Gundam AGE so far...

[Darkerangel]

Okay so I watched 00, loved it. Currently working on something that involves me to watch AGE, so I'm kinda pushing the episodes (which isn't like me to do).

Flit's Arc, I actually liked. I liked his character and the overall arc.

Asemu's Arc on the other hand...not so much. For whatever reason, Asemu pissed me the hell off. His back-and-forthness (<.<, yes I said it) between friendship and enemy just got on my nerves. Hell, compared to him and Zeheart, Kira and Athrun are at my top favs list right now. I just wanted to Bright slap the guy and be like yo, he's taking out your peeps, he ain't your friend, let it go.

Kio's Arc, I just started it so I'll...save my thoughts on him for later....fast forward to later - I'm close to being finished with the show and although a part of me does like Kio, the one thing I cannot stand with the boy is his way of fighting this war. What I mean by this is that it's one thing to believe in not fighting and there has to be another way, but the way Kio does it to me seems like he's FORCING you to agree with his ideals. Like his is the only right one. For example, Flit is explaining why he hates the Vagans so much, "They killed my family, took the people I couldn't protect, etc." and Kio is all, "I know...but...there has to be a way we can do this without fighting." And it's like really? They killed your great-grandparents, took your grandpa and father's closet people away which is something you can relate to by now and yet he doesn't. This is weird because I didn't get this "vibe" from Kira. Granted it's been a while since I've seen <.< that show, but Kio just jams it down your throat until you swallow.

So far between Flit and Asemu, I kinda like Flit better.

Now question, is it just me (and it probably is) or I keep getting this homage-vibe from the show so far. Like I said, it could be just me, but for example:

The Mars population or Vagan, most of them design wise, I'm picking up a Turn-A vibe via the Moonrace.

AGE-2's second form with the guns/beams, I'm picking up a Victory Gundam vibe. AGE-2's first form, 00.

Asemu and Garrod. Asemu who's normal facing X-Rounders while Garrod who is also normal, facing Newtypes. When looking at the two I thought it was interesting how Asemu wanted to be a X-Rounder so badly to beat his opponent vs (correct me if I'm wrong, haven't watch GX in a while) if I recall, Garrod had no desire to become a Newtype, even when faced with tough opponents. He did have help from some though.

AGE-3 so far I'm picking up a ZZ Gundam vibe. Even the shoulder blades look similar to Gundam ZZ's arm shields. Not to mention from what I've seen so far, AGE-3 seem like a tank.

Flit I'm picking up a 0079 vibe from the beginning. (This is me projecting), but do you guys think that Amuro would have become what Flit was during the second arc, minus the enemy obsession. Him moving up in the ranks.

As I mentioned before, the first arc I'm picking on a 0079 vibe, gundam wise. Then with the second arc, gundam wise, I'm picking up a Zeta vibe. This is become of the Gundam ability to transform from flight to ground. Like I mentioned before, the third arc gundam wise seem like ZZ Gundam.


So overall so far, those are my thoughts, feelings, and questions. Let me know what you all think so that I may keep my sanity =P.

[ShadowCell]

why would Amuro have become anything like Flit?

the Federation didn't like or trust Amuro and certainly wasn't about to let him rise in the ranks to exercise real power. more importantly, Amuro and his technical knowhow are not the primary reasons why the Federation defeats Zeon. he doesn't invent the Gundam, and he doesn't singlehandedly produce all the technology the Federation needs to fight the war. most importantly, Amuro didn't actually want to be part of the One Year War, or any of the wars after it, and has no particular personal vendetta against Zeon; only, if anything, against Char.

by contrast, Flit not only wants to be part of the war, but helps direct its course, invents the Gundam, invents the technology that allows the Federation to even fight back against the Vagans, and has a personal beef with Vagan that endures through most of his life, starting from when he was just a little boy, and it colors his interactions with basically everyone. and throughout his life, Flit has a complex about having to be a savior and his failures to do so, which doesn't really matter to Amuro.

Flit is only similar to Amuro in superficial ways.

[Darkerangel]

why would Amuro have become anything like Flit?

the Federation didn't like or trust Amuro and certainly wasn't about to let him rise in the ranks to exercise real power. more importantly, Amuro and his technical knowhow are not the primary reasons why the Federation defeats Zeon. he doesn't invent the Gundam, and he doesn't singlehandedly produce all the technology the Federation needs to fight the war. most importantly, Amuro didn't actually want to be part of the One Year War, or any of the wars after it, and has no particular personal vendetta against Zeon; only, if anything, against Char.

by contrast, Flit not only wants to be part of the war, but helps direct its course, invents the Gundam, invents the technology that allows the Federation to even fight back against the Vagans, and has a personal beef with Vagan that endures through most of his life, starting from when he was just a little boy, and it colors his interactions with basically everyone. and throughout his life, Flit has a complex about having to be a savior and his failures to do so, which doesn't really matter to Amuro.

