As the Treize faction collapses, Heero meets Treize, face
to face, and is given a new weapon, the Gundam Epyon. With Relena’s influence growing, Duke Dermail
sets the Sanc Kingdom as the final target of Operation Nova. As Quatre departs on a mission to retrieve
his Gundam, the other pilots: Duo, Wufei and an amnesiac Trowa, find their own
battle still waiting for them in space.
Zechs too finds that Romafeller is far from done with him and he seeks
to aid his sister in defending their home, armed with the mind warping Wing
Zero. But can even the former OZ Ace
handle the system that drove Heero and Quatre insane?
Last time, it was all about getting caught up on current
events (especially if you’re only jumping into a show at the halfway
mark). With all that done, it was time
for some action and we got plenty of that, all across the board. Characters returned, characters made pretty
decent decisions to advance their characters, and we even made up for the lack
of Gundam’s last time with an onslaught of terrifying Gundam reveals that
brought the show back up to its normal levels of bad ass…even if the animation
isn’t at its best most times trying to show it all off.
The Sanc Kingdom storylines beginning lacked just that, a
proper beginning. The country returned
from nowhere, all off screen, with Relena in the drivers seat and the lack of
explanations as to how she got it all going again is a bothersome nitpick. However, this set had that storyline advance
and Relena did something I never thought she would ever do: accept Heero and
Noin’s proposal to outfit the Sanc Kingdom with a military force to protect it
from the inevitable invasion Romafeller is planning. Relena may be keen on creating an everlasting
peace. But her pacifistic ways aren’t
going to save her or her kingdom from an oncoming army of remote control robots
with no qualms about peace signs. She
could be stubborn and just stick to her guns but her closest friends have a
point. It almost pains me to say it, but
Relena’s new sovereign status has done her wonders. She isn’t totally obsessed with Heero (as
much) anymore and even doesn’t hesitate to throw her brother under the bus when
Romafeller finds Zechs (back as Zechs again, not Milliardo Peacecraft) tearing
up Romafeller ships in space…just to keep her country safe. That takes balls…never figured Relena had
them. Maybe she’s cut out for this kind
of political work after all.
Heero, meanwhile, had the honor of meeting Treize face to
face as the Treize faction fell. This
moment is epic, the main character meeting one of the main villains of the
series. And yet, it’s so weird to see
Treize talking like he’s lost all the wind in his sails. I normally associate this guy with having a
God complex, a man with a long plan in the works. Here, it just seems like he doesn’t know what
to do with the change in times. He and
Heero turn out to be two sides of the same coin. Heero’s still looking for his proper enemy to
fight in the changing world. The only
reason he’s sticking around the Sanc Kingdom is because Relena gave him the ok
to defend it…which means a lot of fighting, which Heero wants. So it’s kind of a head scratcher when Treize gives
Heero his brand spanking new Gundam Epyon.
Guess he thinks Heero will know what to do with it more than he
will? Why not keep it for himself to
use? Oh Treize…how have you fallen so
low?
Speaking of Epyon, all of the Gundams were in top form
this time around. I talked about how Wing
Zero’s first appearance felt like something out of a horror film: a force of
nature that could not be stopped. Epyon
and Deathsythe Hell continued that little scare tactic with equal flair. Duo’s F YEAH proclamation that “THE GOD OF
DEATH IS BACK FROM HELL” coupled with Deathsythe Hell decloaking with it’s twin
beam sythe is total nightmare fuel for any enemy that comes across it. Then there’s Epyon, pretty much the Devil’s
Gundam (though there is a Devil Gundam in G Gundam). Not only is it a beast on the battlefield, it
also has a Zero System installed (how I don’t know it’s about as mysterious as
Treize having Heero’s voice and hand prints to access a secret vault). The look on Heero’s face when he charges down
with that crazed look on his face is terrifying. Gundams have become scary again, but mostly
in a pretty awesome way. By the way, is
it me or did Wufei’s Gundam get the most upgrades of any Gundam yet? Two Dragon Fangs, a double sided beam
trident, laser cannons on its back?
Altron looks good but still it has enough upgrades for three Gundams.
We finally got the return of Duo, Wufei and Zechs in this
set of episodes and they’re all continuing to do what they do best. Wufei’s got renewed incentive to strike back
against Romafeller with the destruction of his home colony. I like that Wufei’s no longer in a depressed
funk after losing to Treize and is trying to move forward. Duo had to square off against an OZ soldier
who captured Wing Zero. Not only has
Duo’s comic relief been missed but would you look at that, he (kind of?) hooked
up with that Hilde girl who tried to capture him a while back. Again, plot id like to have actually seen on
screen but still…Duo’s got a girl and that makes me happy. Speaking of Wing Zero, Zechs got back in the
game after playing diplomat, redawning his mask and trading his poor Tallgeese
in for the Gundam. The destruction of
the Tallgeese was bittersweet. We’ve
seen that suit go through a lot with Zechs and stand out as one of the better,
non Gundam Mobile Suits in the series.
Even though Wing Zero may have better armor and firepower, I’m sure
Zechs is rethinking a few things when he had his own bout with the Zero System
while fighting Wufei. Looks like he and
Heero have something else in common now.
By the way, where did Zechs get a battleship from?
The animation continues to be an element that holds this
series back sometimes. The sight of
Virgo’s parachuting in behind a firing line is epic but used too many times,
same with the Leo destruction shots.
What’s worse, the actual animation seems to be taking steps backwards
into G Gundam and even Victory Gundam levels (those were the two shows that
preceded Gundam Wing in Japan). The
action is still great but it’s not nearly as polished as it should be. Also, Trowa’s back and he has amnesia…they
are really scratching the bottom of the barrel trying to find something for him
to do in this show. Every Gundam Pilot
has a defining storyline or feature that keeps them entertaining. Hell even Wufei’s endgame is to defeat Treize
in a rematch. Quatre wants to defend the
Sanc Kingdom. Heero is the main
character. And Duo’s…well he’s Duo,
you’re supposed to like him. Trowa has
never had a character arc or journey to make him that interesting. I dare say it would have been better if he’d
stayed dead, would’ve made a huge impact on Quatre (especially since he’s the
reason Trowa’s like this). But who would
take over piloting his long lost Gundam (seriously, Heavyarms hasn’t been seen
since the boys left Earth for space in the first half)? Maybe amnesia will benefit Trowa, maybe it
wont. Either way…it’s good to see
Catherine back again in her cute acrobatics costume? (that is true but doesn’t
mean Trowa’s story will get any better).
Well with Treize’s rebellion squashed for now, it looks
like Duke Dermail is going to finally drop his troops right on the Sanc
Kingdom. Hard to believe there’s only 15
or so episodes left to go. While the
endgame of this show is still out of sight, I did enjoy this set of
episodes. The combination of good
character writing and action was nicely balanced (mostly) just like the
beginnings of the series. It felt like
Gundam Wing was back to form again.
Hopefully it maintains that as we start heading into the home stretch of
this epic space opera.
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