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AGE

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Gundam AGE Episode 27 Review

Episode 27, "I Saw a Red Sunset"

  *****SPOILERS*****   Synopsis: Flit sorties in the AGE-1 as the battle continues, closing in on the Veigan fortress ship. Asemu tears through the enemy until he encounters Zeheart’s MS. Flit strikes a blow against the fortress, but it’s still able to use is forcefield. The AGE-1 is damaged by a suicide attack, and Flit decides to return to the Diva. The Photon Ring Ray destroys the fortress’s shield. The fortress is on a collision course with the colony so the beam weapon is used again, which sets it off course. However, it takes the Diva with it as it heads towards Earth. The main cannon is damaged, so Remi goes out to repair it, but is attacked. The beam weapon fires again, freeing the Diva. Remi dies. Asemu decides to destroy the core of the fortress to prevent it from falling on Earth. Zeheart follows Asemu, intending to do the same (as damaging Earth is not his goal), leading him to the core. The self-destruct is activated and the two escape as the fortress explodes. The Diva descends to the Earth to retrieve Asemu.      Comments:   Oh noes! They killed off Glasses Girl! How shocking.    Well, it was obvious from the beginning of their relationship that something bad was going to happen to either Redhead Guy and Glasses Girl. It had all the death flags. Sudden relationship between two characters with little or no personality? Check. Romance on the battlefield without being main characters? Check. Promising to marry each other before one goes off to fight? Check. Close to the end of this story arc? Check. My only mistake was predicting Redhead Guy’s death instead of Glasses Girl. Though there was some stretch of believability when she left the ship to repair the cannon in the middle of battle. That’s a little convenient, isn’t it? She couldn’t have taken a beam to the chest while working in the hanger? Well, now I won’t have to deal with this shitty subplot anymore, unless Redhead Guy plans some massive revenge. In fact, I doubt we’ll even see him again after this arc. Being Redhead Guy is suffering.   Just so you know, that subplot was complete ass, so the death of Glasses Girl was entirely worthless. Now if they had only killed the both of them…    (But to be honest, I thought Kayra’s death in CCA was sad, even though she was barely there… hypocritical, I realize. Maybe I just felt bad for Astonaige.)   Asemu was pretty awesome in this episode. Going toe to toe with Zeheart on an even level, despite not being a X-Rounder, was great. Then there was his risking his life (even seeming to think about sacrificing his life) to destroy the enemy fortress before it hit Earth, even interrupting his fight with Zeheart to do so. Then he was able to put away his anger to work in tandem with Zeheart to destroy the core. Asemu has grown a little bit over time, and it shows in his conversation with Zeheart in the core. He now understands that the Earth is just as important to Zeheart as it is to him. This is the sort of understanding Flit lacks.    The whole bit in the fortress reminded me of Heero and Zechs in the remains of Libra, with Zechs deciding to use the Epyon to destroy Libra’s power plant. I half-expected Asemu to have to race to the atmosphere and use his Double Bullet to destroy the remains. What we did get was the last of the Magicians Eight sacrificing himself so Zeheart wouldn’t die in re-entry. At least one of them was useful.    Looks like the arc is winding down.    Overall Score:

4 out of 5

 
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Gundam AGE Episode 25 Review

Episode 25, "The Terrifying Mu-szell"

