Gundam 00 Season 2

[Berk]

With Code Geass R2 just about out the door, I thought it prudent to fire up a new thread for Gundam 00, since it will be cranking up next week. For those who
missed season 1, I'll do this in a fairly non-spoilery fashion. The major players of the series are the governments of Earth and a terrorist organization
calling itself Celestial Being, and it is the first Gundam series to not give us an unspecified 'future year' date, instead setting everything in the
Anno Domini calendar.

Season 1 ended on a vicious cliffhanger which I won't get into specifics on, other than you could probably hear the screams of nerd terror around the world
when they realized they'd have to wait a all of Summer before finding out what happened next.

Season 2 begins 4 years after the last episode of season 1, and will be numbered starting with Episode 26.

Our current major players for season 2 are as follows:

Celestial Being - Terrorists (let's not sugar coat it, they don't) devoted to antagonizing the entire world until they join together in cooperation (in
theory to destroy Celestial Being). The reason they are doing this is, in fact, really never explained. In fact, the one person who ALMOST spilled the beans
died a 'You Know Too Much' death within 15 seconds of realizing what was going on.

A-Laws - Mistakenly called the Arrows based on a voiceover from early on in the ad campaign, later confirmed in the current spelling on the liner notes for a
model. The black ops division of the United Earth Government. The government does not merely deny the existence of the A-Laws, they outright distort media
reports to keep people from finding out about them. They can't possibly be the Titans, they wear green instead of black and all their mecha are painted
red. They are also run by a guy who is totally not Char.

There are other players in all of this that would be spoiling for season 1 if I were to mention them. But all indications are that if you were a major jerk and
didn't get annihilated in episode 25, you'll be back for more this season. Considering that the first season pulled out a Xanatos Planned This Index
with absolutely no warning at all, season 2 promises a LOT of plot twists of its own.
- Grumpy Uncle Gearhead

[Berk]

Double posting because I dare to.

The first episode picks up pretty much where the previous season ended. One nitpick is that they decided to go ahead and start the numbering sequence over
again, even after they were showing 'Episode 26' in the magazines. But that's only a minor nitpick.

There's just enough shown here to tease. But there are also some bones thrown to season 1 plots.

Very, very fun.

And now, because I can... This is the OPENING (skipped for this episode) shown as the ending for the first episode. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJakvw2BxgE
- Grumpy Uncle Gearhead

[OpMegs]

My major notes:

- The new OP is wonderful. The number of transitions can be confusing, but I love that they're actually, y'know, experimenting a little with it. All
the shout outs to season 1 are also excellent.

- Ali's custom mobile suit looks like someone took all three Thrones, merged them, put the result on steroids, and painted it A-LAWS red.

- Which means we STILL don't know what Nena's piloting, despite her being in the OP in a pilot suit/cockpit view.

- Hellooooooo Titans! A-LAWS doesn't waste time showing how ruthless they are, deploying a bunch of killbots into the colony gunning down anyone in their
way.

- Alas, poor Exia. Sure, it was missing a left arm and leg, and part of its' face, but it still got punked pretty damn hard by the Ahead. Interestingly,
Random Anime Blogger indicates that the Ahead itself is a new mobile suit design as referenced by Shirin and the Kataron commander's dialogue at the
beginning.

- Louise returns as an A-LAWS pilot in a GN-XIII, but all is not alright with her. She gets migraines and hyperventilates at the sight of Gundams, and is seen
trying to force down pills with shaking hands afterwards. Furthermore, nobody knows why someone like her is in A-LAWS at all, but Ribbons seems to have had a
hand in it...

- I miss Christina already. The new bridge bunny's voice is pitched so high in typical anime "cute little girl" stereotype that I'm gonna get
a migraine listening to her...

- Sergei seems surprised his son is in A-LAWS, but from the OP, Soma soon will be as well....and having to choose between the Feds(and Sergei) or A-LAWS(and
Andrei).

- Still not sure WHY Saji was where he was, but at least he's not a spineless ponce this time. A little unstable, but hey, after season 1, can you blame
him?

- Not!Graham is NOT A CHAR. That said, his mask looks...kinda better than the preview implied, given a better angle on it. Still silly though.

- Billy's apparently scoring with Sumeragi. Good going, Billy, but if the preview's any indication, it ain't gonna last. Sorry, your
girlfriend's got to go SAVE THE WORLD.
---
"Oh, silver blade, forged in the depths of the beyond. Heed my summons and purge those who stand in my way. Lay
waste."

[Berk]

Gundam Throne Zwei: UPGRADED. I swear, someone at Sunrise saw that fake GQ cover and went 'Wait a minute...'

