TURN A TURRRRNNNN. TURN A TURRRNNN. Sorry. That ridiculous opening song is has been stuck in my head for weeks.
Anyway! I got to review some good ol’ Gundam this time, and really enjoyed the experience. I’m told Turn A is often regarded as the best (or at least most accessible?) of the central/Tomino Gundam shows, and it certainly does have plenty to recommend itself. A compelling world, an engaging cast of characters, and lots of fun/silly ideas. It’s also marked by some really, deeply weird quirks of storytelling, but I’m told that’s just how Tomino rolls, and I’ve kinda gotten used to it. The weirdness of the telling means this isn’t nearly as emotionally strong of a ride as it could be, but it’s still a very enjoyable one.
You can check out my full review over at ANN, or my episodic notes below!
Episode 1
This menu song is adorable
Title: “Howl at the Moon:
“Mary had a little lamb”
Pilots singing lullabies
“One little Moonrace”
So we get a cold open with the three dudes coming down from the moon
Keith and Loran are two of the moondudes
Fran Doll is the girl?
The aesthetic is great – part robots, part turn of the 20th century steampunkishness
Loran gets attacked by a coyote! wtf is he doing out in the wild?
Nice song
The colors are bright and sharp. The animation is a little jerky
What the hell is Loran doing all by himself out in this river anyway?
Loran getting rescued by a naked blond girl in the river
The pacing is weird. Scenes keep sorta jumping with no real rhythm
Sochie is the brown-haired girl
“I was busy drowning, so I didn’t get a good look.” “Your loss.” “Is it?” Cute dialogue. Cute, but strange. Again, there’s a weird, sorta jerky pacing to everything. These characters talk in an established rhythm without ever having had a conversation before
Loran plans to work in the Heim Mine. What?
It already feels like I missed an episode
The blonde woman looks like “Queen Dianna”
“You’re going to the festival?” AND THEN FESTIVAL. WHAT is this pacing
“To the Mountain Cycle!”
Loran sneaks in. He’s 15, apparently
Sochie doesn’t seem to mind being a rulebreaker with him
Kihel (the older sister) is the White Doll, who chooses her partner in the festival
World War I planes!
This show feels like… circa-90 Ghibli style. Or Nadia
And a new fancy car
Potential war with the country of Galia
The master of the house wants to build up technology and industry
Loran’s now their chauffeur, and will attend university
God, I absolutely love this show’s world/aesthetic
Another great song. Twangy hillbilly guitar, as you’d expect
Master Guin – he keeps calling Loran “Laura”
I like how well this episode is establishing the world. It really doesn’t care about telling things to the audience
And now Loran’s the driver for real
God this world is nice
Loran and Sochie already have a very nice rapport
Oh wow, a third great song. This one’s all background synths and lovely plucked guitar
Another of the moon people is Fran, a baker
All these weird wipe cuts. The pacing is just… off. It’s its own thing. I don’t get it
The show just seems to have its own individual, awkward conventions
Jeez, these guys are rich. I love the little details of their lifestyle
Sochie’s snooping on the meeting of Loran with Keith and Fran
So they’re hiding the fact that they’re from the moon
“Maybe the rumor that the attacks are from Galia are made up, and they’re actually from the Moon.”
So now Sochie’s following Loran as he goes to check out his ship
And another nice song – this one all synths and a woman singing
Ooh, great shot of the car Loran left with Sochie’s car approaching
“Everybody, the earth is a really great place. Come back soon!”
Aaand this ED is ridiculous
Episode 2
Aw dang, that cheesy menu song really is the OP
The DVD quality isn’t the best. And it’s in 4:3, of course. And the yellow subs
Title: The Coming of Age Ceremony
Old-fashioned telescope and phone
So the leader really does know about the moon people
Loran and Sochie learning to fly planes
Loran’s great with machines
“My sister can handle the family stuff. I don’t want to end up as the wife of some bureaucrat or merchant.”
