English Dub Review: Mobile Suit Gundam Iron-Blooded Orphans “Counsel”

We are FA-MI-LY! My wives who are also like daughters to me!

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

Orga and some of the boys see off the Turbine girls now that their job in training them is done. Goodbyes are a little harder for Lafter, however, as she gives a heartfelt final lecture and handshake to Akihiro.

Iok continues his trend of failing upwards as he contacts Jasley about his plan to take down Tekkaden, which starts with taking down the Turbines by framing them for illegal weapons smuggling. Also, Julieta is there.

Rustal decides to take the “audience surrogate” ball for the episode by expressing regret regarding Iok’s continued existence, as well as telling Vidar to knock it off with all the blatantly obvious foreshadowing and just tell us who he is already. Vidar responds with even more obvious foreshadowing.

McGillis keeps up his conversation with his manservant Isurugi, this time about how Flauros’ cannons are kinda-sorta illegal, but more importantly that NOW IS THE TIME TO TAKE ACTION. Also, even more, obvious foreshadowing about Vidar. At this point, I’m almost expecting it to be Biscuit. Now THAT would be a twist.

Mikazuki and Atra chill on the ride over to the Saisei to repair Barbatos. Mika is plugged into the Gundam, what with it being the only way for him to control half of his body now, illustrating his concerning reliance on it. Atra mulls over her plea to Kudelia to get Mika to knock her up in order to get him to not fight anymore, and her own resignation that she’s probably not going to be able to despite her intense feelings for him. Putting aside the eyebrow-raising nature of that train of that for now, Kudelia gives her the confidence to tough it out and stick by him, even if he’s thick as a brick when it comes to love.

That’s the first half. The second is a lot more focused, with a specific spotlight on the Turbines and their…let’s say “unorthodox” family dynamic. Amida notes Lafter’s change in behavior and tells Naze, who seems almost happy about it, approving anyone from Tekkaden to be a good prospective boyfriend. Apparently, Naze sees the girls as both wives AND daughters, which…okay, I consider myself a pretty open-minded guy, but it probably wouldn’t be a controversial statement to say those are two things that definitely do not overlap.

But hey, flashback time! Once upon a time, Naze hired Amida, then a mercenary, to help him pull a big score and they soon fell in love. Eventually, they came across the Peinnutz Company, one of many all-women shipping companies that did risky jobs for dirt cheap. Naze used his connections to gather tens of thousands of them and make them his nominal wives, as well as his crew, and then joined Teiwaz for support. This wasn’t approved by his peers, including Gasley, but they carried on and made a name for themselves. They reflect on these things and their growing connection to Tekkaden, and naturally peaceful reflections and sudden dumps of backstory are followed by nice and positive events, right?

Wrong! Iok and Jasley’s plan goes into action as Gjallerhorn begins raiding Naze’s ships. Word reaches McMurdo and he plans to determine a way to resolve this. Orga reaches out to McGillis for help, but it’s out of his jurisdiction. Finally, Orga gets a message to Naze, and tries to help, but is told that he needs to protect his own flock while the Turbines deal with their own problems.

OUR TAKE

This episode was pretty choppy. The first half was more like a bunch of extended scenes from last week, and not many really added much, if at all. Though all the shipping fuel between Akihiro & Lafter and Mikazuki & Atra was certainly cute as hell.

The other half was more where the proverbial meat was, with more focus on the Turbines then we’ve probably ever gotten, and info on Naze’s past that helps us to see parallels between him and Orga that likely fuel his affection for the guy. The idea behind Naze’s harem/crew/family is well-meaning, even if the execution is iffy, and it is actually refreshing to not see them have to force some artificial love triangle between Naze, Akihiro, and Lafter (or Kudelia, Atra, and Mika, for that matter). Gundam’s been guilty of doing that quite a bit over its nearly 40-year history, so it’s nice to see that not be the go-to this time. But it’s looking like rough seas ahead for the Turbines, and it may not be a happily ever after waiting for them.

And lastly, the final new Opening and Ending sequences, which give us a bit to chew on and speculate about going into the remaining 12 episodes. We have the title logo shown over Red Spider Lilies, flowers associated in Japan with death and the afterlife. Orga looks boldly ahead at a sunrise before picking up a corpselike Mika to join the rest of the group. We see a glorious display of all the new Mobile Suits in action (available in stores now!) to heart-thumping J-Rock, a flash of Tekkaden’s allies and adversaries, and finally, Mika in the cockpit with the lilies reflected in his eyes.

The Ending, in contrast, is pretty wistful, mainly showing Tekkaden in a group photo, possibly to show how they are now before things really hit the fan.

Even with a pretty slow and unevenly paced starter, the new opening seems to promise an action-packed finale, so I’m holding out hope on that.