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「未来の報酬」 (Mirai no houshuu)
“Future Reward”
I can’t be the only one who wanted to puke during that inspirational speech, can I?
It depends on how you look at it, I suppose, but I think it could be argued that the most damning feeling you can have about a piece of fiction is indifference. There have been anime I’ve genuinely hated over the years (though I dropped almost all of them long before they finished), and countless ones about which I felt nothing at all and dropped immediately. I think on some level it’s kind of a compliment to say you hate a show, because at least it made you feel something. And it’s harder to do that in my case than leave me completely cold.
I’ve never hated Tekketsu no Orphans over its 24 episodes, but there have been times – only a few – when I’ve felt completely indifferent about it. I don’t know if I hated this episode, but I can say for sure it made me very, very angry. And looking back, I would rather have that than what I had after the completely “meh” episodes. I was engaged from start to finish this week, but also enraged. The tricky part comes in here, though: I don’t know whether I was enraged with Tekketsu no Orphans or at it.
This is a syndrome I’ve seen at times with anime. Something incredibly stupid plays out, but you’re not quite sure what the show wants you to think about it. I think it’s a given that any Gundam series takes the view that war sucks, and that child soldiers are always pawns ground up in its gears – Iron-Blooded Orphans is certainly no exception. But when Orga was giving that preposterous speech about how it was OK for little boys to commit suicide at his urging, and then Takaki piped in to parrot the thought while Merribit wept in protest – what exactly was I supposed to think as I was throwing up in my mouth a little? Even now, writing about the episode, I’m not quite sure.
I know what I was thinking – “This is fucking stupid.” I was (and am) pissed off – at Orga, for being in the end such a useless leader. At the series itself for being one of the most spectacularly sexist shows I’ve seen in years. At Kudelia, for being utterly useless for almost the entirety of 24 episodes and being the cause of most of the tragedy we’re seeing now. “Why don’t you get in one of those goddam mobile workers yourself and put it on the line?” is another thought that crossed my mind, believe me.
Here’s the bottom line for me. These kids’ lives aren’t disposable. Their dying isn’t OK if it “makes Tekkadan bigger”, whatever the hell that means. I don’t care if there’s no place to return to – what Orga should be trying to do is find a place that they can worry about returning too later. Are we truly supposed to accept that this fool’s quest in support of one aged hack politician over another aged hack politician is the cause Orga should be staking spending children’s lives on? That this half-bright Joan of Arc wannabe with delusions of grandeur is worth all those young lives being snuffed out? F-that.
But then… Am I giving Tekketsu no Orphans too little credit? Is it possible Okada and Nagai are on the same page as I am? I don’t think so, to be honest – I think it was a lump and not bile that was supposed to come to my throat during that speech. But in the end, feeling is feeling – and there’s no denying this ep made me feel. When Ride made his comment about having a contest once Orga gave him the OK to die in battle, it just brought home how tragic all of this is. And the battle itself was certainly nauseating in a good way (though skipping three days of it was a bit vexing, after all that buildup) – the ugliness of war in distilled form, on both sides. Seeing children die and the monstrosity Ein has become – ugh.
It all boils down to the finale then, as it so often does – though it seems we’re almost certain to get a sequel down the line. How Tekketsu no Orphans handles the conclusion of this battle and its aftermath is going to say everything about whether, in the end, it’s earned any respect. And as is so often the case, Fareed is in the most interesting position to influence events – in ripping off his Char mask he’s symbolically showed the world (and Gaileo) his true colors at last. Once he plays his trump card, the game is effectively over and it’ll be time to tally up the points.
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Here’s the thing about this series. No matterhow morally reprehensible the actions of the characters are you can actually see real people, scumbag as they are, doing it.
Thw only thing is that it’s the protagonist who is doing it and not the villain which brings it more to the fore. I dont know also how to feel about it but I do have to say that I can see this really happening unlike many gundam series before
That’s old-school Gundam.
No aliens, no superpowers, no ikemen pilots BS, no BS drama like many recent Gundams.
It’s just raw war like many of the Gundams from the 80’s and 90’s.
I actually enjoy this show.
Well it helps to actually be invested in something you’re talking about yeah
As misguided as Orga’s speech was, I don’t think they have much luxury of choices. They ensured they will take the former prime minister to that designated location and they will have to keep it no matter the cost. They could forfeit the mission but that will mean their reputation being disgraced and their morale completely shattered.
To be fair the Tekkendan is right now emotionally charged, they can’t be reasoned with. Having Mika within the group doesn’t help the matter at all either. He is the key member that is responsible for raising the intensity on these kids and at the same time passively reminding Orga to meet his expectation.
I don’t think I’m comfortable with the overall message that lives of the kids are disposable for the better future of their crew members but the circumstance they’re in now, there’s no way to come out clean without suffering any casualties. Orga should have taken Biscuit’s advice and take Tekkendan Crew to the Mars colony but at this point, they are at the point of no return.
Problem with Biscuits plan of going back to mars is that there’s no guarantee they can even make it out of Earth orbit by themselves as they’re pretty much in Gjallarhorn’s back yard. Know them They’d set it up to look like an accident to make sure that no messes with their rule.
God now I hate Eins even more, being a self-righteous prick is one thing, but killing cute girls is a low blow :p
Hope the turbine girls survive (although unlikely)
Are you seriously saying that Enzo? In my opinion, Orga’s speech is intended to be preposterous, he is supposed to raise their morale. Exactly what other option do they have? Orga’s supposed to find a place for them to return, and can they afford that in their current situation? If they try to go back now they’ll pretty much just die useless deaths at the hands of Gjallarhorn. Merribit wept because she knew there was no other choice, as sad and wrong things may be.
Also regarding your comment about sexism in Gundam, you have Lafter and Azee already, why’d you want Kudelia to be useful in battle as well? What, are you going to say Biscuit is a victim of sexism himself because he doesn’t fight and that he almost never made any difference to Orga’s plans whatsoever? Different people have different roles and are useful in different ways, sometimes less apparent than others.
I’m with you at this point. This is war, and in the first place these kid’s lifes had no value at all. This is why thy r called space rats… btw, im not saying this is right yet it was a fact. They had to make sacrifices so they can change their’s lifes. Tekkadan in war atm, this is war; they have to fight, what otper options they have got ? come on, look to our world people, kids dying fighting in real wars… This disgusting yet cold cruel fact our world. just wake up Enzo….
That’s the impression that I got from Enzo’s review as well, as if kids don’t ever become child soldiers or led to fight for a cause they don’t really understand. I believe Enzo is not as narrow-minded as that is, so I do wonder why did he have to write the review as such. You don’t always lead a right and happy life, bad and wrong decisions are part of you, and a lot of the times you don’t have any control over your life whatsoever, such as what is happening with Tekkadan. They were forced to fight to survive, you don’t expect them to just stop living their life when it’s just reaching its peak right? If you look at it, the kids’ are working as a PMC, and they just got a really big client. And because things aren’t going your way, you just decide and abandon your job? I myself might not be the most ethical person, but I believe at least that amount of work ethics should be reasonable for every working person. If you’re put into a shitty situation beyond your power and not by your will what do you do? You try to make the best out of it, ideally, and then learn from your mistakes no? And what better thing can Tekkadan do than fight with all they’ve got?
