First Impressions / Gundam

Summary:

In the aftermath of the massacre, the Katharon survivors regroup and gather the dead bodies. Klaus made it out alive and is reunited with Shirin, but many others weren’t so lucky, and their surviving comrades put the blame on the Gundam pilots for leaking information until Lyle talks some sense into them. Tieria catches Saji acting strange, and when questioned, Saji reveals what had happened. After Tieria slaps him for his foolishness, Saji admits that he didn’t think it’d become like this and that he had just wanted to get away from the fighting. Tieria nevertheless blames Saji for taking away all those lives, and he specifically implicates how Saji felt that this had nothing to do with him and how he ran away from the truth. Saji ends up breaking down in tears, and when Setsuna walks in on this after having just returned from Azadistan, Tieria explains what happened. During all this, Sumeragi is watching the recovery efforts from onboard the Ptolemaios, and what one of the grieving men says reminds her of how Emilio had said something similar on his death bed after a disastrous incident in her past. She faints as a result of this, and Ian and Lasse take her to the infirmary.

Over on the A-LAWS ship, Lindt is proud of the fact that they succeeded in taking care of the Katharon base even though they lost two units to the Gundam counterattack, but Kati isn’t so happy. Lindt baits her by declaring that he loves exterminatory wars, and when she questions if he likes murdering people, he wonders why she’s so agitated. He then brings up how she had done something similar back when she was a tactical forecaster for the AEU where bad information had led to a friendly fire accident. This angers Kati, but she backs off and Lindt leaves her alone for now. Back on the Celestial Being shuttle near the Katharon base, Setsuna tells Tieria and Allelujah about the attack on Azadistan and how there was a Gundam involved. They’re interrupted by the news that Sumeragi has collapsed, and so they decide to return to the Ptolemaios with Saji, leaving behind Marina who is still being comforted by Shirin. Wang Liu Mei meanwhile is at her house talking with Hong Long about how kind the reborn Celestial Being is, and she wonders whose influence it is. Hong Long offers to make arrangements, but Wang Liu Mei wants to leave it to Nena. This prompts him to question why, so she points out that he – her brother – can’t use quantum brain waves, and she cites how Nena’s abilities are needed to deceive the Innovators.

On the Ptolemaios, Sumeragi is still unconscious, and she’s remembering how Emilio had once voiced his faith in her tactical forecasts. He had respected her for not running away from war and for endeavoring to end things quickly. Interlaced with this are memories of how her commander had praised both her and Kati despite both of them having forecast with bad information. Back in the present, at around this same time, Kati realizes that the Gundams’ tactics resemble how Kujoh did things. Elsewhere on the A-LAWS ship, Soma receives an encrypted message from Sergei apologizing for how she had to participate in the prior operation against Katharon thanks to information he obtained. Soma feels bad that Sergei worries about her even though he’s probably having a hard time with it himself, and it reminds her of the conversation they had about her becoming his adopted daughter. At the time, the two had talked about her last name and how she didn’t want to forget being called Peries. Moved to tears by all this, Soma now declares her gratitude towards Sergei and calls herself a tool to kill people. Sergei is at this moment getting slapped by Lindt for his failure at preventing Saji from escaping, and like a good soldier, he apologizes and takes responsibility.

Sometime later, Louise’s squad arrives and reports for duty on the A-LAWS ship under Kati’s command. In meeting the squad leader Barack Zinin, Kati asks him why he joined A-LAWS, and his motivation turns out to be the growth of the unified world. Over in the mobile suit hanger, Soma is telling herself that she’s a super-soldier who will faithfully execute any mission when she runs into Louise. After the two introduce themselves to each other, Soma senses that Louise is pushing herself too hard, is crying on the inside, and has been thinking about someone for a long time. Their conversation is interrupted by Andrei who came to tell Soma that it’s time for their briefing, and he’s taken back by the sight of Louise. The subsequent briefing is about attacking the Ptolemaios – which had decloaked so that it could serve as a decoy for the Katharon forces that were on the move – but Mr. Bushido claims sole rights to facing the 00 Gundam. By the time the A-LAWS forces arrive at the Ptolemaios’ location, it has already launched all four Gundams. While the others handle the Cherudim and Seravee Gundams, Soma’s group engages the Arios Gundam and Mr. Bushido takes on the 00 Gundam. Soma and Allelujah quickly figure out that they’re fighting each other again, and when Louise tries to help, she gets shot at by the Ptolemaios. Louise thus turns her attention to the ship, and Andrei follows her out of concern.

