Review by Chris

August 12, 2001

The Recarl and a Tomliat fly over Arti Gibraltar, where Uso, Marbet and Oliver hide their Core Fighters. Cronicle speaks with airport director Mandela Sune director about stationing troops at Arti Gibraltar. Mandela refuses because he says Arti Gibraltar is neutral and will not deal with the League Militaire, the Federation or the Zanscare Empire. He offers Cronicle two tickets to that he and Katejina can go into space. When Cronicle leaves, he spots Uso. Uso asks him how Katejina is doing, and Cronicle tells him that she's fine. Uso and Oliver go and meet with Mandela. Mandela greets Uso and says he is surprised that his parents had him and that he has grown up so quickly. He gives Uso two tickets to go to space and he tells him that his parents went up to space. Oliver isn't happy about Mandela's refusal to transport mobile suits, and the meeting ends. Fuala is informed that Mandela will not meet with her, and she isn't happy about that. The transport planes land, and Metchet says they belong to the League Militaire. Fuala accuses them of collaboration and orders them to shoot the transport planes. Uso and Oliver drive by, and he recognizes Fuala as the person who had Oi Nyung executed. Mandela arrives to settle the dispute, and Odelo and the others drive by. Suzy and Odelo can't believe that Fuala is part of BESPA, and Odelo is angry that she deceived them. Metchet pulls a gun on them as Fuala boards the Recarl. The Recarl takes off, and Junko tells Uso to get into Mahalia's Gun-EZ so that she can fly him to his Core Fighter. She plays with his hair and asks him if he knows where his parents are. On the runway, Marbet flies overhead and throws Oliver a rope. He grabs the rope, but his jeep crashes into the water and he gets soaked.

Mahalia tells Uso that he's lucky to still have parents who are alive, and she gives him a kiss. She lands by his Core Fighter so he can get off. Oliver tells him that if a battle begins that he cannot damage the bridge because it is the launch platform for shuttles. The Recarl and five Tomliats fly above the hangar where the PCST planes are hiding. When Mahalia pulls out her rifle, Fuala uses that as an excuse to begin an attack. Uso and Oliver take off, and Oliver gives him the Bottom Fighter so that he can form the Victory Gundam. Mahalia attacks the Tomliats to take revenge for Helen's death. Near the bridge, Uso attacks the Recarl, but he is unable to fight properly because the bridge is blocking his shots. Uso is attacked by Lupe and moves in to attack himself. She feels his fighting spirit rising and doesn't understand it. He attacks her Tomliat and slices it to pieces, forcing Lupe to eject again. Marbet thinks that he's overdoing things. Uso then sees the Recarl flying overhead and attacks it again. He uses the bridge as a shield and hides inside it to surprise attack the Recarl. He is able to damage it and ejects the Bottom Fighter to ram into the Recarl. The Recarl destroys the Bottom Fighter, but the cockpit glass shatters. When Uso sees Fuala, Cronicle and Metchet, he finds he is unable to shoot at them. Mahalia damages a Tomliat, but it slices into her cockpit with its beam rotor and smashes it with its foot. Mahalia destroys the Tomliat, and her cockpit explodes. Uso crashes the torso of the Victory Gundam and sees that every battle has some sort of sacrifice. With the battle over, Junko reports to Marbet and Oliver that they destroyed six BESPA suits but lost Mahalia. Uso lands his fighter on the runway and is greeted by Shakti and the others. When he sees Mahalia's damaged Gun-EZ, he grabs a fire extinguisher and runs over. He climbs up to the cockpit and cries out her name with tears in his eyes.

Well, there's the Tomino Principle at work again with Mahalia's death in this episode. The Shrike Team isn't a very big team, and its numbers have now been reduced by two with the deaths of Helen and Mahalia. Those Gun-EZ's seem to have pretty shoddy cockpits, and I certainly wouldn't get inside one. Uso has a confrontation with both Cronicle and Fuala, and he sees Fuala is responsible for Oi Nyung's death. All of this death surrounding him seems to be having a negative effect on Uso, because he fights wildly to vent his rage. However, even then he hesitates to kill when he actually has to look his enemy in the face. That's something that seems to bother other previous Gundam pilots like Amuro Ray and Kamille Bidan. Looks like Uso is no different from them in that respect.

Overall Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

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