Just when I think the episode will play as one big gigantic battle on Mars where Tekkadan and Macky get one big bloody nose, the series drops on the lore. Then, in lieu of an omnipresent narrator aware of past history (the one heard these days in the prologue only goes so far as last week), we have the characters in the show world building for us again. It has been a while since it dropped some major points in the past during the Calamity War, so what occurs in this episode must be welcomed with open arms.
Author: Juu-kuchi
Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans Season 2 Episode 09 – Tekkadan Into Darkness
Ugh, the scene I got this picture from invokes all sorts of dread for the upcoming future episodes. It bookends the episode, and we see a glimpse of what makes this Agnika Kaieru mean so much to Maccy. The political philosophy of this person is not only the foundation of the original Gjallarhorn, but one meant to create a way to maximize the happiness of the human condition. Unfortunately, this seems to also imply norms like child marriage and love with large enough age disparity can be made acceptable, given Almiria’s reaction after Maccy tells her this, as well as his response.
Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans Season 2 Episode 08 – Earthxit
As per a usual intense episode with a lot of emotionally-crippling losses at hand, we get a wound licking episode the following week. And as per usual Iron-Blooded Orphans, it always has something interesting to be had with all its characters. We’ve ANOTHER timeskip (one month since the last episode), and the next moves are still being planned by both sides. It’s a nice enough dynamic in showing a lengthy passage of time, whereas in earlier Gundam shows it would either be a pretty linear day-by-day endeavour (the original, SEED, G, etc.) or as a big dramatic impact by way of a large time gap (00, Age).
Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans Season 2 Episode 07 – Catharsis
Now this is the kind of balls to the wall action I wanted around the time of episode 3. The intensity and great choreography is there, but more importantly it has the emotional core and tension I thought was missing in the space battle. The initial fight, which had Maccy go up against Takaki and Aston, and be BESTED by both of them is a very good affair, and almost had me think at the time how he would taken down a peg and set back a few spaces by injury, capture, or maybe death.
Alas though, the timely rescue by Mika and the rest of the Tekkadan crew puts the kibosh on those developments. This is fine, as well as their victory over Galan and his mercenaries. Battles where losses are sustained and they only get out of it by the skin of their teeth make for the right kind of excitement and entertainment. After all the foreshadowing in the past few episodes, we now see who dies in this one: Aston. Predictable to be sure (although I was certain Takaki would die too), but his death is handled well. There is a bit of similarity here to how Akihiro tried to save Masahiro after being taking a fatal blow, but it shows how old habits of broken Human Debris die hard even after the first season. All that resentment, all that reconditioning to feel after being told not to for so long, gets to a person. However, Takaki and Aston part on good terms.
Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans Season 2 Episode 06 – Battle of The Plains of Alberta
Like the Edmonton battle before it, the battle in this episode starts in media res, taking place two weeks after the events that transpired in the previous show. Unfortunately for Takaki, Aston, and the rest of the Earth-based Tekkadan members, they’re smack dab in the kind of warfare they are not familiar with. It turns out I was wrong last week when I said the bearded man is another name for Kamen Galli-Galli, but the guy who’s now heading Tekkadan’s battle operations, Galan Mossa.
Brilliant strategery abounds this episode, and well-timed since it gives the audience something to look forward to in terms of tension, and stops the series from becoming an Orga-y of Maccinations (I regret nothing). You do feel for Takaki and Aston, who despite doing their best, are still completely unaware they are being played by Galan. The man uses throughout this episode psychological conditioning to subvert the chain of command, carrot-and-sticking them into constant battles. It’s one thing if Tekkadan were a bunch of younger to middle-aged adults, but now their success is being used against them. It’s one thing to be manipulated while being young and poor, but what happens when you’re in a position of power? Shit’s getting awful and you just know it whenever Takaki and Aston opine in this episode. I’m finding Galan and Radice to be MUCH worse than Maccy. Sure what Maccy has done and is going to do is horrible, but then again at the same time Rustal and the rest of Gjallarhorn are just as bad as he is, if not worse. Plus Radice is a spiteful little man who betrays Tekkadan not out of some desire (misguided or not) to reform it, but of envy, and that’s always the worst kind of betrayal.
Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans Season 2 Episode 05 – Cool Hand Chad
I do believe what we have here is a “failure to communicate” on this week’s episode. It is not just the distance between Mars and Earth that Tekkadan has to struggle with, it is also the fact they’re still fairly innocent about the world. Oh don’t get me wrong, their lives sucked before they started wearing the big boy pants, yet this impacting line by Takaki defines what I believe will be a prevailing arc this season:
“What will happen if we can’t even trust family?”
Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans Season 2 Episode 04 – Martian Half-Metal Futures
Ah, it is nice to finally have something to talk about now. By the skin of their teeth, Tekkadan captures the leader of the Dawn Horizon Corps, and routs the attempt by the WDoJ/Arianrhod from stealing their ‘kill’ so to speak. This is a sound victory on Tekkadan’s part, since the inclusion of a third party in the previous episode’s affairs heightens the tension. This is most manifest in Julieta, who not only gives Mika a workout in terms of combat skills, but also comes off (in my mind), as a female version of him: eccentric to a fault, and fiercely loyal to her superior like Mika is to Orga. Whether this will change any dynamic between him, Kudelia, and Atra in the case he ever meets her is still up in the air, but I cannot help but see some similarities to them based on their disposition in combat.
Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans Season 2 Episode 03 – Yo-Ho-Hum
After two episodes of build up, we have our first full on space battle with Tekkadan facing off against the Dawn Horizon Corps. True to Gundam form, things are not what they appear, and Tekkadan has to fight at a disadvantage.
Yeah, that’s pretty much it.
Not gonna lie, I am REALLY hard pressed to talk about anything this week. It is not that there is anything TOO bad about this episode, but there’s nothing new to discuss. After my gush over Hush last week, he is summarily sidelined for plot purposes as the old boys of Tekkadan sally forth. Understandable, but it is still disappointing. The big non-mecha highlight is the conversation between Orga and Maccy’s subordinate, Isurugi. It provides a nice set up to the battle, never mind the various machinations each side (or at least Maccy-nations for one) has in store, but other than that nothing much can be said. Heck to even say the battles are nice is to state the obvious, and Tekkadan as always is doing the best it can given the circumstances.
Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans Season 2 Episode 02 – Groundwork Grind
Just like the second episode of the first season, the opening ends with a successful rout of enemy forces by Mika and the Barbatos…
…And just like the second episode of the first season, the rest of the episode is dedicated to prep work for the next phase in our players’ games. On one hand it is kinda boring treading familiar territory, but on the other it is kindof necessary and has enough differences to warrant this retreading of old ground. One half-hour after all isn’t enough for a massive cast like this animu has, so I should probably give it a pass for now. Besides, it allows us one instance of foreboding that may colour erryboddy in this show:
Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans Season 2 Episode 01 – The Kids are Doin’ Alright
Wow. It’s been a year hasn’t it? These upstart rapscallions, once on the verge of utter defeat, now are the biggest names in both the regular and black market. Unlike the last serial Gundam series that had two seasons (Gundam 00), Iron-Blooded Orphans kicks off without any big down note where our heroes are in a lesser position of power than before. After the well-deserved victory they scored last season, they need this moment to shine, and shine they did.
I anticipated a few weeks ago privately that the premiere will be somewhat of a retread of the first episode except Tekkadan is running the show. Sure enough, this is the case. It is not a bad thing, since the time and emotional investment you may have given is not wasted. Set in about I wager six months to a year after the finale, Tekkadan is not just the military adviser to an Arbrau headed by Makanai, but a full-fledged member of the Teiwaz Group. Meanwhile, Kudelia has learned to multitask and founded another enterprise in half metals with the aptly named: Admoss Company. Like the first episode, this one focuses on just establishing their world amidst the backdrop of the bigger one. The series where its first season gives us war as seen from the underclass becomes a series where its second season may give us war… as seen from the upstart lower-middle class. It is refreshing to also see how their actions also brought about unintended consequences. Upstart bunch of kids beating hoity-toity Gjallarhorn now incentivizes upstart groups of people to start utilizing them, Human Debris, and even mobile suits in their quest for either independence from Gjallarhorn or for more power.