OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)As Machu reels from her unique connection to Shuji being shared with Nyann, she overhears Annqi planning to strike a deal with Chalia to sell Shuji out after the next Clan-Bat.OUR TAKEWe’re at the halfway point of the season (HOPEFULLY not the series because there is no way we’re covering everything necessary in just six more episodes) and we may have hit the most interesting yet, which is kinda funny since this one has the least amount of mech combat so far. Instead, it’s mainly about showing how the status quo we’ve all gotten comfortable with, Machu and Shuji fighting clan battles and making money for the Pomeranians, is pretty much over. Their leader Annqi, who I haven’t really felt the need to mention by name until now because she hasn’t been a very active part of the plot until now. It’s not like she just blended into the background or anything, but aside from bringing Machu and Shuji onto their team, she hasn’t done very much. Well, that changes now, as she has understandably decided that having two very distinct mobile suits that the government is looking for has outlived its usefulness on the underground robot fighting circuit. This leads Machu to get over her brief falling out with Nyann and angst about not being able to think of a career for a school assignment in order to go warn him, and we’ll see how that goes next week.Meanwhile, this is also the episode that gets waist deep in both the background politics of this world, specifically the ongoing cold war between two members of the Zabis, Gihren and Kycillia, who are among the head family Zeon. In the original timeline, they were both killed near the end of the original series, but since Zeon won, they’re still at each other’s throats for more power even though Gihren is the Supreme Commander. What the conflict is exactly and where it may lead is still vague, but what we do know is that this leads to ton of pre-existing characters and concepts from the proper timeline getting to make their debut, including characters who originally appeared in Zeta Gundam, the first sequel that takes place a couple years after when this show would have. The main thing to take away from this for now is that a new character Deux Murasame and new-to-this-series character Gates Capa are part of a Federation resistance against Zeon and introduced as “Cyber Newtypes”, which are basically artificially created Newtypes made to fight the naturally occurring ones. And it looks like that’ll be pretty soon, as the next episode preview shows Machu back in the cockpit and in a pretty intense battle. I think it’s safe to say next week is gonna go a little…Psycho.
