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Guess I should have expected Orga's death to not trip Mika's berserk button. I was most impressed by the fact he gave such a rousing speech in his usual tone of voice. You don't expect it from the quiet and simple one (or maybe you do, I guess it depends).

I have to admit that spoiler[McGillis pushing himself to get up to Rustal when he'd taken such severe bodily damage was not how I expected his final moments to go. Add in Gaelio to have that dramatic exchange and you have a very anticlimactic way for him to bow out of this space opera]. I was expecting to see something a bit more, I don't know, glorious or something for him or survive so he can do what he'd been boastfully declaring for such a long time. I guess because the next episode is the last one, they just didn't what know to do with the guy at this point.

As for spoiler[Hush], what a way to go. Considering he was such a pragmatic guy (similar to Zack, but much less louder about it), I was hoping he'd be one of the aftermath survivors, but I guess they want to hand that role over to Atra and Kudelia, since you're not supposed to kill off the leading ladies who never fought once on the battlefield (not like I expected them to).

Stupid spoiler[Nobliss Gordon]. To quote Mr. Herriman from Foster's, "I dislike you with great intensity!"

SilverTalon01 wrote:

I guess I'm in the minority that found this episode incredibly dumb. McGillis just runs in there all alone crossing his fingers... Why has the guy who spent 3/4 of the series planning, plotting, and backstabbing so incredibly stupid now that he got his Bael.

This wouldn't happen to be the same McGillis who in season 1 set Carta up to be killed to remove her as potential obstacle (eventhough she likely wouldn't have become one and possibly could've helped him) and during his climatic fight with Galieo not only revealed his identity which was completely unnecessary but didn't have the common sense to make sure he killed him?

SilverTalon01 wrote:

Of course it isn't like there was really anyone else because IBO never really bothered to build up a rival for Mika.

Besides Ein who got offed at the end of season 1 and McGillis who the writers could never seem to make up their mind with regards to how he was used in story.

belvadeer wrote:

As for spoiler[Hush], what a way to go. Considering he was such a pragmatic guy (similar to Zack, but much less louder about it), I was hoping he'd be one of the aftermath survivors,

They already offed Shino who by most accounts should've been safe by virtue of being the resident goof ball, whose luck is spotty.....but no he had to get offed too just because.

belvadeer wrote:

but I guess they want to hand that role over to Atra and Kudelia, since you're not supposed to kill off the leading ladies who never fought once on the battlefield

Isn't Flay from Gundam Seed kind of the exception to the rule?

I like McGillis's fate; it seems fitting that someone who obssesed over singular power would be forced to watch it all slip between his fingers. This isn't a Chuuni show like Code Geass which believes a single enlightened Tyrant can through sheer will power take the sins of the world upon himself. In the end he was a victim of the system just like everyone else.

Last edited by belvadeer on Mon Mar 27, 2017 12:56 pm; edited 1 time in total

BadNewsBlues wrote:

They already offed Shino who by most accounts should've been safe by virtue of being the resident goof ball, whose luck is spotty.....but no he had to get offed too just because.

Maybe they should call it Mobile Suit Gundam: Everyone has a Death Flag. XD

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Isn't Flay from Gundam Seed kind of the exception to the rule?

I suppose, but she was such a witch. spoiler[Even though she did eventually grow up and realize how foolish and manipulative she had been, she was still detestable for quite a while into the story]. Atra and Kudelia are leagues better than her in many ways.

only the people in the tunnel will stay alive, most likely
next episode we'll see the ones currently fighting going down one by one.
Akihiro's going to hurt.

belvadeer wrote:

Atra and Kudelia are leagues better than her in many ways.

Oh you'll get no argument from me over that

Here i am, thinking that Macky went down like a God and everyone's calling it anticlimactic... smh

Man, this show has been one heck of a roller coaster ride, but I promise you that I have not cried, not even once. That may not remain to be true if they kill off Mika though. I've been a long time Gundam fan, ever since I was introduced via Gundam Wing, but none of them have messed with me as much as this show has. For several reasons, I will be sad once this show is over.

Episode 49 was a trainwreck, anyone with the tiniest grasp on storytelling should know why Hush's arc makes no sense in retrospect and McGillis went from being the most interesting and apparently cunning character into a tragic figure that makes dellusional decisions. Gaelio was always a weird character, but him crying and wanting to forgive his ""friend"" after all the things he did to both himself and his family is only possible in anime world where keeping your suspension of disbelief is a tiresome accomplishment. I won't comment negatively on Orga's death because he was always a bad leader and in a passive-agressive way for a certain audience, his demise makes sense.

Mika and Akihiro are the only remaining characters worth investing in, but since it always seemed like they were destined to die, I'm not holding my breath.

This series has been a wild ride, going from very good and thoughtful moments to very boring ones. I'm all in for a nihilistic approach about war, orphans and scumbag adults but the writer's skills just weren't enough for such a story. I should not be surprised since Okada has written more awful series than good ones (I only really liked M3, and no one saw it), but it's still kinda depressing she came so close to writing a worhtwhile entry in the Gundam AU saga.

The Review wrote:

Surprise surprise, it wasn't Gjallarhorn that assassinated Orga at all! Instead it was Nobliss Gordon, a man who has formerly done a lot to finance Kudelia (and indirectly, Tekkadan).

That's funny I thought that was fairly obvious. They were not in uniform, they did not call for backup, it wasn't orchestrated as a military strike but more as a drive-by shooting so I didn't think they were connected to any faction in Gjallarhorn. I was ok with how that went down. It does follow the "don't trust adults over 30 theme". Wink

However, Orga's slow walk to the door where his death was waiting was kind of annoying.

