Gundam 00 — Episode 25
This is the last episode of the first season, something which I did not realize until halfway through the episode. The ending is rushed as expected and I think that it’s worse than Sunrise’s usual standard. Still, maybe season two will be better? At the very least it will have some funkier spacesuit designs.
Summary
Everyone dies, or at least appears to die.
Gone in 60 seconds
“Pikapi…”
He sees dead people
Alejandro is betrayed by Libonze, the real super villain. Graham and Setsuna fight to the “death”. A destroyed Exia floats in space with Earth as its backdrop while Marina cries over a letter Setsuna sent her before he sortied.
Gay harem
Three years later, the United Nations is officially renamed the Earth Federation (I kid you not). And one year after that, the Earth Federation Peacekeeping Force is formed and the various national armed forces are slowly dismantled and integrated into a joint command. Their mobile suits look suspiciously like Knightmare Frames…
Uh… All hail Britannia?
Saji is now working in space and a few other familiar characters make short appearances in the last few scenes of the episode.
The namesake of the entire series, 00 Gundam, makes a short five-second cameo right at the very end.
Critique
There are a lot of things wrong with how the ending played out, but I shall just focus on the most jarring bit: Graham.
Immediately after Setsuna defeats Alejandro’s bling machine with Exia, Graham comes flying in with his GN Flag looking for a fight. After some clichéd and completely nonsensical smack talking, the fight ends in a draw as both Exia and the Flag are destroyed.
“I am Sunrise’s bitch.”
I don’t personally like Graham much, but this rushed battle really cheapens his entire existence. Having waited for so many episodes and bore the pain of losing two of his close friends, all Graham gets is a short quickie which the scriptwriters forcefully squeezed into the last episode.
We all know that the plot calls for Exia to be destroyed so that Setsuna can embark on a journey of recovery and eventually obtain a much cooler Gundam. But it doesn’t have to be Graham. Setsuna could’ve drawn with Alejandro instead.
And what exactly is the point of getting Graham to make a short appearance in the last episode just to “die” in a spectacular explosion of GN particles?
Darth Veda
Sunrise needed a masked man. Oh for the love of…
Screencaps
Ha/Allelujah’s secret overpower move: using both eyes simultaneously
Mecha guro
“I don’t know what I should do in such situations…”
“Why don’t you try smiling?”
Plamo coming soon
Plamo coming soon
Oh Marina, you silly paedophile
Tieria MkII?
The first Gundam
This was a triumph / I’m making a note here…
I’m guessing the Earth Federation will be opposed by a group of smaller nations who do not wish to give up their sovereignty? They can even call themselves Zeon if they want…
On another note, I am so tempted to upgrade to the newly-released WordPress 2.5, but I fear for the many plugins that my template relies on…
April 16th, 2008 at 2:54 pm
I think the “author” of this site needs to actually learn how to review something. All I see here is a homophobic moron who likes to state his opinion as facts.
April 16th, 2008 at 2:57 pm
Oh and before I leave… I think I smell a lot of UC fanbois..
April 19th, 2008 at 11:04 am
Well, 99/100 of this review was entirely a critique of the episode and not an actual review, jackass. If you had stated your stand on his reviews after reading ALL of his past and current reviews, then I forgive you. However, the way you are implying it is that you are judging him based on this one half-assed review (no offense DM).
April 21st, 2008 at 6:54 am
They should have saved the Graham x Setsuna fight for the bloody ext season. urgh! It would have been such an awesome chivalrous romance…
April 23rd, 2008 at 10:22 am
I like Gundams.
I like boobs (see my name for more info)
We need to see more of boobs, especially Sumeragi san’s boobs. And Nena needs a low cut high boobage outfit – murderous lolita pilot!?!??! :O
April 25th, 2008 at 9:10 pm
i just finished episode 25 this morning.
i have a few comments on 00 at this point:
1. it sucks that after tieria makes a big fuss about showing off dynames’s high-altitude owning capabilities in episode 5, lockon never gets to use it again the entire season. it would’ve been more interesting if lockon had used it against the UN jinxes.
2. nadleeh’s performance in the end of the season’s somewhat disappointing given that it was given so much buildup to having a reputation of some outrageously powerful supermecha, with the trial system, the suspense of stripping all the black armor pieces away and all.
3. by the way that green-haired dude (ribbons? livonze? whatever.) talked to alejandro, it sounded to me like he already knew mr. pikachu was gonna be owned in that battle. the first time i saw his tieria-like eye-thing, i somehow already smelled betrayal coming sometime. i find it a bit foolish on alejandro’s part, doing the dirty work himself while leaving a guy with those abilities to himself.
4. i remember virtue using GN field for the first time in the moralia battle. if he could take as much damage and survive as they did in that uranium desert, why bother showing off the GN field to the puny moralian forces? just showing off? that wouldn’t seem compatible with his attitude against showing off nadleeh in episode 10.
5. what the hell happened to the surveyors 4 years later?
by the way, DM, i’ve been very much a fan of your gundam 00 reviews. hope there’ll be more for season 2. :) actually, i was robbed half the fun by you pointing out all the contrivedness of this season, but your cracks were just so entertaining i couldn’t drop them in favor of fully enjoying gundam 00 in ignorance. :D
PS: i haven’t watched any UC other than the first few episodes of 08th MS team, so i’m a bit alienated by some comments i read here. :D
April 25th, 2008 at 10:45 pm
i made it sound like 00 was all about showing off: lockon shows off high-altitude shooting, tieria shows off GN field, nadleeh, and trial system, and alejandro shows off his 7-GN drive-overloaded goldmember (only to be beaten by a kid who’s convinced he’s a mobile suit; he’s probably watched too much mecha anime).
hehe, sorry about the over-redundant “showing off”.
May 27th, 2008 at 2:32 pm
@ Allion……
ARE YOU SERIOUS ABOUT THAT?
July 3rd, 2008 at 3:12 am
hey dark mirage u wouldnt happen to know if the 00 psp files still exist do ya cause on the main site its dead
December 21st, 2008 at 10:46 pm
Try this episode in chipmunk version LOL..
Alejandro..Gone in 60 seconds..
April 18th, 2011 at 4:11 am
Hi! Can I use your stuff on my blog? A lot of useful things written here…