First Impressions / Gundam

Summary:

Eight years ago, in the Kurdis Republic, Ali Al Sarshes had told a group of children that they were devoting themselves to God to participate in this holy war, and he directed them to kill their families. He had congratulated them afterwards on being accepted by God and on becoming warriors for this war. Back in the present, Setsuna recognizes Ali’s voice, and the movements of the enemy remind him of a time he had a knife-fight against him. Setsuna had lost that fight, and as the Exia now locks blades with the opposing mobile suit, he remembers how his mother had begged him to stop right before he shot her. This leads to Setsuna momentarily losing it and pushing the Exia to the point where its core lights up and it is able to cut through Ali’s blade. However, Setsuna then uses the light on the Exia’s head to indicate that he wants to get out of the cockpit. It surprises everyone, including the other Gundam pilots and Sumeragi, when Setsuna emerges, though Ali isn’t able to recognize Setsuna with his flight suit on and can only tell that he’s a kid.

Amused by this, Ali gets out of his cockpit too and takes off his helmet, in the process confirming his identity to Setsuna. Since he recognizes that face, Setsuna immediately draws his gun, but Ali is quick to pull his own out too, and the two almost shoot each other if not for a third party interfering with a rifle blast between them. That turns out to be courtesy of Lockon in the Dynames, and while he fails to actually hit Ali’s mobile suit, it does drive Ali off. Lockon then tries to question Setsuna about what just happened, but he gets cut off by Sumeragi who tells them to continue with the mission for now. Elsewhere on the battlefield, Tieria has the Virtue employ some compressed particles around himself as a sort of defensive shield while he powers up the GN Bazooka. The Kyrios meanwhile blasts more enemy aircraft out of the sky, and casualty reports are coming in to Moralia’s command headquarters. From what they know, the Gundams have succeeded in shooting down 32 mobile suits and have seriously damaged another 26, and that doesn’t include the 15 more that the AEU has lost. The Moralia commander is shocked to hear that they’ve lost over half their forces in two hours, and things for him get worse when he learns that the PMC intends to retreat now.

Over at the PMC headquarters, the leaders find out that they’ve lost sight of the Gundams and that they can’t communicate with Ali Al Sarshes because of the particle interference from the Gundams. At that moment, the Gundams are in a canyon headed for their next objective. While en route, Setsuna wonders why Ali is here and if he belongs to the PMC because he had nowhere to go. If that is the case, Setsuna questions where Ali’s God went. While Setsuna is thinking about this, Tieria opens a communication with him to warn that if he makes any more stupid moves on his own, then Tieria will shoot him in the back in order to protect the secret of the Gundam. Ali meanwhile returns to his group and is greeted with admiration from his subordinates because of how he was able to go toe-to-toe with the Gundam. He privately wonders who the enemy pilot was and if that pilot knew him, and although the Exia’s swordplay reminds him of his experience in the Kurdis Republic, he dismisses the idea because he feels he’s reading too much into it.

When the Gundams arrive at their next objective, Moralia headquarters, they quickly take care of all the defenders. The Moralia commander is dumbfounded over how his entire force was wiped out in five minutes, and he then receives a message from the country’s prime minister. The Gundam Meisters soon see a white signal flare indicating surrender, and thus ending their mission. Over at Wang Liu Mei’s place, Sumeragi comments on the unexpected happening during the mission, so Wang Liu Mei points out that the change went according to Veda’s calculations. Sumeragi admits that she didn’t want things to go like those calculations, though she doesn’t answer when Wang Liu Mei asks her why. Instead, she wonders if Wang Liu Mei knows how many victims resulted from this mission and cites 500 based on her own forecast. Wang Liu Mei questions if Sumeragi hadn’t joined Celestial Being with this understanding, so Sumeragi says that she did.

At the MSWAD base, Graham thinks that the AEU lost, but Billy isn’t so sure. Billy notes that although it’s painful for the AEU to lose 20 or more mobile suits, this gives them public support to pursue a military buildup. And because they had helped Moralia, the AEU’s relationship with the PMC will become closer too. Leif Eifman then comments on how, no matter what kind of flashy victories Celestial Being gets, its destiny is to be excluded from the world; he feels that Celestial Being is walking a path of ruin. A short while later, Saji and Louise are listening to a news report of how it only took five hours for Moralia to unconditionally surrender and watch some coverage on the civilian toll. The two are feeling conflicted because the same Celestial Being that caused this had also saved them. Back at the PMC Base, Ali Al Sarshes is getting questioned by a superior about why his was the only group that didn’t take any losses. He answers that it’s because their commander was excellent, and more importantly, he’s heard about some welcome news.

