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「鉄と血と」 (Tetsu to Chi to)
“Iron and Blood…”
Whatever one might think this series will ultimately become, it’s not one to be dismissed easily.
This series probably has more baggage than any other this season. There are so many eponymous words attached to it – Gundam, Sunrise, Nagai, Okada – that it’s impossible to go into it with an open mind, no matter what anyone might claim to the contrary. Unless, of course, one isn’t an anime fan to begin with – and it’s hard to imagine there are too many viewers like that in the audience for a show like this one.
Where does one even begin, then, to try and analyze what happened on screen here? I suppose they would have to start with the most basic, elemental point – the premiere of Tekketsu no Orphans was good. It was very good, in fact – not brilliant, but solidly entertaining from start to finish. The setup here is as familiar to Gundam viewers as an old shoe – tension between a wealthy Earth and a poor Mars colony roiled by an independence movement. Child soldiers exploited by adults on both sides. Political intrigue and betrayal. It really is like a song where you know all the words.
The difference from the stock Gundam show, of course, is the presence of director Nagai Tatsuyuki and writer Okada Mari. Both are about as famous as anyone in their field, and they have a track record together – AnoHana and the movies attached to it, Toradora. Okada also has a track record writing original material for existing franchises, and it’s an abysmal one – Rurouni Kenshin, Kuroshitsuji, Lupin III. Most relevant here is Aquarion Evol, her spectacularly misguided take on another beloved (though very different from Gundam) mecha franchise.
Like I said – more baggage than an Airbus A380. If one chooses to accentuate the full half of the glass, it’s in partnership with very strong directors – especially the stalwart Nagai – that Okada has tended to do her best work. And again, this first ep is excellent – she has a way of scene-setting that’s very effective, and while there are moments of clumsy exposition, the episode does a very good job of setting up the premise. But I’ve been fooled by strong first eps with Okada before only to be brutally disappointed, so I’m going try to keep my expectations very much in-check.
Okada and Nagai have 25 episodes to work with (that was announced today) which should be ample time to flesh out this story of the iron-blooded orphans at the heart of the story, and the conflict they’re caught up in. The major players appear to be the quietly GAR Augus Mikazuki (Kawanishi Kengo) – the one who pilots the Gundam this week – and his best friend Itsuka Orga (Hosoya Yoshimasa). There’s also the requisite chubby mechanical genius Biscuit Griffon (Hanae Natsuki) – seriously Tomino, where do you come up with these names? – among others. Critically, there’s also Kudelia Aina Bernstein (Terasaki Yuka), the MacGuffin and catalyst for now. She’s the daughter of the president of the Mars colony (Kinoshita Haruyuki), and she’s hand-picked four boys from the Third Squad of abused orphans to escort her to Earth to mediate a peace conference.
There’s certainly the usual Okada silliness here – all the buff boys pilot their tanks with their shirts off justbecause, for example – but there’s some real bite and poignancy to the story. I especially liked the way Kudelia came off as more of a villain than the men doing all the betraying here (including her father and the boys’ adult comrades) in some ways. Her arrogance and sense of rich woman’s burden here is really despicable, and her intent to relate to the boys on a so-called equal level really insulting and demeaning. No doubt as she’s educated as to just how naive and sheltered she is she’ll grow as a character, but Okada and Nagai have certainly given her plenty of room to do so.
All of this as chestnut as it gets in anime, of course – not just Gundam, but sci-fi anime in general. We’ve seen stories of child soldiers exploited as expendable tools by craven adults over and over and over again, and it’s surely going to be a challenge to find anything really original in telling that story yet again. But even as she jumps the shark, one thing Okada is generally good at is finding the new angle, the original twist – and she’s pretty fearless. I’m loathe to get my hopes up, believe me, but especially with the unassailably great Nagai-sensei on board I really think this has a chance to work. Enough so that I’m going to be disappointed if it doesn’t, anyway.
OP Sequence
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OP: 「Raise your flag”」by (MAN WITH A MISSION)
Not a bad start. Hopefully this series will succeed where Reconguista in G had failed.
Reconguista was a once in a life-time perfect storm of horrible.
