Gundam AGE

[orisa]

Spoiler: Ep.16

Asemu; kicking Veigan ass action movie style.

We all knew it was coming sooner or later. A Gundam series isn't complete without a masked villain piloting a mech with a shade of red. Except this time the mask is almost too similar to the one worn by a certain Red Comet...

Anyways, it's good to see the crew in their old age, Flit in particular who grew into a rather dandy family man/EFF commander. He's completely lost the love & peace attitude he had before Yurin got blown up and gained all hate & vengeance against Veigan though it's understandable. From the look of this episode Flit and Emily haven't had much of lovely marriage that Emily probably wished they would have had. Whether Emily is going to come into more play in this whole "my husband forcing our son to pilot Gundam orz" fiesta is yet to be seen, but I do wish to see more development for both Flit and her. One thing I kinda find funny is the fact that Flit quit being a pilot. I would have thought with as much hatred as he has for Veigan he'd want to kill them first hand. But I guess he's more mature than that.

Obvious love triangle is obvious from the ED movie. Zehart, who is one of the top in Veigan vs Asemu who has a father with deep hatred for Veigan, rounded by random girl A with knee socks Romary. I think this relationship is my favorite yet in this Gundam title (partly because it's reminiscent of the Amuro-Char-Farah triangle, although it could be because of Zehart's mask). I can't wait to see how this plays out

Vargan looks more or less the same for an old man who's possibly over 100 now and still very active. Largan was nowhere to be seen. Not sure if that red Genoace that got pwned by the two Veigan units was him. Think it would be funny if that was the case though. Millais is apparently the next Diva captain...I'm not sure what to think of her new design, other than that it looks like they only gave her few wrinkles. Wolf who quite obviously did Millais also grew dandy beard, although nowhere as dandy as Flit's goatee. I have a gut feeling that Wolf is going to die this generation...

Lastly, does anyone think the new Gundam looks a bit inspired by 00-Riser? Those wings remind me of it.

 

[Terumi]

Spoiler: episode 16

I would say this was a very good transition. Loved how this geneaeration started, hopefully it does better than its first.

Still living and kicking, 40 year old Flit is now a militray commander. Still raged about the E.U, now renamed Vagan, he still holds his believe of them being the true enemies. I was kinda expecting him to be quite a bad father and husband, especially when he showed almost no signs of love for Emily, now his wife and mother of 2 children, Asemu and little sister Unoa. Afraid that wasnt the case, even after when he clearly does not know first hand too clearly how old is his son. Quite evidently, he is trying to raise his son in his own ways, entrusting him the gundam suit that he built from scratch. Kinda mixed between his own methods of raising a son and being a father and husband at the same time, he definitely wants his son protect the things most important to him.

Vargas is old and kicking too! Great-grandfather now, he still 'manages' the gundam. Seeing a 40 year old Emily wasnt another nice thing, especially when your husband comes home once in a blue moon and makes your son pilot a mobile suit and fight. I dont think she would have agreed, but I thought she should have showed some resistance.

School setting this round, with Hanazawa in the heroine role and future wife of Asemu. Both have obvious crushes on one another, but this round seems to bloom yet another 3 way relationship, with Zeheart (Hiroshi Kamiya 'Tieria Erde' WOOTS) into the fray as shown in the ED. Zeheart is a vagan spy as seems, sent to inflitrate the current colony and locate the elusive gundam suit. I really hope they move away from the high school setting fast, I like Asemu more in his uniform, an uncanny resemblance to 00 S2's. Similarly, AGE-2 looks somewhat like a 00-raiser too.

I dont agree with pushing Asemu's mindset 'to protect everyone' this early in the story, but I think it will go a long way to help develop his character. At 17 years of age, he is at his prime. Young man ought to be hot-blooded, and of course I will see no wrong if you fight to protect your family and precious crush. Wanna see the new AGE-2 fast!

OP and ED was nice, liked spyair's ed quite a lot. OP gave me a lot of hope for this generation, seeing the past crew now to have aged. I was hoping they at least upgraded the wicked G-Exes, afraid not. And woolf just looks older with a longer sideburn. Baa-baa kanchou too now, with Millias probably the new ship captain like all other gundam series.

Liked how first episode went, really hoping it is better than the first 15 in terms of development and interactions. Go SUNRISE!

 

[Kou]

Spoiler: episode 16

It's actually surprising that Flit turns out to be a good father and Asemu a good kid and Flit's family to be generally happy. This is probably one of the few times that a Gundam protagonist doesn't come from a broken family for once! However Flit is probably going to get undone by his unwavering hatred towards the Vagan since he is dead set on them not being humans and even vowed to wipe them off the maps, while Asemu is going to end up befriending one and that's probably where the two will butt heads later, the fact that they have a generally good relationship would make the confrontation even more painful to watch, really hope they can capitalise on this.

