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Gundam AGE Ep. 27: I Saw a Red Sunset

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Summary

As the fight continues, a Shaldoll Custom is hit by an attacking Gafran. Flit’s AGE-1 Flat comes under fire, and Algreus tells Millais that the Vagans are trying to capture Nortrum and link up with it. Flit heads deeper into the battlefield with a squad of Adeles and Shaldoll Customs. They come under attack from a Gafran and Baqto, but the Adele Cannons destroy them. One of the Adeles is destroyed by a Baqto, which in turn is taken down by Flit. He then comes under fire from Downes‘ defenses as he approaches the fortress. He calls the members of the Woolf team and says he’ll be taking command of them. Asemu flies on his own and destroys a pair of Baqtos before coming under attack from Zeheart’s Zeydra. Asemu vows to fight no matter who the enemy is and charges in to attack. The AGE-2 Double Bullet slams into Zeheart as it flies by, and Zeheart is surprised since Asemu isn’t an X-Rounder. Asemu states that he’ll defeat Zeheart and protect everyone, but Zeheart counters that Asemu isn’t a true warrior and can’t defeat him. Mink slices apart an Adele, and when she comes under fire from two other units, Dole destroys them. He tells her that she needs to calm down, but she ignores him and flies off. The photon ring ray charges to fire again, and Millais tells Algreus they can probably only fire one or two more shots. Several Dorados approach the ring, so Algreus calls in Adeles for reinforcement. Flit examines the large pink protrusions on Downes and tells the Woolf team that it must be part of the attitude control system. He says that the fortress turned around to block the last attack, so its defenses must be unidirectional. Three Dorados attack, but Flit destroys one of them and orders everyone else to take care of nearby enemies while he uses the Zefuld Launcher. Flit moves back and targets the attitude system with two missiles, which cause enough damage to disable Downes. Algreus orders Millais to fire the guide beam, buy Irissya reports that Downes is somehow moving. Flit ejects the Zefuld Launcher and is shocked to see multiple Vagan suits pushing Downes with their thrusters. Daz then approaches in his Dorado L and sets the Mu-szell to full power so that he can match up with Flit. Flit dodges Daz’s attacks and slices the Dorado L in half at the waist, but Daz latches onto the AGE-1 Flat and self-destructs. Zeheart continues to fight Asemu, and Daz’s suicide attack results in the AGE-1 Flat losing its arms. Flit tells Obright that he’s returning to the ship and orders the Woolf team to regroup at the front lines. Algreus tells Millais to cancel the firing sequence because he has an idea and wants to set a target himself. The Diva fires its photon blaster cannon at a Fa Bose positioned near Downes, which causes the ship to crash into the fortress and disable the Gigantes Shield. Although Downes’ propulsion system has been shut down, it has enough speed built up to crash into Nortrum, so Millais orders the colony’s evacuation. Flit returns to the bridge and says they have to take down Downes.

