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「アセムの旅立ち」 (Asemu no Tabidachi)
“Asem’s Journey”
Koshimizu Ami in Gundam is one thing, but I wasn’t expecting a Diva bridge crew with Kawasumi Ayako and Noto Mamiko in addition to Hanazawa Kana. What’s more, there are two more pilots voiced by Yusa Kouji and Sakaguchi Daisuke, the latter of whom is no stranger to Gundam having starred as Uso Ewin in Victory Gundam. What more could a Gundam fan ask for in terms of cast? Ami voices Dique’s daughter Arisa Gunhale, whereas Kouji and Daisuke voice the other two rookies of Woolf’s MS team, Obright Lorain and Max Hartway respectively (from the far left). On the bridge, Mamiko is the communications officer Wilna Janisty while Ayako is the systems operator Elisha Murai. Other notables are helmsman Alan Lightney (Suganuma Hisayoshi), engines officer Odio Bran (Sugimura Kenji), weapons officer El Tonies (Ishii Kazutaka, also voiced Shawee), and of course captain Millais Alloy (Shimamura Yuu). Interestingly enough, Dique is still voiced by Oohata Shintarou, except in a much deeper and grizzled voice.
So with all the new character names out of the way, what this episode was truly about was showcasing Gundam AGE-2, which happens to be a whole new mobile suit created by the AGE Builder. It’s very very blue, somewhat reminiscent of Zeta II, but uses its Hyper DODS Rifle as the nose of its G-Strider mobile armor form, similar to how Wing used both its shield and Buster Rifle. AGE-2’s uniqueness seems to come from the its X-Wing design, but it’s an otherwise fairly “standard” Gundam from a weapons standpoint. That is, until it gets F-91 VSBR-like upgrades anyway. For now, Asem’s new Gundam seems to be more than enough to take on whatever Zeheart and his Earth Subjugation Force “Downes” has at its disposal, even in spite of his recklessness and disobedience of orders, but it’s probably only a matter of time before the arms race begins and the AGE Builder has to start cranking out countermeasures.
In terms of the overall story, there wasn’t much to take away from this episode, except maybe that it’s the first time we’ve seen and heard anything from the Vagan supreme commander, Fezal Ezelcant (Ootomo Ryuuzaburou). It doesn’t actually look like much time has passed between the last episode and this one, as Asem went from graduating high school to enrolling in the military. Regardless, I do find it a bit odd to see since him as a key crew member of the Diva when he doesn’t seem to have any real form of military training, and he’s already given a brand new Gundam to boot. I presume taking part in these missions is part of the training, but even then, I’d have to agree with what everyone else is saying about the obvious favoritism Asem’s getting. I guess when your father’s the boss of the “Big Ring”, getting the most powerful prototype in the entire Federation is a breeze. Still, I kind of wish they threw in some sort of X-Rounder explanation to at least make his gift-wrapped Gundam somewhat easier to accept.
In any case, I like the Asem x Arisa pairing I’m seeing now, despite the unlikelihood that it’ll go anywhere, plus the prospect of seeing Desil again after he’s aged a good 25 years like Flit. Will Asem be able to avenge Yurin after Flit chose to spare him? I can see him being forced to kill Desil.
* Full-length images: 06, 15, 16, 17, 18, 20, 23, 25.
Preview
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Omake
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According to Dique the Strider form is THREE TIMES FASTER despite AGE-2 not being red. Go figure.
AGE-2 had a decent debut, though I would have liked it more if it did more than display its big gun. I did like how Asemu got chewed out for disobeying orders though. Hopefully Millias can actually get some discipline for him. Arisa was fun to watch, but her first sortie was terrible. I guess the trend of Gundam for sucky female pilots will continue unfortunately.
It has red on its torso armor. I guess that it’s enough to make AGE-2 go three times faster. XD
trans-am like system embedded on it?
actually the original 3 times faster is char’s zaku
THE RED WUNZ GO FASTA!
I see what you did there.
I call that blasphemy on the entire Gundam mythos! Everyone knows that you have to be red to be 3 times faster!
I don’t get it: does that mean Zaku Warrior is faster than Blaze Phantom in the whole mythos?
Whatever obvious things Kio’s appearance says about who Asemu ends up with, Arisa certainly has much more instant chemistry with Asemu than Romary does.
I wasn’t sure how I was going to feel about Arisa, since her father was straight-up intolerable in the first generation, but my worries were obviously in vain. In any case, the time skip has clearly been good for Dique’s character, and I find him much more likable now… Not just because of his daughter!
I also liked how Asemu got Kamille’d for being gung-ho… Although I may rage if somebody goes full-on Wong Lee on him.