While AGE started off a bit slow the "3 generations" theme looks like it would really pay off because when the viewers had seen what Flit had gone through first it makes the viewers care and sympathies more about his actions, it's getting to be quite exciting.

 

[Terumi]

Watch before it goes down.
This gave me a lot to look forward to.

 

[Kou]

Lol, totally 00 raiser like orisa mentioned >_>.

 

[Terumi]

I mentioned it too though, :P

Hmm, losing touch with the market for the gundam models, want a G-Exes and probably this AGE-2.

 

[Sillhouete]

this anime is completely inspired by oo series,isn't it?

 

[Terumi]

this anime is completely inspired by oo series,isn't it?

100% not true. Story isnt by Sunrise, its a special collaboration with the game company LEVEL-5, whom made the ps3 titles like White Knight Chronicles. The AGE story is written by the LEVEL-5 president, whom also wrote for WKC.

So, definitely not inspired by 00. I am sure its just a market strategy for sunrise and bandai.

 

[Sillhouete]

100% not true. Story isnt by Sunrise, its a special collaboration with the game company LEVEL-5, whom made the ps3 titles like White Knight Chronicles. The AGE story is written by the LEVEL-5 president, whom also wrote for WKC.

So, definitely not inspired by 00. I am sure its just a market strategy for sunrise and bandai.

hoooo
i see
but this age gundam and oo looks really similiar
hahaha
thanks for the info terumi
:3

 

[orisa]

Spoiler: Ep.17

I don't know why but Romary feels like a random character to me. She always appears at the most random moments to trigger some otoge event where she is protected by her reverse harem from some conveniently placed danger. She hasn't spoken much since her appearance either.

And Zehart is already starting to get comfortable around his new "friends". After last week's episode I thought he'd continue his lone wolf thing a bit longer than a typical "good villain", but I don't mind it. What I do mind is the fact that Zehart seems to care about Romary for some reason, enough to divert his attention to her away from his grand mission of capturing Gundam.

Asemu already graduating next week. Do we assume nothing happened between the Feds and the Veigans inbetween?

 

[Kou]

Spoiler: episode 17

Tordia's security must be a joke if the Vagans could drive a MS in broad daylight on the highway without anyone spotting it, especially the day after Tordia's "defenses" are penetrated. One would think the colony would still be under martial law or emergency standby considering the short time period.

I like that the Veigans are finally given a human face, and it's not all fanatic crazies, but normal human beings, effectively removing credibility from the very black and white image painted in the first arc.

The time skipping is alright, as long as the relationships between the characters are well hinted at, and they are, more or less (so as to avoid any weird and unnecessary fan backlash like there was for arc 1 *cough*).
Asem is still pleasant as a lead, he's not fussy and doesn't whine.

Did anyone notice that an old man and two engineers/ stable boys in a truck are holding out better against the UE than a squad of Feddie suits xD

 

[orisa]

^ Well Genoace moves like a snail so an agile truck naturally holds out better...although their driving skills are pretty pro too. Too bad they couldn't do any damage.

 

[Terumi]

No mood for any long-winded posts, but hearing Hiroshi Kamiya say 'GUNDAM' again was awesome.

 

[kaeldyn]

*heard hurt* when at the first i heard about a new gundam
but i was some nervious and afraid of him and i watched him : only one thing better than destiny not good than unicorn .
i don't watch more than four episode i hope he isn't youngster as the beginnning mentioned this.
(i hope it is not a very bad english :()

 

[orisa]

Spoiler: Ep.18

I still think this time skip was abruptly done. I mean we were to assume Asem/Zehart/Romary became BFF despite the three of them barely having any screentime together in previous episodes, and they expect me to feel something when Asem and Romary (who is as usual at the wrong place at the wrong time, which I will talk about) find out Zehart is a Veigan? Sorry, no, not working.

Granted, there was a bit of emotion when it was just Asem and Zehart--when Romary appeared, my face went from (´･д･`) to (´-ω-`) because she's just such a random character who's always conveniently placed like she teleported from one place to another as event calls. I mean, in addition to what I said last week (when she apparently didn't have any trouble somehow speeding through car filled highway which Asem rode his bike through in a hurry to get to his home), she somehow got taken hostage despite standing nowhere close to the Veigan guy at the start, and somehow caught up with Asem and Gundam who literally boosted their way to Zehart just enough time to watch them be at each other's throats, despite being fresh out of hospital. She doesn't have any depth as a character to be in such an important position. It might have been different had they actually shown her spending time with Asem and Zehart, but no, that had to be taken out for some reason...I mean unless I'm wrong we still have more than another whole generation and a half to go. What's the rush? At least the fight between Asem and Zehart was nothing short of awesome--catching up to the time.