Another thing that I don’t think is right is that Orga sending the kids to suicide. He’s given them plenty chances for them to quit and they all chose to stay put. He never coerced the kids at all or brainwashed them, everything is as wished by the kids themselves who themselves think that that is the best choice that they could make. Remember, the kids were the ones to choose Orga as their leader and not the other way around. They all believed in him, which is obviously not a sign of kids who were just brainwashed(they’d all just follow blindly, I believe).
Wasn’t his review just saying that Orga’s speech disgusted and enraged him, and he’s not sure if Orga’s speech was INTENTIONALLY messed up, or if the writers thought he was being all heroic and stuff?
Nothing about whether child soldiers exist IRL, because of course they do.
I feel exactly as you do about this review @Boo. I really like mst of the reviewer’s on this site and actually come often to see what they think about certain episodes and how they arrive at their conclusions but For this gundam series I’ve been disappointed by this reviewer for some reason.
To not see that Tekkadan HAS NO place else to go but forward with getting the old man elected to secure their future since they’re stuck b/w a rock and a hard place and have been since they decided to set out…
Even if by some miracle they were able to launch back into space, and somehow escape Gjallarhorn forces before reaching Mars, What prevents the powers that be from deciding to come back and make them their bitch again? How exactly would they even have ANY power to fight back to protect their peace back home? WOW, It doesn’t take a genius to figure how their predicament!
So true about the sexism thing, I felt Enzo just put it in to further drive this movement of everything is sexist that’s going on in today’s society. If Kudelia Isn’t doing anything useful and being a princess is sexist than same for Biscuit as well right? the guy’s only action resulted in his death and he was just driving a tank, at least kudelia is driving this whole thing forward by having gotten them all the way to earth in the first place and leading them to do the “despicable” things you think Orga’s doing. Sure Orga’s leading the kids (some to their deaths) but they’d been dying for no reason being treated worse than dust back on mars. Now they actually have something they believe in that they are fighting to get (a place to call home, whether it be Mars or Earth, and power to protect their peace which they’ll get by having OLD dude indebted to them).
And yes this is war, but so far it’s really only been told from Tekkadan’s side so I can see why some think Orga cruel. But what else is there? Denial that they actually have a safe place to go? Denial that they could actually leave peacefully if they did like buiscuit wanted an leave? Denial like Merribit’s going through? She’s completely seeing this in her own bubble not understanding the terrible life they had back before this, THEY are actually LIVING right now as terrible as that sounds.
She’s talking about the children’s lives and future, they had no future before they even decided to join kudelia’s dream, they were just DEBRIS! fn DEBRIS!
So keep in mind in the future that they’re not just fighting for the old man just on whims or fantasy about being heroes or for fun. They are doing this because they are stuck between a rock and a Hard place, and this is the only way out, to have a higher up indebted to you. As far as we are concerned, this old guy doesn’t seem like he’ll betray them so that’s the only life line they got. Had there been other choices I would have understood your reviews about this series Enzo
I don’t know if this was the intention of the series but it’s showing how child soldiers have different morals than we do. They know that when holding a gun, it’s kill or be killed. They expect to die young in the battlefield. And most of them are willing to stake their lives for some ideal/cause, which in this case is Tekkadan itself. This is primarly due to conditioning which the young are pretty succeptible to but also due to the mind adapting to the environment in order to survive. You can’t expect Orga to not throw in Tekkadan into a high risk battle when that’s what all he and Mika has been doing since they were young. In short, child soldiers are fucked in the head and need therapy/PSTD councelling. If they were well adjusted individuals, child soldiers all over the world would have dropped their weapons and surrendered instead of pointlessly dying for a cause that even their handlers may not have believed in.
Again could not have picked more the wrong type of person here to give this blogging job too. Why is Enzo doing this series and not some melodrama or artsy type show? Hell I’d even take Stilts instead I think.
One point that I found laughable was when Enzo accused this show being sexist even though he throughly enjoys female objectification in ecchi shows.
I’m glad to see there’s some that see the BS he’s spewing here. I thought everyone here adored all reviewers or something…then again I have never had issues with the views of any reviewer on this blog since for the shows i watched anyways they had been based on logic and had common sense…Enzo’s just spewing something else.
It’s disappointing to see Enzo playing Mr. Merribit and hand-wringing at length over something that actually has a pretty damn good foundation in character background and plot development. Personally, I don’t particularly care if Orga’s and Tekkadan boys’ words and actions make me warm and fuzzy inside, as long as what they’re saying and doing is plausible within the context of the story. I’d say it is, and it’s a waste to spend almost the entire review harping on this one point. It’s not like this episode didn’t have plenty of other stuff to criticize, if that’s what we’re into.
Something I’ve noticed increasing in frequency over the last few years is the reviewer who complains “I don’t know what this show INTENDED me to FEEL” or “I’m not sure what I was SUPPOSED to think.”
This sort of critical approach is occasionally interesting if evaluating a creator’s body of work, but mostly pointless in context of an individual project review. Often it just comes across as judgemental. Different people will react differently to the same things. Your review of a project should not depend on the motivation of the creator, but on how enjoyable, edifying, educational, humorous, titillating, moving, or otherwise valuable you found the work itself, or believe it will be to others.
It is, especially, kind of silly to worry about this in committee-based projects such as anime, when the concept of what a “show” intended is basically meaningless. The original source material (manga creator, light novel author, script writer of an original show) may have had one intent; the show runner and/or director a second intent, the episode director a third intent, the show’s sponsors a fourth (“sell more x”) and so on. There are perhaps a few original anime where the vision of a single person or group shines through making this a worthwhile question, but even in these cases, what they were actually intending to make people feel or think often has little to do with the work’s actual success or value (e.g., Evangelion) and is mostly a curiosity of interest to fans of a certain creator or studio.
I hope someone will post a good review in their comment like this one again.
https://randomc.net/2016/03/16/gundam-tekketsu-no-orphans-23/comment-page-1/#comment-2084627
wow one mobile suit rekt everyone in the battlefield. And why the hell is their so called comrade telling gajallhorn to run something like that if his purpose was to renew it isn’t he just using tekkadan and make them look like the bad guys at the same time he still wants them alive by joining in the battle? this episode is a mad house! a mad house !!
Its nice to have your impresions enzo, but could you talk more about the episode itself? a quick summary of all the events in the episode… because all i seem to read are frustrations, you barely talk about the interesting battles that take place, i preferred it when you said whats happening and when you guessed whats coming, instead of staying frustrated on 1 speech that happens during the episode :p
Enzo missing the forest for the trees again. This Okada obsession has to stop.