  *****SPOILERS*****   Synopsis: Asemu overhears his father speak with Dique about the Veigan MS head/cockpit and the pilot’s helmet, which bring out X-Rounder potential. He immediately wants the helmet. However, Flit turns down his request to use it. The Veigan Magicians Eight unit is having difficulty following orders from Zeheart. Desil overhears their conversation and tells them he’s going out with them. They close in on the Diva. Asemu attempts to take the helmet, but Dique stops him, only for him to take it after Dique leaves. In battle, Asemu takes down another of the Magicians Eight. Woolf takes another of them down. The Veigan soldiers retreat. Later, Veigan ships appear near Earth.    Comments:   So… wait. There’s absolutely no fallout from the characters to the death of Grodek? Not only does Flit seem to be over it, but no reaction from Milias, Woolf, or Dique? Does anybody but Flit even know about Grodek’s death? Is Flit having it investigated? I would have thought that for sure there’d be a funeral scene with some of the old Diva crew in attendance, like Largan, or that one guy that piloted the ship, the dude who wanted to get home to his mother. Nothing. Nobody says boo about it for the entire episode. It’s almost like it didn’t happen at all. It’s really unsettling. Grodek deserves better than this.    The writers seem to be pushing the relationship between the red head and the glasses girl, and I still couldn’t be bothered to care (even about their names). Well, it was pretty retarded that he actually proposed to her. I’m surprised he didn’t die in this episode, because proposals are death flags. Maybe it’s only a death flag if she accepts, though. When this guy dies, I’m just going to laugh at the predictability of the show. If he lives and they marry, I’m not going to care, because these characters only have shadows of personalities.    I don’t know who the biggest bunch of jobbers are in Gundam: the druggies in Gundam SEED, the Skittle Squad in Gundam 00, or the Magicians Eight (Four now) in this show. They’re supposed to be the top elite X-Rounder soldiers. But nope, they just lose and lose and lose. What a bunch of failures. Even Woolf, who isn’t even an X-Rounder, took one down. It seems like they are entirely wastes of character designs. Sunrise easily could have just made a bunch of faceless X-Rounder soldiers, not these also-rans.    And Desil, jeez, Flit doesn’t even need to be in a mobile suit to beat him. He is a loser’s loser, like Jerid Messa in Zeta Gundam, but worse. Even Jerid came close to killing Kamille at times. He’s no competition to Flit at all.    I like the point Woolf makes about just being a really badass normal, that you don’t need to be a X-Rounder to be a good pilot. He’s proof of that.      Overall Score:

3.5 out of 5

P.S. What the hell is a Mu-szell? Is that one of the Veigan mobile suits? 

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Gundam AGE Episode 22 Review

 Episode 22, "Big Ring Absolute Defense Line"

  *****SPOILERS*****   Synopsis: The battle for the Big Ring begins. The Diva launches and soon after, it’s mobile suit forces. The Veigan MS move forward too, and the battle begins. Flit commands maneuvers from the Big Ring. Asemu and Woolf engage X-Rouders in combat. Zeheart decides to go out to fight and Desil joins him. Asemu fights Zeheart while Woolf takes on Desil. They struggle until Flit appears in the AGE-1. Flit battles Desil, who wants revenge for his humiliation years earlier. Asemu continues to fight Zeheart. Back up arrives to support the father and son. Zeheart is frustrated that the Veigan troops are being pushed back and retreats with an uncooperative Desil. The Federation wins the day, but Asemu is upset at his father’s attitude.     Comments:   I see that Federation normal suits have not evolved in the passing years. They still look like weird pajamas. I guess if they work as-is, there’s no reason to change the design, but it just bothers me to look at them.    It’s interesting the dual roles that Flit plays in this episode. As a commander, he uses strategies to get the most out of troop deployment. You don’t see a lot of this in Gundam. Most of the time it’s some random combat with little order to it. I’m glad that, at least for a few moments, they’re going a little Legend of the Galactic Heroes. Of course, after those few moments, Flit takes off in the AGE-1 to be part of the fight. It’s neat to see Flit still pilots well, not having rusted at all over time, but it’s kind of stupid in some ways. Why did Flit become a commander if he’s just going to pilot a MS? Trying to do both is just ridiculous. Who does he think he is, Beecha Oleg?    All the jokes about Yurin being Flit’s true love and his marriage to Emily being a loveless marriage of convenience seem to have some stripe of validity. Here years later, he’s still thinking about her. I mean, okay, it’s natural to remember a tragedy in the past, but it feels like he gets a special jolt of rage, as if the wound was still fresh. It seems like Flit himself believes he was meant to be with Yurin and he’s never gotten over it. It’s an interesting element and look forward to seeing where (if anywhere) it goes.      Overall Score:

