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…
March 31st, 2008 at 8:08 am
So, gundam is over for now. What anime are you going to do next, DM?
March 31st, 2008 at 8:48 am
I don’t see why Code Geass having mecha designs inspired from other series is such an incredibly negative point against it when the whole show is pretty much a deconstruction of the mecha genre as a whole. Oh god they look like armored shrikes and have grappling hooks from tactical armors this show sucks I’ll never watch it because it has designs inspired from shows that have great mecha design! Most people don’t really care about who did it first, just who did it better.
Also Gundam 00 pretty much follows the same concept as Code Geass in that it kind of says “fuck you” to older series. Like how the storyboard for the “grunt suit shooting the bridge” scene was just copy pasted out of Seed except they drew a cloud (architecture joke for you) on top of where Freedom comes in to save the day. Or like how Marina Ismail is thrown into the peace-loving princess of a nation except she’s entirely useless since guns and money are what get things done, not meaningless ideals.
The show could’ve used more politics, less stupid episodes (oh man 15 hour bombardment but they’re still a-ok) and better treatment of the Graham fight. However, it succeeded what it set out to do: it grabbed the attention of people disillusioned with the franchise due to Seed and it also made me want to buy a lot of 1/100 gunpla.
Think of it as a replacement for Wing, then again Wing was terrible so that’s not that hard to do.
March 31st, 2008 at 11:29 am
Gundam 00 will forever be a part of TV history because it is a classic example of a post-9/11 TV show. This Gundam series presented issues like religious fanaticism, conflicts on energy, suicide bombing, among others. I guess Gundam 00 is commendable for that alone.
March 31st, 2008 at 11:58 am
oh, and I forgot to say, cute random icon thingies.
March 31st, 2008 at 1:16 pm
Yeah, it did seem pretty rushed and the plot just went everywhere as soon as Graham flew in to save the day. The most interesting part for me was the epilogue. I take it that 00 Gundam will take a role similar to Wing Zero in Gundam Wing. Maybe Tieria, if that’s actually who Regene is, will hop into a mobile suit of mass destruction and reawaken his Virtue skills. Maybe Allelujah will come to battle with his Millennium Eye to see into the Earth’s Federation’s hand. Maybe Setsuna lives and will steal 00 Gundam.
Lots of opportunity and different paths to take for season 2. Let’s just hope Sunrise doesn’t fuck up and has it so that the second season makes up for the first. Don’t get me wrong, I like Gundam 00 so far, but it took a turn to inferiority as opposed to what it could’ve been.
March 31st, 2008 at 5:48 pm
I think they should class the series under mild fan-boyism as well. “I am gundam… I am gundam… We are gundam! o.o” kinda fanboyish to me on setsuna’s part
March 31st, 2008 at 6:59 pm
Kinda sad ali didnt died. Lockon was wasted without accomplishing anything.
March 31st, 2008 at 7:08 pm
I don’t know man, I kinda like the ending…then again I am a SEED and Wing fan…
I do agree on the criticism on the politics part though, could have used more work. However it looks at issues we are sorta facing right now, even though what I can never get is how Southeast Asia got swept into the whole HRL thingy…
I certainly wish Season 2 will rock more, there’s definitely a lack of story and I am eager to know more…
And the funniest thing that struck me was that this looks like a prelude to the original Gundam…
Love the O Gundam and looking forward to OO…-D
March 31st, 2008 at 7:20 pm
Why stick at Zeon? AEUG is just as fitting.
March 31st, 2008 at 8:09 pm
lol. ALL HAIL BRITANNIA INDEED! For those GNX. I wouldnt be surprised if those things next to the GN drive capsule were rocket anchors, whoops i mean harkens.
I liked this ep… at least it showed destruction instead of the constant half arsed bullshit. That should be tieria with an alias though, because he/she is wearing lockon’s hairstyle. Tieria is acting as a doctor to counter the red GN particles, using the green GN particles or something to heal those injuries, that may explain why he is next to Louise as well as the fact that hes wearing a EAF uniform.
Anyway I’ll laugh if gundam 00 becomes Code geass and code geass becomes gundam 00. That will be one of the hugest stunts sunrise will pull off.
Anyway since sunrise didnt design a good GN flag, time for me to design a better one >=(. Dammit… he was coughing blood because the flag hadnt been modified.
March 31st, 2008 at 8:19 pm
LOL @ “Pikapi..”
March 31st, 2008 at 8:30 pm
@kamui
DM is right, it was three years later that the UN became a Federation. Although the Peacekeeping Forces was launched 4 years later, but that was a year after the Earth Fedaration was made.
About Gundam 00 being a prequel to the original UC era Gundam, let’s remember that we have Minovsky Particles in UC while we have GN particles in Gundam 00. The UC has a different story on why the mobile suits were created.
March 31st, 2008 at 11:10 pm
I just wanna see the O Gundam and OO in action togever!??
March 31st, 2008 at 11:18 pm
I’ve noticed just now… Tieria is indeed wearing a uniform similar to the masked guy (Graham). Is that the Earth Federation uniform? The scene of Louise and Tieria (saying “hmph…”) seems to show that they don’t know each other and it just happened they were together (in an elevator it seems). So the rumor that they’re a patient-doctor pair must be definitely wrong.
April 1st, 2008 at 12:40 am
GN Flag was amazing and more mecha should be designed with asymmetry in mind.
Also, fun facts from elsewhere: the only date we have in UC with a weekday is Monday January 14th, UC 0080. Season 2 takes place in 2312 and the only year between 2385 and 2402 where January 14th lands on a Monday is 2391, which is 80 years after 2312.
Also these random Tsukihime/FSN avatars are the best, who would actually want to sign up to change them?
April 1st, 2008 at 2:17 am
It’s finally over… at least for season 1. Pikapi…
^Now as Eh just mentioned, I am curious on what my random comment’s avatar will be. >_<;
April 1st, 2008 at 7:21 am
It just struck me as odd, that after all that fighting with the big golden dish and its GN Field…. he remembers (after everyone is pretty much dead) that his sword was designed to rip through a GN Field?
Mind you, good planning on CB’s part for seeing that they may well need a Gundam with the ability to get through the defences of another Gundam… just a shame it took the pilot so long to see it!
And you thought Lockon was dead, so long as we have flash backs and little bits of wisdom he told them, he will always make a come back!!!!
Aye the avatars are nice, i kind of like the chibi fate stay night characters that i keep seeing!
April 1st, 2008 at 9:45 am
( ‘-’) (._. ) (’-’ ) ( ._.) *sniff sniff*
April 1st, 2008 at 11:41 am
Well in-conclusive ending to set up for a next season…
April 1st, 2008 at 12:11 pm
Did nobody notice Patrick saluting them at the salutation scene? 22:46, I think.