I don’t see how this show is sexist, or to Enzo’s degree. We have Lafta and Azee at frontline. We have Meribit acts as Orga’s mental balance (Alfred to Bruce Wayne sort of way), although not necessarily succeed in every argument given their different upbringings. Kudelia needed time to develope since she has always been sheltered her whole life. There’s also old comments about how little she contributed to Tekkadan until someone pointed out how much she actually did like funding the group, rationing them, doing laundry and schooling them. Not so flashy but I am sure that’s a load of works. And Atra…yeah this girl has taken beaten unflinched when being captured. Compare to predecessor of the franchise like 00 where Marina was written to babysitting kids the whole 2nd season (what a let down char build-up), girls in IBO have much more balanced and well-written roles.
Nope, didn’t puke at the speech. At some point, I couldn’t help but think that they were indeed going completely insane, permitting themselves to kamikaze at the enemy. Not to mention, the preview from the previous episode made me genuinely worried for this one, because while it didn’t show much, I did see metal parts flying around Eins’ unit, giving me the impression that someone was getting totaled, and indeed three people did.
Also, Kudelia being utterly useless? What kind of usefulness are you expecting from her? Are you like expecting her to go Lelouch Lamperouge and go something like “P1 to B6”, and see a unit blow up another one? I don’t understand. Just what is your definition of usefulness? The fact that she made several preparations to get to the city via train, without even having been on the planet for the first time in her existence doesn’t count as useful?
And you’re honestly expecting Kudelia to get in a mobile worker and fight? You’ve been complaining about cliche and cheesiness several times and having the diplomat go to battle doesn’t count as cheesy? I’m pretty sure this has been done to death before. That’s like playing a game of chess and having your king take the front line. Unless that leader goes by the name Lelouch Lamperouge, I don’t think that will be vaguely possible.
Not to mention, Tekkadan has a job of escorting her safely to where she needs to go. Even if she wanted to, I don’t think any of them would let her, considering that they have a job of making sure she reaches her destination without being encased in a body bag. Maybe next time we should berate refugees for hiding and not helping soldiers fight off enemies.
I get it isn’t right to have kids fight, but just what do you want them to do at this point? Lower their weapons and surrender? At this point, they’re going to be beaten, abused and sold out as Space Debris again. If your could give as a better alternative for the situation, then please indulge and elaborate. The review has only been giving mostly what’s wrong with everything, but almost never any idea how to make it right.
Throughout these reviews, I’ve been TRYING to see things from your point of view and I was going “Yeah, I guess this point does indeed make some sense and does point out some flaws”. However, these last two reviews have just left me scratching my head, wondering “What the hell are you talking about?” I’ve come to a point where I’m not even mad, but just amused at how odd this review is.
THIS. You’ve said everything I wanted to say about this blog post.
About Enzo’s claim of sexism, Boo’s response is perfect. The Turbine girls, Atra on the front wheel, Biscuit taking a non-combatant role, what on earth prompted him to scream sexism?
And claming Kudelia is useless. She saved Tekkadan during the Dort revolt back then, not with a mobile suit, but with her words. Her battlefield is in the diplomat’s office and feats can be done there that can never be accomplished even with a dozen Gundams.
Perhaps you think it’s unfair that young boys are risking their lives and she’s not? (maybe that prompted that “stuff her in a mobile worker and make her fight” thought)
She’s risking her life with all the others when she got on to that truck with Atra and Makanai. And I’m pretty sure she showed that she’s no coward when confronting a rabid Ein. (what a prick)
As for Orga’s actions up to this point, these aren’t the actions of a hero wannabe. He took Makanai’s request so that Tekkadan could get refuge from Gjallarhorn’s relentless pressure (if they succeed). That last-charge attack move was only played after 3 days of non-stop fighting.
Gjallarhorn, repeatedly kept backing and backing them into a corner and really, this is the only move they could make with a time limit looming over them. Retreat or surrender or fight, Gjallarhorn’s response would be the same: gun them all down.
As for his speech, you need to look again at where these boys came from. Look at their life in CGS. Fighting and dying at the whims and commands of some smug prick from above. But now what they’re fighting for is completely different. They now fight as comrades, with a leader that genuinely cares about them and their lives. Enzo, you have your family, Tekkadan is their’s.
As for dying so that the survivor’s smile could be brighter, I liken it to the reason an ordinary french commoner would gladly face down the armies of the french kings without fear of death; they do it so that their children won’t have to live in a world where one can put in jail for 17 years for a loaf of bread. That’s the reasoning and wishes I got from that.
Yes, Ms. Merrebit. This is wrong. But the world is wrong too for allowing this sort of situation to happen in the first place. This is the world of Iron Blooded Orphans.
Of course they have to fight. Because the only other option is to roll over and die.
For this episode, it’s as if the writer’s realized that they haven’t killed off enough Tekkadan characters, so they decided to do it in this episode (not that I’m complaining).
The only issue I have with this review is that it only focused on the speech, while there were other interesting things that occurred in this episode (like the Turbine girls possibly being “Shrike’d”, as one viewer puts it.
Maybe you felt like this because this fiction is turning quite real at the end (though I bet Makanai could have some other way to deal with the situation). This is just like a crossover of Gundam and Beasts of no Nation, showing the kind of war that is not written in books and not told in tales.
The speech wasn’t made for us to feel empathy or something like it. It was to fill the kids with rage and hope, what most terrorist groups do best. The fact that kids lives are at stake turn us even more enraged than the kids, but it was a good thing IMO.
And the fact that there was no sewers for them to go through, oh my Gosh I loved the fact that they hadn’t needed to use stupid sewers to outsmart Gjallarhorn or something like that. Nice one Gundam: Beasts of no Tekketsu no Nation no Orphans.
Gotta agree on this .. Beasts of no Nation is really a “punch in the gut”, and like you said .. this episode felt a lot like Beasts of no Nation .. not just for having child soldiers but for putting the ugliness of war (specially one involving child soldiers) into our faces and rubbing it hard, both the speech of Orga and the massacre of the Tekkadan child soldiers after that on the bridge (there is no other name for it really) reminded me of a the similar bridge scene from Beasts of no Nation .. that was one hell of scene really, the utter chaos, the way the commandant riled up the child soldiers and led them straight into the fray to take the bridge.. it’s all there .. Orga is already reminding me a lot of the amazing commandant played by Idris Alba, their motives are vastly different but their methods are pretty much identical.
Let’s see… Okada went full A/Z on this episode. Of all the series that could be used to “extract” something, they went for one of the worst ever. GJ.
Aside the attempt to copy Victory Gundam’s Shrike Team, Gaielo going WWF (It’s me, Austin!) and the aid of Cain of Robocop 2, IBO continues to show little to nothing in terms of caring about Mika and the main cast. I still don’t understand this fixation on sociopaths and wannabe-terrorists as MC’s.
“I still don’t understand this fixation on sociopaths and wannabe-terrorists as MC’s.”