4 out of 5

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Gundam AGE Episode 19 Review

 Episode 19, "Asemu’s Departure"

  *****SPOILERS*****   Synopsis: While Asemu joins the military, Zeheart is put in charge of the Veigan’s occupation forces. Romary has also joined the Federation. Asemu and Romary are assigned to the Diva, along with Dique’s daughter, Arisa. Millias Alloy is now the captain of the ship. On the ship, Asemu discovers the Gundam AGE-2. Woolf Enneacle is put in charge of mobile suit forces. The Diva encounters Veigan mobile suits and mobilizes its MS force, except Asemu who has to wait on the configuration of the AGE-2. When it’s done, Asemu launches and supports the others. The Veigans go after the Diva, but he shoots them down. However, having disobeyed orders, Asemu is punished.    Comments:   So here we have another time skip to Asemu already being ordered to a ship. Time sure seems to move fast in the world of this show. They couldn’t at least have given us a montage of Asemu in military academy?    So Romary decided to join the military as a bridge bunny on the Diva. Interesting. I guess with her having an actual position on the ship makes her more useful than Emily was. Something I wonder about is if Flit outranks Milias? I mean, he was just a kid and a rookie pilot on the Diva but now he’s a commander and she’s just the ship’s captain? I don’t think it’s fair to put Flit in a commanding role just because he was the Gundam pilot. Amuro Ray only made lieutenant by the time CCA came around.    Another thing I wonder is why should Asemu be given the Gundam? In the first generation you can rationalize that he knew the Gundam better than anyone else, having developed it. I guess Asemu probably knows more about it than, say, Woolf, but he’s a brand new pilot, and it’s not like he’s been out in the Gundam a whole lot. Plus, that was the old Gundam. The new Gundam is the most powerful MS, shouldn’t it go to the most talented pilot? The guy who pilots it now disobeyed orders TWICE, first ignoring an order and then going down to the hanger when he was supposed to be confined to his quarters. And where are the soldiers to make sure he follows that? Milias sure sucks at her job. Grodek would have slapped his shit and thrown him in the brig. I think. Come to think of it, Grodek was pretty wonky, too.    Speaking of the new Gundam, is it just me or is it a thinly disguised Gundam 00?     

Overall Score:

3.5 out of 5

 
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Gundam AGE Episode 18 Review

 Episode 18, "Graduation Ceremony Battle"

  *****SPOILERS*****   Synopsis: Time passes and Asemu is to graduate. On the day of graduation, he reveals his plan to join the military after the break. Military police interrupt the ceremony and arrest Zeheart. Zeheart’s contact decoys the soldiers. He attacks the soldiers until Zeheart can get to his mobile suit. In his cockpit he reflects on the times he’s had with Asemu and his friends. Back at the school, Asemu gets a call from Vargas, who has sent the trailer with the Gundam. The Gundam comes in and fights Zeheart’s MS. Asemu is again pinned down by Zeheart, who reveals that he’d been fighting him. Romary sees this. Zeheart retreats.    Comments:   Watching this episode, it feels like I missed five or six episodes. Asemu and Zeheart are dear friends with photos of moments of their friendship, Romary seems closer to them, and everyone is graduating.    There are two trains of thought on this, to me. One is, wait a minute, they just skipped ahead of character development? Shouldn’t we see some of those moments? They shorcut the way there with those photos, so that’s actually somewhat clever, but it doesn’t feel like Zeheart’s betrayal of Asemu’s trust is any big deal, because they’ve been friends for two episodes.    The other thought is, well, who wants to wait around? Obviously we’re trying to move forward to Asemu joining the military and fighting the Veigans more directly. If we’re just sitting around watching Asemu and Zeheart hanging out, it’s liable to get very boring. So in this way, the time skip is no big offender. There’s a lot of story to get to, after all, we can’t be sitting on our hands waiting for them to become good friends.    However, what about a compromise, Sunrise? You could have given it at least another episode for the relationship between Asemu and Zeheart to cement. Instead, this sudden skip ahead has decided character development in a very tricky way that removes any gravity a betrayal will have. We don’t really feel for Asemu because we already knew Zeheart was going to betray him and it didn’t have time to really build up.    It was a decent episode, I guess, but I don’t know, I don’t really like some of the choices they made.      Overall Score:   3.5 out of 5      
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Gundam AGE Episode 17 Review