Having returned to their island hideout, Lockon punches Setsuna for almost revealing his identity. He questions why Setsuna exposed himself to the enemy, but Setsuna refuses to explain anything. Tieria doesn’t mind if Setsuna doesn’t want to say, however he points a gun at Setsuna for being a danger to them. Setsuna responds by pulling out his own gun and asserting that he won’t give up the Exia. To diffuse the situation, Allelujah points out that Veda selected them all, and thus there must be some reason Setsuna was chosen to be a Gundam Meister. Though Tieria lowers his gun, he wants Setsuna to show them that reason, so Setsuna says that his existence itself is the reason. Still at Wang Liu Mei’s place, Sumeragi gets an urgent call from Wang Liu Mei about terror attacks around the world. One of these attacks occurs right in front of Saji and Louise in Tokyo when a bus explodes, though the two of them are fortunately unhurt. On the island hideout, Ian Vasty informs the pilots of the seven coordinated terrorist attacks across the world.

According to Ian, the attacks occurred at transportation hubs and commercial areas, they were carried out with timed bombs, and at least 100 people are dead. The group then gets a call from Wang Liu Mei who wants to inform them about a message that was just released by the culprits. They want Celestial Being to cease its armed interventions, and as long as Celestial Being doesn’t disarm, the terrorists will respond with indiscriminate retribution. Wang Liu Mei doesn’t know what organization put out this message, but for now the Meisters are told to wait for orders where they are. Tieria, however, doesn’t feel that the threat of indiscriminate killings will stop their activities. He doesn’t care about the civilian toll because he thinks this kind of thing should have been forecasted in their plan. Lockon’s hostility towards this idea causes Tieria to question if Lockon hates terrorism that much, and Tieria suggests that people also see Celestial Being as fine terrorists. Setsuna then points that this organization created strife in the form of terrorism, and so they, as Celestial Being and Gundam Meisters, are going to intervene.

Preview:

There was a lot less political stuff and more Gundam battles this week compared to last week, and combined with the Setsuna character development, I was pretty happy with the direction the episode was taking. I can see the traumatic event of killing his parents (even though he looked rather unforgiving as he was doing so) would shape how he’s a little unstable now, though there’s probably even more about him we don’t know yet. It also seems that the woman that Setsuna killed in his past (probably his mother) called him by his real name right before he shot her – something like Sora or Soran.

This episode also did quite a lot to expose the rift developing between the Gundam Meisters. Tieria shows how cold and calculating he is by basically saying that he’s okay with people being killed indiscriminately because of their actions. That plus the fact that Tieria both threatened to shoot Setsuna in the back and pulled a gun on Setsuna because he thinks Setsuna is dangerous – well, he isn’t exactly any points. Having said that, Tieria’s way of thinking is probably right if Celestial Being’s goal is only to stop war, and the means and consequences don’t matter. That kind of thinking can easily make him or the rest of the Celestial Being organization into the bad guys, and I imagine this will continue to be a theme/point of contention throughout the series.

As a side note, I think Saji and Louise are in the wrong place at the wrong time a bit too much. That’s going to get one of them killed someday. Anyway, next week looks to be the meeting of Setsuna and Marina, and if the OP and preview for next episode are any indicator, those two’s fates are deeply intertwined.

65 Comments

  11. Tieria looks like a bad guy on the good side while
    Ali looks like a good guy currently on the wrong side.
    Teiria is the dangerous-looking one to me.
    The meisters don’t seem to be getting along at all. Will we ever get Gundam00 teamwork without phase orders from Sumeragi-san?
    None of the 4 seem capable of making good decisions with leadership abilities.

    Next ep looks interesting.
    Setsuna meeting up with Marina…
    I can’t imagine tham as a couple since Setsuna looks a lot younger, a lot more immature and a lot shorter than Marina is.

    Yukiruchan
    Reply

  14. Yukiruchan and Liz I certainly liz I certainly hope that’s the case because a relationship between the two of them would be lame lame lame and so very contrived.

