Gundam 00 — Episode 18
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 Advantage™) 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.
February 10th, 2008 at 4:02 pm
- 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.
February 10th, 2008 at 4:02 pm
First!
February 10th, 2008 at 4:03 pm
damn..no 2nd =(
i cant believe nena is THAT evil, someone mention that she is against ppl dying…ummm nm =p
February 10th, 2008 at 4:08 pm
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.
February 10th, 2008 at 4:27 pm
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.
February 10th, 2008 at 4:34 pm
…”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!?!?!?!?)
February 10th, 2008 at 5:03 pm
We can all expect some kind of technology, that reattaches peoples’ body parts, to come up, later in the series.
February 10th, 2008 at 5:14 pm
Is this a sign of the apocalypse I am witnessing?
February 10th, 2008 at 6:39 pm
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.
February 10th, 2008 at 7:32 pm
this was a good episode
February 10th, 2008 at 7:49 pm
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.
February 10th, 2008 at 9:00 pm
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?)
February 10th, 2008 at 11:13 pm
BTW, when I said 50 minutes, I mean the combined run time of 2 episodes.
February 10th, 2008 at 11:27 pm
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.
February 10th, 2008 at 11:29 pm
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.
February 10th, 2008 at 11:44 pm
@ 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.
February 10th, 2008 at 11:53 pm
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?