“We’ve been building airplanes here since my granddad’s day.” Such an interesting world. So is this place just sort of in an industrial revolution stasis? And I feel like it plays in the same whimsical creative space as stuff like the original Journey to the Moon, a fantastical vision of space travel, far removed from most scifi
Sochie wants to actually join the militia. She is very naive
And Loran says he goes where his boss tells him. Sochie wants the mechanic girl Miashei to help her convince her father to let Loran fly
“It’s my life! I’ll decide how I live it!” Good luck, Sochie
And then we cut to a bizarre scene of Loran shouting about his coming of age ceremony. This show’s pacing is a MESSSSS
The militia parade and coming of age ceremony are on the same day
Old fashioned elevators!
Kihel’s about to enter university
“You’re not coming with us, Loran?” “Drivers aren’t allowed in the VIP section.” Both the sisters are sort of blind to their position
“Those won’t be fighting against the Dianna Counter, will they?” Marveling at the planes that will be fighting their countrymen
Vicinity is the earth country Loran will be joining
The lord offers him a position in Bostonia Castle, and then a position as an engineer, working for Mr. Sid
Oh my god, he intentionally calls him Laura. What a dick
Six sacred marks are applied to their back during the festival
“You just worry about catching the eye of a girl.” Yeah, it seems like some kind of fertility festival
The Moonrace have sent technology, and are demanding part of North America
The animation’s pretty limited. The sound design is nice, though
“What do you make of this, Sid? They’re holding rituals like this in a time when planes fly through the sky.” “It takes more than reason to make the world go round. I’m fine with it.”
The kids gettin’ naked for the ceremony
Leeches. Very weird adolescent sexuality space
As they try to complete the ceremony of becoming an adult, war strikes their hometown. A very direct bit but effective bit of storytelling
They’re coming in with mobile suits to fight propeller planes
These weird frame-in-frame shots sure are a thing. Just zooming in on the frame
And of course, the big temple site hides the Gundam. Icon of strength, the road to adulthood
Do they sit in its groin? That’s pretty on the nose and great too
“How did a mobile suit end up like a relic?”
Explosions!
This zooming in and out on the enemy pilot is a really weird effect
And even the episode ending is a weird cut. “I see fires!” “Where!” Episode end
Episode 3
Title: After the Festival
“But it doesn’t have a steering wheel or levers. NANI?!?!?!?” huuuge pan out. This show’s transitions whaaaat. Events and even single lines just don’t follow each other in any coherent human pattern
The cockpit applied the “stigmata” – a cool idea, that their rituals are based on what were initially mechanical elements of the robot’s controls
“Does your returning have to involve destroying the local cities?” A fair questions
Whoa, great explosions and disaster shots
A single beam from these mobile suits is a terrifying disaster
“What’s that? Those pillars are moving!” About a mobile suit
“Does it have thin paper or film inside it?” About a computer
Dr. Sid and his assistant find Loran and the mobile suit
“The White Doll has a mustache?”
“Queen Dianna says to act peacefully, but the earth is a big place”
Lord Guin is very excited about the mobile suit
Boss Heim, Sochie’s father, is dead
Sochie falls apart
“Was… was this your doing, Queen Dianna?” The dramatic pacing is still ridiculous
The mobile suit pilot will get a chance to redeem herself, apparently. I’m not sure what she did in the first place???
Sochie has to sign documents relating to her father’s death as they bury him. Jeez
And now Loran and his moon-friend go for a swim and talk about the computer
“Can I be a baker someplace where there’s no fighting?”
“You can rejoin the Dianna Counter or run away”
Loran’s been drafted to pilot the mobile suit
Loran’s getting prepped to fight pretty quick!
Episode 4
Title: Soldiers from Home
Loran’s figuring this mobile suit out pretty fast
I like the aesthetic of these battles in the European countryside
It’s kind of hard to tell what’s going on and where people are relative to each other in these fights
Loran shaking the mobile suit to try and get them to stop fighting. Pretty cute
“Outsiders go home!” “How barbaric! These Earthers can only be described as savages!” Okay, so we got some serious racial/political tension here
“How can we return to earth just by sitting around? This is turning into a war out there!” BECAUSE OF YOU
“What kind of coward points a gun at a prisoner?” “Are you on their side or something?”
