Short Synopsis: Setsuna recruits a new and an old Celestial Being.
Highlights: Good to see some build-up for the new setting.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8/10
As for the shows I’m not blogging:
– Kannagi has excellent production-values, but at the same time the characters move like robots with weightless hair.
– To Aru Majutsu no Index… the freaking building was on fire, complete with fire alarm and sprinklers. Why the heck did nobody notice anything? Why was the building still in one piece?
– The sister in Kemeko Deluxe downright sucks. The second episode already shows that the inspiration (and budget) was running out. There are enough better comedies this season.
In any case, this series is quite refreshing after Code Geass and Macross Frontier of the past season. I like the 4-year time-skip a lot, and it has a lot of potential, but there still are a few questionable parts here and there. It’s great to see that Setsuna has grown up, but at the same time Saji is turning into the new Setsuna: the central immature character who questions everything and grows as the series continues. Ah well, at least he is just of the type that needs to calm down, but at the same time, I really don’t hope that he’s going to hijack a Gundam to kick Nena’s behind…
The different growth of the characters really differs from character to character: Soma didn’t change a bit, while Sumeragi lost all of her confidence in the past few years. Louise also surprised me that she turned into a soldier, but at the same time Tieria still feels pretty much the same as he did in the first season. I think a huge task of the first half of this season is going to be to establish the development for every single one of them, and make them feel more complete. Marina Ismael: what has she been doing for the past four years, really?
The OP and Ed are pretty much the same stuff. I really don’t get it: this series has a great soundtrack, which became even better with the second season, and yet it’s stuck with the OPs and EDs full of cheesy J-Rock. And to think that Gundam Wing had an such excellent OP. Ah well, at least the battles got some extra budget when compared to the first season, but I’d just wish that the creators would spend it on something other than flashy Solar Furnaces. The sparkles are nice and all, but they don’t really add anything.
Oh, and while it may seem that I’m criticizing a lot here, I actually really liked this episode. With a huge setting also come huge risks, and I appreciate this series to take a gamble and go with such a complex setting. It can fall apart very easily, but when it works, the results can turn out very interesting. And I guess that that’s the appeal of this series: it may make a few mistakes here and there, but it never forgets to remain solid and consistent. Really, the two mecha-epics this season promise to surpass the mecha-epics of previous season in every way, apart from perhaps Macross Frontier’s huge budget, but let’s not get too ahead of the facts.
Trully a nice epidose
Side question: Wich is the other mecha-epic?
Tytania? 😉
Granted, the mecha are spaceships there, but that’s also a form of mechas.
I personally really like the ED and think the OP is good (I like Ash Like Snow best). The imagery in the S2 ED certainly is very thought provoking.
It’s a good episode, so no complaints there either, but I’m wondering when they’ll stop to explain a few things.
The OST is good, but I’m absolutely fine with cheesy (if applicable) OP/ED music.
I’m still waiting for an understandable version of Tytania before giving it a try.
You’re the first person I’ve seen to call this episode 27. I don’t mind the cheesy pop songs since they’re good cheesy pop songs. Soma sorta changed. She’s not so uptight and frowny all the time any more.
I’m fine with J-rock songs though, especially with Uverworld, their songs are good enough and they always perform for the shows I like. Well, of all the gundams series , I prefer 00 theme songs the most anyway.
WoW Lockon has a brother that looks exactly like him.
NOW that is original….right?
well i perfer j-rock any given day over horrendous overly cute j-pop !@#$#, but he is right about tytinia and gundam, i am still mad at the twin crap they pull off though, they made as well put a clone deux it’s more beliveable since the coincidence that he knows how to do everything that his brother did and the same gundam is given is to much for me, common they didn’t even interacted with each other after they were separated, other than that i guess so far so good but it’s sunrise, deuxs are not far away its a matter of when >:/.
