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「魔少年」 (Mashounen)
“Devil Boy”
In some ways, Gundam AGE continues to follow a somewhat predictable progression to establish Flit as the Gundam’s pilot, but the introduction of “devil boy” Desil Galette (Takagaki Ayahi) manages to keep me guessing about the direction the series is headed. They made it pretty obvious that Desil was mischievous and up to no good, but after seeing him hijack Flit’s Gundam and pilot it better than he can, I’m left wondering if his affiliation with “EDEN” has anything to do with the UE. I’ll admit that I was half-expecting him to be a UE spy, tasked to assess the development in both Flit and the AGE System. While that could still be the case — judging from how he wasn’t impressed with Flit or the Gundam — he was clearly acting on his own accord and not part of some bigger plan. What there’s little doubt about is that Desil is another “Newtype-equivalent” like Yurin, which the series wasn’t so subtle about with Woolf’s remark about how it’s almost like he “knows where the next attack is coming from.”
It sure took Flit a long time to realize the similarity, but his interest in their extra-perceptional ability does set the stage for a future encounter with Yurin. If we’re to believe the supposed leak about how Yurin’s come from the future along with the UE, then this could also be perceived as some foreshadowing about Flit’s future son, Asem, who may inherit this ability from Yurin. For now, this is speculation at best, though not an entirely unfounded seeing as Flit continues to distance himself from Emily every episode. However, that’s not to say that Emily’s destined to be sidelined as the quintessential childhood friend. In fact, I find her to be one of the most interesting characters to watch, simply because she’s the only one who’s expressed any objection toward Flit piloting the Gundam — something that I’ve been hoping to see from the military personnel. What’s more, she stumbled upon Grodek’s secret, when everyone else is still completely clueless about how the Federation was going to let all of Nora’s colonists die. That knowledge puts Emily in a difficult position and raises questions on what she’ll do (if anything). I’ll be somewhat disappointed if Emily only serves as a voice of reason on board a renegade warship that’s planning to take the fight to the UE, so I’m hoping that she’ll find a new purpose in all this, even if it’s being the girl who supports Flit in his fight against the UE — something that all Gundam pilots seem to need.
As for Grodek himself, I’m still not sure what to make of his character since I’m sort of swayed by the rumor about how the UE came from the future to pressure mankind into furthering their arms development. Under that belief, I have a growing suspicion that he may be someone from the present who’s been informed of this plan, but only recently realized that the UE are here for that purpose. If I ignore those rumors and solely go on what’s been shown, then the prevalent thought is that Grodek has been trying to make sense of the UE’s attacks — much like Flit has — and was able to finally pinpoint their base once he realized that some unexplained “radar blips” are caused by their cloaking field. In other words, his remark about figuring out the UE’s true identity last time may merely be that he’s onto where they originate from and not necessarily exactly who they are. I may be reading into things too much at this point, but if there’s one aspect of Gundam AGE that’s given it a little bit of an unconventional edge, it would be the inclusion of Grodek as Diva’s captain. He’s proven to by more resourceful than the corrupt Federation, so he’ll be someone to watch for just as much as the Gundam itself.
* Next time, we see Gundam AGE’s version of a Zaku.
* Full-length images: 02, 18, 33.
Preview
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Omake
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Ever since I heard that rumor about the UE being from the future, it seemed like a very familiar storyline, but the only thing I can think of like that is the video game inFamous. Am I brain-farting over something big with a similar storyline or has it really not been done that often?
Anyone get Illya vibes from Desil when he said to Flit “…if you even survive that long” and “onii-chan”? I was freaked out!
I would be surprise if Desil becomes A FUTURE CHAR with that kind of piloting skills!
It’s funny how this Grodek guys thinks that he can take the entire UE down with just a spaceship and two MS.
During the last episode he saw that the UE has some huge spaceships and hundreds of MS. He can’t be serious. LOL.
He has a better chance in taking it out compared to anyone else who doesn’t have Diva and the Gundam right now. I wish Emily just accepts his Felt’s feelings and move on.
People want overpowered or godly Gundams? All the various Turn A Gundam info makes Strike Freedom, 00-Raiser, Hi-Nu Gundam, Wing Gundam Zero, and all of the supposed “godly” MS look like the lowest grunt MS in comparison, lol.