Who the hell is this crazy dude in the bug-eye shades
Sochie’s hiding in her bed as everything happens. Her mechanic friend calls her out on it. “Didn’t you want to join the Militia?”
Loran runs into the woman pilot, and she takes him back to her base
Ensign Poe is the woman
Loran’s telling them everything except that he’s the pilot
They just yank Sid right out of a cave-in in one piece, lol
The meeting between the Earthers and Moonracers
“My wife and nephew were killed last night!” AW SHIT, he kills one of the Moonrace leaders! Negotiations are BREAKING DOWN
And Sid’s group discovers more technology!
So it seems like this technology is from… other Gundams?
The various narratives and characters with their weaving stories make this very fun to watch. It’s oddly constructed, but fundamentally entertaining
Episode 5
Title: Dianna Descends
“You need to make a show of force just to negotiate?”
Sochie’s mother is just gone at this point
Lorin’s trying to do a mid-air transfer onto Sochie’s propeller plane. They’re really making great use of the limited tech here for an exciting setpiece
Attempting to steal a mobile suit
So the lord is choosing to invalidate their negotiations
Them excavating the mountain and Loran figuring out his mech provides a nice natural progression of powers for the fights
Kihel keeping it together for their mother, but crying alone. “Sochie’s turning into a soldier…”
“You barbarian! As if we would kill a child your age!” And yet the Moonracers let many children die in their initial attack. They play to civil niceties, but they are an invading army, and the Earthers basically keep sneering at their pretend civility
Lord Guin is making really, really bold calls. Playing with fire to maintain control in these negotiations
Dianna appears, and for once Guin is stunned
Episode 6
Title: The Forgotten Past
The Militia’s planning to abduct Dianna
“People never change, no matter where they are”
Lt. Harry is the bug-eye dude
So Guin ended up calling off the abduction, and simply reenforced his “loyalty” to negotation
Playing up how Kihel and Dianna look identical
A nice little conversation between Loran and a guard here
“Queen Dianna will sort everything out, and that’s what matters.” Loran’s his own kind of naive
“You deserted the earth! Our ancestors stayed here and nursed her back to health!”
Ooh, really nice guitar song here. Lovely backgrounds too
“It was Dianna’s orders.” “Dianna isn’t a soldier. Our job is to compensate for her weaknesses.” We keep returning to how the leaders only have so much control
Sochie and Miashie plan to distract the robot that might discover Sid’s work
And the damn soldiers fire on them, as Loran discovers more secrets of the mobile suit
“The portable shrine storehouse, it’s…” Again, the architecture and religion of these people has arisen around the tools of the old mobile suits
Loran finds weapons. Most of the weapons are busted. But a ball and chain survives
“Queen Dianna, I beg you. The earth is precious. We must not fight.”
Episode 7
Title: Training To Be A Lady
“It’s our chance to crush them while they don’t have many mechanical dolls.” “Is that what you think cease-fires are for?”
Dianna wants to throw a party to promote peace
Keith wants to keep the bakery alive, but the town’s half deserted
The Moonracers agree to buy his bread
“She’s mocking us. She says that she wishes to have a goodwill party.”
A reasonable orchestral song here
Loran will be attending the party… as a woman
“Without a balance of power, it will mean a crushing defeat for earth, right? Then I’ll do it.”
They don’t even really include the decision for him to attend as a girl. It’s just, yep, that’s happening
The whole “Laura” thing is a feint by Guin. Create a strong narrative of the woman pilot beating back the moonracers
Oh man, Loran countering Harry’s info probes with some boasting about earth forces! Nice going, Loran!
Loran immediately challenged Dianna about the fighting continuing. Damn!
And of course the cake hides militia people, or something
But the assassins were Moonrace?!?!
I don’t trust Dianna’s assistant dude ONE BIT
So yeah, her assistant and Henry are both in on something
Episode 8
Title: Laura’s Cow
Sochie jabbing at Kihel for negotiating with the Moonrace
Guin and Kihel discussing the various factions
Guin on Loran: “To keep one secret, he decides to be totally honest about everything else”
The Moonrace putting up more fences
“You expect us to steal from the Earthers? I can’t do that!” Moonrace civilians are also angry about being used in this land-grab game. There are diverse opinions on all sides
“They brought it on themselves, for coming down here! The military have lots of supplies!” Sochie says, as she holds up a sandwich. Sochie is a very well-constructed jerk
An interesting song here – pipes and jangling percussion, like a country dance
Sochie pressing Loran and the moonracers about their connection
“I hate the Moonrace, and I hate this bawling baby!”
