Gundam 00: Episode 25 (Season Finale)

Oops, meant to have this up sooner!

SPOILERS!

In order of the episode:

Allelujah and Hallelujah merge - very interesting. Soma gets her Newtype on and fights H/Allelujah. And damn, she got him good. What is is with having characters have their right eye injured? Soma sure cares about Sergei... a little too much. And I think he agrees. H/Allelujah recognizes Soma as Mari. SEXY BEAAAAM. Okay, it's probably "Marie", not Mari Yaguchi from Morning Musume (famous for her "Sexy Beam" dance move in "Koi no Dance Site"). OH MY GOD, Alejandro's MA has a MS hidden in the center. But Setsuna owned him. And Libonze owned him too. A new challenger has arrived! GRAHAM. With his obsessions and loves, LOL. AND THEN THEY PWNED EACH OTHER. dfhssdf Angst timez now. Setsuna sends Marina a letter. I really wish that they had built up a relationship between the two of them before this. Poor Marina really didn't play as major a role as she should. AND NOW A TIME JUMP. Four years later... I HATE TIME JUMPS. I REALLY DO. Okay, I'm fine with the other time gaps in between other Gundam series (i.e. between Mobile Suit Gundam and Zeta Gundam and Gundam SEED and Gundam SEED Destiny) but I'm totally not digging this four year time jump at all. It's what ruined Gurren Lagann for me. Well, that and something I don't mention in order not to spoil that series. I don't like that Louise and Saji haven't spoken in two years. Marina's adviser, Shirin, has longer hair and is leaving. And then creepy Amuro Libonze, which his creepy Libonze clones. And Graham, with the by far, ugliest Gundam Mask I have ever seen. And I have seen them all. I'M AM PISSED. IT SEEMS THAT ALI IS ALIVE. HOW UNFAIR. Talk about ruining sacrifices. THIS BETTER MEAN THAT LOCKON'S ALIVE TOO. And now fembot Tieria, with his new Lockon haircut. And Louise. That snort didn't sound like Romi Paku, like everyone seems to think, and I can tell her voice from her grunts. So I don't think that was the female version of Tieria. But I might be wrong. And if he is being voiced by Romi Paku, well then, hello Laura Rolla. The Supreme Trap. Now Ian and Wong. And the O Gundam. AM I the only one who is reminded of "The O" (Paptimus' mobile suit from Zeta). I mean in terms of name only, not looks, but the name is similar (well, so is The Big O. But that's not a Gundam series). Look, it's Nena. 00 Gundam! Wee. That set up at the very end wasn't too bad. But I still hate time jumps.

Overall opinion on season 1: It had it's ups and downs. I particularly didn't like the beginning, nor the end. The middle was good. I felt that too many characters were introduced and then not properly dealt with. I'm hoping that there will not be an onslaught of new characters in the second season. I also didn't like the time jump (duh) and I don't think that it's necessary, based off of the preview we saw (I'm not counting that as a denouement, but more as a preview). I could be wrong, though. And I obviously think that Lockon should be brought back, but I unfortunately doubt that. I hope that the other meisters are back for sure, at least.

A rumor: Other people have pointed out that maybe it's not that Neil is dead, but that he will never be "Lockon" (i.e. a pilot, probably, or doesn't use his code name) again, and that while they are pounding into our heads that Lockon is dead, he might be alive, as Neil. I like this theory. :)

A quick rant

My thoughts on Gundam 00: Episode 25 will be posted once I watched it subbed. And yes, I'm watching it subbed. This somewhat pertains to my post here.

First of all, I don't claim to be fluent in Japanese. I've studied it for four, almost five years, but I do not consider myself fluent. That's why I watched subtitled anime. Sure, I can get the gist of what's being said, but I prefer to have subs so I get all the details.

But this rant has to do with translating text. I've always considered myself pretty good at translating text, but when I do translate, I don't put it on the internet unless I'm 100% it's correct. If I do happen to post a guess, it's not normally on a Gundam related text, and I write that it MIGHT NOT BE CORRECT.

While I think that we should be grateful that people do take time to translate for us and what not, but we should also be cautious that it might be translated wrong. Unfortunately, this can lead to a, as my roomie Laura likes to say, WEB OF LIES. I.e., that's how rumors start. People can accidentally make mistakes in translating, but as Lockon said, humans make mistakes, and I'm not saying that we should jump down people's throats because they translated something wrong. I'm just pointing out that translations can be wrong, and that translating can be a tricky thing indeed.

Gundam 00: Episode 24

SPOILERS.


And well, Gundam 00 tries to become Zeta Gundam with this one. Except that in Zeta everyone got killed off at the END. NOT THE MIDDLE. I wonder if this means that we will have a new cast in the second season. I hope not. Because then they should just make it a different series. Like Zeta. And meanwhile, thousands of miles away: Tieria and Setsuna reenact the "IT'S ALL MY FAULT RYU DIED" scene from Mobile Suit Gundam. The part of Bright will be played by Sumeragi - slap! And now Feldt writes a letter to her parents... and Lockon. And now some flashbacks for Christina and Lichty, BECAUSE THEY ARE GOING TO DIE. Alejandro thinks that he's pimping in that golden mobile armor. Hey dude, even though it's gold, it's a MOBILE ARMOR. You're screwed. Of course, when you are the one shooting the GIANT LASER BEAMS, then it guess you'll last a little longer. This would be a good time for one of the Meisters to have a golden mobile suit. I wonder if Patrick is really dead. Because he got the White Flash of Death (TM). Did Christina just lie to Feldt to get her off the bridge? Why? Yup, she lied... for some reason. Impending doom? At least Lichty tired to protect Christina. We find out that he is part robot, like Will Smith in I, Robot, only more so. And then Christina (and the audience) founds other that he was in love with her. :( At least Sumeragi got a hold of Christina before they died. Christina tells Feldt to live for Lockon, and then, guess what, the ship EXPLODES. Well, next week is the last episode of the season. I wonder how it's going to play out.

