Tuesday, December 21, 2021

Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ Part 2 Episodes 6-10

Hounded by continued attacks by Axis Zeon forces, the Argama decides to leave the Shangri-la colony.  With them go Judau Ashta and his band of scavengers, now officially members of the AEUG.  It is a time of uncertainty and growing pains as Judau and company struggle to adjust to life with the AEUG while continuing to battle the Axis Zeons who want to see the Argama taken down for good.  New faces appear and old friends bid farewell as a new conflict begins to brew in space.  The question is: how long until the Axis Zeons start getting serious about their plans for the Colonies and the Earth Sphere?
 
I cannot believe I miss the bleak drama of Zeta Gundam.  I cant believe I miss the menace of the Titans.  Yet here we are.  Ten episodes in and I would gladly sacrifice Judau and every single member of his crew if it meant we could have Kamille, Emma and most of the characters lost in Zeta Gundam back (Katz and Sarah can stay gone, no one wants them back).  Hell, when that actually goes for Scirocco, Bask Oum and Jamitov as well, holy crap, you want the mass murders back because theyre the better villains?  Things could not be that bad with Gundam ZZ…no…theyre worse.
 
After more meandering and wash, rinse, repeat in Shangri-La, the Argama finally left port and returned to space.  You’d think things would start picking up after this.  Instead, we continued to see why Judau and his little gang are the worst things to happen to the early days of Gundam (whether or not theyre worse than the crew of the Minerva in Gundam Seed Destiny is still too early to call).  Half of them are lazy, the other half do nothing but complain.  Beecha and Mondo become so desperate to go home to Shangri-La (because being on the Argama actually requires working) that they purposefully begin transmitting the ships coordinates to the Neo Zeons on their tail.  And they’ve gotten away with it twice, TWICE!!!! Judau isn’t much better, constantly bitching about having to be the ships savior when he is literally the only person capable of piloting the Zeta Gundam.  Even Fa admits she wouldn’t do a great job and she’s the longest serving pilot left on the Argama…that’s just freaking sad.  One could argue that Seed Destiny’s Minerva crew was misguided and foolish.  But Judau’s group is selfish and spoiled to the core…our heroes ladies and gentlemen…watch them survive til the end of the series while we had to watch Emma die and Kamille suffer a fate worse than death.
 
This series should be over based on the ruckus that Judau and his friends are causing.  It’s only because they are facing super incompetent enemies that they’ve survived so long.  Mashymre is preaching false chilvalry “inspired” by Haman (who he’s still fantasizing about and even im getting sick of it, no amount of Haman in cute outfits will change that).  Yazan continues his fall from villainous grace as he’s been reduced to stealing pigs to eat and banging on the Argama in a Mobile Suit like a monkey in the jungle.  We even see instances that most of Mashymre’s crew is just as deluded and overzealous as he is.  This is the First Neo Zeon?  This is the feared enemy Char was talking about in Char’s Counterattack?  I don’t buy it and Haman, THE REAL HAMAN, needs to get in here and deal with these guys personally for screwing up so badly theyre being bested by a crew of spoiled brats and a ship that’s barely holding together. 
 
It's frankly a miracle there is something positive to talk about in this set of episodes.  The newest addition to the Argama crew is also hands down the best thing about the show: Roux Louka.  Beautiful, cocky and a quick thinker, Roux feels like the girl who should have been the main character instead of Judau.  She’s about as mature as Judau even though she’s a little older.  But her trickery around the Neo Zeons to escape captivity wasn’t the most annoying thing in this show so far and she’s at least willing to help out around the Argama without really needing to be told to.  Believe it or not, when Judau can stop bitching for five minutes, his piloting skills are improving (common sense not so much).  The final battles in Shangri-La and in space were decent and Judau even killed a bunch of Mashymre’s soldiers (whether he realized it or not), finally showing some of that potential Bright claims he possesses.  Finally, we said farewell to a longtime Zeta character, Fa.  I cant believe she used to be one of Zeta’s weakest characters.  But Fa has grown and has really stepped up to take charge on the battle weary Argama.  But we all knew she didn’t want to be there, not because everyone should avoid Judau’s junk crew like the plague, but because Fa needed to be with Kamille.  And she got her wish after saving Judau’s sorry ass one more time.  Fa’s lucky.  She’s survived Zeta, she gets to look after Kamille AND she’s no longer on the Argama which is a shadow of its former Zeta glory.  Take care of our boy Fa and may we meet again.
 
When Bright Noa must tell his chief mechanic, Astonage to “Kick the Zeta Gundam in the ass.  Get it moving” because Judau doesn’t wanna protect the ship, its further proof that Gundam ZZ is deserving its bad reputation with each passing episode and no amount of Roux Louka cuteness can mask it.  I can see now why it hasn’t been revisited or is barely mentioned in later Universal Century stories.  And they say it eventually gets better.  The question is, when I get there (no point jumping ship when im committed now) will I even care?  Miracles have happened but I’ve been burned before and Gundam ZZ is becoming a close rival to Gundam Seed Destiny and Gundam AGE as the worst thing to happen to Gundam EVER!!!  If you’re enjoying my rants, I’m sure I’ll have more to rant about tomorrow as Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ unfortunately continues right here at the Gundam Anime Corner.

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