Loran and his friends are helping out the destitute Moonrace settler
“I don’t know if they can use this money that the Dianna Counter hands out, but I hope it helps them forgive us.”
Loran chases a cow in a mobile suit while the girls are attacked by a killer pig. This is quite a silly episode
“Is the Dianna Counter a pathetic outfit that harasses civilians?”
Harry saves the day!
“Laura! You’re helping my countrymen!”
Sochie learns something about the humanity of the Moonracers. But the rest of the gathered Earthers understandably aren’t so forgiving
“Aren’t you a Militia soldier? Whose side are you on?”
And Loran can’t hold it in any more. He announces he’s Moonrace, but he will fight anyone on either side who doesn’t value human life
Episode 9
Title: Coran Shouts, It’s a Gundam!
A huge ship lands
Three mobile suits emerge
A former military prisoner emerges – Corin Nander, a very dangerous man
The top people are just shipping whatever down
Sochie is mad at Loran, and Guin gives her a chance to pilot the White Doll
Henry asks Loran where they might find Laura
The Moonracers are failing to find more mobile suits, while the Earthers find plenty
Corin attacks the Earther excavation
“I know that you’re a Gundam!”
Loran thinking about how to maintain balance. He’s finally deciding he can’t even trust Dianna to maintain peace
Guin gambling on Sochie. Guin is a natural gambler. He’s the only one with the combination of intelligence and madness to actually fight the Moonrace
Keith meets with Col. Michael Gern, offering to sell the Milita info on a mechanical doll
Corin’s ridiculous. He’s a cartoon character
Ooh, great string and drum track here
Kuhil: “Perhaps I’ve been too quick to agree with Master Guin”
Sochie gets herself in a damn fight with Corin
Sochie’s kicking ass!
Corin’s mech is pretty sweet
BEAM SWORD
Loran doesn’t want to use his beam sabers, to avoid war
Episode 10
Title: Grave Visit
Sochie still being racist as fuck
Guin: “Is it that they won’t return, or that they can’t? They seem to be having trouble back home”
Magistrate Miran is Dianna’s suspicious assistant dude
Sid and his assistant are totally fine with Loran being Moonrace, because it helps their investigations
Dianna summons Kihel
Jessica the housekeeper asks Sochie to return home
Guin offers to take Dianna on an airship ride, which she accepts
Dianna and Kihel hanging out
Keith getting money from the Militia to open his own bakery
Now Dianna and Kihel are trading outfits, just being friends
Aw dang, they’re trading roles. Dianna’s quite the joker
Or she’s trying to escape, or she’s worried about being assassinated. All sorts of possible reasons here
Nice shots using the framing and rigging of the airship
Dianna seeing the truth of Sochie’s feelings from Kihel’s perspective. And Sochie and Loran sharing a really nice moment. “You can see how I feel, can’t you?” “I can. What you’re saying isn’t wrong.”
Dianna seeing the damage firsthand
“I launched a war against people such as this?”