Based on what we’ve seen so far, the Gundam has God Mode Plot Armor on. It could probably solo every UE unit out there with just the beam knife and win.
What’s the point of linking TvTropes when you clearly don’t even understand what the terms mean? AGE hasn’t displayed any of this so far.
Has Gundam Age ever been damaged? Nope. Did its shield take full on beam saber strikes and leave unscratched? Yup. That’s pretty God mode to me.
That aside, the age system seems to be able to produce weapons which other MS is capable of using (as displayed by wolf’s genoace custom). If they got more ingots and pilots with MS, the age system could theoretically generate more dots rifles, giving the diva a chance to strike down the UE. I mean, the dots are 1 hit KO anyway. Any pilot with decent aim should be able to kill them.
I’ll agree though, I don’t know why TvTropes was linked. Those aren’t even the meta definition of those terms.
And once again you people have people have no clue about the terms they throw around.
Tough Armor =/= not God mode
Call it invulnerability, invincibility, very tough armor, haxors, whatever; readers generally get the idea of what other people are trying to say. If you are really anal about terms, the reason “God mode” was used was to exaggerate the overpowered aspect of Flit’s Gundam. Perhaps this sentence should be rephrased for your understanding: Based on what we’ve seen so far, the Gundam has been able to enter battle and come out unscathed. It could probably solo a herd of UE units with just the beam knife and win. This is a community forum where people express their opinions about a show, not a place for terms and sentences to be corrected.
Its only the first 5 episodes. Have you ever seen a gundam show where the main gundam gets shot down in the first 5 episodes?
0079: RX-78 took damage… all the time.
0083: GP-01 got stomped by GP-02.
Wing: Wing being shot down was one of the first things we actually saw.
And that’s off the top of my head.
This isn’t exactly the first series where Gundams have been portrayed as overpowered though. I still think Freedom is one of the most broken Gundams out there with its HiMAT mode that can hit a million moving targets and not kill any of their pilots.
Compared to that, unscathed armor in AGE could simply be chalked up to strong enough armor to endure UE’s attacks (or simply not caring enough to draw in the scratches). Either way, this will likely change anyway when UE ups its technology to match the AGE Systems’, turning the war into what I imagine will be an arms race.
At least there was an _acceptable_ explanation for the difference in Freedom’s power output as opposed to the standard cannon fodder – nuclear power + ultimate co-ordinator. Age system seems more along the lines of pulling weapons out of no where quite literally.
But yes, overpowered gundam is overpowered. Turn A anyone? >.> <.<
The only thing AGE-1 has shown is that it can take hits. That’s pretty much it. That’s quite believable, since there are many real life comparisons in war. DOTS is nothing more than a stock beam rifle that can hurt a UE grunt. It certainly doesn’t show anything about being able to take on an army. The Gundam certainly hasn’t been a magic problem solving machine. Any other assumption is just stupid without any context.
And no the AGE System doesn’t make up stuff from nowhere. It gathers battle data and makes blueprints to deal with the opponent. This was told, in dialogue, in the show itself. The methods of its creating weapons are just reminiscent of a real life 3-D printer.
@fragb apologies I havn’t actually seen AGE myself since I like to marathon my gundam. I’m looking forward to it regardless of what people say.
But my Freedom comment still stands =P
The gundam may have heavy armor but I hardly think that means Flit has god mode. If I recall the original gundam could take several bullets, kicks, and punches and still come out looking relatively undamaged. It wasn’t until the atmosphere re-entry episode where it looked like it took a beating and that’s because it went through the atmosphere. The AGE The gundam’s armor may be very strong, but I highly doubt it is indestructible. We have yet to see how well it takes a beam saber or a shot from one of those back mount cannons some of the UE mobile suits have. Also, the AGE gundam so far has only come under a constant barrage of fire from one or two enemies at the same time, imagine if it came under a barrage of fire from the entire army like the ship they ran into in episode 4.
