Lightning Trap: Leina and Laika
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 Welcome to the point where this whole thing has officially gone too far. | ||||||
| Lightning Trap: Leina and Laika "ライトニングトラップ レイナ＆ライカ"
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| Production company | Ashi Productions | |||||
| Release date | March 28, 1990 (VHS) April 25, 1990 (LD) | |||||
| Written by | Hideki Sonoda | |||||
| Directed by | Kiyoshi Murayama | |||||
Leina Haruka is on a school trip to Paris - unaware that her plane contains a new super-weapon, guarded by Laika Strange.
 This Machine Robo: Revenge of Cronos section |
Synopsis[edit | edit source]
The new BIBLE Block fighter technology is nearing completion and its' components are being moved from Japan to Paris for further testing onboard the Lightning L808 luxury jet. For security, intelligence agent Laika Strange of ICPO is placed onboard, posing as an air hostess. Also onboard are Leina Haruka and her class, on a school trip to Paris. Laika follows a suspicious man but is unable to stop an explosion at the telephone room – where Leina is making a call. The ship has been seized by the Blue May terrorist group, who lower the plane's bulkheads. They hold Laika and the other passengers at gun-point but Leina and a boy named Ryo have escaped their attentions. The co-pilot Tamura is killed by their leader Zarik, who then takes over the cockpit and forces pilot Kotani to fly towards the Communist Bloc, where he plans to sell the BIBLE system for $60m. Laika is able to shoot the two terrorists left watching the passengers in the lounge section – though gunfire further damages the plane, accelerating the loss of pressure onboard. Sealed in the lounge by the bulkheads, she is able to contact Leina, who is hiding in the cargo compartment with Ryo, and tasks her with through the vent system going to the secondary cockpit. Her progress is spotted by Zarik from the cockpit, and he sets out to investigate, creating a mech body with the BIBLE technology. Nami is furious Laika has placed her friend in danger; in response Laika sets out to help by climbing from section to section on the outside of the aircraft, arriving in time to save her from Zarik. Her weapons are useless against the BIBLE suit, however, and the pair hide. Laika theorises that dumping Zarik in the arctic sea would disable BIBLE and distracts him while Leina heads to jettison the cargo pod. Leina is caught by Zarik's lieutenant Luna until the insane terrorist uses BIBLE to kill her, while Ryu is able to use the controls to release the pod. Leina and Laika escape just in time; Laika wonders how she will explain dumping BIBLE to her bosses but is hailed as a hero by the pilot, while Leina is reunited with Nami and Ryo is reunited with his mother.
Featured characters[edit | edit source]
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| Humans |
|---|
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Quotes[edit | edit source]
"My thumb, Pot-pourri, Vanilla Cream."
- —Laika Strange gives Ryo a mantra to recite in order for the boy to overcome his airsickness. It is repeated a ridiculous number of times throughout the OVA.
Notes[edit | edit source]
- This is effectively a spin-off of a spin-off. Leina is presented entirely as Leina Haruka, Japanese schoolgirl, with absolutely no reference to the Wolf Sword or anything else – she has no combat experience (though does reference having dreams about fighting monsters) and is completely useless. Seriously, she does absolutely nothing to justify sharing the title with Laika, beyond being based on Leina Stol.
- Nami Kojima, Kyoko Yoshida and Sara Yamada are all seen with Leina onboard the jet, which seems to somehow set during the first OVA, despite the timescale of that story not really allowing for this to happen. Or it's some sort of alternate universe where she didn't remember being Leina Stol.
- The date is never confirmed but seems to be the near future with the technology of the L808 Lightning, and in stark contrast to the incredibly eighties attire of the passengers.
- The L808 can carry four huge blocks of cargo and a large number of passengers in considerable comfort. It has been designed with anti-terrorism in mind, with many safety spaces. The plane would take about five hours to fly from Japan to Paris, which is twice as fast as a real airliner.
Continuity and plotting errors[edit | edit source]
- Laika inexplicably drops her air hostess uniform for something even more impractical and revealing before she heads down to fight Zarik.
- After taking an Uzi from a hijacker Laika fires it near-repeatedly like a laser; naturally it never needs reloading or runs out of ammo.
- Why Zarik kills Luna is vague; it seems to be a catch-all insane terrorist moment, which handily gets Leina and Laika out of a tight spot. If nothing else his timing is abysmal.
- If Luna is the last terrorist and randomly takes it upon herself to head down to the cargo bay and briefly menace Leina why is the pilot still seemingly following Blue May's orders?
- The BIBLE Block is a revolutionary war machine bio armour system that can be totally overcome by dropping it in water.
- $60m isn't really much, even in 1990 - at around that time a MiG-29 jet fighter cost $23m.
Animation and technical errors[edit | edit source]
- Laika's eyes are so gigantic there's barely space for them on her face; they're literally twice the size of the already-exaggerated eyes Leina has.
- Leina's seifuku inexplicably becomes burgundy from when she saves Laika at the end.
Trivia[edit | edit source]
- The OVA was planned as a crossover with another Ashi production, Sonic Soldier Borgman, with Anice Farm from that show intended to appear in the Laika role. However rights issues prevented this, though Laika retains the same voice actress - Yoshino Takamori - and numerous other traits as Anice.
- Zarik is a clear reference to Velt Zaruk, with a more down-to-earth look and the same voice actor in Kōichi Yamadera.
- The opening theme is "Tenshi no Jumon" by Yuko Mizutani, the voice actress for Leina; the ending theme is "ONLY ONE" by Yoshino Takamori. Both also had a go at another song each on the soundtrack album. Democratic.
Other versions[edit | edit source]
- A novelisation of the OVA was released, written by Hideki Sonoda from his own script.
Home video releases[edit | edit source]
- VHS
1990 — Lightning Trap: Leina and Laika (Toshiba EMI, Japan)
- Laser Disc
1990 — Lightning Trap: Leina and Laika (Toshiba EMI, Japan)
- Blu-Ray
2022 — Machine Robo: Revenge of Cronos (Discotek Media, USA)