You forget that Kio looks like his great grandmother as much as he looks like Romarie. While I firmly believe Romarie is Kio’s mother, it’s best to keep our minds open. (Say, Inazuma Eleven when it hinted that Aki was Kanon’s great grandmother, then Hino’s bullshit logic happened.)
It looks like the second generation got the short end of the stick when it came to the allocation of budget. 🙁
We can always hope!
HELL YES FINALLY.
This arc continues to not disappoint. Asem’s naturally in his father’s shadow, but he’ll likely grow into his own Gundam. Woolf hasn’t changed…at all, obviously.
Though it’s gonna take a couple of weeks before I can call Dique’s kid…Arisa. I’ll just call her Dique’s kid for now.
Also, you know who Asem is vastly superior to in being a protagonist?!
…Flit, obviously.
It the writters really want to pull a fast one on us as well as bring more drama then Kio would end up being Asem’s sister’s son while Asem gets killed off. And for bonus points, Kio’s father would end up being Zeheart thus making Kio the link between Earth Forces and Vagan.
…Except Kio’s official profile states that he is Asem’s child. Which ruins the fun, really.
hmmm, from my point of view i believe that asem have already graduated from the military?
(another time skip)
they cant have a trainee pilot and a trainee navigator/communicator in real battle can they ?
even if try to tempt me with ayako-mamiko in it yea it not working.
indeed give i’m still not yet got me to even want to watch hey i even more hmm if ever series get dub.
indeed only SAVE_US options left is either bring back GS era or next gundam tv series main lead gundam pilot is a WOMAN!!!
yea age gundam experiment is a FAIL.
Keep wishing. This is a Japanese show. There won’t be a female gundam pilot who is the main protagonist for a looooooong time.
Was there a time skip? It seems he joined the military and was immediately assigned. They’re not doing a good job on that aspect. Also, conveniently Romary is assigned to be a bridge operator on Asem’s ship? Arisa is on the same ship as her dad? How convenient. Too convenient. Lazy writing.
yep indeed too much time skip also mess the flow as well.
really no wonder this is bad gundam series to watch even if tempt with cast list & etc it NOT going to work.
indeed this PG era of age gundam is really downfall of even more since 00-ver rated sorta slowly make it worse.
now this yea better jump back to GS era at it now on 10th year with HD mode & yea bring back GS era to SAVE_US_ GS era.
& who knows come sunrise give us a main gundam lead pilot as a WOMAN really few things left to do or pull a DECADE or gokaiger?
Gundam Seed…BETTER THAN AGE?!
I don’t even want to go into all the reasons that this statement is inaccurate. And that’s usually my thing.
Hey I liked SEED and I will defend it as a good Gundam show. Destiny on the other hand needs to burn in hell.
If I had one complaint about AGE its that its just playing “safe”. It hasn’t been really bad, but at the same time it doesn’t try anything to be amazing. We still aren’t halfway through though, so I just have to wait and see.
Not trying to add petrol to the flame but I do feel that Seed is better than AGE.
Here’s how I see it and thus reveal mow may series I have watched thus far:
> Unicorn – arguably has better graphics/designs than any that has come before or after it
> 00 – Because I’m a Setsuna fanboy.
> Seed – Strike Freedom is arguably the most powerful mech in the series.
> G
> AGE
> Wing
> X & XX
mow may… herpy derpy typos…
*how much of….
Sorry, I was thinking of Destiny when I typed that. Seed was alright, I think.
@Moondoggie
You haven’t seen 0079, Zeta or ZZ?
No I haven’t seen it. I plan to watch it, but only when I can find a season with nothing good to watch.
Ooooo, 0079, such a classic. I rewatched it just a few months ago, my only previous experience with it having been Cartoon Network’s Toonami airing. The animation may not have aged well, but the story is still great. BRIGHT SLAP!
IMO, Zeta and ZZ are the ones worth a good rewatch. Plus there’s the fact that:
Show Spoiler ▼
And now I have to go finish ZZ…
Zeta is well worth watching but ZZ was quite painful. Fortunately some guy on YouTube had condensed all the episodes into 5 minutes each. Even then the first 8 episodes was horrible. The guys over at MAHQ also reviewed the series in their Gundamn! podcast. It’s episode 15 if you want to check it out.
Actually, I remember pretty much every episode after 18 to be pretty engaging. Definitely worth watching all the way through.
Well look who it is. If it isn’t my old buddy KLAC. I see you’re still spouting that swill about the superiority to everything of Gundam Seed. You haven’t learned that Gundam Seed is OVER. The only reason Seed is returning is with a shoddy HD remake that does a George Lucas (Which makes sense, considering Fukuda’s obsession with Star Wars) to the characters. On top of that, Bandai, in its glorious make money at all costs idiocy, did a really shoddy job with the rescaling.
