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that was cool. pretty neat how Golgo took out those guys.
I'm absolutely loving this series so far, and this episode was no exception. I liked the weapons customizer and enjoyed seeing him back as a recurring character. I'm pretty sure he's the same guy doing the narration in the next episode previews so I think we'll probably be seeing more of him as well.
While, it was entertaining (sometimes unintentionally), I was not really impressed with this episode. The entire premise kind of comes off as just plain dumb:
It came off as "I shall prove the effectiveness of my rifles by equipping my men with them and having them fight against other men with other rifles. Whichever group of men wins is using the superior rifles." Kind of weak logic. Any ace with any type of weapon will tell you that a better user beats a better weapon any day.
They also openly consider it a sniper battle, yet they're proving assault rifles. Anyone else think that's a bit odd?
More technical gripes:
1) They identified the FN FAL as English. After laughing, I checked again to make sure that wasn't just a subtitling error. It wasn't. I laughed again.
2) "The M16 . . . has been continually modified to the point where it is known as the "World's Masterpiece Gun" - this one had me on the floor. In the 40+ years since it was introduced, only one of the three major reliability issues of the M16 has been fully resolved (the ammunition, in case you're wondering). That was the big one, but the remaining two still make it more jam-prone than many contemporaries. The G36 was the basis for the OICW program due in no small part to the fact that it completely addressed the other two.
3) "This distance is within my rifle's firing range, but outside that of his M16." - I call BS. He's the one with the XM29, whose rifle component is very small and designed only for short to medium range. In fact, it's used more as a submachine gun or PDW than a proper rifle. It has less than half the barrel length (a major factor in range) of the M16, and is thus itself ranged by several hundred meters. Improved ammunition, as mentioned, would help only insofar as the rifle itself can control it. The only way that gun could truly range the M16 with 5.56mm rounds would be to have an increased barrel length, by so much that it would look more like a harpoon gun than an assault rifle (note, there is a way using other rouds: see #5).
For the record, that showed what I think is 792 meters (hard to tell the second digit due to subtitles). That seems a bit much, even for modifications, as it's sniper rifle territory, which means very long barrels. A carbine can't possibly pull it off.
4) Golgo fired his weapon one-handed, without even aiming properly to score a perfect between the eyes on the first brother. Again, no dice. At least he aimed at the second brother, but still: one hand? To be fair, this kind of thing is done in most media, Japanese or otherwise, because it's "cool." But most of those aren't trying to be technical.
5) The assault rifle portion of the XM29 is secondary. The primary portion is the 20mm "grenade launcher," which, while clearly present, is never used. That actually would range the M16, as it's rated for 1000m, which even 7.62mm sniper rifles can't beat.
6) That "super scope" is only really good for sniping. In a fluid combat situation, a soldier will more often than not find himself unable to use it, especially at close range. Golgo indeed made full use of that fact.
7) The most notable improvements - the ammunition and scope, are external to the rifles. You could stick them on any preexisting weapon without much trouble.
8) This makes a big deal about range. Guess what? The whole point of the assault rifle concept was that long range isn't needed. Why? Because wartime studies revealed that most combat occurs within 300m, and usually less than 200m. That was what made medium power cartridges like the 7.92x33mm Kurz and 7.62x39mm Soviet viable to begin with. And the fact that these could be controlled on full auto led to proper assault rifles. This same limited range requirement is also why modern carbines are viable, as most are only good to 300-400m.
9) This goes on and on about shooting characteristics, but military small arms are made or broken in less glamorous areas related to reliability and ergonomics, as well as cost. The G36, AK-74, etc are all known not for the things they tote here, but because they are extremely rugged and reliable, and easy to operate and maintain. Regardless of their performance on paper, weapons that fail in this usually fail completely. For example, the XM29 was estimated to be 5 times as effecitve as current weapons, but was shelved. The main reasons were that the 20mm round, which it was built around, was underpowered for several applications, and that the thing weighed in at 8.2 kg (18+ lbs), which is over twice that of contemporary assault rifles, and on par with some 7.62mm machine guns! Not to mention the extreme price tag.
10) As stated before, this was a sniping contest. You want to beat assault rifles, you have to beat them in an assault rifle contest, and this should focus on what soldiers care about. If I wanted to truly prove my gun was better than another, I'd have somone who's already experienced with the other use mine for an extended period under actual combat conditions. That's the true test, and many weapons that were actually adopted (Chauchat, M60, M16, M4A1, etc) failed that one rather spectacularly.
