Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans Ep. 44 Thoughts

Like I said before, I don't do episode reviews anymore due to time constraints, but I'm making this episode of Iron-Blooded Orphans an exception as it nears the end of its 2nd Season.

I shed a bit of tears in this episode of IBO. This is mainly because for Tekkadan it is probably their last battle, and yet they are both outnumbered and outgunned. So we know not all of them are going to make it. There are 8 known pilots within Tekkadan (9 if we include Orga). I can't help but sense a vibe from the movie Seven Samurai with the team and feel we would lose at least half of them. I have grown quite an attachment to the group and it will be seriously gut wrenching for any of them to bite the dust.

I know screenwriter Mari Okada loves tragedy, but for once I do want her to give Mika and Atra a happy ending. Mika at the very least is showing some signs of humanity as he expresses his own feelings for Atra. Kudelia appears to have finally accepted letting Atra take Mika while she fully concentrates on her company. Surprised she hasn't taken Makanai's offer yet, but the possibility is still there.

The only thing I didn't like is that whoever controls Bael controls Gjallarhorn. I am with Rustal on this in that it is entirely not practical that a leader of a faction is chosen in that manner and expect everyone to follow him without question. This is the far future after all, not King Arthur's time period.

On the other hand, Gjallarhorn's system has been through tradition for over 300 years. So to break the tradition would also mean breaking the system. It was wise for the other Seven Stars to declare neutrality and let McGillis and Rustal settle the fight themselves. All of these are an ode to the Earth Federation/Zeon conflict from the very first Gundam series and its related stories, as both sides are known to pull a bunch of atrocities for their cause, making you really think hard on who you side with.

I would assume this will be the last time we see Almiria. I'm ok with this, as the series barely did anything to her character. Though had McGillis decided to have her under Mika's custody, that would make some interesting stories on how Almiria would interact with someone like him and the rest of Tekkadan.

You know, I never had this strong of a feeling in a Gundam series for a very long time, with the last one being the first Build Fighters, as well as War in The Pocket much much earlier. I am personally this close to giving IBO not just a full five out of five, but would declare it as the greatest Gundam series of all time. It's all the matter of how these final episodes will be turning out.

TV Asahi's Top 25 Voice Actors

Although NHK's Top 100 Best Anime and Best Anime Songs are still open, TV Asahi has listed the Top 25 Anime Voice Actors, according to Anime-Now.

The complete list is below, along with one or two series the voice actor/actress is best known for.

1: Kōichi Yamadera (Beerus, Dragon Ball Super; Spike Speigel, Cowboy Bebop)

2. Masako Nozawa (Son Goku, Dragon Ball)

3. Keiji Fujiwara (Hughes, Fullmetal Alchemist)

4. Miyuki Sawashiro (Fujiko Mine, Lupin III)

5. Tomokazu Seiki (Domon Kasshu, G Gundam; Gilgamesh, Fate/Stay Night)

6. Mayumi Tanaka (Monkey D. Luffy, One Piece; Kuririn, Dragon Ball)

7. Minami Takayama (Conan, Detective Conan)

8. Ryusei Nakao (Frieza, Dragon Ball Z)

9. Toshio Furukawa (Piccolo, Dragon Ball Z)

10. Akio Otsuka (Anavel Gato, Mobile Suit Gundam 0083; Solid Snake, Metal Gear Solid)

11. Megumi Hayashibara (Rei Ayanami, Neon Genesis Evangelion; Ranma Saotome (female), Ranma 1/2)

12. Toshiyuki Morikawa (Yoshikage Kira, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure)

13. Hidekatzu Shibata (King Bradley, Fullmetal Alchemist)

14. Junichi Suwabe (Dandy, Space Dandy)

15. Kotono Mitsuishi (Usagi Tsukino/Sailor Moon, Sailor Moon)

16. Akiko Yajima (Shin-chan, Crayon Shin-chan; Relena Peacecraft, Gundam Wing)

17. Yoshiko Sakakibara (Sir Integra, Hellsing; Haman Karn, Gundam ZZ)

18. Kiyoshi Kobayashi (Daisuke Jigen, Lupin III)

19. Yoku Shioya (Will A. Zeppeli, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure)

20. Shigeru Chiba (Pilaf, Dragon Ball; Kazuma Kuwabara, Yu Yu Hakusho)

21. Noriko Hidaka (Noriko Takaya, Gunbuster; Akane Tendo, Ranma 1/2)

22. Akira Kamiya (Kenshiro, Fist of The North Star; Roy Fokker, Macross)

23. Kaneta Komotsuki (Suneo, Doraemon)

24. Yuji Mitsuya (Kaioshin, Dragon Ball Z; Virgo Shaka, Saint Seiya)

25 (tie). Hiroaki Hirata (Kotetsu Kaburagi/Wild Tiger, Tiger & Bunny)

25 (tie). Sumi Shimamoto (Kanata Izumi, Lucky Star)

Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans Ep. 35 Thoughts

When we last saw Iron Blooded Orphans, Teiwaz wasn't happy that Tekkadan is teaming up with McGillis and offering Orga and his faction control of Mars once McGillis's campaign is complete. Jasley Donomikols, the second-in-command of Teiwaz who simply has zero love for Tekkadan at all, decides to do something about it by fighting fire with fire. That is to say, by providing Rustal information that McGillis is covertly heading to Mars to meet Orga regarding the excavated Mobile Armor from a few episodes ago.