So yes, let’s have our GS revolution/remake/rescue/whatever the devil you call it now, and we’ll be reminded of just how horrible Gundam Seed truly was.
I just wish I had a banhammer to curbstomp you again.
Remember Al, this IS the only Gundam Series EVER to have the HD remastered treatment.
Saying Seed, and by extension Destiny, is terrible when it has it’s merits is unfair. I would be like me saying AGE-2 looks shit compared to Unicorn or Strike Destiny or Zero Custom.
“> Seed – Strike Freedom is arguably the most powerful mech in the series.”
In terms of the CE Universe, yes. The entire Gundam series? Not even close.
It, 00-Raiser, and Wing Gundam Zero (the usual “god” candidates I see) all pale in comparison to the Turn A Gundam, despite its uniqueness/ugliness based on a bunch of info. If the Turn A Gundam were to be used at 100% power with a good pilot at the controls that knew how to use it…well…nothing would really stand a chance…after all, based on info, it only took a mere 20% of its Moonlight Butterfly to essentially wipe out all advanced tech on (the surface of the) Earth while 100% is estimated to be able to cover everything from Earth all the way to Jupiter.
Basically, the Turn A Gundam was the Gundam to end all Gundams to this day. x_x
There’s no way to actually know that:
Both 00 and Seed cannot be connected to the other universes.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/60/Gundam-Century.jpg
i certainly hope Arisa doesn’t follow the traditional path of female gundam pilots having high percentage of dying in battle, although i have a feeling she’ll shield Asem from a death blow like Yurin.
Then Asem will enter rage mode like Flint & pass on the hatred to his son.
I’d be more worried about Dique since he is the Hayato Kobayashi of Age. And we know what happened to Hayato eventually. Although that was in ZZ, not Z.
“Will Asem be able to avenge Yurin after Flit chose to spare him? I can see him being forced to kill Desil.”
Really? Hey Desil, I’m gonna defeat you for killing my dad’s childhood sweetheart. That’s gonna sound awkward. Besides Desil may be a commanding officer like Flit. Only if Flit dies at the hands of Desil, let’s just have Asem fight Zehart for now.
Somehow… I kinda want to see how enraged Flit would get if he ever came across Desil again
Show Spoiler ▼
Unknowingly of course. I didn’t say that Asem would be aware of what happened between Flit and Desil.
SOo if the age system can make a ship into a giant death canon, why doesn’t they use it to make the genoace-II into the Genoace-Omege-Delux-Hyper.
Zeheart is shown to have a mask in the intro, but he already revealed himself. I assume he is a Char, but this just seems odd to me.
I kind of wonder what Age would have been like if each generation was its own show. It might drag on too much, but it seem like it could have been cool. Parts that were rushed could be fleshed out to be made more whole.
Ami Koshimizu elevates everything to god status. I definitely wish Asem x Arisa would happen.
unless we’re looking at gwen stacy 2nd gen? https://randomc.net/image/Gundam%20AGE/Gundam%20AGE%20-%2019%20-%20Large%2038.jpg
or being pals yea really wait & see for 3rd gen unless pull a shocking swerve for 3rd gen parents?
Seems it might be a good idea to pick up this show again.
Is it just me so does the blue gundam seem to be a copy of the OO design? can they do that?
If you want to accuse copying, check the original Gundam RX-78-2 against Strike, Exia, AND AGE-1
( I myself ignores plagiarism within Sunrise Production…)
Don’t forget the O Gundam after it was recolored near the end of the 2nd season.
Though you have to admit, that fight was pretty badass, even if you could predict the outcome just by specs alone.
@ Divine: I thought the “Downes” was a mobile Fortress while the mobile suit team that Zeheart sent out was only named after the team leader (I think that’s what the subs indicating anyway)
Anyway, the only thing I’m expecting to see next week: this red one going mono-a-mono with AGE-2 in strider mode in a race…
Hmm, that could be the case. i.e. Zeheart was giving command of all of Downes’ soldiers to subjugate Earth.
I’ll have to rewatch that scene when I get home.
According to the JA wiki, Downes is the large scale spacecraft.
Why do I suspect Romary will pull a Nina during the big battle and steal a shuttle/mobile suit to stop Asem and Zerheart.
Now that they’ve established Zeheart as a far more compelling villain, Desil is almost too pathetic to count as a minor villain now. I hope he bites the dust this season instead of coming back for more next generation.
I’ll admit to only seeing three Gundam series outside of this one, but Asemu seems to be the first Gundam protagonist to actually join a military through traditional channels. I rather like that development, though the rest of the episode establishes that everything is as Mildly Military as the rest of the Gundam series has been. I don’t know what’s up with them establishing a designated romantic interest only to introduce a more proactive one less than halfway through the series; I can only hope Arisa doesn’t meet the same fate as Yurin. I rather like the mini-squadron Asemu’s with, even if they do seem to exist just to make him and the Gundam look good right now. I’ll be interested to see how their character progression goes.
