MSG Iron-Blooded Orphans - G-Tekketsu

[vejita613]

http://i.imgur.com/XBigd6w.jpg


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=35YT5GOHSdY

Kidou Senshi Gundam: Tekketsu no Orphans
Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans
G-Tekketsu

Directed by Tatsuyuki Nagai
Written by Mari Okada
Music by Masaru Yokoyama
Studio Sunrise
Network MBS, TBS
Original run October 4, 2015


Plot Summary: 300 years after a great conflict between Earth and Mars known as the "Calamity War," a woman named Cordelia sets out on a journey to Earth to speak for the independence of the Martian city of Chryse, which is under the control of the Earth government. Escorting her is the private security company CGS members Mikazuki Augus and Orga Itsuka. When a group named Gjallarhorn attacks CGS and Cordelia, Orga sees this as a chance to rebel against CGS and launch a coup. Mikazuki and Orga are thrust into a new conflict. To fend off Gjallarhorn, Mikazuki rides an old mobile suit from the Calamity War, powered by a nuclear reactor, the Gundam Barbatos.
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=17329

Looking good. Looking really good. I haven't been this excited for Gundam since 00 tbh. Gundam Barbatos looks strange (especially in the waist area), but I'll reserve judgement for now.

That being said, I guess I should finish up G-Reco, for what it's worth.

[Harima Kenji]

I'm interested as well, it can't possible be worse than G no Reconquista... the premise of upgrading a crappy/broken gundam sounds appealing. The art style looks nice as well, it gives a bit of a 08th MS team/ Gundam X feeling for some reason.
The Barbatos looks nice but incomplete, I'm interested in it's final form. The design gives me a bit of a F91 feeling

[Buffalobiian]

What waist?

[Munsu]

Here's episode 1 from Horriblesubs:
http://nyaa.se/?page=download&tid=740597

I renamed the thread for the time being so that's easier to tell from the main page in Last Post column.

[vejita613]

Not a bad start, but the Oujo is already annoying me. Barbatos' entry had some nice flair, though I thought it was odd he managed to get to it so quickly.

[shinta|hikari]

This is probably the best first episode for me this season. It is a glob of potential. I love the Olga and Mika combination of brains and brawn, and a cute princess who is actually heroic is a good catalyst for development.

Gundam Barbatos was pretty bad ass.

[Kraco]

a cute princess who is actually heroic is a good catalyst for development.


So far she has been ignorant and idealistic. And a tool.

I thought building the initial setting was a bit weak, but otherwise this is looking promising enough, as far as real Gundam shows go. One good single detail was the emphasis on the troublesome but vital power source. We saw the kind of low tech and relatively weak mecha restricted by their available power and then the mobile suits free from those restrictions. I hope the problems the space dudes mentioned will play a significant role later and be worse than those (intentional ones) in Reconquista.

It's kind of funny that so far nothing shown on Mars has really seemed worth fighting for.

[shinta|hikari]

So far she has been ignorant and idealistic.

That's why she is a good catalyst for the development of the two reality-jaded and pragmatic heroes. Nothing will ever change if they are all similar. This way, they can change each other, or at least I hope so.

[Munsu]

Here's episode 2:
http://nyaa.se/?page=download&tid=743332


I'm still working my way through Gundam 00, so haven't managed to check the first episode of this yet. Good to know at least that the reaction has been for the most part positive.

[Kraco]

Quite a decent fight. I wish they staid this way, more or less, even if guns were used more, and didn't delve too deeply into the quantum space, ridiculous technology & arms races, and all the other sort of weirdness the last portions of Gundam shows are oft guilty of. This even had the very nice balancing effect of Mikazuki passing out due to the stress from the neural interface. So, if the battle had lasted longer, he would have died automatically. If that remains a factor also in the future, it's something big for them to keep in mind as well as keep it a secret from the enemy.

[shinta|hikari]

The battle was really well done. It included tactics with the friendly fire and the dust screen, yet still showed of Barbatos's power with the jumping and dashing around.

I really like the princess. She screws up but immediately realizes it and wishes to fix it. I am rooting for her as Mikazuki's partner instead of that other generic girl with the wrist strap.

[Kraco]

I really like the princess. She screws up but immediately realizes it and wishes to fix it. I am rooting for her as Mikazuki's partner instead of that other generic girl with the wrist strap.

Mikazuki would fit better together with Atra. He's short (shorter than Kudelia) and kind of ordinary looking, whereas the princess is quite tall and regal looking. She would look better standing next to Orga, who looks flashy, unlike Mikazuki. In fact I was surprised it was Mikazuki who ended up piloting the Gundam, not Orga. Kind of gave me Gurren Lagann vibes in that sense.

[shinta|hikari]

This show is awesome.

[Kraco]

Episode 3 - HS


- - --- --- - -




That coup was brutally realistic. First they rendered the old guys totally powerless by poisoning them all and then executed the ones who objected the most. Considering how those people had been treating the younger ones, they certainly got what they deserved. Still, you rarely see stuff like this in anime coming from the supposedly good guys. Excellent.

I'm starting to like Mikazuki more and more, and in fact I have to take back what I wrote in the previous post. It would be fine for Kudelia to end up with him. I rarely try to evaluate male characters in such terms, but I reckon Mikazuki belongs to the class of kuudere like many good emotionally broken female characters, whom I always find myself rooting for. It's not like I'd think less of Orga, especially since it looks like those two basically form a perfectly working team, but I now think Mikazuki is the one needing the girl in this story. Maybe Kudelia will think he needs saving from all the bloody deeds he needs to peform.

[shinta|hikari]

Kudelia is cute, noble, and courageous. Despite her life going through a roller coaster ride and ending up in the toilet, she still tries to stick to her ideals and find ways to reach them.

The loli can go to Orga. Mikazuki and Kudelia make a great pair. The height matching would be hilarious that way too.

[Kraco]

Episode 4 - HS



-- -- --- --



When you ally yourself with someone purposefully styling himself after Hitler, how surprising is it if you get backstabbed eventually?

I'm starting to think that maybe Orga will die before the end of the show. If you think about it, Mika is sort of like the main character here, but he's not his own man, despite how capable he is. It's a bit like in Gurren Lagann, where Kamina needed to die for Simon to grow up. Of course we are only 4 eps in now, but I have a feeling I don't necessarily see another fulfilling role for Orga. It's all the more so because there's some dynamics going on between Mika and Kudelia (and even a triangle countin Atra), whereas Orga is out of all such things.

[Harima Kenji]

As of now, Mika is only a vessel for Orga, he doesn't really have his own motives.. Orga either needs to die or somehow be unavailable for Mika in order for him to develop as an interesting character.

[shinta|hikari]

Mika isn't necessarily empty. He just trusts Orga enough to abide by what the guy says. When he ridiculed or scolded the princess, those were his words and beliefs.

[Kraco]

Episode 5 - HS




- - - -- - -



This is exquisite right now. I could more or less predict how the deal with Orcus would go, but the fine details were very nice here, including how they dealt with the hitler moustache (who was rendered a total tool by both sides). Tekkadan basically needed him to easily land a deal with a big enough business, while for Orcus hitler moustache himself was totally meaningless and thus Orcus naturally turned straight to Gjallarhorn.

Amidst all that I find Orga and Mika's disposition so enjoyable. The dudes have gone through so much shit during their life that something like a betrayal is merely business as usual. So, they could dispassionately prepare for anything during all this, basically forming their own plan that ended up working. They are so casual they could even end the whole thing by sending the traitor back as a joke. Another fine thing that I really hope will continue is how the fight proceeded. Tekkadan didn't really win it, they just stretched it long enough to be able to make their retreat, which was their only goal to begin with since the aim now is to travel away from Mars, nothing else.

Although I still can't shake the feeling Orga will eventually die. Like Mika, I'm liking his character more and more. He's a gambler easily boldly betting their lives on a single chance, yet a chance that's reasonable prepared. I don't in fact dislike how things stand with Orga being the brain and Mika being the muscle, but I guess years of anime tell me that the primary MC, Mika, can't stay that way, and for him to change Orga dying is the only way. It could even be that Kudelia and Mika would share Orga's role, as Kudelia right now has zero impact on anything. She's just cargo.

[Kraco]

Episode 7 - HS



- - - -- -




I wonder why it looked like the mafia operators were totally dominating this fights, even though Mika had wiped the floor with the proper military folks, including the battle scarred veteran whom he killed. That doesn't paint too good a picture about the national forces. On the contrary it makes one wonder what on Earth (or rather, what in space) these ladies have spent their lives doing.

I'm happy Orga had his fill of brazen action in this episode. He never really felt like a behind the desk type, so being merely a boss commanding others doesn't suit him. I liked how he kept looking at Mika during the failed negotiation, as if judging how crazy things Mika is expecting from him and not daring to settle for anything less.

[shinta|hikari]

Barbatos wasn't tuned right and didn't have the right equipment. And Mika didn't wipe the floor with the veteran. It was a close fight.

Mika controls Orga as much as Orga controls Mika.

This is probably my favorite gundam series yet. The fights are excellently directed and hair-raising. Now we have a new twin-tailed harem candidate.

[Kraco]

Episode 9 - HS




- - - - -



If this continues like this, Orphans will be my favourite Gundam show. This is a genuinely good and balanced show, not just as far as Gundams go. Although the real enemies have been a bit superficial so far, but I hope they get some flesh on their bones later if indeed that is of any relevance.

[shinta|hikari]

If this continues like this, Orphans will be one of my favorite shows period.

Every single scene is good or awesome. Amazing writing, amazing characters, amazing action. Amazing.

[vejita613]

I enjoy the show so far, but I can't share the same excitement level as you guys (not yet at least). The last two episodes have felt very filler like to me, what with the big detour to visit Turbine.

[Kraco]

I enjoy the show so far, but I can't share the same excitement level as you guys (not yet at least). The last two episodes have felt very filler like to me, what with the big detour to visit Turbine.

If you check the name of the show, it already reveals this a story of those orphans, the space rats. This detour, as you called it, is monumental for their growth. If you only look at this show from Kudelia's and perhaps the Martian politics' point of view, then it's a different thing, but I never felt that was the core of this story. This is also why I'm forgiving the almost goofy portrayal of Gjallarhorn so far.

[shinta|hikari]

What he said. This gundam is all about the characters, and I love it. It feels like the characters are moving the plot instead of the other way around.

[vejita613]

If you only look at this show from Kudelia's and perhaps the Martian politics' point of view, then it's a different thing, but I never felt that was the core of this story.

I guess that's what I've been more focused on. That and the mecha porn.

[Kraco]

Episode 10 - HS


- - - - - -





It certainly took Atra long enough to realise she doesn't need to compete with the highly feminine and sexy Kudelia if they just share Mika! But perhaps one doesn't naturally come to think like that before witnessing a working example of a harem. Not that Mika would have really shown a single second worth of any romantic interest in anybody. He barely displays the need for more mundane relationships for that matter. Orga is the only person he's connected with at a deeper level, but even that relationship is kind of ghastly in some ways.

Orga, however, showed pretty entertaining interaction with the new lady. Dunno if he's just shy and is thus acting coldly, or if he's genuinely trying to keep the woman at a safe distance since she's not one of them, not even a client like Kudelia. But even if the plot does build something between them, I still think Orga might end up dead before the end of the show.

I wonder when it'll be revealed Fumitan is an enemy agent. Almost every other time she's shown, she looks really guilty and somewhat suffering when Kudelia is treating her like a trusted friend and ally.

[Harima Kenji]

Fumitan is almost too obvious of a suspected villain.
I'm interested in where the show is going, since it's not focussed on the Gundams or battles itself, and that is rare for a gundam series. It really spends time building the characters. Also, as of now, there is no war. Some resistance, yes, but no open war.
It does foreshadow some big things. No matter what choice Kudelia made, there would be some form war.
She made de decision to go to earth and do her thing, because not doing it will just sign the death warrant of Tekkadan by the hands of Gjallarhorn on Mars and possibly the slaughter of the resistance on Mars.
I wonder if the "I hate Tekkadan"-guy will become the masked enemy in this series, If they decide to have one at all.

Strangely enough I'm still not sure what to think about this series. It's not blatantly bad like G no Reconquista, but it's not screaming "awesome" at me as well. If this is a proper 40-50 episode series, there is plenty of time to win me over, since I'm still very much excited for the new episodes. The 'real' look does hook me, even thought the non-gundam units are a bit bland for my taste. Maybe I'm just expecting more 'standard' Gundam from this series, even though I'm open to a change of direction in the franchise.

[shinta|hikari]

Fumitan is not a villain. She's a red herring.

[Buffalobiian]

HS - Episode 12 (http://www.nyaa.se/?page=download&tid=767631)


-----------------------






Caught up on this.

-This is one of my favourite gundam shows to date. It's really focused, started off low-tech, child (prodigy) pilots make sense.

-Mika x Orga is scary. Mika is a nice guy, but he's also some crazy, strong dog (rat) that will listen to Orga only if he's worthy. Pretty fucking scary. I'm an Orga fan, just like I was a Kamina fan. I'm really excited that he's still alive and hope it stays that way. For one, the Turbine alliance would by symbolically weak if one brother died off.

-Kudelia eyecandy is nice and shows her class, but her art can be pretty damn jarring as well. No one else has such detailed eyelashes, hair and eye patterns as she does. It's like everyone else came from G no Reconquista and she came from Seed.

-Merribit Stapleton hhhhrrng. Better than Kudelia IMO. She gave me more 'secret traitor' signals than Fumitan though. Big boss McMurdo Barriston had me worried too until he struck a deal with Kudelia and had a personal interest in her succeeding.

-Akihiro's red shoulder stripe throws me off. When I remember seeing it on one of his white T-shirts post-training I thought he was injured but sortied anyway. When he came back alive I was all WTF. Now I know that he just like to look like he's bleeding all the time -_-.

-The way they handled Akihiro's brother's 'rescue' was weird. Mika strikes the cockpit of his crew, but single him out to be saved. That doesn't sit well. At least send out message asking any slaves to defect over.

-The ED is amazing. The flac was hard to find, but it was found. I'd link, but I don't think anyone here listens to it over mp3.

[David75]

ED= Ravise your flagrant by Man with a mission. Wolf head guys ftw!

[Buffalobiian]

ED= Ravise your flagrant by Man with a mission. Wolf head guys ftw!

That's the OP David.

[David75]

That's the OP David.

Yup, my mistake and the horrible auto-suggestions from Apple....

[Buffalobiian]

HS - Episode 13 (http://www.nyaa.se/?page=download&tid=769835)

----------------------











Mikazuki, going in for the kill!

