This post was delayed because I was at three separate Chinese New Year-related social functions over the 24-hour span of period between 8am Saturday and 8am Sunday. I only reached home this morning. But fret not, for this sudden spontaneous generation of what is common known as a “life” is an extremely rare occurrence that will probably not happen again for quite some time.
Anyway this episode was pretty good except for the fact that my brain was functioning like a half-dead zombie’s as I watched it. Or perhaps that was the reason. Either way, it’s a nice evasion from what had seemed like an inevitable descend into Destiny-ville.
Summary
The Trinity trio begins its campaign of merciless annihilation as it wipes out one military base after another without provocation. The Ptolemaios crew, along with almost everyone else, is confused as to whether these violent interventions are supposed to be part of the original plan.
Tax payers’ money
Apparently the creator(s), Aeolia Schenberg or whoever he turns out to be, of this gigantic secret organization didn’t think it through very well when he/they divided the organization into so many secret cells operating independently of one another, without providing any means for them to confirm each others’ identities.
Why must technical briefings always be done in the dark?
Ian, Celestial Being’s chief technician, discovers that the solar furnaces used by the Thrones are actually knock-offs. They lack some kind of implementation which results in them having limited operating time, unlike Exia and the rest which can operate indefinitely. This is pretty damning evidence that the Trinity siblings are evil and their Gundams are probably based on technology stolen from Celestial Being by a spy within the organization.
“Farewell Howard. We barely knew you. For real.”
With the lost of Howard Mason, a previously insignificant character, Senior Captain Graham has gained a renewed determination to beat the Gundams with his Flag and avenge his fallen comrade. Howard should be glad that he is achieving far greater good in his death.
These meetings always take place in bars
Kinue meets up with the Union soldier who claims to have seen a Gundam up close during the Taklamakan exercise. Apparently he was hidding behind some rocks when Nena exited her cockpit in enemy territory so as to give evil Haro instructions at a volume loud enough for everyone in a 100-metre radius around her to eavesdrop.
It’s good practice to stretch regularly if your job involves sitting in front of a monitor all day
The convenient plot hole aside, we learn from this conversation, and a later one, that the Trinity siblings report to an entity called “Ragna”, which sounds like a pirated copy of Veda. (Without Windows Genuine Advantageâ„¢) But it could really just be some grumpy old man with a mustache. There’s not enough information to make the call either way.
Weddings are…
On the way to one of their AEU targets, the trio passes through Spanish airspace and happens to fly over a wedding ceremony attended by the Halevy extended family, which includes Louise. Nena, being a psychotic bitch, is unhappy that some people get to have fun while she has to work her tight ass off (massacring people), so she decides to have some fun (massacring people) and fire on the ceremony. Twice.
…dangerous
This wipes out the whole Halevy lineage, except for Louise. Just think of all that inheritance…
My preciousssss
Okay, so I shouldn’t be mean. Louise is completely traumatized by the incident and she also lost her left hand, leaving her unable to accept the ring which Saji spent weeks saving up for.
Guro
Emo emo emo. I am somewhat reminded of Code Geass, in a good way.
Aim for the cockpit dammit!
Finally, Johann Trinity launches an attack against the Iris Corporation’s weapon factory, which is manned by civilians, and gets pwned by Graham in a one-on-one fight over Iowa airspace. Graham is smart because he steals Johann’s GN beam saber and uses it against the Gundam Throne. But he only manages to cut off an arm.
“Exia, exterminating targets.”
And uh, Setsuna decides to take on the Thrones. I’m guessing he’s going to get pwned, so that Exia can get upgraded into Ultra Hyper Exia Excellion Infinity, maybe?
Comments
All in all, it’s an enjoyable episode with nice pacing. It is heavily plot-based, which is a good thing because G00 is really weak when it comes to character substance.
Anyway, Louise lost part of her arm. Gundam Throne lost one of its arms. Am I the only one who thinks that something may come out of this coincidence? (Gundam Louise!)
Okay, that’s probably going too far. (I hope.) But seriously, I can just imagine Louise being abducted by some top secret joint Union-AEU-HRL black project to manufacture cyborg pilots for whatever super weapon they plan to build to counter the Gundams. Maybe some really, really huge mobile armour that shoots missiles from its fingertips and add some giant lasers for good measure. And name it something that invokes a sense of doom and destruction, like “Break”, “Kill”, “Annihilate”, or even “Destroy”. Yeah.
Also, it seems that the parent organization of Celestial Being is being set up by the story for a split-up into two factions, and the worst part: Wang Liu Mei sounds like she’s tempted to join the dark side! Oh no! :O
Screencaps
“Noooooooooo…”
My, what a huge head you have
Colin Powell’s descendant?
