White Base finally reaches Jaburo but their crew has
little time to rest. With Zeon’s Earth
Forces crushed, the time has come to take the fight to them in space. And General Revel wants White Base at the
head of their main fleet. Amuro and
company return to the stars and travel to Side 6 for a brief respite before the
battles ahead. Here, Amuro is reunited
with his father, who is not the same man as before. And Bright and Mirai find their growing
feelings tested when Mirai’s former fiancée and a cocky new fighter pilot
assigned to White Base both arrive. Side
6 might be a neutral colony but it isn’t free from the trials of personal
conflict, or the Zeon lying in wait for the White Base to return to the war.
If Mobile Suit Gundam hadn’t succeeded in some way, we
wouldn’t have the multiverse spanning franchise it is today. I feel like that kind of opening should be
saved for my final review of the show (or I could repeat myself, it happens). But after this set of episodes, I know more than
ever that the wins of the last 10 episodes haven’t been flukes. This show has grown out of its growing pains
and has only gotten progressively better.
Coming off a very strong midseason premiere, Gundam doubled down on the
action, character drama and, at last, brought Char back properly. Simply put, the wins continued in this set of
episodes.
The two part trip to Jaburo continued the level of epic
and personal action we saw in the Battle of Odessa. We got to see Mobile Suit combat in the
underground fortress (pretty cool place too btws) and in the jungles
above. We were even introduced to the
Federations first GMs, which will get updated and bettered with each subsequent
Universal Century Gundam entry. After
being on the sidelines and not given a proper return, Char was able to kick
some serious ass again leading the Jaburo attack. Not only did he get to punch a hole right
through the stomach of a GM but we FINALLY got a rematch between Char and
Amuro. I was just impressed as Char that
Amuro was able to match him blow for blow and even get in a couple of solid
hits. Char has a true rival now and
Amuro feels worthy of that title compared to the brat he was in the beginning
of the show.
I did say that the Jaburo battles were a little
personal. Well true we got to see Amuro
and Sayla have their separate but equally important encounters with Char. But Im referring to a trio of characters I
haven’t really discussed yet: the White Bases resident war orphans Katz, Letz
and Kika. Anyone watching the show will
continually scratch their heads as to why kids are kept around at all on a
warship and maybe even be a bit more frustrated that they’re being allowed to
stay. However, the episode dealing with
this exact issue is one of the series best, actually. Not only did Katz, Letz and Kika help save
the Jaburo base and the GM factory from destruction, we got to see Jaburo’s sad
haven of Federation orphans. Sure they
have a wide room to play with and people looking after them, but it’s clear
that these sad kids who have lost everything are not quite as well cared for as
White Bases little tykes. As Kai pointed
out, the White Base and her crew are family at this point and they’ve seen
things most kids couldn’t handle. It may
sound strange but sticking around on White Base might be what’s best for Katz,
Letz and Kika. The fact that the crew
fought for and won to keep the trio onboard speaks to their value too.
The stay in Jaburo might’ve been a bit brief but there
was more ass kicking to be seen once we headed back into space. It actually feels good to talk about how good
Amuro has become in battle, along with the rest of his teammates. Seeing him tear through 9 Mobile Suits in
under three minutes and even carve up a Zeon Battleship (taking the life of Char’s
former right hand man Dren in the process) is pretty epic and the Gundam looks
like a beast doing so. It’s not all him
either. Sayla, Kai and Hayato are
improving as well and the coordination between Bright, Mirai and the bridge
crew is worthy of applause. These aren’t
civilians and low ranking soldiers were watching anymore, these are battle
hardened bad asses. There were a couple
of problems that crept in, however. As
cool as it is to watch the Gundam battle monstrous Mobile Armors, some of their
designs are…a little uninspired and downright silly. I mean yeah these mecha designs are meant to
be eventual Gunpla for the kids but still, a Mobile Armor with fangs and demon
eyes is laughable. And then there’s
Ryu’s replacement: Lt. Sleger. He’s laidback,
kind of a sleeze and would be ladies man…and feels very Roy Focker lite (ironic
seeing as Macross came out three years after this series). I get that the person taking over Ryu’s spot
on the team shouldn’t be a carbon copy.
But Sleger needs to do something to make him more likeable. He’s not a bully by anymeans and he does pull
his weight in battle…I just don’t like him at the moment.
We closed this set with a trip to the Switzerland of
Space: Side 6. This brief break from the
action allowed us to check in on some developing character stories. The new subplot with Mirai caught in a love
“square” with Bright, Sleger (?), and her arranged marriage fiancée Cameron
was…idk. I mean Mirai’s pretty and could
grab anybodys eye. Maybe I just wanted to
see an eventual throwdown between these three would be suitors (and hope Bright
comes out on top). Fairing better was
Amuro’s tragic reunion with his father.
Being a workaholic, coupled with a heavy dose of oxygen deprevation from
the Side 7 attack at the beginning of the series, has left Mr. Tem Ray more of
a jerk than he ever was before. And
Amuro was so excited to see him. Knowing
his fathers brilliant mind may never return and, as a result, is lost to his
own dellusions, no wonder Amuro shot and sliced his way through 9 Zeon Mobile
Suits in record time.
But it looks like the Side 6 stay is extended at least
for another couple of episodes and we might see some fateful encounters
too. Either way, im excited. Mobile Suit Gundam is riding high on good
pacing, good action and characters who are continuing to grow and impress. We’ve now closed out the third act of Mobile
Suit Gundam. The final act begins next
Monday. I’m excited, are you?
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