I didn't expect that. At least 3 pairings in this anime have a large age difference. I won't diss Orga for his lack of advances since he's got it tough managing everybody's interests. It's a little hard to see him pairing up with Merribit at the moment since she's still schooling him about being a responsible adult. With a time skip things may work out, but it'd feel quite unnatural if they kicked off soon. Maybe he'll die after all, and she'll find her handkerchief that he never actually lost.

Poor Atra being the butt end of every boob joke.

[shinta|hikari]

Boom.

This show continues to deliver. That sudden attack from Mikazuki came out of nowhere but made perfect sense. Excellent.

Atra better start executing her harem plan before Mika decides to grow some fidelity to someone other than Olga, er, Orga.

Kidding aside, these characters are all awesome. I love Mika's lines when he is talking with the side characters too. Kudelia might have elicited a stronger reaction if she tiptoed and squished Mika's face to her boobs, like the Fumi-hug.

[Kraco]

This show continues to deliver. That sudden attack from Mikazuki came out of nowhere but made perfect sense. Excellent.

Kudelia's reaction was suitably amusing as well. She hasn't really actively added much to the show all in all (she's like a part of the background setting giving Tekkadan the reason to act), but perhaps this will lead to something.

Mika is an interesting character in many ways. This scene added nicely to his personality also outside of battle.

This really is becoming my favourite Gundam show. I hope it stays like this till the end to earn the place.

[lelouch]

Great Gundam show? Absolutely.

Best Gundam show of all? Not in my opinion. How quickly Seed and 00 are forgotten.

[Buffalobiian]

I never actually got around to Seed. I've heard Destiny was shit though.

00? Not this level. The story felt fragmented. There wasn't exactly a pull. Season 2 of 00 felt more 'mainstream' (edit: than S1), but was executed better. The movie actually did a very good job of tying up loose ends, even if it wasn't considered great as a standalone film.

Unicorn was better than both of them from memory.

Build Fighters > Build Fighters Try in my book, mainly because of the more focused story. Overall they were fun, but I don't think it's appropriate to add them in for comparison. They'd do better in the Sports Anime genre.

[Kraco]

Of course this isn't finished yet, so it could still easily crash and become miserable, but if it manages to continue like this till the end, this will easily beat the likes of 00 in my mind. 00 suffered greatly from the annoying Gundam worship and that only got worse as the show went on. It even jumped into the fricking quantum space, though that was not all bad since it actually connected the best couple in the show (and I don't mean Setsuna+Gundam). 00 had some great characters, though. Al-Saachez is one of the best villains in my opinion, although the series failed to give him the kind of an end he would have deserved (not deserved as a person because he was a nasty villain, but as a character to make the story better).

I consider Build Fighters better Gundam shows than 00s, which tells something about 00's problems. But then again, I'm not a real Gundam fan, having never seen the old shows.

[vejita613]

Its all a matter of taste really. I loved 00. I wasn't a fan of AGE or Gundam Reconguista. A lot of fans also seem to treat Zeta like it's the second coming. Same with Turn A. SEED and SEED Destiny are still my favorite series, but I would agree that IBO does have a better story though so far and I would say its on par with the first season of 00. But, as I've said time and again to many a person, every Gundam series has its strong and weak points that appeal to or abrogate many people. That's one of the nice things about Gundam, there's something for everyone.

Anyways, back on topic....

HS episode 14 (http://www.nyaa.se/?page=download&tid=773285)

[Kraco]

It's cruelly realistic that under such circumstances a newbie, ignorant crew like Tekkadan would be easily used by the estalished power for smuggling weapons and stir up trouble serving some shady political motives. They never even thought to check the cargo they were hauling, which means it never occurred to them someone could be using them as mere tools. It's a good sign Orga immediately sensed things were taking a bad turn when their fame was suddenly out of proportions.

Fumitan's real purpose was confirmed now, but luckily she has grown too attached to Kudelia, no doubt because Kudelia treats her like family and is always relying on her. She has a far bigger heart than her stiff and cold behavior would suggest. Kudelia herself was damn cute in this ep. A nice contrast to Mika, who was acting like nothing out of ordinary ever happened.

[shinta|hikari]

Putting preference aside, I really think Orphans beats all other Gundam shows in terms of execution. They know what they are trying to do and doing it well. It's much harder to find glaring faults and far easier to point out highlights in this show.

I love the fact that Mikazuki's kiss probably saved Kudelia's life. If it weren't for that scene, Fumitan could very well have followed orders. It was that show of cuteness and innocence that pushed Fumitan (seriously, I love this name lol) to save her.

[Kraco]

(seriously, I love this name lol)

You aren't the only one! I always imagine it as Fumi-tan, which would be funnily ironic considering how purely professionally she's trying to act, avoiding fraternising with anybody, even seemingly keeping Kudelia at an arm's length, the best she can. Although she failed terribly this time when Kudelia came to ask for advice.

You are right about this show: It's quite hard to try to regularly find faults in it. It's far easier to keep mentioning the good things. Of course it does have it weaknesses like the uninteresting villains. At least the visible villains. Although that's still far better than something utterly stupid and unlikely, of course.

[Harima Kenji]

The biggest fault this show has, is that the mobile suits can be more present. They feel heavily underutilized. I think the most we've seen of them were in training sessions. Then again, there wasn't really a need for it. That, and the fact that this aims to be a more realistic gundam show. No dragged out fights, the fights are 'dirty' and fast. However, to me the stars of a gundam show must be the mobile suits. If this wasn't called a gundam show, this would all be fine. As I've stated before, I expect certain things from a Gundam series. I'm not writing it off or anything, but right now, it's just not yet Gundam to me.
Maybe it's just me, but I think the characters are rather 2 dimensional. If you really think about what we know about the main characters, I'm not getting very far. No backstories, no real motivations.

Another flaw is that right now, they are still building the characters and the world, without a whole lot going on. I've read recently that the series will only run for 25 episodes, so things are getting critical.
I'm assuming this will be a 2 season show (nothing announced, AFAIK), like 00 (can we get an awesome series like FMA: Brotherhood in between as well??) since they're building up só much it'll be a waste of effort otherwise. I mean, they are only 11 episodes away from the finale, and in episode 15 they introduce the masked villain... more episodes please! If they get 50 episodes, there is more than enough time for story and action to balance out, but as it stands now, they will need to rush things and it might become a clusterfuck like Reconquista. This series deserves to take it's time to develop. Potential enough to become a Gundam Universe of its own, like UC.

All the negativity aside (although that was the point of this post), I will rewatch the series with the Gundam-bias glasses off to see if I can get more out of the series if I see it as just a show. Besides that, I can also easily make a post praising the things the series does very well, so please don't think I don't like the series.

[shinta|hikari]

I'm not writing it off or anything, but right now, it's just not yet Gundam to me.

Which is actually a good thing, lol. Mech worship is a negative aspect in Gundam, IMO. The mechs are there for the story, not the other way around.



Maybe it's just me, but I think the characters are rather 2 dimensional. If you really think about what we know about the main characters, I'm not getting very far. No backstories, no real motivations.

It's just you. They've developed most of the characters, even the side characters, very well. We know their past (as seen in the flashbacks, which are rather short because they are kids) and dreams. We know exactly what makes them tick, yet they are still relatively unpredictable, like Mika's kiss or Orga's respect for brotherhood.

Thinking about it, I really like this show precisely because it isn't like a Gundam show.

[vejita613]

I'm assuming this will be a 2 season show (nothing announced, AFAIK), like 00 (can we get an awesome series like FMA: Brotherhood in between as well??) since they're building up só much it'll be a waste of effort otherwise. I mean, they are only 11 episodes away from the finale, and in episode 15 they introduce the masked villain... more episodes please! If they get 50 episodes, there is more than enough time for story and action to balance out, but as it stands now, they will need to rush things and it might become a clusterfuck like Reconquista. This series deserves to take it's time to develop. Potential enough to become a Gundam Universe of its own, like UC.
Honestly, I would say 50 is too much. I think 35 to 40 would be much better. Granted it would be very awkward for a time slot. Gundam seems to do much better when confined on time like 8th MS Gundam or something. It makes them really get down to the point of the story. That being said, IBO really does seem to be dragging on for a 25 episode series.


Which is actually a good thing, lol. Mech worship is a negative aspect in Gundam, IMO. The mechs are there for the story, not the other way around..

Thinking about it, I really like this show precisely because it isn't like a Gundam show.
That's....absurd. Why are we even calling this a Gundam show then? Why don't we just get rid of the mobile suits all together and have the setting take place in, I don't know...America. The whole crew is traveling from Oregon to Washington DC to protest labor laws or something. Oh, but not after taking detour after detour to Texas, Florida, and New York of course.
Look, I'm not saying the mecha porn has to be the defining part of the plot, but it certainly needs to have a bigger role than what we're seeing right now. It's like having a Godzilla movie and barely showing Godzilla. Ha, glad that's never happend before.

It's just you.

It's really not, but I'm trying very hard to reserve judgement until the end of the series. I'm hoping to be surprised. But, as it stands right now, most of these characters are fairly boring, Mika included. Seriously, Heero had more personality than him.

[shinta|hikari]

Let's agree to disagree then. Gundam fans apparently see things very differently for some reason. I for one am glad I don't see gundams flying around every episode.

[Kraco]

That's....absurd. Why are we even calling this a Gundam show then? Why don't we just get rid of the mobile suits all together and have the setting take place in, I don't know...America. The whole crew is traveling from Oregon to Washington DC to protest labor laws or something. Oh, but not after taking detour after detour to Texas, Florida, and New York of course.
Look, I'm not saying the mecha porn has to be the defining part of the plot, but it certainly needs to have a bigger role than what we're seeing right now. It's like having a Godzilla movie and barely showing Godzilla. Ha, glad that's never happend before.

You do realise that typically the science fiction held in the highest regard depicts issues and dangers of our modern society and times in a future setting by exaggerating or separating it to be seen more clearly, or to avoid pointing fingers too blatantly. Of course this is partly due to the fact that a totally alien setting, alien mindsets, alien cultures, and alien everything couldn't draw in anybody or get them invested emotionally. So, like you said, this could have told about the practical slaves and neglected children of our times, but such stories are often easier and more interesting to tell via science fiction. So, if you ask "why don't we just get rid of the...", you are actually dissing the whole sci-fi genre.

Mika has been staring at his Gundam multiple times. There are also a bunch of other signs. The Gundam worship is definitely there, but in a very pleasantly subtle manner compared to many other Gundam shows. It always annoys me if the mecha take the role of the main characters, not the people. It's equally annoying if mecha arms race ends up deciding the winner, not the skills and ingenuity of the operators and strategists. This is just my personal preference, but considering quite a few Gundam shows serve exactly what you wanted, it's only fair there's a Gundam show that, so far, serves my interests better as well.

[NeoCybercoin]

HS-Episode 15 (https://www.nyaa.eu/?page=download&tid=775656)

Ugh.....yet another masked man. Seriously what's up with the Gundam series and their masked men fetish?

[Buffalobiian]

HS-Episode 15 (https://www.nyaa.eu/?page=download&tid=775656)

Ugh.....yet another masked man. Seriously what's up with the Gundam series and their masked men fetish?

Going with logic stated in previous posts, I think you'd be questioning one of the very features that defines Gundam.

Atra was a great punching bag. Hats off to her.

[Kraco]

Atra is made of tougher material than I'd have given her credit for. She's a qualifying member of Tekkadan based on this.

Gundam themselves looked like armoured men with a fully masked helmet. I always thought that's why it kind of fits that some mofo in Gundam always goes with a mask (like Char), aside from the more obvious reasons anyone would wear one.

[Buffalobiian]

I think it just all started with Char to make him mysterious. He was popular, so they thought "hey, let's make this a gundam thing from now on".

[NeoCybercoin]

Has there even been a Gundam show without a masked man before Char came along?

[Buffalobiian]

Has there even been a Gundam show without a masked man before Char came along?

*Hesitates in case this is a trick question*

No. The point of it though, is that the mask may not have been intended to be a defining feature of Gundam before its implementation. They didn't think "We're going to make a Gundam show. Gundam shows must have masked men. Every Gundam show will. Let's call the first one Char."

Making the mask iconic for the franchise was a decision made after seeing it's popularity.

[shinta|hikari]

Don't die Fumitan!!!

Ok, so even with gundams, people don't have mobile phones in their world. Any form of wireless communication would have prevented all this drama. Kudelia is pretty stupid for going off on her own. And did mask guy trick her into leaving the hotel? Or was he genuinely warning her?

And that mask is so fucking stupid looking.

[Harima Kenji]

About the masked men in gundam series: Char was indeed the first one, since 0079 (or simply Mobile Suit Gundam) was the very first gundam series. Char had the mask on to hide his true identity, because revealing that would make him a prime target for assassination given his lineage. If I remember correctly, every next full length series has had a masked/disguised man in one way or another. To me that's not something that defines a gundam series, just a recurring theme. I'm fine without one.

On this episode: I enjoyed it a lot. Atra sacrificing herself for Kudelia's sake was unexpected of her and shows just how strong her feelings are for her new family. As expected, Fumitan was revealed to be working for 'the enemy', although her feelings for Kudelia conflicted with her orders. Tekkadan not wishing to have anything to do with the conflict was a nice way to go. Usually this is where anime heroes step in to defend the opressed. Once again, the writing was good, and they set the mood well.

[shinta|hikari]

Ep 16.
(http://www.nyaa.se/?page=download&tid=777916)











Don't die Fumitan!!!

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOO.

I was thinking this was the weakest episode yet with Fumitan predictably taking the bullet for Kudelia, but that final flashback made it all good. Fumitan had to die to drive Kudelia to revolution. The bloody confession also connected perfectly to the maiden in the book, which drove Fumitan to tears years ago.

[Buffalobiian]

Glasses-chicks don't really do it for me, so this has been weak and impactless for me. Plenty of impact for Kudelia I'm sure.

[shinta|hikari]

You heartless doctor! I bet you wear glasses IRL!

[Buffalobiian]

You heartless doctor! I bet you wear glasses IRL!

Based on what?

I generalise, because Touko (http://typemoon.wikia.com/wiki/Touko_Aozaki)is hot as.

[shinta|hikari]

Well do you?

[Buffalobiian]

Maybe...?

[shinta|hikari]

I knew it.

[Buffalobiian]

Episode 18

---------------------------------













Mikazuki.. nailing the whole two-timing thing.
I'm with him, Orga's been taking the back seat a bit in the past two episodes. I'm not sure where he stands in the story anymore. Kudelia is the figure of inspiration for Mikazuki now while business deals and operations is all Mr Turbine. Posh-lady could probably captain a ship just fine without him.