From what I’ve seen, most of the blame comes from the fact that Reconguista originally was not supposed to be a “Gundam” series, but Tomino got convinced to turn it into one, but all things considered, I don’t think it was a complete failure. It definitely would’ve been a lot better if things got reworked from the ground up to better incorporate the Universal Century and to allow deeper explanations into things, but I did take away some things by the end of the series.
Primarily the idea that it’s pretty much the final nail in the coffin for Zeon Zum Deikun’s (and subsequently Char’s) belief that mankind leaving Earth to live in space would evolve all of mankind into Newtypes, allowing Earth to heal from all that humanity had done to it while also, through becoming Newtypes, allow humanity to understand one another, which would lead to “true” peace. (Though, they seemed to ignore the whole time that even if humans could “understand” one another, that doesn’t mean they’ll agree on everything, believe the exact same things, etc., so there would still be wars.)
As those living near Venus can attest to, while they did manage to end up living longer than ordinary humans, that’s pretty much all that came from generations of living deeper in space like that, and coming at the cost of becoming physically deformed and forced to wear “suits” to cover it up, which is why they were so desperate to return to live on Earth again rather than remain in space.
compared to the weak bitch in the Gundam Wing catchphases, placed at the middle of the design.
another one needed to be protected,
https://randomc.net/image/Gundam%20Tekketsu%20no%20Orphans/Gundam%20Tekketsu%20no%20Orphans%20-%2001%20-%20Large%2008.jpg
GN drive rapes everything than electric cables, 00 raiser giant beam sword, and NOCLIP underhanded cheats
https://randomc.net/image/Gundam%20Tekketsu%20no%20Orphans/Gundam%20Tekketsu%20no%20Orphans%20-%2001%20-%20Large%2001.jpg
no more crybaby in gundam series, just like in gundam AGE and SEED
Can you try speaking English please?
See this girl here?
https://randomc.net/image/Gundam%20Tekketsu%20no%20Orphans/Gundam%20Tekketsu%20no%20Orphans%20-%2001%20-%20Large%2018.jpg
She’s a prime candidate for a death flag like Hare and Shirley.
I will translate for him as I had issues with several Gundam series. Age had Asemu who was a crybaby trying to get his dad’s (Flit) affection. So instead of manning up and dealing with his emo issues. He actually runs away and abandons his wife and child making him a deadbeat dad in the start of the third arc.
Seed Destiny at least you had Athrun which he can’t just figure out what he wanted to fight for, so he bounced to every faction imagined. I can’t say how he was in Gundam Seed as I have yet to see it.
Athrun wasn’t the crybaby of Gundam Seed, it was Kira.
The shirts off thing is because they plug in to their mechs, literally. They have implants in their spines that require that. I’m not saying that that in itself isn’t silly, but there is a reason for it in universe.
The strange thing is, why they just can’t make uniform that conform to that?
Of course, they could also said budget as reason…..
If you look closely there’s actually an oval shaped device they put on over the whiskers which plugs into the mech. So, there’s no reason for the pilots to not be wearing proper flight suits… unless they’re too poor/unimportant to be issued some. Or fanservice.
Well you forget that they’re seen as expendable. Its obvious their command wouldn’t afford them such luxuries as pilot suits.
Yeah, I get that obviously, but come on – you can’t wear a tank top or cut a hole in the back of the uniform? It’s just Okada silliness really, pretty much harmless but kind of funny nonetheless.
They’re poor Enzo, that’s what it means, since no other pilots were shirtless. One, why ruin a good shirt. Two, a Tank Top doesn’t work because as we saw with Orga, they have a overly bulky device attached to the node. When they get some specialized uniforms then it’ll be fine, but being shirtless is NOT pointless, it emphasizes the social divide.
Simple, Heat.. Real Soldier has surly an Pilot Suit, with Cooling device.. But this Suits are to good for this Kids…
Maybe those mobile worker units has nothing resembling air conditioning i suppose 😡
That’s pretty much what I got too. And it’s not like their boss would shell out the dollars for customized outfits. I mean, if you look closely, you see that the 3rd Company doesn’t even eat as well as the First, only getting bowls f some kind of mushy stuff, while the First Company were eating tacos and burgers.
