「ミンスリーの再会」 (Minsurii no Saikai)
“Reunion at Minsry”

If Emily is still in the running to be Flit’s future wife, the prospect doesn’t look good with this “calm before the storm” episode where Flit spends two weeks frolicking around in the woods with Yurin. The possibility is definitely still there, with the most probable scenario being the sudden death of Yurin after all the Gundam-esque butterfly and bluebird symbolism — complete with an insert song by KOKIA — but I will be somewhat surprised if the writers decide to go that route. The series is on break during the Christmas week and the start of Asem’s arc is confirmed for January, leaving only a handful of episodes (at best) to play up Emily as a the supportive childhood friend who’s always been there for Flit. She’s also up against some stiff competition in Yurin, whom we learn here shares the same painful loss of her parents that Flit does, so in terms of commonality, Yurin does seem like the more likely choice.

The only thing that’s stopping me from jumping on the “Yurin ship” completely is the franchise’s tendency to build up the a romantic interest and then have the protagonist go through the painful loss of her to further develop his character. More often than not, the protagonist in question would then confide in the other girl who’s always cared about him and eventually develop an interest in her. The prospect of that happening here is intriguing of course, as it would single-handedly take the series in a darker and much more serious direction in the next arc, plus provide fans with some “ammo” to fire back at all the naysayers with. If Gundam AGE is truly intended to reintroduce the franchise to younger audiences, I wouldn’t put it past the producers to emphasize one of the main themes, but in the back of my mind, I’m kind of questioning if they’re “ballsy” enough to do it. They did kill off Boyage and used his death to further the story here with Alzack Birmings (Nishmura Tomomichi), so I’m kind of looking to be proven wrong. Either way, the upcoming episodes will be fun to watch when I’ll be constantly wondering, “Will they kill off Yurin?”

The possibility of that happening is compounded by the fact that Yurin possesses Newtype-like abilities and that Desil has set his sights on her, though it’s anyone’s guess as to whether he’ll brainwash her and throw her into a UE mobile suit that Flit will be forced to shoot down — a scenario that’s all too familiar to anyone who’s seen a Gundam series. For now, I’m just hoping that Yurin does survive since I’d love to see her continued involvement in the story (and a grown-up version of her character). In comparison, I’m more indifferent toward the other love triangle developing between Woolf, Largan, and Millais, simply because I don’t see it having nearly as much of an impact on the story as Flit, Emily, and Yurin’s. In all likelihood, Woolf will come out on top of that one, given all the signs from the previous episode and this current one. It does however add an interesting spin on the upcoming operation to capture the UE stronghold, Ambat, now that Diva’s pilots have been tasked to defend the warships against insurmountable odds. Will we see Largan take a page out of Mu La Flaga’s heroics in Gundam SEED and risk his life to defend Millais on board the Diva? I’d say it’s a possibility, and infinitely more interesting than seeing the E.F.F.’s Stoller Guavaran (Kusunoki Taiten) as the new poster boy of Gundam AGE and interfering with their mission.

* Once again, we see some ridiculous delivery speeds with Flit’s Gundam. It’s an AGE Device, not a teleporter!
* Full-length images: 02, 11, 12, 21, 23, 24, 26, 27.

 

INS: 「Memorial days」 by KOKIA
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Preview

Omake

55 Comments

  1. Yurin made me Dawwwwwww a lot this episode. I’m really wondering who I would support to be Flit’s wife. The first girl or the more canonly likely one.

    One thing that made me laugh this episode was the federation inspector’s infinitely regeneration 3 musketeer’s bar.

    Suppa Tenko
      1. that weren’t really childhood friends though. she was the hot exchange student in high school that wanted to try some dragon rolls. only in anime does a hot chick approach the goofy loner nerd.

        RickyMack
      1. Speaking of which, what’s to stop Flit’s kid from dyeing his hair? I’ve seen this reasoning thrown around enough not just in Gundam but also other anime.

        Of course, as already mentioned somewhere in the comments, there’s still the ED that more or less pins down who’s going to be with who…

        Mieu
    1. Well all we know about Asem is that he has blonde hair. This could be like Amuro and Fraw of UC Gundam timeline. Fraw was married to Hayato Kobayashi even though it looked like Fraw was Amuro’s love interest if you just skimmed through the very early episodes.

      In short, what I want to speculate is that Dique will be Emily’s future husband. (Please don’t stone me to death :X)

      Quervo
    2. Not to mention that the OP shows more passive/fleeting and even sad-looking images of Yurin, like her face in Flit’s visor when it shuts, like a sad memory or something…

      HalfDemonInuyasha
  2. I’m learning a lot as I blog this show, and apparently most of the veterans are not only convinced Emily wins, but believe Yurin has more death flags than Sayaka from Madoka Magica. For me, I just can’t remember such a one-sided contest – Yurin has it over Emily in every way. Better looking, more likeable, more mysterious, better backstory… She’s the best character in the show AFAIK.