The whole visit brings Dianna and Kihel much closer
Episode 11
Title: The Fall of Nocis
Lovely opening scene with Dianna as Kihel
Sid’s assistant Joseph doesn’t trust Loran
Corin wants to fight, and says the forces back on the moon, led by “Agrippa Maintainer” (my god these names) are pushing for a more aggressive approach
Are Kihel and Dianna STILL switched? That seems a little… improbable
The Militia decides independently to attack the Soleil, Dianna’s ship
Once again, the Moonrace attempt to stop the much weaker forces without actively killing people
“You’re addressing the next Lord of Inglessa!” “Inglessa is history! Your money isn’t worth the paper it’s printed on!” Guin is having a rough day
Keith takes that line hard, since he just sold the FLAT to finance his bakery. He’s invested in this specific world
Corin’s just destroying Nocis
Now the White Doll has a shield
The Counter attacks the Mountain Cycle
The episodes have been kinda muddled and circular for a little while now – it’s lost the pacing of the first half dozen or so
Episode 12
Title: Underground Passageways
Loran and Dianna fall into a cave
Loran feels awkward being familiar with who he assumes is Kihel
Guin meets with the daughter of the Lord of Lousana, another Amerian country (I guess this is where the USA would be). Guin’s on the ropes
Lily Borjarno is the woman, who’s happy to act as his spy
Corin’s idiots now firing railguns into the underground gas vents
They’re really just “bumbling fool” placeholders
“Being someone else is difficult” yeah, maybe you shouldn’t have indefinitely switched places with someone on the opposite side of a war, Dianna
A big fight between Loran and Corin. This one’s actually staged very well, using the cave, lots of physical exchanges, and Loran’s mech having a bad leg
They’re fighting by a magma river, lol
“There’s a memory somewhere in my brain that a Gundam once made a fool of me.” So is Corin a character we’re supposed to know from Gundam?
“You are thinking of another era, so your mission is complete.”
The White Doll flies to safety. And of course Corin just barely survives
And it ends with a strummed guitar ballad that’s overtly about Kihel and Dianna. You gotta kind of run with the cheese in this show
Episode 13
Title: An Older Woman
“Must it take a tragedy like Romeo and Juliet to finally make everyone see eye to eye?” You’re really hamming it up there, Kihel
The show does a good job of depicting a bunch of variant perspectives, but its pacifists are very simple-minded people. Maybe that’s intentional?
“Used the right way, weapons can be useful tools”
The show gets a bit less interesting with the characters on the run in a simple narrative like this
Great guitar and electronic tracks this episode
Dianna runs into “Will Game”, who she apparently knows, but who doesn’t know her?
He looks like Will Game the First
But another woman recognizes her as Dianna Soriel, and tries to attack her
The woman is Teteth
“He really wants to find Dianna Soriel, his ancestor’s love”
So Dianna has lived for hundreds of years, and loved this man’s ancestor?
Loran’s getting seduced by Teteth, but he’s being his oblivious self
Hot spring scene, lol
Ah, Dianna went into cold sleep after returning from the earth
The show’s at the point where it’s avoiding animation if it can
The Dianna Counter pilot’s frame just swooping in and out to convey dynamicism. It’s a weird effect
Another nice bit of choreography and animation as Loran wins this one
Well that was a strange little vignette
Episode 14
Title: Separated Again
They’ve now uncovered the spaceship in the cave
“I didn’t need to go back to the moon on that ship. What an enormous blunder I made.” Not the most invested in this Dianna story
“You have the soul of a poet, Miss Kihel.” The hell you on about Loran
The Lousana general has arrived
The Lousana troops have their own mechs, the Suicide Squad
Gavane Goonny is the name of the Lousana mech pilot. Lol
Will wants to prove his grandfather’s love story was real
Miran wants them to establish their own official territory
Teteth is convincing Will to go to the Dianna Counter! Because apparently she’s been a spy for years, or something?
“I won’t let such a simple-hearted, simple man get caught up in our war!” This whole Will thing has been kind of a mess
Episode 15
Title: Fleeting Memories
“Nocis was destroyed because he was such a bad negotiator, right?” Yeah, that pretty much covers it, Keith
Sort of a slow episode. Everyone moving between the various camps
Keith arrives at the Militia with a proposal from Guin to hire Moonrace engineers
More of these wacky screen-in-screen tricks. Fun fight, though
“Is that you, Miss Sochie? Stop running into battles!” “HEADS UP, RUNTS” And then she literally throws bombs at them. Sochie is the best
Episode 16
Title: All About Turn A
Now we’re getting a Dark History lesson? Covers 2,000 years, apparently
Nah, it’s just a recap episode
Episode 17
Title: Dust Blow at the State’s Founding
So Will Game is dead
They’re starting to really overuse this one guitar trill interlude track
Guin and Col. Michael of the Militia negotiating
Lily is jealous of Guin’s bond with “Kuhil”
A tornado approaches the moonrace ship!
