First Impressions / Gundam

Summary:

When the pilot of the Gundam that saved him checks to see if he’s okay, Setsuna questions who she is. Without hesitation, the girl answers that she’s Nena Trinity – a Gundam Meister just like him. Her Gundam is called the Throne Drei, and her brothers pilot the other two Gundam Thrones. At this very moment, Patrick and his AEU force are returning with the Virtue to their base when they suddenly start getting picked apart by sniper fire. Patrick’s Enact is the first to get hit, and the Virtue is soon free because the Hellions that were keeping it confined have now been destroyed. The Gundam pilot that was doing the firing doesn’t stop there though and continues on with his mission. In another part of the desert, Soma is wondering why the pilot of the Kyrios attacked the facility of the superhuman organization and killed her brethren. She suddenly senses something, but by the time she reacts, several of the Human Reform League Tierens have been destroyed. They are being attacked by several slender objects flying around that aren’t missiles, and these objects eventually return to the Gundam where they came from. What they are facing is the Throne Zwei Gundam, and its pilot is Michael Trinity. Michael refers to the weapon pieces flying around as Fangs, and they score multiple hits on both Sergei’s Tieren and Soma’s Tieren Taozi.

By now, the Gundam that freed the Virtue has begun picking off the Union Flags around the Dynames. Losing more men with each passing moment, Graham has no choice but to order a retreat. Lockon is surprised to see a new Gundam, and his Haro doesn’t even have any information on it, but he finds out about it soon enough when its pilot introduces himself as Johann Trinity and reveals that the Gundam is the Throne Eins. With all of the Meisters safe, Johann then tells Nena to scatter GN particles over a maximum area, and so she has her Throne Drei completely cover the sky in those particles. At the AEU base, Kathy is just now learning of the new Gundams and their failure to capture anything. With the GN particles everywhere, nobody’s communications systems work, and Sergei questions why Celestial Being didn’t do this earlier if they had the ability to do so. Back at Wang Liu-Mei’s place, Christina gets a coded message from Haro about the four Gundams being okay. Sumeragi is a bit surprised by this, but she feels that this is a case where she should be happy that things didn’t go according to expectations. All across the world, leaders of the superpowers are reacting to the news of three new Gundams, upping the count to seven total. Even Setsuna and company are still in shock as they safely return to their island base, particularly Tieria who knows that such Gundams didn’t exist in Veda’s plan.

Sometime later, Alejandro Corner arrives in a theater-like room that has each of its balcony spots occupied by a piece of artwork that represents a person. The voices behind the artwork discuss the new Gundams being part of a secret second team and how they weren’t described in Veda’s plan. Addressing all the observers, Alejandro asks about acknowledging the new Gundams, but the voices behind the artwork first want to re-evaluate the results of everything that Celestial Being has done. Alejandro thus launches into an explanation that starts with Celestial Being’s first mission against the AEU and against the terrorists, and he and the other voices go on to discuss all of the subsequent missions and events. When they work their way back up to what happened in Taklamakan, they wonder where the GN Drives for the new Gundams were created because they thought that there were only five in operation. Alejandro eventually brings the discussion back to the question of acknowledging the three new Gundams or not, and the group agrees to do it.

Meanwhile, the Trinity siblings have also been discussing the Celestial Being missions, and Johann thinks that the Gundam Meisters will have an interest in them and the Gundam Thrones. As their ship nears a rendezvous point, the three get ready to meet their fellow Gundam Meisters.

Preview:

Despite what the Newtype spoilers had hinted at, I had thought last week that there wouldn’t be any recap this episode because there was so much to cover with Setsuna and company being saved by the new Gundams. That turned out to be not quite true because it was a very lopsided victory on the Gundam Thrones’ part. I had really hoped that it wouldn’t be quite so easy, but maybe this just proves that regular forces can’t stand against the Gundams without superior numbers and planning. Or perhaps the Gundam Thrones are just that good. In any case, it was all over before the mid-episode mark, and the latter half ended up being mostly recap. It wasn’t all bad though because they framed it as a discussion between the Illuminati-like Observer organization that Alejandro appears to be part of. I’ve currently got Alejandro pegged as the eventual bad guy, so anything he does I see as being up to no good, and I’m just waiting for him to backstab someone.