Chocolate guy being the masked man was a nice surprise. As well as being a surprise, it actually makes sense.

[shinta|hikari]

I love how choco guy got called out.

[Kraco]

Orga is probably happy Mika isn't anymore piling the silent pressure on him so much. To be realistic, there's only so much Orga could do anymore. Things are more or less out of his hands now that they are so close to Earth. No doubt he will still have something to do before the end, and I fear dying is one of those things. It goes well together with Mika shifting his attention to Kudelia. It also looks like Tekkadan wouldn't immediately fall apart anymore even if Orga was gone. Although it's possible he'll take some other volunteers with him when he goes.

[shinta|hikari]

I really like how the harem end is a very realistic ending for this show. Mika gets a dedicated loli and an ambitious babe.

[Kraco]

Indeed, I very much hope it will end like that. Then those three can occasionally visit Orga's grave.

[shinta|hikari]

I actually hope he doesn't die. I want Biscuit to die just because it'd be new. The one I think will die is the harem playboy guy. If Orga is a Kamina to Mika, that guy is the Kamina for every single Tekkadan member, especially to Orga. A Kamina's Kamina.

[Buffalobiian]

The one I think will die is the harem playboy guy.

That's actually quite true and will open a few doors. Orga can grow to fill those shoes, while the nail-painting wife can legitimately join up with butch, red-stripe guy without feeling like she betrayed him.

She'd leave to join Tekkadan while the rest of them form a women-only Turbine with scar-belly as the leader.

[Kraco]

while the nail-painting wife can legitimately join up with butch, red-stripe guy

That has certainly been developing and it's only a matter of time when it has to go somewhere.

[shinta|hikari]

Wouldn't it be funny if that girl confesses to butch guy but he declines her by saying he is gay for Mika?

That'd be epic.

[Kraco]

Such a thing in my Gundam? I doubt it.

[NeoCybercoin]

Ep 19 is out.

Pretty epic as usual.

[shinta|hikari]

Fucking epicness.

I love the handshake scene and the final scene with the two Mikazukis. This series has an amazing attention to detail and use of symbolism without coming off as pretentious.

I have trouble following the mech combat because of the similar looking suits, but the parts that do matter come across just fine.

[Kraco]

Quite a decent fight. Quite a decent comedy character as well in the form of that Issue woman (with multiple issues). At least she realised she's there just for (comedy) show.

Seems like Orga is still needed for something. This Earth entry plan was his, right? Mask only provided the reentry capable vehicle, I'd assume.

[Buffalobiian]

HS - Episode 20
(http://www.nyaa.se/?page=download&tid=787209)


-------------------------------------

-Fish! Those martians don't know what they're missing out on. I can totally understand them though. I have my aversion to insects while knowing they're perfectly edible.

-Finally, more Orga x Merribit, even if it's just Orga feeling uneasy. It's hard to see this pairing coming to fruition. Merribit just seems way too mature for Orga. Too much of a mum.

That's the main difference between him and Mika. Orga's strength is his lofty charisma and ballsy decisions that work out only because Mikazuki is godly on the field. He's really quite empty under that guise of confidence. It was perceptive of him to sniff out negotiation troubles before they happened. It's something I thought Merribit would be better at too.

Mika's reliability just oozes through. Atra/Kudelia can't get enough of it.


Quite a decent comedy character as well in the form of that Issue woman

She doesn't just have issues, she can also issue! No one can defy Carta Issue of the Outer Earth Orbit Regulatory Joint Fleet because she's from the Outer Earth Orbit Regulatory Joint Fleet.

[Harima Kenji]

"Good news, everyone!"
Season 2 confirmed (for about a month now, I really need to keep up with this news)!

Season 1 Final battle predictions: Alaya-Vijnana-ed up Ein fighting Mika and messing up the Barbatos (somewhat like Graham Aker vs Setsuna in 00)

Weird news: In the end of April, when Tekketsu is done, we'll get an anime series version of Gundam Unicorn. It seems to be a re-edit of the OVA's with some additional footage, but the news is kinda vague to me at the moment.

Also I'm feeling the urge to pick up the 1/100 Gundam Gusion/Gusion Rebake (the 'fat' one that killed Masahiro/Akihiro's remodeled Gundam)... but it's 5000 Yen.. that hurts my wallet, but só cool. It looks like you can build both 'versions' of the mobile suit.. kinda forces me to pick up 2...

[shinta|hikari]

Awesome news, but I was certain it'd happen.

I don't really care much about the battles. I just wanna see where fate takes these lovable kids (I think this is the first time I said those words without it being sexual. Okay, just a little sexual because of Mika's harem).

[Kraco]

That's the main difference between him and Mika. Orga's strength is his lofty charisma and ballsy decisions that work out only because Mikazuki is godly on the field. He's really quite empty under that guise of confidence. It was perceptive of him to sniff out negotiation troubles before they happened. It's something I thought Merribit would be better at too.


Despite being taller Orga certainly drew the short stick of those two. Mika is just doing excellently the one thing he has always done: fighting. Nothing more, nothing less, plain and simple. But what exactly gives Orga the qualifications to lead this group? Sure, he can make decisions and stick to them without continuously hesitating the second-guessing himself, but that could be viewed as a personality trait, nothing more. However, these guys were the slaves when the old company was still up and running. There's no way Orga actually had any leadership training or education of any sort. He also has very little experience of anything but doing dirty work back on Mars. Mika can fight everywhere the same, but Orga was a fish out of the water the moment they left Mars. I can't help but pity him, but at the same time you have to admit he has actually succeeded splendidly all things considered.

Seeing how this is getting a second season I wonder when Orga dies. Will he die at the very end of this first season, forcing Mika to finally think for himself and do something else in addition to fighting, or will Orga still be in the second season? It's hard to say now, but with the series getting longer, I have a feeling he should die before the end of the second season for it to be more meaningful and for it to launch Mika's personal development. If this had been a single season, he could simply have died heroically in the last ep saving the others, but with plenty of eps left, it could be used for Mika's sake, following the Gurrenn Lagann example.

[shinta|hikari]

Orga has charisma, one of the most important things for a leader. And then there's luck. His plans are almost always suicidal, but they always work.

[Kraco]

Orga has charisma, one of the most important things for a leader.

But in whose eyes? He's actually the little brother to the Turbine chap and basically a chess piece for the Teiwaz big boss. For the Gjallarhorn... Well, I think very few there even remember his name or face. A few, however, are very impressed by Mika as a Gundam operator. If you look back at all the episodes, the Tekkadan is a bunch of space rats who have their hands full merely by existing. Orga doesn't really need much charisma to lead these people. Without him, they would just sit still feeling sorry for themselves until they starved to death. I don't think the story has really given Orga that many chances to put his charisma to any real use. Maybe the space colonies were the first opportunity, but they were too busy trying to flee for him to rally people.

[shinta|hikari]

The very fact that he became the lil bro of Kamina shows how charismatic he is. Judging from the people on Kamina's ship, I'm sure it's not often he takes a liking to guys.

To put the comparison in perspective, while Mika is certainly a good pilot, he's no Kira Yamato. Other elite pilots have almost beaten him if not for luck and help, and that's with him using Alyana while the others use normal controls.

[Kraco]

It's a pity Orga starting to get along better with Merribit lost all the sparks that were between them and also decreased Orga's cool factor (charisma) in my eyes. This is because Orga started to rely on her as someone in whose eyes he doesn't need to look like an adamant leader. Like Bill said earlier, she feels so much more mature and wise that she's necessarily looking down on Orga, even if not in an offensive sense. It must be a huge stress relief for him, though.

[shinta|hikari]

The worst part about the Orga X Merribit relationship is it emphasizes Orga's lack of affinity with women. That's where Mika owns him totally. Mika is a natural playboy despite looking like a midget, while Orga is a naive kid despite looking like a gigolo. It's a very interesting character choice on the part of the writer/s.

[Buffalobiian]

I'm still waiting on them revealing that he secretly still has her handkerchief. That needs to happen

[Kraco]

The worst part about the Orga X Merribit relationship is it emphasizes Orga's lack of affinity with women. That's where Mika owns him totally. Mika is a natural playboy despite looking like a midget, while Orga is a naive kid despite looking like a gigolo. It's a very interesting character choice on the part of the writer/s.

Dunno how he can be such a naive kid at one specific thing when he isn't at anything else. He was the mastermind of the original bloody coup and pretty much anything they pulled off since. Why would he lose his cool with women? It's true he probably doesn't quite know how to deal with them since such personal things don't play a role in his grand plans, but I reckon he also doesn't have huge interest either. He's too invested in looking after Tekkadan.

Mika is only interested in himself, so he can easily be so natural.

[shinta|hikari]

And what did he do with the sticky handkerchief?

[Harima Kenji]

Episode 21 was Gundam :)

Even though I could predict a certain characters fate from the first 10 seconds of the show, the fights, the drama, the humour, the allround badassery made this great. The only thing I missed was the slaughter of a certain person by Mika's hands.

[Buffalobiian]

I hope Orga keeps his cool and recognises that Issue is more valuable alive than dead. Daughter of the most important ruling family makes for a very good shield.

This has been the first land-warfare since Mars. I guess we forgot that Orga's supposed to be a competent field commander.

Biscuit will be missed. It's his careful checking that makes sure Orga's grand plans are left without holes. I suppose Merribit can fill those shoes, but I also hope this means Orga gets to grow as a more well-rounded leader. If the show fails to portray that, then he should really die in a future battle. As the characters have acknowledged, without Biscuit they'd be gambling a lot more on luck.

[Kraco]

Mika isn't exactly known for sparing enemies, so who knows. Issue might live or die. At least none of them are evil, so in that sense if Mika now initially doesn't finish her off, it's unlikely she would be summarily executed later. Byt the looks of it she didn't die yet in this episode, but once Mika switches his attention back from Biscuit's death scene, she still might.

Even if Issue survived, it would be strange if she could get back to her former position. She has miserably failed two operations back to back losing lives and helluva lots of material. Furthermore, both of the operations were such that Gjallarhorn wouldn't want them to become public knowledge. Actually, now that I said that, it's not unthinkable Issue would make an extremely poor hostage. The HQ might think her only use would be to die a martyr's death. That is, she would be more useful dead than alive.

[shinta|hikari]

Her family might think otherwise. She's probably in a high position because of that anyway.

I love Mika's choice of weapons. It's so barbaric. And the melee battles on the ground are much better than the shootouts in space. It just feels a lot more gritty and exciting, especially when they smash up the enemies using clubs and shit.

[ForteCross]

Her family might think otherwise. She's probably in a high position because of that anyway.

I love Mika's choice of weapons. It's so barbaric. And the melee battles on the ground are much better than the shootouts in space. It just feels a lot more gritty and exciting, especially when they smash up the enemies using clubs and shit.
especially when you can hear the metal crushing beneath the clubs!

seriously i hope mika freaks the fuck up and just smash Issue inside her gundam, although i would like to see her gundam frame fighting her brother. one by one tekkadan is getting armed up with their enemies frames, the only problem with this series is that the gundams themselves are not named and most of the time is hard to recognize, but in the upside most of the characters are strong

[Kraco]

one by one tekkadan is getting armed up with their enemies frames, the only problem with this series is that the gundams themselves are not named and most of the time is hard to recognize, but in the upside most of the characters are strong

I enjoy every single moment of the lack of Gundam worship in this show. That's why it's all well and good not overly much attention is paid to the frames themselves and most go without names or special super unique abilities. Instead we have got the interesting personalities and the cybernetic implants making the main guys a more realistic opponent to the infinite governmental forces.

[Buffalobiian]

Mika isn't exactly known for sparing enemies, so who knows. Issue might live or die. At least none of them are evil, so in that sense if Mika now initially doesn't finish her off, it's unlikely she would be summarily executed later. Byt the looks of it she didn't die yet in this episode, but once Mika switches his attention back from Biscuit's death scene, she still might.

Keeping her alive wouldn't be Mika's call, it'd be Orga's.

[shinta|hikari]

Mika needs a threesome after losing a close friend. Orga can use some Merribit S Onee-san play too.

[Kraco]

Episode 22-23 - HS



- - - - - - -



Just what sort of a military academy did Carta graduate from? The train ambush was beyond ridiculous. Especially after her speech on the island was already once interrupted. Now she repeated the exact same mistake. She's really beyond any and all hope. But then again, it was said the episodes directly that Gjallarhorn has lost its original purpose a long time ago and is now only a hive of corruption and political power struggle. It makes sense its warfare is also more about display of power and ceremony than actual strategic fighting. McGillis certainly was playing Carta like a pro.

Mika and Orga's unhealthy relationship took another step upwards. In fact it's hard to recall too many relationships between two characters in anime that would have been this powerful. They really depend on each other in a twisted, insane way. It was quite interesting to see Merribit continuously hesitate and ponder how to help Orga in a mature way, even to the point of trying to consult other adults in vain, yet the only way to get Orga back on his feet was that shared craziness with Mika. On the other hand considering the starting point of those two, they are still a lot higher above the surface than in the very beginning. Merribit can't be blamed too much, or in fact anybody at all, nobody save those two themselves knows what sort of a bloody journey without an end they embarked upon, even if Orga seems to be forgetting it every now and then. Merribit is getting surpringly involved, nonetheless, even if she's largely helpless.

[shinta|hikari]

OMG. This was the best episode yet.

That massacre was awesome. Biscuit, you have been avenged.

Mika is probably the best protagonist I've seen in years. Cold, brutal, yet human.

The scene where all the children were watching and Merribit was panicking was PRICELESS. It clearly depicted just what kind of lives these kids lived before becoming Tekkadan. Merribit's arguably correct reasoning is meaningless against the bonds these kids share.

All that said, I actually like all the antagonists so far, even Carta. This episode humanized her a lot. That fight clearly made Barbatos the villain, which is absolutely delightful for me. I got the shivers each time people got surprised at how brutal Mika can be. He was always like that though. These girls just hadn't seem him fight before Tekkadan left Mars.

[Buffalobiian]

Carta was useless, but she's got the best heart here. Bless her.

Somehow people with standards always appear more "just" than people without, even if the former does the wrong thing with it and the latter does the right.

[shinta|hikari]

Because humans love to judge intentions and goals, not methods. That's why politicians are still making a fortune in most of the world.

[Buffalobiian]

HS - Episode 24

----------------------------------









Looks like this will be only one-cour. The flow seems right, and we won't have to introduce any bullshit superboss when we don't need to. Tekkadan makes it huge in bringing in the new prime minister of Abrarbusomething, Gjallarhorn gets revealed for their corruption at the same time and gets reformed. Win-win for everyone.

