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kaigouOi, downloaded (and now watched twice, thanks, Sunrise), the newest Gundam series, double-zero.
Thoughts.
Hrm, those character designs look familiar: ah, it's Kun Yoga, same mangaka who did Loveless.
Wait, can this possibly be the same Sunrise? Where's the colonies? Where's the slew of 15 yr olds? Where's the, uh, alleged innocence? ... instead, the first episode throws you into the middle of battle, with 14-yr old Setsuna hefting a weapon against mobile suits, along with other children. And I say children, most definitely -- I'm presuming they're the few left alive to fight. Meanwhile, the suits are broadcasting, "This is a sacred war for God; we destroy all who do not follow tradition. We will never lose; we are fighting for god." The camera pans across dead bodies & a destroyed city, as Setsuna is trapped in a dead-end alley hiding from the suits. He whispers, "there is no god in this world."
Just as the outlook is most bleak, staring down the barrel of a suit, the mobile suits are attacked from above. Setsuna looks up to see a Gundam (which, I presume, is Exia, and the primary Gundam in the series since it has the standard parade colors) -- and in this timeline for Gundam (oh so aptly called the Anno Domini timeline, with -- for the first time, I believe -- a specific Western date of 2301), the Gundams are powered by something called a GN drive. As part of its mechanics, the drive gives off strong radio waves, which cause both radio/satellite interference, and visual interference, showing up as rays of light emanating from the Gundam's powerstation on its upper back. You guessed it: Sensetsu looks up to see Exia, with what appear to be massive wings of light spreading out from its back. (Wing Zero Custom, anyone?)
Skip forward two years, and now Setsuna is a Gundam pilot. I'd like to think Sunrise was FRICKING PAYING ATTENTION to the screams of RIDICULE AND HORROR to that overemotional angst-fest mecha-lite (even-LITEr-than-Wing)SUCK SEED: there is no indication whatsoever that Setsuna -- like the vast majority of Gundam pilots before him, in the other timelines -- just got in and "knew how to fly". Nunh-unh. Nor is there even a heartbeat of OMG should I or shouldn't I? Perhaps Sunrise is realizing that the majority of its fans are, in fact, starting their own second generation fans now. We're older, and we're sick of nothing but teenagers. A little more realism, please: and seems we got it... the team leader (Stratos) is 21, Haptism is 20, and Setsuna may be 16 but I suspect that opening segment is to indicate that a) he was desperate, b) able to be ruthless, and kill, when the situation demands it, c) tough and resourceful... a variety of things (including mindset) that you'd want in a soldier. (No idea about Erde, the fourth pilot; the official info gives no details on his age, origin, or history.) The tactical operator is 26; the gunner is 24. These are realistic ages for those positions if we were talking about educated/trained soldiers in the US or European armies -- none of this "send a pre-adolescent off to war" crap.
(Okay, except for one character who hasn't even had speaking lines yet; she's said to be 14. She's also described as "not being good at communicating but having a weath of mechanical knowledge," so I'm guessing idiot savante or some other variant on "brain highly developed in area X but lacking in Y and Z, including social." So, that, I suppose, I can overlook.)
Speaking of which, I believe this is the first Gundam series (is it?) in which the protagonist is not of Japanese descent to some degree (or is otherwise left undefined). Heero Yuy, Kira Yamato, Amuro Ray, Domon Kasshu, etc -- instead, Setsuna is identified as Kurdish. In fact, the Middle East plays a huge role in this series, it seems; the Relena-part, this time around, is a 24-yr old princess of a destitute Middle Eastern country, who travels seeking assistance for her people. Since the fossil fuels ran out, much of the Middle East has sunk back into war (uhm, aren't they there already, but who's counting), and the three superpowers appear to be battling it out for supremacy, based on who can come up with the most powerful alternate fuel source.
And there's space elevators involved, too, but I won't get into that now. Anyway, the organization Setsuna joins is Celestial Being.