Yeah, sure. Abused and broken children who just want to make money to have a better life and for their family by accepting a job of escorting a harmless and well-intentioned diplomat to Earth are wannabe-terrorists and not the organization who attacked them first and have been hunting them and tried to murder them all since episode 01. Yes, of course these children who have done nothing but defending themselves from Gjallarhorn’s attacks are clearly the bad guys who spread terror to people. /sarcasm
Spare me the sarcasm, since Pinky and The Brain are clearly not good guys at all, not when Mika can kill anything and not feel at least some sort of moral conflict, and Orga is just using him as a killing machine to fullfil his need to be on top
“Pinky and The Brain are clearly not good guys at all”
I never said that they’re good guys. They’re broken and messed up characters who have committed many crimes by our standards. But in order to survive in IBO’s insane world where outward racism (towards Martians, Space Rats, Human Debris and people with mechanical prosthetics) is a widely accepted practise and children are treated like trash and inhumanely exploited like cattle, our young protagonists need to be messed up too to survive this long. But no matter how messed up Tekkadan kids are, the show made it clear that most of their enemies are more hateful bastards and bigger assholes than them. That is the point of the story.
And here you are caling them wannabe-terrorists when the fact clearly shows that these kids are the ones who are mostly on the receiving end of numerous death threats and attempted murder and slaughter by the grown-ups with “bigger guns” who are in charge of the world they’re living in.
So Eins is essentailly Virtue Gundam and controlling one Big Mobile suit and one smaller mobile suit? Got a bit confusing there as the fight didn’t seem to clear
Enzo, this must be a real low point in your anime blogging career.
I take that Tekkadan’s view is disturbing at least BUT… this has been the recurring theme of this show since episode one so complaining this late (for me) is not actually the best criticism you can throw at this point.
Vomit inducing or not, I am going to take this one over Dimension W in any day because the show has fully explored its themes despite having some severely underdeveloped characters. I take a cohesive one over a scatterbrained series in the end.
WAIT DID I JUST READ YOU WANTED KUDELIA TO RIDE A GUNDAM?! What?! I am speechless. Darn it, that was totally inappropriate.
@all
Come on, this is not the first time he wrote that Kudelia should drive an Gundam or Mobile Worker.
It hit the wrong spot for me because he said Kudelia was useless in this series. I might have agreed if this is episode 16 but darn, give the poor girl the credit. Riding a Gundam is not the only way to fight, as proved by Biscuit.
i was with the ones that said that Kudelia’s Gundam or Mobile Worker are her Political Power and Voice 🙂
So, overlook this little napalm of him, because he used it twice now
Someone else please review the final episode? Enzo’s reviews are trash.he is so disinterested in the show.
Here’s a review from a newspaper website (seriously) if you’re looking for an alternative take:
http://www.rgj.com/story/life/2016/03/20/gundam-iron-blooded-orphans-episode-24-future-reward-review-technobubble/82049368/
While I understand that to opine on philosophical nuance is kinda your blogging shtick, I would love if something other than that made it in. At the very least, change it up if a particular subject has already been addressed. I appreciate that this episode brought out the same emotions as the last one. However, to skip over possible character deaths and the possible political ramifications of gjallahorns overt obstruction of the political process to restate your disagreement was trying and uninteresting to this reader.
So, when they deliver their “Cargo” do he automatic return to power? This is what disturbing me. “bring me just to the City!”, i think their service will continue “Now i am here, Protect me until i have Power!. be my Bodyguards.. oh and defend the army that are after my head, will ya?”
Since they decide to be also the Hope of the Dort Workers, beside for Mars. i could life with it. But then this selfish bluff and blackmailing to go back to power (+combined with the death flags all around) the Show took an path, that i do not like anymore. But i wish this Anime here all luck it needs, but in the end they used the same old story lines, just packed as old whine in new hoses (aka. New Outside but the same old inside)
This is a rare time I feel compelled to write a comment because this review was so so way off the mark. Is seeing very realistic devastation and seeing raw emotions so hard to accept?
In many ways, Gundam Tekketsu is quite a good attempt to display all the emotions of war and this episode did it very well. Gundam we can all accept is ridiculous and probably not the most practical fighting form or scientifically possible in at least the next few hundreds years. Certainly, the episode on Fumitan dying was absolutely bollocks, which certainly has affected your judgement here. However, you only got it right at the end. This is nauseating. This is war. Also, your claims of sexism is seriously wtf? The the only reasons that the men are supposedly more invloved in fighting is
1) they have zero regard for their lives, which are seens as disposable from the start, and it’s the only thing they know
2) They are fricking made to fight with serious body modifications. What more do you what? would it make sense to make all the child soldiers women? Complete with a variety of style such as lolicon, dumb blonde, tsundere, etc?
This episode was made to the viewer feel the rage. Feel that indignity the characters are forced to face. It has succeeded, so don’t try to discredit it just because you have some reputation and pride that you are trying to cling on to.
Certainly this was a really terrible review. Please, I really hope to come back to read reviews on this site and get good insight on anime. Not some hackey opinion while waving your disco stick at anything you see.
Even before this episode was over, one quote kept replaying in my head over and over again:
“They may take our lives, but they will never take our freedom!!!!!”
This was such a heartpounding episode, never before in Gundam, have I felt such feeling and such tension for the common soldier. This is not just about the star mobile suit pilots, this is about the entire group, the entire organization, all of Tekkadan fighting together to give themselves a better tomorrow.
No longer is this about revenge, this is about survival, about pushing forward to a better future, about not rolling over and letting the bullies step on you. Tekkadan swore to finish the job, and finish the job they shall. Even if they all must die, they will continue to push forward for a better tomorrow for those that did survive.
It’s been a long time since I’ve felt a real “battle zone” feel from a mech series, but IBO accomplished that. Gjallerhorn is only biding for time, not realizing that they are sacrificing their lives for the whims of one man that is trying to gain more and more power unto himself. And so for three days, Tekkadan has battled Gjallerhorn in an attempt to break through and get Makanai to the church on time. They haven’t had much rest and little food, and they can’t send in their mobile suits because of the effect the Ahab reactors would have. They are low on everything, including manpower, and so Orga has to make some heartbreaking decisions. He knows that many will die on his orders, but it’s there only way right now. Gjallerhorn will never let them go, and they have sworn to finish this job, and finish they shall.
Orga is shaken by what he knows he must do, but Mika encourages him. They have trusted him with everything they are, he can trust them to get the job done.
And so, Orga makes the best speech in the whole darn series and asks them to risk their lives with him in order to make a better tomorrow for Tekkadan.
Merribit is once again against this, but what do you want him to do exactly? He can’t back down, he can’t run away. There is no way around it, except forward. And this is for more than just Tekkadan, all of Mars and the other parts of the Outer Sphere all ride on this. Someone on MAL actually pointed out something interesting in that, Merribit is really learning the same lesson that Kudelia learned way back in the beginning of the show. At the start, it was she who was saying how wrong it was and that they should think more of their own lives, and it was Mika that taught her that sure his life is important, but so is everyone else’s out there, and so he is willing to risk it to protect others. Notice now, that while Kudelia does bear looks of hardened despair similar to what Orga has at times, she no longer says anything. She has learned that lesson. That sure is wrong, but it’s a wrong world they live in. It’s wrong, but they are from a part of a world that has been wrong since the beginning. They don’t have any choices left. Even if it’s wrong, it’s still what must be done.