Of course there's the fact that there's not much of a Tekkadan left after all this. I can't see Merribit x Orga after this though. She's clearly turned off by the way he's thinking and driving this group.

[shinta|hikari]

What do you mean? Orphans is 2 cours.

The second season is coming, which I assume is also 2 cours like most Gundam shows.

Merribit said herself that she couldn't stop them after hearing Orga's words. I'd say that pairing is alive and well.

[Buffalobiian]

I forget the difference between cour and season. I just checked and cour = real-life-season-meaning-3-months, so I agree with you. 2-cours it is.

Where did you get information that this will be longer?


Amazon Japan's product description for a TV Anime "Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans" Original Sound Tracks album is listing that the October 2015-March 2016 airing of the anime is the anime's "first season." Sunrise has not officially announced that the TV anime series would have a second season beyond the two cours (two quarters of a year) that it is slated to air.

Merribit said she couldn't say anything back, but she feels he's wrong. To me that sounds like there's no room for even argument to take place. It's simply her opinion that he's wrong. That makes things pretty incompatible.

[shinta|hikari]

"Good news, everyone!"
Season 2 confirmed (for about a month now, I really need to keep up with this news)!


This guy said so.


Merribit said she couldn't say anything back, but she feels he's wrong. To me that sounds like there's no room for even argument to take place. It's simply her opinion that he's wrong. That makes things pretty incompatible.

I don't think that's what she meant. I think she meant "I think this is wrong, but I can't say why or stop them after hearing their resolve." In fact, every time she tried to brandish her version of child protection, she got shot down by the orphans. Her common sense simply does not apply to these kids. Their "family" isn't a normal person's family.

[shinta|hikari]

EP 25.








What an ending. Easily the best Gundam show for me. It was consistent all throughout, including its themes. The characters are the best part. I could even forgive the ladies Sunrising™ from the dead.

[NeoCybercoin]

Damn McGillis is cold as fuck. Even Ein was more human than that guy. I felt sorry for Gaelio.

[Buffalobiian]

Too bad we won't be seeing Mika with big-ass weapons now that he's a sword specialist. Losing a hand does make things inconvenient, but he'd still be able to entertain his harem.

Well done to McGillis winning so hard. I hope his development into a villain next season doesn't become shitty and typical.

[shinta|hikari]

What makes you think that? He can use clubs for mobs and switch to the katana for elites. The katana doesn't have the knock back, range, and throwability of the wrench of talk-is-not-a-free-action.

[Buffalobiian]

What makes you think that? He can use clubs for mobs and switch to the katana for elites. The katana doesn't have the knock back, range, and throwability of the wrench of talk-is-not-a-free-action.

Heavy melee has its uses. Now that he's levelled up his reaction time however, I expect the katana to be better simply because it's more efficient. Less mass means he's fast. If you're not significantly faster than someone else you might as well hit harder. If you can kill them before they touch you however, then that's pretty OP.

[shinta|hikari]

But he can't throw the katana, and the thing has terrible reach. I believe it has its uses, but it isn't a complete replacement for his clubs.

[MFauli]

Ah, fuck this separate forum lol. Spent minutes trying to find a topic in General. whatever.

I binged this series for the past few days, now up to ep 13. I kinda stopped watching after ep 3, but now it´s actually totally awesome. I love the opening music, I love how the ending music always fades in, like HXH 2011 did for the chimera ants-arc.

Is the music done by Sawano btw? It often times sounds like him, just a little bit less pompous. So I´m not sure.

And fuck Mika. I hate Kudelia. Stuck-up bitch only lets the hero fuck her. Meh. Should have gotten fucked by the fat guy or the older black guy. And now Atra will be sad, too, for sure. :/ Although she seemed to be fine with the idea of being part of Mika´s harem. sigh

[shinta|hikari]

Why does it always have to be fucking with you?

[MFauli]

Why does it always have to be fucking with you?

What you said, Mr. "It´s always about waki and loli"?

[shinta|hikari]

I have a proper explanation. I'm a lolicon and a Wakicon™. What's your excuse?

[MFauli]

I have a proper explanation. I'm a lolicon and a Wakicon™. What's your excuse?

I like ... girls?

[shinta|hikari]

So girls = fucking to you?

[MFauli]

So girls = fucking to you?

Yes, tbh that´s pretty much it. Girls = a hole walking on two legs. I´ve come to that realization only recently, and it´s far from healthy. I guess I´ve grown too bitter towards girls. Although that´s probably offtopic and shouldn´t be talked about in a Gundam thread.

[David75]

Only one hole?
lack of practice, imagination and fun :cool:

[shinta|hikari]

@David - LOL. It's probably a lack of practical experience on Mfauli's part.

Going back to Gundam Orphans, I really love the ED songs for this show. The Orphans no Namida song is very unique and powerful, while the 2nd ED has a better anime version than the unnecessarily extended full version. I always feel a rush of emotions whenever an episode ends and that ED sneaks in.

I feel sad that Mika has to part with the bustier end of his harem. Considering how hard it was for them to travel to Earth, it'll take a long time for them to see each other again after this farewell.

[Buffalobiian]

Throwing your melee weapon should be a last resort. You should aim to never part with it. In a world with wrist guns and vulcans it's almost unnecessary.

A club can be good, but when you're super fast, competent and precise there are better choices. If this fight is any indication, speed is the top priority for Mika.

[shinta|hikari]

But Mika throws his club ALL the time. And it works.

[Buffalobiian]

But Mika throws his club ALL the time. And it works.

It looks cool. It shouldn't really work as much as it does.

I'm basing this on man-to-man combat theory though, not mobile suit combat.

He found clubs and heavy blunt weapons useful because he uses impact and contusion as his way of damaging opponents. Heavier is better as long as you can still hit your opponents.

He learned how to use a thrusting/slicing attack with the katana against well-armoured opponents this episode. It was a direct response to him gaining yet further control of his gundam.

[shinta|hikari]

That's why I said the club is better for mobs because he can throw it and it has a larger reach. Mobs don't really dodge and are as durable as paper. For elites enemies who can dodge, the katana is better because of the speed. A lot of people would already be dead (or not dead) without his throwing wrench of talk-is-not-a-free-action.

[MFauli]

Just saw the last episode. Before all else: I really liked this anime.

With that out of the way, the last episode was a let down. My biggest disappointment: Lafter and Azee are somehow alive. This sucks. The way it was presented when Ein destroyed their Gundams, it was done in a definitive way, saying "fuck, these 2 are goners". Over the course of the show, I always wondered how the Turbines leader would react to losing one of his "women", because on the one hand, he "loves" them, on the other he sends them into deadly battles. That was too happy-go-lucky and unnecessary.

Secondly, I REALLY wanted Ein to win this. This guy has no wrong intentions, not at any point of time. He wants to avenge his mentor, who really didn´t have to die. What´s worse, Mikazuki is an emotionless asshole who never responds to the people calling him. FFS, is it that much asked to just tell Ein that Crank seemed like a good guy and that it´s unfortunate he died? Fuck you, Mikazuki. There´s a limit to how emotionless a "hero" can be. Here, it made Mika stop being the hero. Ein was the hero and he died unfairly.

Which brings me to the last complaint: "Barbatos, give me everything you have". Ok. Lamest deus ex machina moment of all time. He simply demanded more power, and he got it. Oh, suffering an eye and a hand? Woopideedoo! That was such a lame way to overcome the clearly superior Ein-Gundam. I would have preferred either a team effort, maybe Olga helping Mika. Or Ein shutting down because he ran out of power or something.

An unfitting overly happy end. And are we getting a second season? McGillen needs to be punished. What a slime.

Btw. I also was unhappy with Biscuit´s death. Sure, it was serviceable, but it also was the safe "main character that dies" choice. It would have been more interesting if Olga had died at that point, and Biscuit became the new leader. It would have made sense, in that Olga´s death would have given him motivation to not quit. And it´d have made a bigger impact overall, similarily to Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann. Biscuit also had more room left for development, it would have been interesting to see him as a leader. And last, but not least, I really wanted that Biscuit X Atra couple :(

[shinta|hikari]

Heroes suck! Villains should've won! Support the fat guy!

What's new.

[MFauli]

Heroes suck! Villains should've won! Support the fat guy!

What's new.

You suck, shinta.

I make a detailed, long posting, you reply with shitty snark. Congrats. Keeping a discussions forum alive :/

[shinta|hikari]

Thank you.

[MFauli]

Thank you.

You really suck.

Since I actually wanted to talk about the anime, something you seem to have little interest in for the past couple months in general, I´ll give it a try anyway. I feel dumb for doing so, but I guess that´s who I am. Here goes:


Heroes suck!

Olga is great. Akihiro, Shino, Eugene and the smaller guys are great. Actually, I liked everyone, with the exception of Kudelia and Mikazuki. Kudelia gets so much praise and credit for stuff that requires no effort or happens almost automatically. She´s pretty, that´s all she adds to the show. It broke my heart when Atra felt so hopeless next to her that she reduced her own love for Mikazuki to making her part of a harem. Wow.

And speaking of Mikazuki, he was fine until episode 24/25. I´ll go into that following the next quote.


Villains should've won!

No, they shouldn´t have won. And you could say they did, because McGillen is the biggest villain of all. But that´s besides the point.

Ein was NOT a villain. That´s why I couldn´t root for Mikazuki in the last fight. Maybe you forgot about the beginning of the series, but Ein never did anything wrong. Then his mentor, who was a fine guy, got slain by Mikazuki. Now all that Ein hoped to do was avenge this unjust murder. We keep seeing Ein participating in fights, and he loses, and loses, and loses. This was the season finale, so I was expecting him to get some sort of resolution. Again, a few simple words from Mikazuki is all that was necessary. "I´m sorry that we couldn´t do it any other way. He seemed like a good old guy." That´s all. But instead, Mikazuki unintentionally mocked him by ignoring everything that Ein said. Ein was punished for wanting justice. That was his mistake. Standing up for justice.

Also, if you think Azee and Lafer surviving was a good think, you seriously have no idea of what makes for a good story. Them surviving retrospectively makes episode 24 a lot worse.


Support the fat guy!

Ok, you´re attacking me here, because I´m fat, so that´s why I´m arguing in favor of the fat guy. Wrong.

It´s a simple matter of what would have made the story more interesting. As it happened, Biscuit got turned into a cheap plot device. Orga pretty much did what Biscuit actually didn´t want him to do. And he used his death to motivate everyone, making it all even worse. The series then played out as expected, nothing specially interesting happening.
Now imagine Olga dies. The whole Tekkadan would be shaken to the core. But then Biscuit steps up. He listend to his heart, made a decision to stay, and to lead Tekkadan to completing their mission. Without Olga, everybody would have needed to step up their game, to think more independently. Meanwhile, Biscuit is one of the most intelligent characters, strategically speaking. He would have made for a capable leader.

And then you´d have the Biscuit X Atra-couple. Now she´s reduced to a pity sex-doll for Mikazuki, and we get to see more Olga X milf crap.

[Buffalobiian]

and we get to see more Olga X milf crap.

I hope you're right and we get to see more milf crap.

Ein wasn't evil, but he had that shit coming. He put the blame on Mikazuki and refused to see things in any other way. He dug his own hole.

Mikazuki gets more powerful by increasing his integration with his mech. You can arguably pull out infinite amounts of power by doing this, but that's how Ein beat him in the first place, so whatever. He's a prodigy.

Biscuit stepping up would have been exactly like Gurren Lagann, and frankly that would make this boring. We already had Gurren Lagann. Make something different.

Biscuit certainly died doing what he told Olga not to do, but that doesn't make Olga wrong. Olga chose to gamble because they didn't have enough to home with. Biscuit chose to save Organ and that's it.

[MFauli]

Ein wasn't evil, but he had that shit coming. He put the blame on Mikazuki and refused to see things in any other way. He dug his own hole.

Which I blame Mikazuki for. Had Mika shown the slightest bit of empathy for Ein, they might have even turned Ein to their side and gotten another capable member. Imagine Goku kiling Vegeta when they first fought on earth - would have sucked, wouldn´t it? And that´s even ignoring that Ein never was as evil as Vegeta.


Mikazuki gets more powerful by increasing his integration with his mech. You can arguably pull out infinite amounts of power by doing this, but that's how Ein beat him in the first place, so whatever. He's a prodigy.

The system behind it I can understand. But the way it was done was poor. Simply saying "give me more power" and then actually getting it was so, so, so lame. When other series do the "power outburst outta nowhere", they at least have the character in question display enormous emotional distress. Mika didn´t bat an eye lid. That´s what made it look lame. And it was worsened, because it felt like it was mocking Ein, who basically sacrificed his life to be turned into this half-machine half-human monstrosity.


Biscuit stepping up would have been exactly like Gurren Lagann, and frankly that would make this boring. We already had Gurren Lagann. Make something different.

Disagree. Mikazuki stepping in would have made it like Tengen Toppa. Biscuit was a more unusual character, again, how many fat heroes do we have in anime outside of comedies and who aren´t cute-i-fied (Accel World)? It would have been very different, specially because Biscuit, at that point, wasn´t shown as a fighter. As a leader, he´d have to become more aggressive, though. That would have been interesting to watch. As is, he served as a stereotypical (best friend of the leader dies, woohoo) plot device and nothing else was made better by it.

[shinta|hikari]

And are we getting a second season? McGillen needs to be punished. What a slime.

This actually deserves an answer. Yes, there is a second season coming in Fall 2016. And it's McGillis.

[Buffalobiian]

I like McGillis. He's resourceful. He's not a nice person, but I admire him for his competency.

Oh, and he's not evil either.

[MFauli]

Fuck you, shinta. I keep making elaborate postings, going into detail why I think a certain way, and you either ignore or ridicule it. No idea why you´re even on a discussion board, if you have no interest in ... dicuscssions.




Oh, and he's not evil either.

I think he is.
Gjallarhorn isn´t evil.
The world in this anime isn´t perfect, some people have it worse than others, there´s natural discrimination going on, but there is no evil intent behind it all. It´s not exactly as bad, but think of slave owners in America´s past. From our point of view, they´re all evil assholes, but back then it was the way to go. Along these lines, the guys at Gjallarhorn aren´t thinking all day about how they can torture and worsen the lives of space rats and the likes. It´s just the natural status quo of this world, with different hierarchies from our real world.

So, while Gjallarhorn are the opponents in this story, because they´re the power that´s in the way of Tekkadan, they´re not evil villains.

