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sazabi-rot · 2 months

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Aight, so I'm just gonna post a quick excerpt from my Charmuro fic under the cut. I could use some pointers because I feel like I write Amuro really ooc, which pains me greatly. I'm also not the best at writing, so bear with me.

This is also a major au that doesn't make much sense, but whatever, it's a fanfic.

It was a funny thing, how quickly his life had fallen apart.

He wasn't unused to his life being controlled and meticulously planned out without his own wellbeing in mind by others, all for the sake of the 'Greater Good.' The seven years spent in enforced isolation after his performance in the One Year War was proof of that enough. Instead of being applauded for his efforts in defending Earth he was instead hidden away, deemed too powerful and 'dangerous' for contact with the outside world. Too much of a potential threat.

Yet another drafted teenager, being punished in one way or another for his service.

Though even that didn't seem as egregious as what he was now being subjected to.

The arranged marriage to the leader of Neo Zeon was purely political, Bright had explained, looking at Amuro with that same tired sympathy the younger man had grown so accustomed to during their time serving and knowing one another. It spoke a thousand words that were otherwise left unsaid as he broke the news and Amuro didn't have to parse through them all very hard to understand the general idea being communicated.

I'm sorry. I'm sorry something like this is happening again to you. You don't deserve it.

Amuro was sure Bright was sent by the leaders of Londo Bell in an attempt to soften the blow of the announcement, but he didn't much care for any sort of attempted platitudes. That didn't mean however he would take his anger out on Bright.

There was someone else he had in mind who was much more deserving.

Bright let out a long, heavy, sigh and wiped a hand across his face. It was a face that held a permanent sense of exhaustion and belied his true age, war and leadership being thrust upon his shoulders at such a young age that left him looking much older than he actually was. Amuro sometimes had to remind himself that the other man was only a few scarce years older than himself. "I'm sorry, Amuro," Bright finally said, at the end of the formal speech he was sure the Commander had been prepped on. "I tried everything I could to get you out of this. There's just no way."

He didn't respond for a moment, staring down at the half full glass of whiskey cupped between his palms. Bright had told him he had news when he arrived, and the look in his eyes had told Amuro it wouldn't be anything he would be particularly fond of. So, he did what he always did when situations like these arose that he knew could potentially be taxing.

He had poured a drink.

He tipped back the glass and gratefully drank down the amber draught, accustomed by now to the burn. "I suppose it's expected I'd be the one picked by him. Char always did have an odd fascination towards me I felt."

Bright blinked at him, his brows furrowing. "Amuro... Char didn't arrange this. Londo Bell proposed an arranged marriage for peace's sake. They deemed you the best candidate due to you two's... past."

Amuro's eyes widened momentarily and he stiffened, before sinking back into the couch he had been seated on and looking down again into the now empty glass. He glanced towards his liquor cabinet and thought for a moment.

He would need to restock by the time tonight was over.

"Ridiculous," He muttered darkly. "Our 'past?' Which one? The one where we were comrades for a few short weeks? Or the time before, where we nearly killed each other more times than I can remember." He huffed a humorless laugh. "What a brilliant plan."

Bright looked at him closely. "I don't like it anymore than you do. But aside from you, there's no one that knows him anymore. Not in the same way, at least. You may not believe it, but you're the best bet we have. I saw you two aboard the Argama together, at Dakar, and all throughout the One Year War. Some sort of understanding exists between you two."

A white hot flash of anger licked at Amuro's insides at the words coming from the man sitting opposite him. He and Char hardly knew each other. What was a few weeks of tolerating each other in comparison to the years of bitterness and hatred? What did it matter if they had reached an understanding towards the very end of their days aboard the Argama when Char's current policy of eco-terrorism and dictatorial rulership over Neo Zeon went against everything Amuro believed in? Everything they had seemingly promised each other?

No, he was not their best bet. It was more likely he would end up murdering the other man before the first month had passed, and where would their peace treaty be then? In the grave, six feet under along with the lives of countless of innocents.

There was nothing he could do. Nothing he could say to get through to Char anymore. Nothing he wanted to say to him either.

He grit his teeth, hands tightening on his glass.

Bright sighed again, this one just as heavy and resigned as the last. "The ceremony will be held in two weeks time. After that you'll join Char in the Principality of Zeon. You're... encouraged to stay near, for the first year, at least."

Amuro mulled over it silently for a moment before replying tonelessly "So I'm a prisoner again."

That earned him a stern glare, but one without any real malice. "That's not what I said."

"It's what you meant."

He heard Bright stand and felt a large hand land on his shoulder. "Please, Amuro. It won't be like before."

Amuro didn't respond, nor did he look up at Bright.

No. It'll be worse.

At his refusal to respond, at least verbally, Bright huffed. "It's set in stone. There's nothing more to be done."

He heard Bright collect his things and finally lifted his head to watch as the other man shrugged on his coat, hand stilling on the doorknob as he looked over his shoulder at Amruo's still seated figure.

"You're a fighter, always have been. You'll make it through this." He paused before continuing, a ghost of a smile on his lips. "Besides, you've kicked his ass before. There's no doubt in my mind if he gets out of line you can do it again."

With a nod and a solemn look in his eyes, Bright turned back towards the door and left, stepping into the chill night air.

Though the door was only open a few seconds at most, Amuro couldn't help feeling like the cold air swept into his house, creeping through the halls and lingering far longer than it should have.

-----

The wedding was arranged for a clear and crisp autumn day, and Amuro wasn't sure if to consider it a small mercy it was allowed to be held on Earth or instead view it as a mockery, that his last day on the planet for the foreseeable future was such a lovely one despite it being what felt like the definitive end of his life.

He refused a tuxedo or elaborate custom suit (both ever so gratefully offered by Londo Bell). He chose his mess dress uniform instead, the absolute closest he was to getting away with wearing his pilot suit which he would have preferred. He hoped he evoked the image of a soldier going off to battle, as opposed to a willing groom.

He doubted anyone else saw it that way, that he had essentially been drafted yet again.

At present he sat waiting in his private chamber for the ceremony to begin, a room that looked far too lavish and gaudy for his taste. In fact the whole venue was, he had surveyed the ornate hall in which his life would be soon sighed away before he has been herded to where he currently was, and found it distasteful. Large, marble walls and floors with golden streaks traversing said stone, tapering up into a domed stained glass ceiling, dozens of polished wood pews facing the alter where he would stand face to face with Char once again.

His stomach turned at the thought, and he swallowed down a lump in his throat.

Char, Casval, Édouard, Quattro.

He wondered who would stand opposite of him at the alter today.

"Amuro?"

