2312 AD. Four
years later, the AEU, HRL and Union are now united as one Earth Federation. A peacekeeping unit known as the A-Laws has
been created to prevent the resurgence of any rebel activities…by any means
necessary. With colonies, lives and
peace at stake, Celestial Being returns resurrected with Setsuna F. Sei and
Tierria Erde reuniting to locate their old comrades and even a few new, yet
familiar, faces. The second coming
Gundam Meisters is at hand and the world stands ready to change once again at
their return.
The boys are back, not like it was a lengthy absence to
begin with. We’re jumping back into
Gundam 00 with Season Two and already it’s looking like it’s starting to step
things up quite a bit.
Much like with Season One’s nods to Gundam Wing, Season
Two seems to be nodding at other familiar territory. The A-Laws are the spiting image of Mobile
Suit Zeta Gundams Titans. Ruthless,
superior and prone to sipping tea and smiling while puppies, children and
innocent people are slaughtered all under the pretense of keeping the peace for
the Federation. The existence of
Katharon is a practical shoutout to the Anti-Earth Union Group (AEUG) from Zeta
though I guess the AEUG comparisons could be thrown at Celestial Being with
Katharon being the earth based Karaba support group. Anyway you put it, the A-Laws are a dark
change for the series, the bloody massacre in the first episode being a clear
indication of how far they’ll go to do their job.
But Celestial Being is back to take them on. Who knows how Setsuna has been poorly keeping
up maitenence on his Gundam Exia for four years but regardless it’s good to see
him back kicking ass…and making nice with Tierria? Yeah it’s good to see that
some growth by the end of Season One is still around with a few
characters. Seeing Setsuna and Tierria
behave like actual comrades is something id hope would continue into the
story. The duo sought to reunite their
team and recruit new blood as well. Sumeragi,
Ian, Feldt and even Marina Ismail all make appearances with Ian’s daughter
Milena filling in for Christina’s former spot.
Milena seems a bit out of place as when she isn’t spouting off reports
in battle she’s busy “shipping” people.
This does result in a hilarious simultaneous, dead pan reply from
Setsuna and Marina when Milena asks if they’re lovers. Speaking of new blood, while it feels like we
lost only a few key cast members last season, Season Two is dumping loads of
new faces into the mix from Sergei’s son Andre to Manneqin’s new colleague
Rint, to Katharon itself. It feels
crowded more than ever, especially with the older cast members who need some
screen time too.
Now, what about the new Lock On? It’s easy to assume that the character of
Neil Delandy (the OG Lock On) was so popular he practically needed to stick
around so a look alike was assigned even though Lyle was hinted at and even
seen for a brief moment in Season One.
Lyle does stand out thanfully.
The third time someone thinks he’s his brother he starts getting miffed
and proves to be more of a charming bad boy than Neil’s supportive caretaker.
I do have a couple of complaints aimed at two returning
characters. First up is Saji. Now separated from Louise, he is free and
clear of the stupid rom com subplot that plagued his character in Season
One. Now he’s got his own storyline:
constantly denying he has anything to do with Celestial Being, Katharon or the
war. He still blames Setsuna and his
comrades for his sisters death and the chaos that has erupted because of their
actions four years ago. But he acts like
Setsuna doesn’t hear him. Setsuna and
his friends are well aware of their faults in trying to change the world and
that’s why they’re back to set things right.
They get it and Saji refuses to believe that. I think he’s going to be a handful. And there’s my ever lovable creepy Gundam
lover Graham Acker…oh im sorry Mr. Bushido.
Yes Graham is alive and is now wearing a Char mask out of apparent shame
for losing to Setsuna (though im pretty certain it was a draw as neither could
fight after a while). Graham’s ego is
bigger than ever and now he’s been given a “license” meaning he can chose to
sit out a battle if he wants to even if his comrades are dying around him…what
an A-Hole.
As I hinted at above, the action in this set was top
notch from Setsuna taking on new A-Laws models with a still functioning Exia to
one of the best battles of the series…a Blitzkrieg attack on an A-Laws facility
holding Alleluia and Marina Ismail. In
the tradition of upgrading throughout the series, the new model Gundam have
plenty of cosmetic changes but don’t look too terribly different from their
predecessors. One of my favorite
franchise Gundams appears as well, the titular Gundam 00. Armed with twin drives and dual swords, it’s
a prefect successor for Setuna’s old friend.
The larger cast and a couple of troublesome characters
aside, it’s good to be back in the world of Gundam 00 even if a lot has
changed. It’s a harsher world but it
looks like Celestial Being is still ready to take it on. One thing though…how cool would it have been
if Setsuna walked up to Saji and Marina during their separate saves, extended
his hand and said, “Come with me if you want to live?” Haha epic hilarity. See ya next time.
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