First Impressions / Gundam AGE

「白い狼」 (Shiroi Ookami)
“The White Wolf”

For a “supposed” kid show, there sure is a lot of man-service in Gundam AGE. I must’ve missed the memo on how the latest Gundam is only for children. Oh wait, no I didn’t. Joking aside, I really don’t intend to bring up that debate again. I do however intend to look at Gundam AGE for what it is beyond the surface — both in a positive and negative light — such as how this week’s formal introduction to Woolf Enneacle (Ono Daisuke) had some irksome developments that didn’t sit so well with me.

As suggested by the preview last time, Woolf is at odds with Flit over the Gundam and rightfully so because the arrogant “White Wolf” ace pilot/womanizer pretty much does whatever the hell he wants. It didn’t bother me so much that Flit didn’t want to hand it over to him even when he’s not a soldier himself — mainly because he didn’t have any problems entrusting it to Largan in the first episode — but it did bug me when he got ahead of himself when the UE showed up. Yes, he’s the first person to ever destroy one of the UE Gafran mobile suits, but he’s also still a kid in the presence of an actual soldier, regardless of how much of a jerk Woolf may be. Seeing as the Gundam is the only thing that’s proven effective against the UE, I didn’t find anything wrong with Flit’s thinking though. I’m just finding it a little hard to accept how everything’s gone relatively smoothly for him when he too does whatever the hell he wants.

From a plot standpoint, it’s easy to chalk that up to establishing that Flit is destined to be the pilot of the Gundam, but I kind of want to see him falter a bit so that he gets a wake-up call. The perfect opportunity was during his skirmish with Woolf, where I was hoping to see him get absolutely creamed. Instead, he just concentrated after getting scolded by Vargas and was able to land some shots on an ace pilot, winning over the support of the crew even more. It’s a little too fairy tale-like to see him succeed simply by putting his mind to it. To help offset that, it wouldn’t hurt to see more people opposed to the idea of keeping children on board a warship and letting them take part in military operations. Thus far, the only one against letting Flit continue to pilot the Gundam is Emily and she shouldn’t even be there to begin with when the Diva could’ve easily dropped her and Dique off at the same time as Yurin. In short, I’d expect (and want to see) something similar to the talk that Daguza had with Banagher in Gundam Unicorn, even if Flit is willing to pilot the Gundam on his own accord.

As for some other observations, I don’t find that it lessens the value of the Gundam in any way when the weapons developed by the AGE Builder can be used by other mobile suits (in this case, Woolf’s Genoace Custom). After all, the “true power” of the Gundam has always been the learning ability of its AGE System, with the extra benefits being its thicker armor and (probably) faster mobility so that it doesn’t get destroyed so easily. As far as I’m aware, the goal of the AGE System has always been to further the Earth Federation’s technology so that it can fight on even terms with the UE — not to have the Gundam do it all itself. Incidentally, that intended use does seem to support the idea going around that the UE have come from the future to pressure mankind into advancing its technology in preparation for an actual threat that will show up almost a century from now. I threw out the idea of something similar in last episode, but I didn’t really expect that things may actually be headed that way. The UE’s cloaking field is unprecedented a rarity in the Gundam franchise, so it definitely seems probable.

* Given Woolf’s whimsical personality, Flit should probably just have the Gundam painted black. I bet he wouldn’t want it then.
* Poor Emily is lowering her chances of becoming Flit’s future wife when it falls on her to try and get him to stop piloting the Gundam.
* Full-length images: 01, 12, 34.

 

Preview

Omake

72 Comments

      1. you didn’t think the pilots in other gundams were under aged? amuro was 15, setsuna was 16, uso was 13 which is even younger than flit and V Gundam was the bloodiest of the kill em all gundams. you really need to grow up yourself if you think teenagers are “adults.”

        every episode just proves that whole “kiddie” gundam theory wrong time and time again. you should stop with it, it’s getting pretty…old.

        RickyMack
        Reply

      3. I think it has something to do with the art design of the series which are designed to attract younger audiences, but that’s not the point, almost every Gundam hero started in a young age of 15-16 (some younger some a bit older), so a Gundam hero that looks extremely young for his age should be no big deal at all.

        Ghostalker
        Reply

      4. you’re missing my point Jack. 15, 16, and even 17 year olds don’t look like adults typically. maybe it’s cause i’m in my mid 20s but i go to the local high school to teach mock trial and the students look like middle schoolers to me.