Meanwhile, McGillis is an evil psychopath. Even if he´s on the "good side" (is he really?), he is evil. Remember: As a young boy, he got taken in by a rich, respectable family. He grew up there with all the fancy advantage of nobility´s life. He made friend´s with his step-siblings. And he even was promised to marry the friend´s sister.
And then he sends one of the friends to death, somebody who loved him. Yet, he always saw her as a mere pawn. And he killed the other friend with his own hands (although there´s hope he´s still alive, since we never saw anything after the scene changed right at the beginning of the fight).
Of all the characters seen in this anime, McGillis is the only one I´d label "evil".

[shinta|hikari]

I'm interested in discussions, just not pointless ones with certain people. In case you haven't noticed, I'm probably the one posting the most in the active threads.

And stop throwing expletives at me. I answered one of your questions, didn't I? Take your candy and smile.

[Buffalobiian]

Gjallarhorn isn´t evil

Gjallarhorn isn't evil. It's corrupt. It's lost its original purpose as a balancing force for the good of people/peace and is instead just a power structure trying to retain its own status quo. That's what's wrong with it.

McGillis is trying to change this, and will stop at no means to try to do so. I don't think that makes him evil. It just makes him amoral. He liked his friends, but he weighed Gjallarhorn's restructuring against their lives and went with the former. He wants to stand on top of all of this, which can make him sound a selfish. It really comes down to whether he really believes he's the only one who is talented enough to rule, or whether he's in it for glory/wealth/power etc.

McGillis will use and manipulate people and their feelings. He doesn't care for them much. What he doesn't show is malice, and I believe malice, as opposed to amorality, is more in line with the word evil.

[MFauli]

I can agree with the "Gjallarhorn is corrupt" statement. Which is why I don´t see them as evil. As you said, evilness requires malice thoughts, and those aren´t there with Gjallarhorn. The only member we´ve seen who displayed some sort of it was the first ship captain, who just wanted to get rid of the heroes on Mars. Every other Gjallarhorn member carried a palpable sense for honor and duty with them, no evil intents at all.

Using any means necessary is usually what a bad guy would do, though ;P Amorality also is a trait of an evil person. Not per se, but in relation to those who have an inner moral compass. It´s basically a "for the greater good" debate.
In McGillis´ case, what really has me swing to calling him evil, is his past and upbringing. He knew his comrades, they liked or even loved him. And he just never bat a lid and killed them or had them be killed. I´m also thinking: What would he do if somebody "innocent" opposes him? Imo, he´s the kinda guy that would shoot a 100 children in the face, if it meant any risk for his plans. That´s how full he is of his own will, and that´s what makes him the villain in my book.


I'm interested in discussions, just not pointless ones with certain people. In case you haven't noticed, I'm probably the one posting the most in the active threads.

And stop throwing expletives at me. I answered one of your questions, didn't I? Take your candy and smile.

Mimicing McGillis here, I see.

[Kraco]

Gjallarhorn is evil in exactly the same way established dictators, military juntas, and their ilk are evil. If nobody opposes them, even by trying to rise from wretched poverty, then everybody gets to live as they did while the leaders enjoy power and luxury. But if someone tries to change anything at all in the current status quo, then the regime will react with extreme prejudice to maintain itself.

Ein deserved his fate because he failed as an operator. Instead of developing himself and working for an objective, he was like an angry kid who was given progressively greater gifts. He only sought foolish revenge for a normal casualty of war, losing sight of everything else. Mika was the opposite. His last power up also didn't come from nowhere, far from it. It came from going over the safety margins, for which he paid the price as well. Kind of like overclocking a CPU ruthlessly and ending up shortening its life. Ein probably couldn't have done that even if he had wanted to because he was only playing with toys he didn't understand but still thought he had mastered.

Looks like Orga didn't die, after all. I do hope for some future milf action for him. This Gundam was a bit lacking in the romance department, I'd say. Still the best Gundam I've seen. Kind of funnily the thing I'm most impressed about remains to be Mika and Orga's sick but highly functional relationship.

[shinta|hikari]

Orga X Mika yaoi will rain in the next comiket.

[Kraco]

Probably, but if luck is with me, I'll see none of it!

[shinta|hikari]

Gonna be hard to avoid while browsing new releases in H manga sites.

I hope a lot of doujins for Kudelia come out, though, preferably with Fumitan.

Have you guys seen the Barbatos models? I think even the HG has a skeleton frame, just like the actual Barbatos.

[MFauli]

I still don´t think Ein deserved that fate. He had to lose, yes, but I imagine a simple "yeah, it sucked we had to kill your superior back then" would have eased his mind sooo much. Mikazuki is just too much of a robot.

Speaking of which, I really hope he doesn´t get both Kudelia AND Attra. Fuck that.

[Kraco]

If Ein had used his energy and motivation to become a serious super soldier, I'd say he wouldn't have necessarily deserved his fate, but he in fact wasted the awesome (for a Martian) opportunities he got, even if they were in fact plots by McGillis to further his own goals. But it's not like McGillis would have somehow made Ein lose, even if he realised the current Ein probably wouldn't pull through. But you can still hardly blame McGillis for that. Despite the ulterior motives, Ein did went to places most Martians hadn't and operated machines most Martians wouldn't. If he had kept his head cool, he could have used that unique opportunity to forge his own destiny. McGillis didn't seem like a petty man who would have kicked Ein out without explanations if Ein hadn't fallen hook, line, and sinker for the plots.

Kuudelia and Atra both seem to like Mika, so that's fine with me. He's an asskicker, so he deserves his rewards. I just hope Orga isn't left totally out and gets the milf (before he dies).

[shinta|hikari]

Kuudelia and Atra both seem to like Mika, so that's fine with me. He's an asskicker, so he deserves his rewards.

But what about the fat guy? Oh right, he's dead.

I'm so glad there's no needless drama between these three people. Atra is such a nice loli, being willing to share and all.

[Buffalobiian]

Orga X Mika yaoi will rain in the next comiket.

Orga: *looks unsure of himself as top*
Mika: "What's your orders Orga?" *looks expectantly, not about to be disappointed*
Orga: *bites the bullet and does something risky and hardcore AF*
Mika: *satisfied* "As expected of Orga."

[Kraco]

Season 2 Episode 1 - HS




- -- - - -- - - -



Not a bad ep to launch the season. There was some pure exposition to explain the changes since the first season and lots of different characters covered, even new ones introduced, but it didn't feel too disjointed. It was missing Mika+Kuudelia, but we did get Orga+Merrit scenes. Good to see she's still with them. Realistically speaking it wouldn't have been impossible she would have been recalled after the Earth mission.

McGillis seems busy cooking up new plots, so random pirates seem unlikely to remain the main antagonist for too long. Hard to say anything about the sleazy man who dreamed using Kuudelia for his own benefit. He doesn't look like he could pose a seriously serious threat, but on the other hand we shouldn't forget McGillis can make a danger out of anyone to suit his bigger plans.

Damn those kids praising Biscuit's death right in front of the twins. Children are cruel.

[shinta|hikari]

IT'S BACKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And as good as ever!!!

I will never tire of Barbatos's entrances, even if they are covered by credits. The ED music bleed is still on, and the ground fights are still as gritty as fuck.

And Barbatos has an ULTRA GREAT SWORD. Oh Yeah.

Amazing first episode. Got me all caught up without getting bored.

Mikazuki is awesome as always. His nonchalant attitude in the midst of life and death combat never gets old. I'm glad Kuudelia has kept her growth and is moving ever forward. Admoss Company is a great name, just slightly below Fumitan Corp.

[MFauli]

oh ffs, why does gotwoot even have a dedicated gundam-forum? hate having to switch.

good episode, oozes quality and greatly sets up the new status quo. cant wait to see more.

[Buffalobiian]

I'm glad Kuudelia has kept her growth

I know exactly what you mean. Kudelia's boobs look even bigger in her new outfit.

I was slightly distracted this episode (not by that, but) because as soon as they introduced that new recruit kid I was waiting for Mika to show him down.

"The real Mikazuki".. I didn't realise the significance of those words till the end. I thought it simply meant Mika's a beast in the Gundam, but simply by connecting the Ave-whatever system, be actually regains the use of his right arm and eye. "Welcome back" indeed.

2nd Gen Tekadans aren't up to scratch. Those kids simply never went through what the 1st gen guys did. I'm seeing parallels between them and 1st/2nd gen immigrant families.

[shinta|hikari]

Well for 1, 2nd gens don't have Alya whatever.

[Buffalobiian]

Well for 1, 2nd gens don't have Alya whatever.

I don't really even mean performance-wise. I'm talking about their spirit and willingness to work for the family.

For 1st Gen, they had nothing. Tekkadan is their one and only. They'll die for it. Alya was but one of the many ways they were abused prior.

[shinta|hikari]

Sort of. It's because of Orga's leadership that they grew so much, not just their experiences prior to the events of IBO 1.

[Kraco]

They did say child soldiers is a booming trend, though, so they should have plenty of material available. Surely such kids would have no more than the first generation Tekkadan members. Only if they hire older dudes, they would end up with people looking for a job, nothing more. Although that being said, few kids would likely really pull it off immediately and most would need years of growth to do any good.

[shinta|hikari]

But kids learn fast, assuming they are forced to do it. They'll at least be useful as fodder to give enough time for Mika to show up.

[Kraco]

Episode 28 - HS



- - - - - -




Julieta: This is my catch.
Mikazuki: Do not come between Barbatos and his prey.

This new girl doesn't seem too smart (although she's cute).

This show continues to rock. While this fight seemed a bit too one-sided despite the enemy's superior numbers, it wasn't unreasonable considering Orga was mainly interested in playing for time and his crew is quite used to acting against the odds, whereas the enemy is probably more used to fighting very briefly against weaker opponents for specific goals (pirating, plundering) before withdrawing, considering they are pirates.

It's strange how I keep being so impressed by the character interactions in this show. Of course Orga & Mika is the most fascinating pair, but it also shows between Orga & Merrit, and now when Orga is getting bigger as a boss, it's trickling down to the other core crew members since they can be relied on. I wish Kuudelia was better integrated, but I guess it can't be helped since she isn't a part of Tekkadan. Funnily enough Mika's interactions with everybody else pretty much sucks, but perhaps that's one reason why the twisted relationship and understanding (or stable misunderstanding) between him and Orga is so exceptional.

[shinta|hikari]

Julieta moe~

Please Mika. This is the first time I'm wishing you don't kill the enemy, so calm the fuck down.

Double maces? Profit!!!

The enemy is just a dumb ass pirate. Does he really think he's a match for Barbatos? Everyone who thought that is now dead or an ally... and I'm pretty sure blackbeard isn't going to be Tekkadan's ally.

Some of the translation was pretty shoddy. "Shedding young (wakaki) blood" should be "shedding red (akaki) blood." Tekkadan didn't come up there to die, you know.

[Buffalobiian]

They've managed to make Gundam Worship not annoying in this show. Tekkadan is still as heavily reliant on Gundam being OP as any other gundam show, but we don't care. I think it's due to the characters. They try so hard, and we like them so much that we overlook their slaughtering, God-like Hax machine.

Poor Atra. All of her interactions this episode served the sole purpose of showing how distant she still is from Mika, despite how close she is to him by normal standards.

Showing her bum in that shute was funny fanservice.

[shinta|hikari]

I need more Mika-harem.

[Kraco]

Episode 29 - HS



- - - - - -



How can this show continue to be so ridiculously good? It's kind of annoying to have nothing to complain about episode after episode, haha.

Capture the Sandoval was handled pretty well. Although with this show being as it is, it wasn't even certain Tekkadan would catch him, but even going by the assumption they would, it wouldn't have felt forced. It was basically a race through obstacles to see who reached him first. Mika being the pilot he is, anybody's bet would have felt been on him. Not to mention he always keeps his head so cool, while this new girl Julieta didn't in the end.

Forgetting the conclusion of the space battle, the "negotiation" with the wannabe freedom movement was another brilliant example of why this show works so well. The heroes (if you can call them that) aren't forgiving and leaving enemies behind their backs like there's no tomorrow to worry about. They lived in an exceedingly gruesome environment and they deal with problems accordingly. Although I said I wish Kuudelia was better integrated, but that scene reminded me of why she perhaps can't be. She guessed what happened, but her role is not one of an eraser, so she should be kept a slight distance away from that merciless efficiency. Regardless, I do hope she succeeds in granting them a better life.

I wonder if the new dude wanting to prove himself will get the new gundam and will actually be worth something.

[Buffalobiian]

I wonder if the new dude wanting to prove himself will get the new gundam and will actually be worth something.

He'll get the suit, but Mika will get the other item, which can only be a Mobile Armour.


How can this show continue to be so ridiculously good?

Let's start with clobbering your mech into submission, only to call it "difficult" because he could have just killed you with one hit.

The main characters are all likable, even if they had different approaches. Kudelia isn't an idealist to the point where she denies all violence. She'll use violence to get to her aim even if it's regrettable. Likewise Tekkadan will fight for the day when they won't have to fight any further.

Mika's sudden transitions from Chill to You're fucking dead are always cool to watch, largely because he gets angry for all the right reasons. That twerp slapping Atra, this guy for stirring shit up. Dropping those tried seeds was literally Mika dropping his shit. I loved the way that moment was shown.

[shinta|hikari]

I hope Orga doesn't get eaten by the blond monster.

This story needs a bit more romance. Just a bit.

[Kraco]

This story needs a bit more romance. Just a bit.

Yeah, it actually does. Now there's at least one thing to complain about!

[shinta|hikari]

Let me add one more. The OP and ED music in season 2 is vastly inferior to season 1.

[David75]

Well, Man with a mission, even with their engrish, really do rock well.
And that MISIA title fits the show too.

Getting better for season 2 would have been an act of God. It didn't happen.

[ForteCross]

so is mika blind from his left eye? he is missing the "sparkle" when not in barbatos, i cant remember if it was portrayed on S1.

i remember when everyone wanted orga to die so mika could take his place as the leader, now look where we are! each character fell into his own space making them each different but part of the same family...

judging from the ending of last episode, i would like for mika to start having second thoughts about following orga and even going rogue for some time just to spice things up, on the other hand it will be out of his character doing something like that...

i think that if new guy will be paralyzed like his older friend only to find that makes you a better pilot, will be like a redemption.

[Kraco]

I don't think anybody wanted Orga to die. I among others expected him to die, but that's not the same as wanting. Mika doesn't feel like a wholesome main character by traditional standards as he is currently, which Orga dying would have possibly fixed. However, by now it's quite clear this isn't a perfectly ordinary story anyway, so perhaps having Mika in his current state till the end wouldn't be a bad thing. I do know for sure I'd miss the weird interaction between Orga and Mika should Orga disappear, and it would be in no way compensated by developing Mika into a more traditional main character.