 Episode 17, "Friendship, Love, and Mobile Suits"

*****SPOILERS*****   Synopsis: Asemu keeps secret that he piloted the Gundam. Zeheart is told that the Gundam is likely hidden somewhere at the Asuno residence and joins the mobile suit club with Asemu and his friends. The four prepare for a MS tournament. Asemu invites the team to his house to get information on mobile suits. Zeheart uses this opportunity to look around for the Gundam, finally finding it in the stable. Later at the MS tournament, Asemu in his club MS battles other competitors, winning several bouts. However, Zeheart disappears. A Veigan MS is activated at the Asuno residence and Vargas alerts Asemu. Asemu speeds back home and gets in the Gundam. Zeheart moves in to support his superior, but Vargas activates a smog field which Asemu uses as cover to destroy one of the MS. However, Zeheart pins the Gundam down. The arrival of Romary allows Asemu to get free and Federation MS arrive. Zeheart retreats. The Gundam is moved to a Federation facility.      Comments:   I like the mobile suit competition in this episode and wish there was more of it (maybe making this a two-parter would have worked). Especially the part about Asemu wanting to impress his father by winning. I imagine that Flit could be a bit difficult to impress, since he already built the Gundam and was fighting the Veigans/UE well before he was Asemu’s age. Asemu is only barely able to build a small MS with his friends. He might not have even done as well as he did in the competition had it not been for Zeheart. I remember that in Zeta Gundam, Kamille Bidan was well-known for being a builder of petit MS.    The episode is somewhat a repeat of the previous, only this time Zeheart was in battle, too, and was able to pin down the Gundam. Actually, even before then Asemu was having slightly more difficulty with Zeheart’s contact. Luckily for him the Federation’s mobile suits arrived. But who knows? Maybe he would have been able to recover on his own. Based on what I saw in the previous episode, Asemu can really hold his own.    Is it just me or does Vargas seem a lot more helpful in this part of the show than in the previous one? That smog field was a good idea.     Overall Score:   3.5 out of 5    
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Gundam AGE Episode 16 Review

 Episode 16, "The Gundam in the Stable"

*****SPOILERS*****   Synopsis: Many years have passed, and Flit Asuno is an adult and a Federation commander, still vowing to fight and destroy the Veigans. His son, 17 year old Asemu Asuno, is in a mobile suit club at school with his friends Shawee and Macil. On his birthday, his family, including Emily (mother) and Unoa (sister), gather to celebrate. Flit passes the key to the Gundam AGE to his son. A new transfer student, Zeheart Galette, joins Asemu’s school. One day while working on a mobile suit, Asemu and his friends hear the evacuation alarm and see that the Veigan are attacking the colony. He discovers that his father had been hiding the Gundam for such an occasion, and decides to pilot it. Asemu is able to destroy the enemy mobile suits.    Comments:   This first episode of the new section of Gundam AGE gets off on the right foot.    Flit has become a bit of a hardened man, swearing unending vengeance against the Veigans, still not even considering them human beings. His adjunct makes a note of this when we first see him, now rocking a mustache and beard. He doesn’t seem particularly close to Emily, who is now his wife. I wonder if their marriage was just one of convenience. Their children appear to be well-loved, at least, but Flit has instilled in them his own outlook and wants Asemu to be a soldier so he can carry out his mission in life.    Asemu, for the most part, seems pretty on the ball. He has an interest in mobile suits, but he also has somewhat a social life, even if it’s mostly with his MS-loving friends. He seems perfectly capable of jumping into action when necessary, showing little or no hesitation. He even pulls off some cool moves in the Gundam in his first time piloting it. I’m guessing his love interest is Romary (guessing? It’s blatant!).    Zeheart shares the last name "Galette" with Desil and it’s not shocking when we see he’s working with the Veigans. My question is, will he be an enemy or ally of Asemu? I can envision them becoming friends, but not quite knowing what each other are up to. I can also see Asemu sympathizing with the plight of the Veigans through Zeheart while Flit is angered that his son is "siding with the enemy". These are just guesses I’m making based on years of anime watching, though.    Anyway, so far, so good! This show has been on a roll lately!   Overall Score:

