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

It’s an anagram for “Space Toga”.

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

McGillis is confronted by Arae about some bad news: He’s been ousted from Gjallerhorn. Seems that eviscerating spanking he and Tekkadan took last episode was enough to decide the other Seven Star members that Rustal’s their best bet. It certainly didn’t hurt that, out of the two, he DIDN’T try to overthrow them on the basis of an archaic fairy tale, but now with the outing of McGillis’ less than legitimate lineage and the realization he can’t even back up all of his boasting in a fight, it’s clear he’s simply an upstart jeopardizing their rule, leaving Rustal to take the role of gallant hero restoring order.

Though he’s certainly not out of the fight just yet, and Arae is indebted to him for his current position, so he allows McGillis and Tekkadan to make their way to Mars unseen. It’s a bittersweet homecoming for the boys, who are low on supplies and morale, and not happy about having to sneak back to their own headquarters in secret. Not helping things is McGillis’ constant cockiness, despite him being responsible for dragging them all into his mess with nothing to show for it but more dead comrades and a target painted on their backs. So, now that he’s dependent on them, it’s either their way or the highway.

McGillis chooses…highway. Apparently to go check something out, though this really only serves to give some of the group a chance to stew in their growing rage against him, to the point that the very reasonable decision of just throwing him under the bus and pinning all of it on him is tossed around. It’d certainly be a fitting end for someone who’s done nothing by string along even the people who DID like him, but it would be against Orga’s code of honor…for now.

Not that it matters, since kicking the beehive that controls the global media basically turns you into Public Enemy #1 anyway, as news reports cement the world’s association between McGillis’ rebellion and Tekkadan. Cookie and Cracker have to deal with rumors about Biscuit spreading at their school, and Kudelia’s most powerful sources of funding start pulling out to avoid funding known criminals. Rustal admits to Gaelio that he could let them die out slowly on Mars and be no worse off, but because they’ve managed to make such a name for themselves, wiping them out (either by killing them directly or destroying their reputation) has just become worth so much more.

And also Iok asks to get in the fight, saying he won’t get into any unnecessary battles. Yeah, okay buddy, just don’t go accidentally waking up another mech satan and go from there, eh?

Kudelia finally manages to pay the group a visit, where Mikazuki finally gets to see her handiwork in the garden. She meets with Orga, who gives her the usual Old Yeller speech about leaving them behind so she doesn’t get dragged down with them, and then giving the same speech to the rest of the remaining members (fittingly on top of the same ledge where they first formed some forty episodes ago). Everyone naturally gives the same response that they’re with this until the bitter end…except for Zack, who knows this thing is going south but obviously doesn’t feel the best about leaving his friends to die.

In a rare wholly positive moment for the episode, Kudelia visits Mika in the hanger, where he asks her rather nonchalantly to help raise his child with Atra. Yep, seems Mr. Augus can still make the ol’ flesh Beam Saber work, and Atra might be preggers. Mika owes everything to Orga and has to stick with him until the end, so he’d like it if she was around to help if he died…NO, BAD EPISODE! Leave this happy! Well, it makes its way back once Atra shows up, weirdly still kind of a third wheel despite actually winning the love triangle AND being totally open to Kudelia getting a mini Mika of her own.

Whether or not anything steamy happens in the hanger is left ambiguous, as Orga swallows his pride and contacts McMurdo for one last request: getting ahold of Rustal to sell out McGillis and formally dissolve Tekkadan. Unfortunately, they’re well past the point that. With dissension in the ranks, Gjallerhorn needs someone to blame in order to regain the people’s trust, and Tekkadan is just ripe enough to work as the Big Bad for everyone to rally against. Orga begs them to just kill him if everyone else can live but to no avail. They’re no better than corralled animals waiting for slaughter now.

The guys aren’t too happy about this attempted martyrdom, and so the next option is running for their lives, or at least the lives of the people they’ll become to go into hiding. Things begin looking up as Merribit and Dexter run in to announce they’ve secured some money to head to Earth! Everyone’s spirits lift and the plan goes into motion. Even the ending song playing seems to be pointing towards good news!

At least until they check the internet, which has been cut. Even worse, Gjallerhorn has surrounded, with McGillis out in front to greet them.

OUR TAKE

For the final breather episode, a LOT sure happened. McGillis seems to still hold some sway on events going forward (a big reason I think that ending might be another fake out like last time), but this was very firmly a Tekkadan story. They’re back to square one after coming so far, and might be about to lose it all because they just happened to shack up with the wrong egomaniacal wannabe dictator, and haven’t we all been there at one point?

Aside from settling things with Zack’s dissent last episode and learning a bit about Dane’s past, we also see Merribit come full circle from her position in Season 1. When at first she was begging for the children to not fight and make better lives for themselves, now she’s right there with them as they fight to stay alive. The main love triangle of Mika, Atra, and Kudelia also took an interesting swerve, but thankfully in a positive and non-drama filled way. In previous similar Gundam series, the main love interest is a gentle, revolutionary peace ambassador usually cemented her ending up with, or at least find some sort of relationship with the main pilot character (who would be pretty stoic and seemingly unfeeling much like Mika), but major points to Atra for snagging the victory AND the guy’s kid! I’m actually drawing a blank on ANY previous protagonist pilots managing to actually conceive a child by the end, OR have anything close to a polyamorous relationship, so way to break new ground there, IBO.

Though that doesn’t do much to settle the ever-encroaching stench of certain doom creeping in closer and closer. Things seem pretty bleak for our boys, even with their execution momentarily stayed. They’ve still got three Gundams, but not even that’s going to assure victory. And what will victory even look like now that they’ve got almost all of Earth against them? We’re on a nonstop track through the final three episodes, so hold onto your butts.