He didn't need to turn around to recognize the hesitant voice of Fraw Bow calling out to him from the now open doorway of his chamber. She looked at him with the familiar, pinched expression of worry he was so accustomed to seeing on her face. All their time together growing up had taught him her tells well. He remained staring straight ahead, sitting stiffly with a look of resignation directed at the flowered wallpaper in front of him.

"Amuro, please," she tried again, a note of pleading in her tone this time. The click of her heels could be heard on the floor as she approached him, until he could sense her presence directly behind him. "Please, speak to me."

"There's not much to say, is there?" He replied in an irritated snap before he tempered himself. Fraw Bow was not at fault here. She did not deserve any of his ire just like how Bright did not deserve to be shot for being the messenger. He took a deep inhale before finally shifting in his chair so he could face his longtime friend. "Forgive me, Fraw Bow. I didn't... I didnt mean to lash out at you."

Her face was set in fond yet sad smile as she looked down at him, a slender hand going to run through his curls soothingly. He closed his eyes and leaned into the touch, exhaling yet again. This time he was considerably more comforted. "I could hardly blame you right now, even if you had meant to," she replied, pulling her hand back. Amuro opened his eyes and caught sight of the gold band on her ring finger and swallowed thickly. The reminder of Hayato and Katz stung at his heart, a burning and searing pain that branded their names on his heavy conscious.

He averted his eyes. Now wasn't the time.

"Still." He said somewhat lamely, unsure of what to say in response. He wasn't used to not being held accountable for his actions, but ever since the marriage was announced everyone who still remained in his life had been treating him like glass. As if this was any worse than the countless other atrocities he had been forced to endure.

it was, it was so much worse, he couldn't stand it and he wanted out, wanted out now

"Now, now," she said softly, hand moving to rest on her hip. "No need for that. You'll- you'll be fine." Her voice wavered only slightly, betraying her true feelings and doubts about the matter. Amuro sighed heavily upon hearing her voice crack but straightened up again in his seat.

"Alright. Alright then, Fraw." He said neutrally, not believing a word either one of them were saying. For the first time he cautioned a glance at the ornate clock situated above the entrance to his dressing room. Five minutes. Five minutes until he needed to leave this enclosed little piece of safety he was situated in.

#fanfiction #help #gundam #mobile suit gundam #amuro ray #char aznable #charmuro #amuchar #bright noa #fraw bow

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whypolar · 9 months

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Gundam Unicorn OVA 3: The Ghost of Laplace

Some of the most stunning visuals from these OVAs yet. What a beautiful piece of animation.

Choosing which screenshots to use for this post hurt me. If I had my way, I would include multiple shots of every sequence where something explodes. Many, many things explode.

I'm glad I don't have problems with flashing lights. The lasers in this one get pretty intense.

This post is very long. There's a lot of novel stuff I want to talk about. Let's get into it!

(Previous posts: Day of the Unicorn, The Second Coming of Char)

I won't lie, they got further into the plot than I thought they were going to. I was expecting more time in Palau and then Riddhe and Mineva arriving and doing stuff on Earth, with the confrontation in the ruins of Laplace being saved for the next one. If I'd paid attention to the title I could have realized they were going to go to the coordinates, but I obviously did not. It caught me pretty off guard!

I definitely feel like this one benefits from multiple watches. They all do, for sure, but this one had a lot of little moments that were much stronger the second time through. A lot happens very quickly! Taking the time to pay attention is rewarding, especially in terms of emotional stakes. It was easy on a first watch to just get caught up in the spectacle and not fully process everything that's happening-- and that's for me, who already knew the background context and plot beats going in.

The Obligatory Music Section

Some of these tracks were probably also in the last two, but I didn't link them so it doesn't count. Here are the standouts I'm highlighting this time:

Bring on a War -- I love the strings on this track. Guitar? The instrumentation for this entire soundtrack is so fun and complex. The intense drums! The woodwinds! The weird ghostly vocals! That repeated noise that sounds like a gunshot and breaking glass! So good.

Capture -- Equal parts jaunty and menacing. I like the bells at the start.

Merry-go-round -- The credits song. Pop music with lyrics about the inescapable repetition of history: it's a proud Gundam movie tradition.

Environments

You guys remember places?

We're spending time in and around a large colony again, so the sweeping establishing shots are back. The space port is so beautiful, and so alien in how you're expected to traverse it.

I definitely will be looking up the staff once I'm done watching these. For many reasons, really, but I'm very curious about who was doing the environmental art and design.

And while we're talking about environments--

Operation Billiard

The most important reveal: the glowing orb pillars in the purple palm tree lounge are low-gravity hologram pool tables.

It turns out that the vaporwave room was a billiards hall this whole time! I assume this is a nod to how the attack plan on Palau was named "Operation Billiard" in the novels.

We get a quick explanation of the plan in the OVA (separate the asteroids that make up Palau, seal the military port, rescue Banagher during the confusion) but they don't bother to explain the mechanics in detail. Why would they need to? When you see a bunch of explosions and a giant fuckoff laser, it is immediately obvious why that might be a problem for Neo Zeon.

Fuck that one Eye-Zack in particular

If you're curious about why it's "Operation Billiard": Palau is made up of four asteroids. They planned to use the force of the Mega Particle Cannon to knock them all into each other. This would obstruct the exits for the military port in the centre of the asteroid cluster, trapping the Zeon forces inside.

The manoeuvre worked as intended, but Frontal knew the attack was coming, so he was able to move all his forces off Palau ahead of time.

(A small number of other random Zeon-aligned soldiers were deliberately left out of the loop to act as bait, because the Sleeves didn't care about them. The way the guys that try to escape through the cracks get picked off one by one is kind of horrific. They might as well be marching single file into a mech-destroying meat grinder.)

I do think the attack on Palau is more harrowing in the novel. In terms of the combat, I'm not sure if that could be avoided. It feels inherently easier for me to remember that every mobile suit is a person while reading textual description than when there's a beautiful laser light show going off before my eyes.

That said, in some places the framing is just different:

I really love this scene, for the record.

In the novel, Nashiri is a perspective character during the battle. We are reading from his viewpoint inside the cockpit with his crew while they pick off Zeon soldiers one by one-- and then the Sinanju swoops into view, and they immediately know the plan is compromised and that they're going to die. They are burned and vaporized to dust, and then we switch to Angelo's perspective.

What I find memorable about the novel scene is the loss of life: how methodically they had been killing, and how quickly the Sinanju does the same to them. How they saw it coming but could do nothing. How living, breathing human beings could be reduced to literally nothing in an instant.

The OVA positions the camera outside, with the Sinanju. We see Frontal slowly and deliberately carving out the Loto's entire chest to make sure he got all of them. We do not see or hear any of the Loto's pilots. We see inside Frontal's cockpit, for a shot of him looking cooly down at his handiwork before moving on. What I find memorable about this scene is that Frontal is scary.

