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MG Banshee – Unboxing Impressions

 

I just wanted to take a quick minute to share my early impressions of the latest member of my MG Gundam Unicorn collection, the Master Grade Banshee. P.S. Be forewarned, it’s incredibly late after a long day at work and this article is probably full of incoherent sentences and half finished thoughts.

The kit itself appears to have been built off the MG Unicorn OVA version kit. I have to dive into it a bit more but it looks like it has the shorter leg pieces (to facilitate a tad more poseability) and the non-vulcan head (though the head pieces are different, apparently to facilitate the Banshee’s antlers. read more

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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 21 Review

 Episode 21, "Phantoms in the Way"

      *****SPOILERS*****   Synopsis: Asemu tries to distract himself from thoughts of Zeheart. The Diva docks at the EFF command center, the Big Ring. Flit tells the crew that they’re to help defend Big Ring from a Veigan attack. Asemu decides to take advanced piloting training. His grade for X-Rounder potential is a "D" so Woolf decides to cheer him up by taking him to see Madorna’s Workshop. Asemu meets Madorna’s son Rody who created a battle simulation machine. Asemu gets in and holds out for a few minutes against simulations of his father and Zeheart. He requests to try again. Both the Veigans and Federation prepare for the upcoming battle.      Comments:   So Flit really outranks Milias. Really? I mean, he certainly had a lot to do with the initial victory over the UE/Veigans, but you don’t make him a commander just because he was a great pilot. What kind of leadership skills does Flit have? Milias makes sense because she probably worked her way through the ranks the normal way. At what point did Flit bypass her? If I were Milias, I would be absolutely humiliated. I can see Flit outranking Woolf, and even that’s a little stretch, but fuck, Milias was second-in-command on the Diva, not Flit. Maybe she didn’t get promoted that much because she was loyal to Grodek.    Speaking of Flit, he’s a bit of an asshole. When Asemu is down, Flit says, "As long as you have my blood you’ll be fine." Yeah, thanks a lot, Dad. "As long as you have my blood" is such an arrogant thing to say.    Wouldn’t it be cool if Asemu really isn’t a X-Rounder? I mean, we see his "D" grade in X-Rounder perception, but I’m sure the story is going to go to him being one after all, just in a way that makes it difficult to measure out of combat. But it would be neat if he just became a really badass normal like Woolf and yet still takes down Zeheart.    Speaking of Zeheart, what is with Romary being so jealous that Flit got to see him again? He’s the enemy and instead of being concerned for Asemu, Romary wishes she can see Zeheart again. I guess she wanted Zeheart more than Asemu. But nah, they probably won’t go in that direction. That would be too interesting.     

Overall Score:

3.5 out of 5

 
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Gundam AGE Episode 20 Review

 Episode 20, "The Red Mobile Suit"

*****SPOILERS*****   Synopsis: Zeheart tests the Veigan MS, Zedas-R, but is disappointed. He visits a grown up Desil. The Diva enters a shoal zone to avoid combat. The Veigans ambush the ship. Zeheart sorties in the X-Rounder MS, Zeydra. Asemu engages Zeheart is combat and has difficulty thinking of him as an enemy. Zeheart defeats Asemu and threatens to kill him should he see him again on the battlefield.    Comments:   So, Desil has made his return to the show. He barely looks like he did as a child, but I guess that’s growing up. Not only is he grown up, but he is seriously ripped, too. I bet he could take Flit on with his bare hands. Maybe he’s ripped for that very reason. Being defeated so utterly as a child has made him driven to defeat the Gundam pilot. He’s also got a serious entitlement thing going on and is not happy for Zeheart’s promotion. There’ll probably be some friction between the two.     I’ve got to say, for all the different reasons they could have given Zeheart to wear a mask in this show, they actually came up with a pretty decent one, with the mask enabling the pilot to better channel their X-Rounder abilities into the MS. He’s not hiding from his past or trying to fool anybody, he needs it for work. It’s probably one of the show’s better ideas, though I’m pretty sure it wasn’t necessary at all. It’s just a fun little thing. But the mask is upstaged by the absolutely ridiculous helmet he wears. That thing is way too bulky.    Is it just me, or is Woolf the best character in this show? What was a kind of arrogant swagger in the first part of the series has become learned confidence. He’s just that good. The only thing that could top this is Grodek showing up again.      Overall Score:   3.5 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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Lupin III: A Woman Named Fujiko Mine PV

Woah, the style is overwhelming! Though I can see why some people referred to this trailer as being "just thrown together", because they’re using the character design sheets and little if any footage from the actual show. Still, I’m looking forward to seeing this show.

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Gundam Posers – Submission Deadline Moved Back


The Mobile Suit Gundam novels are Zaku approved!

 

I’ve decided to move back the submission deadline to midnight of April 7th. That gives everyone an extra week to submit their entries. As you can see I’ve got the novels already and they’re just waiting to make their way to our lucky winners. I haven’t started to read my copy yet but I’ve certainly heard some interesting things from PenguinTruth who received a copy as well. A lot of new insights into the events of the First Year War and the events in the original series! read more

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Noboru Ishiguro (1938-2012)

 

 

Today I’m mourning the loss of one of my favorite anime directors, Noboru Ishiguro. He was one of the directors of Space Battleship Yamato and was the director of Super Dimensional Fortress Macross and Legend of the Galactic Heroes. He even directed an old childhood favorite of mine, Fushigi na Koala Blinky, or Noozles in the U.S., which aired on the Nick Jr. block in the eighties and early nineties. Ishiguro was a massive talent and the world of anime is sure to be somewhat less without him. He was 73. 
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