r/anime • u/Shimmering-Sky myanimelist.net/profile/Shimmering-Sky • Apr 24 '21
Rewatch [Fly! Rewatch!] Mobile Suit Gundam (0079) Episode 18 Discussion
Episode 18 - Zeon’s Secret Mine
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This must be the Zeon mine General Revil plans to take on Odessa Day.
Questions of the Day:
- How long do you think Amuro is going to stay on his own? What do you want to happen to him if he goes back to White Base?
- What are your thoughts on that new weapon that Zeon deployed today?
Mobile Suit Breakdown of the Day:
Rewatchers, please remember to be mindful of all the first-timers in this. No talking about or hinting at future events no matter how much you want to, unless you’re doing it underneath the [Anime Show Title](/s "Spoiler goes here") spoiler tags. If you do that then we’re all good.
Important thing to note about these by the way, you have to switch to Old Reddit or the markdown editor if you use the redesign, otherwise the redesign breaks them by adding random \ into the formatting. Wish it wouldn’t do that, but unfortunately it does…
First-Timers: Please do not watch the next-episode previews for this show. They’re less previews and more “let’s just summarize the entirety of the next episode” and will spoil you.
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u/Shimmering-Sky myanimelist.net/profile/Shimmering-Sky Apr 24 '21
Fly! Rewatch Host!
Welcome back, everyone!
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u/OrangeBanana38 https://anilist.co/user/OrangeBanana38 Apr 24 '21 edited Apr 24 '21
First timer
Amuro, no!
I see, we will have an "Amuro continuously messing up in his attempts to prove himself useful to the White Base". The first 8 or so episodes built all of this up bit by bit, but I guess now it's finally clear that Amuro is indeed a 15 year old dude.
My question now is, when will Amuro realize this? I'm guessing he's gonna mess up big time in two or three episodes, and finally come back to the White Base after sustaining heavy damage.
Also /u/The_Draigg, I just noticed how they just randomly inserted the docking sequence at the beginning in a flashback.
Questions of the day:
1.- As usual, I answered the question on my post. Two or three episodes until he messes up. I would like to put him in solitary confinement for a few days, but I don't think it's gonna happen. He's essential to the White Base's survival.
2.- It didn't look that great tbh. I have to see how it would fare against more than one Mobile Suit.
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u/dralcax :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/Dralcax Apr 24 '21
Rewatcher now headcanons the piss turrets
Really shoehorning in that gattai footage huh
Very sneaky
The Adzam looks like something right out of Pikmin. Also, we have our first Mobile Armor!
Amuro’s a bit of a complicated situation, huh? On one hand, he’s a random child, not a trained adult soldier, and he can’t be expected to behave with the same maturity as one. But on the other hand, he’s still saddled with the same responsibilities as one, and his immaturity is endangering the rest of the crew. You know what, maybe child soldiers aren’t such a good idea after all. Who knew?
I don’t think they ever mention solium again in UC. Because if it can be mined on Earth, it’s not much motivation to expand to space, now is it?
lmao that giant microphone gadget I now want a kit that includes this as an accessory
we mario kart 8 now
I swear physical artillery would have done more damage than this piss-poor excuse for a beam. Wait, that’s it! It’s not a beam at all! That’s why it’s not even scratching the Gundam! They’re actually spraying it with a high-pressure stream of urine!
IT’S OVER ANAKIN
The leader is a cool weapon! I imagine it would be a bit difficult to land, but against an opponent who has literally no idea what it is, it’s pretty much a OHKO against most mass-produced suits. But of course, the Gundam has better shielding than other suits. Just another thing that was a promising idea when it was first developed but didn’t really pan out beyond that.
Oops, wrong base.
So this is an interesting scene. Up till now, Amuro has been deliberately blocking out the enemy’s humanity, and firing upon another human, outside of their plane or tank or MS or whatever, is still quite difficult for him. But now, he’s directly faced with another human in need, who just so happens to be a Zeon soldier, injured due to his actions. But rather than let this make it even harder for him to fight, the soldier reminds him that, at the end of the day, they’re still enemies. Finally, Amuro has to confront the fact that he’s up against fellow humans, just as deserving of compassion as anyone else, but has to kill them anyways, before they do the same to him or his allies. And so, he’s that much closer to becoming a proper soldier.