Anyway, the “good guys” currently have too much power on their side with no one to really oppose them, so unless something big happens to change things, I expect that the Trinity siblings will eventually have to fight Setsuna and company. It’s more a question of when, and I’m willing to bet that it’ll be sooner rather than later.

96 Comments

  4. YES!!! Finally, it’s here!

    Phooey about the recap though.
    Since half of the ep is a recap, it looks like the outcome of the battle was quite short. I was expecting some longer action for the new Thrones and their fight with the Union+AEU+HRL. So I suppose the Thrones were totally overwhelming in power.

    Also, Nena reminds me of someone. A more arrogant Flay Allstar…

    Yukiruchan
    Reply

  7. Sigh….where are the good old days where a pilot alone is able to single-handedly wipe out an entire squadron/platoon of MS? Now they resort to overpowered gundams…not that I hate it or something but I prefer an unbeatable pilot over an overpowered gundam

    dward
    Reply

  10. oooh, hope Setsuna doesnt two time. He has already a princess whom he visits secretly in her bedroom now he might get another girl?!? This time a cute ms pilot, He cant get any luckier than this. 😀

    DXD
    Reply

  16. @dward
    Agree. It’s more fun and exciting to see a skilled pilot bring out the capability of a disadvantaged Gundam to it’s limit, and can beat up more powerful enemies even when outnumbered. Preferably with use of smart/unpredictable tactics.

    @obethx
    Totally Disagree. Asuka surpasses Flay in every way.
    Did you actually mean Nena? If so I still believe Asuka is special beyond both.

    Yukiruchan
    Reply

  17. Age difference doesn’t matter, it was introduced in Nana with Shin x Reira and a lot of fans didn’t seem bothered by it at all… I think Setsuna x Marina’s relationship is going to be similar to Kira and Lacus’ relationship. They won’t hold hands or kiss, we probably won’t even see them hug. It’s going to be a spiritual relationship (which means romantic for me). Marina was also worried about him last ep, so I doubt he will get with Nena if all she has over Marina is being a year old Setsuna…

    Kaori
    Reply

  19. Oh yea, ‘spiritual’ relationship…naked Kira holding a naked Lacus in the GSD opening…

    The Thrones are really really overpowered…wonder whether it can compare with the hax that Strike Freedom was

    lolz
    Reply

  24. heheh… finally villains came into scene… of course it will take some time for setsune and guys to figure out on how EVIL these three siblings are.

    I guess in some way it will include them kidnapping Marina or something…lets face it – Setsuna HAS to save her at least one time in this season.

    Unknown Voice
    Reply

  25. This is anime, age doesn’t really count, well as long as the older one look young enoughfor the younger one any way. But Setsuna and Marina relationship would probably be a bit more like that of Heero and Relena (from Gundam W) rather than any other main couples from other gundam series (because if I’m not mistaken, although Kira and Lacus never kissed, they actually share a lot of romantic hugs and usually seen holding hands or that sort of stuffs in GSD.)

    no13
    Reply

  27. Well let’s face it, Gundam usually shows a romantic pairing with the main pilot and the Princess of Peace. Setsuna and Marina already have a connection, I wouldn’t be surprised if it turns romantic though it doesn’t seem like it’ll be one of those overly gushy omg let’s hug each other and kiss pairings. It’ll probably be more like a ‘sharing worried or fond glances’ thing. I actually hope Gundam 00 will further separate itself from the pack and become more like a brother/sister or mentor/student duo than be predictably romantic.

    Fufu Cuddly Poops
    Reply

  33. Keep in mind, Coffee Addict the setting of Rurouni Kenshin is a factor in the acceptance of that kind of relationship. In the era and place they were in, an age difference of that kind wouldn’t matter. But Gundam 00 isn’t set in Japan in the Meji Era. We can’t apply the same rules to this show and expect that automatically an age difference of that kind would be magically accepted. Look at Lockon’s (24) reaction when he was mistaken by Allelujah to have some sort of relationship with Felt (14). He obviously didn’t like the mistake.

