Gundam AGE ep43: the plot is revealed. Surprise. Giant thing smashes Earth. Again.

[Gundam AGE ep42]

Episode 42 of Gundam AGE left me in a somewhat sour mood. It wasn’t a bad episode at all. But it spent a lot of time playing up its pawn. Sure they did a better job of using that pawn for entertainment purposes. And I have no problem with them using women to demonstrate the suffering of war, Zeta Gundam-style. But it’s still a fairly straightforward and a cliched way of using a character like Reina in a story to evoke emotions. My only hope going into this episode was that it didn’t repeat the flashback/fillerbuster fest that the previous episode became.

#GundamAGE ep21: Woolf is on the fast track to being the best sempai ever. #anime

There are plenty of ways to deal with your feelings towards a problem.  There’s only one true way to deal with the problem itself. That appears to be what Asemu’s learning to master as of this episode of Gundam AGE. You could easily pin the guy (can’t say he’s a kid, despite his character design he is an adult) with the spoiled, entitled brat label. But you’d only be showing how much of an ignorant hate you are. The only thing Asemu has lacked so far was
focus. True focus on a goal. He doesn’t lack it now.

#GundamAGE ep19: the AGE military is a close knit family… literally! #anime

I’m seriously starting to wonder about the population of the AGE universe. Or maybe it’s just a matter of talented people coming together. Or maybe it’s a matter of the Federation Forces higher ups orchestrating this tight knit group of relatives and close friends.  The Asuno family has its finger prints all over this ship. The Gunhale family has two generations stalking the decks. High school friends are on the same ship. The Diva’s captain and mobile suit commander are intimately acquainted, as well. You’d think there’d be a lot of hanky panky and barbecues. But no, this is anime, and more specifically Gundam, there’s gonna be more than a few coincidences.

Gundam AGE ep16: not a bad start. Asemu’s more well-adjusted than I expected.

Flit has a simmering and focused hatred. Emily is as forgettable as ever. Vargas is still old and fat, matter of fact he’s older and fatter (uh duh!). And I could have sworn that was Largan in that antique mobile suit. Or whoever that guy is inside, he has Largan’s luck. But the second “age” isn’t gonna be about these guys, so let’s move on.

#GundamAGE ep13: not bad for a “kiddie show”. Hell, not bad for Gundam. #anime

Alright, I thought the UE just seemed weird. I’ll say they’re alien now. There was some nice set up to the battle. Of course Emily isn’t of much use since all she was gonna do and did was watch. I’ll take her in that position over the annoyances of Flay or Fa anyday.

#GundamAGE ep12: X-Region? X-Region?! Who at Bandai do I have to punch?! #anime

He’s a Newtype you twats!!  A Newtype!  Just come up with some bullsh*t excuse to give him the proper title.  Ugh! I better move on.

Good, entertaining episode.  Sure there seemed to be plenty of times when it felt like everyone was having a staring contest, but they managed that reasonably well.  Mr. Chocolate Bar showed some real planning skill, I suppose that if Grodek wasn’t so damn lucky (or blessed depending on how you want to see it) they would’ve been captured or badly damaged before they ever got to a UE fleet.

It all panned out a bit too conveniently for me at times, but I suppose things still came across with a reasonable amount of suspension and action.  We even got a Newtype flash from Flit.  He showed some stellar spatial awareness and reacted like a psychic to his opponents for a moment there.  I even thought I saw a little Amuro in him for a moment there.

All in all, a good transitionary episode as the show moves towards the end of its first generation, or arc, or whatever you want to call it.  I’m also glad that I didn’t hear a lick about the AGE system for another episode. I’ve been afraid that the show would come to rely on it too much, as if it were a new toy for a Saturday morning kids’ show.  But the AGE has been well restrained the entire time regarding it.

I’ve seen a quality product in the show and it’s making me very optimistic about what it can achieve in the future.  This next episode will be crucial in several ways for the show, however.  I want to see what they do with the animation, with the characters, with the tone of the show.  I’m very anxious to see how dark it plans on being.  In my opinion, dark Gundam often equals good Gundam (Turn A being an exception).

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#GundamAGE ep11: I got a somewhat bad Four Murasume vibe from Flit’s encounter with Yurin. #anime

Seeing as how Newtypes and Cyber-Newtypes are the only things I can compare the UE to, tha’s the best comparison I can come up with for now. Those moments between the two seemed a little bit rushed. But the alternative probably would’ve been two episodes without any real action in a row.

It looks like the Feddies aren’t completely hands off when it comes to this situation. They can’t afford to send any soldiers to help take care of the UE, but they definitely have spare time and resources to
court-martial a rogue commander. They’re right there to get in the way of Grodek’s plans.

Which brings up something that baffles me. I don’t see why the crew helping him would be rebels and accomplices now, when they’ve been helping him all this time. Sure, the Feddies might not have known they were willing participants, but that still seems to reasonable for how the Earth governments usually handle these situations. I’m expecting a little more corruption and sloth here.

Finally, it seems we have quite a bit of sexual attraction brewing on the ship. A pair of love triangles even. It makes me a bit weary because depending on how dark the show wants to be, these things can be farmed and cultivated for later emotional currency and shock value down the line. I can almost guarantee that it’s been done in every major Gundam series aired. Darker shows like Zeta and Victory abused this technique. I think only G Gundam (unless you count the man-love between Domon and Master Aisha) avoided pulling this trick.

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Gundam AGE ep6: Tell that son of a b*tch to get back in his hole!

There a quite a few different situations being woven throughout this episode. First, there’s Wolfe’s ambitions. He seems to have some mercenary/paramilitary friends who he appear to be giving him the hookup.

Then, there’s Captain Grodek