Summary:

By 2307 AD, fossil fuels supplies have dried up, leaving mankind to rely on solar energy generation. This solar energy generation system is centered on three orbital elevators that extend about 50,000km. For the construction of these massive structures that acts as a semi-permanent energy sources, the world was consolidated into three national armies. One centers on the United States and is called the World Economic Union, aka. Union. The second is the Human Reform League, comprising of China, Russia, and India. The third and final one is Europe’s AEU. The defense of the orbital elevators is difficult due to their size, and for the sake of their dignity and influence, the three armies continue to play a grand zero-sum game. Even in the 24th century, mankind hasn’t united to one yet, and it is here that Celestial Being shows up. To get rid of strife, they have developed operations that transcend race, nationality, and religion. They are triggering a revolution in the world.

In Union’s Tokyo Special Economic Zone, the Celestial Being announcement video is still being played all over the city, and Saji Crossroad wonders to his friend Louise if there are people who’d actually act not in their own interest. Around the world, people like the president of the Human Reform League and the leaders of the AEU worry about Celestial Being and the Gundams. The AEU group in particular realizes that such advanced mobile suits require a lot of technology and money to develop, meaning that Celestial Being has to have someone powerful backing it. The Union president meanwhile talks with his adviser about how Celestial Being is taking their place in terms of eradicating war through military power. When the adviser wonders if Celestial Being is serious since they’re getting nothing in return, the president explains that Union intervenes in other countries’ disputes for the sake of securing its own people’s safety and national interests – it’s not charity. The adviser takes this to mean that Celestial Being will reveal its true character soon, and Union’s mission is to judge them at that time.

During all this, Lockon and Setsuna have been on an undisclosed island getting ready for their second mission, and Lockon comments on how every news agency is talking about them, though most people don’t believe them. Wang Liu Mei also happens to be here with her butler, and she suggests that they make the people believe. At a different location inside a van, Graham Acre is telling Billy Katagiri that he’s not immediately going back to the military because he wants to know the capabilities of the Gundam. Specifically, he’s interested in the light that was coming out of the back of the Gundam which impaired electronic devices around it, and Billy guesses that the light might be due to the photon collapse phenomenon, though he thinks that the Gundam also has other secrets. The two are then visited by a man who passes along orders instructing both of them to return to MSWAD. Up in space onboard the Ptolemaios, Allelujah voices his displeasure of the upcoming battle that’s to test their mobile suits, but Tieria points out that they need to assess the Gundam for the sake of what happens from now on.

Allelujah and Tieria then catapult out of the Ptolemaios on their respective Gundams and enter the Earth’s atmosphere after enabling a maximum dispersion of GN particles. Their entry is detected by the Human Reform League’s geostationary satellite orbit station, and once he hears that the Gundams’ destination is calculated to be the island of Ceylon, Sergei Smirnov wonders if Celestial Being seriously intends to do military intervention. Lockon and Setsuna also depart their island base to begin their second mission, and as she watches them take off, Wang Liu Mei describes the Gundams as the airframes that put Celestial Being’s philosophy into motion. As word gets out amongst the world leaders about what’s going on, the four Gundams join up, and Setsuna recalls the briefing that Sumeragi gave them. It seems that Ceylon is currently in anarchy because of an ethnic conflict between the Sinhala majority and the Tamil minority that has been going on since the 20th century.