    Also, Kaoru was 17 🙂

    Fufu Cuddly Poops
    Reply

  39. Huh? All this wasn’t part of Sumeragi’s plan and the 4 meisters all really messed up?
    Awww… #is totally disappointed#
    I was so sure that since the scientist guy sent Sumeragi all the Gundam capture plan data, she would have made a cool counterplan for it. I even thought the 4 Gundams were withstanding attacks for 15 hours deliberately – since there was no speak of selfdestructing rather than getting captured.

    ….#is still totally disappointed!#
    I can’t believe all 4 meisters weren’t able to come up with an escape plan during those 15 hours! They really did nothing, let themselves get exhausted and captured eventually?? They can’t cooperate at all without Sumeragi’s plans?? And they arrive back at the base feeling only shocked not ultimate failure? They nearly lost all 4 Gundams!

    MAJI DE?!?!?!?

    Someone please tell me it is a plan after all =_=””’

    Yukiruchan
    Reply

  47. Does anyone else feel that the leaders behind the Celestial Beings resemble The Patriots from Metal Gear a lot? i.e. a bunch of people who lived centuries ago and are still continuing to influence the world by living on in super computers?

    divine
    Reply

  49. @Unknown Voice
    The Throne ship is powered with a GN Drive BUT that is not what they are talking about. GN MS Drive which I think is not known to us right now.

    Just like GN Arms was not known until the model kit leaks.

    Cox
    Reply

  50. It’s Gundam. Inevitably there will be an ‘ultimate’ suit stashed away or nearly completed for Set-chan when the Exia gets trashed. Have seen the ‘Tau’ drives called ‘pseudo GN drives’, guessing there will be some form of trade-off for matching the regular GN drives. On anothe tack, how do people feel this series holds up against previous efforts? I am really enjoying it – I know there are the Wing parallels but personally feel these are surface only – the whole thing feels more ‘grown up’ than SEED did (for a show designed to sell toys)and it is definitely good to have some new blood on the mecha design front – the Thrones are great 🙂

    watanabe43
    Reply

  51. Although seeing thrones came out is not bad, but I just feel very sorry for the three power’s side. Their efforts really go to waste. Hope there will be some day these guys got a suit that can equally fight with gundams. It ‘s such a shame how they got good pilots like Graham or Sergei or Soma and didn’t even have a chance to fight because how overpowered the gundams are. And yeah, Patrick lives hehe ^^.

    saris
    Reply

  52. … is there really such a shortage of talented writers in Japan that they constantly need to resort to uber MS easily destroy wave after wave of Mobile Armor X,Y,and Z? and the story, christ this is the only gundam series wher ive ever had to skip to the fight scene to get through an episode. the Gundam Meisters are all flat one dimentional characters that , if not by now, probably wont ever get any char development. Did I mention they’re equally talentless? seriously, do you honestly think any of them would stang a chance if graham had a gundam? someone PM me when this series turns into something other than a carnival shooting game.

    huh
    Reply

  54. @huh
    We really can say that right now but it could lead to a bigger picture. I wont say that until I see more. Your comments are in part correct of this series doesnt evolve. It will evolve since it has 50 eps.

    Cox
    Reply

  57. BTW:
    – The three Gundam Thrones combine by lining up in a row
    – Their GN particles are red
    – They are Celestial Being MS but from a different branch unknown to Setsuna and company
    – The three pilots have been enhanced through genetic manipulation

    – The Thrones have their own mothership which is equipped with a GN Drive with the same kind of red particles as they emit themselves
    – Further, the mothership has a beam cannon directly linked to its GN Drive
    – The three pilots are referred to collectively as Team Trinity
    – The shoulder-equipped cannon on the Throne (Eins, presumably) is a GN Launcher. When two Thrones are linked, it’s a GN Mega Launcher. When all three are linked, it’s a GN High Mega Launcher

    Cox
    Reply

  58. I would so love to have the Celestial bring announce to all three sides and say if any of you BS try to mess with us again doing this shit and capture our gundam I will wipe every last one of you and your entire country from the face of this planet. So what we are a dictator, but we are a dictator that try to stop all war in this world. So if anymore country or people wanna fight fine we be your opponent and wipe you and whoever with you to extinction.
    Being nice get you nowhere and people will only take advantage of you, sometimes you want to get something done, you just have to be evil even thou the end result you want is world piece.

