Genre – Anime Science Fiction Action
Series* – 11 Episodes
Total Runtime* – 4 Hours 26 Minutes
Spoilers – Yes
*For this Arc
It appears that Arc 3 is not a fully self-contained story. That’s what I get for trusting Wikipedia. It sets up and leads into Arc 4. But I had already decided on the format of these articles, and I am nothing if not stubborn. So I will review Arcs 3 and 4 separately as originally planned.
We start by showing that the show has still not ironed out its chronology. Ten years after the Prime Minister’s speech where he indicated that the war started forty-one years before, Kio Asuno is born to Blond Boy and Love Interest. Blond Boy promptly goes off on “One last mission” where he disappears. Since there’s no body, we can only assume he’s not dead. Especially off screen after they went to such lengths to show him on screen. Thirteen years after that, the main story of the Arc begins. So, sixty-four years after the start of the war… except the opening credits then claim it’s been seventy. Come on middle-aged Flit narrator, get your act together.
So, the arc opens in striking fashion as the Euros pull a Comstar and extract a full-fledged army of walking war machines to upset the status quo from their space-time rectum. In a single shot the new Mobile Base destroys Big Ring and begins raining down Mobile Suits on the Earth. At the same time, the Euro forces infiltrated to the surface twenty-three years earlier rise up from the shrubbery with their summoned Mobile Suits to join the assault.
While we are following Kio as he rescues generic idiot children in the apocalypse (the kind who exist for the sole purpose of getting into danger), old man Flit seeks him out with the cockpit module of the third generation Gundam AGE. You see, where the first two were designed to swap out the limbs, Flit decided that for the third it would be better to swap out the entire mech instead. So the cockpit it a little fighter pod that docks to the main body in a transformation sequence that Takes waaay too long.
Turns out that the scheming old man Flit had been using Mobile Suit simulators repackaged as video games to train Kio to be a pilot, so that thirteen year old Kio can be dropped into the pilot seat of the Gundam in Episode 1 and promptly kill three people. Admittedly, those three were Mobile Suit Pilots trying to kill him at the time. White-Haired Prettyboy starts dueling the Gundam and we find out that, unlike his father, Kio is a psychic child. Flit calls for the Diva to be launched to support them.
Nepotism continues to be a problem as the new Diva captain is the granddaughter of a character I hadn’t mentioned in the last review who was now an admiral. At least the ship is properly regarded as borderline obsolete. When ordered to send it out, the base commander staffs it with all the misfits he’s got lying around that he no longer wants getting underfoot. So, apparently, the base commander is a logistical savant who is able to summon up all of the crew and supplies to launch a virtually mothballed battleship mid-battle in time to join the fray. I also love his malicious compliance towards Admiral-Grandpa’s orders. He may have only been in one episode, but he’s one of my favorite characters.
Flit is apparently not used to being retired, since he keeps trying to issue orders, but nobody has to listen to him. He has managed to instill his unremitting hated of the Euros into Kio, which isn’t mitigated in the slightest by the indiscriminate attack on nonmilitary targets ordered by White-Haired Prettyboy during the attack.
In later installments, some of the generic Federation Mobile Suits have been getting upgrades first field tested by the Gundam. It’s not explicitly called out, but the design elements are there. Here it is more obvious, as the generic Federation Mobile Suits can transform into faster flight modes, which was one of the signature moves of the second Gundam AGE.
Being harassed by Mobile Suits and a battleship, White-Haired Prettyboy withdraws and the Diva makes for South America. Apparently by the time of this show the great plains have become a sandy desert where the Diva gets ambushed by “The Phanom Three” named Euro Mobile Suits, forcing them to set down and make repairs. Along the way, Pink-Haired Pilot Girl tries to give Kio some pointers on surviving battle.
This is not what it looks like.
Anyway, the Phantom Three make their final assault on the Diva, assisted by drone turrets, and the Mobile Suits have to go deal with them. It’s a bit of a rough battle, and even with an upgrade, they are only able to take out one, which Kio shoots point blank. Pink-Haired Pilot Girl decides it’s time to give Kio mental trauma by chastising him for celebrating and reminding him that there was a person on that Mobile Suit. A person who was trying to kill them all at the time, but she chooses to ignore that. We are informed that Pink-Haired Pilot Girl’s sister is terribly sick and that is only the latest of her family troubles.