@tigerlily
not so much deus ex i suppose
http://randomc.animeblogger.net/image/Gundam%2000/Gundam%2000%20-%2009%20-%20Large%2002.jpg
The ‘twin deus ex’ you’re talking about has already been prepared since episode 9 of season 1. Hey, if you take a peek on the trailers, even some of 2nd episode montage has already been given for trailer view. That means they’re quite prepared alright
i know he existed but, i didn’t know they would go for the most painfully evident path, which make it worse they went fo the premaditaded deux,he could have being a mechanic, strategist, a computer ingenier, politician or even a woman, he could had contributed in some other way to the anime, it would have being more surprising to watch, but no the deux, he has to have the same habilities as his bro and on top of that he pilots the same gundam? did they even talk to each other, they went like, hey bro i am going to be a gundam pilot would you mind being my back up copy, he “may” have different personality, is to soon to said. but it would be refreshing to have seen a new pilot moreover making it a little more original, i just hoping they will adress this later on >:*.
I actually quite liked the ED. Not Chiaki Ishikawa’s best, but it had some interesting visuals to go along with it.
Now I really hope that this series can make use of the huge setting. *_*
huh? You say Kemeko Deluxe’s budget is going down and yet it had some of the best animation I have seen in this season so far.
Makes no sense…
Denizen: I referred to that fight scene where the creators spent a full minute on the shot of the lead character’s sister and mother, while they played all sorts of sound effects of what happened upstairs.
That was pretty much intentional – the rest of the episode looked fantastic in regards to bodily movements, distortions, walking, etc.
It had more fluent and dynamic animation than most other anime so far.
I know you’re not blogging this series, but give it some credit for maintaining such quality into its second episode. You only have to go and rewatch certain scenes to see the effort that went into them.
Contrary to what the US gouverment says, Buildings NO NOT COLLAPSE from fire.
Well it was an okay episode, I didn’t really like the fact Gundam 00 activated at precisely the last second FOR NO REASON
What do you mean ‘no reason’. It’s called a cliffhanger. Jeez.
Also, why bother comparing this one show to the next to the other and the next after it? Why make it a competition when it comes down to mecha? Actually, I don’t understand the need to pit one anime to the next really.
Probably the same reason people ‘ship’ competitively.
The OP is kinda growing on me.. same with the ED. The visuals help of course. There’s no ‘Ash like Snow’ but… there may be something for the next OP/ED.. never know.
It’s a really good episode, I’m quite surprised but I think I’m going to enjoy this second season much more than the first one ( well, I really liked the way characters were developped and the dramatic aspect of the war , it’s just that it was at a point when it’s become unbearable to watch and quite a mess )but that second season gives a really good impression, characters are always here , never forgotten, the action scenes take just the time necessary for an episode , and the war started over now that all the team is complete again! And Sumeragi’s back again , even if she doesn’t seem optimistic about the war, she doesn’t want to fight anymore cause she thinks it’s useless, since the world remained unchanged since the last fight( I liked her change). Oh and, the Opening and ending are both really good, they really fit the mood and all! I don’t know maybe there’s been a change in staff or something but I just hope it wouldn’t turn out to be disappointing, it’s a good start anyway. But why isn’t it subbed, it’s hard to understand all the plot in those typical mechas series and we can’t enjoy it at the most, it’s supposed to be famous, then why????I watched the first one without subs and it was hard enough , now the second has begun and still no subs!Even without it, I’m still going to watch it but to understand technical terms and aspects it would be better with subs.
At last the second season…I was a little concerned when they suddenly stopped the first one; I had thought they didn’t like to split up a series like this. I guess if it’s going to work with a show, Gundam is the show to try it on. Not so many surprises in this one for me…I think that the biggest one so far is that Louise ended up in a mobile suit before Saji did. I noticed Lockon’s brother early on too; still waiting for some explanations of how some of the other Celestial Being characters survived. I hope they at least begin to explain what the robots like Tieria are all about.
Re Windy: There are a couple groups which have subbed both episodes now. Shinsen-subs’ version is the only one I’ve seen in .avi though.
I didn’t know it has somewhere been subbed , thanks for letting me know.
I couldn’t find it subbed.
Windy: try Tokyo Toshokan
Thank you psgels!
I used to curse why season had to make their mechs more squarish like how they did in previous gundams. i also used to think that it’s stupid for 00 to have 2 GN-Drives, one on each side of the shoulder, making them easy targets. that had really made me missed Exia. but after seeing how 00’s capable of neutralizing beam fire simply by adjusting the output to a larger extent, i fell in love with it. unless you have weapons like funnels or dragoons, it’s impossible for any ONE suit to shoot 00 down.& man, that’s AWESOME!!!