Oh great, another Setsuna-episode. Still, the guy has been getting better, and he’s not as annoying as he was at the beginning of the series. Still, he remains pretty stupid and seriously needs to talk more to people. Here he is, in a middle-eastern country, undercover and all, and he apologizes like a Japanese. No wonder that the guys from the Union saw right through him.
Also, I know that language-issues have always been tricky for international series like this one, but please, at least try to be a bit believable. What the heck happened to the Arabic language? It’s a shame, you can see that the creators did research for this series, and I appreciate that, but still small details like this continue to slip by.
Ah well, at least the episode built up well enough. The civil war in Azadistan is progressing along nicely, and indeed it’s not that easy to just change an entire nation, even though the leaders have no intention to fight. I do wonder how the creators are planning to solve this, though, but I guess there’s only one way to find out.
Now that the first quarter of the series is over, we should be seeing a bit more of the direction where the creators plan to go for with the rest of the series. It was at this point that Code Geass really began to decline, with its pointless emo-scenes, and I really hope that the creators for Gundam 00 don’t try to do the same and instead just continue with what they’re good at: politics.
Quite a straightforward episode, which is all about Allelujah, trying to take care of his past by destroying the research-faculty where he grew up. Sure, Hallelujah is still there, but I think that now, he’ll be a little less worried about his own kind. I’m suspecting that Setsuna and Lockon will also get episodes like this one in the future. And regarding Tieria, we still hardly know anything about him. This episode does show that he considers himself to be something different from a human being. His yellow eyes are also just like the Third Eye of The Third in The Third: they can log on to any computer.
It also seems that Allelujah and Hallelujah were two different persons at one time, though Hallelujah went on a killing rampage one time. When Allelujah (who apparently was close friends with Hallelujah) was forced to shoot him, Hallelujah’s consciousness was probably transferred through quantum-brainwaves to Allelujah, creating this strange schizophrenic being.
One thing I liked about the past few episodes is how Setsuna took a step back to allow Allelujah and Tieria to develop a bit. It’s a shame that I know that he’ll probably take up the role of main character again somewhere in the future, though. I really hope he’ll get better soon. And seriously, why are Louise and Saji even in this series? All I can think of is that they’re going to be important somewhere in the future, but I think that giving them a scene for every episode is a bit too much at this point.]]> 
I must say, I’m impressed. This episode concludes the attack by the Human Reform League, and the battle between the regular mobile suits and the Gundams was really well orchestrated. I like how everything makes sense, and especially Tieria was excellent, when he too goes against Veda’s plan in a desperate attempt to avoid getting captured by the enemy.
Unfortunately, Alleluja ends up going berserk, but there actually seems to be a good explanation behind it as well. I now understand why episode five was so necessary, when the lieutenant suddenly went crazy. Both she and Allelujah are genetically modified humans, and especially Allelujah seems to be one of the prototypes for this technology. Of course there have been people who messed around with his mind, which apparently created his alter-ego Hallelujah, who is some kind of murderous psychopath.
Now the big question remains: what’s going to happen in the second half of this series? Gundam 00 has done really well to not fall into the footsteps of Code Geass, and I really appreciate this, but it isn’t there yet. For now, it has been building up really well, and it’s done all the necessary things for an introduction: the Gundams are introduced, they’re given a bit of time to carry out their mission according to plan, and they’ve now faced their first major setback. I could say that the challenges for the Celestial Beings will continue to become harder and harder, but there’s no way that the creators will be able to keep up with that, since this series is going to consist out of 50 episodes and all. My prediction is that around the middle of the series, the Celestial Beings will break up.]]> 
One thing I like about Gundam 00 is how it’s finally a war-story that doesn’t give Japan special treatment. Heck, it doesn’t even seem to be a member of the Human Reform-Leage, and if I had to guess, then I’d say that it’s just a tiny neutral country. Sortof like Switzerland in the twentieth century. The only link with Japan that seemed to be in the series (Setsuna’s name) also turned out to have nothing to do with Japan in the end (seeing as how Setsuna is just a codename) Take that, Code Geass.
Anyway, about the episode: I liked it a lot, because there finally is a high emphasis on tactics for this battle, and for the first time, the Celestial Beings are in real trouble. I must admit that this happened sooner than I thought. The fight was quite solid so far. There was a bit of angst, but that’s only natural, as for many members of the crew, it was the first time their lives were in direct danger. I’ve heard from all sorts of sides that Gundam Seed Destiny was a scream-fest, and now that there’s no threat that Gundam 00 will follow in Code Geass’ footsteps, my biggest fear for this series is the same thing to happen as with Gundam Seed.
