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Gundam AGE Episode 09 Review

 Episode 09, "The Secret Mobile Suit"

  *****SPOILERS*****   Synopsis: Woolf takes Flit, Emily, and Dique to a space station to meet the designer/engineer of the G-Exes, Madorna. They’re amazed at the mobile suit factory. Mardona shows the group a mobile suit that appears to be a UE one. Before he can tell them about the person who brought it to him, the mobile suit springs to life and starts firing. Flit and Woolf get in mobile suits to stop the UE suit. Flit ends up engaging it out in space. Woolf arrives to distract the UE MS while Flit retrieves the Gundam. Vargas launches the Titus and Flit transfers to it. The UE MS is extremely fast and neither Flit nor Woolf can get it. Suddenly the MS retreats, stunning everyone. Madorna tells the group that it was a man named Yark Dole (a masked man seen previously in ep 5), an arms dealer who brought him the UE MS. Later, back at the Diva, Grodek announces their next destination is Colony Minsry. He explains that his belief is that the UE are hiding out in a base there and that he’s not their captain. Emily speaks up in defense of Grodek. Flit pledges to fight alongside Grodek. Woolf agrees to stay, too, as well as others. Suddenly more UE suits are detected.    Comments:    Well, now, this was a decent episode.    I think the biggest thing that happened in this episode was Emily’s development. This is due in part to Madorna’s girlfriend, Laraparly giving her a little talking to. Emily was still fretting over Flit risking his life, but Laraparly tells her to risk her life with Flit. It’s clear that Flit is going to stay as a pilot, so her options are pretty much support him or leave him. With Emily choosing the former, I’m guessing she’s going to stay on the crew just to be around Flit. I’d like to see her get some kind of job on the ship, liking bringing food around or becoming a bridge bunny. Something other than piloting.   Also of note is Emily’s defense of Grodek’s actions. Grodek may be acting in part out of revenge (or even mostly), but what he’s doing is right. Emily, who had hated Grodek for keeping things to himself sticks up for him when he finally tells the truth to his crew. I think Laraparly’s words probably inspired her to do this as well, plus she was waiting for Grodek become more honest. Now the entire crew is as guilty as Grodek is of disobeying the Federation.   Another thing I noticed is that Madorna was astonished that Flit is a member of the Asuno family. Apparently the Asunos are a famous family, but other than his mother being dead, there’s nothing else we know about Flit’s family. I have a feeling we’ll find out more about it in the near future.    Why did Flit, Emily, and Dique freak out when Laraparly kissed Madorna? It wasn’t even on the lips and they were blushing.    We see a brief cameo of the little boy Desil from a few episodes back. Apparently he has control over the UE mobile suit that Madorna was souping up. The masked man Yark Dole is the same weapons dealer that gave the Zalam and Euba their mobile suits and if he’s connected to the UE, it seems like he’s manipulating everything for profit. But as a guy in a mask I think there is probably some ideological slant to his actions. I just wonder what Desil is in it for. Just to have fun, like Bud in Patlabor?    Next episode looks to be full of action.    Overall Score:

3.5 out of 5

   
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Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood – Episode 51 ENGLISH DUB Review

 Episode 51, "Immortal Army"