If they won’t even give them the same food, I can’t see them giving them special suits, especially since they are using an anachronistic system in the first place.
What I was waiting for in this Gundam show:
1. The mooks/redshirts/cannon fodder who’ll say “IT’S A GUNDAM!” (Thanks, Captain Obvious!), then die in an explosion
2. The Char Clone character.
I miss explosions, it’s weird seeing tanks get shot at and take damage but no blow up in pink smoke, or a Gundam wielding a huge sword and using it more as a blunt object than a Ginsu knife slicing through a MS like a tomato.
lmao at your name :))
GO GOUFS
I’m waiting for 1 thing:
Dem GOUF tier fodders
Serious question Enzo… are you contractually obligated to blog Okada Mari scripts? It feels like you couldn’t get away from her even if you tried. XD
And I think the word I’d use to sum up this premiere is comforting. This has been a godawful decade for Gundam with the only highlights being the Unicorn OVAs and the spinoff Build Fighters, so to finally have a TV series give us a solid premiere for the first time since 00 is… comforting. It certainly remains to be seen how it will play out, but I find myself hopeful that I won’t end up hating yet another Gundam series.
What about the Origin? The first ep was pretty good. We’ll see how the second turns out at the end of the month.
But Okada had some serious wins on her side!
Well, I don’t recall having blogged too many Okada shows over here. I always give an Okada show a chance, because at her best she can be pretty darn good. But when it goes wrong it can spiral out of control pretty fast, and I’ve never hesitated to drop a series when that happens.
Besides – in Nagai we trust.
Hmm, this looks similar to a real-life activist group I’ve seen somewhere before (probably on SanCom), but for the life of me, I can’t remember the name… (“Femen”? Feel free to correct me on that one.)
Also, discount Heero Yuy (child soldier) and Relena Darlian (sheltered aristocratic daughter who knows nothing of the real world or the hell of war)–minus the “I’ll kill you” catchphrase. *ding*
Anyway…what Heavy Object did in one episode (that is, convince me that the show is worth watching), Gundam: Tekketsu no Orphans will have to do within the next two episodes–or less. And with the 25-episode limit, one can only hope that Okada and Nagai got that memo from Sunrise very early and get the pacing for G-Tekketsu down pat–as opposed to Tomino apparently pacing for a 40-plus episode run in G-Reco. (While I definitely don’t know what exactly went on behind the doors of Sunrise, that’s the vibe I got when G-Reco ended.)
I agree with Enzo, the first episode of Gundam: Tekketsu was solid, but didn’t blow me away. The action, animation, and above all the tone of the episode were all excellent, and there’s clearly a lot of room for both the setting and characters to grow and become fleshed out… assuming the show is willing and able to do so properly. While the individual small scale scenes were well directed, I felt like they did a rather poor job of depicting the overall situation be it action or political. Whereas many shows these days suffer from an overabundance of exposition, Tekketsu went the exact opposite route and rapidly switched between characters, organizations, and conflicts that I had and learned very little knowledge about. In the end I had to watch the PV’s just to get an idea of who was who and what was going on in the setting. Furthermore, I’m left wondering at several apparent plot holes, such as how a 300 year old mech can keep up with modern designs, why the solar system’s economy depends on a “washed up backwater,” and why a supposedly dictatorial police force would allow a colonial PMC independent of its control to even form. This isn’t necessarily bad though; it demonstrates that the show is making me think about it and hopefully will lead to some intriguing plot points in the future.
The biggest concern I have with this show is that it already seems to be settling neatly into the ruts blazed by previous Gundam series; there’s the taciturn edgy kid prodigy main character, the inexplicably influential teenage “princess,” the good ‘ol European space-aristocracy, and the (at the moment) poorly explained space-colonialism conflict. None of these are inherently bad, but after seeing them so many times they make the show feel rather stale and recycled, and don’t inspire much confidence in its ability to deliver something unique and engaging further down the line. I’m still hopeful that Gundam: Tekketsu will turn out well, and if nothing else it’ll at least have entertaining action, but the first episode had enough issues that I’m not completely confident in its future success.
