gundam 00 5
Categories: anime, episodic review, gundam
Tagged: gundam 00
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And I, for one, welcome our new flirty, nubile, ponytail-sporting, Gundam Meister-controlling overlord.
I think by episode five, a series would have shown its true colors. Right now, Bamboo Blade has already introduced Yellow, Blue, Red, and Pink/Black to much fanfare, Minami-ke has people debating which episodes to show for an anime club screening (my advice: drop whatever else you have planned and show all five episodes of Minami-ke and Bamboo Blade). Shana is sinking like the Titanic. Gundam 00? The HDTV and shiny lush hair coloring is fading to show its real color. When I saw the “connection” between Anemone and Allelulah, I was like, “At least Sunrise is being environmentally friendly, it’s recycling old plot points!”
The only problem is that if you’re going to re-do the same emo scenes, add in some real emo facial distortions! I feel gypped. Neither Anemone nor Allelulah were even in the vicinity of Shinn, but Anemone was definitely more berserk than Shinn. As reckless as Shinn ever was, he didn’t almost kill both Ms. Wang and Louise. That’s like an epic crime right there. Speaking of Anemone, she is also another Gundam staple. Is she supposed to be the evolutionary Stellar? If so, I’ll pass. Thanks.
Can’t let Allelulah off the hook either… he disobeyed Ms. Wang! I can hate him for that alone. I figured it would be somewhat painful if Setsuna were the emo Gundam Meister, but Allelulah and Tieria seem to be showing some emo signs as well. There’s a good chance we could wind up with four emo Gundam Meisters. I hope this isn’t what they mean by “Gundam Meisters aren’t alone!” I may just cut myself to save time.
In maybe a quasi-Sunrise fashion, Celestial Being must seem really screwed up and weird to the normal population. One minute, they are against wars, the next they are oppressing a small country, and the next they are playing orbital coast guard. Some people may think Sunrise is awesome at defining political boundaries. I think otherwise. Or do you really believe Order of the Black Knights, Celestial Being, Orb, and even the invasion of Pekopon as a well thought out, logical means to an end?
All we’re missing from Gundam 00 is (1) dude or dudette in a mask (2) stolen Gundam (3) mobile suit upgrade for Setsuna (4) new OP/ED that gives away plot points (5) Ptolemaios getting hit by missiles and rocking Sumeragi and (6) bitching from Derailed by Darry about the lack of Ms. Wang fanservice.
(I am concerned about where this series is going, but if the Red Sox can come back from three down to win a World Series, so can Gundam 00. Ms. Wang is their Beckett, and Gundam Wing/Seed/X/Turn A/etc is their Babe Ruth.)
Points of Interest
Ms. Wang changes her outfits. Marina changes her outfits. Now all we need are to add Sumeragi, Christina, and Louise into that group. I know we’re barely 20% into the series, but is this the bestest female Gundam cast ever?
(Marina looks like Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis more than the leader of a fundamentalist Middle Eastern country.)
Unhappy Tieria reminds me a lot of that trap from Shion no Ou. There are things that make me question my will to live. There are things that prove the darkness that surround us. There are things that I cannot unsee. There are things like bizarro trap Tieria doujinshi.
(Think happy Sumeragi thoughts… think happy Christina thoughts…)
(Much better.)
Reminds me a lot of Sagara. I think this scene could have been ten times funnier if they panned to Setsuna’s room, and it looked like Takaya’s room from Koharu Biyori.
(Setsuna got like no screentime this episode, and when he did, it was mostly useless. “Seriously? I’m using this uber powerful mecha to fan clouds?” Maybe the Chinese can hire him to seed rain clouds before the Beijing Olympics.)
Homer Simpson did the same thing in the episode where he goes up into space, and Kent Brockman goes “And I, for one, welcome our new insect overlords” that spawned a Hall of Fame meme. If you think I know countless amounts of random anime trivial, that only pales to the amount of random Simpsons trivial that I know.)
(Gotta love Louise lay the smack down on Saji after he checks out Ms. Wang. It would have been ten times funnier if a flat chested Siesta walked by instead. It would have been made me question if I were dreaming or tripping or just plain baked on pot brownies)
Though I am glad Saji and Louise are actually kinda worked into the plot. I mean, worthless eye candy should always be featured over the franchise-carrying giant mecha, amirite? Still, I have a hard time taking Saji seriously as a male because who could resist the lure of zero-g sex? They drew straws for the chance at zero-g sex in Space Above and Beyond!
Louise was in typical crazy tsundere haremette mode. When she told Saji that she wasn’t going to tell him what she was about to say to him before Kyrios saved them, I got flashbacks to the end of Shana last season and the beginning of Shana this season. Probably not a good thing. I never also understood the appeal of kissing in spacesuits, which I’ve seen in anime before, versus zero-g sex. How do you physically kiss in a spacesuit without seriously jeopardizing
your life?
(I cheated on this one. +5 fanboy points to whomever knows where this screenshot really comes from.)
It’s… pink… no further comment, your honor.
20 Responses to “gundam 00 5”
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Sadly I haven’t watch this episode yet, but I just like to read your commentary’s on anime. I agree though this series is kinda iffy on where it’s heading but I don’t share your optimism that it will pick up. Then again I never was a big gundam fan except for way back when. But for that picture it’s Rocket Girls right? I didn’t check just the first thing that came to mind.