No, Shinn from Destiny also joined the military in the proper way. But he only counts for the first half of the show.
And I agree about Arisa. She should become the next Woolf and get awesome piloting skills.
The UC has a number
Kou Uraki – Federation Navy test pilot assigned to the GP project.
Shiro Amada – Federation ace [in a Ball] before being assigned to lead MS Team 8.
Asuna Elmarit – Cadet at a Federation Military academy.
Bernard Wiseman – Zeon Special Forces Commando.
Christina Mackenzie – Federation Navy test pilot assigned to the V project.
Oliver May – Zeon Engineering Lieutenant.
Monique Cadillac – Zeon Special Forces Lieutenant Commander.
Dude, what the hell happened to Kou? The GP-03 was still completely fine by the end of Operation Stardust, and he never joined the Titans.
@David
I am still hoping Kou was the badass Byalant Custom pilot in Unicorn Episode 4.
The Byalant Custom pilot’s name was Robin Diez. He was an ex-TITAN.
Other (unofficial) ones being Yu Kajima of the Blue Destiny series, the White Dingo Team in Australia in Rise from the Ashes, the crew of the Thoroughbred/16th Autonomous Corp, and so on.
As for Kou, it’s never fully explained what happened, but he was obviously subdued after he tried wildly shooting at Bask Om’s ship and court martialed for his actions (one year of hard labor sounds pretty light considering what he was involved). I highly doubt he would join the Titans though, considering how disillusioned he would now be with the Federation based on their actions. The GP03S Stamen was most likely scrapped to coincide with the deletion of the Delaz Conflict and the existence of the Gundam Development Project from official records or, at the very least, taken apart for combat data and future Mobile Suit R&D.
Wow, I think IMO that this story arc has a hint at 0083 with the love triangle involved.
So who’s gonna be Stella/Four? Please don’t be Arisa.
Arisa ain’t a mentally challenged girl/woman, and damn, don’t you place Arisa in that role, I’m loving her character and hopes she turn into a good pilot, she did show off some nice moves by protecting her partner in the heat of battle.
We already have a Four type of character in AGE, her name is Yurin.
i’ve no idea why we’re still huh on age waiting for that it we’re all going pass to skip whole series age & ask for brain bleach never mention it again.
really it a letdown cause kiddie/PG era of gundam.
yea i’m so don’t even know if dub can even redeem itself if ever someday.
oh well now i ride on GS era 10th celebration fun time.
Speak for yourself man. No one else here has this kind of irrationally negative attitude against this show anymore unless they are just refusing to look at its good points. If you’re still calling it kiddie or PG or UNDER-AGE, then you haven’t been paying attention at all, or more likely haven’t been watching the show. In which case, I’m not even sure why you’re here besides get people riled up.
Asem x Arisa is possible. Look at her mother but chances are slim eventhough that pair is more likable. The common Kio Asuno image looks too much like Romary but I saw few other pictures of Kio that his face looks alot like Flit/Asem with hairstyle similar to Emily in the 1st part with brown hair.
So who all noticed that Asemu is rockin the Setsuna Celestial Being uniform right now?
Since the AGE-2 looks like an X-wing from several angles, I thought of this:
Woolf: Asem, do you copy?
Asem: Copy, White Leader
Woolf: Mark my position and form up the squad behind me
Asem: we’re on your tail, Major Enneacle, lock S-foils in attack positions.
Nothing much to speculate about 😛
I hope that the rookies will get better and not just be in a pinch all the time.
(I wish they would get more personalized MS upgrades but don’t think that will happen)
No need to say, Asem will elevate to god status in a couple of episodes I suppose 😛
Wonder what the previous Diva crew are doing, feels like the Diva crew are just bit-roles.
AGE-2’s cockpit seems a bit minimal, the Age Device is just siting there on a flat surface.
Was thinking that there would be some depression to dock it in or something.
Will AGE-3 have the 360 cockpit?
Haven’t been in touch with Age info, what is the ‘Big Ring’?
Is it a Fed base on the moon or something?
Dumb question. How old would Asem be when he has a kid in order for them to get the 100 year war thing?
I´m hoping Desil dies next episode, that bastard has lived long enough alredy, I don´t understand why Flit let him after all he did with that lunatic smile.
How can they give MS for total newbies??? Is the Federation so bad to the point they have to send brats that just got freed from the diapers to the battlefield? And the Vagan are just as weird as the Feds, to put a little boy in command of a large troop… Crazy, simply crazy!
They likely got MS training before this point. Plenty of time has passed to think that they got the credentials beforehand.
This looks like an interesting series, I really like how many images you included within this post.