        RickyMack
        Reply

  7. Well, I sure hope those kiddies like the bath scene with a naked man because I didn’t.

    This to me is the weakest episode so far. The whole paintball match felt really superfluous. The highlight to me of course is the appearance of UE again and their giant battleship. The UE are apparently able to scrape off paint on the face, WITH A BEAM SABER. That was awesome.

    Woolf is ok at least. Kind of a jackass, but apparently quite responsible in the field of battle. He certainly gives off mentor vibes, so I’m going to put a large death flag on his head. Also he was able to out-stupid Flit’s hair somehow. Didn’t think that was possible.

    fragb85
    Reply

  8. If I’m getting this right, a producer confirmed that they are recruiting a new generation of Gundam fans though, lol.
    (Interesting that someone said that today’s elementary school children prefer Danball Senki over Gundam AGE though. I find AGE’s plot more kid friendly.)

    And then there’s Hino’s comment that the real thing starts from episode 5…

    I want to touch the captain’s beard. I want to touch his beautiful beard.

    Kiseki
    Reply

    1. There’s no doubt that AGE is intended to appeal to kids, but I don’t think they’re the only intended audience. The producers have a pretty good point that Gundam’s recognition among kids is next to nil these days, which doesn’t bode well for the franchise ten years from now. The current fans complaining about AGE will get older and lose interest (and eventually die) and there will be no younger generation of fans to take over.

      Macross is probably going to suffer from such a fate too if nothing’s done about it.

      Divine
      Reply

    2. It’s not hard to see where Namco Bandai is coming from. The toys from the Gundam franchise haven’t been selling well for quite some time. Revenue from Gundam fell another 10% last year following a whopping 15% decline in ’09 and it’s now only half of what Kamen Rider generates. The spending power clearly lies with the Gen-Zs and that’s who they’ll be pushing the franchise towards.

      Seishun Otoko
      Reply

  10. So, now Age take a page of Wing Commander IV (first mission: simulated combat of Blair and Maniac that turns a full fledged combat against pirates) and adds the long lost son of one Bernard Monsha to the cast. Woolf must be asking himself “WTF am I doing in this series”.
    How much untill the Age Builder starts making parts to ensemble Mobile Suits a-la Plamo?
    As for the cloaking device being something “new” to Gundam, SEED’s Mirage Colloid have a few words with you.

    SeedStriker
    Reply

  11. @Divine: 2 things I think you might be wrong. Think it was not the cloaking field that made wolf notice something was amiss, I think it was a shadow. A huge Shadow of a mother ship blocking a “sun/star”.
    Secondly, I doubt the Gundam is really faster. In 2 occasions Wolf managed to overtake and grab/push Flit when Flit was charging at the enemy. And I think one time flit was nearer the enemy than Wolf was. Meaning Wolf must have a faster mech.

    I still have suspicions on the captain due to the OP scene and that he seems to know how the UE works.
    Next ep looks like some kid is gonna mech-nap the gunDam. Gundam seems to not be programmed to be Flit’s personal use only

    deafvader
    Reply

  12. Flit held the knife and he wouldn’t want to let it go.

    I agree though that Flit needs to experience some shit to realize that his Gundam is not entirely godlike like everybody claims it to be. Wolf didn’t do that though with his attitude, he is going to make Flit into a man.

    Or dare I say it, Wolf is Kamina to Flit’s Simon.

    sadakups
    Reply

  14. My my. It seems like my favorite boss fight in Ace Combat X, The Gleipnir, has appeared. This episode had great tension. when the UE looked up, I actually screamed. “White Wolf” definitely reminds me of Star Wolf.

    Richfeet
    Reply

  16. Why not pump out DoDs lasers en masse? Seems kinda silly if anyone can use the equipment otherwise.

    I liked AGE but I definitely disliked the so obvious situations in this episode. I knew Woolf would want the mobile suit for himself, I knew UE would pop out in the middle of nowhere for no reason whatsoever, etc etc. They should try a little harder to be less stereotypical.

    Kaus
    Reply

  17. Nothing really makes that much sense. Perfect for kids who will accept anything. You have this little kid who wasn’t even supposed to pilot he just designed this gundam thing and somewhere no one knows where he decides he wants to pilot now.

