Short Synopsis: Celestial Being and Kataron both try to destroy Memento Mori.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8/10 (Excellent)
I must say, that even though it was a pretty straightforward episode, it nonetheless was the perfect closure for the third quarter of Gundam 00, and definitely the best episode of the second season so far. At this pace, it’s going to easily surpass the first season. It’s also good to see that the white -haired commander is gone now.
This article is a pretty interesting one, and it shows that anime staff do check the opinions on the net. Unfortunately, on the wrong places such as 2channel… It also confirms a suspicion I’ve had for some time now: the producers indeed were quite limited in coming up with the storyline for this series. I really think that the “Mr. Bushido”-part was thought up by some crazy Sunrise executive who apart from that wasn’t that involved with this series, which is only confirmed by the guy’s glaring absence in any action so far. My biggest problem with Sunrise is with their top executives, who try way too much to make their series sell, rather than the actual production staff. Especially Mizushima did a great job of dragging Gundam back from the pit where Gundam Seed Destiny left it.
The question is of course where this series is going to go after this. Memento Mori is destroyed now, but I doubt that the innovators are going to give up that easily. The huge space fortress is also still missing, so I wonder when that one’s going to show up, although right now I haven’t seen any indication or hint as to how and why the thing will have to be built.
One thing that annoys me though is that these innovators refuse to die after being pwned by Setsuna. They always manage to escape in some sort of escape capsule, even though most other unimportant soldiers simply die when they’re shot. I guess that that’s the privilege of having your own custom built machine, but it remains a bit jarring.
Not custom built machine… it’s the privilege of having a plot flag enabled. Doesn’t make it any less annoying, of course.
Glad to see someone else realizes that there’s a huge difference between the Sunrise staff that is on the floor of the studio doing the grunt and organizational work and the Sunrise execs up in their offices that are mostly concerned with pleasing Bandai and fulfilling their contracts with the media juggernaut(s).
I have to say I agree whole heartedly with your sentiment regarding Mishizuma. After GSD I thought Fukuda had done the impossible and managed to kill the Gundam franchise. Between the end of that and and the beginning of G00 I didn’t know what to think, I thought that the good times were over and that we may actually never see another Gundam let alone one that could hold itself together for a full 50 episodes. That was what GSD left me with as a Gundam fan.
Then the announcement for G00 came in 2007 and I was excited at the prospect of a new Gundam, but also worried at the same time because I knew that even with a director like Mishizuma at the helm he and his team would be faced the seemingly insurmountable task of both re-establishing the credibility of the Gundam franchise as something more then a toy commercial that played to every whim of the fans, and making a show that would keep the executives satisfied. He has to do all of that with the show just to break even as a director (It’s like how Obama is going to have to repair all the damage that Bush did to the office of the President just to break even by the time he leaves office in 2012 or 2016) and for the franchise to break even before G00 could even worry about making itself into a solid show. So when he says it’s a stressful job and that morale is low I believe him.
I think he’s done the best job that he can though, and that even if Gundam 00 isn’t the greatest thing we’ve ever seen come out of the Gundam franchise and probably won’t be held in high regard like some of the past entries such as Zeta or Turn A, that it has worked to repair much of the damage that GSD did to the Gundam brand names reputation. Perhaps not all of it, but there’s always the next series to hopefully continue the uphill swing.
@Bane: Er….actually it is because the Gadessa’s have a built in escape pod. You’re free to call it a plot flag of course, but I think they have it pretty much covered here as to how they survived. It’s not like they’re pulling a Mwu La Flaga and having them survive having their entire machine disintegrated and it’s not like it can last forever before their luck eventually runs out and they either fail to escape or have their pods shredded after they try to.
I just think it is a big mistake for Sunrise to make more Gundam sequels.
Turn A was the end……….
Have you watched the Gundam 00 13.5 New Year Special yet?
A very interesting spoiler was revealed there…
According to the director, “Orbital Elevator will fall” as it was stated in the raw…
Now whether that means all 3 pillars would go or only one…
I have no idea and am really looking forward to the rest of the season! 🙂