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Episode 9 - A Great Nation’s Dignity
We start off this week at a cemetery as we see Lockton walking with flowers towards a grave. He then sees that there are fresh flowers at said grave which makes him wonder if “he” was there. We then head off to the nearby trees and see an exact twin of Lockton standing there. Hmmm…twins eh? That’s cool but please for the sake of all anime fans…no more clones. I don’t think the fanbase can take it after the crap that SEED and SEED destiny put us all through. With that we hit the opening credits.
We’re back and we get a quick rundown/overview of what’s been happening in the Gundam 00 universe. It’s been 4 months since Celestial Being has begun their interventions which are currently at 60 in total. Wow, that’s a lot of work and it’s good to see that we the audience don’t see everything. We also learn that of the three “great powers” the AEU and Union will only react should they or their allies be attacked by Celestial Being while the Human Reform League has declared they will oppose any and all actions and hunt down the Gundams. I think recaps like this over losing an entire episode to a full recap show. I hope Fukuda is taking note that not everyone has ADD and needs to be told every 5 shows with a full ep about what is going on in an anime.
Off to the HRL low orbital base as Sergei Smirnov is revealing his plan to his unit as to how they intend to hunt down Celestial Being and capture one or all the Gundams. Off to the Ptolemaios as we hear that the Dynames has just docks and the Exia is about to do the same. It looks like all the Gundams are back with the ship of maintenance and overhauls. What the…more Haros (4 different coloured one)...I sense the great taint of SEED here as they approach Lockton and his Haro. Sumeragi isn’t too worried that they’ll be attacked during said overhaul though Allelujah seems a little concerned.
Back to the HRL and they begin releasing communication devices in space. The plan is that because the Gundam’s particles take out communications they will find them when they notice one of these devices go down. Good plan to track them if normal methods don’t work. We also learn that it’s very costly so they can’t use it more than once.
Off to earth and we get our useless character time with Saji and Louise. Louise’s mother arrives and after a quick introduction with Saji she informs Louise that her time in Tokyo is over because of the terrorist attack and that she’s headed home. Louise protests as hilarity ensues with the nature of Louise’s and Saji’s relationship being mis-understood beyond the fact they are boyfriend/girlfriend. Off to the JNN news center as Kinue wishes to do an investigative report on Aeolia Schenberg because she feels that she can learn Celestial Being’s true intentions by learning about its “leader”. She is given a month to find enough material to fill an hour long report. Hmmm…wonder if she’ll learn that her neighbour is a part of it during this time?
While this is ending we get taken to a news report as the UN in the form of Alejandro Corner arrives in Azadistan to hear the princess in her pleas for help for her country. While Marina remains hopeful her aide, Shirin, wonders what Alejandro’s true intentions are for helping their country. Hmmm…perhaps he intends to work out a safe harbour for the Gundams?
Back up to the Ptolemaios as Felt Grace is feeling a bit depressed at the moment. Turns out that her parents where also a part of Celestial Being as Lockton tries to comfort her. We also learn that Lockton’s real name is Neil Dylandy and that he was born in Ireland. During all of this the HRL detects the location as a part of their communication grid goes down due to the Gundam particles. Sergei orders all units of the task force to launch. Uh-oh for our heroes. As Christina returns to the bridge she realizes that Lichtendahl missed the alert as they’ve been detected. Double uh-oh.
Sumeragi orders the Ptolemaios to head to the orbital ring while all the Gundam Meisters are sent to their units. We also learn that the Dynames is not finished with its overhaul yet which Sumeragi is bothered because her plan requires that unit the most. Sumeragi figures out that it’s the HRL behind this as they launch the Virtue and Kyrios. The Dynames is fitted with a temporary leg unit so that it can at least stand and shoot, which is fine for Lockton.
Sergei sees on his radar the Gundams launch and figures out that they are diversions and plans to make one of his own. Sumeragi spots this and realizes that their move has been seen through but the interference by the orbital ring prevents her from recalling the Kyrios and the Virtue. We then learn what her original plan that involved using the Kyrios and Virtue as a diversion while the Exia and Dynames covered the ship. Now her plan is to hope they can hold out until the Kyrios and Virtue figure out the ships they encounter are diversions and race back to support the Ptolemaios. She concludes it will take 6 minutes of the other units to return so they need to hold out for that amount of time with the Exia and Dynames still providing cover. Turns out this is the same strategy used 18 years ago in the 4th solar conflict by an HRL officer, the Wild Bear of Russia, Sergei Smirnov. WOW…talk about knowing your enemy and knowing one’s self.
Things get worse as the Dynames aiming system is off due to the weight shift with the legs. During the fight, Christina completely panics and misses deploying the GN field that protects the ship. Sumeragi figures out during the attack that the Ptolemaios is the goal but the capturing of the Gundams is the priority to which is gets angry because she swore she wouldn’t be off in her predictions again. Hmm…reference to “the incident”?
Just as the Kyrios seems to have made it back it falls into a mine field and Soma’s unit of Tieren’s deploys to engage him. The episode ends with Allelujah having his newtype-ish reaction to Soma as she and her troops approach him.
Nimrod’s Thoughts – Wow. Quick ep and a good one at that. Not only do we see that the Gundam crew are not perfect but that they can be outsmarted as well. A nice treat from the shows where the heroes always win. We also get more hints to the Meisters as we learn a bit about Lockton. Was that him at the gravestone or was that the twin? One can only wonder. And what will happen with Alejandro in Azadistan? Will Marina figure out he’s with Celestial Being and ask for Setsuna to be sent there since she know’s Setsuna is a Gundam pilot? Can’t wait for next week in any case.