    But hey, I know less about Gundam than most anyone does, so my opinion doesn’t count for squat…

    1. I agree, Yurin is death-flagged to the Nth degree… I still consider her ribbon to be the galaxy-sized death flag, especially when she didn’t take it back. It would be a different story if she lets Flit put it back on her, for example. I would love for Divine’s wish to come true, but this is pretty much a Yurin’s tribute episode.

      @Divine: Brainwashing sounds a little overkill.
      While Yurin did say she lost her brother to the UE… but what if that is actually Desil?

      Bladewind
  3. Watching this episode made my heart ache with happiness and sorrowness on the same time. At least my favourite character is back with super lovely dovely time with Flit. But on the same time, this is quite a death flag for Yurin.

    Doggiebiz
  4. Yurin is too perfect a girl for Flit. It doesn’t help that a lot of people are already comparing her to Lalah. There’s absolutely no way she can survive this arc. My only hope is that the writers have enough balls to actually surprise me and keep her alive.

    Yurin aside, Grodek let slip that the Feds seem to know what the UE are. So that’s a piece of interesting info. Also a reference to “Old Earth”, which seems to imply the Earth itself is in a poor state.

    fragb85
  5. Grudech’s idea of adapting the AGE system to improve the Diva is good. Still they need to answer why there are no new Gundams or at least upgrades for the fodder mecha since time and materials have been shown to be sufficient for an upgrade of a frigate.

    Looks like Emily will be Flit’s wife. An interesting plot point that may not materialise is the timing of Aizack’s adoption and being so conincidental that it was Yurin. If Yurin did not run away, she would have been off world when the UE attacked. This points to Aizack either having information about Yurin beforehand and wanted her in his hands or working with the UE (assuming the writers are not big fans of near 0 probability coincidences).

    The short exchange between the feddies and grudech seems to point that the federation’s motives in letting the UE destroy the colonies are not merely because the UE are technologically superior

    Zaku Fan
    1. lol, the AGE System is going to nurture Diva into something worthy of Bandai’s use to milk cash.

      Somehow I don’t think there will be any new mech introductions in Flit’s time already.
      Seems like Asem’s time is going to come real soon next month according to the new OP & ED post in Sunrise’s official Gundam AGE site.
      3 new kits are revealed earlier this month, should be for Asem’s time:
      http://gundamguy.blogspot.com/2011/12/hg-1144-dorado-zedas-r-atel-pomo-image.html
      The Adel is a 2nd generation Federation mainstay MS.

      Wonder how Flit’s time is going to end, the Gundam with its 3 forms can beat any UE at this point of time.
      Unless the Dorudo(s) and Zedas R are the gen-end bosses.

      iron2000
  6. somehow i think something bad going’s to happen to Yurin.. damn that Desil.
    Millie X Wolfe. Maybe they’ll have a mini Wolfe for the 2nd gen arc.
    Also, express gundam courier service. faster than your pizza delivery.

    saka
  7. Everyone talking about Flit’s Wife… Anyone care to mention that Grudech just hint Earth Federation = UE? or at least he said ‘they were hiding the true identity of UE’…. Explains why the mobile suits so out-classed when comparing the two factions.

    RainbowIslands
    1. Though its not confirmed yet but english wikis are putting U.E as Eden.
      Probably implied from Yark Dole calling Desil a ‘resident of Eden’.
      (Why is Yark wearing a mask? Is Yark an ‘under’ identity, does he have a ‘surface’ identity?)

      Desil has a pair of unique colored eyes.
      Made me think if a ‘resident of Eden’ is an enhanced human of sorts.
      Then is Eden a research facility, somewhat like those Newtype Labs in UC?

      Or is Eden what the UE call their base, that abandoned Federation fortress.

      Hmm, I like the mystery!

      iron2000
      1. Yeah, but usually they have blond hair, and at least a hint of red in their mobile suit and/or clothing motif…which leads me to believe that Decil will be the Char of Asem’s story.

        Da5id
  8. I can already see the scene where Flit delivers the finishing blow to a UE Mobile Armour to discover Yurin inside. 😀

    Seriously though, creating more beam rifles should really be a higher priority than converting the Diva. Heck they could just outfit the unused Titus and Sparrow parts on some other machine when the Gundam isn’t using them.

    At this point I’m just hoping that they don’t go with another conveniently timed UE attack that convinces the Feds to join forces with the Diva.

    DarkWind
    1. I don’t understand their plan. The only two mobile suits capable of fighting the UE will be held back as CAP, while the fodder will be sent to infiltrate the fortress? They’d probably have more luck holding everyone back and letting the Diva siege the place, or by reversing the battle plan.