Right, the appearing-like-an-angel Gundam is part of the corps for Celestial Being, an organization dedicated to eradicating war by... stomping on anyone who attempts to cause war. I can't help but wonder where Sunrise is going with this -- Yosuke Kuroda (the scriptwriter) has such, uh, delights as Please Teacher! and Onegai Twins and Madlax and other even more forgettable ones, except he also did Trigun, Excel Saga, and Gungrave. On the other hand, Seiji Mizushima is directing, and he directed Fullmetal Alchemist, so I am seeing nothing but potential for love. (I hope.) Err, tangent over, my point was... uhm... oh, right: contrast the opening segment of "we can't lose because we're fighting for god," and Setsuna's reaction, as the trapped defenseless one, saying, "there is no god," -- and now, the 'Celestial Being' is, for better or worse, saying the same: we won't let you fight because we say it's wrong -- and character after character is shown deriding this statement. One of the Union's (a stand-in for the US & major allies, it appears) pilot's responds, "they're going to fight to stop fighting, they're contradicting themselves right there!" The entire fallacy of the ideal is set up and ripped apart within the same episode.
Meanwhile, up on the space station where two of the pilots have rejoined the mothership's crew, they're listening to the broadcast. Haptism remarks he can feel earth's malice (note: ignoring that he's named Allejulah Haptism, eyeroll here, and his Gundam is Kyrios, oh, please, be aware he appears to like to call himself by name when he's talking to himself); the tactical forecaster's response is simply to say, "evil." I remain uncertain whether she's referring to earth's expected defensive reaction to Celestial Being's announcement, or to the announcement itself. Back on earth, Stratos seemed resigned when he observes, there's no stopping it now. He asks Setsuna whether he's aware that Setsuna's participation (in the first phase of their plans) means he's effectively started world war. Setsuna doesn't appear to care one way or another; his eyes are fixed on some as-yet-unseen prize.
Either Sunrise is really going to knock the ball out of the park with the questions in the premise -- can a single entity/organization/country claim to know what is right for all people? is all war automatically evil in and of itself? is there ever a time in which war could be just, or at least unavoidable if justice will ever be achieved? can the oppressed truly be righteous when in fact they're borderline oppressing in turn? -- or are we going to get a lecturesome series o' pap, in which the pilot's purity and righteousness is seen as justification for what's essentially aggressive acts. Call them what you will, but the actions in CB's phase one are nothing but aggressive, even if phase two shows them in a defensive light.
I will be curious to see how this develops. Here's hoping it's willing to ask the tough questions -- and I think it might, seeing it's not like Mizushima shirked from asking them in FmA.
Thoughts.
Hrm, those character designs look familiar: ah, it's Kun Yoga, same mangaka who did Loveless.
Wait, can this possibly be the same Sunrise? Where's the colonies? Where's the slew of 15 yr olds? Where's the, uh, alleged innocence? ... instead, the first episode throws you into the middle of battle, with 14-yr old Setsuna hefting a weapon against mobile suits, along with other children. And I say children, most definitely -- I'm presuming they're the few left alive to fight. Meanwhile, the suits are broadcasting, "This is a sacred war for God; we destroy all who do not follow tradition. We will never lose; we are fighting for god." The camera pans across dead bodies & a destroyed city, as Setsuna is trapped in a dead-end alley hiding from the suits. He whispers, "there is no god in this world."
Just as the outlook is most bleak, staring down the barrel of a suit, the mobile suits are attacked from above. Setsuna looks up to see a Gundam (which, I presume, is Exia, and the primary Gundam in the series since it has the standard parade colors) -- and in this timeline for Gundam (oh so aptly called the Anno Domini timeline, with -- for the first time, I believe -- a specific Western date of 2301), the Gundams are powered by something called a GN drive. As part of its mechanics, the drive gives off strong radio waves, which cause both radio/satellite interference, and visual interference, showing up as rays of light emanating from the Gundam's powerstation on its upper back. You guessed it: Sensetsu looks up to see Exia, with what appear to be massive wings of light spreading out from its back. (Wing Zero Custom, anyone?)