The new girl on the bridge crew isn't precisely bridge crew, she's the chief technologist's daughter and has, rather like Feldt, been raised by
Celestial Being. She's a certified genius and MAY be deeply involved in the maths that make the 00 Gundam work.

Saji himself was in space to begin with because of the whole 'Let's meet again in space...' deal. He made it to space with the hope that he could
get Louise to come up to him, but was sorely disappointed when she dropped off the face of the universe. He wound up in the prison block JUST because he was
talking to a Kataron member and the A-LAWS felt like being dicks.
- Grumpy Uncle Gearhead

[CrimsonKMR]

I thought the scrapped/damaged Exia was amazing
There is no coincidence, only necessity....
- Clow Reed

[Berk]

Only 4 more says until the next episode.

gg-BSS has their Geass team on the subs, so the turn around is pretty fast. It shows in the morning, Sunday, and is out by the afternoon.
- Grumpy Uncle Gearhead

[OpMegs]

So, notes from episode 2 as I sit around waiting for Shinsen to release ep 3:

- Gundam 00 = GN Tallgeese. That thing's performance is insane, and I really have to wonder how they're going to even out its performance against the
enemy suits in its debut ep to make later episodes interesting.

- Poor Sumeragi. As a tactician, she's obviously taken CB's collapse badly, probably blaming herself. I'm curious what her full, actual name is.

- Lockon II is similar to his brother, but different in a way. It's something to do with the slight difference in cocky machismo. Kudos to the staff and VA
for making a character with practically the same voice and looks seem unique.

- "I have the advantage in close combat!" Candidate for Most Ironic Last Words Ever from GN-XIII pilot going up against the new King of Blades, 00

- Detonating GN particles launched by missiles with Tieria's cannons? They've learned from the mistakes of season 1.

- Kathy's in A-LAWS, as is Soma, and Andrei definitely has a grudge against his father. But why does Graham act like his wearing that ridiculous mask hides
who he is from anyone?

- The ED gives us some hints about a potential Soma/Allelujah romance, as well as bits about Tieria's past.

- Wang Liu-Mei is playing everyone against everyone, and has Nena as her newest accomplice/servant. Here's hoping to see the Throne Drei II.

- Aeolia Scheonberg's a canny old bastard. Even Ribbons, who seemingly controls Veda, doesn't know everything about his plan.

- Tieria has to remind himself that Lyle isn't the same as the old Lockon. Wow. Let's ramp up that HoYay. Still, everyone's reaction to him was at
least believable if someone who looked and sounded exactly like your dead comrade came along.

- Saji gets information on the Thrones. Will this change his attitude? Hopefully. He's not a stupid kid, so I'd think he'd figure out uselessly
protesting wasn't going to do anything soon and make himself useful to the plot.

- A-LAWS apparently covers up its atrocities, but has over 40,000 deaths in its purges already. No wonder Celestial Being's changed their goals from
"intervene against conflict" to "take down A-LAWS specifically". I admit, I kinda liked Lasse kicking Saji's reasoning in the
proverbial balls with "if we don't fight, people will continue dying".
---
"Oh, silver blade, forged in the depths of the beyond. Heed my summons and purge those who stand in my way. Lay
waste."

[Berk]

The 00's single greatest defining characteristic seems to be that they're basically debugging the monster as they go. New problems and glitches will
probably appear every episode.

Episode 3's Malfunction: TRANS-AM is disabled.
- Grumpy Uncle Gearhead

[CrimsonKMR]

Berk wrote:

---

The 00's single greatest defining characteristic seems to be that they're basically debugging the monster as they go. New problems and glitches will
probably appear every episode.




Episode 3's Malfunction: TRANS-AM is disabled.

For now, until its really needed

And I think I like Virtue better than the Seravee. Seravee is a BOX, not a mobile suit...
There is no coincidence, only necessity....
- Clow Reed

[OpMegs]

Episode 3 notes, as per the usual delay:

- What the hell. Tieria's nice this season. He gives Setsuna the go ahead to rescue Marina, encourages him to do
so, and then welcomes Allelujah "home" in a non sarcastic manner. After being a cold bitch almost all of season 1, this is shocking. I like the
change, but it's still shocking. Did someone start lacing his food with Prozac?

- Soma Peries/Whatever is apparently Marie Parfacy. Time for the brainwashing-breaking flashbacks! That said, an interesting concept someone noted elsewhere is
that Allelujah has one golden eye, and had split personalities to deal with the trauma of the Super Soldier program. Soma has two golden eyes and her alternate
personality seems stable and completely overwritten over "Marie". A connection?