The first half of the episode was quite light-hearted, and the creators did a god job of portraying how the characters spend their free time on such a small spacecraft. There’s hardly any moment for privacy! Meanwhile, we learn that Lockon grew up in Ireland, and that he has an evil twin-brother. Ishmael has finally found a party that can help Azadistan: the United Nations. Louise meanwhile gets picked up by her mother, who finds it too dangerous for her daughter to be studying abroad. Saji still remains a whimp.
Oh, and we also have a first for this series: for the first time, Setsuna didn’t feel annoying whatsoever. In fact, he was rather cute when he had his meal, right next to Tieria. Felt also gets a bit of development in this episode. Her parents were apparently second-generation Gundam Meisters. They died, but the reason why remains a mystery.]]> 
I admit: the political roots of this series have been quite interesting, and they’re a good reason to watch this series, but the creators do need to put more effort into the characters. As usual, my main problem is with Setsuna again: he yet again surpassed his stupidity with this episode, when he runs into the queen of Azadistan and basically tells her that he’s the Meister of the Gundam Exia and working for the Celestial Beings, and only to confirm it, we see him hold a small demonstration of his piloting-skills right above the plane that said princess is boarding.
Why…. for god’s sake, why?!
One thing that would also make this series a bit better is if we were actually showed the intention behind the terrorists, like Bokura no and Simoun did. Right now, I’m not feeling any sympathy for the random victims that get killed by the Celestial beings. They just don’t feel like humans. One thing I’m glad for is that the terrorists actually tried out some tactics that show signs of complexity. If the creators can keep increasing this complexity, things can get quite interesting in the future.
One thing I did appreciate was the bit of development for Lockon. Apparently, his family was killed in terrorist attacks, leaving him as the sole survivor among tens of dead bodies. He was really meaner than usual this time. One thing I like about this series is how everyone reacts differently to the actions of the celestial beings. Some countries decide to use them, others hate them, and others have to deal with the victim of this hate.]]> 
Oh god… the episode was quite good, but unfortunately one of my fears has been confirmed with this episode: the Gundam-suits become more powerful as their pilots become more emo. That’s why Veda chose teenagers to be the pilots, as their chance of losing it is much higher than with an adult. While I can settle with such an explanation, my fears that this series will gradually turn into a scream-fest as it goes on have been greatly increased.
Well then, in this episode Setsuna gets to be the next one to disobey the orders by stepping out of his suit when he realizes that the guy he’s fighting against is the one who used him as a child-soldier in a Kurdish war. It also seems that the name Setsuna is just a code-name, and he originally is called Soran, with a Kurdish nationality. You wouldn’t say that, based on their character-designs. Anyway, after that, both parties retreat and the Celestial Beings continue to slaughter the Morallian Army. That part was really meant to show how powerful the Gundams are. It may have sounded a bit one-sided, but it can turn out pretty interesting if the creators use it well, because this will prompt the different countries to actually think of more difficult strategies until one manages to defeat them. Sort-of like Simoun, actually. The enemies start out pretty stupid, though their tactics drastically improve with every attack.
Setsuna himself, by the way, continues to have as much personality as a potato. He won’t even say anything in defence for what he has done, and only keeps whining about how his existence is somehow linked with Exia. Okay, I know he’s a child-soldier and all, but didn’t the other Celestial Beings find his personality strange and worrisome when he was first recruited?
One thing I also appreciate is how this anime shows that there are a lot of civilian casualties, but the protagonists don’t keep preaching over and over how it’s bad to kill a person like in most other anime, and instead different sides and opinions are shown. Incidentally, Tiera is turning into my favourite character. He’s realistic, and actually knows what being a Celesital Being means. The terrorists also were a nice addition, and I’m interested to find out what they’d gain if the Celestial Beings stopped their actions.]]> 
Ah, I’m glad to see that Setsuna is finally about to get some development after this episode. He was just too annoying in this episode before he ran into the guy from his past. I know the guy is silent and all, but at least give him some actual dialogue, instead of “My Gundam…”, “GN Blade…” and “Exia…”.