*****SPOILERS*****   Synopsis: The officer who activates the homunculi dolls is eaten by them, and they turn o the scientist that was with him next. Edward, Scar, and the chimera arrive at the doorway near where Barry died. Ed tries to open it, to no avail. Suddenly it opens and the homunculi dolls pour in. Olivier takes a general hostage, but he orders his subordinates to shut the gates so that Mustang’s and the Briggs forces can’t get in. Sloth attacks, but Olivier moves out of the way and the general is crushed instead. Edward’s group tries to fight off the dolls, but they don’t have any luck. Edward suddenly realizes what they are. He shuts the exit to the room so they can prevent them from escaping. Back at the mound, Heinkel realizes that Pride has been sending out morse code signal, but it’s too late. Kimbley attacks, breaking the mound, which releases Pride. Underground, Mei runs from the dolls, balancing the jar with Envy on her head, but Envy is swallowed by one of the dolls and takes control of it. Devouring the other dolls, Envy returns to his original form. Olivier tries to fight Sloth, but isn’t damaging him. When she is about to be crushed, her brother Alex arrives to assist her. Alphonse tries to help Heinkel and escape from Pride and Kimbley, who shows him the Philosopher’s Stone he saved from the mine. Alphonse uses it to challenge Kimbley and Pride, to Kimbley’s amusement.    Comments:   Envy returns to form in this episode, meaning more of Wendy Powell’s grainy, pained sounding voice for him. Well, actually, Powell’s Envy wasn’t that bad in this episode. In fact, I quite enjoyed her delivery when Envy returned to his usual form and thanked May for it. The dialogue was well read and fit the mouth flaps perfectly. This is probably as positive as I’m ever going to be about Powell’s Envy, which I’ve never been fond of.    I still think it’s stupid that they brought Envy back into the mix. His defeat at the hands of Doctor Marcoh was a great way to have him meet his end, by the hands of one of the lowly humans he’d been taunting for so long.    Stephanie Young’s Olivier is still strong in this episode as she begins her fight against humungous Sloth. I guess Sloth sounds as he should, big, slow, and tired. Eric Vale’s Kimbley still seems a bit too scratchy for my liking. The delivery is decent enough, he sells the lines most of the time, but as for his voice, it’s iffy. Maxey Whitehead’sr Alphonse was solid, geniunely sounding concerned for Heinkel’s well being. The VA for Heinkel even did a decent job.      All in all, not a lot to say about the performances, because they seem to be good, overall.     Overall ENGLISH DUB Score:    4 out of 5  
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Gundam AGE Episode 08 Review

 Episode 08, "A Deadly United Front"

*****SPOILERS*****   Synopsis: The Gundam is fitted with new parts, becoming Gundam Titus. It arrives on the battlefield to save Largan. The Titus easily dispatches a UE mobile suit. The Zalam and Euba mobile suits both attack another UE MS, with no effect. The Titus arrives and helps. Flit tells the two sides to join forces to fight the UE. The Titus destroys two other UE MS, with the help of Don Boyage (Zalam) and Ract Elfamel (Euba). UE mobile suits attack the city and the three team up again. When they’re pinned down another mobile sit arrives that attacks the UE. It’s Woolf in his new MS, the G-Exes.Together they team up and take down all the UE MS that attacked. Don Boyage and Ract Elfamel call a temporary truce.    Comments:    I can’t help thinking that this three-part arc with Zalam and Euba could easily have been two episodes, or even one if they left out the parts with the children. It just wasted a lot of time on characters I just don’t give a damn about. Zalam and Euba’s conflict just came across as silly. It was sure treated that way by the dialogue. It felt like a rivalry you’d see in an episode of Pokémon that by the end gets resolved by teaming up to save the new Pokémon of the day from Team Rocket. It was drawn out way too long. This show can’t leave Fardain soon enough.    A good chunk of this episode was merely recapping the end of the previous episode. We get to see the Titus parts being produced, Flit arriving to take the parts, the parts being fitted, etc. It’s a lot of a waste of time since we already saw Titus in action at the end of the episode. Adding these scenes at the beginning of this episode is just pointless padding to an already drawn out arc.     The only real highlight of this episode are some of the features of the Titus and the arrival of Woolf and his new mobile suit. The G-Exes is a pretty awesome MS and Woolf was kicking some major ass in it. They could dedicate an entire episode just to that and it wouldn’t be a waste of time, the way this story arc was. Woolf and Grodek are the only reasons I continue to watch this show.    The badassery of Woolf raised the score of this episode.      Overall Score:

3.5 out of 5

 
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Gundam AGE Episode 07 Review

Episode 07, "Evolving Gundam"

