Welcome to Gundam Plus II, the successor to the original Gundam Plus site.
Episode One - Gundam Rising
Introduction:
It is the year, 0079 of the Universal Century. Humanity has migrated to orbiting space colonies to house the rapidly growing population. A man named Zeon Zum Daikun began preaching the theory of Contolism, belief that humanity should complete its migration to space and allow the Earth to restore itself. The furthest cluster of colonies from the Earth, Side 3, called itself the Principality of Zeon and declared independence. Zeon Daikun died under questionable circumstances and was succeeded by Deguin Zabi. Deguin launched a war of ‘independence’ as a coverup to expand the power of the Zabi family. The initial fighting was called the One Week War and the indiscriminate use of nuclear and chemical weapons along with colony drops destroyed over half the human population. Both sides met and hammered out the Antarctica treaty, banning nuclear weapons and colony drops. A battle at Loum occurred over the control of Side 5's cluster. It was believed that the outgunned Zeon fleet would be hammered but Zeon introduced a new weapon, the Mobile Suit. The son of Zeon Daikun, Casval Rem Daikun, took the name Char Aznable and downed several Federation ships in his red Zaku, earning him the name of Red Comet. Zeon sent mobile suits to Earth to secure resources for the battle ahead and now, nearly 8 months have passed and the war is still at a stalemate. The Federation launched The V Project, a program to develop their own mobile suits based off captured Zeon Zakus. Char Aznable catches word of Federation mobile suit development and heads to Side 7 to investigate.
Three Zakus piloted by Gene, Denim and Slender of Char Aznable’s unit enter Side 7 colony. Denim and Gene move inside and see that the colony is empty when it should be rush hour. He sees Fraw Bow running into a house. Fraw enters with her robot friend, Haro and yells for Amuro. He sees food on the table and is annoyed that he hasn’t eaten yet. She runs upstairs and finds a half dressed Amuro plugging away at a circuit board. She begins nagging him and asks if he knows about the evacuation order. He says he heard a siren. He says he’ll meet her outside. She leaves and sees Amuro’s neighbor, Hayato Kobayashi. She scolds Hayato for not looking out for Amuro and Hayato leaves as Amuro pulls up to Fraw in his car. As they drive, Fraw asks if Amuro’s father will be on the warship that is docking at Side 7.
From Side 7's port, a Federation Officer gloats that their new warship, Whitebase along with their mobile suit, Gundam, shall make quick work of the Zeons. The shiny new Whitebase docks in Side 7 while 19 year old Ensign Bright Noa, asks Lieutenant Ray to report to Whitebase. Ray asks Bright how many months of service he has had and asks his age, then says once the Gundam is mass produced, they should be able to end the war without sending kids like Bright into battle anymore. Bright looks at a picture of Amuro and asks if it is the Lieutenant’s son. Ray confirms and says he hears kids his age are fighting as guerillas nowadays. He scoffs at the thought as they head out to Whitebase. Whitebase’s current captain thanks Lt Ray for coming and Ray appears annoyed that they couldn’t outrun a Zeon ship.
Char Aznable, in his Mousai, says he’ll probably never get a break and jokes with his helmsman that it can only be destiny to find the Federation’s V project while coming home from a routine mission. His officer asks if he really thinks that the Federation has mobile suits. Char tells him they should assume the worst- being a 100% successful mobile suit production. Denim and Gene see unassembled Guntanks and Guncannons. Gene gets into his Zaku, against Denim’s orders and says nobody will care that he disobeyed once he destroys the Federation’s mobile suits. He destroys a Guncannon and a Guntank. The civilians in the shelter wonder what is rocking their world and Amuro says it could only have been caused by explosions. Amuro leaves the shelter, despite everyone else’s protests, hoping to request evacuation of to the Whitebase. When he gets outside, he finds himself staring up at Gene’s Zaku. Everyone in the shelter believes they’re done for. Amuro runs to avoid falling shells from the Zaku machine gun and gets in his car. He swerves and misses a car with Federation soldiers. They yell at him and tell him to get back to the shelter. He asks if they know where Lt Ray is. They say he is probably on Whitebase but they are killed by a wire guided missile from the Zaku. Amuro takes cover behind his car and in front of him blows the manual for the mobile suit, Gundam. Gene takes out the infantry who attack him and Amuro picks up the Gundam’s manual.
Slender reports to Char that Gene sortie on his own. Char orders him to take as many pictures as possible and only retreat if it becomes risky. Char tells his helmsman to move closer to Side 7 because he may have to deploy. Amuro has been reading the manual on Gundam when Fraw runs up to him. She drags him as she runs. Denim has been dragged into the battle but for some reason, the Federation infantry has troubles hitting a 17 meter Zaku. Amuro sees his father with 2 other Federation officers next to the Gundam. Amuro runs toward his father and hears him order his men to get the Gundam on Whitebase before the evacuees. Amuro asks if mobile suits are more important than people. Lt Ray tells Amuro to get his ass on Whitebase. Ray leaves to find a truck to move the Gundam. Another explosion knocks Amuro off his feet and Fraw comes running to him. An explosion behind Fraw sends her and Haro flying forward. She survives but her family and the other evacuees behind her aren’t so lucky. Fraw cradles her dead mother and Amuro motivates her enough to make her run to the spaceport. Amuro wipes away his own tears and sprints for the Gundam. He pulls away the tarp and sees that the Gundam is on. He follows the manual and brings down the main camera.
Gene’s Zaku jumps past Amuro and shoots at infantry. An officer requests that Whitebase send out a core fighter but that would mean blowing a hole in Side 7. Gene focuses on the Gundam and Amuro freaks out. Amuro fires Vulcan’s but hits nothing. Gene is worried but believes the Gundam isn’t working right as Amuro struggles to make it stand. Gene fires at the Gundam but the Zaku Machinegun rounds don’t even leave a scratch. Denim tells Gene to retreat and Amuro finally get the Gundam to its feet. The Gundam staggers but regains balance and the eyes light up. Amuro pulls his scope forward and targets the Zakus. Amuro doesn’t hit anything and his ammo quickly runs out. Lieutenant Ray sees the Gundam fighting and wonders who the pilot is. Gene advances and thinks he is about to finish Amuro when Amuro plugs Gene’s gun with his hand then punches it. Amuro grabs Gene’s Zaku by the ‘face’ and tears off enough to knock out Gene’s main camera. Amuro looks for other weapons and realizes he has a beam saber. Gene jumps to escape and Amuro cuts the Zaku in mid flight. As Amuro hits the ground, Gene’s Zaku’s reactor blows up, punching a hole in the colony. The hole is soon plugged with debris but Amuro realizes another blast will destroy the colony. Denim charges Amuro and Amuro wonders if he can just hit the cockpit. He lowers the output on the beam saber and catches Denim right before Denim would execute a picture perfect Zaku body-check. Denim has obviously been immolated and his Zaku sits silent. Amuro surveys the damage as the last of the evacuees board Whitebase. Bright says they will need the help of whoever is inside the Gundam because all other pilots were injured or killed. Char’s Mousai fires at the Whitebase’s port and he recovers Slender. Char admits his mistake was due to his own youth and decides he’ll have to fight the Gundam by himself.
Paul Jr’s Thoughts:
Hooray to the series that started it all. Our young hothead, Amuro just made the choice that’ll make him a legend to the Federation. Fraw Bow has got to be one of the more annoying supporting characters ever and Hayato has an orange for a head. Not much to ask here so we’ll wait and see what happens to Amuro next.