- Lyle proves he ain't Lockon. He's pretending to be an amateur at MS combat, while being as able a sniper as Lockon was. He's also feeding under
the table info to Kataron, who uses the CB raid's confusion and the focus on the Gundams to escape with hundreds of former prisoners.

- Allelujah seems to have gotten over his "I don't want to fight" angst from Season 1. The Arios, meanwhile, gets to show off that, yes, it is
indeed the fastest and most mobile of the season 2 Gundams. And that's all without transforming. I can't wait to see Al really open up with it. After
seeing the Gimped Kyrios rip Soma and Sergei apart in their GN-Xs in Season 1, I wanna see Al show that level of skill again with something not half broken.

- Though they, obviously, didn't get the GN drive, the HRL's had the Kyrios since the final battle of S1. A possible source of future upgrades and
reverse-engineering?

- Nena has a little shuttle thing that reminds me of Throne Drei. Core fighter? Themed vehicle? Red herring? I dunno, but as one of the few people that
actually likes her, I wanna see her get in a new MS. She's on the waiting list of People Who Want Ali Dead

- Poor Saji. Every time he tries to make a point, his points get shot down. "Nobody wants to be the unfortunate one" is pretty accurate, though.
Someone needs to find out Ali killed his sister, so he can join the waiting list of People Who Want Ali Dead.

- "I'm really getting tired of that reaction." At least Lyle's got a sense of humor about his creepily identical resemblance to his brother.

- Sumeragi's tactics in this episode just made it a wonderful thrill ride. As opposed to the more sedate "annihilate everything that moves because
nothing's there that can stand up to the Gundams", we get a beautiful use of Ptolemy II. The tidal wave was brilliant.
---
"Oh, silver blade, forged in the depths of the beyond. Heed my summons and purge those who stand in my way. Lay
waste."

[Berk]

I figure that Tieria has learned more than a little about being human since Veda was compromised and the original Lockon died.
- Grumpy Uncle Gearhead

[OpMegs]

It's that time of the week again:

- Kathy is summarily replaced for the next engagement by an A-LAWS officer that specializes in "wipe out" tactics, but who unfortunately is shown up
by Sumeragi's tactics. There went HIS chance of being in charge.

- "Are you two lovers?" "No." "No." " = ( " Hilarious. :lol

- On that front, Lyle actively perpetuates a handsome lech stereotype to push Felt away, both for her sake and his. Haro's a little squealer. "She
liked Lockon! She liked Lockon!" "HARO!"

- The Trilobite is apparently one of a new line of GN enhanced mobile armors, and interestingly has anti-GN field missiles.

- "The enemy we can't see has just gotten in close enough for the Gundams to find it." Sumeragi being all confident in her tactics and such is
wonderful. Glad to see her officially back on the team.

- "I don't know, I like that uniform like it is." You're a dirty old man, Ian. :lol

- Saji helping out as an engineer? Interesting. But why does the preview show him visiting Sergei in the desert? No Ramba Ral repeats, please.

- "It's not the machine's fault. My skills have..." Good to see that four years in prison actually HAVE had an effect on Al's skills
acknowledged.

- MISTER BUSHIDO! That name's utterly priceless, and everyone says it completely seriously. Graham must've hit
his head coming back down from orbit. Oh. Wait. Sorry. He is totally NOT Graham.

- More details on Marie, Allelujah, and their past. Interesting in that it explains Allelujah's first and last names. Additional notes include Allelujah
lacking the ability to use his quantum brainwaves as well as referring again to Hallelujah "passing on".

- Custom Aheads! Mister Bushido's is appropriately samurai-esque(with a beam katana, even), while Soma's is very reminiscent of her Tieren Taozi.

- A very Throne inspired GN MS hovering over a burning cityscape. Ali certainly knows how to make a memorable entrance.

- Billy, Billy, Billy....you're really giving Sumeragi too much credit. She's not that devious when it comes to people. It's only tactics that
she's such a sly hand at. And going to work for A-LAWS won't end well at all.
---
"Oh, silver blade, forged in the depths of the beyond. Heed my summons and purge those who stand in my way. Lay
waste."

[Florin]

Anyone know where I can get my hands on a batch download of Season one? I can't seem to track one down.
--
If you become a monster to put down a monster you've still got a monster running around at the end of the day and have as such not really solved the whole monster problem at all. 

[OpMegs]

Florin wrote:

---

Anyone know where I can get my hands on a batch download of Season one? I can't seem to track one down.

Batch torrent of season 1 as subbed by Mendoi-Conclave
---
"Oh, silver blade, forged in the depths of the beyond. Heed my summons and purge those who stand in my way. Lay
waste."