Even with near indestructible armor, Flint and the gundam hardly qualify as god mode. The gundam does not have enough firepower to take on an entire army nor does Flint have the skill to do so. Based on what skills we have seen so far, Flint would probably run out of ammo before he even took out five UEs. In my opinion you don’t hit god mode until you’re like Kira with the Freedom.
Um, he did say he was going to round up more forces from Fardain before attacking.
Though if there were any forces that could stand a chance against the UE, the Genoace wouldn’t have lost so badly to the Gafrans back in the first episode. Whether it’s one ship or ten, or twenty (and their assigned MS), it’s been firmly established that the UE simply overwhelm everything that the EFF has. The one game changer would be if they mass produced the DOTS rifle, but considering that Woolf’s still using his custom spray gun… they’re not, for some reason.
I’ll chalk it up to lack of materials, hence why they’re resupplying at Fardain. Once every mobile suit has a DODS rifle, they could put up a decent fight.
Well, only 3 episodes in and Emily is officially now in my “annoying character” list. That’s impressive actually. It’s frustrating how she keeps beating around the bush for Flit when she has failed to consider the most obvious solution: Confront Flit about her own thoughts. Just talk to him damnit!
I’m liking the other characters though. Grodek was awesome again, blackmailing his superiors LIKE A BOSS. Woolf has initiated a bromance with Flit and tripped another death flag, albeit a really small one. Desil comes of as the stereotypical creepy child, but I like how he performs the obligatory Gundamjack that the series is known for.
Emily is bad, but Dique has to be at the top of the irritating character list. “WOW. THAT’S AMAZING!” or variants thereof seem to be his only lines. It’s like they;re not even trying to make him likable.
Dique has the benefit of doing nothing significant. So I don’t really care about him.
Is the UE going DC on us?
Flit was really underwhelming as a pilot this episode, and the (obvious) thought of the war lasting 100 years, through his descendents, isn’t making giving me good vibes of where this current conflict is going to go.
I just like that the guy who came to collect Desil has a mask that makes his face look like a Gundam. A man after Setsuna’s legacy!
Desil represents a huge step to the future of Gundam. The evil pre-schooler. I can’t wait for the first Gundam pilot in diapers.
I lol’d so hard
So, do you think we can expect the masked man to be the new Rau,Zecks,Char,etc.. character?
I have a few problems with the characters (Emily’s too whiny, and Dique is just plain irritating), but there are other plot issues.
One: The officer (not) arresting Grodek… he tells the guards that Grodek was cleared and to leave him alone. However, the Inspection Bureau, which issued the arrest warrant would not have agreed with that decision… so how will he explain to them Grodek’s non-arrest? I don’t know, and I don’t think the writers know either.
Two: The sub-command room that Grodek used to talk with the EFF military and upload the virus would probably be a restricted area, but Emily just walks right in? There’s a major security problem there.
Three: Mostly the same as the above, just dealing with Dique on the ship’s bridge, which would be, arguably, at least as restricted as the sub-command room. Why is he being allowed to cause a disturbance on the bridge?
Four: Desil and Flit. Why the hell does Flit decide to take him all the way back to the Diva to bandage a scraped knee? Is there no first aid station in the colony? Or in the spaceport? And after that, just bringing a random kid into the ship’s MS hangar? Are you kidding me?
1.) I thought so too at first, but perhaps he has the authority to overturn it by writing a false report. e.g. Making up some false evidence to cover for Grodek.
2.) I also found it odd how his quarters aren’t locked.
3.) The same thing crossed my mind, but given that they weren’t on military alert, I was willing to overlook it.
4.) This doesn’t really matter, since Flit would’ve ended up bringing Desil on board to show him the Gundam anyway.
I notice all these things too, but I really don’t think they’re worth nitpicking about. Generally speaking, I feel that if someone can’t look past the minor details that really don’t matter in the grand scheme of things, it’s just going to take away from their personal enjoyment. In which case, they’re probably better off not watching the show at all, because they’ll always be subconsciously trying to find things wrong with it. (Of course, if they can still find enjoyment in spite of these qualms, then that’s a different story.)
