Gundam 00 8: true heir of Aeolia’s plan

Finally, an opposing suit that does not have ridiculously looking horns or insect eyes.

A few tidbits to get off my chest first.

First season didn’t kick into high gears for me until the Thrones showed up in late season; so I’m glad to see the new opposing Gundam show up so early in season two. I was getting tired seeing the only way the Celestial Beings win a fight was by the superiority of their suits—like in last episode between Setsuna and Mr. Bishido. It’s about time that after 33 episodes Setsuna and co. start maturing as pilots.

Doing it wrong—gundam 00 7

Exactly what I was thinking of the writers too.

Gundam SEED 24 did it much better between Cagalli and Athrun.

A recap of what happened in Gundam SEED 24: Cagalli the princess from the nation of Orb and Athrun the Gundam ace pilot from Z.A.F.T were both enemies and strangers. On a sortie over the sea, both Cagalli’s jet fighter and Athrun’s Gundam malfunctioned, resulting in both stranded on a small deserted island, unable to communicate for rescue, and wary of each other.

Old characters, new forms—gundam 00 s2 1

I still won't accept this as a gundam.

What Gundam 00 must do in the second season is to introduce some real badass Gundam vs. Gundam matchup that has made Gundam SEED and Destiny so engaging. Season one didn’t really kick off for me until the Thrones arrived and Exia started to exterminate them, but they didn’t really do much with it. Just because those A-LAWS are equppied with (fake) GN-drives does not make them Gundam. No, sir, you are not Gundam! BTW, I was expecting Setsuna to give his famous line. Sigh…

Macross Frontier 17: Ozma’s 23 minutes of fame

Spike...

I am going to play the Devil’s Advocate here and say something negative about this episode. You have been warned.

There’s an old saying in Chinese that a good horse does not graze the same pasture twice. I suppose, then, the writers of Macross F must be trying to tell us something about themselves. While I have no problem with them trying to find greener pasture, I do question at what cost have they inflicted to the overall story.

Four Memorable Insert-Song Scenes in Anime

The post at anime diet asked which is better: anime or manga, and I commented that anime offers something that manga cannot: Music. Now this post is not so much about rather or not anime is indeed better than manga (it is) as it is about reminiscing a few of the best scenes in which our experience of it, was greatly enhanced because an insert theme song was supporting it like wind lifting a bird soaring higher and higher.

The past episode of Macross Frontier with Sheryl’s concert leading to the end credit is one recent example. Searching through my iTune library, I found a few other scenes that had captivated me due to the background theme song.