Having the main character split into two characters isn't such a bad thing when it's made to work this nicely. Orga is the dreamer, Mika is the maker.

[Buffalobiian]

so is mika blind from his left eye? he is missing the "sparkle" when not in barbatos, i cant remember if it was portrayed on S1.


Yes, just like his arm is paralysed outside of the mech. He screwed it up when he tapped further into Barbatos in the final fight of S1.

[ForteCross]

Yes, just like his arm is paralysed outside of the mech. He screwed it up when he tapped further into Barbatos in the final fight of S1. wouldnt it be cooler to have him wear an eye patch then? just "removing it" when he gets serious... maybe then didnt wanted us to think he is a pirate or something >.>

[Buffalobiian]

wouldnt it be cooler to have him wear an eye patch then? just "removing it" when he gets serious... maybe then didnt wanted us to think he is a pirate or something >.>

Functionally speaking he doesn't need an eyepatch, since they're either used to protect vulnerable eyes or to cosmetically cover a scar. I rather like the subtlety. No one knows about this unless they're close enough to Mika to know what he's like inside a mech.

[Kraco]

Episode 30 - HS



- -- - - -



Orga was really scraping the bottom of the barrel when manning the Earth operation. If it was that tight, he shouldn't have even tried. One man gets taken down, and the leadership is left to a pushover kid and one shady man nobody trusts. It's ironic they got that far because they were a family, yet now it's also their weakness because nobody inside the family can't supposedly be suspected of anything.

[Buffalobiian]

That guy really isn't part of the family though. He's not really Tekkadan. It's strange that he's even 2nd in command. That should never have actually occurred since no one trusts him.

Also, Tekkadan isn't a place where you have to have permission to speak with the boss. It felt forced.

[Kraco]

Also, Tekkadan isn't a place where you have to have permission to speak with the boss. It felt forced.

Indeed, but when everybody save that shady traitor and one wounded man are scared or foolish kids, who's to argue otherwise? Tekkadan has so few good people that Orga couldn't afford to station enough on Earth. The result is as we see.

[Buffalobiian]

Tekkadan has so few good people that Orga couldn't afford to station enough on Earth. The result is as we see.

Hmm. True.

If it was someone like Akihiro down there, he would not hesitate for a second, shove the traitor aside and contact Orga directly.

They're sorely missing 1st-gen Tekkadan folks down there.

(edit: Akihiro's a bad example since he's so high ranking to begin with, but you get the idea)

[Kraco]

Episode 31 - HS



- - -- - -



It was Orga's worst decision ever to man the Earth base with only kids and a single man, plus the shady dude they knew nothing about. With the single man out of action, the kids will simply follow anybody, and the shady dude was given the control of communications of all things. This will be a highly expensive lesson for Orga. Although at the same time I'm not sure their opponents fully realised how loose their heads would be on their shoulders once Tekkadan starts to look for culprits. There's no place in the solar system for them to hide in.

Kind of a slow and melancholic episode all in all, but it was totally on purpose to convey the feeling of what the kids were going through.

[shinta|hikari]

Betting time!!!

Who dies in this arc?

The bro kid? The debris kid? The macho dude?

My money is on debris kid. Bro kid is the red herring.

[Kraco]

Although normally I'd say the bro kid should die for being so foolish, but it would be damn sad because it would leave the study-loving sister alone. Besides, like I said earlier, much of what happened here is basically Orga's fault, so it's kind of annoying if characters die due to the mistakes of someone else.

I'm still waiting for Lafter to ask Turbine for a divorce to start to date the macho dude. It feels like she's all the time looking at him. God knows Turbine wouldn't even notice if there was one girl less in his harem. He might even be glad as he ought to get it up less with every year he gains in age. He must be feeling the pressure in the wrong place.

[Buffalobiian]

Debris kid takes a hit for Bro kid. Bro kid has a cry afterwards. Then maybe he will die. Debris kid is done however.

Macho lives.

I often don't mind manipulators, but I want nothing more than to see Mikazuchi pulverize them.

[ForteCross]

Debris kid takes a hit for Bro kid. Bro kid has a cry afterwards. Then maybe he will die. Debris kid is done however.

Macho lives.

I often don't mind manipulators, but I want nothing more than to see Mikazuchi pulverize them.

it doesnt matter which kid dies the other one should learn from the mistakes made and be a good leader after this... and ofcourse take care of the studying sister... seriously both kids are expandable as long as the other lives:

debris kid dies, bro kid learns from mistakes and becomes a leader, sister is sad but bro kid is there for her
bro kid dies, debris kid learns from mistakes and becomes a leader, sister is sad but debris kid is there for her

just for the sake of drama/good story telling/underdog becoming a leader then the bro kid should die and the debris finally develops a personality...

[Buffalobiian]

It could work either way, but the debris kid seems more clued than Takaki. Takaki being kept alive also works because he can become a better leader after failing to be a leader. "I fucked up and I'll have to live with it while making sure it doesn't happen again", as opposed to simply stepping up after someone else screwed up.

Takaki is the one who has been lied to by communications-guy and played by Captain guy. It's on him to redeem himself.

I'd also rather see Takaki cry than his sister cry.

[ForteCross]

It could work either way, but the debris kid seems more clued than Aston. Aston being kept alive also works because he can become a better leader after failing to be a leader. "I fucked up and I'll have to live with it while making sure it doesn't happen again", as opposed to simply stepping up after someone else screwed up.

Aston is the one who has been lied to by communications-guy and played by Captain guy. It's on him to redeem himself.

I'd also rather see Aston cry than his sister cry.

actually when i saw them working together it seemed like an unexperienced copy of orga+mika so maybe the can just become a proxy of them on earth?

[shinta|hikari]

Maybe the little sister dies.

[Kraco]

actually when i saw them working together it seemed like an unexperienced copy of orga+mika so maybe the can just become a proxy of them on earth?

I can't believe you'd compare especially Takaki to Orga. Altland compared to Mika might make some sense, save for one thing. But Orga as we know him has always been like he is now, from the beginning. He subscribed to the old wisdom of the importance of making decisions (even the wrong decision is better than no decision at all, which is why he looks like a gambler so often), plus he always knew what he wanted in spirit, even if not always concretely. Of course he was always supported in the unholy manner by Mika, giving the impression if Orga couldn't push forward anymore, Mika would put a bullet in Orga's head next. Takaki is nothing like Orga at the moment, who knows if he ever will be, and Altland is lacking the forward pushing role (if you can call it that) Mika has in his own weird manner, even if Altland is a straightforward fighter otherwise.

I don't think Orga will ever become an honest, clean leader of anything, which is why it's fine he joined the more or less criminal syndicate. Takaki, however, might make a good boss of an organization working properly in the open, assuming he learns from this huge mistake.

[Buffalobiian]

Episode 32

-------------------









"Good for you. Seems like you're decent."

That was the shit. The redemption played out like I had in mind. (just found out I stuffed up the naming in my previous posts. I should just stick with bro-kid and debris-kid).

Lafter x Akihiro is sorely needed. Maybe Turbine needs to die, as cool as he is. That's the only way for Orga / Lafter to move on since there's no way they'd betray him (In terms of Orga surpassing him politically, and Lafter going for someone else romantically).

[Kraco]

Mika makes such a jolly leader in Orga's absence. Is he the de facto second in command, even if Eugene is the official one? I have no idea. Mika doesn't really give a shit about much of anything, and thus he grabs the gun as the quick way out. However, if somebody wants to claim the problem for themselves instead, Mika doesn't bother to argue. More scenes with McGillis and Mika might be funny, with McGillis being aristocratic and civilised even if highly pragmatic and Mika being... Well, Mika. There's always a huge tension in the atmosphere when Orga is in McGillis's company, but Mika naturally doesn't care. He just keeps popping those dried fruits or whatever they are.


Lafter x Akihiro is sorely needed. Maybe Turbine needs to die, as cool as he is. That's the only way for Orga / Lafter to move on since there's no way they'd betray him (In terms of Orga surpassing him politically, and Lafter going for someone else romantically).

Do they need to betray him? Maybe we haven't seen Turbine enough to really judge his personality, but I wouldn't consider it impossible he might give Lafter's hand to Akihiro if they confronted him openly and honestly. I was under an impression he had picked up these girls and offered them a home when they had no other place to go, or at least any better place. He must like all of them, but if one from the edges wanted to form a family with some other man he knows, maybe he would let her go. Considering how much Lafter has been with Tekkadan and away from Turbine's crew, she probably isn't his number one waifu.

[Buffalobiian]

She definitely isn't his #1 wife. In fact, his only real wife seems to be the black girl.

They're only his wife in name as far as I'm concerned, but that's still a wife. Betray is a strong word, just like he prolly wouldn't mind Orga climbing higher than him. It's still the same as taking something from him however. It'd simply be easier if he died.

[Kraco]

They're only his wife in name as far as I'm concerned, but that's still a wife. Betray is a strong word, just like he prolly wouldn't mind Orga climbing higher than him. It's still the same as taking something from him however. It'd simply be easier if he died.

We don't know enough about him to gauge if he would view it as stealing something from him or consider it like a father giving his daughter away to a decent man the daughter has fallen in love with. Do we even know if he has slept with all of the women? If he considers the likes of Lafter, who aren't bearing his children, only girls he is taking care of and looking after, it could be that he would be pleased if those girls found happiness and families of their own.

I hope the series would delve into this. I wouldn't mind if, for the sake of sealing the deal officially and to make sure nobody had any second thoughts, Turbine demanded some compensation from Tekkadan for allowing Lafter to permanently move from the Turbine crew to the Tekkadan crew. Kind of like football teams are sometimes paying money when players transfer.

[Buffalobiian]

No. Don't ask for compensation. That makes Lafter a commodity and that's just a shit direction to go in. It's the entire opposite of humanising Debris.

[Buffalobiian]

Episode 33

-------------------------------









Good transition episode. Mika's laying it on without even knowing it.

Tekkadan pulling out of Earth will weaken their position, but their functional numbers don't seem to be large, so perhaps this is for the best. As we've previously stated, there really isn't anyone who can make big-picture decisions aside from Orga. Even during this meeting, no one had a clue besides Orga about what they're about to get into (besides Kudelia / Merribit, but they're not true males Tekkadan members. Still, more of a member than Radice every was.

[Kraco]

It will weaken their peace time position to withdraw from Earth, but they couldn't afford to have anything on Earth if shit hits the fan. The Earth base would be destroyed immediately. So, with McGillis predicting a war will soon happen, leaving Earth is the only viable choice for Tekkadan. It might also be politically correct under any circumstances as the general population might view them as outsider troublemakers after this incident.

I reckon things are proceeding too fast for Kuudelia, concerning the sovereign of Mars talk. I doubt she would be fearing Tekkadan would simply forget her and rule Mars on their own, but she must have had a more political way for the Mars independence in her mind. Merribit's office lady mentality left her even further behind in this talk, her connection to the syndicate making it even worse for her.

Lafter couldn't even deny it anymore. Poor girl.

[Kraco]

Episode 34



- - - - -



What the hell. During the first season I used to think Orga was destined to die at some suitable point to propel Mika forward, but I forgot that anticipation during this second season. However, now when we suddenly learned Merribit is dating the old mechanic, that expectation immediately returned to me. I reckon I just wished to see Orga and Merribit together, and that ship replaced my original idea. But now that the road is blocked, I don't again see any future for poor Orga. He has got nothing tying him to the world, unlike Mika who has got a girl in both hands, so Orga can only serve as a stepping stone for Mika to gain his independence.

At this point it would be exceptionally difficult to anymore introduce a new woman to pair with Orga, so I can't see it happening. He's quite an empty vessel. It might be said he's married to his creation, Tekkadan, but that's pretty hollow. In the end he has ambition but his dream is shapeless and ambiguous, aside from pushing up all the time. He doesn't really know where he wants to go next, he just knows he needs to be going somewhere all the time. That isn't really the kind of crystal clear goal that renders everything else unnecessary.

Damn, that was such a shock that I can't think much of anything else that happened in the ep.

[Buffalobiian]

Orga will last till the final stretch of the story. Naze will surely die for him should something happen. I agree that Orga will remain loyal to Tekkadan and remain a bachelor. In hindsight I suppose it was a bit of a stretch to put Orga on the same level as Merribit in terms of experience. Her counselling has always been so one-sided that there's no room to return the affection.

Poor Orga ends up sacrificing his life for Tekkadan despite being alive.

[ForteCross]

Orga will last till the final stretch of the story. Naze will surely die for him should something happen. I agree that Orga will remain loyal to Tekkadan and remain a bachelor. In hindsight I suppose it was a bit of a stretch to put Orga on the same level as Merribit in terms of experience. Her counselling has always been so one-sided that there's no room to return the affection.

Poor Orga ends up sacrificing his life for Tekkadan despite being alive.

well if you say that naze is going to give his life for orga, then there is plenty of women for him to be paired with

[Kraco]

well if you say that naze is going to give his life for orga, then there is plenty of women for him to be paired with

No, there isn't. Merribit is the only woman he was in any contact with, aside from the already reserved ones. Naze dying could really happen, in the big battle that's upcoming, as it would automatically free Lafter. The rest of the women could, perhaps, join Tekkadan naturally as they are going to need all the experienced people they can get if they are supposed to basically form the defense forces of Mars after the independence.

Man, I can't easily get over this. In my honest opinion Orga would be better off dead for the greater cause than to continue like this till the old age. It would be so meaningless with the other people probably settling down. It was even verified the farm really is personally important to Mika.

[Buffalobiian]

Settling back on the farm once they're old wouldn't be so bad for Orga. He'd finally have Mika off his back and can stop plotting near-suicide missions just to move forward in life.

Mika might have two girls by his side, but I don't actually expect them to bear any fruit. All bonds pale in comparison to Mika x Orga in this story.

Orga can't die until a decent successor comes up. Eugene's the closest and he's not even half-baked.

[Kraco]

Orga can't die until a decent successor comes up. Eugene's the closest and he's not even half-baked.

The successor doesn't need to be as crazy as Orga. In fact it would be better if they weren't. Orga being like he is was necessary considering they started from absolutely nothing, no, in fact they started from the negative due to all the initial lethal danger and challenges they faced. However, the successor could afford to be a bit more steady diplomat, politician, and bureaucrat with a long vision instead of a high risk gambler. When the successor inherits the position, Tekkadan ought to be stable and with a solid mission and path forward.