Rocket Girls <3
I have some real big questions about the solar power situation on Earth…
First of all, why only solar? What’s wrong with fusion power? It’s not like there’s a shortage of *water*.
Second of all, even now, solar panels are increasing in density and efficiency all the time, three or four hundred years from now, they should be able to fully power a house just by panels on the roof. Why get all the energy from the orbital stations? That’s sorta like saying ‘Okay, we’ve got Hoover Dam, so we don’t need any other kinds of power generation’. While that might work in Civilization…
The general concensus is that
1. They haven’t mastered fusion
2. Fission was probably all used up when they needed a stop-gap boost of power source while they built the Space-elevator over the decades.
3. After it is set up, solar power is still not free, but is never the less far cheaper.
4. They needed orbital stations because this isn’t JUST about replacing power plants, but also replacing fossil fuel all together via hydrogen generation. You might be able to run your house with solar panels, but you can’t fly fighter aircraft with them. You are replacing oil, coal, and likely natural-gas, this means a LOT of hydrogen.
Plus the plot and aesthetic benefits of space elevators and giant metal constructions in general, of course.
Setsuna’s bare room set off Sagara-bells in my mind too (also, weren’t they both child soldiers?); Setsuna’s still got a long way to claim the Best Middle-Eastern Origin Mecha Action Hero crown though.
Allelujah obviously wants to work for International Rescue (‘Thunderbirds are GO!’) rather than Celestial Being.
Louise’s “Don’t look at other girls!” comment made the episode worth it. So very worth it.
Allelujah obviously wants to work for International Rescue (’Thunderbirds are GO!’) rather than Celestial Being.
What would that make Hallelujah then? Ming the Merciless? :P
pink mobile suit? where’s the one piloted by her twin that is blue? “I had this horrible dream that I got up this morning and my mobile suit was PINK.”
Anemone, lol. Is it just me or are the slice-of-lifers pulling ahead this season?
Vallen Chaos – You mean The Hood, right? Unless Allelujah is a very miscast Flash Gordon…
And yeah, Rocket Girls. Late again, damn it!
Kendra Kirai says
———————————————–
Second of all, even now, solar panels are increasing in density and efficiency all the time, three or four hundred years from now, they should be able to fully power a house just by panels on the roof.
———————————————–
It will not happen, ever.
The average solar power density is 250 watt per square meter (11 square feet) on the surface of the earth, and the theoretical efficiency limit of the solar cell does not exceed more than 60% or so (right now it’s about 15-25%). That makes out to be about 150 watt per square meter, as it is, you will need 6-7 square meters (70 square feet) of the most efficient solar cell just to run a single microwave machine. Considering some of the more power hungry household items (dryer, for example), and the steady growth in per capita power consumptions I doubt the roof solar cell could cover more than 10-15% of the future household need.
And this does NOT take into consideration the day/night cycle and the weather.
Solar energy, alas, is not even close to being the solution, at least not on the surface. Not to mention that the entire weather and climate cycle of the earth is driven by solar energy, diverting it into human consumption on a large enough scale, and you will change the climate, just as CO2 does.
I’ll shut up now =D
The “pink mobile suit” bit brought to mind the trailer for Gyakuten Saiban: Yomigaeru Gyakuten, where everyone makes fun of Mitsurugi for having a hot-pink GBA SP…good times.
Rocket Girls. Yukari and bookworm girl getting stranded after saving gaijin spaceship.
Color correction: it’s magenta not pink which makes it even more queer-eyelicious.
One thing I never understood is where did they find all that raw material to construct that insane structure, the space rail, all the mobile suits, and the spacecrafts to get the stuff up orbit. They don’t seem to have colonized other planets or did they just queued up a bunch of SCVs from the command center. Although drones or probes would’ve worked better.
If you can’t do politiks you better dress-up good.
And you gotta wonder why spend your liberty bills on a luxury apartment when the inside looks like Motel 6.
c’mon guys, its freakin gundam. the point is to make the tech seem sensible, not believable.
just watched 6… getting better each week it seems
ZT: All of these devices are power hungry, yes. But it’s not as if you have to run them constantly. 1 minute of microwaving takes one minute of power from an excessively large array. But no sensible alt-energy user runs the microwave straight from the panels.
And as for the dryer… If the sun is out, and it’s not raining, you’ve got no excuse to be running it. (Think of the poor panty thieves! What ever would they do the ladies left their delicates in the dryer instead of on the line?)
Ideally you size a battery bank such that you’re able to store the energy during periods of non-use, and draw from that while it’s not sunny, or at night. Solar users don’t suddenly go dark when the sun goes out. And if it’s cloudy for several days? Well the panels still generate, but that doesn’t prevent one from having other energy generation methods on hand.
I agree that solar at current costs and efficiencies isn’t a panacea for energy usage. The former will be fixed when the Chinese get around to ramping up production. The latter however is a bit tougher to work with. The rare elements used in the construction of higher efficiency panels are expense.
(See! This is why they set up the space elevator! To get better access to the asteroid belt for orbital mining!)
I love how some semi-intelligent conversation seems to be cropping up on a post where the key starter of said post is about a pony-tailed, flirtatious nubile overlord that rules over emo super-weapon pilots.
I bet that smile of hers alone could end wars.
I’m more inclined to think her smile could start wars. The Face that Launched a Thousand Ships, and all that (power rankings are a rudimentary ‘Judgement of Paris’, after all).
I like my giant death-machines to be powered by happy rays of sunshine. Do not destroy my dreams.
In rod we trust.