Friday, April 5, 2019

Mobile Suit Gundam Part 2 Episodes 7-11


A skilled attack from Char Aznable forces the White Base into Zeon occupied territory on Earth.  The mission of the crew has not changed: Get the White Base and her cargo of Mobile Suits to Federation HQ in Jaburo.  Now, however, they not only continue to face Char’s pursuit but also the wrath of Garma Zabi, youngest of the Zabi family that rules Zeon.  It will take all the willpower of the White Base crew to survive, if fatigue and constant tension don’t kill them first.  Though it may be Char Aznable, the Red Comet, who might hold the key to their salvation with a devious plan of his own.

While things took a bit to get going (and good), Mobile Suit Gundam made some good strides in its continuation.  Sure some of the premieres problems persisted and even increased a little.  But it’s still for the better to get some of the clunkier issues sorted and dealt with now and hope that clearer skies lie ahead.

The problems from last time im referring to are predominantly the shows inability to combine episodes, or omit ones altogether, and that pesky intro narraration that took them 10 episodes just to cut down by about half a minute.  Episode 6 is the best example of nothing really happening save for the civilians starting crap in the middle of a fight.  Everything else, including the action, felt like Gundam was just in waiting mode.  The later four episodes had more to offer, even in smaller ways such as a pair of Zeon pilots helping out a lost mother and her child when they tried to reach their own homeland (only for the poor mother to learn that town was destroyed early into the war).  Speaking of the civilians,I get it, theyre desperate to get off the ship.  And honestly if they wanna get off in the middle of enemy territory, Bright should just let them leave.  However, coming up to the bridge in the middle of a battle and demanding to be let off, again while theyre being shot at, is just plain ridiculous.  And you know youre civilians are really in the wrong when Amuro is the one calling you a selfish brat.  Granted I had to point out that Amuro was the pot calling the kettle black because he wasn’t much better this set either.  He complained when he didn’t want to fight, he complained when his tactics were ignored, he complained…well every other five minutes he was on screen and not kicking ass in the Gundam.  At some point, Amuro was begging to be slapped in the face…

WHICH IS EXACTLY WHY BRIGHT IS THE MAN!!! This low ranking officer turned Acting Captain has a lot to put up with from civilians causing a ruckus to enemy engagements to subordinates who sass him at every turn (looking at you Kai) and even a superior officer who questioned his every decision.  At some point, Bright had to say enough and he did.  He put Officer Reed in his place, lead a couple of well timed attacks to get the civilians safely through Zeon territory and slapped Kai and Amuro, the latter TWICE.  For all of Amuro eventually becoming the Gundam hero of legend, I think bright deserves more recognition sometimes.  Then there’s his Zeon counterpart in awesome, Char, who continues to remind us why he is more associated with Gundam than any other character in this franchise.  His smooth support and manipulation of Garma led to one intense sequence where the Red Comet showed his true colors.  He may have a soft spot for his men and genuinely does his best to make sure no harm comes to them.  But to hear Char cackling as Garma went down in a blaze of glory was chilling stuff.  Char’s a cold, calculating man and yet we love him for it all the same. 

By later episodes, the action had picked up considerably, going back to the strong quality found in the space combat from the premiere.  Amuro’s frog leap tactics to make the Gundam fly against Zeon fighters was impressive, as was his using building for cover and blowing off a Zaku’s head point blank.  Probably the most intense sequence this set, along with Garma’s demise, was Kai’s first foray into battle in the Guncannon.  For a moment, his back sass and cowardly self vanished and the poor guy was quivering as he desperately tried to stay alive under heavy enemy bombardment.  Unlike Amuro, I actually felt bad for the poor guy despite his not giving a crap attitude.  As good as these scenes were, the newly introduced characters and mecha coming next week should really kick things into high gear.

One last point to cover is our getting to see the rest of the ruling family of Zeon: the Zabis.  Already you can tell there’s going to be some Game of Thrones level family power plays amongst the remnants of this group.  Ghirren Zabi already wants to use Garma’s death as a rallying cry to their forces while Zeon’s ruler Degwin Zabi wants to quietly mourn.  Im curious to see where sister Kycillia and the towering Dozel will fall in this schism.  In truth, we only got a short glimpse of time with this group so it’s too early to make proper guesses.  Lastly, while it was short lived, both in the series and on screen, I did feel for the tragic romance of Garma and his fiancée Icilina, mostly for Icilina herself.  Yes it’s a stretch to see her commandeer Garma’s remaining forces for one last vendetta fueled charge against White Base.  But her final moment, staring down Amuro with a gun before dying of her own wounds, was very well done.  She even got a proper burial out of the ordeal from Amuro and the crew.  No doubt Icilina’s vengeful spirit will be haunting an already unhinged Amuro for the next couple of episodes.

Rough patches aside, I think we’re going to be getting into some darker and better territory next week when Mobile Suit Gundam returns.  I just hope we’re done with annoying civilians and episodes that don’t need to exist (speaking of we’ll be talking about that sometime next week too, one of Gundams more infamously darker blotches in its history).  Still with a Garma revenge squad set to go after Amuro and White Base with new Mobile Suits, I think we’re finally getting to the really good stuff.  See ya next Monday for more Mobile Suit Gundam.

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