In fact I have no idea what Orga is going to do if he's still alive when things become stable. He might turn out to be detrimental to the organisation at that point. I don't think he can change his ways, yet his ways won't necessarily be anymore what Tekkadan needs in the future. If Mika retires to the farm, Orga will lose the weird driving force, but that could as well cause his collapse. If he had a family, he would still have something super imporant when that happens, but as things stand, he would have nothing. It would be better to see Orga's respected grave than a bitter drunkard Orga.

[Buffalobiian]

Eugene doesn't need to be crazy, but he needs to be able to read people better, as well as leverage politics. Orga isn't crazy be default. I can see him enjoying an easy life afterwards. He should feel relief without Mika complaining about how long their journey is.

I don't see him being a bitter drunkard at all.

The other good thing about Orga is that I don't see a woman being his undoing. As for Eugene... *cough*

[shinta|hikari]

OrgaXMika with a sprinkle of girls on the side.

[Kraco]

Episode 35




- - - - - - -



Let's hope the Mobile Armor kills that Iok bastard in the next episode already. People like that who are in high positions but bereft of a functional brain are annoying. It might be nice to see him incarcerated, but considering the current state of the society, there's no chance of that happening even if the AI robot killed a million people on Mars. So, it's better if he simply dies helplessly like a loser.

Other than that, when there's a button, you just have to press it, right?

[Buffalobiian]

if McGillis really isn't in it for the Order of the Seven Stars I wonder why he went there so urgently. I believe him when he said they were mistaken, but there's no other way to gain from this.

I've enjoyed the lack of New-Type introduction thus far. Don't ruin it.

[ForteCross]

just watched episode 36, gotta admit that most of gundam series get boring by this time... unlike this one!

tough masked guy is the most boring and bland character, we still dont have a main villain for S2. the kids still get most of the time and rightfully so. they are bad ass and full of flaws, even when they are trying to do good they are just uninformed and most of the time out handed by their enemies and they still keep fighting.

they dont blame themselves for trying to do good and fail, they get angry like any of us would do and thats why i actually admire them and think this is one of the most "realistic" gundam series i watched (although i didnt watched that many)

[Buffalobiian]

Ever seen the guy who obviously got carried to your rank? That's Iok.

Clueless. Fucking. Iok.

[Kraco]

They absolutely need to sue Iok for all the damages. That guy is totally intentionally causing so much trouble. In fact they should arrest him and throw him into some pitiful, vermin infested cell on Mars, to wait for a trial. It would suitably ruin his reputation further. I'd like that much more than a simple death. Although even if he does die, they should spread the news how this all was his fault, so that he would gain no honour from dying fighting.

[Buffalobiian]

That guy is totally intentionally causing so much trouble.

This guy can't intentionally do anything.

[shinta|hikari]

He can intentionally be elitist.

[Kraco]

This guy can't intentionally do anything.

Objectively true, but I was talking from a legal standpoint. Unless he was declared mentally ill by professionals, he would be considered guilty, despite being so stupid he didn't realise what he was doing.

[ForteCross]

Objectively true, but I was talking from a legal standpoint. Unless he was declared mentally ill by professionals, he would be considered guilty, despite being so stupid he didn't realise what he was doing.

he certainly didnt read his history books, otherwise he would know not to land with a ahab reactor on his back... besides that?

the gundam armor was on his way to a heavily populated city, just by snipping it from afar he succeeded in diverting it to a less populated farm...

he is not in the "wrong" of bringing a mobile suit to arrest a treacherous leader, nor trying to save more people... we as viewers see the whole picture and know for a fact he is doing mistake after mistake but from his point of view he is right

[Buffalobiian]

1) He doesn't really have grounds to call Fareed a "treacherous leader". He just wants to maintain the status quo so his fraction stands at the top. Fareed hasn't done anything wrong.

2) He wasn't trying to save the town. He thought he "got back" at the machine for killing his subordinates. I doubt he had any idea there was a town there.

He makes short-sighted decisions that don't really have an aim.

[Kraco]

What he did initially was, if compared to our reality, akin to allowing terrorists to acquire a nuclear bomb. While he didn't do it intentionally but do to his incompetence, it's a sad fact that he was in a position of power and leadership that allowed him to do it easily, so he bears full responsibility. Then, later, he ruined an official operation to stop the mobile armour, or comparatively, he basically saved the terrorists carrying the nuclear bomb from govenment troops that were about to try to get it back safely. If his motives were questioned later, all he could say would be: "I didn't want that other officer to get any credit." That's exactly what he would say, as well, because he's a blistering idiot.

[ForteCross]

What he did initially was, if compared to our reality, akin to allowing terrorists to acquire a nuclear bomb. if compared to our reality would be to try to stop a foreign government/military group(tekkadan) from acquiring a nuclear bomb, in his idiocy he actually activated the countdown for the bomb.

if you think about it, catching fareed besides tekkadan with the nuclear bomb below their feet is enough to call ANY leader a traitor. remember that fareed's trip wasnt audited and thus "unofficial". if you still want to compare to our reality its like finding a US general at iran's nuclear reactor.


While he didn't do it intentionally but do to his incompetence, it's a sad fact that he was in a position of power and leadership that allowed him to do it easily, so he bears full responsibility. Then, later, he ruined an official operation to stop the mobile armour, or comparatively, he basically saved the terrorists carrying the nuclear bomb from govenment troops that were about to try to get it back safely. once again fareed's operation in mars is not official...


If his motives were questioned later, all he could say would be: "I didn't want that other officer to get any credit." That's exactly what he would say, as well, because he's a blistering idiot. i believe that's what he would said because he is indeed an idiot, but he might as well say that he was sent by his officer in charge to arrest fareed for trafficking weapons of mass destruction with tekkadan

[NeoCybercoin]

Ep 37 is out!

Goddamn this show is so fucking awesome.

[Kraco]

Although it's understandable, but it felt like Orga is losing his edge. Now that he has so much to lose, in other words so much to protect, he's not anymore the brazen gambler he once was. Fortunately Mika is the same as ever and always there to set Orga straight. That also carries the benefit of nicely confusing McGillis, who can reasonably expect some things from Orga but can never be really prepared for the stunts Mika might pull off.

It seems like Gundam pilots can't expect more than a single fight against Mobile Armors even if they happen to survive. Limiters off is deadly business for the mortal body.

[shinta|hikari]

Looks like Mika is gonna lose a foot or both feet next. The scene in the preview with him lying on his side suggests as much.

But I am so looking forward to the Dark Souls style man vs monster battle next episode!!!

Best part of this episode was the harem being formalized.

[ForteCross]

there is just no way that orga is going to die now... and even if he does it will be a last minute sacrifice by the end of the series...

mika is already to fucked up to be the only main protagonist and there is no one around that can replace the leadership of orga anymore...

by the way, do the barbatos power ups stay each time that mika gives up a part of himself? are we expected to see him fighting like he did against the mobile armor from now on?

[Buffalobiian]

Episode 38




by the way, do the barbatos power ups stay each time that mika gives up a part of himself? are we expected to see him fighting like he did against the mobile armor from now on?

I don't think he would be able to, simply because it'd be too OP. No mobile suit can stand up to him if that becomes his base performance level. If they start digging up more Mobile Armours however then I'll buy into it.

You're right about Orga. His love story with Mika is too far down the line now to stop. It's the basis for this story.

Barbatos was ripped to shreds this episode. Maybe it's not over for Mika to have a normal life. Once the war is over, strip Barbatos down to its minimal parts (like the cockpit housing?), give it wheels, and let Mika tether to that with a 5m cable. Maybe it'll be the size of a Haro.

[shinta|hikari]

Or just make it wireless..?

Or have Eva length cables.

Mika has no hobbies anyway. All he needs to do is make babies with his harem, and that can be done within Barbatos.

I think that was the best mecha battle I have ever seen period. So much happened in such a short period of time, and all of it was awesome.

EDIT:

Has no one invented electric wheelchairs yet despite there being flying robots around?

[ForteCross]

Or just make it wireless..?

Or have Eva length cables.

Mika has no hobbies anyway. All he needs to do is make babies with his harem, and that can be done within Barbatos. i would say that besides fighting, mika has the farm he wants to attend to so maybe modify barbatos with farming equipment so he can still have a "peacefull" life.

[shinta|hikari]

OMG Gundam the Farmer. Amazing.

[Kraco]

Has no one invented electric wheelchairs yet despite there being flying robots around?

It's strange the head engineer simply didn't build him one. I guess he's too busy entertaining Merribit to do any extra work.

Seriously, though, I guess the thought simply never occurred to these folks as previously anybody getting wounded too badly would simply be thrown away as trash to die somewhere alone, out of sight. Mika must be the first Martian soldier who is still kept around in that state.

[Buffalobiian]

But now he gets to be carried around like Yoda.

[shinta|hikari]

Or like a sack of rice. Why the hell was he being carried like that anyway?

[Kraco]

Episode 39



- - - - - - -



Gjallarhorn really needs to be torn down. The fact someone like Iok can be in a high position is the best example of how rotten and corrupt that organisation is.

I'll be really sad if Lafter dies. There was a huge death flag hanging over the whole Turbines crew, so who can say what could happen. If Iok has poor Lafter killed, nothing else but the annihilation of Iok's whole clan will satisfy me. Somehow it has to be ensured those degenerate people can't produce another giant idiot like that.

It's always a pleasure to see Mika meeting anybody. He never gives a shit about anything. And, man, comparing a baby to a ham. It'd be hard to believe he wasn't trying to troll Atra, just a little bit.

I'd like to see Orga pull off a plan of his own this time. Of late he has mainly been reacting and following suggestions by other people. It would be the time for another big gamble.

[shinta|hikari]

Orga disobeying Naze's wishes yet still getting a win for both the Turbines and Tekkadan is the best resolution to this arc. If anyone has to die, I hope it is Naze's tanned bodyguard waifu.

[Buffalobiian]

Naze and hot wife will either live together or die together. As things stand now I think death is more likely.

What I don't get is why he "took" a banned weapon only to frame someone else with it. Certainly if he gets caught he'd be in much deeper shit since he knows exactly what it is.

[Kraco]

What I don't get is why he "took" a banned weapon only to frame someone else with it. Certainly if he gets caught he'd be in much deeper shit since he knows exactly what it is.

Hmm... I was going to write here a post badmouthing Iok, but I'm not anymore sure who you are talking about. You make it sound like you think Naze accepted a banned weapon (from Iok) and was planning to frame someone with it, huh.

[Buffalobiian]

Iok took something out of warehouse 4 (A banned weapon).
He caught Naze carrying the Tekkadan weapon (A banned weapon).

Why take out a banned weapon, to then apprehend someone else for carrying the same class of weapon?

It'd make sense if Iok was framing Naze by framing him but that wasn't necessary at all. Iok wasn't going into combat. Holding onto something illegal doesn't look good when you're calling out a civilian for doing the same thing.

[Kraco]

I thought Iok used the banned weapons he took from the warehouse to frame Naze. Was Naze still carrying more of those weapons he already delivered to Tekkadan? Especially considering the ammunition Tekkadan used apparently wasn't banned, which made the Tekkadan weapon to stay in the gray area. Kind of like having a big ballistic missile normally reserved for a nuclear warhead equipped with a conventional warhead. Naze, however, gave up because he reckoned there's nothing he could do to prove the weapons weren't originally his but were planted there by the very inspection team.

But I don't know. Maybe you are correct and I misunderstood the episode.

Maybe Orga could move in to arrest Iok in the name of the Mars regional government to charge him with the crime of trying to eradicate a civilian city on Mars using the Mobile Armor. That would be more than justified.

[shinta|hikari]

Do others (that would matter in this context) even know that Iok brought along a banned weapon?

[Kraco]

I suppose anyone would need to be keeping an eye on him to learn of it or something would need to happen to launch an inspection. Otherwise in the military you can't even get a pair of gloves without leaving a record, so certainly anyone with any significant power would learn of it if they had a reason to check. McGillis got to know it immediately, but that's probably because his people are observing an enemy, that is, Iok.

However, Gjallarhorn is corrupt through and through, so if something shitty happened, I wouldn't find it strange if someone altered the records to indicate those particular weapons had already been scrapped a year earlier.

[Buffalobiian]

Episode 40

--------------






Iok was funny maybe 5 episodes ago. Now he just needs to die.

Orga himself still looked pretty pathetic even if he's stuck between a rock and a hard place. Mika likely hadn't heard about this secret operation of Akihiro's, but that was a look of doubt on his face if I ever saw it.

Mika forming his own ideas and growing independent would be kind of novel, but having the duo spearhead Tekkadan would still be the entertainment of choice. We don't need Mika forming ideas about Orga's suspect leadership. We just need Orga to pull his shit together. More often than not he should just do whatever he feels like, because that's how Tekkadan feels. Using his head actually disconnects him from his troops.

[NeoCybercoin]

Man, I really hope that fucker Iok is dead. I seriously have nothing but hate for those types of people. Just idiots. Despite being a heavy episode, ( for me anyway ) I did laugh at Akihiro's wondering why she would strangle him.

[KrayZ33]

Orga himself still looked pretty pathetic even if he's stuck between a rock and a hard place. Mika likely hadn't heard about this secret operation of Akihiro's, but that was a look of doubt on his face if I ever saw it.

Mika forming his own ideas and growing independent would be kind of novel, but having the duo spearhead Tekkadan would still be the entertainment of choice. We don't need Mika forming ideas about Orga's suspect leadership. We just need Orga to pull his shit together. More often than not he should just do whatever he feels like, because that's how Tekkadan feels. Using his head actually disconnects him from his troops.

That's a super unfair thing to say, Orga and Tekkadan themselves never went against *insane* odds.

The Turbines, a group several 100 times larger (50k+ members) than themselves with more military power and supplies overall had to disband in hopes to not get crushed and wiped off entirely.
On top of that, just going for it would've meant forsaking all his allies because they wouldn't want to go to war with Gjallarhorn yet.

I mean, we can't point out/at "plot armor" whenever it shows up and then critizise MCs when they are not wearing it :).

[shinta|hikari]

What they should've done is record the battle details and send it to the surviving members, thus giving the media fodder for Gjallarhjorn bashing news. Ignoring cease fire and surrender flares is like the height of inhumanity.

[ForteCross]

I suppose anyone would need to be keeping an eye on him to learn of it or something would need to happen to launch an inspection. Otherwise in the military you can't even get a pair of gloves without leaving a record, so certainly anyone with any significant power would learn of it if they had a reason to check. McGillis got to know it immediately, but that's probably because his people are observing an enemy, that is, Iok.

