Review: Gundam 00

[from left: Lockon Stratos and , Allelujah Haptism, Setsuna F Seiei, Tieria Erde]

[WARNING: This review may contain spoilers!]

I wrote this before... but because I made a mistake on accidentally deleting all the text I typed for one whole day and blogspot autosaved it... the blank space! So I kinda sulked. Now I finally have the guts to rewrite the review.

I never thought that I'd actually watch a Gundam show. I'm not a big fan of mecha, but I can still entertain myself watching Code Geass, Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann and Magic Knight Rayearth. But... Gundam... there's a whole bunch of Gundams out there and I think it'd be biased if I only like the giant robots from one series.

The series is set in 2307 AD, and by this age fossil fuels no longer exist cos people of our generation had used it up. They depend on solar energy as their source of power. Freakin' big and billions of solar cells are mounted on three orbital elevators that goes as far as outside the earth's atmosphere. WOW, they must've dug up a lot of Silicon on earth. Mind you, I did this experiment on solar cell and study its process. And I understood why the power blocs have to be that big. However, only the Union, Human Reform League and AEU along with their allies have more priviledge. So a war erupted between the three major groups and countries which relied on fossil fuels. Guess where?? The middle east! (Maybe Malaysia was involved too... but then by this era the country names around Arab seemed to have change so South-East Asian countries might have remained the same. But the big countries we know now still exist).

In order to eradicate this goddamn war, a free group called Celestial Beings are formed to save humanity! The members are chosen by Veda, for some reason, but too bad that it's such a small group it seems powerless when the major organizations starts calling them terrorists (omg sounds familiar??). They fight with Gundam mobile suits, only four of them. But they're technology is waaaaaaaay more advanced than the earth's war-robot technology that time so it's no problem lah. But then, when surrounded by a bunch of normal mechas on earth, that's a big problem.

***

The four major characters, are the Gundam Meisters (good looking guys!! Beautiful and manly at the same time!)

1. Setsuna F Seiei

- of Krugis Descendant... apparently from middle east. His real name is Islamic , but is probably a closet wapanese so he chose Setsuna as a codename. He pilots the Gundam Exia, a melee type machine. He used to be a terrorist kid, and due to the misfortunes in his past, he lost his faith in God (assuming that he is Muslim before he converts to Gundam-ism lol). I can't blame the kid though. He's still a kid in this season, which makes him cute but he's rather sour-faced and is quite philosophical despite of his age.

2. Lockon Stratos

- Is an Irish dude, who lost his family (except for one sibling) in a terrorist attack when he was young and consequently led him to join Celestial Being. Lockon Stratos is also a codename. Lock on target. Stratos is a name of a cloud type. Perfect codename since he snipes in Gundam Dynames in outer space. An orange Haro assist him in his piloting, probably just to warn him about incoming foes while he was busy looking through the telescope thing to shoot. Although he's the team leader, he's the most laidback fellah in the team... too bad he isn't given the chance to experience character development :(

3. Allelujah Haptism

- Used to be a Super Soldier experimental subject, and due to that he has a split personality, where his other self is dubbed... HALLELUJAH! This character is my personal favourite, not only because he's soft-spoken and gentle but also because of his psychotic alter-ego. And he does remind me of my (undiagnosed) personality disorder. He pilots the Gundam Kyrios, which has the ability to transform into a jet (yay transformers!!). Allelujah is the first character that impressed me, after he saved the lives of many people in spite of fighting with other self, and in spite of doing something outside Veda's mission. He becomes the main reason why I keep watching the show :3

4. Tieria Erde

- Is the actual reason why I am intrigued to watch this anime (it's his androgynous look! It's my weakness!), but he's too cold and more ego than an average male tsundere. He prioritize missions more than anything, and does not even care about bonding with his colleagues. But it's okay that he seems not so human because he's an Innovator (some sci-fi creature who has undefined gender). Then there is a point where he softens up but it's seems a bit too late. He pilots the bulky Gundam Virtue, that shoots nuclear blast thingy which makes his mecha the slowest one in spite of the meister's graceful appearence. Hidden inside Virtue is the female looking Gundam Nadleeh which I call... GUNDAM BERAMBUT.

***

Truth be told, I couldn't watch the anime in a marathon. I only watch it during... erm.. breaking fast and sahur, if I'm not mistaken. There wasn't anything that made me feel like... i must know what's going on next! But i did finish it anyway. But I like the concept of stopping war between two parties. Then comes the question... how can they stop a war when the Gundam Meisters are using deadly weapons as well? Wouldn't they be the same as the filthy warmongers on earth? What is Veda's true purpose? If Veda's ideal world is achieved, then what would become of the Celestial Beings? DUNDUNDUUUUNNN

Another turn off is the character development. Well, the characters are rather bland. And the girls in the crew aren't exactly the type I want to look up to. Even Sumeragi Lee Noriega (another wapanese), the supposedly tactical analyzer of Celestial Being isn't nearly as great as Lelouch (Code Geass). There was only once that she impressed me, but then she went back to being vague. The female character I like most is Kati Manniquin, so-called Sumeragi's rival, and also Soma Pieres for being a true soldier and lovable daughter of Sergei Smirnov. Even the Gundam Throne meisters seem kind of pointless, although they did something to contribute to the next season... and the sadistic Wang Liu Mei - whom I thought was interesting but end up being boring anyway. But I think I can understand the lack of character development, because G00 focuses more on the storyline. Yeah, the main point is to deliver the message they're trying to give via this anime. The consequences of war and all.

Okay, as a science student majoring in Physics... there are a few things I'd like to criticize (I know it's all fiction, but they did try their best to be logical. Like the solar energy source thing);

1. Orbital elevators... the train can easily penetrate the atmosphere region to outer space. For a rocket to get into space, it needs to exceed escape velocity... and if I'm not mistaken the path of the rocket is slightly curved instead of straight.

2. Well, I did wonder why the orbital elevators can stand that tall since the towers are obviously unstable from earth view It seriously needed bigger base or support. Then I got to know that the elevators seemed to be connected somehow, and Saji (one of the observing underrated characters) explained about the electromagnetism process that made the construction stable, I think I'm able to accept it.

3. The most repetitive mistake in mecha-space themed anime.... is during the battles in outer space. KABOOM! POW! CRASH! um.... guys.... sound waves cannot travel in vacuum. Sorry.

***

I can't wrap up this review yet, because i'm going to continue writing the review for the second season later. I'll comment on the overall series in the next review. But what I want to say now is that... for those who don't have an open mind, do not watch this anime. in b4 somebody sez 'pesong akidah' (Setsuna's Gundam-ism, Princess Marina Ismail?? and the terrorist called Ali Al-Saachez). But for mecha lovers, IT IS A MUST. Non-mecha lovers can watch too, and I'd tell you to pay attention to the moral values. For a non-mecha fan like me, I actually fell in love with the mobile suits. I drool at the Gundam 00 models at Jusco and dream of collecting them.

Thumbs up to the first OP of th series; Daybreak's Bell by L'arc En Ciel. I'm never a fan of Laruku, although I like their songs and I can't deny that they're awesome. But this is one of the songs that I love listening to repetitively, the intro is sexy. "nee konna...." is even more irresistable!