I think it’s fine to be critical about questionable developments in the plot, but not to this degree. You could probably scrutinize other shows to death as well if you looked at them under a microscope like this. I agree that Gundam AGE requires the viewer to be a bit more “forgiving” than other series, but it still hasn’t done anything terribly “wrong” yet. Personally, I’m going to give the writers the benefit of the doubt, since they could be approaching these minor details with the understanding that 1.) kids won’t mind the lack of explanations and 2.) older audiences can piece together a reasonable explanation themselves.
I think gundam has always done the minor details a lot better than this. Once again they are shooting all kinds of weapons inside a colony/space port. It still doesn’t explain how you would damage UC without destroying your own base.
Except for how people manage to get into gundams/mobile suits and launch at will. I think its like the implied rule in gundam similar to that you dont shoot a man while hes transforming.
It could well be true that I’m being unduly hard on Gundam AGE (I don’t think I am, but that’s to be expected), but I can’t remember too many other shows where there are consistently things that induce *facepalm* or *headdesk* responses. When other series do it, I’ll call them on it. When Gundam AGE does it constantly… well, yeah.
Thinking back on it, though, I suppose that even in 0079, the kids were allowed on the bridge. On the other hand, I can’t remember them being shown to be as disruptive as Dique is now.
Regards point #2, Grodek is a smart guy. Perhaps he left them unlocked intentionally, knowing Emily was outside and would look in? I would not put it past him to be manipulating her, to what end though is anyone’s guess.
Hmm, Grodek did say he was expecting Emily to come see him, so yeah, he may have purposely let her see what he did.
I agree with you Shiden. Gundam usually handles the minor details quite well but so far the writing has been sloppy to say the least. I try not to nitpick after taking into account who the intended audiences are, but the constant facepalming moments can still be quite irksome.
Fair enough. Those details are bound to bother some people more than others. However, if you deem them as something you can’t look beyond, then I don’t think it’s worth sitting through this show week after week.
There’s enough happening with the UE and Grodek to keep me interested. I don’t have any problems with how the plot is unraveling, just the way it was presented. To be fair, Guilty Crown has some of the same issues but lucky for us, it also packs some of the prettiest animation to distract me long enough from focusing too much on the minor plot holes ;P
@Seishun:
Oh, I’ve been complaining about that one too, though, now that I think about it, I haven’t been doing it here.
Just a friendly reminder that this isn’t a place to simply post complaints. 😛
(a little late, but…)
I’m commenting on other things, too, but I’ll tone things down a little in the future.
One: “What warrant? I never received anything! You got check your comms? I’ll check our comms log, it may have been glitchy comms. Yeah that Diva ship already left. I’ll send out a scout team right away. Hey don’t blame me, you should have checked in with me earlier.”
Two: Its a communications room, not very high on the pirority list and this is when there is no alert. On higher alert levels, you would expect the ship to be in lockdown mode
Three: Again no alert. I would expect the Diva’s original crew would give him a good thrashing but these are colony officers whose colony just got blown into pieces. Going by the book probably isn’t their MO.
Four: This is true but this is Flit’s stupidity more than anything. Also to note is that Desil looks nothing like any mecha pilot they know of so wariness around him will be less, looks easily overpowered by any adult even the old mechanic and is not visibly armed (plus he came with Flit which allows people to assume Desil is fine so if Desil pulled out a laser pulse cannon from his ass, survivors would be asking Flit whether he was blind or something)
Non wariness around mechanics huh. I guess you haven’t seen the Gunleon.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDljO7gjY6c
I’m virtually certain that there is a much clearer chain of authority wrt the arrest warrant, plus at least two guards that know that they did get those orders. Either way, things won’t end well for him.
Calling it now, Desil will be Flit’s son’s archenemy.
I really couldn’t embrace the characters design, I see no reason why the main characters can’t be grown-ups instead of 14 yr-old kids. All the pilots are just too young to suit me.
Nah, I see Desil as more of a troll than an enemy.
Most Gundam series start off with protagonists in their teenage years, since Gundam targets that age of viewers in general. What’s irregular is the art work behind this series. Flit doesn’t look 14, he looks like he’s 8 and so does Emily.
Yeah, that’s the thing. Uso is 13 year old, but his character design makes him much more believable that the little Inazuma Eleven people in this entry.