Onboard the Ptolemaios, the crew finds that they can’t hit their opponents with their guns set on automatic, so Ian volunteers to go man the guns. Saji catches Ian along the way and insists on helping because he wants to protect, but once they actually get to the gunner positions, Saji has a hard time opening fire on the two GN-XIIIs coming at the ship. All he can think about is everything he’s said to Setsuna and the others about his opposition to fighting and killing – including how he’d be the same as them if he killed someone – but his fear overcomes all, and he pulls the trigger. Back outside the ship, Setsuna is having a hard time with Mr. Bushido, so he activates the 00 Gundam’s Trans-Am system. At the same time, Allelujah is trying to get Soma to stop, but she declares that she’s a super-soldier and stabs the Arios Gundam with her custom Ahead. Despite the damage, Allelujah has the Arios reach out towards the Ahead.

Preview

Unlike last week where I felt that having an epilogue gave the episode two strong finishes, I thought this week’s epilogue actually took away from the cliffhanger of Saji facing against Louise (which I didn’t expect to see so soon). Certainly Setsuna activating the Trans-Am system and Soma clashing with Allelujah are important, especially given that the preview hints that next week will be focused on those two things, but they shouldn’t have cliffhangered on one part of the battle just to go back to another part of the same battle and end in a weaker way. Saji finally pulling the trigger against his former lover is a much stronger finish and probably should have been the entire epilogue, and the other stuff could have been moved to next week.

Speaking of cliffhangers, I had hoped for more between Setsuna and Ali Al-Saachez this episode, but there was pretty much nothing new shown there. I guess Setsuna can’t really face him without the 00 Gundam. In fact, on the whole, this episode was mostly background (particularly with Sumeragi’s flashbacks) and set-up for the battle at the end which will continue next episode, so it was interesting, but perhaps not as exciting as previous episodes. There are a bunch of little things that got introduced that could become more relevant in the near future, like Kati and Sumeragi knowing each other (where does Billy fit into that picture…?), Andrei’s attraction to Louise (which was creepy), and how Hong Long is Wang Liu Mei’s brother (which I suspect won’t end well). We’re still early in this series, so the outlook is pretty good if all those things are going to get developed.

One final note: the Ishikawa Chiaki Prototype PV is out and available on her official site. The UVERworld Hakanaku mo Towa no Kanashi PV was aired earlier this week as well.

130 Comments

  4. There’s an awful lot of crying this episode, and Lockon hasn’t even died yet. This almost makes me look forward to a SEED Destiny type situation, heaven forbid, where ShinnSaiji finds out he did in Louise.

    Haesslich
    Reply

  20. @Yukiruchan
    Fell into coma-like state when she saw the destruction caused by A-LAWS. It seems that that scene reminded her of her failure in the past, her brain was unable to cope with situation and she fell into coma, reliving that past again and again.

    UnknownVoice
    Reply

  21. Hong Long is probably Wang Liu Mei’s half sibling.

    His mom was probably a peasant or something cause there would be no reason why he serves her like a butler and is not the heir instead of her.

    Anonymous
    Reply

  26. And when we first see 00 Gundam in action it seem like it was so powerful but now it seem like a normal gundam that needs Trans-am to defeat the enemy, how come 00 Gundam is not using its twin drive?

    setsuke
    Reply

  30. Ya the gundams need a little more power, up but ya great episode, and fuck that dudes son i knew him kinda liking her shit was gonna happen sooner or later…. so gai Louise if u betray even for 1 sec u a bitch… besides that hehe kool ep.

