Jeez, the rumors about Victory Gundam being the darkest of the Gundam series so far are proving to be all too true. Theyre so true in fact that even the brief bits of levity don’t really gel with everything else going on in the series. One thing is for sure, Victory Gundam is pulling no punches. To me, Gundam has never seemed so grim since I reviewed the first half of Gundam Thunderbolt a few years ago. Does that mean it’s a good show? Well I still think Victory has a few more wrinkles that need to be ironed out and that includes characters making up their minds as to where they want to be in this war.
I don’t envy Uso’s position in this entire affair. He might not be the only one capable of piloting the Victory, heck even an injured Marbet was able to take it into battle at least once. However, Uso is the only one I dare say is better suited. That’s not a crack at Marbet but she isn’t at 100% strength yet. No, we finally got some whispers that everyone believes Uso might be a Newtype, which would explain why he's so in tune with the Gundam and can switch back and forth between blowing up enemy Mobile Suits or just disabling them. That’s a rare talent…in the form of a 13 year old kid who just wants to live with his best friend and wait for his parents to come home. An issue I did take was Uso basically deserting and returning to the League Militaire (which im abbreviating to LM for the bulk of these reviews), at least three times before coming back to them when a battle started. It’s a bit of a time waster and a very repetitive and tired trope of Gundam. Every pilot tends to desert once but three times is pushing it, especially when the thing that brings Uso back is the thought of Marbet and the LM getting killed in battle. Kid, it’s time to make up your mind on this.
Victory Gundam is quickly establishing itself as a show that pulls no punches. The violence has been amped up to included not just scenes of torture but also we’ve got the Zanscare using a Guillotine to make an example of anyone who opposes them. The Principality of Zeon might have a lengthy list of war crimes to their name but the Zanscare are quickly catching up to them in a short amount of time. Heck, we even see some of the nastier side of the Zanscare soldiers who aren’t Cronicle in this set of episodes. Captain Wattary flat out killed two of his own men: one who was a coward when trying to fight the Victory and another who tried to assault Katejina. He then went nuts and blew himself up when he realized that Uso, a kid, had beaten him with the Gundam. These guys are either fanatical or just plain insane. I did take note that Wattary warned, no practically begged Uso to steer clear of the Gundam before this new war drove him insane. And you thought the One Year War was messed up. Speaking of, the Zanscare’s correctly identified the Victory as a Gundam. These guys know their history and I wonder if that will put a bit of fear into them. Judging from how they spoke of it, a Gundam hasn’t been seen in a while, at least since the events of Gundam F91. I think they know theyre in for a fight now.
While Uso had his own decisions to make about his role in things, I can say one insanely stupid one was taking Shakti and baby Karl with him on what should have been a recon mission. But recon missions in Gundam can quickly turn into battles and Uso put his best friend and a freaking baby at risk. Thank God the Zanscare held back when they took notice and Uso was able to get them to safety. But still, Uso was kind of dumb for allowing this to happen. And actually, Shakti isn’t any less guilty. She wanted to go with Uso and took Karl with her by choice. At one point, Karl’s non stop crying was driving me nuts but who can blame the kid when his guardians are acting like morons who take needless risks. I’ve got a pretty good idea as to why Shakti is still around in this series, besides being the main love interest for Uso…and God I hope we get to that revelation soon and hope that it’s worth stupidity like this.
Like I said earlier, Uso penchant for leaving and subsequently returning hurt the pacing of the show and it felt like we were stalling in place for several episodes. It also hurt the action in the middle portion when this was all going down. The episodes bookending this set, however, had some great action sequences. As much as I chide the decision to keep the Victory Gundam separated into three parts, Uso was able to use various combinations to great effect against the Zanscares, props to his piloting ability and quick thinking. The end of this set also introduced the predimonantley female Shrike Team. Their Mobile Suits might look like unfinished Gundams, and I’m sure that’s on purpose, but these girls were a force to be reckoned with out there, easily helping Uso out while also being impressed with his piloting skills. We also got to meet Oliver, the Shrike Team commander, and it looks like Marbet hates him based on the fact that he leads a team of incredibly hot Mobile Suit pilots, Jealous much? That said, Oliver also berated Uso for acting on his own and took up the age old tradition perfected by Bright Noa of punching the bratty Gundam Pilot for a stupid mistake. Does this mean Uso is officially a Gundam Pilot? Is this like a badge of honor most Universal Century Gundam Pilots had to go through or just the Tomino ones (Amuro, Kamille and Judau? Did Seabook get punched? I think he did).
I’m still not certain where Victory Gundam is heading nor am I clear on why things are the way they are in this era of the Universal Century. We haven’t heard a peep out of the Earth Federation and again, besides conquest, does the Zanscare Empire have any other goals? Does the LM have multiple cells across the world or just in Europe where most of the fighting is happening? I commend the show on taking darker chances and how its affecting Uso. But some more world building needs to be done and wasting three episodes on Uso’s run away and return to the fight when the fighting starts makes that more obvious. Still, we’re only 10 episodes into a 51 episode saga, there’s time to fix things…but still, other Gundam shows felt far more along by this point. Again, not ready to rate Mobile Suit Victory Gundam just yet…but let’s start making bigger strides eh? See you Monday for more reviews right here at the Gundam Anime Corner.
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