Yeah, I’m hoping this will follow a more Universal Century style and actually delve deeper into the politicking, give us explanations for stuff, decent/believable/meaningful plot and character development, and whatnot, while the mobile suit battles are more awesome icing on the cake (balanced rather than completely one-sided in favor of protagonists outside of the plot demanding it or simply as an excuse to hand the protagonist an even better mobile suit).
In terms of how such old mechs can keep up with modern ones, I guess it can depend on situations.
Like, with the Universal Century, the Earth Federation still continued to use the Jegan in its main mobile suit forces for over thirty years partly because it most likely got cheaper to produce and maintain over the years, but also due to the lack of any serious conflicts that urgently required any sort of new, modern, top of the line mobile suits to be designed/produced (and this was after it was shown that enemy mobile suits they fought against were largely overall superior to the Jegan as it was). Obviously, this leads to the Jegan, or the more recent, modern, and scaled-down Heavygun (UC 0109), to be greatly outperformed by the Crossbone Vanguard’s mobile suits in UC 0123 (Mobile Suit Gundam F91). I’d also guess pilot training didn’t involve much combat training for similar reasons.
After the Crossbone Babylonia conflict, the Federation once again had this mindset when it came to things like the, at the time, modern Jamesgun and Javelin, using them as their primary mobile suits for thirty more years due to lack of conflict through the Zanscare Empire conflict in UC 0153, which left most of the fighting up to the League Militaire protagonists with their own, modern mobile suits like the Gun-EZ, Gunblaster, and Victory Gundam series.
So I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a similar mindset here – three hundred years of no real conflict after the Calamity War, so no urgent need to produce any (super) advanced, modern mobile suits. Of course, the Gundam Barbatos (the “main” Gundam) is just one of seventy two “Gundam” frames that were produced during the Calamity War, so aside from others (two of which having had some very basic info revealed, available on the wikia), as the conflict spreads and becomes more serious, it will end up pushing the powers in charge to push forward mobile suit design and development.
Of course, that’s probably a real stretch given twenty to thirty years hardly compares to three hundred, but ya know never know, right? lol
https://randomc.net/image/Gundam%20Tekketsu%20no%20Orphans/Gundam%20Tekketsu%20no%20Orphans%20-%2001%20-%2039.jpg
‘Dat Gundam is one of the finest looking pieces of mass murder I’ve seen since 08th MS Team. Love it. 🙂
Dunno ’bout the rest, really. It was a solid opening, to be sure. Here’s hoping they don’t blow it.
I’m not concerned about the first episode not being spectacular, so long as it was competent and not an utter fail.
My real concern is that girls hair. She’s got at least 4 sets of bangs and it’s driving me absolutely nuts cause I hate hate hate her hair.
Out of everything that this spoiled, arrogant princess whose heart is admittedly in the right place has, it’s her hair that bothers you? RLY?
https://randomc.net/image/Gundam%20Tekketsu%20no%20Orphans/Gundam%20Tekketsu%20no%20Orphans%20-%2001%20-%2018.jpg
What about this adorable ball of cowlick here?
https://randomc.net/image/Gundam%20Tekketsu%20no%20Orphans/Gundam%20Tekketsu%20no%20Orphans%20-%2001%20-%2019.jpg
And this? The sheer amount of gel one would have to put into that on a daily basis should make you shudder.
https://randomc.net/image/Gundam%20Tekketsu%20no%20Orphans/Gundam%20Tekketsu%20no%20Orphans%20-%2001%20-%2010.jpg
And, really, let’s be frank here. Considering the proverbial tree that this particular apple fell from, let’s be grateful that she turned out as well as she did and leave it at that.
^_^ it seems that while resources on mars are tight, everyone has access to the same hairdresser…. and he. is. FAAABULOUS!!!!
Someone from Shiki (the vampire anime) has survived and lived in Mars. That’s why.
As a big mecha nerd, I was extremely pleased when the Gundam Barbatos dug that giant spear/mace/ruin-your-day weapon into that Graze’s neck.
In what ways does Kudelia come of as worse than the actual villains? It’s not necessarily unreasonable to hold would be do-gooders to a higher moral standard, but its a bit much to say that they’re worse for missing the mark.
This so much.
