Gundam 00 episode 2 is awesome!
As expected, the series is very heavily influenced than contemporary military and political events. (Although it’s kind of doubtful that the political situation will remain so consistent for the next three hundred years when you consider how much has changed in the last three hundred.)
It’s like when you watch Lucky Star and go “ZOMG COOL” when the characters make a reference to some obscure game, except that Gundam 00 (G00) does it with CNN headlines. It’s like a crash course on modern politics, and it’s quite timely too considering the whole Iraq debate that’s been making its rounds in Japan’s Diet.
First of all, we now know the nations that comprise the three power blocs in the story.
Although it’s not clear in the picture, Japan is definitely part of the Union. Surprisingly, the United Kingdom is not, but I guess it makes sense. Although it would make sense too for Japan to be part of the Jinkakuren, but I guess the producers didn’t want to piss off the nationalist right. By the way, the black dots represent the locations of the three space elevators. They are all on the equator. Union’s elevator is located somewhere around modern day Columbia and northern Brazil.
Besides China, India and Russia, the whole of South East Asia is under the Human Reform League (Jinkakuren). This is probably because the League wants to secure its energy pipeline laid on the seabed starting from its space elevator located to the east of New Guinea to somewhere in India. Well maybe not just India, but the episode confirmed that there is a pipeline off the eastern coast of what is currently Sri Lanka.
AEU is pretty much just EU. Africa and the Middle East are left unclaimed by the three great powers, just as I discussed in my previous comments. Since AEU’s space elevator is located somewhere around modern day Congo and Tanzania, I think it’s safe to say that the African continent is more or less a dependency of the AEU.
Interestingly, one of the councillors of AEU looks just like Germany’s first female chancellor, Angela Merkel. It made me go LOL.
And the Union’s president makes some very interesting remarks.
We intervene in other nations’ conflicts for our own people’s safety and for national interest.
We are not running a charity.
I’m sure [Celestial Being] will reveal their true intentions soon.
When the time comes, it will be our destiny to deliver judgement upon them.
That just sounds like we are going to witness a 24th century Iraq War soon. I love this show!
This episode is about the Celestial Being launching an “armed intervention” against the 300-year-old civil war between the Sinhalese majority and Tamil minority of Sri Lanka. Except that in the show, Sri Lanka has fallen into anarchy and the island is now referred to either as the Former Sri Lanka, or Ceylon Island. Interestingly, Ceylon Island is the historical name of Sri Lanka and even now is used in certain situations, such as Celyon tea.
Jinkakuren mobile suits piloted by Tamil rebels
Sinhalese soldiers
The Tamil minority are backed by the Human Reform League. This is because the Tamils control the eastern parts of Ceylon Island and there’s a League solar energy pipeline running on the seabed off the coast there. Because of the League’s interventions that destroyed the balance of power, Tamils gained overpowering advantage and the ruling Sinhalese majority government collapsed as the country fell into anarchy.
What’s I really really love about G00 is that the producers obviously did their research. They didn’t just take some random political trivial and stuck it into the story, they actually understand the intricacies of what they are doing. This can really help to educate the otaku population on current world events when they do wiki-research on the real-life parallels found in the story.
For example, one little detail they paid attention to is the way that the different blocs referred to Ceylon. The President of the Union referred to it as “Former Sri Lanka”, while AEU’s and League’s personnels referred to it as “Ceylon Island”, thus reflecting a difference in opinion regarding the political situation there. Just like how we use “Myanmar” in South East Asia but the western countries prefer its colonial name “Burma”.
If this keeps up, G00 may just become my favourite Gundam series ever. :P
P.S. I translated episode two for Conclave-Mendoi. ^_^
October 14th, 2007 at 1:49 pm
ohh i need to watch this. That’s cool that you translated the second episode!
October 14th, 2007 at 1:50 pm
Well-read.
October 14th, 2007 at 2:02 pm
I thought ep 2 was most coolsome too,
October 14th, 2007 at 2:13 pm
Ehh, energy crisis… Where are the Nuclear? 300 years down the road and it’s gone?
Are the lights or phroton particles emitted from those Gundams created by Nuclear? If it is so, the Gundams will be their targets and the world will be unified (for the time being). Where are the NUKES???
October 14th, 2007 at 2:26 pm
The lights are created by the decay of photons caused by a newly-discovered particle called GN Particle. Celestial Being are the only ones who know of its existence and can make use of it.
I presume that nuclear power is not sufficient to satisfy the energy requirement of the entire world, considering how fossil fuels have run out completely.
Nukes are probably outlawed by international treaty, especially considering the fragile structures of the space elevators which are the lifeline of the entire planet.
October 14th, 2007 at 3:06 pm
have the xdcc list for mendoi’s channel??
October 14th, 2007 at 3:18 pm
LOL, you just did for Gundam 00 for I did for Moyashimon. But yeah goo is great, the fight scenes are pure carnage. Like an UT free for all.
October 14th, 2007 at 4:31 pm
“We intervene in other nations’ conflicts for our own people’s safety and for national interest.”