Skip forward two years, and now Setsuna is a Gundam pilot. I'd like to think Sunrise was FRICKING PAYING ATTENTION to the screams of RIDICULE AND HORROR to that overemotional angst-fest mecha-lite (even-LITEr-than-Wing)
(Okay, except for one character who hasn't even had speaking lines yet; she's said to be 14. She's also described as "not being good at communicating but having a weath of mechanical knowledge," so I'm guessing idiot savante or some other variant on "brain highly developed in area X but lacking in Y and Z, including social." So, that, I suppose, I can overlook.)
Speaking of which, I believe this is the first Gundam series (is it?) in which the protagonist is not of Japanese descent to some degree (or is otherwise left undefined). Heero Yuy, Kira Yamato, Amuro Ray, Domon Kasshu, etc -- instead, Setsuna is identified as Kurdish. In fact, the Middle East plays a huge role in this series, it seems; the Relena-part, this time around, is a 24-yr old princess of a destitute Middle Eastern country, who travels seeking assistance for her people. Since the fossil fuels ran out, much of the Middle East has sunk back into war (uhm, aren't they there already, but who's counting), and the three superpowers appear to be battling it out for supremacy, based on who can come up with the most powerful alternate fuel source.
And there's space elevators involved, too, but I won't get into that now. Anyway, the organization Setsuna joins is Celestial Being.
Right, the appearing-like-an-angel Gundam is part of the corps for Celestial Being, an organization dedicated to eradicating war by... stomping on anyone who attempts to cause war. I can't help but wonder where Sunrise is going with this -- Yosuke Kuroda (the scriptwriter) has such, uh, delights as Please Teacher! and Onegai Twins and Madlax and other even more forgettable ones, except he also did Trigun, Excel Saga, and Gungrave. On the other hand, Seiji Mizushima is directing, and he directed Fullmetal Alchemist, so I am seeing nothing but potential for love. (I hope.) Err, tangent over, my point was... uhm... oh, right: contrast the opening segment of "we can't lose because we're fighting for god," and Setsuna's reaction, as the trapped defenseless one, saying, "there is no god," -- and now, the 'Celestial Being' is, for better or worse, saying the same: we won't let you fight because we say it's wrong -- and character after character is shown deriding this statement. One of the Union's (a stand-in for the US & major allies, it appears) pilot's responds, "they're going to fight to stop fighting, they're contradicting themselves right there!" The entire fallacy of the ideal is set up and ripped apart within the same episode.
Meanwhile, up on the space station where two of the pilots have rejoined the mothership's crew, they're listening to the broadcast. Haptism remarks he can feel earth's malice (note: ignoring that he's named Allejulah Haptism, eyeroll here, and his Gundam is Kyrios, oh, please, be aware he appears to like to call himself by name when he's talking to himself); the tactical forecaster's response is simply to say, "evil." I remain uncertain whether she's referring to earth's expected defensive reaction to Celestial Being's announcement, or to the announcement itself. Back on earth, Stratos seemed resigned when he observes, there's no stopping it now. He asks Setsuna whether he's aware that Setsuna's participation (in the first phase of their plans) means he's effectively started world war. Setsuna doesn't appear to care one way or another; his eyes are fixed on some as-yet-unseen prize.
Either Sunrise is really going to knock the ball out of the park with the questions in the premise -- can a single entity/organization/country claim to know what is right for all people? is all war automatically evil in and of itself? is there ever a time in which war could be just, or at least unavoidable if justice will ever be achieved? can the oppressed truly be righteous when in fact they're borderline oppressing in turn? -- or are we going to get a lecturesome series o' pap, in which the pilot's purity and righteousness is seen as justification for what's essentially aggressive acts. Call them what you will, but the actions in CB's phase one are nothing but aggressive, even if phase two shows them in a defensive light.
I will be curious to see how this develops. Here's hoping it's willing to ask the tough questions -- and I think it might, seeing it's not like Mizushima shirked from asking them in FmA.