Onboard a transport plane, Billy and Graham are also discussing the exact same situation, including how the Human Reform League had supported the Tamils. Though it was under the pretext of reaching a peaceful resolution to the conflict, the Human Reform League’s actual goal was to secure the underwater path for their solar energy, but things got worse after their intervention. Graham then contacts someone on the transport and asks him to tell the captain to change course as well as to prepare a Flag mobile suit. Watching the ongoing battle as the Gundam Exia approaches the island, Setsuna is reminded of his own past and suddenly declares that he is Gundam. He then races the Exia on ahead and starts cutting apart enemy mobile suits on the battlefield. When Setsuna starts getting hit by enemy artillery, Lockon helps him out by picking them off with his sniper rifle. Allelujah meanwhile goes after the Human Reform League’s base, and Tieria sinks one of their ships. The battle is quickly over, and since Setsuna had been taking out Human Reform League mobile suits, those of the other side rush over to thank him and to press their new advantage. Unfortunately for them, Setsuna doesn’t differentiate between enemies and slices them in half with the Exia too – this is what he considers a Gundam Meister to be.

Meanwhile, at JNN corporate headquarters, one of the reporters has finally dug up a file on the man who made the Celestial Being announcement. The man’s name is Asolia Schenberg, but the problem is that he died over 200 years ago. At the same moment, another reporter learns about how Celestial Being just attacked both sides on Ceylon, and it leaves them wondering what Celestial Being is thinking. In space, Sergei is expressing his disbelief that Celestial Being thought they could end an ethnic conflict that’s been going on for over 300 years with one intervention. As if answering him from back on Earth, Wang Liu Mei claims that it’s not just once – they’ll do it however many times. Now on their way back to base, Tieria wonders to the other two guys why Setsuna is a Gundam Meister. Setsuna has gone on ahead, but he suddenly detects a Union transport plane, and from it emerges a Flag mobile suit. Introducing himself, Graham calls himself a man who is fascinated by the Gundam’s existence.

Preview:

Well, it doesn’t take long to notice how much more modern politically grounded this series is compared to other recent Gundam shows – it’s a lot more than I had thought it’d be. Not only did they choose to use the Sri Lankan Civil War as a setting, I could also swear that the part with the Union president talking about Union intervening in other countries’ disputes for the sake of securing its own people’s safety and national interests is a reference to current United States foreign policy. Still, they haven’t really villain-ized any of the three major factions yet, and the antagonist for now remains war itself. Even Graham so far has been just curious about the Gundam’s capabilities and doesn’t hold a grudge against them or anything like that. He also seems to be the best person to stand up against the Gundams that have thus far been godly on the battlefield.

Overall, the animation quality has been quite good, and it feels like we’re still going through the introductory phase of this show. A lot of that has to do with how they jump around so much between the various cast members and political factions – even more this week than last – and it’ll probably continue this way until a few more distinct plot threads emerge (Saji and Louise for example) that the show can focus on. I’d personally like to get more story on Graham, though we’ll have to see first next week if he can even manage to damage the Exia.

75 Comments

  1. they are certainly not “powerful gundams”. Hell, unless I see one of them take out a whole army with few shiny lines(freedom?), i won’t even call them overpowered.
    Its nice that this time enemy atleast put up abit of fight.

    Overpowered, thats what gundams in seed were. These are nowhere overpowered or godly yet…

    Unknown Voice
  2. Yeah the Gundams here looks somewhat recycled from all the Gundam series with minor differences. The general plot seems to remind me of Full Metal Panic though with a group having highly advance weapons and “Stop all wars” idea. But FMP was better executed though.

    tabs05
  3. @Geneva: No. This is not after Cosmic Era. The Cosmic Era is just one of many universes Gundam takes place in. This Gundam takes place in our timeline, using the AD calendar, in the future.

    Now, to my own comment. I keep hearing Wing comparisons, but this is so much better than Wing already. This show is going somewhere; Wing couldn’t figure out what the heck it was doing.

    Heiae
  4. @Heiae
    xDDD ahahaha i couldn’t agree with you more on the Wing

    now that I’ve watched the raw I’m disappointed the EXIA
    didn’t bring out his beam sword
    I’m sure it’s lot better than the switch blade thing he’s using
    and I’m presuming the pilot of the new mobile suit at the end was the blond dude?