The photon ring ray fires at Downes, causing substantial damage that changes the fortress’ course toward the Diva. Downes then crashes into the Diva and traps the ship inside its fuselage as it scrapes along the side of Nortrum’s outer wall. The fortress is now on a path to enter Earth’s atmosphere, where it will cause massive damage after crashing. The Diva tries to use its thrusters to break free and is unable to. Flit wants to fire the photon blaster cannon, but Romary reports that it’s damaged, so they have to manually replace a resonance control unit on the side of the barrel. Dique prepares to go out and change the part, but Remi volunteers to go instead in a space pod. She replaces the part, but an enraged Mink flies in with her Zedas M to get revenge. She targets the bridge and opens fire, but Remi moves her pod in the way and takes the full damage. Mink knocks Remi’s pod aside, and Obright slams into Mink, pushing her directly into photon blaster cannon’s line of fire. The blast destroys her and allows the Diva to break free. Obright flies over to Remi, and she tells him she won’t be able to go home with him. She says she wanted to make a family with him because he was alone, and he says they’re going back to the Diva together. Obright reaches the pod and opens the cockpit, but he’s too late. Asemu and Zeheart stop fighting as Downes continues to descend, and Asemu flies off. He calls the Diva and tells Flit that he can go inside the fortress and destroy its energy core. Romary begs Asemu to come back, and he tells her that he lost sight of what he was fighting for until now. He says he was filled with jealousy and impatience, but now his mind is clear and he wants to protect everyone. Medel calls Zeheart and tells him that Downes will cause massive damage to Earth, and Zeheart says he’ll figure something out. He tells Medel to evacuate everyone to the escape capsules and time their launch so that they enter the atmosphere at the same time as Downes’ fragments. Zeheart says he’ll save the Earth because it’s their Eden, and he takes off his mask to use his full X-Rounder powers. He follows Asemu and tells him he’ll never figure out how to get to the core on his own. Zeheart tells Asemu to follow him so that they can get colony destroyers. Medel recalls Ezelcant’s statement that the plan can’t fail, and he wonders if this is what it was all along. After planting the colony destroyers, Asemu says he can’t believe he and Zeheart are working together again. Zeheart says he’s been fighting a long time and that an individual can’t do much, but Asemu disagrees. Zeheart says Earth will be their Eden, where they don’t have to kill each other or fear disease. Asemu says he was caught up in jealousy, and Zeheart says he’s now become a warrior. Asemu holds out his hand, and Zeheart has an X-Rounder reaction with the voice of Ezelcant telling him he has much to do. An area near them explodes and reveals an escape route, so they take off. The colony destroyers detonate and set off a massive explosion as the escape pods launch. A large fragment approaches Asemu, but Zeheart knocks him out of the way and is hit instead. The Diva begins entering the atmosphere, and Irissya reports that the fragments will cause minimal damage. As Zeheart falls through the atmosphere, Dole says he believes in what Zeheart wants and positions himself to protect Zeheart from re-entry, at the cost of his own life. After landing on Earth, Asemu looks at the sunset and is surprised by how red it is.

Commentary

The battle for Nortrum concludes in failure for the Vagans… or does it? Although Downes has been destroyed, a large number of Vagan soldiers were able to sneak onto Earth by riding down with the fortress’ fragments. As Medel’s own thoughts indicate, was this Ezelcant’s real plan all along? There’s a few more deaths in this episode, starting with Daz’s useless suicide attacks. The last two members of the Magicians Eight die, proving how useless they’ve been all along. In a surprising move, Obright’s death flag is instead averted and it’s Remi who dies while trying to save the ship. The battles in this episode don’t match the level of the last one, and there are some other problems. While we’ve seen Asemu’s journey up to now and the things that finally made him decide what to fight for, Zeheart undergoes a completely inconsistent change here. I can see them working together because they both want Earth undamaged, but I don’t get the friendly conversation afterward. Just a few episodes ago, Zeheart vowed that he had to kill Asemu because he couldn’t be himself in battle with Asemu around. And in the first half of this episode, he was fighting Asemu. So what changed to suddenly make him act this way now? This episode tosses some nods to past Gundam series, with the Big Thing Falling on Earth reminiscent of the effort to destroy Libra in Gundam Wing, along with the Vagan suits pushing Downes recalling the effort to push Axis in Char’s Counterattack. Interestingly, the arrival on Earth at the end marks the longest amount of time that a Gundam series has spent in space before coming to Earth.

Overall Rating
3.5/5

Gundam AGE Info

Director(s):
Susumu Yamaguchi
 (TV)
Shinya Watada (OVA)

Writer(s):
Akihiro Hino
Kazuho Hyodo
Noboru Kimura
Rika Nakase
Yoichi Kato

Mechanical Designer(s):
Kanetake Ebikawa
Kenji Teraoka
Junya Ishigaki

Character Designer(s):
Takuzo Nagano
Michinori Chiba

Musical Composer:
Kei Yoshikawa

Airdates:
Japan 10.09.2011 – 09.23.2012

Format:
49 episodes; 1 compilation OVA

Video Release (OVA):
Japan 07.26.2013
U.S. 07.03.2018

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