Tieria gets cock-blocked by Veda
“Maybe those mass murderers aren’t so bad after all…”
“Why did I volunteer to pilot the cannon fodder unit?”
The purple orb at the front looks like evil Haro
RIP
WTF? Wait… Wait… WTF!?
Graham lost a few internal organs from the acceleration
This is not the “Vader” you are looking for. *Waves hands*
Isn’t that bulge on the bed a little too big?
EMO
omg no guro pls kthxbye
“That ring was frigging expensive.”
I like to play Mahjong.
– Nena… *sigh* How can she be so damn cute and yet so damn demented?
– About the bar scene. I swear I saw some Coca Cola and Budweiser knockoffs.
First!
damn..no 2nd =(
i cant believe nena is THAT evil, someone mention that she is against ppl dying…ummm nm =p
I say Saji will endup joining the Union and help Graham find a way to counter the gundams and the AEU will make Louise their poster girl in a anti CB crusade and the four gundam meister will be divide in to how to handle the trinty sibilings.
Poor Saji he lost the receipt. If only Billy were dead and replaced by a very angry Saji ala Nathan’s proposal. I hope Nathan is right about the AEU touting Louise as the poster child for the struggle. Louise might make a few stump speechs along her propaganda tour as well.
Still it seems like a good pullout from a nose dive into disaster. Strange how Aeolia never figured out how to use “flash” and “thunder” for his dispersed forces.
…”I like to play Mahjong.”
Now that was random.
O ya, I can also say “WTF???” with the injured billy pic, he looks like a girl there (matchup w/teria?…j/k). And that’s a nice SS with Graham’s flag pwning Throne Eins (Though why just the FORE-arm when you can get the whole arm WITH the shoulder!?!?!?!?)
We can all expect some kind of technology, that reattaches peoples’ body parts, to come up, later in the series.
Is this a sign of the apocalypse I am witnessing?
I think its too early for Exia to get upgraded/replaced to/with something invincible…that normaly happens somewehere in the 30th.
And I think its great that CB is so oranized that just anyone can join them, say they are part of some wing of they parental organization and they just have to believe that.Awesome security.
I’d just waltz in there and overwrite Veda with Windows Vista. They’d be so pissed.
this was a good episode
Graham rocks. Totally. He just pwned Johann with his own beam saber.
@ andrea :
Maybe you should just rewrite Veda to sing Elvis Presley songs for six hours.
Where in the rule of the Celestial Being said that they can attack civilians, especially when a happy occasion is taking place?
Anyway, it’s good to know that it doesn’t take too long for the 4 main protagonists to attack the Thrones (seriously, just about 50 mins?)
BTW, when I said 50 minutes, I mean the combined run time of 2 episodes.
There I go again, 3 postings in a role (but I’m only double-posting. The first one’s written a couple of hours before).
To Blake’s reply in the Episode 17 thread: perhaps finding the best suited atom for infinite energy generation time will most probably take a century or 2.
It’s a good thing the “overpowered” Thrones (I wouldn’t really call them Gundams) can only run for a limited period. Otherwise the entire world of military bases are a goner in a day.
Ultra Hyper Exia Excellion Infinity will probably be called Avalanche Exia.
It doesn`t seem to be more powerful to Exia as Strike Freedom was in his time. It got some should protectors, 6275262 swords, including a buster sword like thing.
@ Nathan
Or Louise and Saji make up their mind to destroy CB. Sunrise reveals the Halevy family has some crazy mobile suit industries and Louise provides Saji with a leet suit.
Setsuna either gets owned by the thrones and Exia gets upgraded to be invincible or he simply gets help from the other Meisters and the CB we know.
Seeing how this series is 300 years into the future, wouldn’t there be advances in prosthetics or tissue regrowth here-though cost or growth replacements might be a problem?
Well by looking at the upcoming merchandise Exia will get something like UC’s Dendrobium or CE’s METEOR, called the GN Arms (though it looks more like a smaller version of Dendrobium). Maybe he’ll get that soon after this upcoming fight in episode 19, but I have a feeling that the fight may be very short instead.
On the other hand, since Graham has managed to chop off Throne Ein’s arm and snatch a weapon from it, would that mean Gundam’s technology would be partially exposed to Union (but their systems are a bit different to the original 4 we know of)?
Fascinating Episode.
I can definetly see Saji joining the Union military and ending up in a fight with Setsuna.
As Graham now has a GN weapon, we might actually see GN particles in use by the Union soon.
Will this be the end of Darth Vader? We will never know
I guess its about time for Exia to become Exia Strike Freedom
Who would let Saji pilot a freaking suit?