    Tom
    Reply

  62. Did Omni say 5 operational GN drives? Where did the 5th one go? Gundam O?

    The Fifth one is on the Astrea.(The Astrea R) its another division of CB, with 1 “Gundam”. its weapons are
    1 ProtoGN-Blade
    1 GN Rifle
    2 GN Sabres

    thats all I think

    Rauzes
    Reply

  67. https://randomc.net/image/Gundam%2000/Gundam%2000%20-%2016%20-%20Large%2019.jpg
    Patrick smsing his female colonel, (possible message: im sorry i phailed again. possible reply: you suck as a man! )

    https://randomc.net/image/Gundam%2000/Gundam%2000%20-%2016%20-%20Large%2012.jpg
    Nena and Setsuna: Love at 1st Fight?!? erm Sight?!?

    https://randomc.net/image/Gundam%2000/Gundam%2000%20-%2016%20-%20Large%2020.jpg
    Sumeragi: so there is a girl meister…. (insecurity?)
    Wang Liu Mei: yea, so what? *smiles* (confidence?)

    wh000t
    Reply

  69. Some Newtype spoilers (translated) that I found…

    Show Spoiler ▼

    KaiZX
    Reply

  73. I’ve thought the new gundams will fight the Celestrial Being lot since the new opening unveiled them, if you play the latter 10 seconds in slow-mo you can Dynames and Kyrios doding shots from those funnel things then the black throne shooting at Exia as it flies up with two beam-sabres. The openings don’t usually show the exact events but they give an idea to the direction this quater will probably go.

    Jahk
    Reply

  75. To be honest, the Thrones annoy me. Not because of them being overpowered, but how they’re introduced. They were basically deus ex machina once the current gundams proved that they can’t handle the opponent.

    We’re 16 episodes in, and I really haven’t seen many good fights yet. The best one was the URL vs. gundams in space, and even that one was saved by a conveniently placed feature on the gundams. Seems like very bad writing to me.

    I do like the political aspect of the show and the general setup. But the execution and the action has left a lot to be desired.

    Meh
    Reply

  79. This episode wasn’t as exciting as I thought it would be… It seems Bandai is going a bit too past to trow us their new models and according to Newtype magazine it’s gonna pace up even faster than this. Next episode the original 4 will see the true colors of the thrones. I mean come on they could have given at least 3 or 4 episodes before pulling the good to bad guy phase.

    I knew Alexandro was suspicious the moment he came in… Trieze Kuradina anyone? This show really is a re-vamp of Gundam Wing… oh god… let’s just hope the 4 pilots don’t end up being gays like the case of Wing pilots…

    jubeihimura
    Reply

  81. seems like in the coming eps or perhaps in the 2nd season the current 4 meisters might need an upgrade to compete on even grounds with the thrones if those 3 are gonna turn bad…

    spring
    Reply

  82. I trust Johann and Nena Trinity to have morals not go too far with their tactics but not Michael. He seems to want to destroy any enemy he sees. You send him to do a “small” armed intervention somewhere and he will end up leveling the place. Johann seems to have a leash on him for the moment though.

    console65
    Reply

  83. Hmm…from the looks of things, the Trinity siblings would almost appear to be like rivals for Setsuna and the others. Because according to the second opening, they were fighting them. That’s just a speculation on my part, but that is what could eventually happen later on.

    aotatsu shizuka
    Reply

  88. i think like they said..”they wonder where the GN Drives for the new Gundams were created because they thought that there were only five in operation”..so i was thinking whether there are five more different types of GN particles that haven appeared?since it was asked by the pieces of artwork, and they know quite a great depth of this gundams meisters.i supposed he asked this question meaning there are more GN particles that have yet appeared

    Jossie
    Reply

  91. CB appears to be control a some group of elite rather then the UN. The audio communication with Alejandro Corner and the observers sound make me think that each observers have different ethic background. But of course, this is just my guess.