(Imagine me here getting stabbed with a beam weapon, saying "Wow! Cool Antagonist!")

It's not like death isn't thematically important in the OVA-- they absolutely remind you with dialogue that every mobile suit blowing up is a person dying. We see a shot of this same Loto and its partner after the battle as burned out wrecks, and it's clear Daguza and the other ECOAS guys are thinking about their dead comrades. Riddhe and Banagher both deliberately attempt to spare enemy pilots. The level of destruction is immense! The robots are simply too cool. It can't be helped.

This is one of the benefits of multiple watches. When you've already seen the cool robots once before, you can focus in more closely on what they're doing, and what that means.

There's another reason the battle loses some emotional charge: focus is drawn away from noncombatants almost entirely. We see very little of the regular people who live on Palau.

For all Riddhe assures Mineva that they have no intention of attacking the areas where civilians live, it is unavoidable that slamming the asteroids they live on together will have consequences.

The novel describes intense earthquakes. Two residential blocks collapse. Residents are rolling and tumbling around. Windows of the houses that stay standing shatter. You get a real sense of fear on the civilian level.

The OVA gives us a quick scene with Tikva. There's some dust and some shaking, but he stays standing easily enough. We don't see anything collapse on screen. We hear people screaming in confusion and terror, but none of them are visible. Likewise, the streets are totally empty of people and identical to their first appearance when Banagher is making his way to the space port. Civilians are basically not relevant.

The novel spends a lot more time on Palau even before the attack. We spend time with Gilboa's family. Banagher genuinely befriends these people! He plays with Gilboa's kids and fixes a machine they use to make a living. It's a bit sad to lose all that, but I get it.

There's also scene in the novel where a truck driver in one of the connecting tunnels gets blown back fifty feet by the force of ECOAS' bombs going off, slams into a wall, and passes out. He wakes up when he's discovered several hours later, after the attack is over. It's more funny than anything, because he's just like, fine, lmao. I was so sure he was done. Fifty feet just intuitively sounds like too much to be survivable, until you remember there's no gravity.

Anyway, you wanna know something that was appropriately menacing during the Palau attack? The Unicorn. The Unicorn was perfect.

The joy of a hunter.

Marida vs. Banagher

Oh... this sequence is so visually striking.

I was shocked by how quickly it all happened. This isn't a criticism. I guess I was expecting it to linger more, like the scenes with Amuro and Lalah in '79. The amount of concrete "information" conveyed here is so much more than that, and yet it covers it all in less than two minutes. You certainly get a sense for how instantaneously Marida and Banagher are communicating, and how overwhelming it must be for both of them.

I will likely revisit Marida's backstory in future posts, in relation to other scenes that happen later. For now, I'll just say I was surprised and impressed.

I'm admittedly very curious how this scene reads for people who don't already know the backstory going in. Hell, how does it read for people who aren't familiar with Gundam ZZ?

(I put on the dub for my second watch. This is the first time I heard how "Ple" is pronounced in English. Fucked up.)

I wish I'd taken notes on specifics, but I think they shifted some dialogue around between combat, the Newtype link, and the scene in the hospital room. It's not really important, but I think it's interesting how scenes with similar dialogue or themes can be folded into each other in an adaptation.

Some stuff cut from the hospital scene:

There's a CT scan of Banagher on the wall in novel. "You checked whether I was a Cyber-Newtype too, didn't you?" When I read the English translation, I thought they dodged telling the audience what the result of the test actually was. I thought that was a really interesting choice. Unfortunately, I don't think it's actually the case, having checked the Japanese. I can't be 100% sure, but I think the meaning of the line is that as far as the doctor could tell with the equipment they had available, he detected no evidence of Banagher being a Cyber-Newtype. 😔

When Banagher and the doctor discuss Newtype theory, they cut a line where the doctor suggests that a world where everyone knows what everyone else is thinking without obfuscation or deception might not be the magic bullet to end war, and could even be more violent. He's also a little more direct in the novel about implying that the emergence of Newtypes could create a divide between them and "Oldtypes."

The doctor points out that Newtypes are theorized to evolve in space, and how this would be a problem for Earth-Space relations. Banagher says that they should just make everyone evolve all at once. The Japanese line seems a bit vague, but the English translation interprets this as him suggesting they pull a Char / Mafty and send everyone into space. I think that's a fun way to take it, particularly because Banagher thinks it's a childish idea even as he says it. It's cute to me.

Full Frontal

In the novel, we see Frontal arranging his battle plan before the attack begins-- we see that he knows the attack coming, we see him move his troops off Palau, and we see him give orders to leave the Unicorn where Banagher will find it. In the OVA, we learn most of this in retrospect. I don't think the framing changes much, except insofar as it means less screen time for him and Angelo.

The big scene we lose is the one where they speak to one of their major sponsors in Neo Zeon, the guy who owns Palau. He tries to goad Frontal into officially admitting to being Char and taking off the mask, implicitly threatening to rescind his support if he doesn't. Frontal responds to this with "That's okay. I actually came by today to tell you we're leaving! How convenient. Bye."

Frontal speaks very differently to this guy than he did to Banagher, even beyond refusing to remove his mask. It's a fascinating contrast, and I like it a lot. Frontal is very good at being threateningly passive-aggressive in multiple registers.

A good and telling bit of dialogue from Frontal that we lose by cutting this scene: "Char Aznable is a man who lost."

I still don't understand what they're doing with Riddhe, and I'm getting increasingly concerned about it.

I cannot believe how many Riddhe opinions I apparently have had this whole time, just waiting to be revealed.

OVA Riddhe does not feel like much of anything to me so far, which is bizarre when his novel counterpart has so much going on. His blandness is even more noticeable when he's spending so much time with Mineva, who is a very strong-willed character with defined beliefs.

I would say his characterization has been made subordinate to hers, except she doesn't even gain anything from it? Cutting his screen time also cuts hers as well. He's the character that she's interacting with most for this entire section of the story, so making him less interesting just means she has a less interesting conversation partner!

Riddhe is a major character, and there are events later that hinge on the audience giving a shit about him. He needs to have substance, because the story is going to treat him like he has it. If he doesn't have it, it will fall flat.

Here are the key points I want to go over:

Novel Riddhe's values and beliefs are made very clear, while OVA Riddhe feels more ambiguous and flimsy.

Novel Riddhe's relationship to his family is far more complicated and compelling than anything we've been told about OVA Riddhe so far.

Novel Riddhe is shown to have strong emotional ties to the crew of the Nahel Argama.