Flit is only similar to Amuro in superficial ways.

o0 Really? I didn't know of 100% of that with Amuro. Learned something new. I didn't mean the two in comparisons, I meant the two as "had". "Had" the Federation been more accepting of him like they were with Flit who did bring something like you mention to the Federation later on. But based on what you said, I see the answer would be still no if he didn't even after everything want to be part of it.

[Silver_August]

AGE as a whole was the clip notes version of UC

AGE 1 = RX-78-2
AGE 2 = Zeta - i.e transforming plane mode mobile suit, with a wink to Victory AND Crossbone following shortly after
AGE 3 = ZZ, Doms and....flying things
AGE FX = Nu/Hi-Nu (colors are closer to Hi-NU)

I agree with the Turn A reference though, when the Legilis was White, it definitely felt closer inspiration to the Turn A.

If anything Flit had more ties to Shinn, lost his family, decided to do something about it, but Flit didn't whine all day about the melodrama...instead he directed a genocidal war, narf.

Asemu falls under more typical cliches of anime, father is a "neglectful" military big man who expects the best from him, has frienmeies, romance and a senpai who dies.

Admitingly Gen 2 is when the story got the fastest pace since we finally knew what was going on and stuff could happen but Gen 1 will probably always be regarded as the best because being the first, it had to be the most subtle, characters were limited because they'd end up having families and expanding, the vegans has to remain mysterious so we didn't know what they were and a BAQTO was a threat, and because of Flit's age, romances were more limited to puppy love essentially, so that mellowdrama was just not there, both cuz of AGE...har har, and time

Oh and because of the bonus that Flit wasn't instantly an ass or ever even remotely cocky, he had to learn and let the AGE system help him adjust to the stronger enemy.

[HellCat]

Flit could be cocky. I'm still trying to understand why he went from 'I built the Gundam for a trained pilot. I'll only go because we have no one else' to 'NO! MY GUNDAM! I don't care if you're a trained ace pilot, only I may pilot it!'.

That's my biggest beef with AGE I think. So often characters react in a way the plot needs to to continue. If the bulk of the Diva command staff disagreed with how Kio was using FX, why was he not removed from piloting even once? Likewise the awkward flip flopping on if Flit was a tortured crusader or a genocidal madman who scared even his own family.

[zerogradius]

Kio's Arc, I just started it so I'll...save my thoughts on him for later.

I won't spoil anything for you, but the best thing to look forward to with Kio' arc in my opinion was Obright towards the end. You'll eventually see what I mean,

So far between Flit and Asemu, I kinda like Flit better.

Flit's arc, again IMHO, was by far the best, in terms of plot, characters and setting.

[Wellman]

I kind of agree, I liked Flit's arc as a whole more then I liked the other two but Asemu grew on me and by the end I was feeling him more as a protagonist even though his story was crap. Kio's story fell off hard once they left Earth, although see Asemu and Flit come back to the front lines later was nice, Kio story sucked, he failed his role as a protagonist IMO by being so bitch-made.

Then again, he obviously gets it from his momma.

[Soma Taozi]

Kio story sucked, he failed his role as a protagonist IMO by being so bitch-made.

What the hell does this even mean? Bitch-made? What? His childish naivete and the constant reaffirmation of his childish ideals are what made him fail as a protagonist and furthermore, as a character. He was just annoying and the fact that we were expected to relate and even support his ideals is what made the 3rd arc collapse.

The fact that he was sensitive (he was 13 years old for gods sake) is not a bad thing, with the right story it could have been an interesting trait and even tragic as a sweet little boy slowly realizes the truths about war and that the world he is living in isn't a video game. Instead we got "people should just understand each other" for 10 episodes.

In other words, Kio being 'bitch-made' wasn't the issue, it was how said 'bitch-madeness' was used....

[Silver_August]

When the traitor girl died and Kio basically witnessed his first real exposure to the horrors of war... this was the turning point for me when the series went off the rails,

Because as was set up, Kio was incredibly naive, his skills were acquired through simulation but he had no idea just how horrifying war is. Him going to his grandfather for comfort was such a massive potential plot point because really Kio was puddy in Flit's hands, but somewhere along the way he became ultra-pacifist without nearly enough justification for it.

Kio's character arc was fairly plausible up until he got kidnapped and that accursed girl and the tic-tacs turned him into someone as nuts as the vegans themselves.

[HellCat]

I'm annoyed that Shanalau's death was forgotten in favour of the incredibly cliche Lu. I'm sure you could point to similar narrative devices in earlier shows (Miharu being a good sister who just wants to provide for her siblings, for instance) but after 2 generations of Vagan who were either sub-human crusaders or greedy cacklers the idea that everything is made better by a sick little girl who just wants a pretty view....it's just off.