    But wow, the series is really heating up there. Can’t wait to see how much that rift grows (I call Tiera officially becoming a bad guy).

    Roro
    Reply

  15. About Setsuna’s real name

    Maybe it’s from “Solah”, I think.

    “Solah” is from “Salat” (also salah, namaz, solat, solah, solaat, solaah, salaat, namaaz, shalat and other spellings) It means “to bless, generally refers to prayers that Muslims offer to God (Arabic:Allah)”

    It most commonly refers to the five daily ritual prayers in Islam.

    flarezard
    Reply

  17. If you think it Wing-ish and Seed-ish way,
    maybe CB is really a bad side, Teiria will stay with them and become an enemy
    while Setsuna and the others will leave and team up with Marina.
    And Marina’s country will become powerful with green particle energy
    then she’ll probably move on to creating real world peace with Gundam backup.
    Without Teiria and perhaps with Ali, maybe the meisters can get their teamwork up somehow.

    And that is all a big guess…

    @Liz
    I think Marina is only 16-17, since Sunrise likes young protagonists.
    Still, Setsuna is probably only 14-15.
    Another reason why I can’t imagine them as a couple: Marina is a Queen after all.

    Yukiruchan
    Reply

  18. Since when did the age difference matter in a relationship? And if it’s lame or not depends on how it’s spinned. But I don’t expect it. I actually don’t expect any romance stuff, but we’ll see.

    GP
    Reply

  23. @Liz
    Wow, really!O_o!
    Marina is old!! haha.

    Age is not always a factor for love but
    16 and 24, 8 years difference is really weird. Esp, since the man is the one 8 years younger.
    Yet obviously from the OP, they are to become some kind of a couple…

    Yukiruchan
    Reply

  27. @Omni

    I don’t think it’s the trauma of killing his mother that caused Setsuna ot be the way he is now, and here’s why: Remember back in Episode 1, at the very beginning, when Setsuna was fighting in this ruined town. He kept hearing this message that they’re fighting a Holy War under God, and he kept saying to himself that there is no God. Then, of course, he saw the Gundam shooting down the mobile suits that were about to kill him.

    I’m relating that scene back to Setsuna’s reaction to Ali Al Sarches, who proclaimed to the children soldiers in the flashback of this episode that they’re fighting for God and they have to kill their parents. I think what has probably shaped Setsuna to be unstable is the combination of that Jihad indoctrination, along with the disillusionment of seeing his combrades indiscriminately killed on the actual battlefield and seeing them used as nothing more than programmable tools for killing. And he saw that there was no God to save them when they were dying.

    To me, that’s why Setsuna says that his existence is the reason why he is a Gundam Meister. In Setsuna’s mind, if there is no God to stop war and kill his enemies, then he will fill the void and BECOME God himself. He will become a Gundam Meister, with a weapon, in order to wipe out all those who have done wrong in the past.

    Kai
    Reply

  28. By the way, I’m not convinced that there’ll be romance between Marina and Setsuna either. It’s entirely possible, given their age differences, that they can be something like siblings (in other words, take a page out of the Gundam SEED playbook with Cagali and Kira). And given the way Gundam 00’s story is going, it feels like romance wouldn’t quite fit in here.

    Kai
    Reply

  29. @Yukiruchan
    WAAAAAAAAAAAH I hate to say it, but say it isn’t so T_T I really can’t imagine Setsuna and Marina together. And I hope that as we go further into the series, I hope they’ll elaborate more on the O Gundam (From Episode 1, that interferred at the Battle of the Kurdish republic, it’s not enough reading the little information about it on wikipedia and trying to decide if it’s true or not (Bad experiences with wikipedia)…
    Oh! Nice screenname, I had a friend named Yuki!

    Liz
    Reply

  30. I can see a brother/sister or replacement son/mother relationship between Setsuna and Marina. How old is HRL super girl? I wonder if her and Setsuna…

    I don’t see Ali as a good guy. He used the idea of god to manipulate some kids and then probably disappeared when they were getting massacred and Setsuna barely surviving. Now he’s a hired gun who will fight whoever for a paycheck. Given his combat experience, I don’t see him dying anytime soon.

    jounin
    Reply

  33. AUGH Vowels is SMILING in that second to last screenshot that’s so creepy.

    Excellent episode all around.