Novel Riddhe has many clearly established reasons not to do what he does-- personally, professionally, and legally-- and chooses to do it anyway.

This scene was funnier in the novel, because it tells you they have a telephone for each member of the family, but they're all in the same room where they get answered by the same butler.

Novel Riddhe is thoroughly established as a person with opinions and a strong moral compass. He does more to help others, at greater difficulty than anything OVA Riddhe has been faced with thus far, and the negative consequences he knowingly takes on are made more explicit.

In the novel, there's a whole extra step before taking Mineva to earth. Mineva has been moved off the Nahel Argama to another ship, the Alaska, which was going to bring her to a be held at a base on the moon. Getting her out of there is a lot more convoluted than knocking out a single guard and then sneaking down some hallways when no one is looking.

Riddhe sets off a bunch of smoke canisters all over the ship to cause confusion, knocks out some guys, flees the Alaska in a shuttle, shakes the mobile suits tailing them by flying through a debris field, lies about his reason for returning so they let him back on the Argama, and ultimately sneaks Mineva back onto the ship and into his mobile suit. Since the battle has started at this point, it's impossible for the Argama to contact the Alaska or vice-versa.

It makes sense to cut this for time. It's an extraneous trip just to return to the status quo of them needing to sneak off the Argama again anyway. There are other ways to show Riddhe's determination without giving him a dramatic heroic sequence.

But here's the problem with removing it: Riddhe doesn't just rescue Mineva. Takuya and Micott are also on the Alaska. It is strongly implied that they're going to be disappeared.

(There are people from the Intelligence Department on the 'Alaska', so leave the prisoner to them. Don't ask any further.) "Then what about the civilians? They..." (Will be treated as those who violated confidentiality and dealt with as appropriate. You have no need to be involved with them.)

That's significant! Mineva is a person with obvious political importance, and Riddhe became emotionally attached to her before he even knew that. It is entirely possible to interpret rescuing Mineva through a lens of selfish motivations, especially in an adaptation where we aren't privy to his inner thoughts.

Riddhe has no special attachment to Takuya and Micott. He saves them because he has an obligation to do so, because leaving them behind would be wrong.

Are you wondering why the Alaska came to pick them up in the first place? It happened because Riddhe contacted his father at the request of Captain Otto, even though he really didn't want to, in the hopes that he could prevent more deaths by requesting additional support for the Argama.

But Riddhe's father didn't send the support Riddhe requested-- he sent a ship to pick up Riddhe and the prisoners. Why send military support when he can just remove his son from the battlefield that he never wanted him to be on anyway, right? He doesn't even respond himself, some random military guy does it for him.

... this admiral might not have even thought of him as a person. He was just looking at the shadow behind his back-- the authority of Senator Ronan Marcenas. Riddhe felt the emptiness of talking to a wall as he yelled, "WHY ONLY ME...!"

To me, novel Riddhe's frustration with his family is the single most important character trait he has. It informs every single one of his decisions. And so far, in the anime, it has not come up even once.

Riddhe is not just a bit distant from his family. He is repeatedly described as having run away from home. We are told he has not spoken to his father or his sister in some time. He literally refers to his 'family' in scare quotes while thinking about them.

Riddhe too felt repulsed by the fact he had to rely on the 'family' that he had been hiding from at this point, but there was no other way.

[...]

There’s no other choice. Riddhe returned back to his room and ended up spending 2 hours writing a mail to his father. He had never sent a phone call for the past few years, let alone a message. His body did not have a function to communicate with his father, and he felt a chill when he started off with ‘Dear Father’.

[...]

"Since I entered the army with the family's objection, I never intended to come back, but just this once, I have to do this."

The car ride with his father when they first meet and head back to the house is incredibly miserable. They casually drop that Riddhe's mom is in a nursing home, and then they sit in total silence.

Riddhe was looking in front silently, not looking at the greenery passing by outside the window. He was about as silent as the time when he piloted the “Delta Plus” into the atmosphere—no, he might be a lot more tense here. Sitting diagonally in front of him was Ronan, who had his mouth shut, not intending to look away from the notebook terminal. As for what they actually talked about on the limousine, there were only two lines, “Mom?” “She’s in a Nursing Home in Switzerland.” What was left was the heavy and unbearable silence passing between them.

Eventually, Riddhe starts speaking to Mineva while she's looking at the scenery, very obviously as a way of needling his dad. It's an insanely loaded conversation. He basically says "hey Mineva, have you ever read Gone with the Wind? Did you know it takes place here, in Georgia? Just thinking about wealthy white farmers enriching themselves by exploiting Black slaves as we drive to my rich politician dad's house, for no reason."

The dig is not subtle. His dad sarcastically responds to it by pointing out the comparison, as if pretending he isn't extremely aware that's why Riddhe brought it up in the first place, and then they go back to totally ignoring each other.

This is something I think is important: in the novel, Ricardo Marcenas-- Riddhe's great-grandfather and first Prime Minister of the Earth Federation-- is not white. He is stated to be mixed race both during his political speech, when he talks about his heritage, and later when Mineva sees his portrait.

It is an unbelievably pointed choice to have Riddhe and his father be white-passing and from the southern US while the dead great-grandfather with lofty ideals who was implicitly assassinated by his own government was visibly (and proudly) multiracial.

Between the family's politics and Riddhe's sister being in an arranged marriage for political and business reasons, you can guess that this is more than just a coincidence of genetics. Ricardo's descendants wanted to hold onto power, and power was disproportionately held by white people, so that's who they married. Fukui is hitting me with a big cartoon mallet labeled "racism and its consequences persist in the politics of the Earth Federation."

And this... just doesn't exist in the OVA, I guess. They cut the lines about Ricardo's heritage from his speech, and he looks like any other white guy.

The anime as a whole so far has a general trend of cutting anything that directly mentions real-world racial identity or politics, without exception (see also: Syam and Banagher). They've also been erring on the side of lighter skin tones across the board, even in cases where novel description says otherwise.

The doctor on the Argama is described as Arab, with light tan skin. They coloured him half a shade darker than Banagher, who is half a shade darker than Mihiro.

Gilboa is Black. He's still Black here, but they gave him the absolute lightest possible skin tone that still reads as brown. He's way more ambiguous than his wife and kids, and they also have light brown skin. He's described as dark-skinned in the novel!

Yeah, people can have these skin tones with those backgrounds. Obviously. But they've chosen to convey information that is clear in the original text ambiguously, and they've done it to multiple characters.

I'm going on a bit of a tangent here, but this felt like the most appropriate place to bring it up. IT BOTHERS ME.

Anyway. Do you know who is the first character in the novel to bring up the rumours that Ricardo Marcenas was assassinated by the Federation? Because it isn't Daguza in the cockpit with Banagher-- that's later. It's Riddhe.

