Gundam AGE Episode 2

The Power of AGE

Well here we are with the second episode of Gundam AGE, though it’s getting close to time for episode 3 as I write this. I been slackin’!

Don’t have to go into too much elaborate detail with this episode, as a lot of background things were explained in episode 1 and more will be in future episodes. This episode seemed to be just continuing the colony attack from the first episode, although there are some important elements here. First the assumed captain of the new Federation warship Diva is jerk and a scumwad for wanting to abandon the people of Nora and rightfully gets owned by Commander Grudek (DAT BEARD). Maybe the reason why the Federation is losing to the Unknown Enemy is because they have a lot of buttheads like this guy in their ranks? Emily and Dique overhear this so I’m willing to bet dollars to yen that this’ll come up later.

Flit, whilst transporting the Gundam Age-1 to the ship, runs into a young girl named Yurin L’Ciel who seems to be a Newtype. Now I know it’s presumptive to assume that but she was acting all precognitive and whatnot and the only times we see that are when Newtypes/Innovators are around. (And Quatre from Gundam Wing, sorta) Considering that ever since SEED we’ve had more staples of UC Gundam creeping into the AUs, I wouldn’t be surprised if yet again we get Newtypes, unexplained Newtypes or what have you showing up here, especially if my personal theory that this show is, like Gundam X, an alternate far-future of the Universal Century. Anywho, Yurin is certainly mysterious and only time will tell who she is, what she wants and what her role to play is in the grand scheme of things.

The plan to gather the nameless civilian masses of Nora into the colony’s central core and tow it away is definitely unique but considering that this is Gundam, tragedy is almost sure to strike and set the erstwhile Gundam pilot on a firm path to conflict with the UE.

Also, the AGE Builder deserves a prominent mention. At last we discover what probably is the major reason why the title Gundam is said to “evolve” during the course of the series. It’s essentially a large, egg-shaped mobile factory that uses principals similar to a 3D printer. Combined with the AGE System (the exact workings of which we still aren’t fully aware) it is capable of analyzing battle data and manufacturing new weapons and upgrades for the Gundam Age-1 (and possibly other suits as well). In this episode it builds the DOTS (or DODS) beam rifle for the Gundam, which results in awesome destruction. 

Speaking of the Gundam, I’m still not cool on the overall design, but at least the Age-1 gets to do awesome things. Last episode it was the Beam Shank and in this episode we have PREPARE FOR RAMMING SPEED!!!

Overall I’m now much more into the series than after the first episode and if interesting things keep happening, I’ll definitely stay with it. One thing I would like to know is the episode count. I still don’t know what this is, but given that every full-length Gundam series since 2002 has run for 50 episodes, I would imagine the same would be done for AGE. It’s been suggested on certain forums that the storyline might shift back and forth between the three generations, but given the narrative pace of the first two episodes, I don’t think this is the case. If they are going to do one generation after another then I would imagine them doing 17 episodes for the first generation and Flit, 16 episodes with Flit’s son Asemu, and wrap it up with 17 episodes concerning Flit’s grandson Kio. Or, and this is big speculation on my part, since Gundam 00 was split into two 25 episode seasons, they’ll do the same with AGE, but instead of two seasons, it’ll be three 16-25 episode seasons. If that were to happen, AGE might just knock Victory Gundam off its perch as longest Gundam series (though only by virtue of having 51 episodes.) Now THAT would be interesting.

Also, I give this episode 4 out of 5 stars.

Chris Guanche's MAHQ review can be found here.

Let the shipping wars commence.

Spiritual Thoughts 10/17

"Why do we fall Bruce? So we can learn to pick ourselves up."
--Thomas Wayne, Batman Begins

It's late by a day, so sue me.  :)

Who Ya Gonna Call... Again.

In about two hours, I'm going to get to do something I've never done beffore. For the first time (offcially) since 1984, one of the greatest movies of all time, Ghostbusters, is coming back to the big screen for a special limited engagement. And I'm gonna be there. I kinda wish this was California because one of the movie theaters over there will be graced by the presence of Ecto-1 but hey, you can't have absolutely everything in life.

I really can't tell you how much this excites me. It's bringing back memories of 1997 when the Star Wars original trilogy specials were released into theaters and I got to see some of my favorite screen icons actually on the silver screen. To give you some perspective, Return of the Jedi came out about 3 1/2 years before I was even born. A New Hope came out 7 1/2 months after my parents got married. Yeah. So anyway, it's not a small thing to say that Ghostbusters is one of my favorite movies. My dad first showed it to us back in the early 90's after we started taking summer trips to Universal Studios Orlando and Patrick and I were watching The Real Ghostbusters on Saturdays and weekdays. Istantly I got hooked and have been hooked ever since, so this oppurtunity to see this movie in theaters is a real treat. And I plan to do it more than once because there will be showings tonight and on the 20th and 27th. I'll also be posting pictures of me going to the theater and what's happening with the oft-rumoured and now more so Ghostbusters III at a later date.