    Also, I think that Setsuna and Marina are likely long-lost siblings or something… or some other relationship, because of the whole “together in the OP” thingamajig. There might be a connection between Allelujah and Soma beyond fellow supersoldiers, might not be.

    cantfakethefunk
    Reply

  35. As for the Sestuna x Marina thing.. we saw Setsuna get close to *possibly* letting the full power of Exia go.. maybe going off the OP Marina will be a key for that (whatever it is).

    Hurray for wild speculations ^^

    kiryuu
    Reply

  36. Am i insane? Well, I am totally agree with what Tieria say.
    If you have chosen that path then you just have to follow. It’s no way to become hesitate if the consequence is not what you think. Yea, I think it should be in expectation when they start acting. If keep thinking something not necessary it just will ruins all things. Their goal is to stop war unless there are some hidden goal behind? He is right. What different between Celestial Being and terrorist btw they cause a lot of casualty? If you can’t realize it from the start I don’t know why they’ll joined Celestial Being. Haha, seems like Lockon not suits as a captain either.
    And what I think of now is Tieria is more to a bit like Lelouch. As long as they can achieve their goal they can do anything for it.

    Kaede
    Reply

  37. Setsuna is the most whacko of all. Even as a child to kill your parents for the war effort say a lot about your mental health. I rather have a bunch of soldiers like Tieria instead of Setsuna.

    golthin
    Reply

  40. Setsuna was a child and was brainwashed. And I’m not talking the crap you saw in Seed. You obviously have never heard of child soldiers my friend. The movie Blood Diamond is a pretty good example of this. The kids are tortured and desensitized to death to the point where they will in fact kill family, etc. Setsuna isn’t just some angsty kid who fell into a Gundam. He has real problems.

    You know what caught me off guard? The bus bomb. Even though I knew it was coming, it made me jump a bit. The looks on Saji and Louise’s faces were pretty horrifying.

    While Tieria may have a point, it doesn’t change the fact that he is a complete ass about it. And while he says that CB are terrorist in the eyes of others, I haven’t seen them blow up a bus or a subway station full of civilians. They’re causing casualties, but all of them have been armed. Lockon has a bad past with terrorists. I believe he lost his family to an attack, and still Tieria knowingly stuck a knife in that wound. There’s a difference in being devoted to a cause and simply being an a**h*** about it.

    Amuro1X
    Reply

  42. @Liz
    Thanks! ^w^

    When I said *some kind of a couple* , I didn’t necessary mean lovers.
    My guess is a special relationship with special affection, like a forbidden love, which neither can tell the other their true feelings. Well… who knows? Secret feelings between a Queen and an 8-year-younger orphan, might turn out kind of romantic. Setsuna might end up living secretly protecting and supporting Marina in the shadows.

    My interpretation of the OP is that Marina will change Setsuna’s world of despair into hope.
    I’d love to see how. Hope Sunrise does it well.

    Yukiruchan
    Reply

  46. @golthin
    Uhh..sure, but younger man, older woman is kinda creepy, but I guess it’s possible since this is anime.
    People can accept a 24 year old man and 16 year old girl because the older man/younger girl thing happens more often than a younger man/older woman pairing. o_o
    But we don’t know what Setsuna and Marina’s relationship is yet!

    Liz
    Reply

  48. @Amuro1X
    Of course I understand Lockon don’t like terrorist must has some reason. Im half kidding when I say that he’s not suits as a captain. Well, what I mean is just I totally agree with Tieria. If I’m a public citizen I’ll think CB as terrorist too. CB now not only killed soldiers but there’re a lot of citizen died because of them. They don’t bombed the bus but they had cause 500+ ppl died while the terrorist cause 100+ ppl died. I’m not comparing the figures here but what’s the point to differentiate them btw the consequence is same: ppl died.
    Ppl always look at consequence only & won’t ask the main purpose. So in ppl eyes CB is terrorist.
    I think Tieria pointed out at that time is right. Though it’s straight & it might hurts ppl but also, it’s reality. I totally agree with you he’s an ass but hmmm…I like his behavior.
    Btw, my tiny bit pov, I still don’t trust Celestial Being.

