What the? Did these people hear my prayers or what?? Major spoilers coming up in the next paragraph, and I really mean MAJOR spoilers. This is really an episode where Gundam has really set itself apart from the major other Mecha-epics. This line is here to prevent spoilers to appear on the blog-aggregators like animeblogger antenna.
Great god! I remember making a number of predictions about how this episode would turn out, and none of them came true. Has there really been another series that had the guts to kill off its main cast halfway through? I don’t remember any. And that’s the great thing about this episode, because there were a lot of great characters who remained alive. The technician and Sumeragi are fine and will play a major role in the second season as well, Soma Pieres and Papa Bear also have survived against all odds. Allelujah may be dead, but Hallelujah still shows signs of surviving.
One big surprise was also Graham Acre dying and then getting revived again four years later, bearing the mask that seems to be some kind of trademark for Gundam-series, and the annoying Alehandro Corner kicked the bucket as well. While there was a lack of politics, this remains without a doubt my favourite episode of this series, simply because it shattered so many stereotypes I had about this series. And not to mention, the fights were actually really well done. In the end, it indeed turns out that Livonze will be the major bad guy for the second season.
And then there was the aftermath, and the introduction to the second season. At the moment, I really have no idea what direction it’ll go. The earth is united, there’s no need left for the Gundams, and yet new models have been constructed, along with the help of Nena, the only surviving throne. I remember that the professor once noted that the unison of the world
Saji has also started working on the solar generator, though thankfully four years have passed now, so he isn’t an angsty teenager anymore. Thank god for that. I also loved how Setsuna sent his final messages not to his comrades, but to Marina Ismael. The impact she had on him turned out to be much larger than I expected. I do wonder whether she managed to solve all the problems in her home-country, though.
Some small things: I was surprised to see that Patrick’s still alive. We only see a glimpse of him, but it really looked like Tieria killed him back then. Also note how we never get to see Ali al Sarshes’ eyes. Did something happen to them? And who was this Tieria-lookalike near Louise, and what was Louise doing with him in the first place? The second season will probably shed light into who Nena, Tieria and Livonze are. Livonze also turned out to have some clones with him, so why wouldn’t this be the case for Tieria as well? Although I’d shiver at the thought of an army of Nena’s.
To finish this entry, I just can’t resist another Code Geass reference. It’s just such a good series to show how things should not be done. And the thing I’m talking about here is the cliff-hanger of the first season. I mean, it’s just too predictable: you just know that both Lelouch and Suzaku will both magically survive, and it’s not a god thing to have to wait nine months to confirm that this indeed is the case. Thankfully, in the meantime Dragonaut has showed up and brought us an even cheesier rivalry between childhood friends, and it looks like even Code Geass will be better than that one. I think that the thing that Code Geass needs to do for its second season is to stop putting so much attention to Lelouch, and instead focus more on the side-characters.
You need to watch a lot more mecha shows if you think this one sets Gundam apart from the rest.
and so the masked man has appeared 😀 i wondered when one will show up and who it will be
overall i liked this episode great pacing,good fights but all the death in a middle of a 50 ep gundam is expected since from what i know most of them had this element (i only completed 2 gundams but i know many who love this franchise and told me some info about this universe) but that was not bad here it turned out quite good,also since this ep had the name Setsuna i expected to see his supposed death a bit more spectacular like in other gundam,maybe an explosion and him floating into space but we have to satisfy with what we got xd
now the Earth Federation was formed and it will be interesting to see what the second season will bring and on who it will be focused
i wonder if Zeon will show up in the near future 🙂
My favorite part was the fight between Graham and Setsuna. Graham telling Setsuna about red thread of destiny and love… it was so “lulzy”, yet very true in a way.
I certainly hope Setsuna didn’t die, and the “good Alleuja” either (I can never remember which one has the h).
The Tieria look-alike is much more handsome like that. I remember at the start of the series I kept wondering if that was actually a girl.
Can’t wait for the second season.
I’ve watched quite a lot of mecha shows already and I agree that this does stand out. Perhaps the story wasn’t groundbreaking, nor were the concepts, but just pulling off a generally good show with all that in place is enough to make it good.