The Euros find the South American jungle base the Diva is flying towards and sends in an invasion wave. Turns out Pink-Haired Pilot Girl was feeding them info in exchange for money for medical treatments for said sick sister. She flies off without a plan into the general melee. Since none of the Euros know that she is their spy, they shoot her too. Kio catches up in time to get some more psychological scars as Pink-Haired Pilot Girl dies. The Euros withdraw, having planted bombs all over the base. Big bombs. The Federation forces scramble to get rid of them all. The last one nearly takes out the Gundam when he throws it far enough away to save the base.
Halfway through the Arc, the show finally decides to go into space, with the Diva making for the Moon. I have no idea what convoluted route they take, because their flight is longer than the Apollo Missions, and takes them through a sensor-fogging region where they are attacked by pirates. Not even sexy pirates, or funny ones. The pirate leader, ‘Captain Ash’ is a blond guy whose personal Mobile Suit is a dead ringer for the Gundam Age 2 with a pirate paint scheme. Yep, Blond Boy from Arc 2 went Pirate to attack Federation folks he suspected of working with the Euros despite the voiceover narration at the end of Arc 2 assuring us that those people had been purged by Flit and presumably Blond Boy.
Despite having no means of knowing where this fight was taking place, the Euros crash the party and end the battle between father and son. As they break off, Blond Boy shoots the Gundam with a message capsule containing an exposition dump. It informs them of a data core full of LosTech from the old wars which would give an insurmountable advantage to whichever side gets it first. This MacGuffin gets saved for Arc 4, as we’re running out of Episodes in 3.
As the Diva emerges from the sensor cloud, the Euros engage in a pincer attack, even calling it that by name – then repeatedly explaining the concept as though the name were not well-known and obvious. Anyway, I haven’t mentioned Fat Euro or the politics on the Euro side up to this point, because they don’t really impact the plot much. But Fat Euro is a rival to White-Haired Prettyboy who also reports directly to Fearless Leader. He’s been in the show since the start of the Arc, but now he takes to the field in Mobile Suit XXL, a machine as rotund as the pilot’s name suggests.
Outnumbered, the fight goes poorly for the Diva. Fat Euro and White-Haired Prettyboy together are more than a match for Kio, even with his latest toy accessories systems upgrades and Flit launches in the AGE-1 to intercede. His intention is to be left behind as the Diva escapes with the remainder of the Mobile Suit forces, but Kio, being thirteen, doesn’t really appreciate the idea of his grandfather committing a noble sacrifice, and rushes back out to rejoin the losing fight. All this accomplishes is that the Mobile Suit XXL catches the AGE-3 in a six-limbed bear hug and captures both it and Kio.
For those of you not paying attention, the Gundam AGE-3 is the most bleeding edge prototype the Federation has, and because it was piloted by a barely pubescent kid, it is now in enemy hands.
Did I mention the Federation has a nepotism problem?
Blond Boy all but begs for permission to launch the rescue mission to reclaim Kio, since the Diva is in dire need of repair and resupply. Why he felt the need to ask permission to rescue his own son is a mystery, though I can guess he wanted to start rebuilding bridges with his own father. Flit has been in “My son is dead” mode since the pirates first came into it.
Fat Euro brings Kio to a Euro colony in the orbit of Mars to meet Fearless Leader. Here we learn the unnecessary coincidence that Kio looks like Fearless Leader’s dead son with a hair switch. Fearless Leader decides to let Kio just wander the streets and talk to whoever he wants. He gets saved from a pickpocket by guy who needs a nickname and brought to meet his sick sister, Lou. Or was it Loo? I can’t be sure. Earlier on we have Yurin, and we have Federation officers whose family name is Einus, sounding an awful lot like a sphincter.
Anyway, Lou is sick from exposure to “Mars Rays” from the failed Terraforming efforts. The illness is mortal, and Lou doesn’t have a whole lot of time left. Kio decides that getting temporary treatment for this girl he’s just met is of vital importance. So much so that he helps the Euros unlock the pilot authentication module for the AGE-3 in exchange for medication for Lou. Delivering the medication to the hovel, Kio and Lou go on a date to the junk pile, I am not making this up.
Blond Boy arrives and his Gundam punches a hole in the palace wall to rescue Kio, who he brings to the AGE-3. Kio decides that he has to delay their escape to deliver one more shipment of medicine to Lou. Only the plot disease has claimed her, and he arrives after she has died. Older brother gives him some more psychological scars along with Lou’s sketchbook and watches him fly away. In space, they are confronted by Fearless Leader in the Euro Gundam, an upgraded prototype based off the AGE-3 mixed with LosTech from a fragment of the MacGuffin.