    Simply concentrating means your shots will land. You have them fighting with paintguns that blow asteroids to smithereens (lets remember friendly fire beam weapons don’t hurt colonies). A bunch of UE show up but for some reason they ignore their fellow UE scout unit that is getting paintballed…wtf is the purpose of a scout unit in the first place. And then their mothership just freaking cloaks for no reason except to show them it’s secret weapon and let them know who has the technology for UE.

    And like someone said if you have a magical pot that can pump out weapons how do you run out of ammo? Just make a dozen for each pilot. It was kind of interesting before how the captains had to handle kids with all their issues, but this is just a plain kindergarten going on here and no one is questioning bringing children to war? I am not sure what happened to the colony people but I cant really understand how they weren’t sent back to their parents. I can understand why they can’t kill UE when their military is so lax a single person can hijack a state of the art battleship and pretend he has the authority to command it.

    Fate of the world rests on a little kid. o lordy Im going to guess that its some maniac gazillionaire who wants to conquer the world with AI UE, so no good people have to die in making of this gundam.

    Shin
    Reply

    1. Errr actually pretty much everything you said makes complete sense. He decided he wanted to pilot the Gundam cause he wanted to protect the colony and he was the only that knew how it worked so Bruzar allowed it, he’s been getting steadily better and better at aiming with each passing episode such that he has developed some ability to land shots and was underestimated by Woolf who was just hotdogging it and not paying attention when Flit decided to get a little more serious.

      As for the paintgun that blew apart the asteroid, that was actually the Dodds rifle. He clearly switches guns in order to fight the UE so unless you suddenly stopped paying attention I don’t know how you could mistake that it’s a totally different weapon.

      Also you need actual combat data and time to make more of these weapons and it’s not quite clear if their are other restrictions like raw materials and what not AND there’s only like 2-3 mobile suits even on the ship right now so mass-producing weapons is kind of out of the question.

      As for the colony people, the Federation came and picked up the colony core and brought it to another colony (forget the name off the top of my head) for the civilians to be transferred to for now. As for the Earth Federation, yeah they’re barely getting their act together right now, which is typical for a Gundam series. The Earth Federation in all it’s bureaucracy is always slow to respond to a crisis and it’s up to a few good men usually to keep shit from completely hitting the fan.

      It’s a good thing that this show isn’t nearly as far-fetched as some people are making it out to be. At least no more far-fetched than your average anime. There’s a definite internal consistency to this show as of now and thus I fail to see a problem with it’s “realism” levels.

      Kaioshin Sama
      Reply

    2. You misunderstood the cloaking… It’s not a “cloak only the object it’s on” deal, it’s a “cloak everything surrounding it” deal. It should have been abundantly clear when AGE ‘fell’ into the field while chasing the UE. For the end of the episode, it didn’t cloak while moving away. Flit and Woolf were both stationary while the UE mothership was moving away, so just like before when they fell in, now they were falling out of the field. That’s why the points farthest away from them disappeared first.

      Koji
      Reply

  19. In terms of MS cloaking, how is everyone forgetting the Deathscythe Hell? Or Exia in 00? lol

    And Emily is definitely ruining her chances from a viewer standpoint. Simply being worried is one thing like Fraw Bow was with Amuro in Mobile Suit Gundam and whatnot (if anything, it was the opposite there; Amuro not wanting to pilot, but Fraw Bow constantly trying to GET HIM to pilot, lol), but Emily is the female side character that I recall that has gone so far as to try to outright sabotage Flit’s piloting of the Gundam by volunteering him for the mock battle, hoping and a even confident that he’d lose and end up having to give up the Gundam. Not to mention how upset she was each time he was doing well and such.

    HalfDemonInuyasha
    Reply

    1. Um, it was late, so I just tacked on that comment without thinking it through. I’ve already amended it.

      As for Emily, that’s exactly what I was getting at. She’s not winning over viewers by sabotaging Flit’s attempts to be a Gundam pilot, especially not when Yurin’s been portrayed as a much more supportive wife. 🙂

      Divine
      Reply

      1. Aye, Yurin is very adorable and perfect wife material.

        Show Spoiler ▼

        This week is a rather painful reminder of Yurin’s absence, and I do hope the DF prediction from last week doesn’t come true…

        Bladewind
        Reply

  20. Right now, I *really* dislike Woolf. Not just because he’s coming off as the show’s resident arrogant bastard (though his apparent grudging respect of Flit by the end mitigates that slightly), but militarily, he’s an idiot. Wake up on a ship with none of the regular crew on board… and barges into the lounge to demand to be told what’s going on? I know the writers wouldn’t do it, but it’d make more sense to go into MGS mode and get to his unit in the hangar. Also, it would have been better if he had really just curbstomped Flit, especially since it’s “newbie pilot Vs legendary EFF pilot” right now.

