Tekkadan finally arrived on Earth but their job is far
from finished. With their destination
set by Kudellia, the group readies itself to face the brunt of Gjallarhorn’s
Earth based forces. The battles that lie
ahead will cost Tekkadan more than Orga ever dreamed but will he give in to the
losses or use them as fuel for Tekkadan’s fire?
Meanwhile, Kudelia prepares to take centerstage to plea her case to
Earth while McGillis enacts his own plans, putting those who trust him the most
in inescapable danger. Will Tekkadan be
able to see its first big job to completion and, if so, how will it change the
fates of both Earth and Mars?
While watching this mid series set, I was thinking about
a unused quote from Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, well one that was in the
trailer but didn’t end up in the final film, “What will you do if they catch
you?
What will you do if they break
you?
If you continue to fight…what will
you become?”
Mika, Orga, Kudelia,
McGillis, the whole of Tekkadan, Gaelio, Ein.
This quote could be applied to just about everyone in Iron Blooded
Orphans and it served as a good driving point for the end of the journey
everyone has been on since Mars.
A new
battle is sure to begin next time but for now, let’s focus on how this first
half of Iron Blooded Orphans wrapped up in a pretty epic and bloody fashion.
Whereas losing Fumitan proved a powerful push for
Kudelia, Biscuits death served that same function for Orga.
Biscuits character is very much in the same
vein as the brotherly supporting characters that have permiated Gundam over the
years: Ryu Jose, Neil Delandy and Schwartz Bruder from Mobile Suit Gundam,
Gundam 00 and G Gundam respectively all come to mind.
Biscuit might not have been as combat capable
or eager to battle like the others but he was nonetheless Orga’s conscience and
the soul of Tekkadan.
Could Tekkadan
move forward without him around?
The
answer was always going to be “yes”.
But
how?
The answer came from Mikazuki,
though kind of at the cost of some of his progression I think.
Mika can be a stone cold and emotionless
killing machine whenever he’s in Barbatos but he’s shown increased levels of
compassion and understanding when around Kudelia and Atra.
For Orga, however, he tapped back into his
darker side to reinspire his best friend.
“How many do I have to kill to get to the place you promised we’d go
to?
Tell me and I’ll make it
happen.”
It was very much the return of
the Mika we saw gun down CGS members without a second thought.
I might not be ok with it but it was just
what Orga needed to return to command and tell Tekkadan that Gjallarhorn was
going to pay for the losses they inflicted.
Biscuits death also brought into frame the central
dilemma of children in combat.
Orga and
Merribit butted heads several times over the matter, particularly during the
fight against Carta.
Merribit still sees
Tekkadan’s force as lost children who need love and proper guidance now that
they’re no longer slaves to the CGS.
She
doesn’t want them to see the horrors of violence and war.
However, all of Tekkadan was hit hard by
Buscuit and every single member of any age group wanted payback…and man did
they get it.
It broke Merribit to see
all of Tekkadan watch Mikazuki slaughter Carta and her remaining men.
Even Yukinjojo agreed with her, that the boys
were on a one way trip to the afterlife but none of them cared so long as they
got their revenge.
Granted, Orga kept up
that appearance for a bit but in truth, he didn’t want to lose anyone else even
though it was inevitable.
He gave all of
Tekkadan several chances to back out if they wanted but urged those that stayed
to push forward and gamble on the future their success would bring if they
won.
Even Kudelia, who has her fair
share of blood on her hands even if she never spilled it, was on board with
embracing the firery spirit of her protectors.
Sometimes, this is just how family works and if it unites it and gets
the job done, not everyone has to like it, sorry Merribit, it’s messed up but
Tekkadan got the job done in the end.
By
the way, the battle with Carta was WHOA.
I cannot believe she was so naieve and full of herself that Tekkadan was
going to play by her staging and rules.
The moment where Mika interrupted her declaration with Barbatos’ hammer
was great.
Yeah, everyone knew she was
the one who killed Biscuit and with that, Carta’s time was inevitable.