[Florin]

Thanks, that downloaded nice and quickly.
--
If you become a monster to put down a monster you've still got a monster running around at the end of the day and have as such not really solved the whole monster problem at all. 

[OpMegs]

And ep 5 is out:

- Fan theory confirmed: Sergei's "proposal" from episode 1 was indeed to adopt Soma as his daughter. All together, now: awwww...

- Celestial Being is playing it a little smarter this time. They refuse to back down on the concept of their only enemy being A-LAWS, even when it could get
them distinct allies in Kataron.

- Mr. Bushido: THE ONE MAN ARMY!

- For all the combat that they've seen, I think it's telling that Gundam pilot and Soma alike can be shocked by the brutality A-LAWS shows to Kataron.

- Saji, I understand you're upset. But you're a -fucking idiot- here. What did you THINK was going to happen if you blabbed about Kataron's base
location?

- Ribbons' group of Innovators may be piloting MS later on. Interesting. For the moment though....

- He's baaaaaaaaaaack. Ali Al-Sarshes with the introductory semi-genocide! One has to wonder how much of Azadistan is left now.

- GN particle dispensors to suppress the Middle East's commerce because they won't fall in line? Man, first solar energy makes fossil fuels obsolete,
and now this. Karma's a bitch. :lol

- Sergei is still awesome. He didn't want to alert A-LAWS immediately, but when push came to shove, he gets Saji out of there before he can be executed.
Here's hoping he survives the series because of this.

- Speaking of which, poor Soma. "I'm a super soldier...created for fighting. But I tried to gain the happiness of a normal person. Is this my
punishment for that?"

- Mr. Bushido pulls out of the slaughter when the 00 fails to appear, because he's "not interested". Or is it because he doesn't want to
dirty his hands with such tactics?
---
"Oh, silver blade, forged in the depths of the beyond. Heed my summons and purge those who stand in my way. Lay
waste."

[Berk]

Considering his name is 'Mr. Bushido' I'm willing to bet it's a bit of both.
- Grumpy Uncle Gearhead

[CrimsonKMR]

I'm sorry to my IRL friends who don't like him, but I REALLY like Graham Acre, erm, Mister Bushido this season...
There is no coincidence, only necessity....
- Clow Reed

[Berk]

Graham really is a great character and I'm hoping to see plenty of MR. BUSHIDO this season.

But I can't help but wonder if, at some point, he will become Serious Mr. Bushido and really start wrecking things.
- Grumpy Uncle Gearhead

[OpMegs]

His liscense to operate independently, which he notes rather heavily to Kathy, seems to be an important plot point. I imagine his superiors will regret giving
him that before long.

Also, given Kathy's basically admitted to Sergei that she's there just to keep an eye on A-LAWS, I wonder how long it'll take before she tries to
get word out about what they're really doing.
---
"Oh, silver blade, forged in the depths of the beyond. Heed my summons and purge those who stand in my way. Lay
waste."

[Berk]

Comedy Option: Kathy turns on the A-LAWS and is saved by.. THE BUSHIDO ARMY.
- Grumpy Uncle Gearhead

[OpMegs]

Eps 6 and 7, rapid fire mode:

Ep 6:

- Tieria is continuing to be awesome this season. First he's telling jokes, and now he's bitching out Saji with a lecture that makes total sense. This
is all kinds of awesome.

- Wang Liu-Min, playing every side against the middle...but whose side is she on? Interestingly, Nena has quantum brainwaves?

- Soma continues her angst about being a super soldier. I really feel for the poor girl.

- Andrei all but had little heart sparkles around his head when he saw Louise. Saji, you have competition!

- Sumeragi backstory alert: Apparently she and Kathy were given misleading information and ended up treating each others units as enemies while they were both
working for the AEU as tactical forecasters. Which lead to multiple deaths, including Sumeragi's apparent boyfriend, who noted before the mission that he
trusted in her tactical forecasts and her...

- Lindt pisses Kathy off with references to the same event, and she almost throttles him....but this also reminds her that the Gundams use tactics like
"Kujouh" used to....

- Using themselves as distractions, Setsuna and Allelujah face off against their opposite numbers, with the 00 Gundam forced to activate Trans-Am to keep up,
while Allelujah refuses to attack "Marie" as fiercely as he could...

- Meanwhile, Saji's manning the gun turrets...and seems about ready to fire at a GN-XIII that, unknowingly, is piloted by none other than Louise....