So when your town is being sucked into the tenth level of Hell, when there's something strange in your neighborhood, when dogs and cats start living together... who ya gonna call?

Spiritual Thoughts 10/09

"A man can no more deny the existence of God than a lunatic can darken the sun by scrawling the words 'darkness' on his cell."
--C.S. Lewis

Technically it's midnight and it's Monday but I have a Time Machine, so there! (Actually no I don't)

The Arrival of AGE

At last the new Gundam series, Mobile Suit Gundam AGE has debuted! There’s just one problem. The video stream with English subtitles is only available to south Asia! Why do I get the feeling that Sunrise was watching all the [CENSORED] comments from the [CENSORED] fanboys on YouTube and decided that Americans don’t get to watch it? Fortunately if one pokes around the internetz enough these days you can [CENSORED].

Anyway, I thought this was a very good first episode. It definitely is aimed at a younger audience I think, but it holds up and is definitely Gundam to the core. I liked the main character Flit, he definitely gets a pass on the accidental civilian pilot trope. Can’t say I’m fond of his character design though.

Emily might have a little bit of Fraw Bow syndrome; we’ll have to see. Most of the other characters seem interesting, especially the pilot for the Genoace mobile suit. Largan I think it was? We’ll have to see the next few episodes for me to really get a handle on the rest of the cast.

There were a couple of stand out scenes in this episode that I liked. The first was the scene where Flit’s mother dies in the first attack by AGE’s Unknown Enemy. Very Batman-esque. She gives him the AGE Device, which is certainly not the cell phone those damn fanboys were complaining about.

I also like the scene in the classroom where Flit tries to explain about how it’s just so logical that the space colony they’re on, Nora, will be attacked by the UE next and how the teacher doesn’t want to hear it. Seems little Flit may be a child-genius but he doesn’t understand how a lot of people’s heads work. Seems like he might be a bit of an outcast at school too, as Emily and this kid named Dique seem to be his only friends.

I also like how Flit isn’t obsessed with the Gundam to the point of being stupid. There’s a flashback scene to his home on the space colony Orvan where Flit is being shown a painting of a Gundam (one that looks a lot like the classic RX-78-2) and is told that the Asuno family have been involved with the legendary Gundams for years. But when the time comes that the UE invades the colony, Flit initially wants the trained military pilot Largan to fly the Gundam before he tries piloting it himself.

Lastly, while the Gundam AGE-1’s debut fight is kinda similar to stuff we’ve seen in First Gundam and SEED, what makes the fight stand out is the way that Flit quite literally shanks one of the UE Gafran MS. It’s actually kinda hilarious. The other two Gafrans blow up their injured comrade and then retreat. I guess this is why the UE are still unknown if they won’t let their tech fall into enemy hands.

What else? I can’t say that I cared much for the opening song of this series. It’s not that it’s a bad song, I just don’t think it fits a Gundam series, even one that’s aimed at a younger audience. But since this is a Gundam series, we’ll have at least two to three opening and closing themes in total, so we’ll see.

I also think that this series might be pulling a Gundam X. What I mean is, Gundam X was depicted as sort of an alternate history of the Universal Century. I think they might be going with that here with all the talk of the Earth Federation, O’Neill Space Colony cylinders and stories about legendary Gundams from the past. We’ll have to see.

I’m still not cool on the design of the Gundam AGE-1. In a previous entry I did a comparison, and I’ll do it again here.

 The original RX-78-2 Gundam from 1979

The AGE-1 Gundam AGE-1. Notice similarities?

These four other Gundams are from Gundam 00, Gundam SEED, Gundam Wing and Gundam F91.

Notice how they all have a similar look to but a different flair from the original Gundam.

 

I think I could safely say that this is the first Gundam series I’ve seen where I like the grunt and enemy suits more than the Gundam. Hopefully the AGE-2 and -3 will look cooler.

All in all, I’m liking what I’m seeing so far. I give this episode *** out of five stars. Chris Guanche of MAHQ.net has his review posted here if you want to check it out. I’m sure they’ll also be discussing AGE on their Gundamn!@MAHQ podcast.

It Begins...

In a little less than 1 hour (2:00 AM MDT, 5:00 PM in Japan) Mobile Suit Gundam AGE will debut to the world. And I mean that literally because Sunrise will be simulcasting the series for a month on YouTube with subtitles for five languages, including English.

Let's see what they've cooked up!  :)