  *****SPOILERS*****   Synopsis: Captured by Zalam mobile suits, Flit is brought before Don Boyage. He questions the actions of the Zalam and Euba, since the UE could attack at any time. Don Boyage expresses his desire to use the Gundam to fight Euba. Grodek explains that the Federation isn’t strong enough to fight the UE, thus his request for warships. When Euba mobile suits show up, Grodek and Flit escape among the chaos. Don goes out in his own mobile suit.  Flit in the Gundam gets in the middle of the fighting factions and tries to reason with them. Suddenly, the UE attacks. Largan arrives in a mobile suit to hold the UE off while Flit takes the Gundam to the AGE system. The Gundam is fitted with new parts and arrives to help.  Comments:    I can’t imagine me giving less of a shit about this show.    The introduction of the two warring factions is fine. It wouldn’t surprise me if people kept fighting with each other even with a common enemy. Zeta Gundam had that. The Zalam and Euba factions have neat insignia and I’m digging their mobile suits, too. However, there’s nothing about what these two groups are fighting over, and the Zalam side especially seem more like comedy relief rather than a serious threat. I’m waiting around for them to all just go away so we can get back to the real story, because this shit is about as good and integrating as the silly crap in Double Zeta.    Even Grodek was boring in this episode. We did get a nice scene with him and Flit where he puts out his hand, but past that, it feels like he’s just going through the motions. Flit seemed pretty mechanical, too. In fact, all of the characters were robotic, except for the aforementioned comedy relief. At least the guy with the fro, Largan, finally took part in a battle. Though after all that waiting he easily gets his ass handed to them. I guess they’re going to need Woolf again.    The Gundam AGE gets a new add-on armor that makes it look like Gundam Maxter. I hope it tackles like a football player, so at least it’s over-the-top enough to come back around to entertaining.    I’ve gone from not caring much about this show, to liking it slightly, and now I can barely stand it. I almost hate it. The art is inconsistent, the animation is awful at times, the story is boring, and the characters are uncharismatic. Right now the show is just a waste of time. If it doesn’t pick up soon, I’m dropping it. As flawed as it was, Gundam 00 was better than this.     

Overall Score:

2.5 out of 5

   
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Dragon Ball Kai Complete Review

Starting in 2009, Toei’s refurbished, "refreshed" version of Dragon Ball Z began to air on FujiTV. It recieved high ratings throughout, but was cancelled after 98 episodes (97 aired, 1 DVD/Blu-Ray exclusive). The purpose behind this creation, Dragon Ball Kai, was, besides celebrating the 20th anniversary of DBZ, was to provide a filler-free version of the show, staying closer to the original manga by Akira Toriyama. It was even touted as the "Toriyama Akira Original Cut Version". There would, as a consequence, be fewer episodes. read more

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Dragon Ball Kai – Episode 98 Review (FINALE)

 Episode 98, "Peace for the Future! Goku’s Soul Lasts Forever"

