The title of Gundam AGE’s final episode couldn’t be more fitting. This really was The End of a Long Journey across more than half a century of conflict, terrible character writing and some of the stupidest moments in the entire franchise and no amount of nods or omages to past Gundam tropes could save it. This finale was an infuriating mess. It had one maybe two moments that were partly decent but for the most part, this series started unsure of how it was going to handle itself and it ended as one giant cluster cuss of a Gundam show.
The couple of moments I did enjoy from this final set came from the focus on two legacy characters throughout all of Gundam AGE. The first was Asemu and getting to see the giant unmanned Mobile Armor that kicked his ass: Shino (which looks like a Metal Gear…actually now that I think about it, most Mobile Armors in Gundam look like Metal Gear hmmmm…). As sad as it was to see Asemu’s white painted Gundam AGE-2 get torn to shreds, at least we got a little bit of his missing time back from the 13 years he was absent from his family. The second moment was the destruction of the Diva. Besides the Asuno’s this ship has been a major piece of connective tissue across every single saga. In a finale chalk full of random character deaths that felt rather hollow, watching the Diva blow up carried surprising weight to it. That’s probably because we saw the bridge, cafeteria, hanger bay with the AGE System, basically every section of the ship where there were frequent major character interactions go up in fireballs. Few Gundam ships get a send off like this, which is more than I can say for anything else in this finale.
As for the rest of this mess, where do I begin? Kio refusing to fight even when he’s staring death in the face? Everyone freaking out when Flit finally readies himself to nuke Second Moon? Zeheart’s mental breakdown because all of his bad character development has caught up to him? What about Ezelcant’s last minute demon clone who fuses with the Mobile Armor Metal Gear? This was a throw the darts at the wall and see what sticks kind of ending. There was so much going on and it was way too hard to care about anything going on. Zeheart finally committed to finishing off his mortal enemies by sacrificing a large portion of his men and the Lolita girl who’d fallen in love with him…all for a terrible idea he was never destined to see through to the end. Also, apparently Zeheart’s desire for Eden stemmed from the good times he had with Asemu and his high school Mobile Suit Club…that feels kind of…wrong. If Zeheart felt that strongly about his friendship with Asemu, he’d be helping him out as a Pirate, not as the leader of a Religious Cult hellbent on Earth’s destruction. I guess it’s nice that Asemu got one last try to reach out to Zeheart even if it was for nothing. Honestly, it was kind of meta watching Zeheart get berated by the ghosts of his past and ask himself “What am I doing?” as if the writer had somehow let slip into the script their own mindset on this show in general.
As expected, we did reach Flit’s do or die moment where he had to prove his own commitment to his own selfish revenge cause. Cudos to Kio for standing in his Grandpas way but Kio was so stubbornly obnoxious with his “no kill” policy even when he lost all of his fellow Diva pilots that anything he “accomplished” in the finale felt more paint by numbers rather than earned. Kio was right about one thing: Yurin would never have approved of Flit’s near genocidal actions or the dark path he’d taken since her death. I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again, Flit’s ever strong connection to Yurin made it surprising he even started a family with Emily. If he were that driven by vengeance, Asemu and Kio probably wouldn’t have existed and…I wonder if the show might’ve been better for it. Just focusing on Flit across the decades would’ve made a more consistent tale, even if I’d still hate the man he became. Flit might be just a hair above my most hated Gundam protagonist, Shinn Asuka from Gundam Seed Destiny, but they aren’t all that dissimilar. The only difference is, Shinn was always a villain from the get go, no matter his origins. Flit at least started as an idealistic would be savior before slowly turning into the villain of his own story.
Any other thoughts on Kio? Not really. Again, I feel he was meant to be a balance between Flit and Asemu’s ideals and thoughts on the war but he just ended up being shoe horned in without a clear roadmap. He ended up being molded into a new age Kira Yamato from Gundam Seed (ironic since AGE, like Seed, kicked off a new decade for the Gundam franchise) except done worse. Kira didn’t want to kill on the battlefield but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t. He eventually just became a full blown Terminator and immobilized your Mobile Suit while giving you a “don’t make me come back and finish the job” glare. All Kio did was whine and whine and whine. He even risks his life to save the out of control Ezelcant clone they threw into the story at the last minute because…screw it, the stories done and so am I with Kio Asuno.
Time for Final Thoughts. Mobile Suit Gundam AGE was bad, really, really bad. It’s ambition to tell a new kind of story was a lofty one and in the end, it collapsed under the weight of that ambition. It wasn’t helped by some of the worst character writing and cast in the entire Gundam franchise from confused wrecks like Zeheart to cowardly Captains like Natola to last minute throw ins like Girard Spriggan and the expectation we’ll like them for no reason other than SHUT UP AND LIKE THIS CHARACTER!!!. Of the three main protagonists: Flit was an asshole; Kio was forgettable; and Asemu proved he deserved his own show altogether. In fact, Gundam AGE might’ve been done a better service by having four separate but connected shows. It could’ve gone in on having the Advanced Generation becoming the next long running Universal Century of the new millennium. This would’ve allowed each time period to breath and develop their casts and plotlines more organically and smoothly before bringing it altogether for the final arc. Instead, everything is rushed and the writers demand you like characters when we have no reason to do so. And honestly, the kiddy animation always bothered me. It’s like they wanted AGE to be more lighthearted than Seed or 00 but the Video Game aesthetic to the character and Mobile Suit designs never felt like they meshed together well and would be better suited to a Build Fighters or Build Divers series. Add it all up and watching this series just became a joyless experience and it only got worse and worse, especially once we got to Kio’s story.
In a way, I can kind of compare Gundam AGE to Gundam F91. From what I’ve learned, AGE was meant to be a much longer show, running for about a year and a half. But for whatever stupid reason, it was condensed to a more (at the time) traditional episode length of around 48-50 episodes. It would explain the rushed, condensed and at times confusing storytelling just as with F91-whereas that began as a TV Series and ended up forced into a 2 hour movie. Unlike F91, however, I feel little sympathy for Gundam AGE and I couldn’t wait to be done with it. It was bad pure and simple and…wow, I never thought id find a Gundam series I hated nearly as much as Gundam Seed Destiny. And if it weren’t for a couple of character MVP’s and at least one Asuno being likeable (Asemu), it could possibly be worse than Seed Destiny. Also Flit gets a statue…no just…no.
Mobile Suit Gundam AGE receives an extremely
disappointing 3.5/10.
But…sigh, we’re not done just yet. While I’m all set and ready for After War Gundam X, there’s still one last tale in the Advanced Generation…and it’s a compilation movie. Who knows though, maybe giving more focus to Asemu and Zeheart’s friendship might salvage something…or I’ll rank it lower than the series, either way, we’re doin this. Check back Monday as we finish off Gundam AGE with Memory of Eden right here at the Gundam Anime Corner.
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