      Or they could, I don’t know, finally get around to mass-producing the DOTS rifle? If they’re retrofitting the Diva (how’d Madorna get there so quickly, anyway?) right in front of the EFF guys, then surely they can churn out a few dozen effective beam rifles.

  9. Saw some news for a AGE side project. I guess its confirmed that this is really a kids show

    http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2011-12-15/gundam-age-to-have-side-project-aimed-at-grown-up-fans

    This means Yurin will not die unless she’s grown up and probably not even then since that might traumatise the kids (Old fellas in exploding mecha is fine though). Probably she will be saddened by something and leave for parts unknown. Unless of course they throw the Gintama production team into it, then all bets are off.

    Zaku Fan
    1. The side project could be a manga, game or photonovel.
      They could use a whole new main cast, some what like the Astray series and G-Unit.
      And it may happen at the same the time in the anime.
      Or it could just be another tale in AG with not too much involvement in the main story?

      Since its in its early stages, I suppose it will fit in to the planned anime events or try not to touch them to much?

      iron2000
  10. I’m betting that Emily will be Flit’s wife. Talking about blue bird/butterfly symbolism. Now that I think Yurin will probably not die considering this is half a kiddy show but I think NOTHING is clearer than what is shown in the ED. It’s Yurin that’s in Flit’s heart(shown on his visor reflection) but it’s Emily that will end up with him somehow(holding his hands)

    TheNova
  11. I think the most fun I’ve had with AGE is the fact that since it is thematically more super-robot it actually keeps me guessing as to which set of conventions this show will follow.

    If this was any other Gundam series, I’d put all my money on Yurin’s death. AGE so far has been relatively consistent with the more idealized conventions, with the simplest interpretation of foreshadowing to be the correct one. In this case, that would be Yurin ending up with Flit, with all the main characters having invincible plot armor.

    Maybe the intention was to start AGE as a more idealistic super-robot style show and they are getting ready to subvert those expectations and bring us much more of the ‘war is hell’ side that Gundam series often excel at.

    I, for one, am still guessing which it will be.

    Delwack
  12. they should call emily aryan cockblocker(great gundam name)! She’d tried to stop anything gettting in the way of flit and her.Her ultimate enemy is the Gundam though. How does she stop something that a 12 year old built out of his own pocket money and refuses to share?

    ark noir
    1. Yeah,the Diva look to suspicious of an “Transformer” type Mecha. The Nose Part,looks like the Legs and Foot on top.the Shoulder Parts are Left and Right of the Bridge section, that look like a Face…

      I think the Diva has a Secret here…

      Germanguy
  13. Gotta wonder why the feds didn’t arrest Millie, Woolf, and Largan, or at least try to take them in for questioning. It was rather sloppy of them to just ignore the subordinates taking orders from a mutineer; the fact that there was nothing to incriminate the others shouldn’t have stopped the officers from asking a few questions before they hauled Grodek off. Though I suppose we were never supposed to take Stora that seriously seeing as he was introduced with a conspicuous butt-chin while chomping on a candy bar…

    I’m still on the fence as far as the Emily/Yurin issue goes. There’s a heck of a lot more evidence within the episodes to support Yurin/Flit, but the ED’s had some blatant Emily/Flit overtones since the very beginning so things could still swing either way. The only surprise for me is that neither Emily nor Yurin knows the other exists as a rival for Flit’s interests, and with not too many episodes to go it wouldn’t make much sense to introduce a subplot like that at this point.

    Actene
  14. I have a feeling that the character is going to die cause it is a gundam series. Whether they show it or imply it. I didnt think this show was “kiddy” like. The drawing style is a bit different but the story is pretty good and non childlike.

    MM
  15. Poor Largan. The role of the hopeless sidekick/cannon fodder does not win in war or love … unless Woolf La Flagra has to make the ultimate sacrifice, then I will like Largan even less for taking advantage of the situation.

    Dear Largan

    Please die a hero’s death,

    Signed

    A Woolf’s fan.

    cain
  16. This is probably the best episode I have with Gundam AGE, aside from the other episodes which also has Yurin (ep. 2 and 3) on it. I agree with the death flags, and also that matter with Asuno Asem.

    If I look back, I remember how my interest on Yurin’s character was one of the reason why I liked Gundam AGE, so in the event of death (which hopefully never come) that may be saddening. Yurin already established herself as the character to look forward too for Gundam AGE, Emily hasn’t that yet.

  17. Is it me or does Desil look like a would be child of Nena Trinty from Gundam 00.
    But I really hope that they do not make Shinn/Stella senerio where Yurin is in a super powered UE unit going on a rampage in a colony and Flint is going in fora final strike only to stop and see it Yurin … no another page from Gundam Seed
    Woolf with the ultimate sacrifice like Mwu … what now is he coming back as UE enemy
    If there is one thing I learned about Gundam is that characters that die never stay dead for long.

    Kurosagi

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