Riddhe is the one who suggests conservative elements within the Federation might have wanted to a eliminate a more liberal and idealistic Prime Minister while also providing an excuse to root out separatists on the basis of anti-terrorism. Riddhe is the one who gives a scathing account of what his family did in the aftermath of the assassination, where Ricardo's son took advantage of the situation to gain power with the support of the same conservatives who killed his father.

Riddhe says all that directly in front of his dad, who yells at him for spreading nonsense conspiracy theories, tells him he doesn't know anything about politics, and says that he abandoned his family. Wrow.

Riddhe is ultimately ashamed of himself for provoking his father just because he's angry. He thinks it's selfish and childish for him to risk jeopardizing the relationship when he's relying on his father's power to accomplish his goals and protect Mineva.

Calm down, he's a Senate Council member who can deal with the army that will suck up to him. I have to put aside all personal feelings and tell him.

Riddhe took Mineva's line about her responsibility as a member of the Zabi family very seriously. He comes back to it repeatedly. He doesn't want to have anything to do with his family, but he knows there are things that only he can do to help, precisely because of his family-- and he has an obligation to try.

There's a very interesting tension, where Riddhe is only even able to survive and successfully enact his plan because of the otherwise unwanted privilege conferred by his father. It's made clear that even that might not have saved him if he hadn't gotten extremely lucky! It comes up again and again, at every step of the plan.

No matter whether the "Nahel Argama" survives or not, Ensign Riddhe's military career will be at an end.

[...]

"I'm risking my life here as well. I might even end up facing the firing squad if I mess up here, you know?"

[...]

If the situation had happened during a Parliamentary Session, the contact would definitely bounce around amongst the secrataries, and the "Delta Plus" would most likely be shot down without any confirmation of its identity.

Even after they manage to land safely by using the name of his family as a shield, the guards surrounding them when they disembark are hostile and keep rifles trained on them the whole way.

I feel like this element of luck is part of why they swapped his model airplanes for a good luck charm, but it's still so weird to me. His luck is important because of the risks he's taking, and they're not really playing that up as much as they could be. They could tell us in retrospect, but Riddhe knew the risks going in, and that's important.

One thing he knows he's going to lose, unavoidably, is all of his established social relationships in the military.

Survivor's guilt and having lost friends is something that comes up a lot in Riddhe's internal dialogue after the destruction of Industrial 7. I talked about it a bit in the last post. His crewmates are people he cares about, not only in an abstract sense of duty and obligation, but as people.

He's clearly deeply hurt by lying to the crew about his real intentions during the attack on Palau, especially as some of them are glad to see him back and praising his bravery as a soldier.

Does OVA Riddhe have strong relationships to anyone on the Argama? Maybe. He gets some advice from a superior officer. He banters with one of the other pilots for three lines or so. The doctor certainly believes that Mihiro is on edge specifically because of Riddhe's "death", but there are no particularly significant interactions between them to confirm it.

Riddhe's romantic interest in Mihiro is established very early in the novels, when he asks her out to a movie before launching for the first battle. He says he needs something to look forward to so he'll come back alive.

This comes back again when he's heading out for the Palau mission, when she specifically privately contacts him:

(Good luck, Ensign Riddhe. I haven't forgotten the promise to watch a movie.)

And he just has to agree, knowing that he's not coming back and she's going to be mourning him, thinking he's dead. Man.

When it becomes clear the battle isn't going to go as planned, Mineva can sense Riddhe's hesitation. She tells him to stay and fight, because otherwise he'll regret it for the rest of his life. While this works as a character moment for Mineva in the anime, I don't feel like it's a convincing one for Riddhe. What made it work in the novels was that we already knew this was an accurate assessment of his feelings. In the anime, rather than her resolving the conflict for him, it almost feels like he hadn't even fully realized he was having one until she told him.

Maybe I'm being uncharitable and nitpicky, and this all comes across just fine to people without my preconceptions. I just can't shake the feeling that too much scaffolding for his character has been removed, so now even big character moments are failing to stand up on their own.

Riddhe's latent newtype connection to Banagher and their Man's Promise is plot important, but on an emotional level it is nothing to me. I don't care about Riddhe's masculine pride. I care about him having a fraught relationship with his shitty rich dad who he has deliberately avoided for years. I care about social bonds. I care about sacrifice.

Banagher's trust in Riddhe in the novel is meaningful because the audience has reason to believe that Riddhe deserves that trust.

I really hope they can integrate at least some of this stuff going forward, but I also worry it might be too late. I can imagine it failing so easily-- like if they give me Riddhe yelling at his dad, but without all the established context it just comes off like he's a brat throwing a tantrum.

I'm pretty sure his crush on Mineva is going to start becoming relevant now, too, so I need them to give me something to work with as soon as fucking possible if they don't want me to become a relentless little hater. Please.

I want to believe they can still flesh him out enough to work for me, even if it's not perfect.

Micott's arc is altered by changes to Riddhe's arc.

This isn't a super dramatic change, since she's not a load-bearing part of the narrative like Riddhe. I do think how they shifted things around is interesting and worth talking about, though.

In my post on OVA 2, I mentioned that Micott is the one who snitches on Mineva in the novel. This was removed in the anime, where instead Daguza just recognizes her face himself. Now the reason becomes clear-- they moved it here, instead.

In the novel, the second part of the conversation they have in this scene happens on the shuttle back from the Alaska. Since the Alaska was cut, they obviously couldn't do that, but having the betrayal without including the resolution would defeat the purpose. Their solution was to combine the betrayal and reconciliation into a single scene, by having Micott consider reporting Mineva's escape but ultimately back down. I think that's a very clever way to handle it.

Micott is more emotional in the novel version. The circumstances are completely different, so the difference in tone makes sense.

"I know this isn't something I should be saying. But sorry, I have no intention of apologizing to you. Your army was the one that decimated our colony." ... "But, I want to apologize to Banagher. If I don't, I..." The rest of her words were vague due to her crying.

She apologizes to Banagher in the novel equivalent to the hologram billiards scene, when Takuya deliberately leaves them alone for a bit so they can talk. Banagher is puzzled by her apology, and they just kind of cyclically apologize to each other for a bit. It's cute.

The novel version of the conversation is very unsubtle about implying that Banagher implicitly believes Riddhe is trustworthy because they have a psychic connection. Micott's line in the anime, where she just comments on Banagher behaving differently than usual, is more vague.

Micott also sticks up for Mineva to Banagher, which I thought was sweet.

"But since you helped her out once, you have to bear responsibility and help her out until the end. That girl's feeling rather down inside despite making a strong look."

