This cockpit is my world! --The "separation" of the main character and the main robot in "Aoki Ryusei SPT Reisner" [Nostalgic Anime Memoirs Vol. 83

The OVA of "Aoki Ryusei SPT Reisner" was recently broadcast for three weeks on BS12's late-night anime slot "Anime 26".
An alien race from the planet Grados attacks an earthling base on Mars. Age, who was born between a Gradosian and an Earthling, continues his lonely battle to deliver a message to Earth aboard one of the SPT Raisner's mobile weapons. The main conflict in the first half of the story is whether Age can survive with his Earth children while avoiding a full-scale collision between Grados and Earth. The parasystemic conflict is the confrontation between Age and Raisner, a mysterious weapon.
The titular robot, Raisoner, has a cockpit head, and Age fights the enemy SPT while conversing with Raisoner's on-board assistant computer, "Ray. However, if Reisner is in danger and Age hesitates to fight back against the enemy or refuses to escape, Reisner leaves Age's control and engages in excessive defense and aggression. The special function is later placed under Age's control as "V-MAX," but until then, Age is at the mercy of the rampaging Reisner.

When Raisner's eyes turn pink, Age's body fades to black and white.

Now, this V-MAX is first activated in Episode 8, "In Response to His Cry. During the battle, Rey says, "Release the order to limit combat readiness. Movement from the current position is required. He added, "Preemptive strike required. Target, order." He asks Agee to shoot at the enemy SPT's cockpit. When Agee refuses to shoot, the V-MAX is activated. 1.

The light from the console reflects off the visor of Agee's helmet. 2.
The console flashes green, blue, and red. 3.
The light from the console extends three-dimensionally and penetrates Agee's body. 4.
The eyes (camera eyes) of the raisers change from yellow to pink.

The process from 1 to 4 is repeated in Episode 15, "Blue Meteor," in which Agee takes his senior Gail by the hand. In both episodes 8 and 15, however, Agee is unconscious. As if to prove this, the console's gauges flash in a variety of colors, while Eiji's own color fades. Even when his face is close-up, it is nothing more than a black-and-white line drawing.
This cockpit is my world. And yet you exist outside of my will.
These are the words that Agee utters to the outraged Reisner in episode 21, "My Name is Fallon. In Episode 20, "Reisner's Fury," Reisner attacked the surrounding U.S. military facilities unmanned to defend himself. During this time, Reisner's eyes are pink in color. When Agee steps in to stop the rampaging Reisner, his eyes turn yellow again.
In the next episode (21), Agee threatens Reisner's console with a gun to find out who the "Fallon" is behind the "Ray" management computer. I'm not asking about you," he says, "but call up the other computer. That's an order!
Age questions "Ray," a computer that only responds mechanically. This breathless dialogue is one of the highlights of "Reisner," but it should be noted that the colors emitted by Reisner's console and the visual effect of its "eyes (camera eyes) changing color" express the giant robot's intentions.

The protagonist, alienated to the "outside" of the main robot, "Kill me! he commands.

How will Age, now that he has learned of the existence of the unknown computer "Phoron," retrieve his beloved Raisoner?

In episode 22, Reisner activates V-MAX again (Reisner's eyes change from yellow to pink). Agee slips out of the cockpit, saying, "I've had enough of being on a rational, murdering machine. Then, as if his position in episode 21 has been reversed, Reisner now takes up a gun and aims it at Agee.
The composition of this scene is shocking. The camera captures Agee directly in front of the viewer from inside the cockpit canopy. Agee can also be seen on the monitor of the console. Until now, Agee must have seen the "enemy" through the canopy or through the monitor. Now, however, Age himself fits into the composition in which the "enemy" should fit. In most robot anime, from the moment the main character boards the robot, the main robot is the main character's body itself. In "Reisner" episode 22, however, the protagonist is alienated to the outside of the robot.
In "Raisner" episode 22, however, the protagonist is marginalized outside of the robot: "Fallon, you're stuck in the back of my memory circuit. If you don't admit it, kill me!"　The color of Raisner's ...... eyes returns from pink to yellow as he catches his former master, Agee, in his sighting scope. The change in color is an indication that the Fallon has been silenced and Rey has begun to manage Reisner as before. In episodes 8 and 15, the disappearance of Age's consciousness was represented by "removing" the colors. Cel animation is an expression of "adding material" by layering pictures and applying colors. The fact that "Reisner" was able to depict the difficult concept of "switching between the consciousness of a robot and that of a human being" may be a result of the fact that it was able to reduce the materials to the bare minimum and concentrate on a simple expression.

(Text by Keisuke Hirota)