Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans

Episode 25

Did you hear that Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans is getting a second season? It's coming this fall. In that light, “Tekkadan” was less of a conclusive episode and more of a setup for a new beginning. This episode conveyed big changes on the horizon for each main character through a thoughtful, slow buildup that has me both excited and scared.

In the final episode of the season, McGillis is making some big moves. His character arc has been slow and a bit mysterious, but now everything about him is coming to light in one bombastic salvo. I had forgotten that McGillis is adopted; in short, he is an orphan too. Now that his ambitions are clear, he's the parallel antihero this series deserves. Watching his battle with Gaelio, I felt like I was watching Mobile Suit Gundam; a fight between Char and Garma 2.0. Purple-haired Garma never sees Char's betrayal coming because he is ignorant to the political machinations that intrigue Char far more than any bonds of friendship. The same thing is happening here, establishing another tie-in to the overall Gundam canon. But while Garma's death was a given, I don't think Gaelio's is. Perhaps it'll be time for him to take a cue from his pal Ein and go on a revenge mission in season two.

Big things are happening for Mikazuki as well. Confronting Ein as a vegetable body fully synced with a machine, Mikazuki is going to have to take his bond with Barbatos to the next level. You can see how the hero Mika is paired with the antihero McGillis. In both fights, their opponents are talking over them — making appeals to human emotions through Ein's sorrow and Gaelio's childhood fondness. McGillis simply states that such gestures won't reach him, while Mika closes his mind to everything but the task at hand, carefully calculating how he can increase the odds of his survival, just like he's had to do his entire life. What's interesting is that Mikazuki's fight leaves him permanently injured — blind in one eye and paralyzed in one arm. He establishes that he's still OK to fight when hooked up to the Alaya-Vijnana system, but ordinarily, Gundam protagonists are bulletproof. It sets an ominous precedent. Even though all of the characters that I feared were dead last episode seem to have survived, it's unclear to what condition they will ultimately recover.

Kudelia's character arc has also undergone an evolutionary shift. At Parliament, the conflict between Makanai and Henri fades into the backdrop when Kudelia gives her speech. Like Lacus Clyne in Gundam Seed and Queen Diana in Turn A Gundam before her, Kudelia has become a capable politician who stands to hold a lot of sway over season two. As Kudelia's star rises, Gjallarhorn's is falling. The big political boogeyman of season one is primed for a regime change, and Kudelia has turned into exactly the kind of character I want to piece things together. She's planning to stay behind and do just that while Tekkadan returns to Mars, temporarily dashing my hopes (and Atra's) for a Mikazuki-Atra-Kudelia romance.

The ending is a brief but happy moment for all of Tekkadan, bringing back the character relationship chemistry from happier times — Orga acting like Naze's shy little brother, the bubbly Turbine wives, Mika and Orga's reliance on each other, and the orphans generally being able to act like the kids they are again. Punctuated by a moving soundtrack and some beautifully rendered sunset scenes, it's a satisfying calm before the storm. Great work, Orphans. It doesn't require a cliffhanger for me to get excited about what's in store for fall.

Rating: A

Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans is available streaming at Daisuki.net and Funimation.com.

Lauren writes about anime and journalism at Otaku Journalist.