    Chimasternmay
    Reply

  34. @Whispo

    I don’t wanna be graphic, but the real world case of young girls being raped and becoming pregnant is a common issue. If Sumeragi really is related to Kati in terms of her possibly being her daughter, then the only possibility for that to be is that maybe Kati was unfortunate in her youth to be raped by some mean man, she became pregnant, gave birth to Kujoh, but since the baby’s momma most likely left her, and she was too young to keep her, decided to give her up to adoption. Just a theory, and if Sumeragi is Kati’s daughter, then i would expect a family reunion somewhere near the end. But there’s also the possibility that Sumeragi may actually be somewhat more of an estranged sister of Kati, i think that’s probably a better route to go and definately a route way less graphic and tragic than my first theory.

    Eternal Kali
    Reply

  40. Well, something on Sumeragi’s past… and she’s related to Kati? No wonder Kati would say, “Where have I seen this before?” But Kati hasn’t met up with Billy yet, right?

    Chino F.
    Reply

  44. From broken translation from babel fish Arche is more than a match for the gundams. Even if Trans Am gives momentary advantage, Ali can weather the storm with his skills and unleash his offense when Trans-AM run out of juice(Gundam experience performance penalties right after the use of Trans-AM).

    dh19440113
    Reply

  45. 00 using Trans-Arm already. 00 seems weak for a gundam that suppose to have square the output of the other gundams. What happen to the dodging that was creating afterimages while not in Trans-Arm? I am guessing that the twin drive system still needs some fine tuning, but Trans-Arm. Setsuna, you should never use trans-arm against an Ahead even if it is Mr. Bushido’s. Maybe 00 went trans-arm by itself. That would be interesting.

    justin43
    Reply

  46. I think the 00 isn’t yet stable, so that’s why it’s kinda iffy power wise. They did say as much in the other eps. It’s at like, 80-85% of it’s power etc. I suppose it’ll be totally pwn when they get it to work at 100%.

    But we gotta keep the fights fair for now and thus more interesting.

    GP
    Reply

  47. I guess so, but Trans-Arm should not have been needed. No gundam before now has used Trans-Arm to fight a MS. Arios used Trans-Arm to get 00 to the surface faster. Seravee used Trans-arm to pull a mobile armor out of Ptolemy. Maybe I am just disappointed.

    justin43
    Reply

  48. but if u notices the RAW…00ctivated the Trans-Am not Setsuna…try rewatch the second eps…when the 00 activated, watch carefully where it glows when setsuna say “Here we got 0 Gundam Furnace and Exia Furnace and me” watch the particular part where it activated…

    cr4v3f0rgund4m
    Reply

  50. Hey guys. Lol it was in evitable Saji and Louisse. Always in previous gundam series this has happened before such as Shinn Asuka X Stella. I have seen Ali Al Sarches The Gundam Trhone Archee or Gundam Archee its a improvement on the previous Throne Zwei, it still has the thangs the long sword is still there. It can transform because A Laws stole tech from Kyrios when it was captured. and is a mix of Einz Turbulence.

    http://gunota.info/index.php/2008/11/07/gundam-00-season-2s-episode-7-10-synopsis/

    This is a link for spoilers for episode 7-10 gundam. read if you want to know. if you dont/ dont read

    Evo00
    Reply

  63. I know its wishful thinking but hopefully Setsuna will kill MR Bushido next episode because hes sooooooooooo lame!!! And Alleujah needs to pull the lead out never before has a gundam performed so badly!!! ITS FREAKING GUNDAM they arent supposed to be hit, if they get hit they can take it and they NEVER BREAK!!! Alleujah is destroying YEARS of mecha stereo type!!! HE DOESNT HAVE THE RIGHT BWAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!! 😛

    and Saji really is pathetic! i dont feel for him

    Heres what i want to happen

    1)Alleujah get replaced by soma in the kyrios cos quite frankly hes broken!
    2) Louise kill Saji or Vice versa because quite frankly both of them are annoying me to no end!!! (Saji annoys me more cos he soooooo whiny!)
    3) for Mr Bushido realise how much of schmuk he looks like in that mask and take it off only for us to see that his face wound is actually slightly smaller than kazukis was from dragonaught when he wore a gstring on his head!!!!