That comment in the review made no sense. She’s clearly neat to be one of those well-meaning activist types that don’t know what they’re talking about. The quality there is NAIVE, not evil. In what possible way does she even remotely to the villains of the episode, from her cowardly father, to the traitorous Martian militia and the monstrous earth soldiers. “Oh no, she’s rich and she wants to help! Run!”
i have to say im impressed so far we will have to see -i do like its starting on mars and going to earth -at least i presume thats the plan of the series and it will be interesting
Very relieved with the opening of this show especially after that last Gundam series. This feels more like a Gundam series with a subtle difference that makes you look forward to seeing where they will take it
Yeah, I think I’ve made up my mind. I’m gonna steer clear of this one and see what folks are saying after 10-15 episodes or so. If Nagai’s influence seems to be keeping Okada’s fondness for flamboyantly probabilistically implausible melodrama in check, then I’ll jump back into this one. Barring that, it’s pass…
I hate to be a dick, but. How the hell did this entry took this long to be written?
Surprised the Aldnoah references aren’t being made yet considering the setting and likely chance of SHTF very soon 😛
Tongue in cheek aside, the confirmation of two cours and the solid nature of the opener gives me high hope that we won’t see this turn into a train wreck. Will need a few more episodes to get an idea for the direction however.
Also about time someone stops using CG for the mechs! The artwork is fantastic here.
Solid but not adrenaline inducing. The soundtrack when the Gundam moved out was terrific.
https://randomc.net/image/Gundam%20Tekketsu%20no%20Orphans/Gundam%20Tekketsu%20no%20Orphans%20-%2001%20-%20Large%2016.jpg
Fanservice protest.
Wrong! That’s protesting done right.
Heh, you’re right!
Look up Femen.
I think this is the best first episode of this season and the one series I am really looking forward to each week. The concepts aren’t new, but I loved the characters’ dynamics, especially between Mikazuki and Orga. And nice soundtrack.
The one highlight imo, besides the Barbatos in action, was that epic burn from Mika when talking to that girl about handshakes. I love him already.
Me, too. 😀 I like his relationship with Orga. And, for once, there seems to be a chubby guy who is quite competent and smart. I don’t mind the princess at the moment, she seems like a great improvement to the previous flat, uninspiring pacifistic princesses that are done to death in mecha shows. Let’s hope she doesn’t become an overly dramatic character.
Is it not a gundam series without a Char Clone?
I’m getting a serious Kamina and Simon vibe from the two MCs.
>> I’m loathe to get my hopes up, believe me, but especially with the unassailably great Nagai-sensei on board I really think this has a chance to work. Enough so that I’m going to be disappointed if it doesn’t, anyway.
It seems like their collaboration works because Nagai is able to rein in Okada from putting too much (melo)drama and other bad ideas into the narrative. 😀
Honestly, the only thing I liked this pilot were the mecha. I especially like the Mobile Workers, as it gives this whole retro vibe with the GM Balls and Guntanks. I’ve always liked those designs for some reason. I was saddened the moment they established that they were inferior to a Mobile Suit, as that means we will be seing less of that as the series progresses. Barbatos is great though, I like the gritty feel the whole MS gives compared the flash and pomp other Gundams give.
That being said the characters just feel cartoony. Mika and Orga are fine, as they are the clearly building a complex relationship around them. The rest though, I don’t whose fault this is, Nagai or Okada, but every time there was a scene with anyone else, they’re practically caricatures. Especially the first squad who are very on the nose on how incompetent they are. Between them visibly wiping their own sweat or doing silly things like trying to slam shut an overstuffed suitcase it felt ridiculous. WE GET IT, they’re incompetent cowards. At least Reconguista established its light-hearted tone very early. Here we are given heavy themes, of child soldiers, abuse and exploitation. Just putting stuff like that here makes me take it less seriously.
And Aina just makes me cringe. I’ll wait to see how she develops but the whole Pacifistic Princess and Gundams rather dubious treatment of female characters has left me skeptical. They NEVER get these kind of characters right, often making them the worst characters of the show.
Yeah, the mobile workers definitely gave off a vibe of things like the Rib from Turn A Gundam (worker not really meant for combat, but used for it anyway), or something like the cobbled together Zaku Tank models from The 08th MS Team, so it’s understandable why they would be no match for a full mobile suit. As I said, I only hope the Gundam Barbatos and other Gundam models don’t completely overpower everyone else in imbalanced, one-sided battles (for too long anyway) and only other “Gundam” models can fight them.