At this point, Iron Blooded Orphans starts to expand with its lore and we get to see two parts of it. The first comes from Rustal's faction, who believes that McGillis is after the "Order of The Seven Stars", a title given to those who destroyed the Mobile Armors (MA for short) during the Calamity War which also determines the rank of power within the Seven Stars. I honestly don't get it - McGillis just goes to the wreckage of the Mobile Armor and shouts "I SLAYED THIS MOBILE ARMOR!" and Boom! He got the order already that makes him the leader among the Seven Stars? This gives me the impression that the Seven Stars' aristocracy is so far back is silly to think such would exist in an age of ultra-high tech and Mobile Suits. Whatever the case, this was their conclusion of McGillis's plot and Iok Kushan is more than eager to stop McGillis at all costs.

McGillis himself, however, has a far different reason for getting to the Mobile Armor himself. Turns out the Mobile Armors are self-automated and are so destructive, they took out a huge chunk of the human population, making the Mobile Armors responsible for the Calamity War. The Gundams were designed specifically to battle these Mobile Armors. An MA can also reactivate itself in the presense of Mobile Suits. Oh, and they have smaller MAs called 'Plumas' that can cause as much havoc.

This sounds like something taken out of a Metal Gear plot. And yet, I'm now even more curious as to what happened in the Calamity War. It seems as though Sunrise is possibly teasing a further expansion of Iron Blooded Orphan's lore with a prequel. If they are taking that route, I can declare IBO as no longer part of the Another Gundams/Alternate Universel line and become it's own era like the Universal Century and Cosmic Era lines. I would then call it the "IBO Line".

By the way, as McGillis is narrating the history of the Mobile Armors, he does so with a smile on his face. I dunno if that's just how the animators want to do it, or McGillis has something in mind with the Mobile Armors, probably use it as his own personal armada. This could place McGillis back in the villain role, until it was set aside by Iok's arrival, who got their idea all wrong and unknowingly awaken the MA. With no Mobile Suits in sight, this places McGillis and Tekkadan in a very dangerous situation.

There were some light-hearted moments in between. Chad still hasn't gotten over that Merribit and Old Man Nady are dating. Zack has somehow placed himself at an advantage over Shino after a night out, so much so that Shino is willing to do whatever Zack says so long as he doesn't squeel. First thing that came to my mind is Shino may have blurted out about Yamagi being in love with him. Hush meanwhile, acts like a little puppy as he follows Mikazuki whereever he goes, even to meeting with Kudelia at her main office, much to Mika's chagrin. Turns out Kudelia handles all the finances of the main Tekkadan crew, as they have no idea what to with it. This was the motivation for Kudelia to set up an education center for kids, but laments over having to gain financing through the war economy, and by extention the lives of Tekkadan, to achieve this.

Though a very minor detail, I have to commend Sunrise when it comes to using English words as they got the spelling and grammar right. Most Japanese anime when it comes to displaying English like signs and the others tend to be so misspelled if not grammatically correct. Also can't help but notice Atra's hairstyle makes her look like she had dog ears and appears to be just as tall, if not taller, than Mika himself.

The next episode will see the Mobile Armor and the Plumas in action, and likely will take a few episodes before this arc is resolved. I would think the Flauros won't be in action for another week or so, so we'll be seeing Barbatos and Gusion first take on the Mobile Armor. I'm happy the series so far is taking quite a steady upswing and just gets better.

Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans Ep. 34 Thoughts

The Gundam Virar, formerly the Kimaris

With the episode titled "Vidar Rising", you'd think this will focus entirely on Gaelio (under the alias "Vidar") and his Gundam Frame (which shares his alias namesake). Well, we do get to see Gaelio in action, and his motivation for joining Rustal, which is obviously revenge. To be frank, I wasn'really impressed with the Gundam Vidar, in both its design and performance. It's not as intimidating as many other antagonist Mobile Suits in the Gundam franchise, such as the Sinanju in Gundam Unicorn, or the Tallgeese in Gundam W. Gaelio also refers to the Vidar as though it was a person, likely meaning his subordinate Ein, who met his fate at the hands of Mikazuki last season, may likely be inside the Vidar.

