Short Synopsis: The Ptolemy is tracked down and the innovators again continue their attack, while Setsuna is away and injured.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 7,5/10 (Good)
Haha! Finally the thing that I’ve been anticipating the most in this series happened: the coup d’etat. Now the fun is really going to start. Let’s see whether that was something that the innovators took into account. My guess is that they too never saw it coming, otherwise they wouldn’t be unleashing an attack at the last possible minute. This coup is definitely going to take care of the one-sidedness of the politics so far in the second season so far (with A-Laws being the equivalent of an evil empire and all).
I’m also glad that in this episode, Saji and Louise finally knew their place: simply as side characters. The battle in this episode put them against each other again, but instead of completely claiming all of the focus their scenes were short and to the point. That’s definitely making their appearance a whole lot more bearable.
The big focus of this episode instead was on Setsuna and Marina, who got to spend some quality time together. Let’s hope that this is going to inspire her to actually DO something relevant to the plot (in fact, it’s going to be interesting to see how Kataron is going to evolve after the coup).
And it has also finally happened: Celestial Beings aren’t the only ones with a Trans-am anymore, and I can already see the system being mass produced before the end of the series, degrading Lockon and Allelujah’s mobile suits to your average custom suits. Tieria’s special powers also have been pretty much useless throughout the series, so the only advantage that the celestial beings have right now is 00-Riser’s mysterious communication powers. Unlike the first season, there’s really not much room anymore for the creators to give any upgrades to the Gundams, so right now it’s going to be a matter of seeing how long they can survive.
Unlike certain other Sunrise series, this show has already shown that this is a series where people die when they’re killed, so the corpses should start falling pretty soon. After all, Gundam 00 has been a show with many references to past Gundam series (and at the same time it managed to keep its own identity, unlike Gundam Seed which if I understood correctly simply completely copied the UC timeline), so I doubt that the creators aren’t going to ignore Tomino’s “nickname”.
“people die when they’re killed”
I love that.
I think it’s great that they gave more details Marina. I like how humble her story is. It makes sense that she doesn’t do anything because she never had a real motivation in the first place and she knows it.
A nice episode, to be sure, but I’m still not very happy about last time and how certain fights generally keep getting interrupted when they are getting good. Things better improve on that front too, although I’m not complaing about the political developments per se.
“Unlike certain other Sunrise series, this show has already shown that this is a series where people die when they’re killed”
Oh, has it really?
This series is less melodramatic about it…but there are enough instances of people who should ostensibly have died somehow surviving or “escaping at the last minute”. Does the first season’s ending ring any bells?
If you’re going to bring the “but they didn’t conclusively show their deaths” or “there’s a possible explanation if you carefully analyze the episode”, then at least apply that standard across the board. Which won’t happen, but hey, at least I mentioned it.
I honestly give Gundam 00 a lot of points for being more subtle and effective, but not for being above the concept itself. That’s just…rose-colored glasses, perhaps? I don’t know.
Also, I don’t get the obssession with high kill counts as some magical sign of quality. Letting the dead stay dead is one thing, alright, but even Tomino faked a few deaths from time to time.
And for me, the best Tomino series were usually the ones with relatively small or at best moderate death tolls. Turn A Gundam is a good modern example and, from what I’ve heard, so is Overman King Gainer.
Definitely not Ideon nor Victory and Zeta Gundam. Saying this about about Zeta is a heresy for some, but c’mon…you’d think that series was made of pure gold, after all the hype I’d heard for over a decade. It has great moments and was very influential but…not really golden. The original Gundam was a stronger work and killed off less people in the process too.
Yeah Marina is going to do something, and that is to put together her debut album. At best Marina will become the next Lacus Clyne, although she doesn’t seem have Lacus’ willingness to actually step into the fight herself in order to achieve peace.
It looks like Neil is turning into Obi-wan Kenobi. I can see it now: Neil will probably show up as an apparition in the final showdown to tell Setsuna to use “the Force”.
“(and at the same time it managed to keep its own identity, unlike Gundam Seed which if I understood correctly simply completely copied the UC timeline)”
No you misunderstood completely, it followed the general guideline of the first series for a few arcs before breaking out into it’s own. Funnily enough the episodes after they stop following the guidelines from MSG are much better than the previous ones…
I dunno if you had been reading the comments…
but i had once left one about the Gundam 00 ep 13.5 New Year Special where the Director had revealed that a Orbital Elevator will fall…
Looks like we know which one is it now… XD
Echoing Camario, but no, people still don’t die when they’re killed. lol @ season one ending plz.
Still, I really liked this episode for a lot of the reasons you mentioned, namely Saji/Louise’s lack of screentime, the coup d’etat, and the fact that Marie/Soma almost got some action. I’m also starting to like Setsuna a lot more as a character; oddly enough, that flashback/dream really worked to drive in a lot of the themes of the series and didn’t feel like a cop-out piece of exposition.
I think for the first time this season, I’m actually pretty excited for the next episode~!
While it is much more likely than not I’m wondering about the Trans-Am situation. I mean if you give the A-LAWS that in full then CB will be done the next fight. Only thing that has been keeping that group ahead is some nice abilities on certain Gundams and Trans-Am.
You take the second part away and add new models from the other side and it’s a one sided situation. But can’t imagine them pulling another secret for the Gundams that could turn it back to their favour even slightly.
I just loved this ep and the song Marina was singing in this and the previous ep ( heartbreaking ), she composed it out of the children’s wishes, it’s wonderful, I loved this concept! I love the second season of gundam OO more and more every week, this season is the best! And they speak more about the characters’ past which is a good thing, and yes it’s perfect that Marina mentioned her past and the fact she grew up in a normal family but because of her background was chosen to become the princess of Azadistan and that she loved music. But, she is a good princess, she thinks more about her people than about herself, she’s a character I really like!