I liked the majority of this episode, though. We learn a bit more about the other members of the cast, and we see Lockon’s father, who seems to be one of the main technicians for the Celestial Beings. Sumeragi also turns out to be older than I expected, and she seems to be in her thirties, despite what her character-design seems to suggest. Her two female workers (the brown-haired and the pink-haired one) also get fleshed out a bit. I can understand why the pink-haired one is with the Celestial Beings. She’s serious about her job and some kind of a perfectionist, though I’m not sure why the brown-haired one is with them. She seems a bit unrealistic, with her playful attitude, despite being one of the best hackers in the world.
The next target seems to be Moralia, a new nation in Southern France, which tured into one of the major military trading-companies, after they start taunting the Celestial Beings by having a massive military demonstration. Sumeragi gives as the reason why the nation wasn’t attacked earlier is because they would have gone out of business in the end, though on the other hand, if Moralia would be gone and destroyed, the other countries would have lost an important military trading-partner, which could benefit the CB’s in the long run.
Another interesting detail is how the long-haired guy who works for the scientist who works for the Union (at least, I think that’s what he worked for. It could also be the EAU, I’ve lost a bit of track of that) is an old acquaintance of Sumeragi. Something also seemed to have happened between the two of them, which could explained why she joined the CB’s after graduating.]]> 
Wow… talk about a difference with the previous episodes. While the first four episodes of Gundam were about politics and clearly motivated purposes, this episode had one person going berserk and another one went off on his own. I guess the major characters in this series remain teenagers after all, which is in a way a pity. Especially the berserking young girl came from nowhere.
Another thing that was really bad about this episode was how Setsuna made a hole in the clouds, just by swinging the arms of his Gundam a bit. And here I thought that the creators put a lot of effort in creating their setting and physics. Blowing a hole in the clouds is just getting a tad too ridiculous. What I also didn’t like was the immense amount of time that was spent on the dull couple of Saji and Louise. WE DON’T NEED YET ANOTHER DATING-SIM THIS SEASON.
So, regarding the good parts… I guess that for this episode, it was Allelujah: the one who went out on his own with his Gundam, just because he wanted to protect a block of the orbital station that was blasted off. Not very professional, is it? Still, I like how the creators realize this as well, by the comments from whatshisname after the operation was finished.]]> 
This series has some very strange insert songs… first the ED, which gave me a near-headache the first time I heard it, and now at the end of the episode, there’s yet another very strange song for such a series.
Apart from this, I liked this episode, though. It exactly avoids the mistake that Code Geass made by relying too much on sensation, and goes for a more thought-provoking direction. I like how all kinds of different parties all end up waiting and exploring the true intentions of the Celestial Beings. One country in former South-America tries to be smart by declaring war against the union, in the hope to get support from the Celestial Beings. This plan backfires when the Gundams attack their own forces, even though no shot has actually been fired yet.
The blond guy from the union gets to be the next person to try and defeat Setsuna, though the latter escaped in the ocean. This does provide possibilities: all the guy has to do is attack a Gundam on land, and Setsuna might actually get in trouble against the modified mobile suit. I guess these suits aren’t in mass production because they’re expensive as hell, though I think that the long brown-haired companion and his teacher (I need to learn their names) will figure out how to produce them cheaply at one point.
Meanwhile, in a country in the Middle East (Azadeistan), the princess of the country (Marina Ishmael) and her assistant are observing what is happening as well, after confirming that indeed the fossil fuels have run out, hence another reason why the propulsions of the Gundams are so potentially interesting. The human-reform league meanwhile declared war to the Celestial Beings, and assigned the guy from the previous episode with the scar to capture one of them.
I do have some major issues with this episode, though. Japan remains a xenophobic country, and it shows. Taribia lies around the place that’s currently called Suriname. I know quite a few people from that country, and they aren’t exactly white-skinned. I know anime in general refuses to show people with black skins, but with a setting like this one, it’s way more obvious and painful than with, say, Shugo Chara.
Another thing that surprises me is how desperate people are over the solar power. Four hundred years have passed, and it’s not like solar power is the only power-source left after the fossil fuels run out. I can imagine how the larger countries will be dependant on the towers, but can’t the smaller countries build water-centrals, windmills and nuclear plants? Especially the latter one would have been a great option if the countries are desperate enough.
Also, Setsuna needs some serious development as soon as possible. He’s probably one of the worst members of the cast, simply because he doesn’t seem to have a mind of his own. I also hate the way he talks. I know he’s in for some development, otherwise the student couple wouldn’t need to exist, but I hope the creators hurry with it. I also dislike the pink-haired girl that showed up in this episode, but that’s more because of her character-design.]]> 