gundam 00 3
Categories: anime, episodic review, gundam
Tagged: gundam 00
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Another new outfit! That’s three out of three! I’m feeling very good about the chances for a meido outfit.
(Almost done with my thin slicing post for Fall 2007 and close to the 30 series mark, so I decided to take a Gundam 00 break. I think it’s not hard to guess what will be #1, but I wonder if anyone can guess at who “wins” the Mr. Irrelevant title this time around.)
There’s been a lot of discussion about what exactly is her name and how to properly romanize it. I’ll give ya the hard truth answer: there’s no correct way. The reason that dozens of romanization systems exist is because it’s hard to convert Chinese into English, and even harder when we’re going through a Japanese filter. English, though, is a forgiving language, and it’s acceptable to spell the same name many ways… Jhonny Peralta as an example… and English encourages creative names… Vonteego Cummings as an example. For the realm of Derailed by Darry, I liked Ms. Wong because it has nice symmetry with Sergey, and anything that reminds me of Mai Otome is a win for comedy sake. But Ms. Wang is starting to grow on me as well… that looks slightly funnier in print… and if we still can’t agree, I’ll just call her Gundam Melonpan and that’ll be that.
One thing that Gundam 00 is doing a bit differently is that it is progressing a lot of the plot and storyline by juxtaposed dialogue from the three factions. It does speed things along and shows how united the world is so far in that everyone wants to stop the Gundams not to stop their destruction but to learn their technology so they can employ it in use against (presumably) the other factions. Humanity doesn’t learn! It also sets up nicely a plot line where Setsuna loses Exia and thus gives the factions the ability to build their own Gundams and plunge the world into further chaos and destruction. Sometime tells me that the body count caused by the Gundams will exceed the lives that they will save.
Also, each faction’s attempts at testing out Exia in this episode seems to resemble the nature of each faction. For example, Union’s attempt was made by the cocky, Jun Kitagawa-like Graham Acre and was done stylishly in the sky. The HRA attempt was more… brute force. But they both were equal annoyances to Exia in their old school mobile suits, and they both forced Exia to use its beam saber.
(Wait, the IRA is still battling it out 400 years from now? According to Wikipedia, they had less than 300 members in modern day, and they’re probably less of a threat to Union security than Microsoft. I think if it was revealed instead that hostilities between Area 11 and Union were ended due to Celestial Being, I would hang up on this blog and quit. Not going to top that development, ever.)
Points of Interest
I think Sumeragi is an upgrade over Murrue and definitely an upgrade over Lacus. I’m looking forward to the first time Ptolemaios gets rocked by a missile volley.
Tsundere Louise joins Ms. Wang in the “What purpose beyond eye candy do they serve in this anime” discussion. I guess I thought Sunrise was just going to highlight normal life going on outside the conflict, from an outsiders perspective, with Louise and Saji. Then it turns out Saji is Setsuna’s neighbor, and Saji’s mom is a news anchor. Odds are now through the roof that Setsuna will screw up and be caught on tape.
Graham Acre is going to be the L to Setsuna’s Light-o, right down to the ambiguity of their sexuality. I can definitely picture Graham hosting Queer Eye for the Straight Guy.
It’s not just Ms. Wang that looks great in HDTV, but the mecha battles look great as well. So far, we haven’t had any of the animation re-use that plagued Seed and Destiny.
But Dynames and Kyrios both get the short end of the stick in terms of mecha action. While Exia gets into some tense moments, we get to see a routine bombing run from Kyrios and Lockon as bored as I was watching him snipe at some construction mecha.
What we do learn about the Gundams this episode is that their GN drive (the shining thingamagig that gives him uber power) needs to be recharged by the Solar Furnace on Ptolemaios, and that Setsuna has a major stick up his ass compared to the other Gundam Meisters. Besides the Middle Eastern roots shared by Setsuna and Sagara, Celestial Being has similarities to Mithril. Both are secret military organizations. Both feature a drunk, sexpot squad leader. Both feature an underaged and possibly genius who gives out orders (the scene where Ms. Wang refuses the drink reminded me of a similar scene in Tessa’s OVA, only Ms. Wang didn’t get fondled in her sleep). Both feature a wise cracking sniper. Both have at their centerpiece a mecha like no other. We’ll know for sure if Marina turns out to be a Chidori-class tsundere.
27 Responses to “gundam 00 3”
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somehow the more i watch this show, the more i focus on the gundams and less on the melonpan…am i normal?
The Gundam’s GN drive is powered by Potemayo?
HAHAHAHA
Pretty good episode again, though I think animation quality dropped down a notch at places (or it’s just my eyes). I’m still bothered by the rather absurd premise of the show – world peace through armed force. I mean, mr. Dubyah on the other side of the pond has already demonstrated just how well that works in practice. I’d like to see what the Celestial Being’s approach to rooting out something like Taleban would be. :P The “real IRA’s” sudden ceasefire feels unrealistic for the same reason: how do you root out an enemy that hides amongst civilians with the Gundams? What were they afraid of? An attack on their outhouse?
