Artista - @nizisousakudayo

Artista - @nizisousakudayo

*Spoilers for Witch From Mercury Finale Follow*

Oh! I do just want to call out dead quick - Ericht is in the little red iceman, and they state that Suletta moved “them” out of the Gundam. Assuming that they don’t mean it in a “we are legion, the one who is many” way, this implies that Elan 4 has been moved to the little blue iceman.

If I may, I’d like to use this sentiment as a springboard into the question of “Why are Zeon used as Protagonists so often in Universal Century Works?”

Enemy soldiers in Gundam were always shown to have some form of personality and even humanity, making them personable, affable and giving their deaths tragedy and meaning - emblematic of real-world wars, where there are heroes and tragic deaths on both sides. By humanising Zeon and establishing them as fighting for their own cause, it demonstrates that the “other side” is motivated by the same things as our protagonists, furthering the notion of war being this uncontrollable, hopeless thing that man is drawn into, as opposed to being master of.

So, Zeon then. They’re the villains of the piece, and obviously have heavy influence from WWI and WWII Germany (aesthetically they’re more WWI, but Gihren and the Island Iffish Gassing place them firmly in WWII territory). The fact that the Iffish Gassing is downplayed compared to Operation British proper (IE the Colony Drop) is something I would like to see addressed at some point, but a lot of our series protagonists are from Earth, so the Colony Drop itself affected them more. (I think Shiro Amanda from 08th MS team is stated to be an Iffish Survivor, but I don’t really recall it ever coming up). I think it’s main failing is that it’s typically a background detail (with the notable exception of The Origin), and thus very rarely addressed. Island Iffish is also particularly important because it demonstrates that Zeon’s lofty Ideals of Colonial Independence from the Earth Federation are not held on all levels, seeing the colonies as tools to be used in their war against the Earth Federation, not brothers in arms. In brief; Zeon Footsoldiers yelling about independence? Probably Genuine, since they would likely believe in Zeon Zum Deikun’s philosophy. The Zabi’s or Zeon High Command yelling about it? Probably a motivational smokescreen and nothing more. Both Zeon and the Earth Federation also used nuclear weapons during the early stages on the One Year War, which is the main thing that led massive population losses, in addition to Operation British. I bring this up specifically to illustrate that while neither side are angels, Zeon has more atrocities to its name.

(Note: it was later revealed that at least some of the forces (IE Cima Garahau’s team) carrying out the Iffish Gassing were lied to by their commanders, being told that they would be using sleeping gas to allow the colonists to be freely evacuated. It’s not clear how prevalent this was though, so I’m only noting it here to cover all my bases)

So. We have a large army of idealists, fighting for what they believe is a just cause, in an unfamiliar environment, with command that ranged from the incompetent to the fractious. We can neatly contrast these characters to other members of Zeon who are considerably more kill-crazy, showing how war affects some people (and providing an opportunity for our characters to stick to their ideals). Alright, alright, what else?

Speaking of Zeon High command - while they are full of personality that makes them fun to watch, they’re not really that important to Amuro’s story. With the sole exception of Dozle (Garma is killed largely by accident), he never really meets any of them. They’re comparatively a background element. As such, this provides an excellent opportunity for expansion. Garma’s Forces are young and Idealistic, Dozle’s forces are tough and Honourable, Kycilia’s forces are cunning and sneaky, while gihren’s forces are wild and fanatical. There’s also ample opportunity to sneak in a Zeon commander working under one of them, and have them take actions (Kycilia sponsored Noisy Fairy, the Invisible Knights and the Midnight Fenrir Corp, and that’s just off the top of my head). It works very well from a storytelling perspective if you want a small, tight-knit commando team with varying skillsets and some fancy units (IE Efreets). It even has historical precedent, way waaaaay back in the early Gundam setting books, we learn about Johnny Ridden and the Chimera Corps, Zeon’s own, personal squadron of Crack-aces, who got the Early Production Gelgoogs.

Okay okay, so cool Mobile suit designs (so we sell lots of models), interesting and conflicting commanders, which enables us to say something about the personality of our force in shorthand. Historical precedent of a *Bunch* of prior special forces teams (even with mobile suits, the Earth’s a big place, plenty of room for others), even a doctrine that favours them (The Earth Attack force does brilliantly until the Battle of Odessa, whereupon they’re soundly beaten on Earth. Any forces that couldn’t evacuate would be largely cut-off from support and forced to adopt Guerilla tactics. Furthermore, they’re fighting defensively against a superior foe, since by this point the Federation has mobile suits of their own, and that’s the sort of adversity that can make for an interesting story. It shows a reversal of fortunes of the characters part, mirroring the wider problem that Zeon is having). But surely it wouldn’t be such a stretch to apply some of this to the Earth Federation forces too? Gundams and GM’s are cool too after all.

Ah, and here (in my opinion) we come to the crux of it, the reason why Zeon are protagonists (or at the very least, interesting antagonists a La 0083, so often).

