The Official Gundam Iron-Blooded Orphans Anime Thread Mk I

[Dark Duel]

For real? I wonder if they decide to add a twist by make it AC colony instead of UC one...

It would be interesting to see a Stanford Torus colony rather than the usual O'Neill Island-3 cylinder.

Anyway, as for the episode...Fabulous Fareed doesn't seem like a bad guy per se, despite being one of the antagonists. That's something I love about this franchise, by the way. In most cases, you get characters on both sides of whatever the main conflict is who, quite apart from their status as antagonists, are perfectly decent folks - Ramba Ral, of course, being the prime example. It might be a bit too early to judge, but Fareed seems to be one of those.
Then there's Atra, who's still just plain adorable. Even though she hasn't done much so far, I find myself thinking I'd rather see more of her and less of Kudelia, but maybe that's just me. Kudelia herself remains an interesting character IMO though, which is more than can be said for some previous iterations of the same archetype within the franchise.

And I, like Ryujin, found interesting the amount of effort that the show is putting into world-building and setting, which in my experience a lot of the times is stuff that gets glossed over, if it gets mentioned at all. Fact is, CGS/Tekkadan is not a massive military a la EFF/Zeon/etc..., but a relatively small PMC from what we've seen. And there are specific concerns that go with that, which the past couple of episodes have put a lot of time into highlighting. For my part, I actually think is a good thing.

A little bit miffed at how quickly the story's moving on from Mars, but I suppose it can't be helped. As long as the quality remains consistent though, I'm not going to have any complaints.

[Amion]

If we're moving from Mars before the 6 episode mark, I'm calling that they will be back before the end for the finale at least, assuming there truly will only be 25 episodes...

[jroy1117]

If we're moving from Mars before the 6 episode mark, I'm calling that they will be back before the end for the finale at least, assuming there truly will only be 25 episodes...

I really hope it's longer than 25 episodes.

[Deacon Blues]

P.D.0001 The nations of Earth and Mars accept the Vingolf Proclamation issued by Gjallarhorn. The interplanetary war that has spread destruction through the Earth Sphere and the Outer Sphere comes to an end. This conflict, which has produced more casualties than any in history, is described in the proclamation as the "Calamity War" and is thereafter known by that name. With the cooperation of Gjallarhorn, Earth is organized into four economic blocs in order to reconstruct the devastated Earth Sphere. These are the African UNion, the Oceanian Federation, SAU and Arbrau. Earth begins its post-war recovery under this new world order.

P.D.0002 At the "Malta Conference," the four economic blocs conclude a treaty to divide and rule Mars. At their request, Gjallarhorn dispatches a large force to recreate the Martian governmental structure from scratch.

P.D.0003 Gjallahorn redraws Mars's national borders, and each city is placed unde the control of one of Earth's economic blocs. The four economic force to recreate the Martian governmental structure from scratch blocs begin wholeheartedly interfering in Martian affairs, and Mars enters a lengthy colonial period.

P.D.0205 Arbrau's government grants limited autonomy to its Martian territories.

P.D.0208 The Oceanian Federation also recognizes the autonomy of its Martian territories.

P.D.0236 Last of all, the African Union also recognizes Martian autonomy. However, as Mars remains subject to hars economic agreements, it is in fact entering an era of puppet governments.

P.D.0312 On mars, a movement begins to protest economic disparities with Earth.

P.D.0314 In her speech at the "Noachis July Assembly," Kudelia Ain Bernstein calls for economic independence from Earth, and cooperative movements emerge in every city.

[Soma Taozi]

Cookie, Cracker, and Biscuit?!! Oh no!

Bit late to the party, but I will freely admit that I wasn't sold on Iron Blooded Orphans until this new episode. Besides, I cannot remember the last time I watched an episode of Gundam and their wasn't a single mecha battle. Correct me if I am wrong, but from 00, G-Reco, BF/Try, and Age they always had mobile suits fighting in some fashion in every episode (regardless of if it made sense).

Despite the lack of explosions, I found this episode far more engaging then the previous and we got to learn more about the world and see the characters interact in a relaxed setting, I am a huge fan of that.

Spoiler

Given the preview I am a little sad we are leaving Mars so soon, I would have liked to spend more time there, but at the same time I am curious if Mars is the only planet colonized by the Earth Sphere or if their are more? For the time being I will assume Mars is the only one, but the exposition we got this episode said "Outer SphereS" which peaked my interest.

[balofo]

Biscuit's grandma is called Sakura Pretzel

[Deathzealot]

You know it looks like whoever mentioned that the rest of Biscuit's family were named after stuff from cooking was wrong for his Grandmother is named Sakura. Then again this maybe a fluke and the rest of his family is named.

EDIT:

Biscuit's grandma is called Sakura Pretzel

Opps. Anyhow though that is a second name not a first name like the other three in the family therefore it still kind of different from the rest.

Also I do believe we are going to see Atra coming with Tekkadan to Earth since she looks like she is all prepared and everything in the preview yelling at someone. Which shall prove to be quite interesting in the scheme of things in my opinion.

I finally noticed that the Graze doesn't to seem to use the Whiskers and this episode has fairly much confirmed that. I wonder though what they do use though to control them. Also the Graze Kai looks to getting a cockpit block from one of the Mobile Workers just like the Bardatos did. Since both captured Graze wrecks had their cockpits kind of wrecked.

Speaking of the Whiskers by the way I am guessing that mobile suits equipped with the system need more then a single Whisker since only Mika and Akihiro are going to be piloting mobile suits at first. Orga looks to be taking up being the Captain of their ship and the others will most likely being piloting the Space version of the CGS Mobile Workers.