4 out of 5

   
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Gundam AGE Episode 15 Review

 Episode 15, "Those Tears Fall In Space"

  *****SPOILERS*****   Synopsis: Grodek’s team infiltrates Ambat. Yark Dole pilots a giant mobile armor called the Mucell. Flit, in the Gundam, encounters it on the way to the base’s core. With Woolf’s help, Flit is able to destroy the mobile armor, but Dole escapes. Flit gives chase, catching up with him in the control room where Grodek and the others are. Grodek reveals that Yark Dole led the UE into the colony his (Grodek’s) family were in, despite it being a peaceful colony without a Federation base. Grodek wants to kill Dole for revenge. Dole reveals that he and his comrades were part of the Federation’s Mars colony project, a failure that claimed the lives of many of its participants, due to a Mars-born disease. The remaining colonists were abandoned by the Federation. They formed their own nation, calling themselves Veigans. Flit threatens to shoot Yark Dole, but Grodek does it before he can. However, before he dies, Dole activates the base’s self-destruct mode. The Diva crew escape the explosion. Later, Grodek is arrested and imprisoned by the Federation.    Comments:   Though it was short, I thought the fight with the Mucell was one of the better combat scenes in the series thus far. I especially liked the part at the base’s core. It’s too bad Yark Dole did almost nothing aside from that in the whole episode. Even self-destructing the base was just doing what the Diva crew were trying to do to begin with.    Flit was pretty badass in this episode. He easily destroys all the UE MS in the core, destroys the Mucell, and nearly guns down Yark. His chase after him felt a lot like the end of the original Mobile Suit Gundam, when Amuro and Char were fighting it out without mobile suits. He probably really would have shot Dole, too, if Grodek hadn’t done so first. When Flit is angry he’s a pretty interesting character. I think we’ll see in the next "generation" of the show, though, that he’s still damaged from what happened to Yurin. Amuro Ray never fully got over what happened to Lalah, after all.    It makes me feel bad for Emily. Obviously the next generation main character is her and Flit’s son, so she ends up with him, but it seems like he overhwhelmingly loves Yurin and is completely devestated by her death, even after the UE’s defeat. So Emily’s doomed to forever being Flit’s silver medal. I feel bad for her.    Finally, it’s revealed who the UE are. I actually quite like where they went with it. The UE, the Veigans (vegans? Do they have vegan psychic powers like in Scott Pilgrim?) are the survivors of the Mars colonies disaster. It’s no wonder that the Federation was trying to cover it all up, pretending there were no survivors. However, don’t you think they took denying it a little too far by not even going after the UE, whose mobile suits were killing innocent civillians? The Federation must be awfully corrupt to ignore the UE problem just because they would look bad if it got out who they were. It looks even worse to let them go on killing people.    What was with Grodek telling the Blue Desil that his life will be tragic? Thanks for rubbing in the fact you killed his father, asshole.    Anyway, the first part of the series is over, and I have to admit the past few episodes have finally made this show worth watching. However, I get this sinking feeling that it will take just as long for the second part to get going. Let’s hope I’m wrong.      Overall Score:

4.5 out of 5

 
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Gundam AGE Episode 14 Review

 Episode 14, "A Flash of Sorrow"