The Moonracers think the storm is a curse
Gavane runs into Loran, and suggests they duel to see if they can keep their Moonrace engineers
“Earthers sure love to fight”
And now Corin’s two stooges sneak up on the duel
Lily shows up and stops the silly fight
The stooges steal a truck
Teteth runs into the stooges, and she’s apparently one of their sisters
She wants them to assassinate Dianna
Episode ends in a standoff again
Episode 18
Title: Kihel and Dianna
Laura Rolla is invited to Dianna’s statehood-declaring ceremony
Dianna tells the truth to Loran
She enlists him to get her back to the ship
That one guitar track again
They’re going to take Floria, which is presumably Florida
“My family went to sleep with the hope of being a family on earth. But they were of the lower class, and could only afford simple hibernation. My father died.”
The Militia’s getting everyone drunk, in order to stage an attack
Teteth’s got her own plan, of course
A few typoes here and there
Teteth finds ‘Dianna.’ “You were hired by Agrippa Maintainer, weren’t you?” “Not all of us want to return to Earth!”
Kihel… sends them back to Guin? Feels like she could do better than that
“Loran, Kihel Heim is spelling out my true feelings better than I ever could.” Kihel’s a badass!
Kihel pleading for a peaceful future
“We are all one humanity!”
And she cancels the creation of an independent state, and asks to reopen negotiations
“Kihel Heim, I believe I can leave the Moonrace in your hands.” DAMNIT DIANNA
Now everyone’s either mad, frustrated, or celebrating how naive her speech was
Episode 19
Title: Sochie’s War
Wilhelm is the name of the ship they dug out. And the Militia’s mad the Moonrace engineers are working on it
I really like the Moonrace engineer communicating with the earth one, engaging their relative masteries
Loran getting all insecure about Dianna doing menial labor
Horace is the Moonrace engineer
The White Doll repairs itself with nanomachines, and is way ahead of marine technology
“This might well be the mobile suit called ‘Gundam’ that’s spoken of in legend”
Kihel and Harry getting closer
Loran at least realized that Teteth was trying to assassinate Dianna
The ship is called the Gallop. It can repair mobile suits. Loran is the captain now
Sochie being her Sochie self. Pretty nice character animation here
Another very random and dangerous patrol. This show sure is lackadaisical in its actual military plotting. It’s much more focused on character stuff, but often at the expense of the world’s credulity
Great dynamic panning across this big shot
Nice little panel-in-panel comic shots of characters adding comments
“If you’re gonna kill me, do it! I’ll be with my father, so I’m not scared!” Damn Sochie
“They say you can fight mechanical dolls because you can see them, not the people inside”
Loran and Sochie are making up nicely
Episode 20
Title: Anise Power
Burrowing mechs fight the Lousana forces
And now the two stooges are being employed as farmers and complaining about being guarded by a donkey
Anise Bell is the woman living in the house. She doesn’t want to be driven off her land
Loran gets caught up helping the old lady as a battle rages. This show’s storytelling is so bizarre
“Do you hate the Moonrace?” “I hate anyone who stomps all over the land I’ve worked so hard to protect.”
More about appreciating the beautiful world and whatnot
The Rett Team are the current baddies. They look like half hippies, half barbarians – totally ridiculous
“Where do you think your food comes from? This land and we farmers make it!”
So these baddies are earthers whose ancestors were Moonrace?
“I couldn’t protect Miashei”
Episode 21
Title: “Dianna’s Hard Fight”
This show really has slowed down since the first eight or so episodes
WHY IS THE CAMERA SPINNING IN CIRCLES
The direction is just madness in this show
Sochie still holding her grudge
The two stooges take over the bridge because no one here is a professional
Nice Sochie animation
Kihel is kicking as much ass as she can
Agrippa is rebelling
I really like Kihel managing the politics on the Moonrace side. This is some compelling drama
There’s a real disconnect in the idea of this being a war and the lackadaisical way all of the characters act
“The first step that changes history is always a reckless one” A very Guin line. Nice choice
Lily talking shit to Dianna
And Dianna goes to help the hospital, becoming a maid. Another awkward episodic story. This show really needs to have its narratives flow and build more gracefully, not be these awkward little vignettes
The stooges are actually pretty solid workers. I hope they turn out okay
Lily stirring up more trouble for Dianna
This doctor scene is actually pretty solid. You can feel the stress Dianna is under
So Dianna’s seeing the cost of war on an individual level. But why does Dianna of all people need to see the cost of war? She’s always been the naive pacifist
Loran heads out to help with the laundry in the White Doll
“Machines are also tools to help people! They’re not just weapons!”