There are times when the villain says “You’re a fool” and you disagree. This is not one of them. In the protracted debate with Fearless Leader, Kio is not really showing anything resembling advanced cognitive function. Mind you, Fearless Leader is a deranged eugenicist who thinks war can be genetically deleted from humanity by selecting the ‘best’ people and culling the rest. And he’s not wrong about Kio being a fool.
The Euro Gundam with the home field advantage, backed up by Mobile Suit XXL and a swarm of nameless Euros is a bit more than even two protagonists can handle, though the rest of the pirates uncloak and buy them time for a big bluff to escape.
As I said, the Arc sets up for the fourth Arc more than completing its own story.
Personally, I like old man Flit more than his earlier incarnations. I’m not sure if it’s because we’ve watched his development across the series or if he’s just a more interesting character in this arc, and more human. His character design in this arc is the best of the three. I still don’t care for Blond Boy, even in his incarnation as Captain Ash.
To be continued.
Production Code S01E09
I really do wish there was more information on the Geographic (stellagraphic?) layout of locations in this series. “Earth to the Moon by way of an asteroid field” makes no sense and it still bugs me.
Oh, and for whatever reason Bond Boy’s motivation for going pritate changes several times through the remainder of the series.
I’m going to say it’s “Daddy issues”
They took the long way‘round.
Isnt it supposed to be set in the Jovian system?
No, it is not.
Maybe that was on Lou’s bucket list. As we’ve been seeing in (((Jarfy’s series of posts, the Japanese seem to have very weird ideas about dating.
That said, I’ve been on worse dates.
Character-wise, she was very enthusiastic to bring Kio there.
I couldn’t get a screenshot because the date became a montage and the junk pile itself wasn’t shown on-screen. So I took one of the colony panarama instead.
Ahh, but my series (which ends this week, gah I have to think of something new now) is about the pure innocent form of Japanese dating. I’d switch over to Eroge games or Hentai videos but they get even weirder and not always in humorous ways.
A dump certainly isn’t First Date material. You’d have to really know her/him so you’d know that they’d be into it, but that’s absolutely a solid date. It certainly isn’t ‘boring.’ There’s always something to find, and you’re *going* to find something more-than curious there. Conversations erupt from that. Always positive.
I’d be beyond-thrilled were I asked on one. Reveals their character. I’ve never had the opportunity, but I lived in population dense-dense Asia during my two ‘long-term’ relationships. Tons of new places to go to, and really just going to wherever would inherently be interesting. This is true everywhere, frankly, but I’ve not really dated Stateside.
The ex getting back in touch this week? Less encouraging than I expected. I’m only looking to watch baseball (she’s a huge Yankees fan) and have run in her bunk. And not get stabbed. (Huge plus, that.) She’ll likely ghost again. Both that and my fantasy would be complete positives.
Lets be clear, there’s a difference between a dump and a junkyard.
Are we talking about a place where we can salvage parts and materials from broken products? Or are we talking about a landfill where waste goes to be forgotten?
Each says something different.
Yes, I was thinking junkyard.
Would swoon at.
In Northern Exposure they go on dates at the dump and watch the bears.
Akira, if you’re still about – I can send you a PDF of the whole seed-oil article if you like – you can e-mail me at my handle at protonmail dot com
Oh that would be sweet. I’ll send you an email right now. Much obliged sir!
Pink-haired pilot is cute. That’s not not one of the reasons she died.
I’m unsure what you mean.
The second part of your comment, The first part is clear enough to parse.
I was being facetious. She *is* cute, anime being anime, yes. Joking with ‘being cute is a (kinda) a reason for her death,’ as that causes more trauma for the audience. Brains want a character to root for, and ‘cute’ plays that card strong in mammals.
*I was joking with the semi-truth that cute animals often purposefully die in art because it causes more trauma for the audience.
I see.
I thought Evan had smoked the peace pipe or something.
This is cool:
https://m.youtube.com/shorts/TPQLnLI8dVU
I’m trying to recall if there is a female character in the series that doesn’t qualify as “cute” to some extent. There might have been one old lady in the Vagan colony who was “Anime-old”, so half-height, exaggerated wrinkles, etc.
So it didn’t register in that way when watching because of the art style.