[Silver_August]

Am I the only one who wouldn't hate the Lu part as much if it just didn't involve Kio handing over military secrets for medication he KNEW wouldn't work?

Her being more or less a plot device for Kio's ideals (which I saw coming a mile away) COULD have worked because she shows that the vegans are still human in the end (something Shanaulu's plotline wouldn't have).

Of course, the show would STILL need to completely redo the way it made vegans seem like crazed maniacal psychos that are impossible to sympathize with (because one sick girl one cut it...). Ontop of maybe cut out the entire GERRARDO SPRINGA arc or retool it to...not be a 4 episode pseudo waste of time.

AAActually...an idea for how it would've went crossed my mind..I know it could NOT have been done because it wouldn't make money...but what if, after Kio is rescued from Mars and the AGE-3 is totaled, Kio is almost put in lockdown for revealing military secrets from his own grandfather but Asemu somehow convinces him not too because...even I don't know why but something that would still remain a flaw int he show's narrative - anyways. next battle comes up The AGE-FX is in development but Kio says he refuses to fight, after seeing what the vegans are really like he's convinced there has to be another way and so, Kio spends these episodes no longer rambling about peace and understanding, but trying to figure out a way to achieve this, THEN eventually begins using that AGE-system to try and find a cure for Lu's disease, since apparently it can do that so..lets show someone figuring that out!

After that, you can basically go into the final battle, Kio figures out the cure, enters the battlefield, the scene with Deen happens..blah blah, he's killed - Kio realizes he can cure them of their disease but can't cure the minds of people who are just awful, BURST MODE...realizes he can't bring himself to kill him becuase he just...can't, he's not a soldier. then take cues from Memory of Eden for Zeheart's end, Elzcant enters the battle in the vegan gear, during his fight with...uh.. lets say Flit so he can finally fight the face of the bastard who killed his mother, Ezelcant dies of his sickness DURING the fight...then maybe have SID show up and turn the vegan gear into a mobile doll acting off all the data it's acquired that's saying "kill all humans!" Then Earth and Mars work together to stop it aaaaand peace is restored because all the bad men in charge are dead, they have a cure now ad they saw they can work together, the end, happy ending

Of course, this is just (and always will be) nothing more then an optimistic dream, lol.

[HellCat]

The cure was one of the biggest problems in the narrative. At the very start of the show, Flit's mother gives him the AGE Device and once or twice he wonders if making the Gundam is what she intended. The thread then basically vanishes until the last moments of the show where we get told combining AGE and EXA-DB found a workable way to block Mars Rays.

This couldn't have been built up better? Someone couldn't have wondered onscreen if the AGE Device solely contained Gundam data but instead more? Heck, the data we got on it pre-show suggested this but nothing really happened with it until that 'But it wasn't another pointless battle sequence over character or plot development so we didn't show it' ending.

ShadowCell really nailed it when he compared to AGE to when people upload game FMVs minus the levels in between.

[Silver_August]

It's funny and ironic, because AGE was conceived because of a game, lol.

[Darkerangel]

The vibe I'm picking up so far from Kio ^

Oh and I forgot to mentioned, I like me some Wendy. Out of all the women on that ship that was bitching, Wendy is a ride or die chick. Her man was abducted and she was asked, "Aren't you worried about Kio?" and Wendy was all like, "No. He'll be back." Which made me laugh so hard because she ain't got time for that.

[Silver_August]

Oh sure, pick the one htat DOESN'T become a baby factory, lol.

[AceWhatever]

If there's any justice in the universe then Kio will have decided that his cursed family line of irrational males must end and thus he circumcises himself right after the end of the Vegan conflict.

[monster]

If there's any justice in the universe then Kio will have decided that his cursed family line of irrational males must end and thus he circumcises himself right after the end of the Vegan conflict.

You might want to look up circumcision.

[Arbiter GUNDAM]

If there's any justice in the universe then Kio will have decided that his cursed family line of irrational males must end and thus he circumcises himself right after the end of the Vegan conflict.

You might want to look up circumcision.

I believe the term you're looking for is "castrate."

[AceWhatever]

Yeah that. My bad.

[Darkerangel]

Okay so I'm done with AGE and my piece that I said about Kio still stands. The ending episodes gave me some wtf moments of "I don't understand." (Does the I don't understand dance for you BGC peeps =P).

I didn't understand the point of that ultimate pilot dude in terms of he was just there for like what...cameos and two-ish episodes if that? Things were wrapping up, he had no purpose to me. Was just random.

Then I didn't understand what the hell was the point of knowing or even giving Gundam AGE-3 FX a Burst Mode when Kio didn't even use the goddamn thing, but twice. I swear the Moonlight Butterfly was used more than that mess.