If there was ever a time when the pressure was on for Gundam AGE, it was now. This set of episodes had a big task ahead of it and its success or failure would set the benchmark for how this multi arc story would be handled across the remainder of its episodes. Could AGE close out Flit Asuno’s saga while laying the groundwork for his son to take over? The answers kind of vary but the end result was…ok. The Battle of Ambat could have been bigger and better but the fallout might just be enough to keep the series going into the next era.
Oh, poor, poor Yurin. The little Newtype…er sorry, X-Rounder (sounds like a random X-Men comic) joined the ranks of Lalah Sune and Four Muasame as the true love of the main protagonist who can never have that happy ending. Yurin was a nice girl who we never spent as much time with as we should have. I actually liked her as a love interest for Flit more than Emily. Yurin never pressured Flit to choose between her and his duty in piloting the Gundam and just seemed to be more understanding, probs thanks to the obvious factoid that Flit is an X-Rounder too. But true to Gundam form, Yurin falling for Flit only sealed her fate. Still, she sacrificed herself to save Flit but as predictable as that was, it was still pretty sad as all she ever wanted was to be with Flit forever. I wonder if we’ll see some form of Yurin as an X-Rounder ghost or something like that down the line.
Whatever the case, Yurin’s death changed Flit forever. Gone was the kid who was determined to keep everyone safe from the UE. Flit was out for blood after Yurin died and man, oh man, it was so satisfying to see him beat the living crap out of Desil again. The moment where the AGE puts the final disabling blow on Desil’s Mobile Suit was particularly chilling and awesome, the AGE has never looked so threatening, ever (annnnd then it put on the annoying boxing look again and…yeah). Sparring Desil might prove problematic down the line but ill accept the little Damien clone being left to drift in space, bawling his eyes out because Flit kicked his ass again at his own game. Normally, you’d see this rage induced change kind of wrap itself up after an episode or two once a major revelation about a character is made. But Flit’s arc bookmarks itself with Flit in a dark place now that the battle is over and he now knows what he knows. Flit wants revenge but how far will he go to get it?
Grodek went the extra mile and got his revenge at the battles climax. Amidst a sea of revelations, least of all was the UE were actually humans called the Vagans (definitely not as cool sounding as Nadesico’s Jovian Lizards but what can you do), we learned that the leader of this contingent sent from Mars was led by Yark Dole, who was responsible for instigating the first Vagan attack on Angel Colony that claimed the lives for Grodek’s family. At first I wondered if Flit was so far gone that he’d be the one to kill Dole, but Grodek pulled the trigger instead. Naturally, this isn’t ending the Vagan threat altogether and even though Grodek goes to jail because the Earth Federation sucks (more on that in a sec), but he also let Dole’s kid know he was the one who did the deed. Will Dole’s son come looking for Grodek in the future? Or will he break the cycle of vengeance and hate.
There was a lot to unpack in the last few minutes of the
Battle of Ambat. So yeah, the Vagan are
humans sent to Mars to begin a new colonization project but were soon exposed
to a Mars virus and the EF wrote them off as dead. Ok, that’s reason enough for revenge but
we’re also kind of at a similar point in Gundam Seed, only much sooner:
meaning-Between the EF and Vagans…there aren’t any good guys. I more mean the two biggest power factions
are both despicable in that theyre rotten to their cores. The Vagans have the motivations but also kill
without reason and have psychopaths like Desil who view the loss of human life
as trivial compared to what they’ve been through. What little we’ve seen from the EF have been
cowards and “yes men” who do as told regardless of how heinous the act. It's kind of a miracle Grodek lucked into a
crew with a heart of gold, even though he had to trick them for most of his
tenure as Captain of the Diva. Hell, the
EF lockd up Grodek even though he led the successful counterattack against
Earth’s enemies. So the crew of the Diva
is fine, just like the Archangel. But
can we even root for Flit now with his mind now consumed with revenge like
Grodek’s used to be?
From all my comments up til now, you’d think I actually had no problems with
this final set of Flit episodes. Well
most of that came from the last third of the segment. Everything else felt either standard or
underwhelming. The actual Battle of
Ambat didn’t carry a lot of weight too it despite the odds against the Diva and
its makeshift fleet. Yes, it was cool to
see Madorna and his wife join in and the Diva got to transform into a next
generation White Base. But nothing felt
on the line except for Flit and Yurin.
There were no major casualties (for the good guys) and the stakes never
felt high enough. Maybe that’s because
this wasn’t the true end of Gundam AGE.
And yet there were some attempts to throw in some character growth to
make us worry about everyones safety. It
worked for Yurin but not so much for Lagann, who has basically been the odd man
out ever since Woolf came in and showed that the Diva only needs Woolf and Flit
to be their Mobile Suit force. Lagann
was given a last minute would be love triangle arc between him, Woolf and
bridge officer Millais. But that never
really went anywhere…so why is Lagann even around and why didn’t he get knocked
off the board? The whole affair other than
the events inside Ambat itself were just…really underwhelming.
Still, this is only the quarter mark of the series. There are three more major arcs to go in Gundam AGE and when we return on Thursday, we’re getting kind of a fresh start as we jump forward in time about 25 years for the saga of Flit’s son, Asemu. With even more Vagan forces on the way and the cryptic promise of a master plan from Vagan leader Ezelcant, the Asuno familys gonna have its work cut out for it. See ya back here tomorrow for the start of the next chapter of Mobile Suit Gundam AGE.
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