First Impressions / Gundam

We open with Martin DaCosta (remember him? Andy’s number two) digging through information in the Mendel colony. As he leaves, he’s spotted by a hidden scout. On the Eternal, Lacus is worried about Gilbert’s plans and the future since Heaven’s Base has now fallen. On Earth, we find that Jibril did indeed escape, and is headed to ORB, where Jona and his father are waiting to greet him. Shinn is angry that he got away and promises to crush his enemies. At their hidden base, Kira tells Murrue that he is afraid he can’t protect everyone, but she tells him to wait for Lacus to come back.

Athrun and Cagalli have a long chat in the sick bay. Cagalli mentions that Meyrin has a fever, but should be fine. They apologize to each other for what they’ve done (Cagalli almost getting married, what Athrun said when he met with Kira and Cagalli on the island). Cagalli worries about LOGOS and everything going on to which Athrun says it’s definately not the end yet.

Back on the Eternal, DaCosta arrives and shows Lacus and Andy a notebook he found with the words “Destiny Plan” in bright red. As they’re examining it, an alarm goes off when the scout from before destroys a perimeter camera. Andy is ready to go out in the Gaia, but Lacus orders the launch of the Eternal in order to protect the factory producing DOMs.

In the ArchAngel, Kira learns that the Eternal has launched. He immediately heads to the bridge and gets permission to launch in the Strike Rouge (outfitted in boosters) after Athrun relays a message through Mwu/Neo that Lacus must be protected at all costs.

The battle in space starts as the three ZAFT ships launch several mobile suits. Andy heads out in the red Gaia as Kira launches from Earth. The new Gaia is doing decently, but as Andy is being overwhelmed, Strike roars by. Lacus is more than happy to see Kira, who quickly dispatches several suits, but gets heavily damaged blocking a shot directed at the Eternal. Andy tells him quickly get to the Eternal.

Kira and Lacus embrace as they see each other for the first time in a while – no kiss, but lots of hugging. Lacus leads Kira to a hanger where his new gundam, Strike Freedom, is held. Kira is happy that he can fight again, and promises that afterwords they can join everyone.

Enter Strike Freedom. Not only does it have rail guns, and dual rifles, but it also comes equipped with the DRAGOON bit system. Using these, Kira disables all of the enemy mobile suits, and the three capital ships. He doesn’t go into SEED mode, but does have a newtype reaction when he uses the DRAGOON system on the Nazca ships. As the battle ends, Kira and Lacus smile in each others directions.

Strike Freedom is finally here! Based on earlier spoilers, I was afraid that we’d have to wait until episode 42 for it to shine, but that is clearly not the case. And as expected, Strike Freedom kicks many levels of ass. On the subject though, I wonder if the newtype thing is the next step in SEED evolution. They’ve been doing it more and more this season, and Kira didn’t go into SEED mode this fight, instead having that reaction. This has been speculated on before, and I think this episode offers a lot to that argument.
There are several little things that made this episode even more interesting. After the scene between the sickbay and bridge of the ArchAngel, Murrue comments that Mwu/Neo remembered the bridge codes. Afterwords, Athrun thanks him, but gets corrected after he says Mwu’s rank instead of Neo’s rank. In the new OP, Mwu/Neo is in an ORB uniform, so we can safely assume that he eventually joins them. He’ll probably regain his memories, and I hope that he doesn’t have to die a second time, cause that would really suck.
It seems like Cagalli and Athrun are reconciled now. It still feels like their relationship isn’t nearly as close as it used to be or as close as, say, Lacus and Kira. I would have preferred maybe some tears on both their parts and some hugged and kissing (yes I know that sounds cheesy), but I’ll have to settle for this.
I’ve been listening to 君は僕に似ている ever since MakubeX2 found the full version. I’m really starting to like this song, though probably not as much as I liked the fourth GS ending (Find the Way).
So next episode has ZAFT attacking ORB from the looks of it, probably to get Jibril. We got a brief shot of Cagalli’s new mobile suit in the preview, so I’m looking forward to seeing it in action.

