brother's efforts to be agreeable and rewarded his efforts with her own actions of showing her care by really listening to him when he asked to talk seriously and not scolding him as much when he got on her nerves. He even began to teach Jun some basic kitchen skills and fundamentals about cooking. She didn't enjoy it any more than she had previously but she was determined to learn enough to be able to go over to Ken's and cook for him. Coming over daily, Ryu and Ken watched the two with approval as the harmonious atmosphere was felt as soon as they entered the J.
After a month and a half, Jun had decided that it was time to reopen the Snack J. Her resources had been dwindling and the need for income was getting serious. So she had flyers made up and distributed at the local university campuses in time for the fall semester and the Snack again was the favored hangout for the college crowds. And they came and crowded the place daily from the late afternoon hours until the early AM. With the large crowds she was garnering, Jun had soon made up enough in revenue to eventually hire a house band that she could play guitar with.
When not working on his air delivery business, Ken frequented the Snack even more than he used to, especially with the varied and sometimes jaded clientele that the club was attracting. Both he and Ryu acted as impromptu bouncers when the rowdies would begin their alcohol-soaked battles on the dance floor or occasional overly rambunctious college underclassmen would imbibe too much. Although he knew Jun was more than able to fend for herself, Ken also would move quickly to douse the numerous overly amorous advances made toward her as she served, making it clear to the offending parties that she was spoken for. He spent his evenings sitting at the bar conversing with Ryu and Jinpei, all while keeping a vigilant eye on the petite form in white pinstriped jeans and making sure that he was available should she need him. Ryu and Jinpei watched their commander surreptitiously in amusement as he forcibly made sure the Swan remained unmolested among the nightly throng. They both were glad that he didn't have his boomerang anymore because he would have probably decapitated a few of the wannabe suitors if he had.
They all had faced the inevitable, turning in the bracelets that transformed them into the birdstyle clad Kagaku Ninjatai. That was an emotional time, for it truly had signified the end of an era for them, and each member said good-bye to the God Phoenix, remembering the many, many forays she had gotten them through and then back home again. This was hardest on Ryu, who looked upon the Phoenix as his very own like any captain of a great battleship being retired. However, because the ability to transform was initiated by the bracelets, the individual vehicles could be retained for each person's private use. As far as the Condor machine was concerned, it was retired with the God Phoenix for its owner was gone and it remained nested in the nose of the huge airship, headed for mothballs. This was also a sorrowful endeavor for the team for it was another indication that their comrade was truly gone.
Joe's trailer was also relegated to storage, for it remained unoccupied and the trailer park had asked that it be removed in order to rent the space to someone else. Ken decided to take on the task, with Jun's assistance and together they packed Joe's meager personal effects in boxes, cleaned what food he had out of his nearly empty refrigerator and cabinets, and then had the trailer moved to a remote area off of Ken's private airstrip. It took a short amount of time to accomplish the task, for the Condor had led a spartan existence and lived with bare boned simplicity. Although they had packed everything, neither Ken nor Jun could bring themselves to make a move to take the things to a charitable agency or throw them away.
The final move forward was to hold a formal memorial service in Joe's honor which all four remaining Gatchaman team members reluctantly but conclusively agreed to. Nambu had finally convinced the team to perform this last bit of closure by sharing with them operative reports from Cross Karakorum and the surrounding area that in spite of the painstaking searches, there was no sign of Joe Asakura's body. For all intents and purposes, he had disappeared, possibly when the Galactor base exploded. The team read the reports and persuaded that Nambu and ISO had done everything humanly possible to try to locate the Condor, all came to the realization that Joe, indeed was dead. So Ken, Ryu, Jun, and Jinpei warily agreed to the memorial service. It was to be held on the official burial ground that overlooked the ocean reserved for ISO dignitaries and war heroes. Ken took note of the irony that a monument was erected for Joe not far from the one that had been set up for Kentaro Washio, Captain of Red Impulse, his father. Well at least I won't have to go to far to visit Joe when I come here to see my father he sullenly mused.