    Emily… god, that was awful. Flit’s entire life up to this point was finishing the Gundam to go up against the UE… and him talking about “duty” is enough to make her worry about him sounding too much like a soldier? Not to mention that she thinks that taking his life’s work away from him is a good solution.

    Dique is an idiot. If he’s so damn worried about his parents and everyone, he should have transferred over to the colony core when he had the chance.

    And the UE. Scouting unit finds EFF mobile suits, engages, gets blinded… and doesn’t signal its huge mothership for backup? When Flit retreats, they don’t send a couple units after what should already be a priority target (or, maybe they’ve already figured out that they can’t hurt it and are letting it go)?

    Shiden
    Reply

  21. Emily is going down the Fllay route of annoyance.. also there’s far from enough evidence to even hint that the UE are from the future imo.. the cloak tech is at best ONE bread crumb with no more in sight. Not that i’m opposed to the overall idea of it being a possible plot route.. but there’s far too little to even consider it at the moment i feel.

    Rei
    Reply

  23. “it wouldn’t hurt to see more people opposed to the idea of keeping children on board a warship and letting them take part in military operations.”

    They don’t have a choice. I mean, what are they gonna do? Drop the kids in the space?

    And Flit is the most experienced pilot there if you’re talking about real combat situations. Even that Wolf guy is a noob when compared to Flit (he only has experience fighting in some silly random championship). And Flit may not be a solider, but he’s been around this military thing since beginning, because he was the responsible for the creation of the Gundam.

    One more thing: he’s not a little kid. He’s as old as the pilots from Gundam Seed, Gundam 00, Wing, etc who were teenagers. He looks that way because of the character design (everybody looks younger in this show).

    So, yeah, letting Flit be the pilot is a reasonable decision.

    André
    Reply

    1. They may not have a choice, but the military personnel could show that they’re not entirely okay with having Flit fight for them when he’s not a soldier. In SEED, Kira went through a stage where he didn’t want to fight and Lacus helped him get away from it. Gundam 00 and Wing are different, as the characters there were planning to fight themselves.

      Divine
      Reply

    2. Flit is the second youngest Gundam protagonist. The only one younger was Uso, in Victory Gundam, so you are very mistaken when you say that he’s as old as most of the others. Second, the kids could easily been moved to the colony core along with Yuirin.
      Third, if you go back to the first episode, Flit tries to give the Gundam to Largan, so it’s not like he’s completely adverse to letting a better pilot use it. He’s just slipped into the usual “I’ve used it, so I have to fight now” mindset.
      Fourth, Woolf is supposedly one of the best pilots in the EFF. The number of times he’s been in battle with the UE is kind of irrelevant in that discussion. Someone who’s piloted twice, versus the guy who ran rings around everyone he’s fought before, and it’s an even match? No way.

      Shiden
      Reply

  24. I’m liking AGE, but anyone that has watched Wing, Seed or 00 should understand that the tone of the show is a lot lighter. There’s no need to deny this every episode review, just accept and move on.

    Gup
    Reply

  28. As far as rare goes, In Gundam 00 They all had it. All the Gundams had a cloaking field as the the ship. Then didn’t deploy it in combat but they still had it. Remember Setsuna hid the Exia Gundam near a cliff with the invisibility active.

    Lord_Rahl
    Reply

  29. bad season for sunrise, the only live safer just horaizon

    AGE and phi brain down to the bottom amazon bd/dvd rank
    thanks AGE you put gundam back to its position ,mediocre like v,g,x and turn a

    gon
    Reply

  30. Hey guy, what if after scanning the gundam, UE make their own mobile suit based off it?
    Then the Age Builder would copy their mobile suit data, and upgrade Age surpass it.

    This keeps escalating until Turn A and Turn X are made.

    derp...
    Reply

  31. Future combat AIs, meant as artificial technological evolutionary pressure. Interesting…I hope you’re right, Divine- because a “time paradox” premise played that way is quite the rarity; very innovative indeed…

    Zen
    Reply

  32. I don’t see how Flit is becoming soldier-like, lol.

    I like how Genoace Custom promptly launch instead of how AGE-1 need to plug the gauging gimmick before launching, lol 😛
    (Ya, maybe they just cut it short for Genoace Custom)

    Grodek knows the true identity of the UE?
    Is there a monopoly on stealth cloak tech by some colony?
    Don’t think Grodek will say anything anytime soon, being that mysterious cool guy.

