Summary

Solari washes up on the shore and is spotted by Heaton and Zydos. While unconscious, she dreams of playing a violin solo in concert, but her red dress turns into an endless stream of blood and engulfs the audience, which is all dead Zeon soldiers. Solari wakes up in a Zebu with the others after Kasuga treats her wounds. She asks where they’re going, and Arhun explains that they managed to catch up with a convoy and are heading to Odessa Spaceport. Zydos explains that Ronet is trying to quickly get them to the extraction point, and Heaton is happy about being able to return to space. Several Zebus in the rear of the convoy suddenly explode, and Zydos comments that the EFF won’t make escaping easy for them. An M61A5 Tank destroys a Weasel at the front of the convoy, and Ronet gives orders to all vehicles to turn left. The two tanks in turn come under fire from Magella Attacks and are destroyed. Zydos asks Solari how she’s feeling, and she cries as she tells him that everyone is gone and that she failed them. Zydos tells her that she didn’t fail anyone and that LeSean and the others were soldiers just doing their jobs. Solari counters that their lives were her responsibility, and Zydos responds that the Gundam EX is at fault, not her. Solari says that the Gundam EX’s pilot is just a scared kid who wants to go home. Zydos reminds Solari that he killed her entire unit and that she’d be dead if not for LeSean’s sacrifice. Solari answers that she understands, but also that the pilot is probably not much older than her own son. Zydos tells Solari that this is war and that she can’t be responsible for everyone, especially when she has her own kid to worry about. The convoy is rocked by more explosions when a GM uses a sniper rifle to take out vehicles. The Midnighters’ Gouf Customs attack the GM as well as several tanks. One of the pilots tells Ronet that they have to change course because the EFF has taken the spaceport and all HLVs have been grounded or destroyed. Ronet radios the convoy and tells them to change course for the port. He asks if the Midnighters can escort them, but they say they have to defend the launch site from mobile tanks. Solari tells Ronet that she can help out with her Zaku, but Zydos objects. Solari tells Zydos that nobody is getting back to space unless they stop the EFF, and Ronet asks Solari if she’s ready to die here. Ronet radios the Midnighters and tells them that Solari will be joining them. Kasuga lists Solari’s injuries and says she’s in no condition to fight, but she cuts him off and thanks him for patching her up. Solari gives Zydos her watch and asks him to give it to her son if she doesn’t return. Zydos reluctantly agrees and says he’s only holding onto it for her. She tells Arhun and the others to watch out for each other, and Arhun comments that it was an honor fighting with her. Solari jumps off the Zebu and onto the Samson transporting her Zaku. Solari joins the Midnighters and fires missiles at the Assault Guntank Type B units shelling the city. Ronet’s convoy, escorted by a Zaku I, reaches an HLV launchpad. Kasuga says goodbye to everyone and stays behind with a UMRC truck. 

Elsewhere, Solari continues to engage the Guntanks and destroys one with a heat hawk. Two Gouf Customs blast more Guntanks, but one of them is destroyed by the incoming Gundam EX. Gouf Custom pilot Loft charges toward the Gundam EX, but Solari gets in the way and stops him. She tells Loft that he’s in no condition to fight like this and says she knows how he feels because she lost her entire squad to this one suit. The Gundam EX slowly closes in on them and draws its beam saber. Solari tells Loft to take care of the remaining Guntanks and ensure that their people get home. Loft is still upset, but Solari vows that she’ll stop the Gundam EX. Solari starts running toward the Gundam EX and uses her outer shield to block its beam saber. She then draws her heat hawk to engage it at close range. Nearby, the HLV carrying Ronet, Arhun, Heaton and Zydos takes off. Solari calls Phoenix over the radio and says that they met at the EFF base, but he ignores her and presses the attack. She says that the EFF has already won and there’s no need to keep fighting, but Phoenix answers that she should surrender. He says that if they let all these Zeon terrorists escape Earth, they’ll just come back later. Solari asks Phoenix to help her save lives, and he points out that Zeon started the war but he can end it. Phoenix kicks Solari into a building and she uses her heat hawk to block his beam saber. She kicks him away and says she knows this is hard for him, too. Several Saberfish fighters approach the spaceport and destroy another HLV that launched at the same time. Solari tells Phoenix that they’re the same, but he angrily insists that they’re not. Solari then asks why they’re talking right now and how she knows what he’s feeling. Phoenix falls back and fires his Gatling cannon before screaming that he never had a choice. He attacks again with his beam saber and cuts off Solari’s left arm. Solari tells Phoenix that he does now and that she’s a mother who just wants to get home to her son. Phoenix turns off his beam saber and pushes Solari aside to save her from falling debris of the destroyed HLV. Solari gets up and asks Phoenix if he’s there, and he gets out from under the debris. Solari says that she doesn’t know what to say, and Phoenix starts to say that perhaps they can understand each other, but his cockpit is stabbed from the back by Loft. Solari is upset because Phoenix just saved her life and she almost convinced him not to fight. The HLV reaches space and docks with a Musai class cruiser. On Earth, Zeon forces are pushed to defeat by the wide rollout of the GM. Eventually, Solari joins up with Zeon remnants in Africa – soldiers with nowhere to go who are consumed by hatred. Solari decides to fight on to create a future for children without war.

Commentary

The series comes to an end in explosive fashion with a final showdown at Odessa. The losses up to now have clearly taken a toll on Solari, but she heroically decides to stay behind to help everyone else get back to space. This episode debuts a variant of the Assault Guntank from MS IGLOO 2, joining the Zebu that also came from that series. The action here is pretty good, with intense crossfire going on between all the belligerents. Of course, the Gundam EX had to make one final appearance, and in traditional Gundam fashion, Solari tries to get through to Phoenix and convince him that there’s no need to fight. He answers that he had no choice, and since we know nothing about him, I wonder if he’s part of a Newtype test program and was forced to fight. Solari is successful in reaching through to Phoenix, but at that very moment he’s killed by a vengeful Loft. With all the HLVs gone, Solari has lost her path home and heads to Africa to join with other Zeon remnants. Her line about continuing to fight to create a future where kids don’t have to fight makes zero sense in this context. We know from past series like Gundam ZZ, Gundam 0083 and Gundam Unicorn that the Zeon remnants based in Africa are diehards who can’t accept the reality that they lost. They keep making trouble and creating conflict until UC 0096, so I don’t see how Solari joining them accomplishes her stated goal. I don’t understand why she didn’t simply try to blend in somewhere as a civilian and keep a low profile while attempting to get back to space. In the end, while Requiem for Vengeance offered an intriguing premise in showing the terror of the Gundam from Zeon’s perspective, it failed to create compelling characters with any real depth. It also portrays the Zeon forces on Earth as fighting a heroic battle while only barely acknowledging that they’re the aggressors who invaded Earth. This creates a rather muddled message.

Overall Rating
3/5

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