Yeah, pretty much the same thing those fucking USians are saying now. Fuckers…
October 14th, 2007 at 6:37 pm
I thought it was neat, too. One thing I did notice is a *large* part of western Russia is part of the AEU, although it isn’t labeled as such.
October 14th, 2007 at 7:49 pm
angela merkel.. oh boy you made me lol so hard there!
Am I the only one who thinks that the old mechas the two fractions are using are actually better looking than those gundams?
October 14th, 2007 at 10:40 pm
I think you mean Tanzania not Tazmania. Sorry, I know this is nitpicking ^_^;
I agree though, Gundam 00 could do a lot of good education!
October 14th, 2007 at 10:45 pm
Ah, right you are there. I fixed it. Watched too much Looney Tunes.
Ran: Hey I didn’t notice that. It seems like they cut Russia into two right along the Ural Mountain range. LOL, I guess that means Moscow is part of AEU. O_O Maybe that’s why China appears to be the dominant country in Jinkakuren. Perhaps Eastern Russia fell under Chinese influence and the Russian political elites cut them loose and joined the EU.
October 14th, 2007 at 11:13 pm
“Hey I didn’t notice that. It seems like they cut Russia into two right along the Ural Mountain range. LOL, I guess that means Moscow is part of AEU. O_O Maybe that’s why China appears to be the dominant country in Jinkakuren. Perhaps Eastern Russia fell under Chinese influence and the Russian political elites cut them loose and joined the EU.”
would be only logical taking the latest developements of the past few years into consideration.
October 15th, 2007 at 12:51 am
Is Mendoi-Conclave consistent with their releases?
October 15th, 2007 at 2:07 am
We plan to be. lol.
October 15th, 2007 at 2:24 am
Hahaha Sir Lanka think really made me freak out cause it came out for my exam and I know I already failed it! Hahaha, but yeah G00 reall looks like a promising show if we’re willing to understand the show fully!
October 15th, 2007 at 4:49 am
“Hahaha Sir Lanka think really made me freak out cause it came out for my exam and I know I already failed it! Hahaha, but yeah G00 reall looks like a promising show if we’re willing to understand the show fully!”
maybe because you misspelled Sri Lanka?
October 15th, 2007 at 11:22 am
I wonder what would the LTTE name their mobile armour units – Mobile Tigers? Mecha Tigers? Iron Tigers? Hope to see some suicide bombing action in this series too…
October 15th, 2007 at 12:13 pm
LOL Mobile Tigers. Then they would change their name to LMTJTE (Liberation Mobile Tigers Of Jinkakuren Tamil Eelam).
I wouldn’t want to see a suiciding MS though, if a human being can carry enough explosive to blast the hell out of Bali, a mobile suit would carry enough to wipe out the entire population of bunnies in the world.
I really like the anime’s theme consider how it is coming on. The stereotypes are really off charts, considering that people are still wearing Lincoln suits in the 24th Century.
Btw if Tieria of Virtue (pronouced as bacha, no idea why) is a transsexual, would anyone be shocked?
October 15th, 2007 at 2:21 pm
It´s nice animation and all, but less emo Shinn Asuka as the lead please!!
Boring to say the least.
I just don´t know. I´ve watched the two eps, storywise I want to continue to watch the show, animation quality makes me want to continue, but the usually reason I watch Gundam, the mechas are just redesigns of old models. Which I find really boring.
But as said, the story and chicks make me want to continue the show and I probably will.
October 15th, 2007 at 5:04 pm
its not too suprising for the political landscape to not change drastically in the next 300 years
You say “look at how much happened in the past 300″. China’s isolation from the world, America’s growth, those things happened because of communication barriers. America was still a new country spreading through new lands, China did not know that barbarian kingdoms had outpaced them in technology.
but with today’s information technology there are no more dark corners of the world, no more new continents.
I mean yeah 300 years is a long time, but I think the next 300 will not see anything as drastic as the last 300.
October 15th, 2007 at 9:59 pm
And so much for technological improvements.
The first picture on this page, is it a F117 Nighthawk SFB? Seems that the only thing it acquired after 300 years is VTOL capabilities.
October 16th, 2007 at 12:13 pm
Well glad I’m not the only one who thought the lady politician looked like Merkel especially since the designed for the character looked like it was based off a real person.
October 16th, 2007 at 4:04 pm
That’s definitely not a Nighthawk. It’s just inspired by existing US stealth aircraft designs. It’s a transport vessel for Flags anyway.
October 16th, 2007 at 5:28 pm
I am one of those dumb USains that thinks that nations are not charities. We do public relations stuff, but we do not believe in something for nothing.
I also think that its too quick to give Sunrise a quick thumbs up for their use of the Tamil Insurgency/War of Independence. After all the Tamil United Front was under considerable strain in the recent years and internal struggles for power do take place. The conflict itself is not strictly along ethnic lines, and as much as the Tamil Tigers have tried it does not change the fact that there intentions on a new government are not clearly in favor of popular sovereignty and multi-party rule. If Sunrise just leaves it as an ethnic conflict then clearly they have ignored the details regarding the current state of affairs.
