Friday, July 12, 2019

Turn A Gundam Part 6 Episodes 26-30


The Battle of Kingsley ends in victory for the Militia as the Willghem is fully unearthed.  Though Guin intends to use this to pressure the Dianna Counter into negotiations, an even more terrible discovery could tip the balance of the war.  One of the Dark History’s greatest horrors has been found by both the Militia and the Dianna Counter.  Loran races to stop both sides from committing a terrible sin but even he might be too late to stop what’s coming.  As the glow of a sun fills the skies at midnight, the Militia and the Dianna Counter will cross a line from which there will be no turning back.

After a pretty spectacular mid season finish, Turn A Gundam kicked off the second half of its saga with one helluva bang…literally.  Unfortunatley, we’re not heading for space as soon as I thought we might (30 episodes in and we’re still firmly on the Earth).  But Turn A Gundam had a topic that proved most important for these two warring factions mostly out of touch with the past, and that brought out some great drama.

Given how the Moonrace and the Militia have been digging up tons of “ancient” weapons from beam rifles to Mobile Armors, it seems obvious in retrospect that eventually one side would stumble across a nuclear weapon.  Well both did around the same time and it went about as well as you’d expect.  Thankfully, the Moonrace commander was fully aware of just how bad these bombs were once he realized what they were.  And then gung ho Gavane and his men decided to ignore all warnings and start a firefight to get this game changing tool of destruction.  On the one hand, I couldn’t help but think about Broken Arrow a couple of times and John Travolta’s iconic “Can you please not fire at the Nuclear Warhead” line.  On the other hand, if a character has been given multiple warnings about how freaking terrifying nukes are if theyre set off and they don’t listen…I wont lie, it’s going to be hard to care about their fates when the inevitable happens…and it did.  We lost Gavane and both the Moonrace and Militia were left in shock.  Its fitting the title of the episode in which the nuclear explosion happens, “Midnight Sunrise” cause the sight of the explosion from a far enough distance was exactly that…and no one thought it was pretty.

Thankfully, Loran and a Moonrace commander with natural sense came to the same conclusion that the last two bombs needed to be disposed of and kept out of the hands of the Moonrace.  This is an exceptionally good idea given how Kihel quickly found herself in trouble as Lt. Phil instigated a coup d’etat and sent out his minion, our ever reliable source of panic and disaster Ensign Poe, to reclaim the nukes.  God, Poe is easily the Sochie of the Moonrace.  Easily manipulated, thinking she’s above everyone else and has a hefty dose of “SEMPAI WILL NOTICE ME!!!” that plagued Gundam protagonist Kou Uraki in Gundam 0083, Poe is such a bad character.  It’s no wonder she is easily thwarted everytime she goes up against…well anybody.  Only this time she got defeated by Loran and Harry combined…and yes she was crying about it a lot later.  And while she was crying, Harry got to let loose his inner Char by fighting off Phil’s forces to protect Kihel as he escorted her back to the Militia.  I feel like we haven’t seen enough of Harry at his true levels of Char Aznable bad assery, so action scenes like this are a gift.

Should talk about Kihel and Dianna real quick.  So for a moment they were reunited (and holding each other in a very suggestive manner btw) and then they were split up again…only now their “parent trap” schtick took a strange turn.  So Harry escapes with Kihel but Dianna stays behind and both girls are still pretending to be one or the other to throw off their enemies.  Even Loran seems oblivious to the fact that he is talking with Kihel once again and not Queen Dianna.  I’ll admit, I was getting confused myself and wonder how much longer I could still like this swapped identities plot before I just got fed up with it.  Or maybe I was hoping that Dianna would be the one brought back to Loran cause they’re really cute together and their scenes have been some of my favorite of the series.  So, just to set the record straight: Kihel is back with the Militia but pretending to be Queen Dianna and Dianna is back with the Moonrace and pretending to be Kihel.  Ok, got it, good.

With all the drama going on, it might seem strange that one of my favorite episodes from this set involved a character I didn’t like in the past.  I was groaning when I found out that maniac Corin was still alive.  However whatever additional brain damage he incurred after fighting Loran has done him wonders.  His stand alone/filler episode saw Corin living like a Priest and running into a village where Moonrace and Earthers were living in harmony.  Corin even befriended a small child who he made laugh plenty of times.  It was kind of adorable and even when Corin snapped cause he saw a parade float of the Turn A, he still tried to fight it but not to senselessly kill but to protect this place he called “Heaven.”  It’s a huge step up and a good turn to make Corin likeable rather than a bloodthirsty sociopath.  Equally strange, Sochie might actually be taking steps to become a better character.  After losing Gavane and hearing the desperate pleas of a Moonrace commander who doesn’t want another nuclear blast to happen, Sochie seems to be more open to listening to things rather than rushing in half cocked…or at least she wishes she could be that understanding.  Hearing her admit she envious Loran is a better person than herself is a pretty big step up…still don’t like her though, so one unlikeable character becoming likeable is my quota for the moment.

So, now that we’ve gotten another spectacular arc completed…CAN WE PLEASE GET INTO SPACE!!! I’d say that hopefully next week we’ll be there.  But I guess I need to temper my expectations and just enjoy the ride…which I have been.  Turn A Gundam has impressed me at every turn.  I just…really wanna see some fights in space sometime guys.  Even 08th MS Team, which was set predominantly on Earth, had some space combat in its first episode.  Sigh, patience I guess.  See ya next week as Turn A Gundam continues.

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