[Kyuzo Aoi]

The episode without the mech battles is excellent. Looks like we get more insight of McGillis and Bauduin. They may look like pen-pushers but they seem to be competent at that field, and McGillis cannot be bribed.

It's the off-model face of Atra that made me question the animators, though.

The TL that was fleshed out is good, but why Europe belongs to African Union? That question should be answered, or hopefully that was a mistake and to be corrected as something controlled by Gjallahorn.

[Mythgarr]

Europe was probably totally wrecked by the war and is nothing more but collections of ruins, and Africa has plenty of areas, especially fertile areas. The Sahara Desert, I think, is actually shrinking now.

[Amion]

Could be the Africa we know in the pre Calamity era was certainly not the Africa we know today. Perhaps forces in that region managed to just overwhelm their enemies and conquer Europe before the war ended, and kept the territory. That, or economic ties had long since or were established post war to create intimacy between the regions.

[Destiny_Gundam]

It's not a question of who conquered who. The power blocks were divided up by Gjallarhorn.

[Amion]

But surely they had reasoning for which block ended up with which.

If it was Gjallarhorn (haven't seen episode yet) then maybe it was done as a means of weakening each power block.

The old US region got a Russian power block addition along its northern border, weakening its strategic position. Africa/Europe were aligned for unknown reasons, possibly because they were at odds. And the others would follow a similar vein, so that no block had an overwhelming position and possibly economic strength to outdo the others.

[excalibur2008]

It's not a question of who conquered who. The power blocks were divided up by Gjallarhorn.

Maybe they were going for historical irony

[Amion]

Irony always works too.

[Kuruni]

The kids are so cute...

Well, despite it seem that ...

Spoiler

Todo set up a trap against them,

...I expect Orga to actually think ahead and at least has retreat plan, if not outright Plan B. It's the impression I got from his character to this point.

[Amion]

The kids are so cute...

Well, despite it seem that ...

Spoiler

Todo set up a trap against them,

...I expect Orga to actually think ahead and at least has retreat plan, if not outright Plan B. It's the impression I got from his character to this point.

Let's hope so, Kuruni, let's hope. I almost disagree out of fear because it sounds more like Orga believes Todo is too afraid of him to try anything.

Spoiler

Great episode! Arbiter, Julian Minci and Yang Wen Li are being restored to us! Only this time the hair coloration is in reverse.

A great character development episode. Didn't I tell y'all to wait for the develop'n?

We learn this episode that Orga was right about Mika's ruthlessness. "That's not me, that's all Mika." The kid has a berserk button, and it gets pressed the instant something like today's episode happens. He just went into kill mode the moment he saw the Snack Pack lying there, without even bothering to check if they were alive. Thank goodness they were, my heart almost stopped for a second when I saw them not moving. Okada, you thriller.

Sakura and the girls reacted as if this kind of thing happens with Mika all the time, or at least is something he has done before. He also shows no real remorse. He doesn't truly understand what he did wrong judging by his tone of voice. Great acting, Seiyuu. You've clearly been holding back during Aldnoah.

I no longer suspect Kudelia's attendant to be on her father's side.

Spoiler

Otherwise she very much would have walked up to the Galactic Inspectors and revealed Kudelia for whom she is. I now submit the theory that she works for Kudelia's mom and that Mrs. Burnstein is subverting her husband's goals. She's just being quiet about it because she, unlike her daughter, favors and understands the value of an indirect approach. That, or we have another Ninja Maid on our hands for sure.

This might have been a 9/10 episode for me, but it only gets 8.5 for having lackluster artwork in some scenes, particularly involving character color pallets, and the whiskers.

[zetatype]

Pretty good episode and I must say its actually nice to see a Gundam TV series that doesn't feel the need to cram a mecha fight into every episode. Say what you will about the SEED series but this one thing that other Gundam series could try doing once in a while. Its nice to occasionally see the series take a step back from the mecha fighting and focus on fleshing out the characters and setting.

[Mythgarr]

well, SEED manages to cram mecha fight and develops characters along the way.
But IBO's approach is commendable too: It shows in two episodes that Mika is a cold blooded, prodigal mecha pilots that follows Orga's orders like a pet wolf, and here in this episode he is shown to be totally okay with just grab a man's neck and choke him to near dead to defend his friends. He is an interesting blend of Setsuna and Heero.

We need to have a blend of Graham and Zechs soon, or do we have it already in McGillis Fareed? It's not quite, since he's always being shadowed around by whashisname.

And Cookie, Cracker, Biscuit, Pretzel; what's next, Croissant and Chips? It's hilarous to think of it. It feels like the creators are yelling at us: here's our tension relief characters, and they are named after snacks, enjoy!

Well, it's a shame that this kind of work is only 25 episodes. What happened to proper world building?

[Kuruni]

And Cookie, Cracker, Biscuit, Pretzel; what's next, Croissant and Chips? It's hilarous to think of it. It feels like the creators are yelling at us: here's our tension relief characters, and they are named after snacks, enjoy!

Well, I don't think there's more reason beyond catchy theme naming. But consider that they're from poor family, maybe the unseen parents simply think of their precious memory when they named their children (Pretzel is last name anyway...although I won't surprise if Sakura is shorten from Sakura Mochi).

[Destiny_Gundam]

These days we have celebrities naming their kids Apple and stuff. Maybe this becomes so common that way in the future such names are seen as normal.