    Doesnt it bother anyone else that the only person in this show with even a slither of charismatic presence is Ali Al Sarches!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    any one of those things happening would make this series better by about 33%

    WingZero zxt
    Reply

  74. Lame character:
    Saji Crossroad
    Mr. Bushido
    Louise Halvey (First Season)
    Arthur Goodman (A Know it all who hasn’t won a battle against Gundam)
    Arba Lindt (Sadistic Loser)
    Patrick Colasour (not debut yet)

    Close to Lame
    Allelujah Haptism (for being so weak)
    Lyle Dylandy (double Agent)
    Tieria Erde (Need Charisma)

    dh19440113
    Reply

  78. smirnov is a pedophile, louise still wants sajis smile, peries is a crackwhore now and the old colonel got smacked in the brow, teria can bitchslap toooooooooo
    how the fuck did setsuna and marina just casually walk away from ali al when they clearly saw him and heard him? and he turned around and saw themmmm?
    and FORESHADOWING, mannequin will turn on a laws and help sumeragi to overthrow the governemnt, thats a sound theory.

    the way of the 00 twin drive
    Reply

  83. seems everyone forgot that 5 years have past between series 1 and 2, making it ok for andrei to like louise unless she was like 11 in the first series which i highly doubt. plus nobody seems to pick up on the intro hinting at the 3 way triangle between the two and saji. its damn obvious they’re all connected in some way and now we know how. have a feeling louise will end up liking andrei before saji kills him (or vice versa)

    kujou (sumeragi) and kathy (mannequin) have no blood relation to each other what-so-ever- they are connected by past events in the military, all those dudes saying they’re sisters, read the subs properly or learn japanese better. (the general says ”you TWO were excellent Kathy, Kujou” its like the scenario from SEED with the two captains up against each other. SAME THING

    its only right that lyle ends up fighting with ali-al-sharshes cause of the stuff with neil (old lockon)
    setsuna is locked in the battle with mr.bushido aka graham for the long haul (as all other gundam main characters fight with the masked man)
    i reckon the return of halleluljah is coming (the glint of the yellow eye might be a sign)
    when will tieria meet ribbons/livonze (the fight between the artificially created)

    neil dylandy
    Reply

  86. Hasn’t any questioned himself whose following the true goals of Aeolia Schenberg.. Why does wang Liu Mei, need Nena to fool the Innovators (which do stem from Aeolia), and why is Livonze/Ribbons so clearly provoking the Gundams with his actions.. He wants to hit them on an emotional level, burning down Azadistan, murdering everyone on the military base.. There’s a hidden agenda here and I think it’s going to surprise us.

    JordiBlau
    Reply

  87. It’s creepy how he looked at her, not about him liking her.
    I’m sorry but anyone else don’t really care about Sumeragi’s past. I mean I don’t remember the first one mentioning it let alone I could care less about it.

    We all know what’s going to happen. Sumeragi makes up a daring plan and it works and everyone is saved.

    I should also add that though I like Mr. Bushido, Setsuna is distracted from Sarshes appearance.

    kayne001
    Reply

  88. I sooooooooooooooooooo want Allelujah and Marie to get together in the next episode! I hope that’s what is going to happen… otherwise, I’m gonna be sad :(.

    Saji is a getting on my nerves! -_- He either shoots that gun or that old man is gonna bit the crap of him.

