As you’d expect, things got pretty chaotic and crazy for the penultimate chapter of Mobile Suit Victory Gundam. Space battles galore, the revival of old rivalries, some long term plans coming to fruition, hell we even had Uso tripping through a flashback hallucination thanks to the power of Angel Halo. I’m kind of surprised there’s still five episodes left to go because with the way things are going, there should only be like three tops. Anyway, onto the second to last part of Victory Gundam and how it sets the stage for the finale.
Each and every battle pushed Uso to his limits like never before. They also showed just how far he, Odelo, Tomas and their battle hardened family had come since first setting out for Kasarelia. Everyone worked well together and got in some good hits and a few personal victories too. It’s good to see all of this long term accomplishment now because next time, in the finale, who knows who will make it to the finish line. It’s a Tomino Gundam Anime so everyones card is up. Not sure if Uso will meet a fate similar to that of Kamille Bidan in Zeta Gundam. But he did find himself at the mercy of Angel Halo’s testing run. Just to clarify, yes, Angel Halo is being used for what I thought it was: to brainwash Humanity into forgetting about war and violence and just living peacefully. Uso was first distracted by images of a peaceful life on Earth with Shakti before getting bombarded with flashbacks to the deaths of every major League Militaire character in Victory Gundam. Thanks to Odelo and Tomas, Uso was able to overcome it but will Uso escape a second time if Angel Halo is activated in an official capacity?
While I did complain last time about Victory Gundam throwing us a sympathetic Zanscare character so late in the series, it was a decently done tale and it was followed up with a surprisingly heartbreaking tale of doomed Zanscare love. Pilots Kishowl and Kalinga were instantly likeable and adorable together but slowly found themselves in separate situations only for Fuala to manipulate them into killing each other. Death is certainly not surprising for this show but Victory Gundam made me wish we had more Zanscare characters to care about like these two doomed lovers. Most of the other Zanscare characters showed their true colors like the aforementioned Fuala going further down her crazy hole and we got to learn about how she survived being tossed into space and how she came to be in Tassilo’s service. Speaking of Tassilo, the longtime antagonist staged a coup against Kagatie and captured Queen Maria. He still wants her alive as a figure head and I wonder if Maria is realizing how foolish she’s been to trust everyone around her since they don’t share her peaceful plans. Don’t worry, a few longtime Zanscare foes met their ends in blazes of (embarrassing) glory such as Pippiniden and his subordinate Lupe near the end of the first big battle of the set.
Well I was pretty much inevitable that Shakti would be captured AGAIN this close to the end of the show. Though she saved the Zanscare some time and got herself voluntarily captured so she could be taken to her Mom so she could talk her into calling off this entire fiasco. And for once, I can lump Mother and Daughter together because I can see it now. Whereas Shakti sees no problem wandering the battlefields with a baby on her back like she’s shopping groceries, totally unaware of what’s going on around her; Maria doesn’t see the issue with a giant brainwashing machine, regardless of who has control of it. Do we even need to go over the “Volunteers” or “Psychickers” Kagatie procured to power Angel Halo and amplify Maria’s powers? DOES SHE NOT SEE ANYTHING WRONG WITH THIS PLAN AT ALL??!! I do see how Maria is so inspirational to her people and maybe she let her dreams and the hype she’s built around them blind her to the people she’s surrounded herself with: overly ambitious men and women who want power and conquest and will exploit her ideologies to their selfish benefit. To see things start to crumble before Maria, I can only shake my head, I’m not sympathetic. Same goes to Shakti, who seems rather chill (as usual) considering her Mom’s been kidnapped by Zanscare traitors and Cronicle wants to use her as the central controller for Angel Halo…why am I surprised by anything Shakti related by this point?
We ended this chapter with the final battle underway (unless we take a random break in the middle of the finale set of episodes) and Uso locked in a deadly duel with Fuala, the woman who showed him his first true horrors of war. The final goal is simple: destroy Angel Halo. The only question is: who is gonna die to make that happen? Again, it’s Tomino so expect a bigger kill count than even Zeta Gundam. Brace yourself, we’re back on Friday with the epic (hopefully) Series Finale of Mobile Suit Victory Gundam right here at the Gundam Anime Corner. Hold on tight everyone.
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