Gundam (In All Its Incarnations) Mk. II

[The Killer of Heroes]

Really enjoyed the build up in episode 2, and that other than incredibly brief after-credits scene there weren't any real forced action scenes in this episode. My optimism is continuing.

[Blockio]

Yeah, shaping up to be quite nice. Also interesting to have who for all intents and purposes can only be the mom as the designated Char clone; also interesting to apparently have her share a name with a character from Shakespeare's Tempest, whose Prospero also tried to use their offspring to get revenge

[The Killer of Heroes]

The Gundam being named "Ariel" ties into Tempest theming as well.

Its weird that we kind of havr an inversion of Shakespeare's setup. Its been over a hundred years since I read that play, but IIRC the protagonists get shipwrecked on Prospero's Island. Here instead we have Prospera and Ariel coming from some faroff place into mainstream society.

EDIT: Another thought: Honestly the more I think about it, the more I really like the idea of the mom as the "Char" of the show. It's just such a different dynamic from previous "Chars" honestly it feels genuinely unique. So far at least, it doesn't feel the character is only there as a lazy attempt to recreate 0079.

You could argue her character is a riff on the masked mom from Brain Powerd, but man I doubt many people got far enough into that show to even know that's a thing it did.

[MuscleRobo]

Wow!! I had no idea about the allusions to Shakespeare so just consider me boorish, . I really appreciate you helping me understand the show more because

SPOILER: Show

Honestly, I was upset watching the episode that the mother would be using her cute little eyebrows to wage a personal war.
I'm also upset the next episode preview seems to imply we'll be seeing the same duel from episode 01 again? Why isn't it someone new? I can't imagine them retiring that gaudy original Mobile Suit design yet either to give him something else.

Also Chuatury Panlunch; the girl with the pink hair buns, is my new favorite.

[Blockio]

Went and read Burai and the first Crossbone to pass time until friends were ready for the new Witch episode (as of yet still aren't, rip); both of them pretty fun, in the case of Crossbone a lot better than I was expecting it to be

[Blockio]

New Witch episode was fun. GOD Chuchu going ballistic on the two idiots at the end felt so good

[cyharding]

SPOILER: Show

Makes me wonder who would win in a fistfight, Chuchu or Kamille.

[Blockio]

New Witch ep was really good.

SPOILER: Show

Although, piloting a Psyco Gundam.colored unit, having artificially enhanced brain powers and being test subject number four doe not bode well for Elan's chances of survival

[Blockio]

Well this one certainly went places.

SPOILER: Show

So, first off; I was expecting Elan to die horribly, but not this quickly nor this undignified. Color me surprised, but not in a bad way.

Second off: I am now convinced that Suletta is not Eri. The 21 years Prospera mentioned do not line up with the timeline of ages we have (Eri 4 in Prologue, Suletta 17 in the show; and it also makes entirely too much sense that Eri, as Aerial's control system, would remember the events and as such in the novel be really really REALLY wary of the idea of sending Suletta to school as a method of revenge. Also gives a whole new meaning to the line of "I trust my darling daughter", especially since Pharact eventually was defeated by what very much appears to be Aerial taking control.
This one is a bit of a crackpot, but it would also track with the name; Eri-L, as in Eri-Lfrith.

And lastly; in the face of all the horribleness, it was very precious to see how much Miorine has warmed up to Suletta

[UrsusArctos]

So I've actually caught up on this, the first recent Gundam-franchise media to get my attention and hold it with all the references to Utena and The Tempest. And last episode really did go places!

SPOILER: Show

Aerial works fine as Eri-L and I agree that is likely the case. I guess we're getting a Gundamgelion with Eri as Aerial's control system. Also, the name is a reference to the magical being who serves Prospero from Shakespeare's The Tempest. It's no coincidence that Elnora's alias is Prospera or that she's going to such terrible limits to get revenge!

"I trust my darling daughter" is just like a certain someone trusts his wife to finish off Angels. Everything is proceeding according to the scenario.

So Suletta is not Eri, but I wonder if the Eri in Aerial (who appears to be 4 year old Ericht) is an imprint or the product of something like soul-splitting. The various Gundam universes have souls just like Evangelion, so the Eri in Aerial might be another Char/Full Frontal situation or a Kyoko in Eva-02 style attempt to "imprint" Eri into the control system.

Also, I looked up the name "Ericht" and I found a very close match in Erichtho who was a legendary witch and necromancer. Which means it would get interesting if the original, soul-split, maybe a little crazy Ericht Samaya turned up working for one of the many bad guys and piloting an evil Gundam of her own to fight Suletta, which, if they went that way, would make her even more of a Char than Elnora/Prospera!