Ep 7:

- But he fails to pull the trigger in time, and a swerve by the Ptolemy II jerks him away from the controls. Ian reassures him that it's okay that he
couldn't pull the trigger, as Andrei saves Louise from the barrage of GN missiles that takes off one of her GN-XIII's arms and nearly finishes the job.

- Trans-Am Gundam 00 disarms Mr. Bushido!'s Ahead(literally), but causes backfires in the system that shut down both drives. However, Mr. Bushido! is an
honorable man, and refuses to finish Setsuna off in such a state, and retreats.

- Allelujah and Soma crash land on an island, and while both Federation and A-LAWS forces search for Soma, the latter are called off, as Sergei continues
searching.

- Naturally, Allelujah saying her name again triggers Soma's dormant memories, and when she wakes up again, she remembers being Marie. Thus, we get
flashbacks, as Allelujah notes he thought about rescuing her when he escaped, but didn't.

- Which is good, as the craft he and the others escaped in was running out of air and food, so Hallelujah took over and killed everyone else to ensure his
survival.

- Naturally, they're eventually discovered...by Sergei. Sergei recognizes Allelujah from the rescue operation 4 years ago, but still tries to seperate the
two. When he draws his gun on Allelujah, Al's accepting of it, so long as Sergei promises to keep Marie away from the fighting. Sergei promises to do so
and fires....only for Soma to jump in the way...and for Sergei to have fired into the air. He promptly decides that Soma Peries died honorably in battle, and
thanks Allelujah for his assistance 4 years ago.

- Sergei and Soma seperate on decent terms, and Soma notes that the Soma part of her wanted to be his daughter, for which Sergei is thankful. I swear, this
scene just yanks at your heartstrings, especially when Soma starts crying and you can tell Sergei's fighting back his own tears as he flies away and tells
Lyle where to find the two of them. I predict this subplot is not remotely done yet.

- Naturally, Lyle flies in on the two of them kissing. Whoops.

- And CB as a whole is shocked that Al's bring a girl back with him. Sumeragi, however, is just relieved her drinking buddy's okay.

- Meanwhile, Tieria's confronted by his Innovator counterpart, Regene Regetta....and appears totally clueless as to why they'd share DNA. SUSPENSE!

- And the preview shows....Tieria....in a dress...with boobs?! Is it Tieria? Is it Regene? Will we have either of the
two's genders confirmed?!

- Also shown in the preview is a new greenish GN-XIII variant of some kind. Random fandom suspicions suspect this may, indeed, be the return of TEAM PATRICK.
---
"Oh, silver blade, forged in the depths of the beyond. Heed my summons and purge those who stand in my way. Lay
waste."

[Florin]

He promptly decides that Soma Peries died honorably in battle

Because of course, her new friend Louise needs something else to hyperventilate over. I have a feeling things aren't going to end well for
her. I'd say there's a good chance Sergei's at least a little screwed too, probably as a motivatior to stick Marie back in a suit.

Andrei all but had little heart sparkles around his head when he saw Louise.

I also find it a little interesting that he apperantly didn't consider Soma woman, judging by the comment in his head when he saw Louise.
--
If you become a monster to put down a monster you've still got a monster running around at the end of the day and have as such not really solved the whole monster problem at all. 

[OpMegs]

Florin wrote:

---

He promptly decides that Soma Peries died honorably in battle

Because of course, her new friend Louise needs something else to hyperventilate over. I have a feeling things aren't going to end well for
her. I'd say there's a good chance Sergei's at least a little screwed too, probably as a motivatior to stick Marie back in a suit.

While it's definitely the honorable thing to do, in keeping with Sergei's character, I too suspect this won't be the end of it.
I'm hoping he and Soma survive the series, as the director seems to like the pair specifically(really, consider how much screen time out of all the
antagonists Soma and Sergei get). I'm also hoping Marie's return doesn't abruptly render her a noncombatant. Allelujah's opinions aside, I
*liked* Soma as a soldier. Dammit, Japan, the ideal woman does not have to sit at home while the man does all the work and support him.

Andrei all but had little heart sparkles around his head when he saw Louise.

I also find it a little interesting that he apperantly didn't consider Soma woman, judging by the comment in his head when he saw Louise.

Well, there IS the fact that Sergei was considering adopting her, which he knew about at this point. From that, plus the fact she's a super
soldier (and thus probably has the stigma of being a living weapon), and she might be pretty easily "out of bounds".
---
"Oh, silver blade, forged in the depths of the beyond. Heed my summons and purge those who stand in my way. Lay
waste."

[Matrix Dragon]

http://randomc.maximum7.n...2008%20-%20Large%2029.jpg

... Okay, now you're just being evil. *Dies laughing.*