Tekkadan reminds me of revolutionaries from something like Les Miserables, or pretty much any American Revolution war movie. They are outnumber and out gunned and yet still they go on. And that tree of liberty still has to be watered from time to time…
Eugene, Chad, Dante, and even the kids from the Brewers have come to help, as they just found their place and don’t want to lose it. This is a fight for their survival as well.
Gaelio and Ein come on the scene, and it becomes obvious that Ein is pretty much insane at this point. They take down Azee, Lafter, and Shino. I’m not sure if they are all dead, but it is quite likely.
He then goes to take down Kudelia who has gotten into the city, but she is having none of this. I love her attitude here. Atra, Mika, and Orga though come to her rescue as Ein goes to kill her. Mika left the fighting of Gaelio, to McGillis and his Grimgarde that has now arrived at the scene.
How will this all end? Makanai will obviously get there in time, Mika will have to fight and destroy Ein in one last battle. Gaelio and McGillis will have to fight, and I don’t think Gaelio will win this one. Someone has to take the reigns of Gjallerhorn.
Unless…McGillis all this time has been grooming Gaelio to take this spot? We’ll have to see.
I don’t know if this series will have a second season. But even if it doesn’t I won’t mind if they end it next week with Tekkadan winning and Makanai becoming PM once more.
Wow Great review & analysis. This should have been THE review for this ep.
I think i have to agree on this, that’s exactly how i felt about the episode, very good review by IreneSharda.
Arigato, I DO do reviews for another anime blogging site, though we haven’t covered this episode yet. 🙂
Though, I will also say, that while Guardian and I do happen to be on opposite sides on this episode, he does a really good job a lot of the time and I constantly frequent his own personal site as well as this one.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Ein’s own actions in thoughtlessly bringing his mobile suit into the city (which also showed how the Ahab Reactor is almost like an EMP for normal electronics if the lights and other power going out was any indication), especially as it was simply out of a now-psychotic need for revenge, will most likely end up getting Gjallarhorn condemned by others and possibly play into Makanai getting re-elected given the opposition supports Gjallarhorn.
Most of my other thoughts are already mentioned in other posts.
Its all McGilis’ plan.
He is orchestrating the fall of the current Gjallarhorn.
Ein with that power rush went all out.
First he has the A.V System which Earth don’t like, then he goes off with the MS into the city which is a taboo.
Perhaps he knows what his father is doing too, expose it too.
He brought up Kudelia and Tekkadan, how will he use them next?
How will he realize his Gjallarhorn?
I came back to see if Enzo was still blogging this series and I find this hilarious post. Bravo dude, you’ve clearly established that you should have never blogged this series, and possibly should never blog again. You never stopped furiously jacking off to the concept of Okada and Nagai working on a Gundam series, and then when they shockingly produced a Gundam series full of Gundam, you curled up into a ball and cried. Any respect I ever had for you is gone. At this point, I’m starting to believe you enjoy all this. You enjoy the attention, the hate, like some masochistic pervert. How about you just retire. You clearly don’t give a shit, so why should we give a shit about you?
This is going way too far for a comment even if you disagree with how Enzo reviews the series. There’s just so much hatred in your post without even trying to hold a coherent thought. I half expected you to blurt “I hate you! You’re full of boogers!!!! at the end. I don’t agree with Enzo’s reviews either but you’re taking it waaay too far.
This is GUNDAM!!!!!
::kicks::
https://randomc.net/image/Gundam%20Tekketsu%20no%20Orphans/Gundam%20Tekketsu%20no%20Orphans%20-%2024%20-%20Large%20Preview%2001.jpg
When you use Viagra wrong…
(sorry could not resist)
In a lot of ways I feel that this Gundam series is a reaction to what has become a common anime trope that previous Gundam series have used a lot. Namely, making the age of the main character the same as the target audience. American media does this too but lets focus on anime today. A lot of different series will create some scenario where a kid ends up getting to pilot some revolutionary new mech, riggs it so no one else can use it and ends up extremely talented at it. This trope on it’s own is fine but after a while it gets almost silly. This series seems intent on punching the audience in the teeth with some more plausible realities of children fighting in a real war. The end result is disgusting. It is not wrong to feel that way either. With a slightly different tone this series could be a satire.
Well, to be fair, there is usually SOMETHING that made that younger protagonists piloting the primary Gundam somewhat believable if one can suspend their disbelief a bit.
Amuro’s father, Tem Ray, was the lead engineer on Project V and Amuro also had the aid of an instruction manual, but at least he wasn’t a total expert piloting the RX-78-2 Gundam at first either. It was largely just luck coupled with the more advanced weaponry and armor of the Gundam itself for a time that allowed him to survive long enough to develop his piloting skill as well as his eventual Newtype power to where Amuro ended up surpassing even the Gundam’s performance (which is what lead to the magnetic coating application in the latter half of the series)
Kamille was already designing and building Junior Mobile Suits for competitions (even won awards before, and I wouldn’t be surprised if a number of general controls of a Junior Mobile Suit are similar if not the same as a combat one) and, as we learn when he hijacks the RX-178 Gundam Mark II, he also had stolen the Mark II’s data from his father’s computer. Kamille even designed the Zeta Gundam from scratch on his own time and it was good enough to impress even engineers at Anaheim Electronics to where they actually created it for him.
Somewhat like Kamille, Judau was also well-versed in piloting Junior and Worker Mobile Suits as his work in the junkyard of Shangri-La required him to use one, but as we see early on, when it came to combat, he tended to stumble or make mistakes at times early on (like having a little trouble with the Zeta Gundam taking hold of its beam rifle when preparing to launch or forgetting to have the beam rifle recharged).
Seabook Arno’s mother was the creator of the bio-computer that’s used in the Gundam F90II and F91 while Seabook himself was an engineering student, but of course, the bio-computer (and creative use of the F91 later) is largely what allowed Seabook to survive initially followed by (unofficially) ten years of combat against the Jupiter Empire helping to hone his piloting skills.
The only one that really comes off as pretty unbelievable in the Universal Century era is Uso Ewing in Victory Gundam given, as far as we know, he himself has no up-close or hands-on experience with any kind of mobile suit. We only have his mother, who worked for what remained of Anaheim Electronics and developed the Victory 2 Gundam for him, and his father being the secret leader of the League Militaire. Though from something I read on the wiki, a fan theory/unused production idea could be at least a fraction of an answer;
“Many fans of the Gundam series believe Üso to be the great-grandson of another character, Char Aznable. This is due to the last name of Ewin’s mother being “Miguel”, which is the same as Char’s last lover, Nanai Miguel from Mobile Suit Gundam: Char’s Counterattack. Also, the timeframe (sixty years had passed between both series) also gives the theory some weight. However, Yoshiyuki Tomino, the creator of the Gundam series, has denied such a theory as being true, though the production group planned to use this idea.”