    Wonder whats so special about that Fardain kid, a ‘Newtype’ as well?

    iron2000
    Reply

  33. White Wolf didn’t do too bad. He’s no top ace but surviving when outgunned and outnumbered with obselete tech is pretty good.

    The UE mothership looks interesting. It looks like a potential collectable model.

    They should simly make another gundam or place the AGE data collection components on the Genoace then run the numbers. This will allow the “evolution” of the mecha to the limit of the AGE system, probably in a few months

    Zaku Fan
    Reply

    1. As with most Gundams (the actual mobile suit), it’s probably safe to assume that both it and AGE System are prototypes that can’t be easily mass produced in their current form. They probably aren’t equipped to do so on board the Diva either. One might say this is a convenient plot device, but it’s always been the case in the franchise. There’s a reason why everyone wasn’t piloting a Gundam.

      Divine
      Reply

  34. I like your plot guess, Divine. Would give the 3 generations of fighting so much more plot depth.

    Also, a few episodes in, I can’t really just sit back and wait for “more” development.

    I can understand the show appealing to younger audiences and trying to build a lasting fanbase, but with something like Gundam which has already established itself within a certain generation, it’ll be no easy task.

    So far Gundam AGE has followed the basic Gundam formula. Kid meets Gundam, pilots Gundam, destroys enemy, goes on a sudden journey.

    However, AGE has me worried starting from episode 1. When Flit fought the one UE suit, it just didn’t feel clutch at all. As I watched the scene unfold, I got a nostalgic feeling from SEED episode 1, from someone trying to initially pilot it (SEED Ramius, AGE Largan), to that same pilot getting injured, a “civilian” taking over, staring in awe and confusion in the cockpit, doing a little OS job, starting off clumsy and finally finishing off the opponent with the dagger.

    However it all felt SLOW! And no, as a disclaimer, I’m not supporting SEED as the archetype for Gundam, but AGE…I could compare it to how the One Piece anime adapts. Whenever I see an episode of One Piece, all the dialogue feels slow. It doesn’t feel like the characters talk at a natural pace. Same deal with Gundam AGE. It doesn’t feel like the action or the plot happens at a natural pace.

    So even though the formula could be perfect, the execution may be a little flawed, and that’s my biggest concern for this Gundam series.

    Gundam’s formula is actually really easy, but it’s the cream on top (READ: war angst, reality checks, clutch battles and appearances, MUSIC, SUPREME UNSOLVEABLE CONFLICTS SOMEHOW GETTING SOLVED THROUGH AMAZINGNESS) that really put a Gundam show over the top for me.

    Without those elements, it’s just paper metal fighting scrap metal.

    [/rant]

    On the bright side, did I mention I’d love to see Divine’s plot prediction unfold :)?

    Jello
    Reply

    1. Thanks, but I really can’t take all the credit for that idea.

      Last episode, I suspected that the UE may be purposely pressuring mankind to further their weapons development since they passed on an opportunity to destroy the Diva, but after I wrote that post, I heard about the rumor going around from a supposed leak that says the UE came from the future to do just that. (Hence why I’m starting to see it as a real possibility.)

      Divine
      Reply

      1. If the time-hop plot is true, I wonder if there is anyone else from the future?
        Grodek?

        If time-hop is possible, it would be possible to end Flit timeline with a UE last boss and his son and grandson time-hopping in to help defeat it to change the future or something (then cut to Asem timeline to lead up to meeting his son who time-hopped to get him, then cut to Kio’s timeline leading up to access to time travel, then back to ending at Flit’s time).
        Maybe someone from the future changed the UE programming to change the future.

        Ok, its starting to look like ‘Back to the Future’ 😛

        iron2000
        Reply

  35. People people… Everyone should know by now that its not how a gundam series begins but how it ends. So rather then complaining like we do every series of gundam during episodes 1 through 7-10. Let us simply sit back as fan brothers and sisters and relish the ‘possibility’ of it getting much… much…. much much MUCH better in the episodes and seasons to come.

    WigZeroZXT
    Reply

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