23 Comments

  1. Nice review as always Omni. Cleared up the bit about the DOMs for me, for one thing.

    I already mentioned this in Matthew’s SB, but I’m pleasantly surprised at how well the recent episodes of GSD have been. Compared to a lot of fluff that happened in SEED, esp towards the end, GSD is going on strong. Especially with this episode which must have made the LacusXKira and AthrunXCagalli fans happy. Nice to see the two “oldest” couples in the GS universe finally get some screentime to themselves. For some reason, I actually enjoyed the Athrun and Cagalli moment a lot more than Kira and Lacus. Maybe because the later couple are just “so right” that one knows they’ll be together but the former actually have to work things out now and then like in real life. Glad to see that Cagalli and Athrun finally reconciled to an degree; it’ll be fun to watch once Meryin comes about and if her and Cagalli ever have a one-on-one. 😉

    Battle-wise… I was drooling. From Kira’s pimping out Strike Rouge to his old Strike colours (the man has to go in style right?) to Andy battling in Gaia to S-Freedom’s ownage, it was all good. I got a kick out of when Kira lost his rifle in Strike Rouge that Andy grabbed it and finished off a grunt; that was just too cool for some unexplainable resaon. S-Freedom in action was the l33t so to put it, though it going SSJ to release the DRAGOONs was hilarious (I wanted Kira to yell out DBZ style when that happen).

    I remember reading on animesuki’s forum about the whole NewType and SEED mode bit. Your suggestion was pretty much what I had in mind after reading though various posts, though for all we can know, it could just be another homage to the original Gundam series. That or the lovely director Fukada just wants to screw with Gundam fans minds.

    moyism
    Reply

  3. when it comes down to it, only time will tell about the Newtype stuff. Unless they put it aside until the rumored 3rd and final installment of the GS universe. *shrugs*

    random thought, I was joking with a friend about the possibility of Stellar coming back. I mean, for all we know she could have just passed out unconscious and Shinn sent her to her early watery grave. I would so get a kick if somehow, Stellar comes back at the end of the series. I don’t how or why but I just want it to happen. Wouldn’t be the first time a character everyone thought died suddenly comes back from the grave.

    (then again, I remember reading that her seiyuu confirmed Stellar’s death so the above could just be wishful thinking)

    moyism
    Reply

  5. I really enjoyed how the normally reserved and dignified Lacus was all delighted little girl when Kira returned. Man, she really loves him.

    About Athrun x Cagalli, I agree with moyism – it’s good to see them having bumps and then working them out. Cagalli also told that Meyrin’s reason for helping him escape must be that she liked him. I just so imagine much Cagalli eye-brow twitching if Athrun had defected with his entire harem. Heheh. 🙂

    Zyl
    Reply

  6. Zyl, if Athrun did that he could have stopped the war!

    Think about, Lunamaria wouldn’t be the “next Flay” and the Chairman’s truimph card in the form of Meer would be gone. Heck, Athrun might have stood a decent chance against Rey and Shinn if Lunamaria left with a mobile suit too… funny that Meyrin had the least reason to go compared to Lunamaria and Meer; but hey, it worked out anyway.

    Sure Athrun might have been beaten within an inch of his life by Cagalli if the whole harem crew came but that would have been a sacrifice for a just cause! LMAO

    moyism
    Reply

  15. hello im from the philippines and it looks like all of you have alredy watched this anime , here my country its the first time and now where airing 7th ep my gosh i’m so amazed with your website and wow im speechless with what you did
    but as i read what you wrote heck i already hated lunamaria because of her attitude towards athrun and your telling me she’ll become another flay. and oh i prefer the match-up of cagalli and athrun than athrun ang meyrin….

    lean kate
    Reply

  21. hey man i think there should be a little more volionce instead always drama and maybe they should change their looks so they all don’t look the same with their eyes and face. i was a fan of gundam seed b4 in the old ones they looked cool cause they looked different and the plot was better

    G
    Reply

  23. shinn asuka love arika yumemiya by sunrise gundam seed destiny love mai otome for good destiny sword impulse gundam legend of gundam so powerful get new body shinn asuka for JOEL PEREZ on december 24 2007 arika and shinn nina and athrun mai and kira thanks for gundam seed destiny and mai otome by sunrise and bandai

    JOEL PEREZ
    Reply

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