However, Gjallarhorn is corrupt through and through, so if something shitty happened, I wouldn't find it strange if someone altered the records to indicate those particular weapons had already been scrapped a year earlier.
this all depends on how much corrupt the organization is, and your ranking ofcourse... even in today standards the higher the rank the more you can make people look the other way... and from our understanding Gjallarhorn is not an army like the modern ones but more like an army from an imperialistic era where a rank is mostly given by your family name instead of your own merits, so most of the higher ranks are not more loyal and dont have more military experience, on the other hand they might have better education because of richer families...

Iok for example is a spoiled brat that has a higher rank because of his "family name" (and thats why he is so close minded in preserving his family name honor)


Episode 32

-------------------









"Good for you. Seems like you're decent."

That was the shit. The redemption played out like I had in mind. (just found out I stuffed up the naming in my previous posts. I should just stick with bro-kid and debris-kid).

Lafter x Akihiro is sorely needed. Maybe Turbine needs to die, as cool as he is. That's the only way for Orga / Lafter to move on since there's no way they'd betray him (In terms of Orga surpassing him politically, and Lafter going for someone else romantically).

welp, buffalo called it 2 months ago... now orga can get a higher rank on taiwaz and lafter can marry akihiro...

i too think that orga is losing his edge, maybe this will teach him to man up and be back on track. on the other hand akihiro and the other guy grown up as characters with this seemingly pacific strategic.

wishfully thinking:
1) the turbines get swollen up by tekkadan, orga growing in power and thus the plan of that traitor back fires in his face
2) the turbines dont get disbanded and a new leadership by both akihiro and lafter gets arranged

[Kraco]

Let's see what McGillis has in mind. It could be that Orga (and Mika) will have plenty of easy opportunities for a payback. Orga might simply be unable to operate when things are too orderly, right now when they can't afford to make big moves due to both Teiwaz and Gjallarhorn. He's not exactly well-schooled or experienced in working under formal situations. He's just a street kid. However, if things get more chaotic, I'm pretty sure Orga still has what it takes when he doesn't need to worry about complications.

I'm just happy Lafter survived, even if she's going to strangle Akihiro.

[Kraco]

Episode 41



- - - - - -



It's such a damn shame that it took Lafter's life for Orga to finally get over himself and return to what he used to be. Poor Akihiro. This is the most anti-romance Gundam I've seen so far. But of course that is doing fine job painting this Gundam's world in really desolate colours, as is appropriate for such a shitty place. It's hard to enjoy the funny scenes like Mika and Atra's conversation with Lafter dead. But then again, this is going to make watching that backstabbing Teiwaz member and Iok dying all the more satisfying. Only smuggling a couple of mobile armors to the Gjallarhorn HQ and waking them up there would be even more soothing.

[Buffalobiian]

Oh shit.

I didn't see that coming. Even when they announced their "plan" I thought it'd be to kidnap them. How naive of me.

Orga's decision was also unexpected. After all of this he chose to lash out at Jasley, seemingly going back on all that Naze tried to teach him about keeping his family safe.

I think he's basically chosen the worse decision so far.

That is, he should have jumped in last week to save Naze. Now that they've already incurred losses, what's one more Lafter? After all the lives you've lost to keep Tekkadan safe, you're going all in anyway.

Make no mistake, I'm all for Orga being true to himself and keeping up the "nobody fucks with us" attitude. But logically it's a shit move.




edit: also, logically, Atra should totally have Mika's baby. Like.. before he dies.

[Kraco]

It's not logically a shitty move. It's even far less ambiguous than would have been to go all out to help Naze. Naze was fighting against Gjallarhorn, now they will be fighting merely against a traitorous part of Teiwaz. You can't allow yourself to be pushed around among gangsters unless you want to become a gofer. Government is a totally different thing, one that should be avoided.

[Buffalobiian]

They're going against Jasley and whoever sides with him, and there appears to be a few higher powers. It's also logically a shitty move because there's nothing to gain from it besides revenge. The cost of said revenge will be x number of lives, as well as their relationship and benefits within Teiwaz. At least they could have saved Naze when they gambled on the previous mission.

The only real thing to gain is morale.

Jasley is pulling in Iok, and Orga knows that too. That's why he's calling McGillis for help.

I just imagined them tying up Jasley at the bridge, then having Tekkadan all punch him one at a time, followed probably by Turbines. Not that they all got a turn, but whatever.

[Kraco]

They know Jasley got rid of Naze, and now it's their turn. Following your logic they would just observe from the side as Jasley assassinates all the girls who were in contact with Tekkadan, and then begins to work on the Tekkadan itself and their associates in the same manner. Kuudelia might be pretty high on the list. You'd have them do nothing?

[KrayZ33]

How is there nothing to gain for Tekkadan, they are fighting the forces that try to keep them down.

This time, they can actually do it without facing annihilation. Because they are backed up by a fraction of the goverment... unlike before, which would've made them outlaws no matter what.

[NeoCybercoin]

Agreed with Kray, those guys having been against Tekkadan from the start and now are trying to crush them. Nothing to gain? Hell, if Jasley goes then the old man would no problems giving Orga more power within Teiwaz. At least that's how I see it.

[MFauli]

That´s where you keep hiding the Gundam-topic, sigh ;>

It´s shit that Lafter died. Really wanted to see Akihiro getting that girl ;/ Then again ... he made me furious in how he talked to Lafter during their "date". How dense can you be? The way Lafter was killed was good, though, it felt "heavy" because of how casually that assassin shot her.

On the other hand, I think last episode was lackluster in its presentation. I feel like this anime has had much better dramatic scenes, but here Naze and his wife go out in a fashion and ... it just didn´t feel that dramatic. It IS dramatic in terms of its contents and plotwise, but the pure presentation of it felt too low-key. Dunno. I wanted more shouting, more tears, more bombast music, and stuff.

Oh, and I still hate Mikazuki. The autist boy gets to have his own harem and girls asking him to impregnate them. Go die in a fire, chosen one ...

Addendum: I really have to wonder what the end game for Tekkadan is. You guys called this the "anti-romance Gundam", and it´s kinda true. But it´s even worse: When so many heroes have their loved ones be taken away, it doesn´t just (literally) kill romance, it also create a grave, depp bitterness/sadness for those characters. How are they supposed to continue life, once all is said and done? My prime suspect for this season´s most dramatic death is Atra btw.

[ForteCross]

They're going against Jasley and whoever sides with him, and there appears to be a few higher powers. It's also logically a shitty move because there's nothing to gain from it besides revenge. The cost of said revenge will be x number of lives, as well as their relationship and benefits within Teiwaz. At least they could have saved Naze when they gambled on the previous mission.

The only real thing to gain is morale.

Jasley is pulling in Iok, and Orga knows that too. That's why he's calling McGillis for help.

I just imagined them tying up Jasley at the bridge, then having Tekkadan all punch him one at a time, followed probably by Turbines. Not that they all got a turn, but whatever.
not only are they gaining the freedom of the turbines, which right now ARE part of the family. they might also win some ranks in taiwaz if they prove that jasley was the one that betrayed naze and are plotting of getting rid of the old man...

also even if they dont stay under teiwaz anymore they are on the way to become kings of mars so both gjhalahorn and teiwaz should be interested on having tekkadan on their good side (god damn with those names >.>)


How are they supposed to continue life, once all is said and done? My prime suspect for this season´s most dramatic death is Atra btw.

pls no! kill mikazuki before... its not like he is walking his way out anyway... even orga told him to "go all the away" against jasley, i believe mikazuki was asking how much power should he drain from the gundam thus making himself more crippled and orga mistook it as asking if he should or should not kill jasley's goons

[Kraco]

pls no! kill mikazuki before... its not like he is walking his way out anyway... even orga told him to "go all the away" against jasley, i believe mikazuki was asking how much power should he drain from the gundam thus making himself more crippled and orga mistook it as asking if he should or should not kill jasley's goons

There's not much difference. If this is again the good old Orga, he won't go all weepy begging Mikazuki to take it easy. With all the deaths and one crisis after another, these guys should realise already that they are fighting for the next generation, not for themselves. They'll be lucky to have tombstones for themselves.

[Buffalobiian]

They know Jasley got rid of Naze, and now it's their turn. Following your logic they would just observe from the side as Jasley assassinates all the girls who were in contact with Tekkadan, and then begins to work on the Tekkadan itself and their associates in the same manner. Kuudelia might be pretty high on the list. You'd have them do nothing?


Depends on what you mean by "nothing". Now many Teiwaz members do you think can get assassinated before the old man does something? They're still under his care. One girl he might let slide. Now that he's clued in, any more would affect his reputation personally. You can also theoretically just take in the Turbines into Tekkadan. Then you won't be able to pick them off without declaring war on the whole ship.

Kudelia would be high on the list indeed. How much balls does Jasley need to go for a target like that though? If he could do that, he'd just start a fight against Tekkadan already.


Hell, if Jasley goes then the old man would no problems giving Orga more power within Teiwaz.

No, that's not what Orga said in this episode. He explicitly said that now that he's declaring ware on Jasley he won't have a spot in Teiwaz anymore, regardless of whether he wins or loses this fight.


also even if they dont stay under teiwaz anymore they are on the way to become kings of mars so both gjhalahorn and teiwaz should be interested on having tekkadan on their good side (god damn with those names >.>)

"King of Mars" is a promile McGillis made to them, should he win his way to the top of gjhalahorn. Should he win. If he doesn't, they're king of nothing. They will be a paramilitary group that is somewhat larger than they started. They've now bailed out of earth following the Earth Branch issue, and now have bailed out of Teiwaz too.


pls no! kill mikazuki before... its not like he is walking his way out anyway... even orga told him to "go all the away" against jasley, i believe mikazuki was asking how much power should he drain from the gundam thus making himself more crippled and orga mistook it as asking if he should or should not kill jasley's goons


Mika is asking if he needs to show any mercy to Teiwaz since that's what Tekkadan used to be a part of. He's not clued in to how to handle things politically so he's checking in with Orga. Mika doesn't ask about tapping into Gundam's power. He does that on an as-needed basis regardless of other people.


This time, they can actually do it without facing annihilation. Because they are backed up by a fraction of the goverment... unlike before, which would've made them outlaws no matter what.


The whole "without facing annihilation" argument makes the most sense. The funny thing is they actually engaged in combat last episode anyway, albeit behind a "smoke screen". Realistically speaking they should be outlaws now already after that debacle.

[Kraco]

Depends on what you mean by "nothing". Now many Teiwaz members do you think can get assassinated before the old man does something? They're still under his care. One girl he might let slide. Now that he's clued in, any more would affect his reputation personally. You can also theoretically just take in the Turbines into Tekkadan. Then you won't be able to pick them off without declaring war on the whole ship.

Kudelia would be high on the list indeed. How much balls does Jasley need to go for a target like that though? If he could do that, he'd just start a fight against Tekkadan already.

No, Jasley likes Teiwaz so much that he plans to get rid of the old man and take it all for himself. Thus he won't start the straightforward war against Tekkadan, not while Tekkadan is still officially a part of Teiwaz. However, the old man is showing signs of being a weak leader who does't mind the branches fighting each others silently, so Jasley would be free to continue the clandestine methods of pissing off Tekkadan, knowing Tekkadan will respond more aggressively, giving Jasley the justification. Who knows if the old man really is so senile or maybe he's designing a trap for Jasley.


The whole "without facing annihilation" argument makes the most sense. The funny thing is they actually engaged in combat last episode anyway, albeit behind a "smoke screen". Realistically speaking they should be outlaws now already after that debacle.

Iok can't prove anything (without at the same time officially announcing he was using the forbidden weapons), and probably wouldn't care to try anyway considering he's just waiting for a chance to attack Tekkadan anyway. If he had made things official after the Turbines battle, he might have risked losing his position to fight Tekkadan. By not saying anything, he still maintains such a position.

[Kraco]

Episode 42


- - - - - -



Jasley got his just punishment. It was made better by Orga accepting the video call only to insult Jasley. I hope Jasley realised before dying that he was a fool by trusting others to do his dirty work for him. If he wants to perform a coup, he has to do it himself, using his own power. It's a pity Iok wasn't there to share Jasley's fate, but he does pack some firepower commanding a whole fleet, so it might have resulted in some Tekkadan folks dying. Better fight them separately.

I have been thinking so for a while, but it's kind of annoying the script write couldn't really come up with anything meaningful for Kuudelia to do ever since they left Earth. Of course this is concentrating to Tekkadan, so theoretically it could be possible Kuudelia has worked without sleep the same as everyone else, but we have seen none of it. Now we only see her when she's reacting to some Tekkadan stuff, yet she apparently won't ever play any real role in it. It would have been nice is she had orchestrated support for Tekkadan from Mars, or something.

[ForteCross]

Episode 42


- - - - - -



Jasley got his just punishment. It was made better by Orga accepting the video call only to insult Jasley. I hope Jasley realised before dying that he was a fool by trusting others to do his dirty work for him. If he wants to perform a coup, he has to do it himself, using his own power. It's a pity Iok wasn't there to share Jasley's fate, but he does pack some firepower commanding a whole fleet, so it might have resulted in some Tekkadan folks dying. Better fight them separately.

I have been thinking so for a while, but it's kind of annoying the script write couldn't really come up with anything meaningful for Kuudelia to do ever since they left Earth. Of course this is concentrating to Tekkadan, so theoretically it could be possible Kuudelia has worked without sleep the same as everyone else, but we have seen none of it. Now we only see him when she's reacting to some Tekkadan stuff, yet she apparently won't ever play any real role in it. It would have been nice is she had orchestrated support for Tekkadan from Mars, or something.
the episode was good, closing this mini arc and starting the next "level"...

a small detail in the ending was mikazuki closing the other eye that orga does all the time to talk to him... was he trying to imitate him?

by the way the repairs to the gundam... were parts of the gundam armor right? with the tail the claws...

[Buffalobiian]

I have been thinking so for a while, but it's kind of annoying the script write couldn't really come up with anything meaningful for Kuudelia to do ever since they left Earth. Of course this is concentrating to Tekkadan, so theoretically it could be possible Kuudelia has worked without sleep the same as everyone else, but we have seen none of it. Now we only see him when she's reacting to some Tekkadan stuff, yet she apparently won't ever play any real role in it. It would have been nice is she had orchestrated support for Tekkadan from Mars, or something.

She's playing an entirely different game altogether so I don't blame them. The entire last arc was about Tekkadan cutting ties with "unnecessary" organisations and finding themselves again as lone wolves, fighting for their own causes and non-other. Kudelia's been about reducing tariffs and making lives economically better for Martians (or something, I don't fully remember).

I do think it's sad to see her off to the sidelines like this. With Gjallarhorn and Tekkadan performing revolution via arms though, there's no choice but for her to sit back and patch things up after they're done.

[shinta|hikari]

She'll be back. With a bang.