review

This series is currently a bit of a tease and I am unsure if this is a good thing or a bad thing. It almost seems as if Mika, Akihiro, and the rest of Tekkadan would really go full force against the Mobile Armour in an arena-like battle this episode, nevermind Macky and Isurugi against Vidar/Galli-Galli. Yet nope, Tekkadan is relegated to strategery once again this episode, thanks to an unanticipated safety precaution in the Gundam Frames, and Vidar instead leaves, delaying the face off against Macky for another time, but not without making his existence known to him. In fact the true final battle with the Mobile Armour will take place next week, alongside the results of its fallout. read more

Before I allow you all to kick my ass for such an article title, that’s shorthand for:

Mobile
Armours’re
Great
Again

When was the last time a massive mobile suit/mobile armour in a Gundam series generated such a sense of ominous dread? I mean yeah, Build Fighters had the Giant Zaku, but nobody was gonna die from that; Gundam SEED Destiny had an alright thing going with the Destroy before it became a mass-produced grunt unit alongside other Earth Alliance MAs; Ein was only fine in the first season of this; and Gundam Age. read more

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. read more

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. read more