What’s up with sunrise and kids? Why would anyone in there right mind let a highschooler pilot a mobile suit?
@Raphael: Avalanche Exia is only normal Exia with a bunch of boosters on it. It only has seven swords, which are oh so conveniently stuffed into its backpack. It’s likely that it won’t make an appearance in the anime.
Exia & upgrade..
Hmmm. Arent you thinking far ahead yet?
what about the hidden special capabilities
of the Mobile Suits like the one that Tiera had.
Well, I think it’s a bit early to assume that Saji will pilot anything. He would prolly get pwned by that w/e first name corlasawar guy. Unlike Setsuna, Saji’s got no experience in mobile suits. So unless the 2nd season is a time skip, there will be little to no chance that he’s going to participate in combat.
Personally, i think his sis is going next, seeing as how she just barely escaped death at alley, unlike that whats-his-name soldier that gave her the info. She’s stooped too far into Trinity’s space and since Nena is psychotic, i would guess she really loves that space…
My guess is Saji will somehow meet up with Celestial Being after it is witnessed that the two gundam sides actually appose each other. Afterall, there has got to be some significance to his meeting with Setsuna. If you remember correctly that one time Louise’s mom left for Spain louise was crying “I will never see Mama again” and Saji asked Setsuna to help him with her. If my guess is correct, then that was a miniaturization/foreshadowing that she would (literally)never see her mom again, and that Saji would have to ask Setsuna for help again.
Weddings are…
a blast!
lol xD
Well, I’m curious to see what happens with the ‘real’ Celestial Being attacking the Thrones. I could see CB hooking up with the nations, at least for the time being.
Cock Block lol.
Also what will Union do now that they have a fake GN Drive (the GN saber)?
I wasn’t aware that DarkMirage was Chinese =O
And it seems that one assistant guy to the observer (green-haired young guy with the white robe thing xD) is the spy?
I don’t think the Union can do much with the saber. Afterall, it only emits and uses the GN particles. Furthermore, it isn’t the GN drive, as far as i believe, it simply “borrows” it. And with such little information on the imperfect GN particles I would say that they could not even identify it seeing as how the closest one to do so was reduced to the atomic level.
I don’t think that all gundams have hidden ablities like virtues. with virtues it was because exia was Gn-001, dynames was 002 kyrios was 003
virtues was 005, they are missing a 004- which turned out to be Nadeleeh.
Raphael: The Avalanche is only an added on system that allows short burts of incredibly high speed. After it is used it has to recharge. Its not much of an upgrade, especially against other gundams. I’m willing to think that there will be some sort of upgrade to Exia though, even if it is just the Avalanche. They are gonna need it if they want to defeat the Thrones. The Thrones are powerful even if their GN drives are just knockoffs.
WebN00b: Exia does have hidden systems, but they aren’t buit in like Virtue’s is. Exia’s are things like the Avalanche.
Lastly there is only one reason I want to see Saji in a mobile suit, I want him dead. That whiny little sissy boy pisses me off. There is no reason to let him live, he has no role in this anime other than to take up free screen time. As of now he always complained but done nothing to change anything, He just tries to appease others and suck up to them. The only change I see happening is him becoming a pissed off boy who wants revenge. With his level of absolutely no experience and skill in a mobile suit, even if he manages to get in one he will get killed. And a person like that would never be allowed into a suit by any military, he’d be considered mentally unstable. As for the time skip theory where he can get some training in I don’t see that happening. The Thrones are movving to fast for that, and forcing everyone around them to move at that speed too. The fact is in the amount of time it would take a completely new pilot to get the sufficient amount of training it would all be over. I simply don’t see Saji piloting a mobile suit.
looks like saji is going to be the next shin from gsd
Shadow: I agree wholeheartedly that the timeskip is a bit of a bizarre idea, but no one can say it is impossible. Afterall, somehow in GSD, Shin went from n00b to Kira lvl in a span of 10 episode equivalent to about a week or so. But of course that is GSD and he did have the SEED.
As for the upgrades, i don’t think they are absolutely necessary against the Thrones. We have to admit that their weapons are, indeed, powerful. But as far as i can see they only have one advantage to the original monsters: less screentime ;). The only reason for them being able to save the gundams in ep 16 was because of a surprise attack, and the militaries lack of information. Also like in this ep we saw that Graham was able to take out an arm off because of a surprise attack, and a little bit of inspiration from a dead man, of course.
As for the Saji in suit thing, you cannot say it is impossible. Those with inspiration can sometimes exceed those in talent. If he obtains the ambition of death to gundams because of Louise, and if he has natural talent, it is quite possible. Though of course, i am defending him, and we have yet to see how he reacts to the experience. Based on his personality he would sulk, but everyone with screen-time has a purpose. If the producers were planning on killing him off they would’ve when he and louise were about to get pulled in by earth’s gravity. But i still stick to my original idea that he will probably run into Setsuna sometime or another.
