[Categories: Anime Reviews]
Gundam 00 7-9: fight fire with fire
It’s taken long enough but I’m finally beginning to get into this show. It’s no coincidence that this is where we get to know the Gundam Meisters and the other Celestial Being members a bit more and have a better grasp on them as people. My opinion that the importance of the characters is paramount rings true even here, amidst the busty girls and shiny mecha. Setsuna loses his composure (not to mention causing one of his colleagues to stop speaking to him) and Lockon Stratos takes a hit in the Raw Nerves area too. Up until now I thought that the Meisters have had it too easy, which is fun to watch in some respects but is a bit boring in others; seeing them argue, fall out and suffer setbacks, albeit minor ones, reminds us that they are indeed human. Up until now seeing the Gundams fight was like watching someone shoot fish in a barrel - a nice gun and shiny mechanical fish, but less satisfying all the same.
I was especially intrigued with the idea that the rather shabby doctrine of ending war by waging war was a cover for whatever Celestial Being are really planning; it also poses the question of whether the Meister pilots are fighting under false pretences with the true intentions of their organisation being hidden from them. Sucks to be them in that case, but I really do think that Saji’s sister could be onto something.
Unfortunately there’s still the question of how engaging the Meisters really are as characters. Setsuna I’ve always had time for (I’m also waiting for the moment when he properly flips out and goes nuts) and Lockon opens up a bit and reveals his real name but as for the others…they’re just the Angsty Bishie mecha pilots you could find anywhere. Felt and Christina get a bit of screen time though, which helped me put an impression of their respective personalities to the faces and avoided seeing them as anonymous girls who sit in front of computer monitors. In terms of characterisation then Gundam 00 has made some steps in the right direction but still has aways to go; there’s still plenty of time for that so I’m hoping it won’t be wasted.
I’ve heard this show described by ANN as having a very post-9/11 influence in its politics, which I guess refers to the addition of the terrorism subplots; I feel that this sort of thing is a bit over-used in TV and film in general these days but it fits well into the worldview of the show and offers another faction to muddy the moral waters a little. It also draws out Lockon’s ingrained issues, which I think will prove to be important later on. Kudos to the guy for comforting Felt a little too - a welcome moment when the characters are behaving like regular people for a change. More of the same, please Sunrise.
Speaking of Sunrise, one thing that’s still not in any short supply is the shiny mecha pr0n - another observation I noticed in the blogosphere in recent days was a fellow blogger who remarked that Sunrise know how to render a good mecha design. Remembering, say, Gasaraki, I’m incline to agree - and this is no exception either. It might look a bit unrealistic at times - some of the opponents seem to stand around dumbfounded while Setsuna zooms around slicing them up - but there’s no denying it’s superficially fantastic fun. There was a scene in which Setsuna wrecks a ship and battles a mecha in the water below - it reminded me a little of Asuka’s first episode in NGE, in which Unit 02 does hopscotch on battleships and fights the Angel underwater. Beyond that, the comparison isn’t relevant but it still looked awesome in a similar way to this.
This was a shorter review than I planned but if I were to be brutally honest, there’s a lot of more appealing stuff appearing and I’m mainly using this show as a source of mecha-derived entertainment while I’m waiting for Macross Frontier to resume. *sigh*
Just as an aside then, I dug the attempt below at portraying a foreign location - I think this is supposed to look like Edinburgh. I thought I might as well chuck that detail in, since this is possibly the first time that a place I’ve actually visited has appeared in an anime show. Not to mention the fact that, as you can probably guess, my enthusiasm for this series is waning and I’m hard-pushed to find much to say on it.
Posted on January 16th, 2008 @ 11:30 pm
Ah, Scotland, that famous Mountainous Region. Edinburgh was strangely lacking in traffic to get in Setsuna’s way, but I guess this is Gundam not Initial D. Also, why was Marina begging for aid in Edinburgh? Maybe the Scottish National Party has been strikingly successful in 00’s future history.
Talking of real-world locations in Gundam, there was a sequence in SEED Destiny (don’t bother) in which various famous landmarks were namechecked and swiftly destroyed. I guess Hellsing’s the place to go for RL UK locations, though (much like the British media) it’s focused on London.
I am of the opinion (and this really is groundless speculation) that Celestial Being isn’t part of some giant SEELEsque conspiracy, it’s just a broken organisation trying to play God and failing miserably.
Posted on January 18th, 2008 @ 12:16 am
@IKnight: yeah, I don’t think Celestial Being is nearly as omnipresent as it makes out either (it’s certainly not omnipotent). Sadly, the Edinburgh name-dropping was the most interesting thing about these episodes for me. Looking at the way things are going, I think this show will be ‘on hold’ indefinitely - there’s so much else that has my interest right now. Gundam 00 is missing a certain spark that makes me want to keep following it, sadly. It’s annoying, because I rarely feel the need to drop a show when I’m already quite a way in.