Gundam 00: Episode 23

SPOILERS. SPOILERS. SPOILERS.



Well, I saw the spoiler pics for this episode. I.... can only hope that Lockon can pull a Mwu. That's all that there is to it. Words fail me. I thought that he was safe because of his earlier injuries. But then again, look at Ryu. Suffice it to say, I'm already heartbroken, and I will be watched this episode through my fingers. See, Lockon, they were trying to protect you, you idiot. A bit off topic, but I'd like to point out that I don't like that they introduced almost all the characters (major and minor) within the first few episodes. Trinity and Kati were pretty much the only characters introduced later, and it's kind of a pain. Okay, Lockon's stuck out somehow, and has found Ali now... this does not bode well.... especially because you are purposefully leaving your mobile suit, WTF. At least Haro didn't get blow to smithereens. HE PROMISES HARO THAT HE WILL COME BACK. OH SHIT. And then he lovingly pets Haro. :( :( Okay, then he does something stupid, my hands were in front of my eyes, I didn't really see it. Now he flashbacks to his family... his sister's name was Amy. And his twin doesn't really look like him. It's Christmas dinner. And he's monologuing. sdhglsduhgiusdhyk If his brother's name is Lyle, I'm expecting Mr. Muggles to make an appearance. But seriously, if his brother replaces him, I am going to be more upset than I already am. Lockon does not equal his brother. You just can't replace people. There's more to him that his good looks. SETSUNA, YOU HAVE TO SAVE HIM. NOW. What explodes? WHAT EXPLODES? soghsodhfousdhyfpousdyh Haro returns to the ship. And keeps repeating his name...

In all seriousness, the only reason I like this show was because of Lockon. So all I can hope is that he pulls a Mwu. I know it's impossible - he is NOT Mwu. But I was in denial over Mwu's "death", so I'll try not to give up hope. And I think that majority of the fans hope that he is still alive - he's the only thing keeping this show together for me.

Gundam 00: Episode 22

SPOILERS.

On Friday spoiler pics for were revealed! Lockon is indeed alive... and not blind. Well, not totally blind. Instead, he's like Roy Mustang in the Fullmetal Alchemist movie - he's got an eyepatch. I'm extremely happy he's alive, and not totally blind, but not another eyepatch. Seriously. Some people really like that, but I really don't. Maybe it's because I have a professor with an eyepatch


Comments from watching the episode: Lockon could be healed if he stayed in the "healing pod" but he doesn't want too, because he wants to fight (with Haro's help) and also doesn't want Tieria to be all mopey. Tieria is crying. :( And staring out the window. I really liked the scene with Tieria and Lockon in the hallway. Lockon mentions that it;s human to make mistakes. Feldt noticed that Lockon is kind to everyone, not just her, ie, her feelings are not returned. Still don't know what's up with Wong. Meanwhile, Saji's emo. Ali killed Michael. YES! And then steals his Gundam and kills Johann with pretty sparkles. Even Ali acknowledges that it's pretty. Alejandro and Amuro find a frozen Aelio, and yes, I know that's spelled wrong (reminds me of Dr. Kasshu from G Gundam, a bit), and Alejandro shoots the hell out him with Treize's gun. However, Aelio has a a hologram that gives all GN drive suits an upgrade. Trans-Am. LOLz. I don't like that Lockon's going to piloting next episode. He needs to go in the healing pod. If there's a time lapse between the seasons, Lockon better have been in that pod for the time lapse, and he better be healed in the next season.

Gundam 00: Episode 21

SPOILERS AHOY.

First of all, I know that Lockon gets injured in this episode. I'm weak when it comes to spoilers. Okay now. Kinue's really dead, and poor Saji has to identify the body. Patrick's so goofy, it's ridiculous. Sumeragi apparently thinks that if she can work better drunk, than so can Christina and Feldt. Apparently Tieria is a robot, er android. Or something. He has this obsession with being "human," and apparently was about to say that he thought that Lockon figured this out. Hmm. Meanwhile, Setsuna has a dream with Marina in it. So, Livonze and Alejandro manage power down the Gundams using Veda. But Sumeragi was able to change the power over to the the ship's back up system. But the Virtue is still down. Uh huh, I think that this is it... prepare for impact!! Holy damn, it's Patrick who does it, trying to get Tieria. But Lockon goes all noble to protect Tieria. sdkghsgiusgfishdf Haro's apparently alright, because he's reporting that Lockon's injured... eeeeeeeee. gsgdfshdfjh So, I'm going to guess that the rumors about Lockon losing his sight are right. And it better just be his sight, and not his life.