Oh Flit’s mad cuz Desil’s stylin’ on him. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ff_gAV–x3M
Oh hey, it’s the Amuro Classic
…and do we really need more kids in danger(explosions)??
…some more thoughts after watching the episode…
okay, I’m more surprised that Grodek’s trying to convince Emily to agree on his actions so far (rather than to blackmail her with something) than to see Emily to go BSOD again.
…you would think that it would be harder to MSjack (or any military hardware) – ala. retina recognition…
…and that look along with Desil’s farewell to Flit made me think he has his own agenda rather than following EDEN’s(and gave me a chill down my back)
For Emily, i see her as trying to be the mother figure that Flit lost but she’s too young and immature for it. Mixed in is her own feelings for Flit. She hasn’t reached a stage where she understands that if someone is willing to actually die for something, you cannot stop them. At best you ask them to be cautious. Bruzar knew that, Emily doesn’t yet.
This episode, Flit is kind of stupid. How to get stronger? You got a ace (okay not a super ace) with you, so just ask him.
I just looked devil evil face at the end and for some reason it reminded me of pride from fullmetal….damn creepy kids these days who raising them like?
Asem Asuno? Hoh… I wasn’t even aware this series would span 3 generations. Nice!!
It appears that Gundam War cards may have given an early spoiler regarding on Decile’s identity.
Show Spoiler ▼
Yeah, someone mentioned this last week too.
I wonder when Kio/Asem asuno will be introduced? We haven’t seen them once in a while.
UE as an entity from the future = Terminator plot feelings.
Contrary to any time travelling/paradox theory, I theorize that UE and EDEN (if the aren’t working together behind the courtains) are from far away, long forgotten colonies (like Jovian or Martian ones)
Show Spoiler ▼
Not that I’m concluding that Gundam AGE’s story passes in a era far-away from the U.C era. But the introductory narration at every episode so far makes it sounds like that.
As much as I like Gundam AGE, after 5 episode I felt that there is still something very important that the series haven’t yet addressed well…and that is the the songs of war, whatever its meaning is welcome to interpretation, but I felt that despite all the drama, the conflict, the battles that was stage during the flashbacks and the first 5 episodes, it doesn’t feel like its part of an ongoing war that is suppose to take a hundred years, not at all (or at least not yet).
Well, at least for the Gundam franchise which focuses on human – human conflict for most of its history, the transition to human – unknowns is a welcome changed, but for this series to be a success in my opinion, I hope they address this very soon, the enemy which is still shrouded in mystery doesn’t have any real goal exposed yet, that why I have a hard time being immerse with the conflict as of yet.
Oh boy, I have been missing out on Gundam Age for a while now, but what awaits me is so far is boring and forgetable.
So far, I got the impression that..
1. Flit is getting way too comfortable in being the Gundam pilot. Sure he is the one who build it and the first to destory UE suits, but shouldnt he be more conflited on thinking about handing the gundam to a suitable pilot? Shouldnt there be at least one adult who voice concern on him being the pilot,who not only risking his life as an important staff behind the project as well as a kid but also a very expensive prototype? At least Amuro and rest of the gundam pilot has a believable reason like how the original pilot is dead (seed) or being picked for the mission or the gundam (wing,g,00) or maybe for pure awesome gran theft gundam (x).
2. I am going to hate Dique. Oh,please let him die…
3. There is no one capable is doing the bright slap in Gundam Age YET.
4. I not going to like it if the UE really came from the future.
So far, the 3 generation story, Grodek and the ending theme are the only things keeping me interested.
I disagree with number 1. Flit is not a “kid”… He’s as old as any other Gundam pilot from previous series. Gundam pilots are, usually, teenagers from 13 to 17. Flit is 14.
If you have a problem with Flit being a pilot, then you should have a problem with 99% of all other Gundam protagonists, because they are almost all teenagers.
He is a kid. Yes, the correct term should be teenagers but what i meant was he is still young.While i usually dont have a problem with the pilot being young, i cant really connect with Flit as of yet.
