The loss of Ryu Jose is only the start of a long string
of tragedy for the crew of White Base.
Though Ramba Ral and his unit have been destroyed, even deadlier Zeon
forces stand in their way, some who have made their name in the earliest days
of the One Year War. If Amuro and his
friends can endure, they can link up with a Federation task force for a battle
that has the potential to crush Zeon’s Earth based forces. It’s a victory that is sorely needed but one
that will not come without cost. And as
the White Base and her crew near the end of their original mission, an old
enemy returns to battle them once more…Char Aznable, the Red Comet.
It’s always a 50/50 shot when a show returns from a
midseason cliffhanger and said cliffhanger was a damn good one. Can the series continue the momentum it’s
built up or does it sputter out?
Thankfully, Mobile Suit Gundam continues it’s streak of improving as it
goes along, familiar problems still appearing aside. We were watching a different kind of White
Base crew this time around and the show was better for it.
The crew had little time to rest after Ryu’s death. In fact, the gang suffered another huge loss
with Matilda, their biggest spokesperson and basically the first crush of every
guy on White Base (cant imagine why). I
liked Matilda’s bit with Amuro, treating him like a little brother while being
the supportive older sibling (her to him, ofc Amuro probs wanted something
more). Perhaps because of Matilda’s
affections, the bratty version of Amuro we’ve spent a lot of time with in the
first half seemed to evaporate and a new Amuro was born. Not only did he manage to uncover a mole in
the Federation, and perhaps deal the biggest blow to Zeon on Earth as a result,
but Amuro also took on more of a teaching role, helping Sayla learn how to
pilot the new G-Fighter and educating the crew on Gundam’s new super robot
components. Yeah, about that is giving
Gundam a bunch of transformable modes a bit too Super Robot like? The biggest change Gundam brought about when
it first appeared was ditching those kinds of tropes in favor of a more real
world approach. Not that the G-Fighter
isn’t a cool looking ship, I just wished it stood more on its own rather than
be an upgrade for Gundam.
So yeah, Operation Odessa was a success for the Earth
Federation and White Base played a pretty big part, even if it wasn’t on the
main battlefield. They were more busy
dealing with the murders of Matilda, aka the Federation moles and the elite
Black Tri Star pilots. It definitely
made their battle more personal, which was great. I wish the Black Tri Stars had more time to
develop like Ramba Ral, Garma or even Char.
For living legends they were dealt with rather quickly, and sometimes
unceremoniously. When all was said and
done, the gang got to meet General Revel and everyone got handshakes and
official welcomes into the military (those who weren’t already). I liked how Revel pointed out this was the
only option for the civilian crew members like Amuro, Kai and Mirai. Sure they’ve done a good job and Revel has
faith in them. But they haven’t been
military til now and they’ve also been handling the most advanced weaponry in
the Federation. It makes sense they
might face prison time if they didn’t officially join the Earth Federation full
time.
Once Odessa was over and done with, I feel things toned
down a little bit. Once again, I felt
like we were dragging our feet a little bit and maybe some episodes could have
been folded into others or outright omitted.
But it made sense for White Base to get repaired and for everyone to get
a breather. Im excited to see Jaburo,
the Federations main HQ next time. In
the meantime, we got a nice mini plot involving a Zeon spy named Miharu, who
befriended Kai and eventually snuck aboard White Base briefly. Miharu had another tragic backstory that felt
very real world. You really did feel bad
for her having to rat out Federation intel to Zeon just to put food on the
table for her two much younger siblings.
What’s even more heartbreaking is Kai figures this out and yet he never
sells Miharu out to Bright. What Kai’s
plan to help Miharu was, we’ll never know.
The tears Kai sheds after Miharu dies (in a tragic but kind of silly way)
those were real and a moment that will define the path Kai takes from coward to
unlikely hero in the future.
This set of episodes also featured the long awaited
return of Char…and nothing was done with him.
That’s probably my biggest complaint about this midseason premiere. Char, the biggest and best villain of the
series, who’s been gone for quite a bit, finally comes back to the action…and
he’s stuck on a sub with nothing to do.
I feel like he was barely in ten minutes of footage and not even allowed
to go out and fight his old adversaries on White Base once again. That’s unacceptable. If you’re going to have Char around, either
feature him more prominently or give him a Mobile Suit and let him cut loose,
accept no substitutes.
With the promise of Jaburo to come, Mobile Suit Gundam
scored big wins in this set of episodes (except for Char who is still more or
less on the bench for a bit longer).
Bigger battles and even better character growth were the big highlight
and a sign that lessons are being learned and amendments made. This is really living up to the legend that
started one of the biggest franchises in all of Anime. And there’s still plenty more to come. See ya Friday.
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