As for Kudelia, why I thought Relena could’ve been an interesting character if she had remained more like how she was earlier in Wing (even trying to kill Lady Une in revenge for her adopted father’s death), but as soon as she started down the whole “total pacifism” route, she just became…well…boring, and was constantly used or in the back rather than actually accomplishing anything herself. She was even willing to let her own country (the Sanc Kingdom) be attacked and burned to the ground by OZ without a fight because of wanting to follow that “total pacifism” route to the letter, prompting Noin to create a defense force right under her nose without her knowledge. (Even Zechs was angry when he heard her capitulating broadcast to OZ when rushing there in the Wing Gundam Zero.)
We can only hope that Kudelia actually learns and grows in a more realistic and believable fashion from her experiences and that they subsequently shape things she does later.
I feel like Aina is getting a lot worse of a reaction than she deserves. So far we’ve seen that she:
1) Actively makes an effort to improve social conditions, despite familial opposition, at some personal risk.
2) Has an earnest desire to associate with and understand poorer/less fortunate classes.
3) Responds to a battlefield like a normal person without training + trys to help.
Sure the fact that she thought she had to personally establish an equal relationship was subtly arrogant, but at least it wasn’t intentionally so. Mikazuki was of course justified in his response, but at the end of the day, don’t you think the fact that she’s sincerely trying makes her a better option than all the rest of the people in power? She has a lot to learn, but that’s not entirely her fault, and I think that she’s already shown the personality necessary for significant growth.
There are Persons, that seeking others to point their Hatred on them, for no real Reason.
And no, i am like you. She is trying to understand the ones “under her Feet!”, she has her Heart in the right place, and is slowly understanding the World under her. I think her Maid will be a Party popper. She looks suspicious for me. She is to cold
I wonder if Barbatos is a stress for Mika. At the end when it was showing him in the cockpit, there was blood was dripping down his chin.
What is with the bizarre hate of Kudelia? What arrogance are you talking about? She has an upper class upbring and manners, that doesn’t make her arrogant. She sympathetic about the plight of the people and whats to get first hand experience about their struggles. That makes her a noble person, not villain.
“and her intent to relate to the boys on a so-called equal level really insulting and demeaning”
How on earth is that insulting? Would you prefer her to look down on them as lower class trash? Treating people as equals is the very least she could do to respect them. She was respectful of them and want to shake hands as a sign of respect. I fail to see the insult in her actions.
Seriously, if the daughter of the president fo your country asked for a hankshake, people would take that as an insult? SERIOUSLY?! O.o
The deal with the handshake is that if you feel the need to establish equality with someone, then you probably weren’t equal to begin with. In terms of social status the two of them aren’t equal and pretending otherwise isn’t going to help.
It’s a rookie move and kind of patronizing, but I didn’t really see it as that awful. She’s had a sheltered life so it would honestly be weird if she was perfect in her early attempts.
What a bizzare notation that a handshake someone ignores the social equality of those involved and is somehow insulting. A handshake is just common courtesy. It why a boss hiring a minimum wage worker for the lowest level job in a company will still shake hands with said employee because its the least he can do show respect and decency. Would the boss be condescending for offering to shake hands with said employee? No, of course not.
I have never heard of a handshake being considered condescending. This is really bizarre to me.
Its not the handshake itself that’s the issue, but the idea that she needs to go out of her way to prove their equality is a bit patronizing. She wouldn’t have tried to shake his hand as much if he were equal in rank to her. She’s unintentionally telling him that he’s beneath her in the social hierarchy. I don’t think he was that offended however, just indifferent.
“She wouldn’t have tried to shake his hand as much if he were equal in rank to her”
I think thats reading way too much into her actions. Damn, people are super cynical and easily offended these days.
Not really. She told him that she wanted to shake hands so she could be equal with him. He’s just commenting on what she said. He probably is cynical though, the life he leads will do that to you. And I already said that he wasn’t offended.
Oh I know Mika wasn’t offended but some people watching the show were which I find werid. You’ve got to be very cynical to take offense to Aina saying she wants to be equals.