I remember recalling when Exia was fighting the uprated Enact that was piloted by Ali al Serges and he was being pwned and then at the climax Setsuna got angry and the suit used the anger and it’s blades sharpness increased and it cut the Enact’s blade in two…maybe Setsuna will figure out how to control that at will…sort of like the SEED mode…who knows…I just want my HD downloads :)
PS: Graham is a badass.
NENA IS SUCH A FUCK NUT. I really hope she gets her vagina ripped out and then fed to her. This episode is good for the fact that it makes me mad.
Anywho, who wants the new trio dead?
What are you people thinking? Saji is not a fighter. He is a wimp.
The ability to fight is something that is settled for good in early childhood. He doesnt have the drive.
Man… I guess Nena wasn’t kidding when she told Setsuna not to piss her off…she sure is crzay
Way to be mature about this lol. Though, I would not say fighters spirit is born as much as it is developed. And Saji does have a drive, though i’m sure he might not follow it.
Theoretically an old dog can learn new tricks. But fighting is less of a formal art and more of a basic instinct. A wimp like Saji is going to hesitate at exactly the wrong moment.
Or alternatively, charge in blindly and get himself killed anyway. (WTB edit button)
i just can’t imagine that custom flag of graham could eventually give even a scratch to the gundams…my opinion,at the end of this series the Union and the other factions would have probably come out with some advance suit to challenge the miesters
Saji may have the motivation now but he doesn’t have the personality. If he does fight hes either going to be pissed or hesitant, both lead to disaster in one way or another. Most people can’t think clearly if at all when they are pissed, that isn’t something you want when in combat like that. Equally bad and more likely for him is that he’ll hesitate at the wrong moment, any of the other gundam pilots, or the Thrones, would see that and take advantage of that in an instant. Lastly even if he does have some natural talent, it still takes time and experience to develop that. Tama even in GSD don’t forget that Shin did have previous military training in addition to the SEED. A week also isn’t as implausible as the amount of time it would take to have Saji trained and liscensed to be a pilot. That would take months at best, more likely a couple years. Even Setsuna had a good deal of training with CB, he joined when he was 14, hes 16 at the beginning of the series. And the only people that would let him join are CB, the people he’s least likely to be willing to join. The military in all of the nations in this show have an age limit, at 17 I don’t think Saji will meet it. Also like I said before in his current state he’d probably be considered mentally unfit. It’s possible that he could become a pilot, I just think it’s unlikely. Personally if he does have an important role it will be something other than a mobile suit pilot. But who knows, this is Gundam we are talking about here.
How I just love it when sunrise cuts us off at the climax. Exia ftw! Sure hope he cuts at least one of the three into bits Dx
Thanks to the wonders of Google, I can now say for sure that Ragna is a ripoff of Veda.
Vedas = knowledge or a fourfold entity rooted in Hinduism
Ragna = advice/counsel or gods/ruling powers; Old Norse etymology, Ragnarok is the best known usage (fate of the gods/gods’ fate)
is it only me or am i the only person who thinks howard graham is the best character so far? Gundams r way too overpowered, but this guy is unbelievable!!! That scene with the flag blew my mind away!! i hope he destroys all of those cocky gundam bastards.
(somehow this is the only gundam series up to date that i really dislike. especially all of those overpowered gundams and emolicious / sadistic gundam pilots @_@.) i believe in u graham!!!
oops i dont know how ‘howard’ got in there
I’m definitely getting that Graham Acre Custom Flag 1/100 Gunpla when it comes out and it’s going to be the centerpiece of my 00 collection.
Graham Acre you are now officially the coolest character in the series.
God, neena’s action disgusted me. I’m in the hate trinity fanclub.
anyway……
[s]CHAR[/s]GRAHAM FTW. I’m only looking forward to his gundam pwnage
to darkdestiny on the GN Drive: just letting u know, they dont use GN particles to produce the energy, it uses a topological defect to power it, or the decay of baryonic matter or something like that.
Saji (real name is saji lol):
Wow cool. You can access my blog from 300 years in the future!
Graham sure is smart to be able to take Throne Ein’s GN Beam Saber away. I’m pretty sure he will take it back for Union to do research on it.
The Spy in CB is definitely the observer’s assistant! The green hair bastard is Lagna!
Either Graham or Setsuna, make sure you get Nena’s head!!
Also, it would be interesting if Saji finally did a major role. Piloting a Gundam would be very surprising for a person as soft as him though.