[Blockio]

SPOILER: Show

Eri as antagonist is a wild card I did not have on my bingo card, but at the same time, it's certainly within the realm of possibility. And fwiw, there is still one unannounced model kit that is already pre-listed on partnered stores.....
listing in question

[The Killer of Heroes]

I started reading this newish Gundam manga called "Despair Memory Gundam Sequel".

It is not clear what it is supposed to be a sequel to, if anything. The main character is a woman who has not only not piloted a Gundam yet, but as of chapter 7 has not piloted any mech whatsoever. Instead she is an insane assassin who stabs and shoots a bunch of people, has a Wolverine-esque healing factor, gets naked an improbably high number of times for the number of chapters that have released so far, and she certainly has not had any despair whatsoever. In fact she revels in ultraviolence and killing people and uh I guess she remembers that?

What I'm saying is that it might be the greatest comic of all time.

[Blockio]

Yeah, Sequel is... an odd case to say the least. I have no idea what's going on and I hesitate to call it good, but it is certainly an enjoyable ride

[The Killer of Heroes]

^If hiding a gun inside yourself is wrong then I don't want to be right.

I'm fine calling the manga good, its just good (So far at least) for different, far pulpier exploitation film reasons than something like Witch From Mercury is good (So far at least).

Honestly though 2022 has been usually kind to me as far as as Gundam goes. Between Sequel, Witch From Mercury and the Doan's Island film this is the most I've enjoyed the franchise in years.

[Blockio]

I have so far refused to watch Doan, but yeah, been a fun year.

I should also specify what I mean by "hesitating to call it good"; this is not meant to say that I'm having a bad time with it, far from it, as much as I have no idea what's going on and if the story is going to hold up at all, or if it is simply going to keep stringing events together; I don't expect and certainly don't hope so, but so far it's been very hectic in a way that I can't really place well

[The Killer of Heroes]

I have so far refused to watch Doan, but yeah, been a fun year.

If you generally like Yas' take on First Gundam (Either The Origin manga or OVA) it's very much in line with those.

I should also specify what I mean by "hesitating to call it good"; this is not meant to say that I'm having a bad time with it, far from it, as much as I have no idea what's going on and if the story is going to hold up at all, or if it is simply going to keep stringing events together; I don't expect and certainly don't hope so, but so far it's been very hectic in a way that I can't really place well

I expect it will mostly be random adventures until a final bad guy appears that will be killed in some bloody fashion (I'm guessing the guy that melted the Gundam in the first chapter). That's fine to me but it will really only be bad if the manga suddenly tries to make me take the plotting or politics or Kaoris as a character especially seriously.

[Blockio]

If you generally like Yas' take on First Gundam (Either The Origin manga or OVA) it's very much in line with those.

I have so far not gone through a meaningful amount of those either, lol. I had a not great time with 79 when I tried to get into it way back when, and it has made me not very interested in anything directly relating to 79-CCA and now that I work full time again, imagine having the time to watch anime

I expect it will mostly be random adventures until a final bad guy appears that will be killed in some bloody fashion (I'm guessing the guy that melted the Gundam in the first chapter). That's fine to me but it will really only be bad if the manga suddenly tries to make me take the plotting or politics or Kaoris as a character especially seriously.

I feel the officer dude from the start doesn't really have the vibe to be a final bad guy, as much as probably being a pawn to die in their schemes.
...speaking of, didn't he kinda have Garma hair, too?

[hui43210]

I found Doan's Island to be a massive waste of time, whatever that's worth. WFM is still great though, very eager to see what the Char/Gendo clone is planning lol.

[Blockio]

Yeah, I'm just not interested in Doan conceptually; it's a movie adaptation of a filler episode from the original cut of the show that hasn't been on any release for decades. It's so structurally inconsequential, I cannot bring myself to care about it. This might genuinely be the one piece of non-SD animated Gundam I am never going to watch.

[Blockio]

I found out that Gundam Sentinel actually had a fan translation yesterday, and read it today; it's nothing to really write home about, but a pretty decent sidestor all in all. Kinda lives in that same space as the likes of Unicorn, Hathaway, Stargazer of being a story about really just one unit fighting one other unit as they're trying to pull some unusually bold bullshit, and once the top like five important dudes are taken out, the whole thing just kinda collapses in on itself.
Which is not meant to be a knock on the story, I don't regret the fourish hours spent on it, but it does somewhat limit the scope that the story can really take.

SPOILER: Show

Also the final fight really felt like the author was trying their hardest to write a Getter story set in a Gundam property, which was kind of hilarious