Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans Episode 5 – All about the atmosphere.

 

…Since well… the show has a lot of it in terms of its world building and theming plus… y’know… the action in this week’s episode takes place just above Mars atmosphere but anyway…

Now that the show has gone through four episodes of establishing foundations (or the ‘frame’ if we want to be nerds and connect it to the show), it’s time to start moving upwards and build upon it. As a result we do not get the nice character moments in previous episodes that lets us linger in idiosyncrasies of the world. However, that’s okay since we’ve got enough for right now and we REALLY need to get going with the plot. Still, there’s a lot to like even if it is little things like Mika instantly offering his blanket to Kudelia moments after he notices her visiting him, to McGillis’s reaction to Tekkadan’s ‘present’ to him by episode’s end.

Right now, it’s all about the action, and after two episodes of the Barbatos lumbering through Martian gravity, the space warfare in this episode is great. Even with the Ahab Reactor and its “Nanolaminate” armour, the Barbatos is severely underpowered, with only an artillery cannon (wonder when we’ll get our beam rifle this series?), that big spear club, and Mika as its pilot. Still, it pulls through with some style to spare, as each kill by the Barbatos is deserved as it makes due against the numerous, well-equipped, forces of Gjallarhorn. Even Bauduin and McGillis give him a hard time, and just about get him if it weren’t for the rest of Tekkadan pulling together after Gjallarhorn was waiting for them. Even Eugene, who’s been a bit of a grump after Orga took over, gets to be a badass with a Mobile Worker near the end tail of the episode. Shiro Amada, eat your heart out.

Other than that though, there’re some things that kinda raises a lot of questions and warning flags. It appears the Bernstein escort consists of pretty much the entire fighting force of Tekkadan, with the accountant and the youngest set of boys left behind on Mars. Seeing them as they see off Orga and crew is somewhat worrisome for if Gjallarhorn or maybe the backstabbing Orcus Group decide to act, they’d go after them and well… it wouldn’t be at all pleasant. Same goes with Miss Sakura, Cookie, Cracker, Digestive, Saltine, Oreo, E.L. Fudge, Ritz, and all of Biscuit’s relatives that probably do not even exist. Also, I’d like to hear more of Atra. She quits her job as a shopkeeper assistant and gets hired on the spot by Orga to be Tekkadan’s cook. Found it interesting that she only refers to the shopkeeper when she makes her explanation why she is able to join. Is she an orphan, too? If so, what’s her story? Given how she’s gonna be with the crew all the way to Earth, that’d be nice to know. Maybe she will also have bonding time with Kudelia. I get the feeling there’s gonna be a sister-like bond between them when they aren’t competing for Mika’s affection.

Ah well, we’ll see next week when it appears like some downtime will be shown during the transit from Mars to Earth.

Iron-Blooded Notes:

  • Was wrong again. Todo doesn’t die, but thankfully gets the shit beaten out of him and send to Gjallarhorn. I guess Orga will only kill if the troublesome person is enough of a threat like the First Group Commander. Losers like Todo instead end up the way he did.
  • Didn’t really care for how the show kinda cut out Ein after he went after Akihiro’s Graze. It just kinda ended and we didn’t see him until Tekkadan escaped. Am really curious how his development goes from there. Is he gonna be a tragic hero that’s consumed by revenge, or an ideological firebrand that foments a big hatred against Martians?
  • Bauduin, your prejudice is showing. Guess he thinks ENOUGH about Martians not to want to run them over with a car, but not enough to let them be independent.
  • Yes to Kudelia in a business suit? Yes to Kudelia in a business suit.

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