The second saga of the Asuno family is running at a break neck pace right now. We kind of breezed through Asemu and Zeheart beginning and unfortunate end of their friendship and jumped right to their new responsibilities with their respective forces. Now we get one major confrontation between the Earth Federation and Vagans along with a few extra surprises and a heaping helping of family drama now that Flit is taking a more active role in the saga. There’s definitely stuff to like but there’s no denying that Gundam AGE is moving too fast for its own good just to get its mini arcs all crammed in and that double edged sword is really showing now.
The Battle of Big Ring was about on par with the Battle of Ambat. It was one of the most important battles the Vagan faced for if they did breach this fortress, it gave them a straight shot at Earth. However, while the battle was intense, Gundam AGE tried to force the feels for characters I really don’t care about just to up the ante. I haven’t talked much about Asemu’s fellow crewmembers because, honestly, unless their a legacy like Arisa, they don’t really matter, nor do they get enough interesting screentime to matter. Case in point with three characters. Obright and Max are Asemu and Arisa’s fellow pilots. Max is pretty much certain anytime he goes out into battle he’s going to die…he’s a regular Michel Ninorich from 08th MS Team. As for Obright, nothings really made him special until now since he’s been given a love interest in the form of a cute and energetic engineer named Remi. The show is basically televising loud and clear that at least these two wont make it to the end of Arc 2. Granted, they tried to do the same thing with that undercooked Woolf/Millais/Largan love triangle and yet they all made it out ok (Largan’s been MIA during all of Arc 2 so far though). Point is, we’ve had two major battles in Gundam AGE and everyone is ok for the moment…well almost everyone but we’ll come back to that.
The Battle of Big Ring did allow Flit and Asemu to fight side by side in their respective Gundams. I’m amazed the AGE-1 still works as well as it does for a 25+ year old Mobile Suit. Guess Flit’s been taking better care of his unit than Setsuna’s banged up Gundam Exia after the four year gap between two seasons of Gundam 00. This meant that Flit got to throwdown with Desil for the first time in 25 years. Honestly, I feel like this should have been held off til the third or the final arc. Considering the direction they took with Flit at the end of the first arc, I’m amazed he’s had time to have a family since he’s dead set on revenge against the Vagan and Desil in particular. Granted, he and Desil couldn’t finish their duel at Big Ring but how long is this vendetta going to drive Flit and how much is it going to cost him? Asemu’s already got his own issues trying to live up to his fathers lofty expectations as an Asuno and Asemu isn’t even an X-Rounder like his dad. Flit doesn’t seem to have time for feelings at the moment…save for one instance that ties into a plot point I promise I’ll get to in a minute.
This set of episodes finally saw the return of Captain Grodek, fresh out of prison and poised to take a major role in coming events…and then he was promptly killed off after a brief two episode return where he only got to see Flit once. This feels like a waste. Grodek was one of the better characters of Gundam AGE and the man accomplished a lot despite the odds against him. Now don’t get me wrong, his actual death is poetic, being killed by the son of the man he killed back in Arc 1, a murder that kid witnessed. I’m glad Grodek let his “peace” with the whole affair shine through in his last moments, hoping the kid had found his own semblance of peace through this act. It makes me wonder if Flit will ever be that chill if he finally kills Desil. Granted Flit also has a vendetta with all Vagan because they killed his mother and Yurin. Honestly, it’s amazes me Flit has ZERO time to comfort his son and try to understand his problems, but he will cry for Grodek while cradling his body in the rain. Just sayin, Asemu’s needed a hug from his Dad for a long time now and Flit should start rethinking some things. Should also note that Grodek had intel about a possible EF/Vagan alliance behind the scenes that he wanted to warn Flit about…sounds like Arc 3 stuff already being planned.
Asemu and Zeheart’s continued rivalry continues to be both the beating heart of Arc 2 and the source of much frustration. Said frustration comes from their inability to accept the truths of their situation: despite Asemu wanting to please his Dad and live up to the Asuno name and Zeheart being desperate to fulfill Lord Ezelcant’s dreams…they both really want to be friends in the end. Asemu’s a bit more blinded to this because of Zeheart’s betrayal and even pulls a gun on him, a mirror of the graduation ceremony where he stood between Zeheart and a Policemans gun. He’s so desperate for Flit’s seal of approval he’ll turn in his best friend to score brownie points. And Zeheart has had multiple times to kill Asemu, even threatened him with death if he ever saw him again. Time and time again, Zeheart has let him live and even confronted Asemu in person to ask him to stop fighting so he wouldn’t lose the Asemu he once called his friend. You wanna smack both of them but you also kind of want them to sort their stuff out pronto. However you stack it, if Arc 2 is going to have any major casualty, it will probably be Zeheart (and not just because I know the final arc will see the three Asuno’s teaming up). And it will probably be in some kind of sacrifice for Asemu too. Who knows, maybe that will change not just Asemu’s view of things, but Flit’s as well.
I will say that some of the action in this set was actually pretty cool. Turns out, the Vagan have an elite X-Rounder Only unit called the Magicians 8. We don’t get to see much of them but they do tear through a lot of EF forces like they were tissue paper. Luckily, unlike the AGE-1’s first dismal upgrade, the AGE-2 got one helluva improvement with the AGE-2 Double Bullet. Sure it just replaces the AGE-2’s wing attachments for the most part but holy crap it allows Asemu to take on multiple opponents at once and actually puts him on par with an X-Rounder. He managed to take down a couple of Magician 8 members and force a retreat. Zeheart even had to throw in a familiar jab about the Mobile Suit being the reason Asemu survived the battle and not his skills…I’d say Asemu is starting to get better but if he believed in himself Zeheart’s words wouldn’t ring so true.
As quick and unexpected as it was, Gundam AGE saw the death of another major character in this set while Asemu and Zeheart hashed out their problems and probably ended up creating more than they solved. When we come back next time, we’ve reached the conclusion of Asemu Asuno’s story and the halfway mark of Mobile Suit Gundam AGE. How will they tie up Zeheart’s crusade and set the stage for the third Asuno offspring? We’ll find out on Monday. See ya then.
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