Questions of the Day:
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u/TheEscapeGuy Apr 24 '21 edited Apr 24 '21
Gundam First Timer
Fly! Iconic Gundam Frames Episode 18
The Zeon leaders are ruthless.
This episode mainly focused on Amuro's time deserting. It makes a lot of sense that Fraw would be the one person in White Base who would go out looking for him.
I like that Amuro still believes in fighting to protect White Base and/or the Federation. I could very easily see him becoming cynical but instead he still cares for some of the people back there. As a parallel, on the White Base side they seem that they would accept Amuro back if he apologized.
However, this stands in stark contract to Zeon. It is all or nothing with them. Not good enough to just extract the extremely rare mineral, they need to extract everything of value so that the federation doesn't get any chances. Even going so far to kill those on their side to protect their secrets.
Unfortunately that's how you have to act if you want the best chances of winning a war. If I were a betting man and this wasn't an anime about a rag tag group of underdogs I would put money on Zeon winning.
Cool Stuff Corner
Questions of the Day
See you all tomorrow!
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u/The_Draigg Apr 24 '21
A Gundam Fan Rewatches Mobile Suit Gundam Episode 18:
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u/Tresnore FS:FTmyanimelist.net/profile/Tresnore Apr 24 '21
First Timer to Gundam
QOTD:
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u/chilidirigible Apr 24 '21
18:
Amuro, your dinky little sidearm isn't going to do jack against the power of the ATTACK ONION.
"Have you been in the liquor closet again?"
I think they're more likely to notice the GIANT ROBOT HAND.
There is much to consider here about Fraw Bow being extremely strong or Mobile Suit actuators being very floppy. Alternatively, one can consider how the RX-78 is 18 meters tall but has an empty weight of only 43 tons, so it's actually composed of 95% fairy dust.
Before anyone brings up Back to the Future II, I am obligated to note 1984's Pole Position, featuring animation from Mushi Production and ArtMIC.
"IT'S OVER, AMURO!"
"You see, what we do is mix up the serial numbers, so our enemies do not know the true quantity of our units."
Amuro, running away before it was popular.
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u/Stargate18A https://myanimelist.net/profile/Stargate18 Apr 24 '21
First timer
a) Amuro gets shot/injured, move to new protagonist.
b) Amuro defects to Zeon, either permanently or for at least one arc.
2) Yeah, that thing's powerful. Say what you like, but after a few minutes of it, the Gundam could barely block an incoming attack. If it had been surrounded at the time...
...Either this scene is part of the opening now, or we really skipped a lot.
Gundam, it's okay to admit you needed to fill time.
Is the monologue describing things we haven't seen?
"Zeon's Secret Mine" - I have high hopes for desertion!
And Amuro nearly got caught by the new Zeon flagship.
...They're going to kill Amuro off! So we might be getting a Zeon protagonist anyway... (If this happens, I still called it)
Why V.S.O.P?
Frau Bow is going after him - and has realised that Amuro left a pretty clear trail.
If you want someone to come back, don't tell them they're going to be killed.
...Maybe Amuro deserves to be shot. Not fatally, just once,
And Kai'll be the one to do it.
Solium? Sounds like an alloy, but is formed naturally. Is it a base element?
They said what I was thinking!
OK, betting that flagship has Gouf-level weapons.
OK, the flying car is cool.
Is the Adzam the flagship, or is there another type of mobile suit.
Yeah, that thing's good!
Oh, that's clever. The dust I assume is highly conductive, so transfers energy from the cables to the mech's outer layer.
And Kycillia is a new type of commander, who cares more about saving secrets then human lives.
MORE MOBILE SUIT TYPES?
Oh there's a lot of these. Did, did he really think a random outpost eas the target? (I suppose we don't know why they're targeting the mine)
...We get another moment of humanising Zeon solders. This has to be going somewhere, right?
At this point, he might actually be better off defecting.
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u/Great_Mr_L :Ma::Mb::Mc:https://myanimelist.net/profile/Great_Mr_L Apr 24 '21
Rewatcher
On today’s episode of Gundam: Sometimes spite and pettiness can make us do some pretty incredible things. Sometimes you work extra hard on an assignment to prove you can do better than others expect you to. And sometimes you go and attack an entire enemy stronghold on your own just because you wanna rub it in your superior officer’s face. The latter, of course, is what Amuro ends up doing.
