review

SPOILERS

I had a feeling that I was gonna use the article title a week ago when I came up with it. I just did not expect to see it come to light in the way shown in the final episode.

The entire first half is dedicated to the last stand of Tekkadan, with the tunnel successfully made, with the remainder of the family sans Akihiro and Mika escaping by the skin of their teeth. Despite being the finale to a Gundam show, the ultimate bookending battle is bereft of any ideological waxing of various ideas like understanding one another and becoming a better humanity. It is just Akihiro and Mika laying waste to the myriad grunts of Gjallarhorn as they delay them long enough for their comrades to escape. Due to this lack of high-falootin’ conversations, it means a long winding episode of this battle is not in the cards, and pretty much ends when Rustal lets loose one final barrage of Dainsleif weapons on their base. Once you see the Barbatos and Gusion damaged from this one attack, the battle is pretty much over. Yet within all the well-done one sided killing, there is some catharsis to be had. Akihiro crushes Iok to death after recognizing who he was, and thus gives us *A* scalp to have despite the aftermath ending with Julieta killing Mika, decapitating the Barbatos and showing the head off as a trophy for all to see. read more

SPOILERS

I don’t know why I even bother really. Every time an emotional event happens in this show, I expect it to be the ONE Mika has a reaction similar to everybody else breaking down and weeping. Within minutes after the opening occurs (which was led into by Mika being informed of Orga’s fate), Mika instead has his own St. Crispin’s Day speech. Despite Mika’s lack of flair, it is filled with determination, rallying the remainder of Tekkadan to follow through and escape while he and a small contingency of MS delay Gjallarhorn’s advance. Yes you can see a bit of sadness in Mika’s eyes, but his moments in this episode show how he doesn’t really harbor much delusion that he’s totally useless without Orga. read more

SPOILERS

Welp, despite the surrounding of their base by Gjallarhorn, Orga remains undeterred in his plan to get all of Tekkadan out of Mars. After watching this episode, and thinking about what I said this past week, I think I am in error in my perception of conviction then running away. Tekkadan for better or worse may be fighters, and will kill with impunity, but they are not conquerors. Even during Orga’s “I’m gonna be King of the Martians!” phase he is never shown to succumb to greed and ambition, nevermind the rest of Tekkadan. The title is merely a means to an end, and unfortunately for Tekkadan, that means is no longer viable in the long run. read more

It’s a bit vaguer in this episode given the circumstances of the plot details. The events of the past few weeks have been a bit more impactful than had already been revealed. However, it is kinda confusing because we ended the last episode with Orga and Mika brandishing some great resolve to do whatever it takes to bring peace…

…Yet it deflates rather quickly moments after they arrive back on Mars. While McGillis and Mika go off to do their thing (the former gets a pass because the head Gjallarhorn guy on Mars owes him one), Orga is faced with more financial hurdles. Accounts are frozen, nobody wants to talk to them, and news of their involvement with McGillis is broadcasted. Orga being Orga of course, buckles under the pressure and instead of giving a St. Crispin’s Day-esque speech about taking down Arianrhod, announces a chance for any and all reluctant Tekkadan members to leave. A lot of them are outraged at this, yet at least we see Zack’s bellyaching go somewhere when he announces he’s leaving. read more

Looks like the McGillis/Tekkadan faction will have to take a rain check for their final victory. After Shino’s failed attempt to take out Rustal once and for all, the faction makes a tactical retreat to regroup, lick their wounds, and hopefully end it the next time. I say ‘hopefully’ because by episode’s end, after scenes of implications of how big a practitioner of 4D Chess he is, Rustal has not only torpedoed McGillis’s chance to regain his forces, but to strip him of his position in Gjallarhorn before the preview without firing a shot. Man continues to be a shrewd operator, and to his credit gives us more of a reprieve for reasons I will cover later on. read more

SPOILERS

This is peak Gundam space battle episode here. Intense combat abounds as everything blows up and gets killed, with Tekkadan and McGillis struggling as best they can given the onslaught of a superior force. This episode pretty much lays threadbare how on a knife’s edge they are all on at this point, and with an opposition like Rustal Elion, one wrong step and SLICE.

Speaking of Rustal, he is the star of this episode, and is quite the Big Bad in terms of last space battles in Gundam. Sure, we’ll probably see McGillis and Bael be the endgame boss, yet in older Gundam shows he’d have already been against our heroes at this point and be the one bringing the pain. However, all we get is Rustal Elion and quite frankly it’s a breath of fresh air. Endgame space battle Gundam villains usually run the gamut from Hitler-esque (Gihren), bellicose (Gyn Ghingham), to sadistic psycho-bitchy (Katejina). Rustal looks to be the more normal out of all of them, since he doesn’t embody much of those character traits, and if he does it’s very tapered down by sheer force of discipline. Also, the rather solid character design that does not reek of bishounen malevolence or a hideously ugly mug that screams “I’M EVIL” helps too. read more