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.]]>
Gundam 00 – 04
Actually, it’s Venezuela. Following in trend of 21st century conflicts and parallels into 24th century worlds, now we’ve got a Hugo Chavez and his anti-Americanism knock-off.
Nuclear is non-renewable (I don’t think fusion type will last 400 years, and I don’t know much about fission – I think fission is at the moment uncontrollable). Plus, nuclear is heavily politized, as you can see with Iran. It might not be easy for smaller countries to buy uranium/plutonium and I don’t think their mining locations are globally widespread (makes it even easier for big countries to control).
Water and wind do not produce a lot of power, plus I imagine there’s reliability issues – like wind-power problem in Denmark now (solar power on earth should have reliability issues too). They need back-ups in case weather/season problems.
Anyway, Uranium/Plutonium seems to be depleted in Gundam 00 world, and fission never takes off. Battery technology is still not good enough to accumulate large scale reserves for backup purpose in case of standalone weather-based generators (wind, waterfall, and solar on earth). Ocean waves and geothermal based ones don’t proliferate. Other methods are not found (biofuel is not efficient, save for plane fuel – and it doesn’t seem that it’s used for backups in G00 world). Then, the best reliable back-up would be solar power taken above the atmosphere (I suppose this means superconductor technology advances well in G00 world).
Although Japan may be xenophobic, the fact that the main character is middle eastern instead of Japanese shows that they’re trying.
But thinking about it, it doesn’t help at all that Setsuna is a Japanese name and that he’s depicted as a terrorist in every single scene…