The day of the service was partly cloudy and breezy, with the sun peeking out from behind large cumulous clouds in short intervals. It was a small group gathered there which had consisted of Nambu, President Anderson, a few staff and the Kagaku Ninjatai. They stood at silent sentinel, Ken, Ryu, Jinpei clad in dark suits and ties and Jun in a sedate black dress as a Catholic priest said a brief liturgy, for Joe had been baptized in the Catholic Church by his parents, Giuseppe and Caterina. Afterward, each person was invited to place flowers before the simply etched stone and spend a moment to bid farewell. The team waited until the others had paid their respects and then it was their turn.
Ryu stepped up to the headstone and placed a few flowers on the ground before it. The big man wiped at his eyes as he spoke.
"Well, Joe I guess this is it. You went down fighting like I knew you would. But I still hate the fact that you tried to take 'em down single-handedly. We were a team, man and you should've realized that. But you never thought clearly when it came to Galactor, you wanted your revenge. Well, you got it now." Ryu sniffled as he turned away from the stone, not wanting the others to see his distress.
Jinpei was next. He broke away from Jun, who had her arm protectively around his shoulders and knelt before the monument.
"Joe-aniki," the boy sobbed. "I-I wish you were still here. Even to pick on me, I miss you so much!" He broke down in absolute sorrow, unable to go on. Ryu took him gently by the shoulder to step back and guided him away down the hill.
Of the small gathering, Jun and Ken remained. Jun stepped forward carrying a single pink rose. She laid it gently on the ground before the granite stone and knelt in front, brushing her hand across the etched letters of his name.
"Joji," she began, using the endearing inflection of his name. "What can I say? You're gone but I still see and hear you as if you're still with us. You will always be with us, Joji, in our minds, and definitely in our hearts. I'll miss you and the way you always made sense out of things for me. You truly were my brother and I'll love you forever." Jun's voice broke as she too shed the tears that had gathered in her eyes since the ride over.
Gentle yet firm hands held and squeezed her shoulders as Ken joined her, kneeling beside her. Jun wordlessly arose and stepped back as she allowed the Eagle his time to bid farewell to his second.
Ken took a deep, grief-filled breath. His eyes stared grimly ahead as he tried to find words, words to express his feelings as he just spoke his heart.
"Joe. So it finally came down to this, huh? Somehow, I kind of always knew it would. From the day you came to live with me at hakase's I figured that you'd find some way to try to strike out alone. You always were focused, relentless, driven in your quest for revenge. Even sick as you were, you wouldn't stop, not till you could get your licks in. Too bad it took you sacrificing your life to do it." He wiped at his moist eyes and went on. "I'm gonna miss having you by my side fighting Galactor and fighting me, you kept me honest. "You're my best friend, Joe even when I wanted to knock your block off when you'd disobey orders." Ken sighed as he rambled on. "Forgive me for leaving you on that cold, foggy yard, Joe. I didn't want to but you of all people could understand that I had to. You were the one who pointed out to me when I wasn't being a good leader that I had a job to do and I needed to put feelings aside. You told me to do that when I lost it and when I tried to help you, you beat the crap out of me. We always had that kind of relationship though didn't we, either best friends or bitter adversaries. I'll never forget that or you. Good-bye my friend."
Ken got slowly to his feet and turned toward the ocean waves below the graveyard. The brisk sea breeze blew his long mahogany mane forward in his face, veiling it and hiding the hot tears that ran in rivulets from the corners of his tightly closed eyes. His mind teemed with memories of Joe, his brother and best friend until he felt the delicate touch of small, caring hands, soft as a swan's feather on his back.
"Juni," he murmured, knowing it was she without having to turn to see for himself.
Jun gently grasped Ken's arms to turn him around. As she cupped his face in her hands to gaze at him, he found himself drawn into the comfort that was waiting there, buried within the forest pool depths of her eyes. The Eagle wrapped his arms around the Swan and they lost themselves in each other as they mourned together for their brother, the Condor.
END
Final note: I wrote the Ken/Jun connection as I saw it-I know that most believe in Gatchaman I that Ken's feelings for Jun were non-existent or at the very least, deeply buried but I saw differently by nature of body language, subtle facial expressions and especially eye contact that took place between them fairly often. And his behavior and reactions during episodes 39 & 40 (before he slapped her) pretty much displayed (to me at least) that he was suffering from more than just guilt, he was devastated. He really loved her. There was one other time he screamed in agony like he did at the end of episode 39 and that was at the end of episode 53 when his father died. And her feelings for him were always present. So that's how I based my story.