    Hei
  5. @Lockon the Gay:

    You can hardly consider Lockon a ‘bitch’. At least he has a freaking personality, unlike the rest of the pilots. All they can seem to do is make the same expression and occasional spit out as short sentence.

    Heiae
  6. lol. And I’ll say it again…I hope Graham beats the shit out of Exia. It’s about time a non-Gundam suit does some damage to a Gundam.

    Yeah, of the pilots Lockon is the only remotely interesting one. The others seem kind of boring. But it’s too soon to tell I suppose.

    zalem
  7. heiae suck my cock and you zalemn shut u fucking mouth you just act like another bitch please get a life..
    lockon lol the only interesting character ? lol are u smoking ?
    zetsuna is the best
    lockon is the gay

    The teacher
  8. heiae suck my cock and you zalemn shut u fucking mouth you just act like another bitch please get a life..
    lockon lol the only interesting character ? lol are u smoking ?
    zetsuna is the best
    lockon is the gay

    The teacher
  9. And we have a troll. Haha.

    And I didn’t say Lockon was the best character. Just that his personality seems like the best among the pilots. Graham is probably the best character. But I’m sure you’ll probably disagree with that.

    zalem
  10. Aznsoulboy otro imbecil mas.. la verdad porque los americaros seran tan estupidos ? echate a este “Aznsoulboy”
    trata de decir su nombre bien blabla.. esque acaso no pueden decir algo interesante ? que estupidos son.. es una lastima que un pais como estados unidos tenga gente tan retardada..

    Lelouch
  11. I think this is getting out of hand (refering to the Spanish person aka the teacher). All the characters are great, ok? It’s kind of early to make judgments. There’s no need to attack people over it.

    Anyway, I thought it was a good episode. I’m excited for Graham vs. Setsuna 🙂

    Alice Yang
  12. I thought I had posted this before….oh well. Anyway people will probably be surprised to learn that the most popular character in Gundam 00 has the same name as the much hated Kaioshin Sama. Damn straight I’m going to challenge the Gundam Exia….and I’m going to win. I’ll also get my own Gundam later cause it’s always been a dream of mine to pilot one.

  13. Just watched the sub. The Gundam cockpit looked damn sweat as compared to GS’s Gundam. Graham looked like a Gundam fanatic when he attacked Exia. Not sure if Exia is going to lose but from the preview, we got to see Setsuna’s irritated face before he drew Exia’s beam saber, Graham’s shocked expression.

    dward
  14. If you want overpowered gundams take a look at gundam wing… i like that it is a little more balanced this time, although the situation will probably turn imba later in the series… those gundams will probably be replaced later in the series…

    coriel
  15. this is getting very stupid..
    people are starting flame wars with just 2 episode of character and plot development?
    are u guys 3 year old retard?

    Stop judging which is gay/better and enjoy the show, isnt that the important thing?

    Tidus
  16. Unfortunately, I doubt Setsuna will actually lose the next battle. It’s too soon in the series. But I do hope for a stalemate at the very least. Someone needs to deal a gundam a bit of damage.

    zalem
  17. Crap, that guy is retarded. Indeed, this is pretty stupid.

    Anyway, I really enjoy this episode. Let’s see what Exia can do!

    Lol, that guy is “mentally unstable”. As for the episode, i thought it was pretty good. Still waiting for subs, but exia slicing up dudes made up the episode for me. I really hope that Granham at least does some damage to Exia on the next episode.

    Bleach123
  18. Well, imo this episode was good and makes the first episode and itself good. There’s a story that’s not rushed (hope they’ll make that mistake) and the character/mecha designs are really good. You know what makes this serie better than other gundams: the story, the conflicts, the politics is so more realistic than other gundam series.

    Anyway: I am looking forward to see next episode – I wonder what Graham and his mobile suit can do againsr exia. Btw: but is my feeling correct that europe’s aeu will play a more important role than other factions?

    legno
  19. OMG! Haro has actually advanced AI! O.O

    The part where Lockon hands the maneuvering to Haro while he uses Dynames’ Sniper Rifle. Wonder where you can buy one of those?