    GOW
    Reply

  93. I have one excellent response to this turn of events:

    Isaac Asimov’s science fiction opus: Foundation.
    1. Probability Theory so advanced, you could predict the future of mankind
    2. Theorist disappears and secretly creates the Foundation to act as a cradle for the rebirth of a new human golden age as the current one rots.
    3. Everything goes smoothly until human being arrives that defies probability theory.
    4. A secret 2nd foundation reveals itself to correct this problem but the 1st foundation only gets a wiff of their presence and sets out to investigate this entity.

    eviltrain
    Reply

  94. It’s almost a given that the Gundams will receive some kind of upgrade. I’ve only seen Gundam Wing, Seed, and Destiny, but that seems the trend. Besides there’s no way gang can compete with the Thrones unless they have some kind of glaring weakness.

    Still, it seems unfortunate the Gundam Meisters probably won’t use this recent events as an excuse to launch an all out war against the three world powers. Maybe the Thrones will do it.

    Someone else said it, but I agree, Setsuna will definitely save Marina at least one more time. It’s probably gonna end Setsuna x Marina in some capacity.

    Where did the Setsuna x Nena come from? Is it some kind of Newtype spoiler or something?

    White Star
    Reply

  95. I hate to break it, but it wasn’t because of overpowered gundams. The only one I see that its possibily overpowered is Gundam Throne Zwei, with superbly upgraded funnels -.=. The rest of the ownage lied in the Thrones timing to appear, strategy and even skill. Unexpectancy of all three gundams, possibly appearing at the same time since they were all in different areas, its expected that they gain advantage over the enemy. It expected that if Gundam Eins had a long range Gn Mega Laucher to snipe with, he could shoot from abnormal ranges like Dynames. The terrain was also Ideal for him to snipe as there weren’t any thing to hide in, just plain desert. Ali couldn’t risk the possibility of two gundams fighting him. The fangs completely owned everyone except for soma who actually ended up barely damage. Then, before reinforements could come in, GN Particle Distribution which means that they couldn’t send in more reinforement.

    It was a logical that it would be lopsided. And its almost impossible to recover if your aces who were even suprise are shot down and your communications are completely killed off to change the fight. I can already speculate that if we swapped the Thrones in the losing situation and then send the 4 gundam to save them, someone would still call over power or super deluxe gundam.

    @ White Star

    The Setsuna x Nena could be implied, because first off all, Gundam Drei is the only unit we see up close in the Opening. The fact that Nena saved Setsuna means their will be some interaction of some kind in the future. Same goes for the Gundams Meister that were save by the other Throne units.

    @ Huh

    Unfortunately, you just don’t look at the situation closely enough… so you’re never be able to tell when something is truly over powered or not. Sorry buddy, just had to say that. However, you are right about char development, needs to be stronger.

    Btw, its because the aces on both sides are possibly equally talented, just that Graham, Ali and Sergei have battle expereince (yes expereince gives you the advantage of taking the situation into your own hands) compare to the meistar, Soma had super human abilities, possiblly stronger then Allejuah. Also, Patrick has no battle expereince what so ever, even though he probably does have some talent, he was only the “Ace” Test pilot. Patricks mindset as a test pilot is that simulations will be the same and no death will come which he seems lucky to get away with, meaning that he may have no adaptation abilities on the battle field as off now. He’s only been sent out 2-3 times eversince he was made into a real pilot.

    FOr the gundam meistar, they definitely have great talent. Look at Lockon. for a sniper to be able to shoot down a unit in its blind spot with a pistol, thats talent, (reference to last episode) and please don’t give me bullcrap that anyone can do that, cause no, not many people can exspecially you.

    @Yukirichan

    They had to face bombardment every second nonstop for 15 hours. I’m assuming that enough bombardment is enough to destroy the gundam armor which is why they could not run into it like phase shift in GS and GSD. The GN field seems to be only useable when standing still which means they are force to stay still while thinking of a plan. No food and drinks, stress in a life and death situation, possibly GN Field needs the pilot to focus for the field to stay stable. There many reason why they couldn’t come up with a plan. If they actually were able to come up with a plan through all the mental stress, I would have been very impress, but then some person would definitely call overpower -_-.

    I have no idea about Sumeragi though. A) Veda didn’t agree, B) Veda was the one who set the plan out, or C) Veda used this to see if there could be other units at a risk. Guesses, probably all stupid. She’s atlesat happy taht her prediction of failure didn’t come true which is enough to make me happy.

    Sora no Kaze
    Reply

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