11) Continuing on the above: these are special purpose rifles. They use a number of expensive components that are completely unnecessary to the average infantryman. Based on cost, complexity, and reliability, I doubt they'd see much more than special forces use. At best, they might be issued at a rate of one or two per infantry squad, but even that would only happen in a few militaries.
On the other hand, the methods for defeating the weapons were appropriate, especially the first. Since, regardless of how they're toted, those are sniper rifles, they don't function well when the scope is thwarted.
It's not that this is unenjoyable, and I know I'm a lot more knowledgable than most, but they really should try and do better if they're going to bother with the technical side.
I think they confused the FAL with the SA80, to be honest, and yeah, had to laugh at the M16 being a masterpiece.. oh hay sand, jammed. oh hay water, jammed. oh hay ITS WINDY... you get the idea :/
Ultimately I shelved all the technical issues I had with Golgo 13 on the basis that, well, it's supposed to be over the top invincible action guy stuff. We watch it because we wish to be entertained, so I decided to let that stuff lie.
Glad to see ErwinJA has already ranted about most of what I came here to rant about, except:
- This whole episode was contrived purely to show off Golgo's M16. There is no real reason why he'd be using one in the first place over a gun made for actual accuracy, or why you'd show off a snazzy new super scope on an assault rifle rather than on actual marksman's weapons.
- The XM29 is only bullpup in terms of the grenade launcher, which they don't use in this episode. The bullet magazine is in front of the grip, just like a stock G36.
- I think the scope readout was 192 metres, not 792, partly based on the size of the people and the apparent ranges between them when seen. At that range the super scope becomes a handicap, as any trained marksman wins over the super scope user in that they simply aim with iron sights and shoot you while your scope is thinking. C.F. the Washington Sniper.
- An M16 with a super mega ultra barrel versus two stock rifles. Great contest. Any gun becomes a masterpiece if you customise it completely with really high grade components. Now try an M16 with a super mega ultra barrel against an F2000 with a super mega ultra barrel. Come to that, try a super mega ultra barrel M16 against an super mega ultra barrel FAL and any scopes you like, and we'll see who wins on pure range. 7.62 NATO > 5.56 NATO, discussion ends.
- A super scope that does not understand and compensate for inclines or changing light levels is not super. I mean, even iPhonys know what angle they are at, FFS, and night vision that can't cope with a gradually strengthening light in the distance isn't exactly cutting edge either.
- M16LOL. It was never a masterpiece. Ever. I forget who said it but I particularly like this: "The best way to improve the AR15 is to remove the front sight and mount a different gun underneath it."
Most importantly, I quite agree that if they are are going to do technical they ought to a) check their facts and b) at least stop and think if maybe stuff like having Golgo use an M16 as a handgun is quite sensible or appropriate. I don't expect Golgo to try and be technically accurate at all, given how utterly unbelievable it is generally, but I certainly expected them to do it badly when they started, and in that I was correct.
Maybe they ought to just give up and fund a faithful adaptation of Gunsmith Cats instead.
Ok a sniper going on a sniper mission and using an assault rifle doesn't make much sense. The whole thing was one big advertizement for the M16 basically and calling it "masterpiece" is kind of ridiculous. Probably Ak-47 (that they did mention in the show so it's not like the don't know it) deserves that title considering all the shit it can go threw and keep performing. A better rifle by far in my opinion.
Anyway all that can be a little ignored besides other made a better job calling every detail but unfortunately even the great battle was kind of stupid because excluding Golgo'13's amazing abilities(that i am willing to accept for anime badass purposes) to shoot with one hand and stuff like that, there is no reason they wouldn't have got him many times he was quite open. After he shot the first he started running open white to that hole, the other guy could easily have shot him before reaching there.
Golgo is such a badass, hardly says a word, takes the money and gets the job done. Don't fuck wit Golgo, even if you have fancy pants high tech weapons and French snipers to use, he'll hand you a bullet in the head for your troubles.
I honestly don't know why I like this show as much as I do, I'm not big into guns and generally "men's adventure" stories like The Executioner and stuff bore me, but there's something about his that channels Clint Eastwood at his grimmest and most silent more and Chuck Norris at his sweatiness and hairiness less.
Damn Golgo is scary
His skills vs. high-tech weapons it should be obvious
Though those two brothers have the aim of Stormtrooper when full-auto xD
Should have stay on single shot
TIL about the differences between assault rifles. Bullpup has excellent mobility and is good at CQC, thanks to the stock design. Interesting.
That gunfight was pretty good. Those are legit tactics that he used.