I think its less that people are taking offense, and more that people are being excessively critical of her character. Idealistic characters, especially if they are the princess type, tend to bring that out in viewers for whatever reason.
I think that some criticism is warranted by the material, but I was also taken aback by how hostile some people are towards her.
I’d also chalk it up to cynicism and/or paranoia in real life.
People have it in their mind that rich, influential, etc. families just “can’t” be decent and nice people. They ALL must be evil, shadowy, corrupt, greedy, etc. grifters who would NEVER do anything nice for anyone (not even their own family) unless it involved getting themselves a lot of positive attention or something good out of it for themselves. Basically, they see anything “good” such people do as some sort of disguise for an unsavory ulterior motive.
Such people probably see Kudelia’s good-hearted, but naive attempts as just trying to somehow make herself look good, better than the rest of her family and such.
There’s nothing wrong with wanting to help/relate to others. In her case, however, it (for now; it seems almost a certainty they’re building her this way to show her change as the show progresses) seems it’s not really about the poor/orphans/etc, but for her own…well, self-esteem might be too strong, but this is a classic case of looking at people who go volunteer at soup kitchens on Thanksgiving. Sure, they’re probably doing some good, but it’s generally more to do with making themselves feel good.
As another poster put it, it’s patronizing, and while it could be argued the down-trodden aren’t really in a state where they can choose what type of help they get, it can also be argued that if you want to help, that should be the priority, not one’s self esteem.
I honestly don’t know what to think about this line of thought. If you genuinely care about someone else’s well being, then helping them should make you feel better. The only way I could draw the line between self interest and selflessness is if you were willing to try with the knowledge that it might not make you feel better.
Most people don’t really have the ability to tell if they themselves could do this, let alone to judge others. Sort of like bravery, you need to actually be in peril to find out what you are made of.
Basically I think it would be too soon to decide that her concern is of a lesser degree. The show itself will be the test of her sincerity. She’s out of her depth right now, but if she keeps trying anyway, then it should be clear that her feelings were not superficial.
I really don’t get the hate either, it seems really illogical and more then a bit bias against well off people in general.
The girl knows she lives a sheltered life and personally puts herself within close contact with those of “low” standing in order to better understand them, and people somehow treat this like she is asking them to fling themselves at her feet and grovel due to her generosity.
Her character is clearly meant to be a naive but well meaning princess type. People may not like the archetype, but that doesn’t mean she even remotely comes off as a villain without putting on some extremely warped glasses.
” Her arrogance and sense of rich woman’s burden”
What rich womans burden are you talking about Enzo? She recognizes she has a sheltered life and wants to learn first hand what the people are going through. How is that a rich womans burden?
To me, it was in reference to Kipling’s famous poem, “The White Man’s Burden”, and I think if you take it more from that angle, you’ll see where he’s coming from.
My problem with that is the poem is supposed to be pro-imperialism, and Kudelia is clearly trying to remove Mars from imperial control. It’s about the need to educate those beneath you, but she wants to learn more from them. It seems like a hazy connection at best.
I’m just hoping it works out better than Aldnoah Zero.
Is Tomino really working on G:TnO?
Boring and dull opening. No interesting characters, and cartoon mustache-twirling villains.
The combat, in particular, was dreadful. No sense of gritty realism or tactics, with people running around blasting away at point blank range for some reason, but also lacked any of cinematic exuberance of some gundam spinoffs. Just dull and bland.
Good show if you like shirtless muscular young men, though, so may be aiming for that particular viewership (but at least Gundam Wing had good music…)
Aren’t we tired of “princesses from Mars” these days?
Nope. “Princesses from Mars” never grows old. I say bring’em!
Your criticisms feel more generic and reactionary then the episode. And going point blank was the point in order to better penetrate the enemies superior armor, and take advantage of their mobile workers smaller drama to maneuver through them.
Thats what Sunrise war doctrine made of. When they employ the units to engage the enemy front they always acting on their own. No proper coordinating there unit, the absence officer in charge to command the squad.
But we are talking about security company its job to protect the govt. facility, guarding the embassy, protecting business govt. i dont know about that job in Mars.