    Asoch3
    Reply

  91. Wow, only episode 6 and a Gundam gets STABBED? I mean, I know Allelujah sucks ass and all for being stuck in prison for four years and doesn’t have Hallelujah anymore, but come on! He got STABBED. Getting stabbed in Gundam from a beam saber usually leads to death, and it’s only episode 6. Sunrise made Allelujah too much of a pussy :/

    lawlmsp
    Reply

  92. lol at Sunrise and island scenes. Oh well, I hope that Allelujah gets soma knocked up at the island. Sergei will then become a grandad :3

    but honestly, Andrei’s first reaction when seeing Louise was like a wolf seeing a sheep. It’s not like there are no other females in A-Laws. Hormone inbalance. And Saji… Just die already

    Also did Marina join Shirin in Kataron, and became the caretakers for the children? I would have prefered her to join Setsuna, and become like his counterbalance in decision making. With Lockon truly is a spy, Allelujah having an affair with Soma, and Tiera goaded to the darkside, I honestly think he is the one left that can carry the Celestial Beings to fight the A-Laws.

    And lol at them being great pilots but looks like a headless chicken without Sumeragi

    On something else altogether, the PV for the OP makes me want to puke with all it’s jerkiness ;A;

    linkinstreet
    Reply

  93. I don’t get the “Andrei is creepy” comments either.
    Louise is pretty, she’s 22, and Andrei is smitten, that’s it. I’m all for her forgetting Saji and getting a real man anyway.

    eurys
    Reply

  96. Andrei’s attraction to Louise (which was creepy)
    HAHAHAHAAA… I couldn’t agree more! That sentence made my day, so thank you! I saw it coming though, from images from the OP. Still pisses me off, him liking her. Hope he gets pwned by Saji or something <:

    Starshine
    Reply

  97. All thoughts of 00 being overpowered are banished by the might of Mr. Bushido!

    Wang Liu Mei/Hong Long slash fiction sadly now has to be labeled as including incest. I wonder how many accidental pervs were created thanks to Wang Liu Mei mentioning their being related?

    I also wonder if Sunrise’s writers did this to copy the whole, almost, sexual tension between a certain Ultimate Coordinator and his Natural sister. Whom was revealed later on as being his sister, after he could have totally hit it.

    Or maybe they watch Star Wars too much for inspiration. Would totally explain Louise’s arm last season.

    Bluevirage
    Reply

  98. Now that i’ve seen this episode, the part in the opening where Andrei turns and looks at Louise makes sense now……..I saw it coming…the openings of sunrise anime sometimes/always give out pairings

    Hai Man
    Reply

  102. man…. i literally said “oh fuck no” when they ended the episode right when saji was going to shoot lousie…. Its not fair how they end it so epicly yet make us wait another week T_T

    Lump
    Reply

  103. Ok does anyone else here find it weird that 00 is being pushed around by an Ahead? I mean it’s too early in the season for them to have a suit that causes Setsuna to use Trans-Am. Or does anyone think it’s his ability at this point?

    Grimjaww
    Reply

  106. Tieria: “Setsuna, why did Ali Al Sarshes let you come back in one piece? Didn’t he talk back to you?”
    Setsuna: “I don’t know. Still a mystery to me. Is it because we aren’t ‘scheduled’ to fight in this episode?”
    http://pics.livejournal.com/haro00/pic/0005h7st/

    Lindt’s hair style reminds me of Kinoko Sarada from Dr. Slump 🙂
    http://pics.livejournal.com/haro00/pic/0005ps4a/
    http://pics.livejournal.com/haro00/pic/0005qhbs/

    Hong Long indeed is her brother but he doesn’t have the ability to use quantum brain wave like Nena who can deceive the Innovators. So Wang Liu Mei is not on the Innovator’s side?