  *****SPOILERS*****   Synopsis: Trunks arrives in his timeline. Meanwhile, Gohan relaxes with Gyumao, baby Trunks learns how to walk, and Mr. Satan shows off for an audience. Goku watches from the afterlife. Kaio wants Goku to help him build a new house. In Trunks’ time, Bulma notices how grown he is. He tells his mother about how Vegeta tried to avenge him. Hearing a newscasst about the Artificial Humans, Trunks takes off to fight them. Trunks confronts the 17 and 18 of his time and destroys both of them. Time passes and Trunks is stalked by Cell. The two fight and Trunks is the victor, destroying Cell. In the afterlife, Goku accidently destroys Kaio’s new house. He convinces Kaio to show him the master martial artists in the afterlife. They head off to meet them.      Comments:   In the (unfortunately) final episode of Dragon Ball Kai, the Cell arc wraps up with Trunks’ triumph over the Artificial Humans and a few other things. It seems like they moved around the events a little by having Trunks arrive in his time, then going back to the regular timeline for a bit and back. I like the rearrangement because it allows some non-Trunks related material before we get to his stuff, thus he doesn’t quite dominate the entire episode. My favorite scene is the one where baby Trunks tries to walk, and refuses help to get up.   In his timeline, Trunks relays what he learned about his father striking out at Cell when he died and future Bulma is somewhat surprised. I think that’s my second favorite scene (Bulma says, "I guess he did have a side like that"). Soon he’s off to destroy 17 and 18. It’s worth noting, as Trunks did, that this version of them are much more cruel. However, they’re probably weaker than the 17 and 18 of the regular timeline. Of course, Trunks takes them out easily, since he’s strong enough to defeat Semi-Perfect Cell (something Imperfect Cell learns the hard way), but I got the sense that 17 and 18 in Trunks’ timeline aren’t as strong.    One wonders how society carried on after Trunks finally defeated all the Artificial Humans of his time period. Goku, Vegeta, Piccolo, Gohan, and others are dead and there aren’t any Dragon Balls anymore. Perhaps the Kaio from that timeline could contact the Namekians to use their Dragon Balls to wish people back to life. Come to think of it, why didn’t Kaio from Trunks’ time period help out at all?    Speaking of Kaio, what’s with the footage of him and Goku meeting the other Kais and participating in the afterlife tournament? That’s all anime filler, it doesn’t belong in Dragon Ball Kai. And it’s in this weird montage of scenes from throughout the show, set to "Dragon Soul". I think this is Toei’s way of saying goodbye to the viewer, but it comes across as a little lazy. I think they should have shown scenes of the Buu arc instead.    It’s too bad Kai ends before the Buu arc. Maybe someday we’ll see it Kai‘d. Until then, this has been interesting. Later!   Overall Score:

3.5 out of 5
 

 
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Gundam AGE Episode 06 Review

 Episode 06 , "The Light and Shadow of Fardain"

*****SPOILERS*****   Synopsis:  Flit tells Emily he’s not going to resettle in Tordia. Woolf visits a friend who he orders a custom mobile suit from. Flit and Emily find themselves in the middle of a mobile suit battle in the city. They’re saved by a man named Iwark Bria, who takes them to the slums. Iwark tells them that the conflict sprang from the old colonial war from years past. Grodek visits a man named Don Boyage and requests four warships which he’s willing to sell for military secrets. When Iwark’s daughter goes missing, he climbs into his own mobile suit with Flit and Emily. After they find the girl, Iwark goes off on his own to fight the other mobile suits. Flit requests that Vargas bring him the Gundam. Once in the Gundam, Flit confronts the other mobile suits. A UE mobile suit arrives and Flit engages it, but it suddenly disappears. Flit becomes surrounded by other mobile suits.     Comments:    Emily’s really starting to annoy me. It’s one thing if they’re planning to have her spiral down until she’s crazy, but as she is now, she’s just nerve-wracking. We get it, you don’t want Flit to join the military. But if you’re so worried about him dying, why don’t you join up as well and chip in somehow, making it less likely that he’ll die? I understand her frustration, but she comes across as overprivledged. You can’t isolate yourself from the conflict occuring.    I wonder what the colonial wars were all about. Maybe it was just like the Federation-Zeon conflict in Mobile Suit Gundam. But actually, it doesn’t appear that there’s any real big difference between the two sides. We don’t really find out whether or not it was a war for colony independence or what. It’s just two different colored MS firing at each other in the middle of a frickin’ city. Shouldn’t the colony have Federation protection against this kind of thing?    Both Woolf and Grodek are ordering something. Woolf wants a custom mobile suit, which I’m looking forward to seeing (though his current white one is pretty neat). Grodek wants ships, and he’s willing to exchange them for classified information. He’s not a very good Federation officer. He’s totally doing things for his own ideals and with his own plan. I wonder how many of the crew of the Diva, if any, know what he’s up to. Surely he can’t keep it up for much longer, though I doubt he plans to. I don’t see things ending well for Grodek, which is a shame, because so far he’s my favorite character.    Is that guy with the orange ‘fro going to finally pilot a MS?   