*****SPOILERS*****   Synopsis: The battle at Ambat continues. The Diva begins to take on damage. Flit is attacked by Desil in his black MS. Suddenly a pink MS interrupts them. Yurin has been physically forced to pilot it, with her unable to break free. Desil struggles to fight two mobile suits. As Desil closes in for the kill, Yurin’s MS gets between them and her MS is impaled. Her MS explodes. Enraged, Flit attacks Desil’s mobile suit with ferocity, disabling it. Flit changes the Gundam parts from Spallow to Titus and charges the enemy base, opening a hanger door. The Diva parks in the hanger and the crew arm themselves for close combat.    Comments:   Yurin dies? Huge shock! Never saw that coming.    Actually, aside from the predictability, Yurin’s death was handled pretty well. It was interesting that the MS she was in was basically just using her and she was little more than a battery for it as it worked via X-Rounder resonance. This way not only is she forced to work for the enemy, but she’s physically forced to. Though if this was the case, why couldn’t her MS simply be remote controlled via Desil’s own MS? Or does it work better with an additional X-Rounder? Anyway, the vision of Flit and Yurin interacting in the woods just before her MS explodes was a little touching, to be honest.    So I guess at the last moment she was able to take control of her MS? It’s not quite clear.    I’m trying to decide which 0079 battle this is more like, Solomon or A Bao Qu. On the one hand, by the end of the episode, a new secret weapon that looks like the Big Zam is being activated. On the other, this feels more final than Solomon and the Diva crew is about to engage in close combat with guns, much like A Bao Qu. It’s probably a little of both, because I’m guessing fighting the new MS/MA (?) will be a significant portion of the next episode. Is the pilot the guy in the mask, unmasked?   Who’s the blue-haired kid that looks a bit like Desil?   The action was pretty good in this episode, especially when Flit became enraged at Yurin’s death and totally dominated Desil’s black MS. If the next episode can continue that level of awesomeness, this show might just turn around after all.     Overall Score:

4.5 out of 5

 
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Gundam AGE Episode 13 Review

 Episode 13, "Space Fortress Ambat"

  *****SPOILERS*****   Synopsis: With the Diva armed with a AGE System-created beam weapon, the crew prepares for battle. Grodek commands the fleet from the bridge. The mobile suit forces launch. The fleet approaches Ambat at fires, but at first there’s no response. Suddenly, a massive ship emerges from behind a forcefield. The Diva transforms into more of a battleship. Combat ensues, but the UE outnumber the rebels. Flit draws the enemy towards himself and takes out many of them. The Diva nears the base and fires it’s beam weapon at the ship, which is heavily damaged. Ract tries to sacrifice himself to stop the remaining part, but before he can, other friendly forces arrive to assist them.      Comments:   Wow, this was an excellent episode!   First of all, let me get this out of the way: what the hell is up with everyone’s normal suit? The Diva crew dress like they’re in their pajamas. The Zalam normal suits look like Zakus. The Euba MS normal suits are probably the best looking. It’s hard to take the Diva crew seriously with such ridiculous suits. Get some normal normal suits, guys! This isn’t a sleepover.    Speaking of the Diva (and we’re getting to the good parts now), it’s transformation is pretty cool. It’s transformed state looks like the Albion from Gundam 0083. Before, it looked a bit like the Ptolemaios from Gundam 00.    Considering how predictable this show has been, I was really pleasantly surprised by a the cliche-avoiding scene in this episode where Ract tries a suicide run but is stopped by Flit. Ract is unable to make himself a human missile like Don Boyage. The little talking-to he gets from Flit is a great moment. It feels like the kind of thing you’d see in FMA (though in FMA, it would be a big speech about not throwing your life away).   Emily’s really got her shit together now. She’s in full support of Flit’s decision to continue fighting in the Gundam. For a while, I thought she was going to go crazy or something.    There was some good action in this episode. I especially enjoyed when Flit drew a bunch of UE suits to himself, and then took them all out himself. That was pretty badass, especially the way he did it. It’s probably the best action scene in the show thus far.    This episode was a lot more compelling than the show has been overall. I only hope the episodes that follow can live up to it.   Overall Score:

4.5 out of 5

   
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