Can’t really give any “realistic” thought on G Gundam aside from just master martial arts training and such because of how purposely over-the-top it’s meant to be, lol.
The Gundam Wing boys were most likely trained quite hard (how hard probably depended on the scientists, like Heero was probably trained extremely hard by Doctor J, but Quattre probably was treated “lighter” by comparison) to prepare them for Operation Meteor before the scientists had the boys go rogue on its original purpose.
Garrod Ran’s deceased father was a United Nations Earth technician and he himself learned to repair machinery and pilot mobile suits while still young, and following his mother’s death at the hands of mobile suit-using raiders, he had learned to survive by capturing/stealing mobile suits from various people and selling them on the black market (while also knowing a good bit of espionage).
All we know with Loran is that he apparently had a proficiency with machines, but I suppose it simply came down to practicing during downtime given the time he spent helping with excavations using the Turn A Gundam after the Moonrace invasion.
Funnily enough, Kira Yamato is one of the only SEED/SEED Destiny characters that doesn’t make much sense in being able to pilot a mobile suit so well so quickly. All we can really say is “because he’s a Coordinator”, but at least Athrun and others have had combat and mobile suit training along with being Coordinators. Even Cagalli probably spent time in simulators (as well as benefiting from Kira’s developed Natural OS) before piloting the Strike Rouge like we saw with her using the one for the Sky Grasper while on the Archangel (and doing well).
Like the Gundam boys, I’d expect the boys of Celestial Being to have been extensively trained to prepare for their mission.
Flit Asuno was a genius who personally developed the Gundam AGE and the AGE Builder while also quickly awakening his X-Rounder abilities. Asemu, however, had to simply work his ass off from the ground up (honing his own natural ability rather than becoming an X-Rounder), and Kio was more or less manipulated by Flit as a child (Flit having given him a mobile suit simulator under the guise of a video game) while also having awakened his X-Rounder abilities early on (though not developed).
And even here, it’s a combination of experience with worker mobile suits and, for some anyway, the Alaya-Vijnana System itself, which can allow even someone with no mobile suit experience to be able to pilot the mobile suit they’re plugged into for combat without any training (obviously it wouldn’t be as good as someone who is experienced though).
…not perfect explanations but again, if you can suspend your disbelief then most of the young Gundam protagonists make at least some sense.
The word that I always come back to with this series is “clunky.”
I see that as the main reason why it’s become so divisive between everyone, with some seeing it as great, and others as total crap. I can see both sides, as there are parts of this that I enjoy, but also parts that annoy me. It can, however, be hard, with the type of problems here, to put into words exactly what the issue is. It’s not clear cut. Many times in watching this series I can see what it was that they were going for, but they just didn’t execute as well as they could have, so, for some people, it ends up coming off as if they’ve missed the mark completely, while others may take to that kind of dialogue and see no problems, b/c they picked up easily on what was meant to be being expressed.
I guess you could say that part of what annoys me so much about this series is that I’m capable of seeing how great it COULD be, but isn’t. It’s pretty good, but it could be one of the greats.
Agreed. It downgraded itself to just good. IBO could have been great given its themes.
I always liked to come here and read the review since your take on the series was drastically different than mine. Reading the review and the following comments was nice since it gave me a different perspectives to consider and, occasionally, pointed out something I would have otherwise missed. That said, I’m disappointed that you thought to call it sexist and I feel like you missed the mark on some of the current motivations.
That speech, to me, was supposed to be just as crazy as it sounded, but I feel like you’re discrediting it for the wrong reasons. It’s not a speech of resignation, or something born out of desperation. It’s to get them to remember who, or more specifically, what they are now. They’re not the debris that served as decoys to save fleeing adults anymore. They are their own outfit, with their own mission and, after everything that went down, they’re going to do their utmost to ensure it’s accomplished. If they die, they die on their terms. If they die, then it’s for the sake of Tekkadan. If they die, then it’s for the future of their family. Merribit’s crying has merit because it’s frustrating to see good kids just trying to carve their niche be resigned to such a fate, but she knows and understands just as much as Orga that they didn’t have any other options lest they end up apprehended or worse.
And I don’t get the sexism accusation, either? I get that people may be turned off by the harem, but I feel like the series did a pretty good job at not boxing females into merely being weak girls in need of saving. There are plenty of strong women in the cast capable of putting up a fight, but, naturally, special attention falls on Kudelia. I don’t think of her as a weak character. She was sheltered, and, even then, showed an ambition to be more than your typical princess type. Early on she didn’t have much to offer, but did what meager things she could to help despite being the client. Her strength isn’t in combat, and it shouldn’t be.
Ultimately, the undercurrent in this series that draws me in is the theme of the users and the used. Kudelia isn’t to blame of all this strafe. Her naive attempt to boldly intervene set up a stage, but the machinations of real players behind the scenes are to blame more than anything else. I can’t fault her for having pure intentions. Kudelia, and Tekkadan by proxy, getting caught in the gears is just a result of obvious inexperience, but watching them resist, and, eventually, grow is what I enjoy about the series.
Yeah. Kudelia, pretty much alone, is leading a true revolution, mobilizing armies, people, the media, politians, unions… And hell, the establishment is tottaly afraid of her.
And after everything, she still goes there and saying: “hell yeah, motherfucker, I’m not giving up!”.
And the men in the series are like: “Hell yeah, Kudelia, let’s fuckin’ do this!”.
Really, how is that being weak?
Just because she’s not piloting a mobile armor?
C’mon, she’s not a soldier, there’s no point in wanting her to fight with a gun. He author of the post is just being simplistic.
That’s why it’s been said a number of times in previous episodes; that Kudelia “has [her] own battlefield” and, as you and others have said, that is NOT on the battlefield where guns are blazing and things are exploding but rather on the diplomatic stage. And as the saying has generally gone, words can be just as powerful if not stronger than any weapon and we see that in action when the group leaves the Dort colonies. Despite all the fighting back done by the workers using violence, it was Kudelia’s WORDS that made Gjallarhorn freeze in its tracks and allow the group to escape.
Orga is a fast learner, usually it takes insane generals years to finely hone the ability to talk child soldiers into willingly throwing away their lives for a cause.
Well it helps that he actually leads and fights with them at the front lines. Hard not to respect that kind of leader.
You should watch Beasts of no Nation, it has a fantastic character that’s a lot like Orga, it’s on Netflix.
On a completely unrelated note to the discussion here, the episode decently portrays both the central Albertan terrain and actual provincial legislature in Edmonton, down to the room layout and decor (see enough newscasts and premier speeches and you learn quite a bit :P). It’s surprising considering most people outside of Canada probably couldn’t even locate Edmonton on a map.
Still finding it funny how Edmonton of all places was chosen as the capital for a pan-Pacific state too 😛
Maybe one of the staff members is a fan of the Oilers? Only reason I can think of why a Japanese person would choose Edmonton
“I can’t be the only one who wanted to puke during that inspirational speech, can I?”
I guess you’ve been watching too many anime with the typical shounen heroes, who don’t want to hurt anyone and are always fair and fighting for justice to save the world.