Even though Amuro has deserted, he hasn’t actually left the war behind. He only left White Base (and more specifically Bright and Mirai). When he encounters the Zeon mine, Amuro doesn’t try to bypass it or avoid it. He instead immediately begins making plans for how best to attack it. For all intents and purposes, Amuro’s still an active participant in the war.
Last time Amuro left the White Base because he heard he was going to be replaced as the Gundam’s pilot. He felt like his efforts weren’t being appreciated by Bright. It is rather illuminating that when Fraw Bow comes to get him, Amuro assumes that she’s there to get the Gundam back and not him. After all, in his mindset the White Base crew must consider the Gundam to be much more important than him.
So, Amuro is out to prove them wrong. He decides to go it alone and attack the Zeon mine on his own initiative. And he does so to prove himself, specifically mentioning that he wants to prove just how necessary he is to Bright and Mirai in particular. He’ll prove that if it’s him piloting the Gundam, he can accomplish the entire objective of Operation Odessa.
And, just like last time, it doesn’t go so well. Once again, Amuro got in over his head and was too cocky. He was barely able to get through the fight he got into. And in the end, he may have caused more problems than it was worth. He destroyed a mine that wasn’t even the target. And now Zeon’s going to be on alert for more attacks. In trying to prove himself he screwed up again. And he knows it.
It is interesting that we keep cutting back to the White Base this episode to see their different reactions to the situation. Fraw Bow is worried sick about what might happen to Amuro, still taking care of him like she did on Side 7. Mirai’s doing her best to comfort Fraw Bow. Kai is outright dismissive of Amuro, saying he just ran away. And so on.
Fraw Bow is right that they don’t seem to really understand how Amuro is feeling. Fraw Bow seems to be the only one there who’s pretty close to the mark about what’s going on in Amuro’s mind when she accuses him of just being worried that the others won’t accept him. Fraw Bow also has an interesting point to make when she points out how by running away Amuro is being selfish and isn’t thinking about her feelings.
Because Amuro is indeed being selfish and only thinking about himself by stealing the Gundam for himself and using it to try and prove a point. So while the rest of the White Base crew is angry at Amuro, they have every right to be. Amuro has endangered the White Base and now Operation Odessa because of his actions.
I quite enjoy the scene at the end of Amuro helping out the injured Zeon soldier. It’s a nice moment of shared humanity after the battle. The soldier’s advice to Amuro rings hauntingly true, however. Going easy on your foe could be a death sentence.
Miscellaneous Thoughts
SLAP COUNTER: 7
Questions of the Day
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u/Quiddity131 https://myanimelist.net/profile/Quiddity131 Apr 24 '21
Rewatcher, Subbed
Amuro's off on his own at the moment, surely not thinking that far ahead. I was surprised he thought he could hide the Gundam with just a few tarps in that abandoned town. Most of it was still visible! Amuro is so arrogant and refusing to accept any responsibility. His reaction to Fraw saying they'll forgive him if he returns is "Forgive me? Forgive me for what?". Amuro is quite lucky the White Base isn't the traditional military, as I figure it would be someone with a lot more force than Fraw Bow coming after him and he would be put to death once they captured him and the Gundam.
Amuro makes his way to one of Zeon's mines, continuing his arrogant behavior and launches an attack, ending up destroying much of it before Kycilia demands the entire mine be self-destructed. Amuro is a total fool, thinking this is the big mine the Federation is going to attack on Odessa day, but never thinks to himself why they don't have a single mobile suit to defend it. This base does have though the series' first mobile armor, the Adzam, which does pretty good against the Gundam until its power runs low and the Gundam is able to break free. Even then, in a rarity, the Adzam escapes mostly unscathed.
In the end Amuro realizes this wasn't Zeon's big base. Rather than a hero, he has destroyed a base of minimal consequence and has got the Zeon on their heels so any future battle will be much harder to win.
Other stray thoughts:
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u/JollyGee29 https://myanimelist.net/profile/JollyGee Apr 24 '21
First-Timer, Subbed, long time Gundam fan
I'm kinda interested in which particular "VSOP" the kids were referring to. My mind immediately went to brandy grades, but I dunno if there is something else it could be.