    And Virtue isn’t fat no goddamn reason, they couldn’t even make him budge an inch when he was charging up the BFG! Space battles would be another issue though.

    Overall great episode, action-wise anyway, couldn’t stop my feet from tapping…

    Gravmech
  20. Yea, it’s what I thought too. I just can’t help to compare our current situation with this series. Its so much alike & how they let the main character to be a midile east citizen. Its much more realistic & I wanna see more from it. Its a good show so far.

    Kaede
  21. I’m doubtful either Graham or Setsuna will be able to finish things before the rest of the Gundams arrive. He couldn’t have left all that much earlier than the others so eventually they’re going to catch up or at the very least pick up the fight ahead of them and speed up to arrive there.

    I do like the Gundams not being outlandishly overpowered compared to the other suits though. Setsuna and the Exia were beginning to have trouble when confronted with eight or nine enemies, though it is primarily melee based. The Kyrios seems to be relatively balanced between ranged and melee, wheres the Dynames and Virtue are better at a range. I haven’t watched that much Gundam, but the main character using a melee based suit is fairly unusual isn’t it?

    Shaun
  22. Freedom = I press a button, you all die.
    Freedom + Meteor = Why do you even bother coming here?

    Well, I guess as long as we stay away from predictions we’ll enjoy the show just fine.

    etshin
  23. I love the more serious tone of super technology being injected into a world with more traditional technology. I think it would be really cool if we saw the creation of the “first” (in gundam timelines) unified earth government caused by an us-verses-them scenario…like in Watchmen, causing all fronts to unify against the new enemy, thus halting the wars between them. Also, my wallet is already ducking for cover in anticipation of model kit purchases.

    Coffee
  24. LoL… 400 years from now we are relying on solar energy to power everything… what the hell are these writers smoking. Ok so we ran out of fossil fuels… What about nuclear fission? nuclear fusion? bio-fuels? anti-matter? You really expect me to believe 400 years from now mankind hasn’t advanced beyond something as insanely inefficient as solar power?

    besides that… every time that one of the gundam pilots says “I have control!” I immediately flashback to the series Betterman… and that is a BAD thing lol

    8GaugeBrett
  25. @8GaugeBrett –
    This series is NOT a prediction of what’s going to happen 400 years into the future. Whats important is that the story is well structured and executed.

    Wonder which episode the mandatory love-story unfolds, even if its too early go LouiseXSai…err…Setsuna. Lol :O

    Gravmech
  26. I didn’t say it was a prediction… However, I am saying that it is a very weak and wholly unbelievable story element. Seeing how important these solar space towers are to the events that are taking place in this timeline you might think they could have come up with something more believable to use as a plot device.

    8GaugeBrett
  27. Guys don’t you think in the first episode there was a gundam look exactly like RX78, but with minor modification. And the people in the story like graham looks like armoro ray (he also one of the ace pilot)

    epaint_evana
  28. @8GaugeBrett
    You got me on that one but who knows,they may have reasons for leaning towards solar energy, heck!? a ring of solar panels around earth and the orbital elevators aren’t cheap. Maybe nuclear fusion & anti-matter aren’t feasible yet.

    Gravmech
  29. I think Graham is going to be more like Char than like Amuro (or at least I HOPE so). He will be the main opponent for our main character Setsuna. lol. Wonder if he will wear a mask somewhere down the line…

    zalem
  30. hmm gundam wing was really good and i can say the same for seed and destiny but not soo much for destiny but i still liked it.

    gundam 00 is awsome so far the gundams actually are starting to look good for once i did like zero gundams look but these are better in my opinion.

    None of the gundams in 00 are over-powered but we are still seeing the minimum of what they can do only later on we will see the full potenial of all the gundams but its definatly getting interesting though

    Kyrios

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