The speech was awesome and he just said what everyone was already thinking. Those guys are one, those guys are soldiers.
Yeah, letting kids dies is not good… But they are at war. What they’re doing tottaly makes sense in the context they are in.
You can’t ask them to be politically correct…
“for being one of the most spectacularly sexist shows I’ve seen in years”
C’mon, SJW here? C’mon, dude, c’mon… I’m sorry, but… Just… Don’t…
http://nopybot.com/2016/03/20/gundams-in-edmonton/
Can’t believe somebody actually did a frame by frame comparison of Edmonton in IBO and IRL. My apartment is a block north of where Eins landed, so fortunately from the looks of it, Mika and Eins went east instead of north.
Here’s the bottom line for me. These kids’ lives aren’t disposable.
Which is why Merribit was crying.
The detail you’ve never been able to wrap your head around since the beginning of the show is that the primary cast is largely a bunch of abused children trying to rationalize their experiences in a world that’s declared them “human debris”; literally waste. They’ve been told all their life they’re disposable, they’ve been treated as trash, why are you suddenly expecting them to go “oh, wait, being asked to be a human target sounds bad” now? Was there a sustained period in the entire series where anyone worked to undo the psychological and emotional damage that’s been done to them I missed somewhere?
Heeeeelllllll noooooooo. Everyone’s been too busy taking advantage of their single minded wish to become “important” for their own agendas. Including Orga and Mika who have their own agenda that clearly started long before they were paired with this group of pawns.
So, you’ve got Orga basically doubling down on everything they’ve been told all their lives as “motivation” and the only actual adults in the room being told to STFU by the rest of the childrens crusade the second they try to intervene. Why? Because despite your assertion otherwise, there’s not a damned one of them that believes what you do.
Now you can throw up.
I honestly wouldn’t even say that Mika and Orga are using them. If they were, they would be on the sidelines like Makanai is, telling them kids what to do, rather than fighting there right on the front lines with them. Don’t forget that it was Orga who came up with the idea of Tekkadan in the first place, and Mika is basically his weapon to get things done. Both of them started out alone as a pair to find some place to call their own, but as Orga has said, he’s now going to make that dream include all of Tekkadan. He and Mika are as much a part of Tekkadan as Ride or any of the other kids.
This is the reason why I don’t post much for the past two-episode reviews. Enzo’s reviews has gone the “WTF are you talking about?”-route that I just lost interest to address and confront it. Thank heavens there are still other people in this comment section who are willing to do that and shows how good IBO really is. Cookies for you all (no pun intended, unless you want it).
“Why don’t you get in one of those goddam mobile workers yourself and put it on the line?” is another thought that crossed my mind, believe me.”
Yes, he did. He got in one of the Mobile Workers and risking his life too to escort Tekkadan’s most important clients (Kudelia & Makanai). He’s not saving his own skin. Orga’s convoy is the main target that all Gjallrhorn’s cannons and rifles are aiming for. Also, did you forgot how Orga told Naze the first time he met him that he’ll try his best to bring Tekkadan kids to a good place where they belong, but if that can’t be done then he’ll keep fighting with Tekkadan until the last person and die with them?
“what Orga should be trying to do is find a place that they can worry about returning too later. “
Yeah, in an ideal world. But the world they live in and the situation they’re now in is not so ideal that they have the luxury to back down or surrender. The very reason Tekkadan is holding out for three days is because Orga didn’t want to sacrifice the lives of the children and attempt to go with other methods to went pass Gjallrhorn’s defenses, but reality denied him the choice. If Orga didn’t care about those kids’ lives, he’d nonchalantly went with this reckless plan from day one. Heck, this episode even shows how much in pain he really is when he’s forced to go with this “Kamikaze-mission” simply because there’s no other choice. Unless they have some political protection (from Makanai once he won the election), Gjallarhorn will keep hunting them all down and slaughter them no matter where they run. Don’t forget that their main Tekkadan office on Mars is safe from Gjallarhorn only coz Teiwaz is now protecting it thanks to their pact with Naze & McMurdo. Without Tekkadan’s alliance to Teiwaz, Dexter and the rest of the kids on the old CGS base on Mars would’ve been bullied, captured and killed by Gjallarhorn now.
At this point, I don’t care anymore. RandomC can use Enzo to write all future Gundam reviews as click-baits for all I care. But don’t expect most of the readers to enjoy it. Negative reviews can still be good reviews. But what Enzo did to Gundam are not even good reviews.
You know what? It’s probably my brain-fart or maybe me being a bit sleepy when I read the review but I just realized that this line from Enzo:
““Why don’t you get in one of those goddam mobile workers yourself and put it on the line?” is another thought that crossed my mind, believe me.”
…was directed at Kudelia (hence my reaction in my post above). I thought it was directed at Orga (which is already bad enough) but, wow, that’s just made my impression to his review even worse.
Well….having been lurking and reading here and there for a long time made me able to at least known or familiarized with his tastes in anime-manga, so it’s not surprise me to see his view so far on IBO, though honestly I didn’t know that he would really hate or didn’t like this episode a lot like that (regarding his comment on the series being sexist), so it still kind of suprising me in a way. I also have some things here and there that didn’t impress me on IBO, but I certainly have a different views regarding sexims and feminism than Enzo, and despite my problem with how Kudelia mainly being portrayed or executed especially in the beginning through the last quarter of the series, I guess I never had the impression that this series being in anyway sexist.
Oh well, he has his own opinion and I have mine, and it’s not like this is the first time that I totally disagree with his reviews anyway. I guess he just prefer (loved) a story the most on his mecha series in the vein of boy fated meeting with a mysterious girl and boy’s journey to become a “GAR” man through those meeting ala Eureka Seven and TTGL.
“I can’t be the only one who wanted to puke during that inspirational speech, can I?”
Well, appearantly there are more people out there now who want to puke at another speech…I’m sorry, Enzo, I liked your reviews for some time, and I even read them on your own side so Im writing this comment not only based on your reviews of this show.
It’s like you’re only able to jugde a show based on its political correctness. This is “sexist”, that is “nationalist”. Politics do matter, but if you only want to write about PC, maybe you should do just that. I wouldn’t read it though.
“At the series itself for being one of the most spectacularly sexist shows I’ve seen in years.”
Because she’s crying over the wanton child soldiers in the service of a madman she once respected?
My god you must be the most sheltered anime viewer on earth then.This isn’t even the most sexist show this season.
The majority of the woman in it are portrayed as strong willed,committed, and competent either in a battle or outside of it (and the situations they’re in seem completely believable for the most part).That’s far more than I can say for the endless flow of fanservice over the last few years.
“Why don’t you get in one of those goddamn mobile workers yourself and put it on the line?”
Because she would get killed IMMEDIATELY since she has no combat expertise which would make the entire point of travelling to earth pointless. Not to mention that it would be out of character for her to get into any weapon whatsoever.We have female combatants in the show but she isn’t one of them. It’s like saying why isn’t “Winry going out to fight the homunculi too. God she’s useless.”.
