Short Synopsis: Setsuna and Saji rush in to stop Memento Mori II (oh, and this post has semi-spoilers for the endings of Gundam Wing and Zeta Gundam, for those who haven’t seen them yet)
Episode Rating: 8/10 (Excellent)
Oh boy, this episode pretty much ranks among the best that Gundam 00 has shown so far. Even if the final parts become horrible (see below), this was a worthy mid-climax. Not only did the orbital elevator indeed fall, the results of it were what made it awesome. It’s already established that pretty much most of the parties apart from the Innovators and the A-Laws top executives aren’t pure evil, so in the end it was great to see everyone preventing the huge amount of rubble that fell from destroying an entire city. It was well built up, with some great results.
It’s a shame that 00 Raiser yet again pulled a power from out of thin air (the incredibly long light saber; this really has to stop somewhere, right?), but ah well. It’s also a shame that Sergei and Hercule died so sudden, but their deaths were memorable. It’s also good to see that Saji for once didn’t whine.
This is also the first time this series has truly impressed me with its eye candy. For the most part, I don’t really care about the graphics of this series, since they’re nowhere near as interesting many different sorts of anime, but I do have to say that those long-distance shots of the orbital elevator in this episode looked really sweet.
Having said that, though, having watched Zeta Gundam recently has made me a bit wary of its confusion. Especially since this series uses lots of references to past Gundam series. The last thing I’d want in this series is a killing frenzy which sends half the cast into emo-mode for the final bunch of episodes. I’d much rather have the final part of this series refer to the finale of Gundam wing, with the huge-ass battleship. Gundam Wing may have done a lot of things wrong, but the finale was pretty good, and at least none of the characters became emo in its final parts. At this point, we’ve seen foreshadowing for both possibilities: on one hand the damage that the elevator caused in this episode is only a fraction of what would happen if a full-sized huge battleship would crash down on earth, while on the other hand Sergei’s death has set Marie in a huge rage for revenge, and remember that Saji and Louise have yet to settle their differences.
The last couple of episodes established that the oo-Raiser (in Trans-Am) can do anything. Don’t be surprised if the next time it can shoot tracking rounds or even turn back time!!!
The wreckage shooting was fun to watch, but it was Sergei’s death that gave this episode substance. I hope Marie will own Andrei’s ass after what happened.
I have a feeling that SOMETHING is going to try to crash into earth by the end of the show. I won’t say anything since you haven’t seen CCA yet, but with all of the UC Gundam references being thrown around, it’s inevitable.
UC Gundam? Sorry, but I disagree. This show borrows a LOT more from Wing Gundam.
And it looks like Aeolia’s original plan could be more sinister than intended, or the masterminds (Innovators) have twisted the ideal and wants to cause a lot of mayhem. Basically, it’s Wing all over again.
They don’t really have some gigantic space colony to drop, nor are there any special Newtypes. This is basically nothing like the UC shows.
Something already tried to crash into the earth – that was the elevator this episode. I don’t foresee anything else dropping in the near future.
Shippoyasha, the innovators ARE more or less newtypes of a sort. They’re the next step of evolution from humans, according to the show so far.
Somehow, i get the feeling that the fall of the orbital elevator was what the “break the world” event back in SEED Destiny was ‘meant’ to be
i was hoping Sergei wouldnt die. he was one of the few respectable people in the federation