The Vist Foundation: Martha, Alberto, and Gael

God, I love Martha. I've been waiting for her desperately. I loooove her anime design. She looks so good. My evil wife.

The Vist Foundation is much less present in the narrative than expected, so far. I'm not entirely sure what to think, but unlike Riddhe's changes, it doesn't raise any alarm bells for me (yet). The Foundation itself is central to the conflict, what with 『The Box』, but all the individual people in it are minor characters.

Do you remember Gael, Cardeas' bodyguard? At this point in the novel, Gael is on the Garencieres. His interactions with Zinnerman and the rest of the crew are very tense and uneasy, but he's a key player in the plan to rescue Marida. He talks to Banagher briefly during the battle as well, just like Gilboa.

Gael wants to capture Alberto and force him to publicly reveal information about Martha, thus ruining her reputation. This allows him to have his revenge for Cardeas without killing her (since Syam objected to him doing so).

For Marida's escape-- rather than being blown out into space, the guys transporting her are gunned down by Gael, and that's when she takes the opportunity to slip out of her bonds.

Gael confronts Alberto about killing Cardeas, and Alberto has some interesting dialogue:

"THAT MAN ONLY CARED ABOUT HIMSELF! HE THOUGHT THAT HE COULD DECIDE EVERYTHING JUST BECAUSE HE'S STRONG! HE THOUGHT THAT PEOPLE WHO WERE WEAKER WERE JUST SLACKING OFF... BUT I'VE BEEN WORKING SO HARD!"

[...]

"Aunt [Martha] was very kind ... She was willing to recognize and accept me. Dad doesn't know about such things."

I could imagine Alberto having a conversation like this with Marida instead, since it's related to her reason for saving him in the novel-- she recognized his connection to Banagher. When Marida saw Banagher's mind, she saw the burden placed on him by Cardeas, and she sees the same thing in Alberto. She mentions that they both have the same sadness in their eyes.

(We still haven't seen Martha tell Alberto that Banagher is his half-brother, by the way. Is Marida going to tell him instead? Does he know? I need to know if he knows!)

Anyway. Alberto shoots Gael and more crew from the Nahel Argama arrive, having heard the commotion. Gael flees.

The scene keeps going, but I'm stopping here, since we might be getting into stuff for the next one.

Daguza has a lot of backstory that doesn't make it in.

Man, this guy is carrying around so much baggage. Banagher has no idea. Content warning for child death for this part. Scroll down to the screenshots if at any point you decide you don't want to read it.

After the conversation with Banagher in the tea room, we get a much longer conversation between Daguza and the other ECOAS guy. We learn about "The Sweetwater Operation", during which ECOAS murdered a bunch of children as collateral while trying to take out a group of terrorists. Yes.

Sweetwater was a refugee colony. The living conditions were terrible, basically a slum, and it eventually became a hub for anti-Federation activity. During Char's Counterattack, it was a working base for Neo Zeon. After the conflict ended, it became "a breeding ground for terrorist planning."

"Those terrorists ignored human rights and laws, so their crimes that went beyond the law should be punished by means beyond the law" -- gee, where have I heard that before? What could Fukui possibly be referencing here?

To summarize: intelligence failed to report the presence of a school bus, ECOAS blew up a bunch of kids along with the terrorists, 33 of them died, and the four who survived were disabled for the rest of their lives. Investigators covered up the incident and it was reported as an accident, but rumours still spread within the Federation special forces. ECOAS was nicknamed "The Manhunters."

Honestly, I think it's a kind of contrived scenario compared to the much more cruelly mundane way that kids and other innocent civilians get murdered during anti-terrorist raids and drone strikes in real life, but I see what Fukui was going for.

From that point on, ECOAS continued to be given dirty missions due to their reputation. I would bet those 33 kids are not the only children they've killed during their career.

They do a lot of justifying it to themselves during the conversation. "It was the intelligence branch's fault, we couldn't do anything." "Well, we were facing a group a group of people who would drop colonies and asteroids on the Earth. If we didn't take them down all at once, there might have been more children killed." "Yes, we have to allow a little sacrifice for the sake of the many." Again, all very familiar.

Despite his words, it's very obvious that Daguza feels guilty. His discussion of himself as a cog is a lot more charged when you know exactly what kind of violence he enacted as part of the machine.

Let me ask honestly, what is this order we have to protect even if it means killing children? [...] Despite understanding that, I still continue to kill myself off, telling myself consistently that it can’t be helped. Won’t I become a real cog gradually? I swallowed reality and sold out myself bit by bit. In this sense, I’m a foolish creature who’s sealed in this shell called an adult.

While they do talk about how Banagher is a child during this conversation, we don't get the line from the OVA here about never having had children and Daguza's implicit fatherly feelings toward Banagher.

The idea does come up later, with Daguza expressing that no matter what the box is, it's not worth exchanging for the future of a child like Banagher. It's pretty clear that this is the reason he's so ready to go to his death.

And what a death it was.

He wanted to hand his life to a child, a child who would think about the future. Of course, he did not think that he could wash away all his guilt after all the atrocity he did, but he felt surprisingly happy that he could do this. He, who only knew how to act on priorities to fulfil his duties, was leaving everything to a young life that had no blood relations or bonds with him ...

Holy shit.

I love the Sinanju with its busted face. Such a look.

Anyway, this death is one that I think is more disturbing than it was in the original text. The decision to let his rocket launcher float just far enough from the beam to survive and then splatter against the emblem is downright nasty. It allows for a person whose body has been totally vaporized to still look like they're leaving behind remains. It feels like a full body gore splatter, even if closely watching the sequence makes it clear it's not. That rules.

And that's when we get our second Destroy Mode activation.

A Gundam is a monster. A Gundam is a devil.

Do you ever think about how Frontal is tactically the single most important person on the battlefield for his side, but he puts himself at risk of burning to death to stop the Unicorn from killing Angelo? Because I do. I think about it a lot.

RIP Gilboa. It really hit me while watching that Banagher has multiple potential surrogate father figures who explode directly in front of him, much like his real dad did. So far, Otto is the only adult man to survive giving Banagher friendly paternal advice.

If you've read all this, thanks for indulging me. I hope it was interesting.

I'm really looking forward to watching the next one. I've heard good things, and that arc of the novel, uh... well, it's a lot. I'll have to think about how much I even want to get into it.

#remibloggue #gundam unicorn #gundam

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lilaccoffin · 1 year

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omg there's Gash Bell line stickers...

#I..thought i'd find more but for some reason only zeon and dufaux's are the only ones on the wiki...#oh well #konjiki no gash bell #zeon bell

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kng-redraw · 1 year

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think they’d make a good team?