Anyways...Wolf makes appearance, though they didn't show his face. I like how his voice acting reflects his age. He no longer has that "reckless wildness" characteristic, but he still sounds pretty wild in a calm, dandy gentle pimp kind of way. Hell, even his new MS has a pimp name, apparently named G-Bouncer (which doesn't look all that different from Exes, and dare I say looks more boring). Too bad he was just one of the grunt guys this episode.

Lastly, I like how Asem never brought up that Flit is his father when standing up against the MP guys. Boy is a man in body and soul.

 

[Kou]

Spoiler: episode 18

I thought the school arc might be better off as a flashback arc. The time skip won't be so glaring

3 episodes in, Asemu arc is definitely better than Flit arc so far.

Time issue aside (Transition do fell awkward at times), Zehart reveals his identity, clearly struggling himself (I mean, he could have destroy Gundam this episode but clearly choose not to and let Asemu fight on). The only thing remains is whether Romari will be as annoying as Emily (Hopefully not...) and of course, lack of Yurin

 

[Noiru]

I love the Age 2 Gundam, it reminds me of the Zeta

 

[Kou]

Spoiler: episode 19

Excellent episode, Arisa is a neat fun character, a "bro" type if you will. . The battle scene was good as well, and the AGE-2 ruled the day. Millias is a such a hard ass now though, I wonder what made her become so hard. Desil next episode!

 

[orisa]

I thought Millais was always a hard ass, although she did seem a bit harder than before. But I just assume it's because of her new position as a ship captain.

 

[Kou]

Spoiler: episode 10

The fight choreography and detail have really improved this second chapter, starting with Asem grabbing that severed Dorado hand in the 16th.

And still improving: I like the split second scene when Zeheart decided to dodge the first hyper dods round instead of blocking it and when Asem shut's off Woolf's comm screen during the chase.

Lol, the mask has a function now.

 

[orisa]

When the writers make such obvious reference as "it's moving at 3x the speed!!", it loses its charm.
The mask doesn't really have to have that design either for its function, it's a painfully obvious homage to Mr. RedComet, including the Inazuma Kick by Zehart. orz

Other than that, solid action episode. The MS designs take a dip in quality but it's inevitable for fast moving action scenes, and AGE was never really that detailed in terms of drawings anyway. At least it doesn't recycle animations every other episode.

 

[Kou]

Spoiler: episode 21

BADASS NORMAL HERE WE GO! Newtypes/ x rounders are overrated! Anyway, I enjoyed seeing Woolf in his awesome sempai role again. Aside from that minor annoyance last episode I'm really enjoying his character this generation. Hope we get to see him doing more mentoring with the others as well (and them actually improving).

Loved Flit's little lapse in demeanor when Woolf winked at him. It's things like that and the way he softened his reprimand of Asem's "tou-san" that make me think people are greatly exaggerating his 'coldness'.

Rody was a nice addition to the cast if not a little too familiar but Asem seems to respond well to those types anyway. Uhm, Remi was cute but I have a feeling her existence may have painted a bulls-eye on Olbright's back. Hopefully, it's just a set-up for the existence of some 3rd generation character.

 

[Terumi]

Spoiler: epi 22

Dandy in mobile suit? Bring it on! Thankfully old Flit aint those randomly drawn characters to die the very episode they debut in suits. Excellent commanding officer if you asked, Flit and assistant effectively shut down the Vagan X-rounders breaking no sweats. Is that assistant a x-rounder too? Or did they come out with this anti x-rounder strategies beforehand? Whatever the case, Asemu still remains that raging kid who wants to beat his dad so bad, I thought he might have changed last week meeting Ichigo Madorna's son.

Desil remains crappy as ever, I thought he raised his own death flag already when he sortied. Action between Flit and him outshone the other battles, especially when a 40+ year old piloting a 30+ year old mobile suit and having such an overwhelming pilot skills, compared to a self-proclaimed highly talented pilot who was cold-sleeping for years and piloting a new suit. Sunrise does need to look into bringing Flit out of the picture, I find it may impact negatively on Asemu's development.

 

[orisa]

Spoiler: Ep.22

I don't think Flit taking the spotlight is necessarily a bad thing. It shows just how big Flit is to Asemu and why he respects him so much. Just makes Flit's agony about hiding in his father's shadow that much more credible and they make it very clear that this issue is driving him to an edge.

I think the biggest question now is whether Asemu can actually become better than his father, or just overcome this dilemma altogether. It'll have an impact, for better or worse, in the quality of the show either way.

 

[Terumi]

[MENTION=6561]orisa[/MENTION]

Spoiler: 22

Hmm, I didnt meant it that way though. What I thought was, since its Asemu's time, I thought Flit should probably move out of the picture for more air-time for Asemu. Watching a raging teen is no fun to me though~ :3

Moving down, what happens now by these 2 may impact Asemu's son Kio ultimately later.