Also, I’m amazed nobody noticed that stray cargo container floating away from the space elevator. Security and airspace control must be really lax there – or it was an inside job. We have no good grasp yet just how far CB’s influence and allies extend (I’m sure they have moles and informants in all three factions though).
I’ll keep on watching though, despite my nitpicking it is entertaining enough, and so far impresses me more than GSeeds. If I’m suddenly pressed for time though, I’m afraid this’ll be one of the first to be dropped.
i think they are trying to stops wars by making the gundamns the ultimate enemys of all factions..hence making them work together..
but really this is a short tem solutions…once the factions catch up in terms of technology its back to square one..i’ll call it an alliance of convinience or is it needs.. :P
oh well
“and Lockon as bored as I was watching him snipe at some construction mecha.”
shouldnt that read “snipe at some construction mecha with a pistol to make it slightly more interesting…”
Weee, been waiting on the thin slicing post. And I’m gonna go out on a limb and say Mr. Irrelevant goes to Maple Story.
“I’m still bothered by the rather absurd premise of the show – world peace through armed force.”
And no one seems to be buying it nor does it look like they have a chance in hell of obtaining that goal at this point. And they probably won’t. So far, the only groups that have given up are small fry that know they would get wiped out. The Union and HRA, on the other hand, just need a little bit of upgrading and they can be on even footing with the Gundams.
Besides, the simple fact that the group is claiming to force world peace on everyone right from the beginning means they are destined to fail and that there will be major shakeups later on. Unlike SEED and Destiny which introduced the “Yay, Peace by Force!” groups later on and Wing which, while the pacificist kingdom was around it never did much and the Gundam pilots never were. And the “War to end all wars” stuff only came up at the end. Then Endless Waltz had the dumbest ending ever that amounted to “and then war went away and everyone lived happily forever and ever.” Although I suppose you could reinterpret that to “people rediscovered nukes and humanity was wiped out” but that clearly wasn’t the intention.
Hahahahahahahaha! Oh, the mental imagery…
I thought it were the Gundams that needed to recharge the Ptolemy, not the other way around.
I also noticed something. That Middle Eastern Princess is 24 according to Wikipedia. If she hooks up with 16 year old Setsuna, wouldn’t that make her a…
As Beowulf Lee said, it’s the Gundams who recharge
PotemayoPtolemaios. This is being discussed (With a “why nyoro~n subs sucks so much” theme) in DarkMirage’sI too am very bothered by the plot. I don’t understand what the writers are trying to achieve. I really don’t see how armed intervention by 4 guys wiping out a handful of mecha could stop the Sri Lanka civil war, make the IRA give up (if they are still around in 300 years!), and wipe out cocaine production. I would have thought that 20 years of the USA napalming cocaine fields in Columbia with no real effect was proof enough that 4 guys aren’t going to make much of a difference no matter what technological difference is.
I hope that the plot will eventually turn around in that we learn that in fact Celestial Being has a much more sinister agenda in mind which has nothing to do with stopping wars.
BTW, where’s our masked man?
P.S. GSD didn’t really have reused footage until after episode 10 or so aside from launch sequences which was reused a few times but could be forgiven.
You see way too much Fox News, Epi.
Napalm has never been used in Colombia (Not Columbia). I know this for a fact because I happen to live there. However I agree with you that bombing a cocaine field will have zero effect on cocaine production, unless they do this everytime as a psychological measure.
Right now, in Colombia, they fumigate cocaine crops with “glifosato” (Coca’s poison). But that doesn’t really fix anything.
Again: No napalm here, no city in flames. In fact, Bogotá (Colombia’s capital) is pretty much like North Beach Miami and downtown Miami, with, of course, some exceptions.
“And no one seems to be buying it nor does it look like they have a chance in hell of obtaining that goal at this point. And they probably won’t.”
Indeed, whch makes it all the more curious that Celestial Being’s members and supporters seem to be bying into it hundred percent. All that advanced technology needs to come from -somewhere- so they must have powerful backing. Which as already mentioned lends credence to theory that CB has a more sinister plan up its sleeve… I’m just wodnering how they plan to make the pilots cooperate. Or perhaps they’ll just keep feeding them the World Peace Plan while true achievements of their missions lie in another direction… in which case, how long will they be able to keep up the deception? Defections will follow, but that wouldn’t be a surprise. Gundam Seeds, at least, have established a precedence that the balance of power at the beginning of A Gundam series will not be the same by the end.
Gundams…can…save…lives?
I think I need to lie down for this…
(Gunpla, on the other hand, has been known to save
PekoponEarth)I think the “The Gundam’s GN drive is powered by Potemayo?” completely derailed the rest of the comments for me. You heard it here first. That was some funny stuff. Jason, I know you’re laughing your ass off. Xeifa, you freaking win at life. I pass on my title to you.