#Zatch Bell #Konjiki no gash Bell #Kiyomaro Takamine #zeon bell #zeno bell #dufaux #snz. art

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archangelofsacrifice · 1 year

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So one thing I keep thinking about for Zatch Bell 2, and spoilers for the sequel manga here (obv)

Throughout the entire original series, even in the fight against Clear, in the moments of using a spell (other than rauzaruku) Gash goes unconscious, it's said this is because he's so weak and whatnot but the details are for another discussion.

What I want to talk about here is specifically that he does NOT go unconscious anymore. Zakeru seems no different, but rashirudo has a notable upgrade.

Originally, rashirudo seemed to always reflect the spells directly back where they came from, but NOW we see Gash can choose how to redirect whatever hits the shield, as seen at the end of the newest chapter where he redirects things up into the air, rather than back at the attackers.

Soooo, what other spells could potentially have been "upgraded" by Gash no longer going unconscious while casting?

My only main thought here is that he can cast spells from his hands now like Zeon does, but just prefers using his mouth still, but I really hope we see some more cool/obvious-when-we-see-them upgrades to his spells

#konjiki no gash!! 2 #zatch bell 2 #konjiki no gash bell #spoilers

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000tragicsolitude000 · 10 months

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Neo Zeon’s Pyscho-Frame

Char’s Neo Zeon

Universal Century 0090 - Johnny B. Gundam

MSK-008 Djeh (Char Aznable Custom)

In the MSV-R: The Return of Johnny Ridden manga, three years before Char’s Rebellion in UC 0090, Char is already in charge of a revived Neo Zeon. He has the Sweetwater colony, his new suave douchebag haircut, the personnel and the Newtype labs run by Nanai Miguel. With that, they produce the first test-bed for the psycho-frame in the form of Char’s modified Dijeh. From the Return of Johnny Ridden Archives :

It was assembled as a test model for the psycho-frame and as a personal machine for the new Neo Zeon commander-in-chief Char Aznable. It uses the same type of Gyre Binder as the Schuzrum Dias and the shield and arm parts planned for the Geara Doga, the main MS currently under development. Under the cockpit is a successfully refined psycho-frame, which is connected to a backup Bio-Sensor. Switching modes activates the psycommu system.

This links to what has already been established about the Geara Doga - Char’s Dijeh also uses its beam rifle. The Dijeh was originally a ground-use Karaba MS, and we saw Amuro pilot it in Zeta (and by Luio & Co in NT). And curiously, the engineer Arlette Almage says : ”That person donated this MS after she had pity on how poor Neo Zeon is …”

It isn’t named the psycho-frame yet, but the main trait of psycommu incorporated within the frame of the MS itself for maximum responsiveness and control is included. He sortied with it into a battle involving multiple parties near Confeito (Solomon) and activated the new system in a fight against Yazan Gable and an amnesiac Johnny Ridden, to which he damaged them both before escaping because the system was too much for the Dijeh too.

MSK-008S Dijeh Traversia

As at the moment I only have access to volumes 1-22 of MSV-R (of which 1 through 15 are translated) in which the Traversia hasn’t appeared in, we’ll have to rely exclusively on Japanese Wikipedia (and it will be used again).

An attack-type mobile suit built in a short period of time by Char 's dedicated team of engineers, including Arlette Armage, in order to acquire the basic data for the next generation of Char's personal machine. In order to shorten the time to install the new psycommu frame on a new machine and readjust it, it is based on Char's Dijeh which was partially destroyed in the previous battle. The most important operational purpose of this machine is the testing of the new funnels. Since it was completed as a minimum armament system, it was given a model number and a unique name unlike the base machine.

It’s described that the output of its nuclear reactor is the highest Neo Zeon had at the time and will later be used by the Jagd Doga. Its head is similar to that of the Dijeh SE-R (now with horns like the Sazabi), which was donated by Anaheim. Aside from that, the obvious is that the legs, arms and the funnel-equipped shoulders are pretty much the same as the eventual Jagd Doga. This implies the Jagd Doga is already far in development by Anaheim at this time.

Universal Century 0092 - Moon Moon River

MRX-013-3 Psycho Gundam Mk-IV G-Doors

In a beginning flashback to UC 0091 in the Mobile Suit Moon Gundam manga, we see the psycommu machine Gundam G-Doors used by Titans remnants before it’s destroyed (aside from the head and its funnel Psycho Plates) by Amuro working under Londo Bell.

The Psycho Plates were developed thanks to assistance from Char (acting under a pseudonym) in order to, if I’m actually understanding the plot right, use the Titans (because of their access to their Newtype labs, as well as experience with psycommu machines and with enhanced pilots) as a field test for the psycho-frame (in the case of the G-Doors, the psycho-frame is incorporated into the funnels) from which he’ll get the results to of to benefit himself while the Titans remnants get wiped out by Londo Bell thanks to his misdirection.

Moreover, this was done for pragmatic reasons considering Neo Zeon’s position:

At the time, Neo Zeon did not have the ability to develop its own psycho-frames, so it had the remnants of the Titans, who had the know-how to operate enhanced humans, develop and demonstrate them on the premise that they would be betrayed and disposed of afterwards.

AMS-123X Varguil

In the story’s present of 0092, the Varguil looks like a Sazabi that lost weight and is a pyscommu prototype unit onboard a Zeon ship transporting Mineva and piloted by a Cyber-Newtype from the NT labs. Its body later was combined with the head/Psycho Plates of the Gundam G-Doors that crashed into the Moon Moon colony (as well as repainted in traditional Gundam colors for a mission to take back Mineva from a Londo Bell ship) to transform it into the eponymous Moon Gundam.

A translated description of the Moon Gundam Mechanical Works by Zeonic Scanlations describes the Varguil as one among perhaps several prototypes, a stepping stone in the lineage leading to the creation of the Sazabi. It also proved inferior in terms of psycommu capabilities to the Jagd Doga, which itself also contributed to the development of Sazabi despite having been rejected as Char’s personal unit because he wasn’t satisfied with its performance. It’s clear that the Varguil must’ve been a key part of that road to the Sazabi despite its failures because of its general aesthetic and the placement of its funnels. Outside of the Mechanical Works, it’s said that the Varguil and Jagd Doga were developed at the same time. It’s probably safe to assume that the X in the model number likely stands for experimental.

MSN-04X2 Sazabi Prototype (Terrain Mode)

Teased in Volume 7 of Moon and fully realized in Volumes 10/11, this Sazabi was built at a Neo Zeon secret base in Antarctica. The Geara Doga is also complete at this time.

A translation description by Zeonic Scanlations - perhaps the most interesting parts are the design of this suit was reached by exploring the possibilities of the psycho-frame, starting with the psycho-plates, and by accumulating data from various prototypes and experimental suits.