First of all, as i said before, i feel that he lack the reason to pilot the gundam except for his personal traumatic past and the fact that he built the gundam.Sure those are good reason but i feel like there is something still missing. There is also the fact that there are an ace on board who is somewhat well and healthy. Meanwhile someone like Amuro or even Kira Show Spoiler ▼
have a (what i felt) better reasons like being able to pilot it with no training (that and the fact they are Newtype/Coordinator). This two also doesnt have an ace who is whimsically wiling to pilot the gundam.
Secondly, while I like that Flit is different from the usual Real Robot pilot’s archetype (being that he doesnt seem reluctant to be the pilot), i still that he should act his age. This is because not only of his age but also his character design that resulted in him looking younger that any other pilot.This coupled with the fact that there still no adult that seem to actually care about his well being physically and mentally, only adds more disbelieve in his actual worth as a pilot.
Third, he is the genius child who built the gundam. Doesnt that means that he is sort of important in military sense?
But then again its a matter of opinion and this is just my own personal opinion.
When are we gonna see our masked villains that Gundam is so famous for??
Desil= this series’ innovator. Dresses like em too,
only needs glowing eyes to complete makeover
one thing to ask is desil https://randomc.net/image/Gundam%20AGE/Gundam%20AGE%20-%2005%20-%20Large%2031.jpg is the child of Mehna Carmine or Nena Trinity yea red hair & eye color?
sorta like crossover give already mom-marina make cameo in 1st ep & wonder going recycle few some stuff from 00-ver rated to r-AGE.
indeed better wait for SAVE_US_GS return in HD more soon.
A rumor of time travel…
In a show about passing the torch between generations…
Full retard coming in 3…2…1…
When the show begin i thought that it was made for kids, but would “grow” as the episodes goes on, but the fact that they literally explained what mass-produce MS was, i have no doubts this show will stay as it is for at least half of the 100 years.
or maybe 1st generation lead he might “knocked up” both get a child from both of them & which emily & yurin child maybe 3rd generation?
yea so will make both win give sorta if half-relative incest happen for 2nd generation to make 3rd generation?
Well, I’m not exactly sure why people are hating Emily for voicing concerns about Flit; she’s the only one who is actually doing something progressive. I mean, she’s doing it because she cares for Flit; he’s new to warfare and she doesn’t want him to be involved in it. While you may mistake that for being rude or stupid, Emily only cares about Flit’s well being. Yes, he is the only one who can pilot the Gundam, yes he is the only one who can actually defeat the UE, but because of that there’s a lot of stress and expectations placed on him. So she doesn’t want him to pilot or fight, because she doesn’t want him to be caught up in a bigger plan, nor does she want him to break. Which to me sounds pretty damn logical. Secondly, Emily is the only one who knows of the Captain’s shady actions, and is actually trying to do something about it, rather than ignore it as most people would. That’s incredibly brave, and Emily isn’t just brave; she’s smart, and she knows what she’s doing.
I’m not saying Emily isn’t being immature; to an extent she’s being quite selfish, but I don’t see any reason to hate her; I think she’s obviously very concerned but of course she doesn’t want to speak directly with him- that would result in him just retorting back that he wants to fight. The thing is that Emily understands why Flit wants to stay back, and she’s right now too shy to talk with Flit directly (this is a common trope amongst all animes). I don’t think Emily doesn’t understand that Flit knows that this is a war; I just don’t think Flit himself understands the consequences of warfare- a running theme in all the Gundam shows. Emily doesn’t know either, but she’s much more practical- she doesn’t want Flit seeing those horrors. Flit’s idealism is going to get him into trouble, and Emily knows that. Hearing Flit constantly say “I’m going to become stronger to protect everyone!’- that sort of idea doesn’t work in warfare. Emily just doesn’t want Flit coming out to be someone entirely different than the person she knows him as.
I’m not saying that’s selfish- it is, but I don’t see how that makes Emily as a bad person in any way. She hasn’t done anything directly to affect Flit yet, so how does that make her such a bad character? I see her as one of the more interesting characters who can hopefully pry away from the typical ‘damsel in distress’ trope that happens to be in almost every Gundam series (not all, but most).
I really don’t get why so many viewers hate Emily to the point of wanting her to die. She’s Flit’s childhood friend and fills a protective, mothering role since the death of his mother which will hopefully prove handy in later episodes when the pressures of being a pilot and everyone’s protector start to weigh heavy on him – if the series manages to get that deep, anyway.
