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Phase
27: Endless Rondo
Review by Chris August 1, 2003 On Onogoro Island, the ZAFT spy gives Athrun and the others fake ID's that allow them to enter the less restricted areas of Morgenroete. The spy explains that the inner levels have very strict security and that he couldn't make ID's for there on such short notice. Inside the Morgenroete compound, Orb technicians work on repairs to the Archangel. Natarle mentions to Murrue that she wants to use this opportunity to check the ship's internal systems. Elsewhere, mobile suit researcher Erica Simmons prepares a report on the Strike Gundam and its abilities. She receives a phone call from her children and tells them she'll be home later. She notes that the Strike Gundam is overwhelming, but its performance is based on the ability of the pilot to bring out its full potential. She reviews the combat data from the Strike Gundam's first battle with Miguel Aiman. She notes that the Gundam OS was incomplete and that it was ironic that a Coordinator was needed to fix it. She also believes that Coordinators have better ability at piloting mobile suits than Naturals do. Erica continues her report and notes the Archangel's divergence from its intended course to Alaska Base and landing directly into ZAFT-controlled North Africa. She explains that there Kira fought the BuCUE forces of Andy Waltfeld, the Desert Tiger. She says that Kira's skills allowed him to quickly re-program the Strike Gundam to fight in the desert, which led to him defeating the BuCUEs and Andy's LaGOWE. She then later recounts Kira's battles in the Red Sea with Marco Morassim's mobile suit forces. She says that Kira again proved his adaptability in underwater battles, along with his cooperation with Mu's Sky Grasper. She also notes that the ship's chain of command has problems due to disputes between Murrue and Natarle. She states that Kira's abilities are far beyond those of normal Coordinators, and she wonders if it relates to the controversial concept SEED (Superior Evolutionary Element Destined-factor). She notes that she wants further study of Kira, but she then deletes it from her report. She is told that Kira has arrived, so she goes out to see him bring in the Strike Gundam. She tells him that the Strike Gundam will be repaired, and she also shows him Morgenroete's mass production M1 Astray units. Cagalli explains that the Astrays exist to help Orb keep its neutral position, but she still thinks that her father Uzumi betrayed Orb's ideals by working with the Alliance. Erica explains to Cagalli again that Uzumi really did know nothing about the project because some elements of the government acted on their own with the Atlantic Federation. Kira watches as M1 Astray pilots Asagi Caldwell, Juri Wu Nien and Mayura Labatt struggle to move in their mobile suits. Erica asks Kira to help her develop an OS that can make the Astrays as powerful as his Strike Gundam. Following a 100% certified clip show, we get here an 80% clip show. Most of this footage is stuff that we've seen plenty of times before in flashbacks or other clip shows. There's no need to see Kira's first battle so many times, or his battles with the BuCUE and underwater suits. This episode could have provided a lot of interesting details about Orb, especially in the form of narration by Erica. However, it's all wasted in her 'report' which is information already obvious to regular viewers. However, a few things do occur here. Though there isn't much explanation to it, the term SEED is finally explained as an acronym. We also get to see the M1 Astray, which is based on the Gundam Astray units seen in the side story manga. It's a shame this potentially great episode was wasted yet again on old footage. Overall Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
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