Some other mecha shows always have a little too much of something and in Gundam 00 I feel like they managed not to overdo things. With the current crop of anime these days, not overdoing something is actually a plus.
Given the gold thing was a very fugly design and looked overpowered but in the end all it really had was a forcefield which Exia’s non-beam sword was made to cut. Even the Trans-am system had its limits and those limits were not abused within the show.
Couple all that with great animation/action sequences… I think it turned out very well. Any bumps it had along the road were usually smoothened out 2-3 episodes later when it was explained.
Looking forward to season 2. ^_^
I’m pretty sure that Hallelujah (the sadistic personality) was the one who died, and Allelujah was the one who survived. And the last fight with Graham seemed…pretty forced to me, really. I mean, he just appeared out of freaking nowhere, and the fight was pretty rushed. It’s kind of annoying that they shoved him in there just so they could stick him in a mask next season.
But I’m willing to tolerate all of that, because Soma and Sergei survived and it was squishy and cute and d’awwwwwwwwww.
🙂 I love this show…I have pretty much watch almost all the gundam series and Wing as i have mentioned before is now running second to this series…LOVE IT! as with most of you…i am looking forward to next season….pity its so far away but hoping some decent series come along to fill the gap.
Maybe it’s just me but what’s so great about killing so many characters when they are simply going to “resurrect” at least half of them? Typical post-Mai-Hime Sunrise idiocy. The whole point of killing off characters is to make the viewers saddened by that or to make the series look more relistic by showing that good guys can die too, not to turn the viewers into investigators wondering whether a certain character actually died or not.
The epilogue was hilarious, though. The world’s military forces united just like that even though there were no CB attacks anymore? I am sorry but even by the standards of Gundam 00 that makes no sense whatsoever.
Actually, I disagree that it’s far-fetched. In fact, I’m surprised that you actually thought that the Gundams had a chance to unite the world in the first place. Remember that the Celestial Beings and the Throne Gundams did leave their marks behind, the three major nations have already united their major armies at the end of the series, and it seems quite plausible that this trend of trying to make peace continued through the next four years. Also, all we saw is that all the nations have now united into one, though there’s probably still some kind of conflict left in the world.
can someone tell me, that final scene with the 3 guys tlking about the gundam 0, when is that? is that actually after the calamity and destruction of the gundams(in process of rebuilding) or is it well before? to me, it seems like it could be both but it would help to be definate.
who else agrees that a 2nd tieria is freaky?and he smiled?!?! impossible. and i should hope that Hallelujah doesnt due because Allelujah isnt tht great to watch. i prefer a pychopath with 2 minds in the celestrials being of the 2nd season(that;s if they even make another team, all survive and there’s at all any war left to resolve)
good episode though. hope the bad guys which died from this episode didnt die. gives the 2nd season some tang, like ALI AL SASHES!!!!!!
“Remember that the Celestial Beings and the Throne Gundams did leave their marks behind, the three major nations have already united their major armies at the end of the series, and it seems quite plausible that this trend of trying to make peace continued through the next four years.”
It’s about as plausible as the USSR and the US continuing their alliance after World War 2, IMO. When the external threat disappears the entire reason for their military cooperation disappears, too. In this series 400 years into the future the European Union is still comprised of member states, yet four years are quite enough for an Earth federation with a single military command structure to be formed. OK…
And I never thought the Gundams had any realistic (yes, I know kittens die when one talks about realism on anime blog :)) chance to unite the world which is exactly why I am surprised this very thing happened even though the CBs are apparently for all intent and purposes gone.
“In this series 400 years into the future the European Union is still comprised of member states, yet four years are quite enough for an Earth federation with a single military command structure to be formed.”
it helps when you have a common enemy
I really loved this episode, the final parts after the time skip were really gripping. I’m starting to think wether this might start to develop into a prequal of an already established series like Wing or the original Mobile Suit Gundam, because its showing how the Earth managed to unite into a single army. So, maybe next season we’ll start to see some colonies being built, and some kind of goverment developing between them that goes against the earth forces.