One of my biggest gripes about the series is the lukewarm character development. I’ve seen a few comments about how real Gundam fans should just shut up and accept Flit’s age in light of past Gundam protagonists. Previous Gundam installments place a lot of emphasis on how the protagonist and core cast members respond to various (often harrowing) situations they come across as the series progresses; their responses are usually dependent on factors such as personality, age, family background, etc. Yes, Uso was younger than Flit – However, Uso’s age plays a significant role in how he reacted to situations and how characters treated him. When he acted outside of orders on childish whims, he was admonished. The pressures of seeing allies suffering and constantly having to protect Shakti weighed on him heavily, but adult League Militaire members relied on him due to a shortage in resources and manpower, his uncanny piloting abilities, and his development as a newtype. Kira had to stay on as the Strike’s pilot due to his altering the OS to his specifications; even Mu and Murrue show some concern about relying too much on a young civilian coordinator. I won’t even get started on Amuro’s early griping about just being a kid and not a soldier (Bright Slap!). I’d say that Flit is in a much better situation as he not only has Woolf to rely on (I had really hoped Woolf would be more of a Bernard Monsha-type foil to help develop Flit’s personality, but he seems to accept Flit a mere episode after challenging him – how dull) and the orange-afro pilot (Lagan?) who seems to just loiter about the Diva (even Kai, Hayato and Ryu assist Amuro by piloting the guncannon, guntank and core fighter). Eureka 7 addresses the pressure wars have on young minds when cocky Renton realizes (oh so brutally) enemy LFOs don’t pilot themselves. And Evangelion’s Shinji, Asuka and Rei? Yeah. I don’t want the age issue to be hand-waved just because other shows have young pilots – it should have some bearing on the pilot’s development and not just to appeal to viewers in the same age range.
As a matter fact, age usually plays a big role in Gundam shows (particularly ones overseen by Mr. Tomino) – look at how many times young protagonists (particularly Kamille Bidan) complain about how ‘Adults’ operate, especially when they feel like they’re being used or some other injustice is afoot. This goes to the greater Gundam theme of the younger generations (i.e. Newtypes, coordinators, innovators) taking over from the older generations (oldtypes, naturals, non-innovators, etc.) to shape a future where conflict won’t be necessary.
At episode 5, AGE still has plenty of time to grow. I know seasoned Gundam fans like myself aren’t the group Sunrise is trying to attract this time around, but I really hope it’s execution and characters see some significant development. Kids should be engaged/ challenged by the story and sympathize with Flit and friends. Let’s hope this doesn’t turn out just to be a series of 25 minute model kit and videogame commercials. C’mon, Sunrise; make a show Mr. Tomino will be proud of so he knows Gundam’s future is in capable hands.
Also, let’s lighten up on the needless Emily bashing. Think of it this way: would you want your 14 year old son (emphasis on 14) running off to fight in a war – especially when you have two capable pilots (one underutilized) on your crew roster? She’s just being protective of her man, and I’m sure she’ll eventually learn to accept and support Flit’s decision. It’s called character development – all good shows have it. Without it, we’d just have a bunch of cardboard cutouts instead of people. Let’s not turn this into the next Relena-hate fest, please. If she still acts the same way 25 episodes from now, then you’ll have cause to tar and feather her (and the show’s writers, for that matter).
Sorry, just wanted to get that off my chest. Phew…
I agree with Snowolf and CSB about not bashing Emily. She is actually one of a few characters I like up to this point. Another character that has a bit likable trait/side is the Captain because he explained things to Emily upon her confrontation (he didn’t say rubbish like ha, butt out kid, or keep silence/ignore her etc.). Filt is ok. At least Emily (and the Captain, and maybe a bit Flit too) seem to have reasons (and brain) for their actions and some kind of direction. But other characters are more or less nothing/rubbish so far. I do not care about them. and the story is boring. But I like Emily (she can think, take action, stand up for herself/friend, confront a big adult, caring, cute, what else can you ask?), and OP, ED songs.
I saw the first 2 pictures and thought…. this anime has Michael Jackson!
Gloves and 80s jacket!