Overall Score:

3.5 out of 5

 
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Dragon Ball Kai – Episode 97 Review

Episode 97, "Farewell with a Smile! Heading for New Days…"

  *****SPOILERS*****   Synopsis: Gohan passes out from the tough battle. Kuririn decides to retrieve Artificial Human 18. Vegeta refuses help from Piccolo. The group (sans Vegeta) go up to Kami’s palace to get healed by Dende. Mr. Satan takes credit for Cell’s defeat. At the palace, Dende heals Gohan. 18 awakens and is shocked to discover that Kuririn wanted to save her. The group summons Shenlong and ask him to bring those killed by Cell back to life. Trunks is revived, but not Goku, as he’s been revived before. Dende suggests using the Namekian Dragon Balls to bring Goku back. However, Goku objects from the afterlife, saying he prefers staying dead. Kuririn wishes for the bomb to be removed from 17 and 18. Shenlong grants the wisih and disappears, the Dragon Balls scattering again. 18 refuses to thank Kuririn, but says she’ll see him again. She then flies off. The group all decide to go their own way. The next day, the group sees Trunks off in his time machine to his timeline.      Comments:   This was the last aired episode of Dragon Ball Kai in Japan. There’s another episode, but it went unaired, and can instead be found on the final DVD or Blu-Ray.    In the aftermath of the battle with Cell, several things occur. The first is, Vegeta’s pride has taken such a hit he can’t even bring himself to going with the others. Who knows what Vegeta expected of the Cell Games, though? By the time Goku stepped in the ring, it was clear to him that he was outclassed. Then when Goku surrendered, he figured it was all over. He was shocked to discover that not only is Goku superior to him, power-wise, but that his son was even moreso. In this episode we get a humbled Vegeta. He still spits at Piccolo’s offer, but it’s clear he’s not going to be making any declarations of how great he is. He even apologized for getting in the way in the last episode. Now that he knows he’ll survive after all, it must be difficult for him to live with it.    Mr. Satan takes credit for Cell’s defeat. Even after all that happened, the announcer man and everyone else seems just fine believing that Mr. Satan defeated Cell. I think they need to believe it. It’s the only thing that makes sense to the public at large. But that’s kind of weird when you consider that just a few years earlier in the 23rd Tenkaichi Budoukai, giant ki blasts were being thrown around and people were flying. I guess over time people forgot about those things. Mr. Satan is the champion the people need.   I always liked the bits with Kuririn and Artificial Human 18. First she just leaves, completely unappreciative. Then she returns when she sees Shenlong. She jumps out from hiding to tell everyone that 17 isn’t her boyfriend, it’s her brother (the resembalence should have given it away) and take off again. But she did basically imply she would see Kuririn again, which Yamucha picks up on. I really love how Piccolo has no idea what anyone is talking about in regards to Kuririn’s feelings. The part where Kuririn gives Gohan a thump is great, too.    Speaking of Gohan, is it just me, or was Masako Nozawa totally hitting it out of the park this episode? I mean, her Gohan sounded just as fresh and solid as it ever has. Especially when Gohan is talking about Kuririn’s situation, she makes him sound so adorable. And likewise, Aya Hirano might be stunt casting, but I’ve come to really like her Dende. Nozawa and Hirano really made this episode. Of course, Mayumi Tanaka as well.      Overall Score:   4 out of 5  
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Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood – Episode 50 ENGLISH DUB Review

 Episode 50, "A Disturbance in Central"