Pathos.

We, as the audience *know* that Zeon will lose the one year war. The absolute best fate for these characters is to retire once the war is over and never pilot again. But it throws everything they do in a new light. The bright-eyed, young pilot who is horrified by the war? All the more tragic, because it was all for nothing. The political officer who’s a hard-line Gihren-loyalist? Well, they’re in for a rude awakening. One of my favourite Gundam manga with Zeon as the protagonists is Acguy: 2250 Miles across America. Because it shows these two characters just trying to reach evacuation off earth before they’re stuck. It’s not one of the many things detailed above no, but it casts them as human above all else. They don’t decide to go out in a blaze of glory fighting the federation. It’s the story of their evacuation, and the adventures they get into on the way there.

It’s a lot easier to sell the tragedy of war if the situation is already bleak for our characters. The Earth Federation starts out bleak, then gets better with the introduction of mobile suits. Zeon starts off great, then gets bleak with the introduction of enemy mobile suits. However, on a small-scale, the introduction of Zeon’s new, shiny and highly-marketable advanced mobile suits (IE Efreets) can tip the tide on a small scale, enabling them to appear badass even as Zeon is losing the wider war.

I’m excited for Requiem of Vengeance, but I really wish we got more Universal Century content that wasn’t the One Year War.

So I mentioned recently (while rambling about SEED and SEED Destiny), that I’m not really a fan of most of the Gundam Designs from the series, exceptions being the IJ, Providence and Aegis. However I do like quite a few of the grunt designs.

First up, the Ginn.

Gundam SEED was intended to update Mobile Suit Gundam for a new generation. How successful it was is debatable. But Y’know what I think they got right? The Zaku-analogue. The Ginn shares the same basic features as the zaku, but integrates the commander horn into a lovely hawk, and has wings to emphasise its mobility. It’s armour looks almost contemporary with modern equivalents, but it’s all blended together in this visage of a knight. The monoeye retains its trademark expressive nature, and the design has that wonderful quality of being equally pleasing as a single mobile suit or a team of grunts. The sword is just the icing on the cake, since it enables some very fun poses and (at least in the beginning) emphasises phase shift armour.

Many of its variants are lovely too. The High mobility types (I (left)& II (right)) take the concept of an upgraded Ginn in two different directions, with the first adding new parts for a more complex look, and the other remodelling existing parts and adding a more samurai flavour, looking like a command variant of the original. The long range reconnaissance type is loaded with extra equipment, while the ceremonial decoration type - while functionally just a repainted regular unit - contain one of my favourite small details about ZAFT - since they had no formal culture they were drawn from, they simply ran a computer simulation as to which colours would best inspire the emotions they wanted for ceremonial duties. Which is honesty such a thing for them to do.

The CGue and GuAIZ (which I shall continue to pronounce “Gooey-as” despite being informed that it’s “Gwaze”, as in “graze”) are essentially just bulked-up improvements on the Ginn. I’m not really sure how to describe my fondness for the CGue, other than it feels sleeker and more fragile- like you’d need to be an ace to use it. The GuAIZ makes me think of the Gelgoog, but (unlike many of the Seed Destiny units) has an identity beyond that. It’s delightfully bulky and round, with the olive green distinguishing it nicely from surrounding units. Also, kudos for giving it a shield claw, a weapon I didn’t think I’d like as much as I do.

The BABI made this list alone for the seriousness with which everyone says it’s name. While it has very little focus in the anime itself, it’s design is interesting enough to be memorable. It’s essentially a flying brick covered in guns, with a very knightly design. Because of this, I find it evocative of the Gyan in the same way I find the GuIAZ evocative of the Gelgoog. It’s this wonderful mash of imposing seriousness and colourfully toyetic. I find the leg vents oddly pleasing as well.

I am rather fond of the M1 Astray aswell, but I’ll likely cover that if I ever chat about the Astray Series.

Update: having now watched episode 23, I can now say that it isn’t.

If only because a new, bigger metaphor came along.

Immediate thought while watching the opening of Witch From Mercury episode 22:

I wonder if this is a metaphor for how lack of oversight into corporate dealings will eventually lead to them becoming untouchable monoliths, where oversight is pointless because they can either absorb losses or just overrule them.

I’m seeing a lot of takes about Witch From Mercury’s ending (specifically about it feeling rushed since we only got 25 episodes), so I’m just gonna throw my two cents in now, maybe do a proper analysis of the actual ending at one point.

I quite like the ending of Witch From Mercury. I’ll admit I expected to get more out of it, but what we got was really good.

But the whole line about “the execs didn’t have faith in it, that’s why it’s only 25 eps” I’m seeing……. I’m not so sure about it.

Like yes, it’s not typically Gundam’s demographic (it normally leans more towards male demographics) and yuri is typically seen as something enjoyed by female ones, so obviously they didn’t expect it to blow up as it has……

But I’m given to understand that Yuri is an absolute *powerhouse* in Japan, so them not having faith seems like a weird take.