Episode 22
Title: “Harry’s Misfortune”
Settler families are sneaking away. More engineers lost
“We can’t go on living on nothing but rations like this”
Kihel and Harry share a melodramatic moment
Using mobile suits to gather chestnuts
So Harry goes to find “Kihel”
And gets stuck helping in the excavation
Wait, Harry knows the truth? I don’t remember that happening
The stooges have settled in as workers, which is pretty cute
Lt. Poe heads out to do some new stupid thing
Dianna, Harry, and Loran arguing about disguises. Also a cute scene
“When the need arises, sometimes one must protect the enemy!”
This fight is great. The whole militia and Loran, and then Harry jumps in
The ship is named the Willghem, after its discoverer
Episode 23
Title: “Teteth’s Last Words”
So Henry respects Kihel as well
“This won’t wreck our plan, right, Vanya?” A flashback to Teteth’s youth on the moon
Keith’s neutrality is helping create a neutral zone
“If everyone became a baker, people wouldn’t fight anymore”
Gavanne, uh, proposed to Sochie?
Oh hey, it’s the former prisoner, now also working on earth
I like the evolving politics of Earthers versus Moonrace
Keith manages what he can for his business, but calls the war leaders boys with toys
Corin Nander was his name. He seems to have entirely lost it
Fran Doll runs into Joseph Yaht
Joseph figures out who she is almost immediately
“You’re a Returnee too, huh?” “I used to think I was”
Teteth stages an abduction of the White Doll
“Turn A Gundam”
“The Gundam is the monster that brought about the dark history!”
Dianna knows exactly what’s happening, and is trying to snipe Teteth. Holy shit
“The war turned into a mess because the Moonrace kid had this thing” That’s… kinda true
Teteth’s mother was discriminated against because she was an Earther
The show can’t actually animate this fight between Loran and Teteth
Ah, her mother was an Earther who came back with Dianna Soriel
It’s nice how consistently this show demonstrates the consequences of Dianna’s simplistic optimism
Episode 24
Title: “Laura’s Howl”
“Spirit of the Moon, be one with us!” That bizarre group with the ridiculous fashion, the Rett team, are having some kind of ritual
Sochie’s been hanging out with the Suicide Squad, defending farms against Moonrace attacks prompted by late supplies from the moon. Everyone’s got their reasons
Gavane talking about the possible antagonist politics of Guin while stressing the militia has to stay united. Yeah, lots of nice subtleties to the rivalries and alliances
Everyone talking about Sochie’s proposal
Guin is working with the Lousanans to try and unite Ameria
“You can’t trust anybody who breathes earth air!” Moonrace bigoted against the Rett squad
And now the friggin’ Rett squad are raiding a hospital
Dianna slaps Sochie for being a brat to Loran
“This is a childish operation meant to drive a wedge between the militias”
Loran trying to negotiate with the Rett leaders directly
The Rett team is are descendants of subordinates Dianna left on earth
Loran trying to cheer up Dianna. She decides she must return to the Moon to settle things
And then they… start dancing. This show is weird
Episode 25
Title: “The Willghem Lifts Off”
Sochie’s conflicted. Gavane’s sweet, but she’s hung up on Loran
Corin Nander’s driving Dianna across the desert
The reporter girl Fran is getting all philosophical
It’s snowing
An attack planned on the Willghem
“Wherever there’s food, the mechanical dolls will come for sure.” Cutting line from a war orphan
Joseph and Fran have gotten extremely close extremely fast
Loran’s conflicted about his role
Another sweet fight. Basically every character engaged
And the Willghem takes flight