I would not be so quick to sing Sunrise’s praises for drawing upon the obvious. If they get details right then that is cause for celebration. However I still do not think that Sunrise or even anime should be the instrument by which world issues and conflicts are presented or used as a trustworthy and definitive source for information.
October 16th, 2007 at 6:28 pm
I didn’t say that Gundam should be the definitive source of world history, but it certainly makes people go out to find out more.
USA is not obligated to do anything for others as a nation, but it was their own choosing to position themselves as a world leader and international policeman, thus creating a standard of expectation which they clearly cannot fulfil due to limitations placed by partisan politics. They asked for the backlash and they got it.
October 16th, 2007 at 9:17 pm
*sigh* it pains me to see that Australia and New Zealand are STILL slaves to the US and all their crap…..
not that im caring about New Zealand and all….
October 18th, 2007 at 3:27 pm
The UNION president should have a more evil looking grin which makes him look …. like… ahem….
October 19th, 2007 at 9:03 pm
LOL. His grin looks to me like “I am going to capture those gundams and take over the world! Mwuhahahaha…”
I think Sunrise is bringing in a few other Gundam concepts from the previous Gundam series.
The first is Exia. It seems to be styled after the Epyon from Gundam Wing. Melee only combat, and the beam sword is replaced with the switch sword. I am betting that when Setsuna changes Gundam, the longsword will become a beam sword, either something like the one on Epyon or the METEOR system in Seed.
The next one is Dynames. The sniper gundam idea is model after the 08th MS Team’s GM Sniper model, and the beam pistols is after the Strike Noir’s SBRs. Somehow, instead of the flip-under-armpit beam cannon design in GS and GSD for the Destiny/Blast Impulse gundams, they change it to the carry-on-right-shoulder design. The co-pilot is a Haro, something like Turn-X’s Haro which can pilot Gundams.
Kyrios is the most unoriginal Gundam. The movable frame concept is like Zeta Gundam’s, with the ability to transform between a MS and MA. But the unassisted re-entry into earth reminds me of Zeta’s Waverider mode. Kurio’s pilot is also something like that of Kamille Bidan, quite unsure of his own capabilities at first, and looks at his gundam as though it is part of him.
Lastly is the big fat Virtue. I think there is an inside joke of why it is named Virtue, since most men despise larger-than-average women (yeah that is the “politically correct” term for fat), no matter how virtous they are. Also Tieria Erde looks like a girl. Another thing about Virtue is it’s incredible firepower that often results in overkills, e.g decimating a single terrorist MS with a blast from that BFG, and with that kind of firepower, it reminds me of ZZ Gundam’s firepower based concepts, a double-barrel beam rifle, 2 hyper beam sabers, homing bombard missiles and that freaking high-energy beam cannon on the head.
That is basically what I think about the Gundams. But why do they always design the bad guys’ mobile suits to have that single mono-eye and laughably decadent weaponry? And the Enacts look so ugly, I want the Zakus back.
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ARIA Anime アリア アニメ · GUNDAM 00 - 02October 21st, 2007 at 6:21 pm
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October 24th, 2007 at 8:11 pm
I think the AEU woman isn’t as ugly as Angela…the picture you have there is btw a fake, she normaly can’t smile ^^
Though TV stations tend to fix her ugliness…
I just watched the Menclave sub of Episode 2 after I watched the Nyo…whaterver sub before and now the scene with the Union’s presidnt finally makes sense…
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The reason why Mendoi-Conclave is awesome! | I love animeSeptember 20th, 2008 at 7:27 am
[...] I work for Mendoi-Conclave. In fact, I translated episode 2 of Gundam 00 due to circumstances (although I won’t be doing main translation for future episodes). [...]
October 1st, 2008 at 5:00 pm
Code Geass is better!!
ALL LIVE LELOUCH
March 16th, 2009 at 5:37 pm
well actually i thought the portrayal of the sri lankan race conflict was over simplified and actually left a bad taste in my mouth. having srilankan friends myself i think i know a fair bit about the conflict. gundam made it look like both sides were going for total annihilation of the other, that’s simply not true and is just the easy option for anyone to believe. sinhalese believe that the island is their entirely and that tamil history is only claimed. hate to seem biased here but the sinhalese majority government has made their bigotry as far as tamil rights clear on multiple occassions, saying things like “if they’re being discriminated they should simply leave, sri lanka is not a tamil homeland” “the only solution is a military one, we have to use maximum force”. taking actions such as police sanctioned rioting against tamil areas (sometime in the 1980s) and stripping away voting rights of a third of the tamils living in sri lanka on the basis that they aren’t sri lankan enough. the tamils on the other hand are being represented by the ltte who have committed crimes and are in no way innocent but their only goal is to achieve self governance, free from sinhalese dominance. without the ltte though i have no doubt the tamils would have been reduced to serfdom decades ago.
now onto the anime itself, i think it’s pretty standard so far, group of misfit pilots go around in super mechs with crazy new technology that the rest of the world is left in awe of. story can’t really be judged from just two episodes but i have to say i’ve been underwhelmed so far.