The next chapter begins. If yesterdays set of episodes had to prove Gundam AGE could end one of these mini arcs properly, todays set had to prove it could open them just as well and maybe even iron out some things going forward. Thankfully, the beginning of Asemu’s tale wasn’t as cut and paste as expected but there was one major problem that kept it from being more than it could be.
At the moment, I like Asemu but im kind of surprised he exists at all, seeing as how the last time we saw Flit, having a kid (much less two) was the last thing on his mind. Somehow in his 25 year quest to avenge his mother and Yurin, Flit married Emily and had Asemu and his younger sister Unoa. Unoa barely has any impact on anything so we’re just sticking with Asemu for the time being. He’s got a knack for Mobile Suit design like his dad but seems much more kinder and quite eager to please his Dad, who doesn’t seem to be around much. I do like that Asemu is very much a rookie when he first boards the AGE-1. Flit might’ve told him about the Gundam but he never taught Asemu how to pilot it. I thought it was weird that since Flit built the thing, he could pilot the Gundam no problem. Here, Asemu starts from scratch and begins to grow his skills slowly in the beginning, though there’s evidence to show he hasn’t inherited his fathers X-Rounder abilities.
For this second act, a special addition arrives in the form of Zeheart, who is destined to not just be Asemu’s rival but also Gundam AGE’s “Char Clone.” The kids got the X-Rounder skills, a Red Mobile Suit (the Zeydra), gets promoted to head of the Vagan’s new Earth Invasion Force…and he has a mask that he needs to pilot the Zeydra. While we don’t spend much time with them together as we could, I did like Asemu and Zeheart’s shared screentime and its clear its had an effect on Zeheart himself. For a moment when his infiltration mission was set to continue longer, he seemed happy. And he spared Asemu’s life after their amazing duel at the end of this set. Zeheart likes to play himself as the stone cold and unrelenting warrior with a righteous cause. But Asemu is someone he considers a friend, regardless of how much he tries to suppress that fact. It’s definitely leading to a more compelling central storyline than anything in Flit’s era.
We jumped about 25 years between Flit and Asemu’s stories but in addition to that, we skip about a year and a half worth of time between Asemu and Zeheeart meeting and Zehart being discovered as a Vagan spy. I had a feeling this kind of issue would rear its head eventually. Given how ambitious Gundam AGE is with how it wants to tell its story, time jumps between protagonists is inevitable. Time jumps within those arcs to skip over some important character bits, that’s not good. While I did like Zeheart’s reveal to Asemu, the full dramatic weight wasn’t there because we’d only spent about two episodes with the pair before it happened. I imagine each arc is going to be 13-15 episodes each. So why couldn’t we get a couple more episodes dedicated to Asemu and Zeheart becoming better friends, besties even? The second act has some work to do to keep the story of their fractured friendship compelling despite the lack of proper build up to a powerful moment we knew was coming.
So I’ve talked mostly about Asemu and Zeheart and a little bit about Flit, who else is around for this new adventure? Well we got a bunch of returning faces including Emily, Vargas and Dique, who’s now the Diva’s chief mechanic and his daughter, Arisa, is even one of Asemu’s fellow pilots. Woolf returns as well as leader of Asemu’s Mobile Suit team aboard the Diva, now under the command of Millais. We don’t know what’s become of Grodek but I like to imagine he’s still around somewhere. Oh and Desil is alive and grown up and still a rotten piece of work as ever. Oh and he’s Zehart’s brother and man does he have a bone to pick with him. Zeheart clearly got the kinder heart of the two brothers cause I doubt he’d want to kill Desil if (God forbid) he got his own command. Desil hasn’t changed and I’m wondering if we’ll see him take on Asemu or even Flit again. Might be placing a little money on Zeehart killing him to protect either of them.
Naturally, the Gundam AGE-1 returns for the first few episodes of the second act. I don’t think this could’ve lasted long but seeing Asemu have to secretly defend his colony with the AGE-1 hidden in a barn felt very Super Robot-ish, like Power Rangers, and I’ll admit, that was a fun way to go about things. But this is a new day and that means a brand new Gundam. Enter the AGE-2 and damn it looks awesome. With wing blade like attachments and a bigger gun, this is one of the better updates or upgrades a basic Gundam has ever gotten. Actually, according to Dique the AGE-2 is brand spanking new and the AGE-1 is being sent off for some kind of refit supervised by Flit. Guess when the time comes to see father and son in action, Flit will be in the pilots seat of an old friend once more.
Gundam AGE’s second act has promise in a fresh new pair of leads, both on opposite sides of the escalating conflict. I wish we’d had more time to build up the Asemu/Zeheart bromance but we got will do for now…Gundam AGE just cant really afford to do much corner cutting in that regard no matter how short on time it is. The new status quo has been established. We’ll see how it goes tomorrow. See ya.
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