    Has anyone noticed that Nena, Setsuna and Saji were so closed that they could have seen each other?
    http://pics.livejournal.com/haro00/pic/0005yzw0/

    Hope 00 Gundam’s Trans-Am mode can last longer with twin-drive as it looks like the fight with Mr. Bushido is going to be a while…
    http://pics.livejournal.com/haro00/pic/0006akew/
    http://pics.livejournal.com/haro00/pic/0006bdpr/

    Haro 00
    Reply

  109. Ok, ok, I have more. Saji was stupid, yes, but this whole chicken-shit thing he’s doing is just to get him on his way to proper maturity. He’s going to be a real man after he decides to pick a side. Which will make it interesting when he finally confronts Louise. Did anyone notice that in the ending when he’s grasping her hand, she has a ring on her finger? And she just met a smitten, (not pervy, but smitten stupid,) Andrei. And Alleluia’s poor display this week was frustrating, yes, but his character should not be discounted for it. I think it makes a story particularly strong if their characters are very human and fallible. I would definately be less satisfied with the series was full of boy pilots choked to the gills with flawlessness and machismo. I think everything’s running it’s course just fine.

    Penguinator27
    Reply

  110. Hmmm…for some reason I’m seeing a Ale-Marie and Saji-Louise parallel here. I mean:
    – In the OP, Soma and Louise are in the same shot dodging Ale’s shots.
    – Under the assumption that Saji is going to have something to do with the O-Riser (I’m putting bets on this), we have 2 MS (GN-13 and Ahead variant) vs 2 Planes (Arios and O-Riser).
    – Guy meets girl, becomes friends, then it gets cut short by disaster. If Marie was the one who told Ale to get out of the facility (we will probably find out about that next eppy)…then that makes her like Louise. And Saji did one heck of a lot for Louise, who gave companionship in return, just like how Ale appears to (again with the preview) give tons to Marie in return for companionship.

    Vsin
    Reply

  112. Allelujah sucks his gundam got damaged just to pull Marie out of her MS. Well I guess they gonna have a little brawl, flashback and then leave the island parting ways with Marie saying, “When we meet again, I’ll kill you”. And switch screen to Hallelujah awakened with a evil smile saying, “Oh count on it.”

    Seems like Mannequin is not liking the Alaws very much. LOL. Where is Billy? He walks to slow to the base.

    What is Nena Looking at in that rock formation? Ribbons team?

    My god I want to see the next episode already!!! and also the week after too!!!

    Dexter
    Reply

  118. BWAAAAA!!! Please, Sunrise! Don’t force Soma to leave Sergei and happiness and become Marie and sadness!!! Allelujah is entirely the wrong person for you, in love with someone who is gone now! Soma>Marie!!!

    Methhead
    Reply

  120. Allelujah for me is not weaker. I think Soma has something in her Ahead that puts Allelujah to a disadvantage. Thus she can trump the Arios until Allelujah praises the Lord or something.

    Chino F.
    Reply

  125. The preview makes me think Soma Pieres might die in the next episode. That worries me… Alot. I mean, “Goodbye, Pieres” & “I wanted to be your daughter, colonal”? I do NOT want Allelujah to go through any more misery.

    Then again, maybe “Soma Pieres” will die and “Marie” will be reborn. Though it’s way too early for that.

    HakuroAkawashi
    Reply

  127. @RX
    Uhh.. Did you not see what he did to Azadistan? His kick ass come back?

    I personally hate Ali Al-Sarches for what he did to Lockon, but now I’m glad he’s back because either Setsuna or Lyle’s gonna kick his ass.

    HakuroAkawashi
    Reply

  128. Nah Soma Pieres won’t die next episode.. But it would be a surprise if she ended up piloting a Gundam. Allelujah has been nagging that his abilities aren’t good enough anymore, so either Hallelujah is going to be awakened next episode or Soma/Marie is going to take his place in the Gundam.

    JordiBlau
    Reply

  129. I m so sorry maybe i missed his action during his talk and fight.The anime/videoclip which i watched right from the internet always had this buffering-kind of thing(very long cut).So it got skipped.So i kind of missed it.Sorry again.

    RX
    Reply

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