Another valid point is the fact that CGS are armed with light tanks their guns could do little with a heavy tank that can take punishment and shoot from a farther distance. The CGS boys only hope to do damage is to employ old style tank tactics. In the Second World War, the Allies tanks could barely do any damage to German-made tanks. Their only hope to cause damage was to shoot at near point-blank ranges.
Not quite point blank, but definitely much closer than needed for the German tanks to take them out.
The foremost method was to simply bypass enemy tanks and let tank destroyers, like the M18 Hellcat, artillery, and air strikes take them out; the US was still using older style tank doctrine where light/medium tanks were used for bypassing/breaking through/supporting infantry while tank destroyers are supposed to engage enemy tanks from a distance. That kind of thinking is largely why the US didn’t even have a heavy tank in Europe until the M26 Pershing in January, 1945, and also why it took so long before the Sherman got its much more effective 76 mm gun with the later M4A3E8/Easy 8 model.
Otherwise, the tactic was to outflank enemy tanks by using superior speed and mobility (and usually smoke rounds), and hit them from the side or rear where the armor was much thinner compared to the front.
@Private
Don’t forget the ones, who are all kids, sent out are pretty much the expendables of the CGS that were just thrown out with no plans all just to distract the attackers, hopefully take a few out, all just to allow the so-called “important” people to run away. It’s not like the more typical Gundam formula where a kid(s) just stumbles across a Gundam and just takes it out by themselves.
I am not a Gundam fan but I like this episode yet it looks like a fujoshi-bait episode to those who are not acquainted with the franchise. Well, I don’t care that much. I followed this because I saw Okada’s name in the staff. I am quite curious as to what she can do with the series.
Unlike you, Enzo, I absolutely adore Okada’s “original” takes on existing franchises (especially Lupin). In fact, it’s when she’s not doing gag-inducing “slice of life” where she’s at her best, ironically due to the little elements of that genre that she tends to inject in her other works (Michiko to Hatchin is criminally underrated, and one of many poster child examples of how gender skews opinions, imo).
I never expect something revolutionary from Gundam; it has a lot of weight and tradition, but I do expect that weight and tradition to be treated competently, and I have a difficult time seeing this staff failing at that. Episode 1 was filled with great competence, and with the sad state of sci-fi anime over recent years, that’ll be enough to make this a hit-at least if there wasn’t such a ridiculous level of anti-Okada rabidness among anime fans. 😉
And, putting aside Unicorn, it’s been a number of years (and series) since we had a more traditional Gundam to watch. I was glad Sunrise was willing to experiment with the franchise, but as those experiments were all quite bad, I’m even more glad to see them turn a bit more to their core this time around. 🙂
Now lets all guess who’ll be the character with the mask…there is always someone in every Gundam anime who dons a mask.
My bet is on either Eugene or McGillis, but especially McGillis, he has the entire demeanor of a Char Clone down, plus when he’s standing there with Galieo, it really is very similar to Char and Garma from the original series.
Also, he’s blond, he seems pretty elite in Gjallarhorn, and he has a customized mech. All he needs is a white/red/gold or something in between uniform. And looking at the leader of the Mars base, they do have such a uniform. He’s already blond, all he needs is the mask.
Let’s hope they don’t come up with mask men with silly aliases like “Mr Bushido”. XD
This was way overkill Enzo, you can’t compare Kudelia to her inactive and willfully blind parents, especially her father who literally sold her and the people under his care/administration down the river
https://randomc.net/image/Gundam%20Tekketsu%20no%20Orphans/Gundam%20Tekketsu%20no%20Orphans%20-%20OP1%20-%20Large%2003.jpg Gundams with swords are overrated, it’s time for Gundams with Spears to shine!
Please be good Iron Blood Orphans, I was hyped for Recognista, then I watched the first episode and dropped that garbage like a bad habit. It’s sad when spinoff gundams are better than mainline gundams. Gundam Build Try Fighters was better than Recognista and that was just an ok spinoff that wasn’t as good as Gundam Build Fighters.
There’s a game coming out the first week of December where I’ll be able to make a giant robot look as similar as possible to any Gundam, Barbatos, you’ll be the first I’ll try to replicate, spear bros for life!