As expected, Tekkadan's decision to work with McGillis in return for control of Mars does not bode well with Teiwaz, though the big boss himself, McMurdo Barriston, sees this as an opportunity to profit big. Still, Naze warns Orga that he will have to eventually take on Teiwaz as well to complete his ambition, which may include a showdown between the two sworn brothers.

Probably why we get to see a shot what appears to be Orga's own personal MS (if not Eugene's) referred to as the "King's Throne". We also get to see the dugged up Gundam designated as "Flauros", with the other discovery being a support unit for it.

The King's Throne

The Gundam Flauros

A little bit of light-heartedness is inserted in this episode with the reveal that Merribit is dating Old Man Nady, much to the surprise of Chad, when everyone in Tekkadan already knew the news. Seems any romantic relations between Merribit and Orga are dead in the water. We get to see Hush acting like a little puppy towards Mikazuki, all in hopes of continuing his training, to which poor Mika finds annoying. The latter meanwhile, still follows his dream of one day being a farmer on Mars, to which Kudelia promises to keep that dream alive.

Finally, we see McGillis and his child fiancee Almira talking briefly about Gjallarhorn's origin and philosophy and how McGillis strives to restore it in the present Gjallarhorn. One of the things he says to Almira was, if successful, it will allow her to marry virtually anyone she wishes, even if she's only a child. It kind of irks me a bit that McGillis's ambition also implies child marriage under the original philosophy of Gjallarhorn. Besides that, McGillis's ambition is no different from Nobunaga (and to an extent Hitler) from Drifters. It may be just me, but I'm starting to see a trend in works like Iron Blooded Orphans and Drifters for a call to have a unified government, but is split into several divisions of which they operate independently, similar to the Federal-State system of the United States. It is only in My Hero Academia that I see the message that having a government of law and order is good, while changing it in the name of freedom (the motivation of the villains) is a bad thing.

This week's episode of Iron Blooded Orphans is the calm before the storm next episode. However, we are already seeing tensions coming from all sides as the Fareed-Tekkadan alliance and Rustal Elion's Gjallarhorn are about to meet head on. And this is just Episode 9. We're not even halfway into the season yet!

Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans Ep. 33 Thoughts

So we bid adieu to Takaki Uno after seeing him in the last 4 episodes or so. No, he didn’t end up a casualty of war like Aston last episode. But this is perhaps the last time we will be seeing Takaki for much of this season, if not the series altogether. He is still reeling over Aston’s death and even though his sister Fuka tries to console him (who herself is also coping), it’s still getting the best of him. 

After speaking with Mikazuki and Kudelia, Takaki made the announcement that he would leave Tekkadan and remain on Earth, living as a civilian with his sister. Orga accepts his resignation and both Mika and Akihiro give their own way of saying farewell. It’s always amusing to see how Mika reacts to these things, considering he barely flinches. 

Speaking of Akihiro, the episode has confirmed that without a doubt, Lafter’s in love with him, and even Azee notices, but the two agree to keep it a secret. As much as I like to see this blossom, this is Iron Blooded Orphans, where things get REALLY bad. I expect Lafter’s confession to never happen because either she or Akihiro gets offed. I do hope that never happens, though, and that Akihiro does get his own happy ending. Plus I love the guy as he’s the Gundam counterpart to Guts from Berserk.

We learn a bit more about McGillis. Aside from never having blood ties to the Fareed family, he is also constantly abused by his foster father, Iznario Fareed. I can only think the reason he was adopted in the first place, apart from having a male heir, is due to his keen intelligence. Rustal suspects this as McGillis’s motivation for taking over the Fareed family and his rise in power within Gjallarhorn. 

Later, we find out why McGillis insists on teaming with Tekkadan for his campaign than anyone else – he plans to completely remove Gjallarhorn from their influence on Mars and giving it instead to Tekkadan. This means not only is Mars operating with virtually full independence, but under Tekkadan’s watch, it gives the faction such a status that shakes up the balance of power among the economic blocs. As I said in my previous reviews, Tekkadan is reaching a position that surpasses Teiwaz, leading to the eventual confrontation between the two. 

It’s an offer Orga cannot refuse, and much of the Tekkadan crew save Merribit goes with it. So the alliance is now stronger than ever, with Orga and Tekkadan aiming for the title of “King of Mars”. How will this affect relations with the Turbines and, more importantly, Teiwaz, we’ll have to wait and see. The episode ends with Orga and Mika alone together and Orga laments that his promise to Mika as kids is still far and away. Orga of course, does not show this moment of vulnerability to Mika, after what happened last season. 

As for Takaki, he returns home with his sister living a now more peaceful life. I will surely miss him as he is one of my favorite minor characters. But, like Mikazuki, I felt a sense of relief that Takaki can live happily now with his sister.