At long last, the Delaz Fleet makes it’s move. The Gundam Unit 02’s warhead is launched and
the Federation is dealt a near crippling blow.
In the midst of the chaos, Uraki and Gato square off once again. Even as their duel claims both of their
Gundams, there’s a strong sense that what has transpired is only the
beginning. As shifts in power begin to
unfold within the Delaz Fleet, the true scope of Operation Stardust is about to
be revealed. The Albion is the only hope
but they’ll need something special: A third Gundam prototype. The countdown to destiny has begun.
Well now it becomes clear what Gundam 0083 really
is. The second episode of this set takes
us to a familiar setting of the Universal Century, the asteroid Axis. Here we see the surviving Zeons argue whether
or not to join Delaz’s fight and while they seem to back down, one beautiful
figure in the distance ponders how much longer they’ll have to wait to join the
battle. The connection is made. This one quick visit to Axis and the much
welcome, if not terribly brief, return of Haman Kahn connects this plot right
to the events of Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam.
I don’t want to say more beyond that for now as im sure I’ll come back
to it in greater detail in the final episodes.
Still, seeing an OVA version of Haman was cool, she has never looked
better.
Anyway, onto the meat of this weeks set. Stardust was carried out, apparently. Gato, finally back in action after being away
for several episodes, unleashed the might of the nuke his Gundam was carrying
on the oh so confident Federation Fleet.
It’s kind of baffling how the Federation wouldn’t take the nuke threat
so seriously, or at least they kind of assumed Jaburo was always the
target. Yet they assemble their entire
fleet in one spot, how is that not a tempting target? The arrogance came back to bite them big
time. The attack on Solomon (I refuse to
call it Kompei Island) was well done and we got to see Gato cut loose before
carrying out his mission. It was great
to have him back. I really enjoyed
Gato’s scenes with Karius, one of his remaining friends from the One Year
War. As Gato pondered the weight on his
shoulders, he continued to be intriguing and compelling. Seeing how he inspires his troops, it’s no
wonder the Federation is continually slacking during this whole series.
Looking to not be left out of Gato’s shadow, Uraki flies
towards him in the Gundam Unit 01 Full Vernian basically screaming, “SEMPAI
NOTICE ME!!!” Uraki almost reminds me of
Graham Acker from the second season of Gundam 00. At some point I feel like he just stops
caring about duty and wants to just show Gato he can stand on the same level as
him. I loved that Gato just ignored him,
even when Kou was barking at him over the radio. Our “hero” is a child and Gato is content to
treat him as such and it is so much fun.
That being said, my issues with Kou aside, the duel between Gundams was
freaking epic. The OVA production shines
here, also in other fights but here most prominently. This was the duel we were promised in the
promos and it did not disappoint. It
does suck that both Gundams are now gone, worse for the Full Vernian since Kou
just got the damn thing. But seeing the
slow pan up of both suits going down in flames was rough, it’s hard to see
Gundams fall (I still shiver when I see Deathsythe get blown up in Gundam
Wing). It’s one of the best duels in all
of Gundam and this series has been worth enduring just to get to it.
But, since this OVA wants to find ways to tick me off,
the negatives cant be ignored. I did
like the character of Burning, the grizzled and bad ass mentor to Kou and
Keith. However I feel like he was never
given as much screentime after the beginning of the series. His death was a shock, though you knew it was
coming when he apparently found the complete Delaz Fleet “Stardust Memory”
playbook. But I feel like it would have
more impact if we had more than the few really good scenes he had with Kou,
Keith and Captain Synaps throughout his episode. No, his wasted screentime went to plodding
out Kou and Nina’s less than compelling romance. Nina is all over the place, more than
Kou. At first she’s happy theyre a thing
now, then she call Kou her little brother cause he wont eat carrots (A. Ewww
and B. Sorry but not liking carrots isn’t nearly as entertaining as Edward
Elric refusing to drink milk in Fullmetal Alchemist), then suddenly gets glum
when Kou fights Gato and manages to survive?
I know exactly where that last bit is heading and ill have more to say
on that in the next review. Suffice to
say, once again, being pretty cannot save Nina from her poor character arc that
has really dragged a lot of this series down.
She shouldn’t feel too bad, Kou may not be the best boyfriend but he is
shouldering a lot of my dislikes along with her…so there’s that.
We ended things on a big cliffhanger. That ominous clock we saw on both Delaz’s and
Cima’s ships is a countdown to a colony drop happening in two days. And since we cant really go the rest of the
series without its namesake, the Albion is off to get a brand spanking new
Gundam to take into battle. I wish Gato
would get a new Gundam as well but the hints of a new Mobile Armor being given
to the Delaz Fleet kind of dash those hopes.
Is the colony drop the attack on Jaburo everyones been scared of? With Zeon succeed with its resurrection? Will Gato Sempai even notice the whiny
Kou…actually they did share a moment as their Mobile Suit were about to blow up
where Gato got in Kou’s face and told him he'd remember him…and Kou looked so
disappointed…WHY?!!
Here's hoping they’ve saved the best action for
last. Cause outside of Gato, everyone
else in this series is just a tiny blip on my radar (not totally true, I do
like the Albion bridge crew). Whatever
the case, you wont have to wait long for the final review. I’ll see you all
Friday for the grand finale of Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory.
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