That aside, I’m totally on the Gundam chix0r wagon this time around. Sumeragi and Wang/Wong/Loli-Sergeybait (There, I said it.) are definitely making things interesting. I’m still trying to figure out what the heck Louise is doing. It should be a crime to give a character the same name while a previous character carrying that name is still in our minds. I’m still expecting this blonde melonpan-wielding girl to bust out a riding crop and beat Saji over the head with it. One can hope.
>> The Gundam’s GN drive is powered by Potemayo?
*snickers like a madman*
>> Weee, been waiting on the thin slicing post. And I’m gonna go out on a limb and say Mr. Irrelevant goes to Maple Story.
Excellent guess. Actually, didn’t even bother watching Maple Story, so you could argue it is more of an undrafted free agent than Mr. Irrelevant. Did 29 series this time around; post up hopefully within 24 hours.
>> I too am very bothered by the plot. I don’t understand what the writers are trying to achieve. I really don’t see how armed intervention by 4 guys
Don’t you guys remember the plot to Gundam Seed Destiny? Didn’t it have one mobile suit trying to stop a massive war between two superpowers? Celestial Being’s motives _are_ flawed, and I think that’s part of the series… Setsunsa will eventually realize this. BTW, if you take a look at most terrorist organizations out there, their methodology of thinking isn’t much better than Celestial Being’s… the road to hell is paved with
Zaku corpsesgood intentions.Gundam 1: Honi honi? Honi honi honi honi… Honi honi honi. Honi?
Gundam 2: …
Gundam 1: Honi honi! Honi honi honi. Honi… Honi honi!
Gundam 2: …
Gundam 1: Honi! Honi honi!
Gundam 2: *Beamspams Gundam 1 with its funky ear thingies and leaves*
Gundam 1: *sizzle* …Honi?
Seriously, Beowulf Lee and Freddie have got it right–see DarkMirage’s blog post.
So, really, it’s the Gundams that power Potemayo.
…
Chew on *that* mental image for a while.
Oh gee, is the number 1 series gonna be Clannad, the overwrought and overated Kyoto Animation series of the fall. Considering that would be so predictable and easy to go for, I’m going to say yes. Typical…so typical. Why not try something new for once?
Getter Wing: My word, you are bitter aren’t you? :) Jason actually hasn’t even remotely started bashing on Gundam 00, if you compare it to the last few bits of Code Geass. I think at this point it’s more of a wait-and-see mode (my default mode for all series).
And I don’t even recall Jason ranking anything made by Kyoto animation as the first on his Thin Slicing posts, except for Haruhi. In fact, I seem to recall those honors were taken by Heroic Age and Seirei no Moribito.
Given my full plate of slice-of-life and romance (Minami-ke, Sketchbook, Ef, Myself: Yourself), I’ll wait until near the halfway point before I decide to jump in (can’t pass a season without at least 1 mecha anime).
Whoa! Just checked that link to DarkMirage’s… I did know Nyoro~n would be bad as they’re speedsubbers, but making stuff up as they go just takes the cake. I’m very very happy that I’ve never felt tempted to check their releases. Incidentally, what’s this about Doremi? I think I have something subbed by them, but I’ve never heard before that they’ve released incorrect translations.
From those two screenies following eachother you’d almost think Louise and Graham are brother and sister….
would be fitting of a sunrise plot.
Freddie: I was just saying napalm as a figure of speech hehe, but yah fumigating if you prefer!
Jason: “Don’t you guys remember the plot to Gundam Seed Destiny? Didn’t it have one mobile suit trying to stop a massive war between two superpowers? Celestial Being’s motives _are_ flawed, and I think that’s part of the series… Setsunsa will eventually realize this. BTW, if you take a look at most terrorist organizations out there, their methodology of thinking isn’t much better than Celestial Being’s… the road to hell is paved with Zaku corpses good intentions.”
I guess I was being stupid when I hoped that a non Fukuda series would be better :)
I think that the real reason the IRA stopped fighting was because they were inspired by Celestial Being’s efforts and after examining their own actions, realized that fighting was useless and senseless and that they should end this cycle of violence. This, in turn, would create a domino effect in which more violent groups will realize their mistakes and try to make peace with each other. Also, the nations that are waging war for their own benefit, their citizens will realize that the war they are fighting is wrong and demand that their leaders stop the fighting. Then there will finally be permanent peace.
>>So, really, it’s the Gundams that power Potemayo.
>>…
>>Chew on *that* mental image for a while.
SHAAAAAAAA!!!…
>>From those two screenies following eachother you’d almost think Louise and Graham are brother and sister….
>>would be fitting of a sunrise plot.
And since Graham is our number one candidate for masked man…
oh btw jason, marina’s 25, setsuna = 16… that’s like a difference between a third year high school and 3rd year primary sch., between a master grad and puberty stage… 9 years o_0
so i think romance would not be there, unless there’s a timeskip like… 4 years to make setsuna at least… feasible for marina lol