And ‘unattractive’ men? Any of them? Speaking for all characters, non-speaking as well, in the arcs.
Additional attribute: Handiness. Are uglies more likey to be special-useful, though likely always in the background. (Except in the climax! Ugly and useful, possibly outdated and aged characters die *really well.* Quaid in Independence Day demonstrates this with vigor.)
This series has no problem with ugly dudes.
Vargas, Don Boyage, Post-Credits Villain, Flit’s Fat Friend, Fat Euro, Fearless Leader, etc, etc.
Does she fit the stereotype?
Rose-Haired Sweetie
No. Her entire character arc is very sad, and I don’t think she’s ever happy.
Nerds!
Bole!
Given that you keep hanging out with us, I can only see your greeting call as one of endearment.
The times in my life I considered someone’s judgment of my chosen enjoyments have universally been times I regretted later. At this point, yep, I am a nerd, a geek, an otaku, or whatever else someone wants to call me. Happier though.
You bite the heads off chickens?
Only live ones
It’s easier than getting them to stay still for a hatchet.
Otakus.
Commenting live from a top-secret bunker located in Youngstown, OH-adjacent, and my palatial hotel suite.
The two or three families that are gathered here for a reunion have robbed the free goodie stand of all available cookies, ice cream, and popcorn. And have taken over the pool. They must be on my floor because there’s nothing but kids sprinting up and down the hallway since Ive checked in.
I may have to sleep in the Tracker Testarossa.
Cable ties and duct tape, properly applied, make superb sound proofing. You do have to chase down the noise sources first though
“A child will, upon regaining consciousness, re-evaluate his or her negative behavior…”
-Bill Cosby
Who knew how that would play out for Bill and “regain consciousness”?
We saw the behavior being reevaluated in court and in the media.
Is this the most autistic Glibertarians comment section ever?
No.
We would need an extended conversation about trains for that.
steam, diesel, electric, or euphemistic?
Steam and diesel preferably. Electric would just turn into rants about all the idiot modern lefty rail projects and not create the proper atmosphere to bring out the people who memorize engine specifications for fun.
and euphemistic would bring in too many normies.
The pnnacle of reailroad aesthetics – the Art Deco Streamliners were available in both Steam and Diesel models.
Can’t skip the electrics, specifically the magnificent GG1.
My anime addict model train buddy died not quite two weeks ago.
Guy could prattle on about train stuff for days straight.
TT:120 or GTFO
It’s a wide spectrum. You need to define autism.
Starts to type out one canned rant about the pshrinks redefining autism to the point where basically every human alive fits on the spectrum
Realizes doing that would be kind of autistic
Turns it into this lame joke, which is probably kind of autistic too
Gives up
I’m adding baseball to this, boys.
Exciting game, and inning, but sadly it swayed Cardinals, now up 3-2 into the 8th. Clutched with enthusiasm, I am.
Ex just-now agreed that watching a baseball game together “Would be nice.” It would not end with a watch. A stabbing is unlikely, at this stage. Her stability is known to be unstable, and she’s admittedly fretting making ends meet.
To my verifiable knowledge, she *was* a legit NYC international tax lawyer and she turned online “FinDom,” (financial domination) into a side-into-maybe full-hustle. (Knoweth not, I, the full details.)
Baseball is the most nerdy of the sports. It’s unquestionably the most autistic with its statistical coverage, especially considering that (many) of the stats are legitimately *useful* to understanding various aspects of the game.
Gotta, say, I would be very reluctant to be alone with a former NYC international tax lawyer with a history of instability who is now an online FinDom struggling to make ends meet.
Caught up in BB statistics made a 1/2Score the envy of grade school math classes. Following baseball (AA, Mpls Millers) pre TV one had to know how to compute averages and ERAs and all the other numbers used in BB. My best friend was also a statistician and retainer of facts. He went on to Engineering and taught Math at a local college.
Now he comes for HH and scrapes wax from the frames.
The nerdy baseball stat kid – who couldn’t possibly swing a bat – is certainly an enduring trope.
@RC: You are not wrong. I am knowledgeable and aware of the dangers, and have fail-safes.
But, uh. No shit, she’s smoking hot and smart. We *did* fall in love and were together for a reason. (She’s wicked smaht.) And I’m sure she will try at every level to use me in any way she can. Particularly, financially!