Her strength isn’t in combat and you should’ve realized that a while ago. At best she’s the politician using words to further her agenda.
This gives me the impression Enzo’s view of femininity is the deeply flawed and superficial idea that for a show/story/comic not to be sexist they have to make every female character an amazon with muscular traits, combat experience and make her fight everything in sight like Rambo … that’s sadly a laughable childish representation of femininity.
I’ll leave this here in case someone wants to actually have an idea about some examples of movies and TV shows which wrote a non-sexist story with strong female characters without making them all into amazons.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dszVJI-IX9I
So, many just want to reply to Enzo’s blog, why not about the episode? Do you come here to bash only him now?
Could we get some lesser fanboyism and more discussion about this episode please?
I felt like I had to comment more on his review than the actual episode since his criticism seemed unwarranted to say the least. Don’t get me wrong. I’m a fan, but that’s why I felt like I had to leave a comment.
Having a negative reaction to the speech is completely understandable, and I really felt that it was supposed to draw that kind of feeling. Everything else in the review just didn’t make sense to me. It’s cool if he doesn’t like Kudelia, but useless? Also, I couldn’t disagree more with the sexist accusation.
I’m not hating on him. I just want a return to his more objective ways. I never expected the same guy that was thought broad enough to include tendencies of the staff in his critique would end up making what I feel like is a thoughtless claim.
There are not many discussions on the anime itself because his review came up late.
I think most who posted here already had done extensively on other forums.
its more so that he’s been doing this for a while for this series and he’s kind of the starter of the discussion. I also think you neglect the amount of people that will just take the words of whomever is at a *convenient position* without ever thinking about it, so discussing or at least mentioning what other side or view Enzo may be ignoring IS part of the discussion I believe.
Kind of lost as the episode started in the midst of things.
I thought it felt rushed. Was it not important?
Theres the feeling I had missed something.
The fight is brutal, child soldiers dieing.
Marribit is on the verge of breaking, I thought she could switch sides or something.
But in Tekkadan people support each other, Nadi calms her down.
If Orga really go mad he would be Ali al-Saachez 😛
Luckily he has Mikazuki to confide in and Mikazuki encouraged him.
Eugene and crew appears?
How did they come down from space?
Ok…Montag Company.
(Maybe the side story guys will get caught up with the Montag Company.)
Ein is really brutal, the power rush turning him into a rampaging titan.
Sad that the 3 had to die like that T^T
The ture form of the A.V System?
How will Mikazuki go against that?
Perhaps he will evolve to the real form of A.V System like how Setsuna triumphs Ribbons?
The Garma moment next episode?
McGilis vs Gaelio.
McGilis took Tekkadan’s side.
Perhaps he wants to expose his father’s involvement?
Make the current Gjallarhorn look bad?
Will he prop his best friend high up with great heroic words then make him a sacrifice for path to the New Gjallarhorn?
Makanai, looks like he will retake Arbrau.
Will he give Tekkadan a place in Arbrau?
So Carta died?
Yes, Carta died, as Gali Gali was carrying her mobile suit. One of the indications of “about to die” in anime is those dark patcher around the eyes (like eyebags)– Biscuit had them, and yes Carta had them too.
If Kudelia Leading tekkadan to escape from their trenches of Hell/desperation/and general wasted future into the world to fight for their independence from corruption and greed of the Powers that Be is sexist, then i don’t know what sexism is and I had to double check the definition on google again after having written a paper on that same topic back in college so I don’t think I’m any newer or greener to the word or concept than anyone else here.
She may be a princess trope but you can’t tell me she’s not done anything because the whole reason they are here right now is because they decided to follow her, heck they understood their current life had no meaning, they were fng DEBRIS!
I could be wrong but to me this has been a very down to earth or realistic (in terms of how corruption affects the rest and the emotions and struggles those at the bottom sometimes never have a chance to surmount due to the powers that be) Gundam series so far even down to the *no beams* weapons so far lol and I’ve seen almost all
https://randomc.net/image/Gundam%20Tekketsu%20no%20Orphans/Gundam%20Tekketsu%20no%20Orphans%20-%2024%20-%20Large%2007.jpg
She better not be dead! I may not remember her name but she’s my favorite character in the entire series!
Her name is Lafta. I hope so too but I cross my finger. That drill looks pretty damn vicious and with the scream and blood splatter and all….urg.
Can anyone explain to me the sexism thing here because I’m trying to look at it from different angles but I can’t quite see it, even when I try to distort it in ways where it would seem sexist I can’t buy it. Is it because the two girls lost to Mr.Crazy pants or because the other 3 girls don’t fight? I don’t care how BS the reasoning is I just wanna know the logic behind the claim.
Otherwise good episode, was kinda thrown off by the beginning, actually had to check if I missed an episode during that scene.
He wanted a girl like Kudelia to pilot mobile suit and hack/slash like Mika.
these 3 Taiwaz girls fill in for this gap. But they did not get his attention. Or should Kudelia be like Mika? an Bad Ass Pilot that show no mercy? Diplomat with War? Thats so out of character for her, that even an blind and deaf person can see that
so his desire for Kudelia beging in a Gundam an actually doing a fight (delivering an Gundam do not count), are Napalm baits
forgot to add:
while Stilts are our “God of War” aehm “God of Words” blogger, passerby is the Shakespeare funny guy, takaii the over90000 lucky guy and Samu being the Manga-chan (of course the others are also great), Enzo are trying to be the Mr. clickbait Star to be on the same level with them. Sure, but you know there are always 2 side of an coin. and the other side is called reputation
i hope i did not crush anyone bloggers feelings here? this is more not so serious posting of me. do not take it for granted everyone
I have enjoyed this series from the start but it makes me angry how Orga and Mikazuki are using the memories of their dead comrades as an excuse for this insanity. The relationship between Orga and Mika is sickening, Orga has transformed Mikazuki into a killing machine to create this dream using the corpses of friends and foes alike.
Tekkadan is the Black Company of anime. Also, that fight wasvawesome. I now christen Ein’s Graze as MonoEin.
Why am I not surprised that there are Zero Enzo replies in the comments section? That alone is proof that there’s something wrong, no matter what side you take.
Having an opinion doesn’t preclude you from having terrible taste. I’d almost forgotten Enzo thought season two of Aldnoah.Zero was better than season one, but here again he demonstrates he likes his anime bland, terribly written, and toeing the vanilla line.
Stories are not made worse because its characters are morally ambiguous. Writing is not better when it echoes the same message over and over. Art does not suffer because it tries to escape some notion of ideology – misguided or otherwise.
It’s sad that one shallow opinion that completely lacks for analysis can ruin the reputation of this site, the other bloggers on it, and its long legacy.
I only left this Picture link for you.
http://i.imgur.com/gDitysg.jpg
and for fans capable of read Japan
https://twitter.com/meron83t/status/714014014460702720
Can somebody tell GUARDIAN ENZO to post the final episode (of the 1st season) faster?? The final episode was brutal!