And all this was done to illustrate that while the appearance is almost the same, everything about it is totally different from a setting perspective. As the Sazabi is likely the most “powerful” suit, there are probably several prototypes, including some that have been abandoned, so this current model is just one of those.

One might assume this prototype would be tweaked into the final Sazabi we know, but that second quote and the Sazabi Early Test Type (under gravity version)* was one of the models used in constructing the Sazabi under the assumption of an operation to freeze Earth seems to say no. Other things, like the double-seater (and likely the model number MSN-04X2) call back to the MSN-04X Sazabi Test Prototype drawn by Yutaka Izubuchi for the novel Hi-Streamer, which can be described as Tomino’s original version of CCA before it was reworked into Beltorchika’s Children and the movie we know.

AMX-107P Psycho Bawoo

Along with the Sazabi and the Doga, there’s also a handful of Psycho Bawoos, one of which is piloted by Gyunei. They’re all equipped with the Psycho Plates based on that of the G-Doors, so I guess that whole operation paid off.

MS Evolution

The MS Evolution charts are from MS Bible, and this one translated by Zeonic Scanlations is for the Sazabi. It solidifies things we’ve already covered, like the Jagd Doga being meant for Char and that the Varguil was just one of the Sazabi prototypes (as well as developed at the same time as the Jagd),

There’s also the AMS-120X Geara Doga Psycommu System Test Type which we’ve left out until now, made for the Char's Counterattack Mobile Suit Variations and was created by Neo Zeon themselves rather than Anaheim who manufactured the Jagd. Not only is it the first psycommu machine of Char’s Neo Zeon, but here it’s said that it came about before the psycho-frame. That would mean - if we were trying to fit things into place together - that it was created before Char’s Dijeh, the unit with the first working psycho-frame system.

Also, the development for the Geara Doga is said to have started in the late stages of the Gryps War here, while the Fandom wiki and JP Wikipedia places it at the end of the First Neo Zeon War. Either way, it’s mass-production that began in 0090. And speaking of trying to fit things together, this is how the psycho-frame history looks in my mind :

At the time of Char assuming control of Neo Zeon, the development of the Geara Doga is well underway. From it, the AMS-120X is born.

The AMS-120X is shelved, leading to the start of Jagd Doga’s development - the Varguil’s development would also start at this time. Jagd Doga parts are integrated into the Dijeh Traversia for effective field-testing, from which the Jagd Doga is completed shortly after.

The Jagd is rejected as Char’s machine. The involvement with the Titans remnants would start to perfect the psycho-frame for the unit that will eventually become the Sazabi.

The Sleeves

Universal Century 0094 - No clever title here

AMX-107R Rebawoo

From Dengeki Data Collection - Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn :

The transformable MS AMX-107 Bawoo, developed by Haman's Neo Zeon, is a machine that has undergone major modifications by the Sleeves. In addition to the separation function of the original machine, a psycho-frame is employed in the cockpit area of the upper body (Bawoo Attacker) and the nose of the lower body (Bawoo Nutter). This enables more advanced coordinated maneuvering by means of the pilot's sensor waves. It was intended to be a dedicated machine for Full Frontal, but after the MSN-06S Sinanju was acquired, it was confirmed that other pilots boarded it and it was deployed in actual combat.

Appears in the manga U.C. 0094: Across The Sky and U.C. 0096: Last Sun, piloted by the Cyber-Newtype Luger Lugh.

nutter, i barely know her

Universal Century 0096 - Heart-Shaped Laplace’s Box

Sinanju & Neo Zeong II

The Sinanju isn’t a creation of the Sleeves, but the modified Sinanju Stein they took in 0094 that was officially meant for the Federation’s UC Project and was developed by Anaheim. Narrative retroactively added in the fact that there was a second Stein unit that was stolen back then as well. More about that, the Stein and the Rebawoo can be read about on this page written by Tom Aznable. It can perhaps be assumed that the MSN-06S-2 was kept in storage by the faction within the Republic of Zeon that supported the Sleeves behind the scenes led by Minister Monaghan Bakharo until it was time to send it out along with the Neo Zeong II to capture the Phenex.

Basic info on Neo Zeong/Neo Zeong II by Kakarot197 - the choice to go back to wire-guide arms probably had to be done specifically because the II is the spare parts backup. In the Sinanju’s evolution chart in MS Bible shows that the Alpha Azieru is linked towards the Neo Zeong. As for its development, which is otherwise vague :

According to Ryoji Kansai, there is no way that this machine could have been made solely by the Sleeves, and the design was transferred from Anaheim as a deterrent to the Unicorn Gundam.

In Narrative, it’s mentioned that the basic design of the Neo Zeong was made by Full Frontal himself. As for trivia on the NZ II :

According to Shunichi Yoshizawa, the director of NT, the red paint added as an accent to the shoulders is said to be a decoration inspired by kabuki Kumadori and biological blood vessels.

NZ-666 Kshatriya

One of my favorite MS ever. From Dengeki Data Collection - Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn :

The concept was to downsize the NZ-000 Queen Mansa, which was deployed in the First Neo Zeon War, while maintaining its performance. By placing the psycho-frame around the cockpit, the space-saving psycho-mechanical equipment was successfully reduced, resulting in a smaller fuselage. It was a milestone in the development of new-type mobile suits based on Zeon technology. Despite its high degree of perfection, it is difficult for the limited resources of the Sleeves to reproduce it, let alone repair it when damaged. In addition, because of the complexity of its fire control system, it could only be handled by Marida Cruz, an enhanced human being.

And from Wikipedia :

It is an exceptionally high-performance machine in the year 0096, but the only psycho-frames possessed by the Sleeves are those ordered from AE during the Second Neo Zeon War, and there are no facilities to reproduce them, so it is a one-and-only machine that is difficult to maintain.

Lastly, the red Jagd Doga that Quess used before she left it behind to go die in the Alpha Azieru was passed down to the Sleeves, where it was piloted by one of the Royal Guards. From Dengeki Data Collection - Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn :

This is a machine modified by the Sleeves from the Neo Zeon Newtype MS led by Char Aznable. Its right arm, which was missing, was repaired by using it from the Geara Doga, its base machine. It is also equipped with funnels, but only two were lost in the battle during Char's Rebellion. The fuselage color was also changed from the red of the prototype to a yellow.

Outside of inspiring a grieving young man to become a mass terrorist, this is the only worthwhile contribution of Quess’ existence to anyone.

THE BEAST OF POSSIBILITY

#gundam #mobile suit gundam #gundam unicorn #charaznable #char aznable #char's counterattack #zeon

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