Seriously, she really expected the fight to
go any way other than a one sided ass kicking?
She had no idea who she had pissed off and Mikazuki’s righteous revenge
against her is easily one of the best moments in the series.
The final two episodes of this set were a good
culmination of the journey til now.
Tekkadan took some heavy losses though no major Tekkadan or Teiwaz
characters were killed.
Granted that’s a
bit odd and I have been banking on some characters to bite it because they were
too eager to prove themselves (looking at you Ride).
But nope, Shino, Lafter and Azee all looked
like they had gotten taken out by a psychotic, cyberized Ein but theyre ok,
so’s Ride (HOW?!).
Still, that didn’t
stop the Battle of Edmonton from being as bleak and violent as Merribet predicted
it would be.
Tekkadan wasn’t winning
without some casualties and it looks like they lost a lot.
As I mentioned, a lot of this came from Ein
riding in, now completely merged with his Mobile Suit to become a swifter and
more powerful weapon.
It was with this
that McGillis finally stepped in and revealed his endgame to Gaelio.
He believes that cyberizing Ein is the final
proof he needs of Gjallarhorn’s corruptions since they’ve long outlawed and
looked down upon such a procedure, yet are willing to break their own taboo to
destroy Tekkadan.
McGillis believes
Kudelia and Tekkadan are the perfect allies for taking down Gjallarhorn’s regime
and yes, he’s used his position in Gaelio and Carta’s lives to get this
far.
At least he’s willing to take down
Gaelio himself rather than let him die by other means, a la Char with Garma in
the original Mobile Suit Gundam series.
Also more Char comparisons, McGillis has a Red Mobile Suit.
The Battle of Edmonton gave the core cast time to shine
and close out their character arcs for now.
Mika tapped into Barbatos and risked everything to kill Ein (hopefully),
proving that even though he’s emotionless in battle, he still has a great deal
of love for his friends and will risk all to see their dreams fulfilled.
Kudelia, with the help of Atra who drove her
to the assembly building, got to take the stage and plead her case to the Earth
Assembly, setting into motion McGillis’ plans for breaking down and
restructuring Gjallarhorn.
And Orga
stepped up to lead the charge of his men against Gjallarhorn, leading by
example and risking his own life much like he had asked of his brothers.
And yeah, as twisted as it was, it was good
to get some clarification of McGillis’ motivations and see him effortlessly
take down Gaelio.
As for Ein, he was so
far gone he actually made piloting a Mobile Suit look scary as hell.
His constant proclamations that becoming one
with a Mobile Suit was the next step in human evolution was so twisted that he
was even scaring his own men.
Thankfully, Mika going all out with Barbatos put him down for good
(again, hopefully).
Mika might’ve paid a
heavy price for that (his right arm is shot and he cant see out of his right
eye) but he proved that inspite of killer instincts, he’s still more human than
what Ein had become.
Question now is: What’s next?
I’ll admit, if Iron Blooded Orphans had ended
here at 25 episodes, I’d be ok with that.
It told a self contained story and everything came to a satisfactory
conclusion for all parties involved.
Or
if I can be blunt again: It did more with it’s 25 episodes than Reconguista in
G did so that makes it better by default.
But yeah, is Gjallarhorn done for?
Unlikely and I don’t think they’d give up power without a fight.
What about McGillis?
His friends are dead and his father is in
exile, does he just take over Gjallarhorn or does he try something new?
What will Kudelia’s new role be in the
government?
What’s next for
Tekkadan?
I guess a lot of these are
questions that normally come with the end of any Gundam series but in this
case, Iron Blooded Orphans still has 25 episodes to go so hopefully these
questions and more get answered.
All in all, this was a helluva way to cap off the first
half of a pretty intense but good Gundam series.
Where things go from here, you’ll have to
come back tomorrow for that as we get our asses back to Mars to kick off the
second half of Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron Blooded Orphans, right here at the
Gundam Anime Corner.
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