Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans Episode 14 - The Revolting Colony Affair

Are you guys alright? Had a nice week off not thinking about Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans? Ready to get back to watching this show that’s been filled with a lot of great things but you feel like it’s taking too much of its sweet time getting to Earth?

Well good, cuz it looks like it is all downhill from here.

One would not be wrong to think the proximity of the colonies to Earth means they are just as affluent as the very planet they orbit. Yes, to some extent. Turns out even if you’re within eyeshot of Earth (and the show thankfully lets our heroes see it for the first time here), you might be just as marginalized as a Martian citizen. The conversation between Orga and the dock workers initially starts off as somewhat pleasant. Yeah something’s wrong but there is empathy between those who have a bad lot in life. Then to our surprise (and Tekkadan’s), the dock workers think of them as knights and Kudelia as their savior. Turns out Nobliss’s plans are more sinister than thought. It is not enough to make Kudelia a martyr on her home turf, but a martyr to every marginalized group aside from Earth. It’s a striking divide between how Tekkadan and the dock workers operate. Despite their similar upbringings, Tekkadan does not seek revolutionary change, but just a place in the cosmos for them. These guys want to bring the revolution home and take up arms for it. Guess when the haves are within eye and earshot, resentment can probably be a bit more pronounced than if you’re in the boonies and don’t know anything else.

Either way, our nascent company may now turn into reluctant revolutionaries. It makes me wonder if Turbine is well-aware of what was brought to them. If so, that’s quite a betrayal for somebody that considers him a brother. These kids are alright, but again they get screwed by everybody else.

And what of poor Kudelia? This episode makes me realize how relatively modest Kudelia is in her goals compared to other Gundam ‘princesses’. She only wants independence for her particular region of Mars, not for everybody else for some grand dream of hers. It is going to shock her to the core that her name has been bandied around as the ‘one true saviour’ of everybody from Mars to the colonies. Best comparison that can be made between her and other previous Gundam peace princesses? Probably Cagalli during her stint on Gundam SEED Destiny: A reluctant leader trying to keep things in order for her citizenry. Thankfully Kudelia is without the strange, poorly-written, politics Orb had never mind the continuous disappointment Cagalli gave as she buckled on everything, especially since she piloted mobile suits. This said, maybe this is her time to shine and well… raise her flag.

Quite a second half debut, show. A story that is about at first war as viewed from the underclass may now become a story about war OF the underclass.

Iron-Blooded Notes:

  • New OP and ED. Both not as memorable as the first ones, but are good enough. Love the visuals of the OP.
  • Atra has some fucking adorable PFDs in this episode. (PFD = Pouty Faces of Determination)
  • I don’t expect many good things about Biscuit’s reunion with his older brother. Guy’s name, Savarin, is apparently also the name of a French cake. Symbolism that may imply that he’s gone hoity-toity and soft compared to the crunchiness of Biscuit, cookie, cracker, and Granny Sakura Pretzel? Maybe.
  • Oh look, a masked man. Can’t have a Gundam series without that guy.

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