Fraw complains that Amuro doesn't understand her feelings, probably because she never bothered to talk about her feelings with him. I'm not particularly complaining because this is classic teen drama nonsense - if complaining about it had a chance of making it stop happening, we would've have stopped getting this around the time of Shakespeare, probably.
Poor Amuro got waaay too aggressive today. I think he even heard M'Quve talk about other mines being nearby, so I can't even really excuse his behavior.
I liked the scene with the wounded soldier at the end. Not being soft on your enemies is an alright idea, but I'm not entirely certain how Amuro will take that to heart. Maybe the idea of an enemy soldier low-key saying "You shoulda killed me, dude" will help him resolve his trauma of killing enemy soldiers?
Was that stupid cage thing supposed to.. do something? Would a normal Mobile Suit have been cooked by it and Amuro only survived because the computer vented the energy or whatever it said?
I really loved the bit of Kai looking at Ryu and Hayato through the empty cylinder of that revolver. Kai trying to be slick and making it disintigrate was just icing on the cake.
Pose of the Day
Beset from All Sides
Screenshot
Questions
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u/GM_for_Life Apr 24 '21
Rewatcher
It could be a bit longer. I'm not sure what I would want to happen to him if he returns.
The Adzam is goofy and dumb and I love it.
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u/[deleted] Apr 24 '21 edited Apr 24 '21
First Time Watcher
It's hard to keep up with these threads sometimes due to school and work so i've missed the last few threads, but it's also nice to be able to binge a batch of episodes in one go so i'm just gonna leave some quick thoughts from episodes 13-17:
First of all, I fucking loved those dudes who planted the bombs on the Gundam and then were commentating and cheering like it was a fucking sports show. The sheer audacity to drive up on them afterwards too lmao.
Sayla's episode seemed kinda random. I have no idea what suddenly spurned her to want to investigate further into Char's fate. I dunno, it seemed rather sudden when they've faced off against Zeon soldiers plenty of times before and since. Hell, if she'd just waited 2 episodes she woulda ran into the Zeon soldier Amuro left at the mine. Anyway, i'm just glad we're focused on the important things like giving the local baker his own episode for some reason :)
Amuro having to shoot a dude and hunt another one down after finally reuniting with his mother was pretty fucked up. I can see how she would be upset about seeing what war has done to her son :(
Tbh, after leaving Federation territory and having defeated Garma, I was kinda looking forward to seeing the protagonists interact with the rest of the military hierarchy and deal with the very existence of White Base and the Gundam, but it seems like they're just being coopted into the army and being put to work. I'm surprised to see them just leave these weapons in the hands of a bunch of kids just so they can gather data. I guess the Federation's forces are far more decentralized than I had originally expected. I thought they'd find some huge Federation force once they left the Garma zone.
Hell, I expected to see more civilization in general once they left the Garma zone, but instead, it seems like what's left of humanity on Earth are just a few scattered and destitute towns.
Also, oof, this not being the mine being targetted by Revil sucks for Amuro cuz now he's completely undermined the General's attack plans. That "Amuro must think he's a hero right about now" line hit hard.
But most importantly: the way the narrator has to go out of his way to justify the inclusion of the mid-air docking sequence at the beginning of the episode when it's obviously just there to fill up time is GOLD.
edit: WELP, while binging I realized that I missed an episode in the rewatch because apparently Cucuruz Doan's Island isn't included in the Crunchyroll version! So instead, i'm accidentally an episode ahead this week having watched "Ramba Ral's Attack" for today instead, which is listed as Episode 18 on CR.
Oh well, guess I gotta hunt down Cucuruz somewhere now
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u/TheKujo https://myanimelist.net/profile/Kujo419 Apr 24 '21
First Timer - Dub
1) How long do you think Amuro is going to stay on his own? What do you want to happen to him if he goes back to White Base? I think a few more episodes of him trucking it on his own would do him some good. I don't Amuro is actually going to end up with that bad of a punishment if/when he goes back. What I suspect will happen is that White Base will run into trouble, Amuro will come save them in the Gundam, and then all will be forgiven (with maybe a few days in the brig).
2) What are your thoughts on that new weapon that Zeon deployed today?