    Kaede
    Reply

  50. Well here is something to think about:

    The terrorists that are targeting civilians right now are clearly scared of the gundam intervening in their affairs, I have a feeling they will play a bigger role then what is being sais atm, althought the next episode seems to be dealing with them.

    They still have to figure out who they are. The current amount of parties in this serie is a lot and still rising each episode. Things will start to get really complicated soon. I already have some minor trouble seeing how Minera is going to be involved specifically. I am still somewhat clueless on where this so called country is, looks like east europe not entirely sure..

    The gundams are aiming to the point of fire atm for every single armed force out there and as well forcing them to work together and not independently of each other. This uniting will clear off the war but can never last long.

    As for Tiara, he is harsh but right. If I was a gundam meister I would be the same most likely. As for Setsuna being this unstable.. welcome to his living hell. Because that is what he lives in, the only place where he can live in..

    Lamex
    Reply

  51. https://randomc.net/image/Gundam%2000/Gundam%2000%20-%2007%20-%20Large%2025.jpg

    After making love to her two beautiful assistants

    https://randomc.net/image/Gundam%2000/Gundam%2000%20-%2007%20-%20Large%2026.jpg

    Ms. Sumeragi quietly sips some “tea[?]”

    Back on track now. During the dialog at the ravine…

    [Mendoi-Conclave]

    Tieria: If you continue on your unilateral actions, I will shoot you at the back!

    Setsuna: And lose a Solar Furnace…

    Seems to imply that there are only 4 GN drives in existence which explains why the Ptolemy needs the Gundams as a power source.

    Gravmech
    Reply

  53. It’s Ali who organized all those terrorism acts. He isn’t a good guy after all. I guess I am happy for that we need some bad guys, can’t have all of them become turn coats. Setsuna’s story is pretty captivating. I wonder what current relation he has with the princess though.

    jubeihimura
    Reply

  56. i loved this episode,cuz im kurdish, and as soon as i saw the “kurdish republic” and obviously finaalllyy setsuna’s real name comes up, which is SORAN!its a pure kurdish male name, same as my uncles!! I was extatic..i kneeeww somehow his name cant be japanese!! btw.. I believe this Gundam series will definatly hit the spot for the audience.. because of two reasons:
    1. THE GEORGIAN CALENDAR!!HELOO…thank God they dont use the colony mumbo jumbo
    aaand
    2. The fact that they will adhere to all the aspects of war (being a child of war myself…for reall , no joke), such as affects of war on children, actual terrorism, and the fuel consumption of the world

    PS: somehow these solar furnaces are S-class secrets too…maybe its some advancement in fuel consumption that world is not ready for…tan tan taaaan

    Kamiran777
    Reply

  58. @hei and then he’ll put an Uchiha Sasuke on us LOL

    ..and it makes you wonder if little clueless pincess prinprin (Marina) is 24… how old is Tsumeragi-san o_O?

    and say what you wantm I like Tieria… I’ve always loved antagonistig Charas -good antagonistic Charas mind you… hehehe reminds me of Wufei-chan

    Rikuu
    Reply

  61. yeah.. this is too … bleh for a gundam series. “Why are you fighting?” never seems to die in the Gundam series.. but this is just ridiculous. Intervening in other nations problems =/

    Gundam Z + Seed FTW. Kira!

    GSD Fan
    Reply

  65. GUNDAM 00 LIKE MAI OTOME SETSUNA F. SEIEI AND ARIKA YUMEMIYA BEAT GUNDAM SEED DESTINY THE SONG OF GUNDAM 00 DO MY BEST LIKE MAI OTOME SETSUNA F. SEIEI GET OUT KIRA AND ATHRUN SHINN GET OUT GUNDAM SEED DESTINY SAVE MASHIRO AND NINA WANG AND MIKOTO AND LENA SAYERS THANKS YOU SETSUNA F. SEIEI YOU SAVE MAI OTOME YOU WELLCOME MASHIRO YOU TOO GOOD GUY TIERIA AND ALLELUJAH AND LOCKON 4 GUNDAM MEISTERS LIKE MAI OTOME GET FOR YOU YOUR POWER OF GUNDAM 00 LEGEND OF MAI OTOME THANKS YOU GUY BY SUNRISE AND BANDAI THE END

    JOEL PEREZ
    Reply

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