I do owe her money, and I’ll pay it, partly cuz I legit do know I owe her $325. See, I can make this a sexual refinance plan in my favor. It all makes sense. Ya see, I pay her a down payment of x, and then, cuz I’m ever-so struggling myself…, I repay her $20 a day for x days! Twenty is twenty! (Yeah?)
Legit, I have no problem repaying her that amount. If I can watch baseball with a smart, hot chick who’s worth talking to? (We have to keep politics very separate.) Uh. Um. Yeah, I recognize the poisonous stabbing threat, but hey, if I’m anything in life, I’m willing to play.
I rest my case.
Case dismissed – not proven.
Shakes fist at sky.
Damn you kids and your Japanamation!!
Now just where is my copy of Record of Lodoss War?
ha I can’t say I have even a passing interest in anime but de gustibus something or other.
Lodoss War is awesome.
OT Thought: Walking around today, I’m thinking I should write an AP-style article on what my job is. It’d have to be very-AP, as it’s more complicated than one may think. A dozen Important Gears, with ‘my’ department being only one, and hundreds of individual gears turning to make it all work.
It’s a phenomenal machine, and you’ve all seen it at your local (big) grocery stores. I don’t think anyone’s really written it down, and I don’t think anyone who’s done it has, especially when they kinda can write.
This is a thing, and I should make it more solid. I’m sure you’ve seen us roaming ’round with big carts, with several big boxes, picking up groceries as you’re picking up your own.
I’d love to know what stood out, if you had any thoughts. I’m remarkably embarrassed by my holdover-pattern gig, seeing people’s laziness and the increased separation between humans and other humans. (Social primates should be social.)
One entry scheduled, I had thoughts to make this another. I should think on it, cuz I think it could be long-term Big.
I also see my Voca Rehab dude again on Wed. We’re remarkably similar and get along. We meet again on Wed and I’m legitimately enthused. He’s My Type, for sure.
comedy gold
Fake CIA Agent Gets Arrested
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e27v3sGHmKk
I finished my last tournament for the summer today, with a case of heatstroke.
I was fine early but realized I had all the symptoms so I told my cardmates and took an exemption with 3 holes to go.
When I told the tournament director he took me to the pro sop and got me water and fans so I recovered. Scary but Im good.
3 of my sponsors kids won their divisions and a podium for the top spot, winning!
Next may be Vermont for the Green mountain open yippee!
Mornin’, Glibs. Gettin’ to work on my Friday, eager my week ends on a lackadaisical Monday, with hopefully the lonely aisles joining me on my morning jaunts.
Up and atom, folk. (Do any of you work?)
I pretend to work and they pretend to pay me.
Today is a new day.
Get up and attack it, Glibs!
🥓☀️😎
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wh_-IoHD6oM
🎶🎶
Why?
It’s the first day of school!
Well, it’s not a used day yet.
Good morning, Sean, Ted’S., EfE, U, and Roat!
Morning, GT.
How goes things with you and yours?
Going OK, thanks! I could stand for it to be not quite so hot, but there are ways around that. Routine week at work likely, with payroll and Board meeting prep. Ninja cat insists on being held while I’m waiting for the coffee to brew, so that’s my morning workout. 😓🐱👤
How are you?
I should have called in sick. I was just sitting here staring at my breakfast with my brain going “What do I do with this?” Mind you, this is a routine breakfast and not something that would cause actual confusion.
Do you think it’s safe/advisable for you to eat it? 😟
Oh it’s perfectly fine, there’s nothing wrong with the food. My brain is just misfiring today. It went “I don’t want to go in to the office” after I’d already arrived, things like that.
Also, I’m glad the cat has forgiven you. Do you think he ever figured out that the eardrops were for his own good?
He’s smart for a cat, but I wouldn’t give him credit for THAT high a level of reasoning.
Aww… 😿
https://news.yahoo.com/news/articles/man-26-woman-41-die-172215088.html
Check those parking brakes, folks.
It’s not the size, but the motion, eh?
Venda Nova do Imigrante
Hmm…
suh’ fam
whats goody
Good morning, homey!
Bleary eyed good mornings to all you fine folks.
Why is it Monday?
So that tomorrow can be Tuesday?
Not good enough, dammit. Not good enough.
So you can begin a new and exciting work week!
Good morning, (((Jarfy!
Mornin’, reprobates, UCS.
Good morning, ‘patzie! Home from the shore?
Morning.
Good morning!
Back to work for me.
Mornin’ all