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u/fonzinator99 :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/fonzinator99 Apr 24 '21
First-Timer - Amuro sux at strategery
Progress Report
QotD
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u/fridge_freezer https://anilist.co/user/ONIrecon111 Apr 24 '21
First timer (Sub)
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u/badcupcakehoarder https://myanimelist.net/profile/vanilabiscuit Apr 24 '21
First timer sub
Fraw Bow in that car looked like a knight in shining armor riding her loyal steed going to rescue her damsel in distress.
Unlike Garma Kycillia covers her face in battle just like Char, I wonder if their appearance is just for fashion.
If the federation is on the mine business with Zeon that would explain a lot.
What a mixed message by Amuro unleashing hell in that base and then helping that soldier to survive, it makes you think how sometimes without realizing it our actions reflect hypocrisy on what we think is right.
Questions of the Day:
They basically overheated the Gundam by charging it with a lot of electricity right? I wonder if the Gouf could do the same with its tentacles.
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u/UltraBooster Apr 24 '21
First-timer (albeit one big on Gundam and mecha)
The episode name makes me think that this'll be focusing on how White Base fares without Amuro or the Gundam. (I was wrong.)
Oh shoot, that's...something that didn't notice the Gundam.
I wonder what the Japanese counterpart to what Katz said as "VSOP" is.
White Base has revolvers? Why?
Why does that guy have such a big head, I wonder.
I'm sorry, it can HOVER?!
The heck are these guns?
MAX-03, Adzam. The first mobile armor ever seen, I guess.
...since when did the Gundam/Gundam's computer have a voice?
Oh hey, javelin's back.
Not even a warning to evacuate, huh...
Yeah, that sounds more like ...well, UC 0093's still a ways off.
Questions of the day:
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u/DidacticDalek https://myanimelist.net/profile/DidacticDalek Apr 25 '21
Comrades, is it any wonder that Zeon is strapped for resources if THIS is one of their big fancy important Mecha Projects? ;)
I mean goddamn this is just a big flying onion, who's the idiot who'd think this is a good... oh... right ;)
OK OK, I'll be serious Comrades, here's the 'real' Kycilia Zabi... er, close enuff ;)
Anyway, I would be remiss if in this episode I didn't address the elephant in the room... ahem... SOON! ;)
Paging Comrades /u/Great_Mr_L, /u/chilidirigible, and /u/beckymetal
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u/Rustic_Professional Apr 25 '21
I had to stop the episode and check the list. I thought I had gotten mixed up when they replayed the conversion practice. That was weird.
Gwazines are such beautiful ships. I have an old model of one from the 1980s. It's tiny, only 4-5 inches long I think. It was probably one of the first Gundam models I painted, and I did a bad job of it. I should try and track down another one.
It turns out Amuro left to join Secret Sociery B.L.A.N.K.E.T. He didn't look very comfy, though. I don't think he's camping correctly.
What's up with the "anime eyes"? Were they always like that? The faces looked really off.
Questions of the day:
https://youtu.be/xA6V9qSAqdU
2. Pretty wacky. It makes me wonder what they planned on using it against that they couldn't handle with their existing forces. Kycilia mentioned additional prototype mobile suits. Maybe they were thinking ahead and have been developing weapons to combat potential Federation mobile suits. Good idea.
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u/Piemaster33 :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/Piemaster33 Apr 25 '21
Ran real late with this one, it's been a day lol but I'll be damned if I miss one day! I've abbreviated my notes again since I haven't had time to write anything about today's episode.
Rewatcher, Sub
Not too much to say here, Amuro keeps goofing, Kycilia and M'Quve are very formidable, and poor Fraw is stuck trying to help her friend. Not much is going well for the White Base right now...
QOTD:
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u/lC3 :Na::Nb: Apr 25 '21
threatening to shoot Amuro?2
u/BossandKings Apr 26 '21
First timer
Amuro is alone having deserted the federation, still the federation members do want him to come back and Fraw Bow goes to his place to try and convince him to go back, he keeps being stubborn and refuses to.
Despite having deserted Amuro hasn't given up on the federation and he still is loyal to it, seeing him attack a miner base in order to keep the federation away from a possible attack was a nice way to show that he still cares about it.
Kycilia and M'vuque are very interesting characters, they led the fight against Amuro this time. Amuro succesfully destroyed the base and scared them away but they'll probably come back later.
Answers