SilverTalon01 wrote:

I guess I'm in the minority that found this episode incredibly dumb. McGillis just runs in there all alone crossing his fingers... Why has the guy who spent 3/4 of the series planning, plotting, and backstabbing so incredibly stupid now that he got his Bael.

I was expecting him to have something up his sleeve at the end too. I even thought there was a possibility he would be last man standing and face-off with Mika at the very end. However, he did die as he lived that is as a lone wolf. McGillis rejected friendship and familial ties for power and that's why he dies alone without backup. In contrast, some of Tekkadan will survive because of their bonds and willingness to protect one another. McGillis end wasn't very satisfying, but maybe that was part of the point. His determined grasping for power was hollow.

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And Bael itself, what a wasted opportunity. Sure, it looks cool. It even had a cool fight (that went from one sided in his favor to one sided against him for no real reason very quickly). This was the gundam so special it was suppose to put McGillis on top of the Seven Stars though.

There are some possible explanations: 1. This might be because McGillis wasn't special enough to bring out its full abilities unlike Mika. 2. Also this might all just have been part of the mythology that grew up around it, a myth that McGillis as a young boy became fully invested in.

I found the episode to be exciting, but not fully satisfying which I could say about the whole show. There has been stuff I enjoyed about the show, but there's been other stuff that I have not (the blatant unsubtle death flags, what appeared to be character/plot rewrites, etc). In that vein Hush's death was weird to me. Its almost like why even have him in the show. I thought he would be a witness to the events that happened. Instead he became more of a throwaway character, because they needed someone to die that had had some screen presence. Unless they are planning an additional season, an OVA or movie, Kudelia feels like she has been shoved off the stage.The show originally seemed to be about her rise as a political figure alongside Tekkadan's rise as a fighting force. Instead she seems to be relegated to business woman and wife #2 status behind Atra (maybe she'll do something in the final episode?). The show has sometimes felt weirdly rushed at times or awkward at others. It makes me feel that they had too many ideas that they were forced to cut or re-arrange to fit into the confines of an anime.

Anyways, expecting more deaths next episode so bring it on!

It feels like the last few episodes have been really on-point, and it feels like we're just now starting to see the kind of story they wanted to tell in IBO: a space mafia story with Gundams. It's unfortunate they never seemed to be able to develop the kind of atmosphere needed to make that work until recently, and even here there's still a lot of gundam traditions getting in the way.

Macgillis was also well executed, and is definitely the most 'Char' not-Char in a gundam series yet. Remember that Char went through the same keikaku master phase when he took down Garma, and after that he basically went nowhere, until he eventually pulls out a bazooka when chance hands an opportunity to him. Macgillis was well developed as someone who was always somewhat delusional in his world-view. Rather than the Napoleon most seem to have been expecting, he was more of a Robespierre.

I've always felt that McGillis' ideals of power would hold so long as his sword did, since the sword has been the symbol of power since the dawn of war. Alas, as cool as Bael's golden swords are, the moment one of them broke I knew McGillis wasn't going to come out of this on top. Though up until that point I really thought McGillis had a fighting chance since only Vidar was a match for Bael.

I'm actually surprised the swords lasted as long as they did, considering McGillis used them to block some very hefty blows many times before his final battle with Vidar. I think it's cooler to imagine that the swords were originally much tougher but their endurance has weakened since Agnika Kaieru used them to slay an epic amount of Mobile Armors 300 years ago. That being said there seems to be a pretty large weapon gap between Vidar and Bael, where Vidar seems to have a weapon and pile bunker crammed into every nook and cranny for long and short-range combat, while Bael only has a sword pair? Bael's design kinda reminds me of Wing Zero, but without the epic Twin Buster Rifle since no beam weapons exist for Mobile Suits in the IBO universe. But still, couldn't they have made Bael's wing thrusters into blades or something? I feel like there's a missed opportunity to fully flesh out Bael's armory considering it's a supposedly legendary Mobile Suit.

On the same token I feel Mika's resolve will hold so long as his signature mace-lance-club does, and seeing as how that weapon could probably survive the end of the universe, I'm not at all worried for Mika.

IBO has always been about the orphans and Tekkadan, but there's no way Orga was going to be the King of Mars with the backing of a reformed Gjallahorn led by McGillis. No Gundam ending can ever be so clean, but at least they're not going to end with a movie about fighting an alien invasion straight out of left field. But then again I suppose the IBO universe kinda sorta takes place after its own alien war if Mobile Armors can be considered alien terminators. Actually, a prequel movie about the Calamity War sounds like a pretty entertaining watch. Sunrise make it so!

well fudge guess there won't be a S3 or sequel.

well at least spoiler[ idiok got what we wanted him to get for so many ep and kudelia became a PMILF]

I was as giddy when spoiler[Iok got crushed] as someone whose favorite sports team scored the decisive point(s) in the biggest game of the year. F--- Yeah!

spoiler[Nobliss getting offed on the toilet] was the icing on the cake. And the resolutions for the other characters too.

Very bittersweet ending, but also very fitting for this series I think.

I really enjoyed this show, and I look forward to re-watching S2 when it gets dubbed.

Oh and spoiler[ Iok died exactly like he should have, horrible and slow. Akihiro being the one to kill him was just icing on the cake.]

Same goes for spoiler[ Nobliss Gordon, it took a few years (I guess? Not sure how long exactly) after everything went down but he also died a fitting death, killed while on the toilet like the piece of shit he was.]

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