*****SPOILERS*****   Synopsis: Roy Mustang and his group are joined by troops from the East who support them. The higher-ups notice that Roy’s group is not killing anybody, only disabling them. In the council room, Olivier mocks the other officials for the weakness of their soldiers. She suggests taking over the Central toops herself, but is told that she’s only there to restrain the Briggs troops. She laughs at this, as she is sure if it came to that, her troops would abandon her instead of giving in. Elsewhere, Briggs troops, led by Buccaneer, prepare to go into battle at a location in Central. As Roy’s troops run out of ammo, help arrives in the form of an ammo-filled supply truck. Roy finds Maria Ross in the front, and it’s revealed the person who put it all together is none other than Jean Havoc. Edward, Hohenheim, Scar, and the chimera (save for Heinkel, who is hurt) head for Central. Mei is in Central with Envy and heads to the underground. Olivier kills one of the generals and injures another. Pride’s clanging on Alphonse’s head is heard by Father in Central. Edward and the group enter the path to Father via Laboratory 3, where they split up into groups. One of the remaining officers activates the white "immortal army" homunculi, whose screams can be heard by everyone.    Comments:   It’s been a while since I did one of these, so bear with me.    There seems to be an overall good quality to the English dub of this episode. That is to say, pretty solid performances from the voice cast and a good script. It’s not perfect- every now and then you get a minor character with a truly grating voice or a VA performing woodenly. It’s things like this that prevent it from excelling from "good" to "awesome". Maybe I’m just being a perfectionist, but then again there are some English dubs which I think are a lot better than this one, so I’m not biased against dubs in of themselves.    Stephanie Young is a really excellent Olivier Mira Armstrong. It’s important to me, since she’s one of my favorite characters. You can tell she’s enjoying herself playing the role and it’s working well. She has that real air of confidence to her, bordering on arrogance, that comes across in the perfomance and voice quality. I really buy her as this character, this badass hardened soldier who lives by different rules than most. She’s especially good in this episode.    Travis Willingham’s Roy Mustang continues to impress, as well. He sounds really natural in the role. I even found that his subordinates sounded good in this episode, which is a rarity. Most of the VAs for them I could take or leave, leaning towards the latter. But Havoc sounded good and even Fuery. It felt like a special effort was put into this episode.    I was even comfortable with Vic Mignogna’s Edward. It’s not what I prefer for the character, but he did well for the few lines he had.    Overall, a solid dubbed episode.   Overall ENGLISH DUB Score:    4.5 out of 5    
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Gundam AGE Episode 05 Review

 Episode 05, "The Demon Boy"

*****SPOILERS*****   Synopsis:  Emily is concerned when she overhears Flit commit to continue piloting the Gundam.  As the Diva nears the colony Fardain, Captain Grodek is contacted by Federation authorities who plan to strip him of his command (which he usurped). Grodeck blackmails the official who comes to arrest him. Emily confronts him about his behavior and he reveals his attack plan to her. Flit encounters a boy named Desil who gives him a strange feeling.  The UE attack Fardain and Desil gets in the Gundam, taking off in it. Flit and Woolf launch in Geoaces to retrieve it, but Desil easily takes out enemy MS. Desil later meets with cloaked people.    Comments:   It looked like Grodek’s actions were coming back to haunt him. However, with a little blackmail, he managed to avoid arrest. I doubt this is the last we’ll hear/see of this matter, though. Grodek commandeered a Federation battleship and its mobile suits. The top brass won’t stay silent on this. But I thought it was extremely smooth how he handled it for the time being. He really is my favorite character.    Emily is really starting to freak out. She’s determined to stop Grodek and prevent Flit from becoming a soldier for the Federation. Her heart is in the right place- she’s concerned for Flit’s safety and doesn’t like Grodek’s dishonesty- but something tells me she’s on a downward spiral of sanity. I hope they don’t make her lose her mind completely. Then again, it might be more interesting that way.    Flit meets mysterious youngster Desil in this episode. Desil gives Flit the same feeling he had when he was with Yurin a few episodes back. And somehow he’s not all he seems to be. I wonder if the masked man in the cloak who came to him at the end of the episode will be the Char of this series. It seems like Yurina and Desil are Newtypes, but they might not call them that in this series.     Overall Score:   3.5 out of 5  
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