ZAFT soldiers attempt to control the panic created in the PLANTs after the firing of Requiem. At the Daedalus lunar base, Djibril vows to hit Aprilius with Requiem’s second shot. At Messiah, Durandal shouts out orders and says over the phone that he won’t negotiate a cease fire with terrorists. At the Alliance’s Arzachel lunar base, a fleet launches to protect Requiem’s relay stations. Yzak prepares to rendezvous with the Gondwana and vows he won’t allow Requiem to fire again. On the Archangel, Kira helps Athrun and Meyrin with the Infinite Justice‘s maintenance. He says it’s frustrating that they can’t do anything right now, but he believes ZAFT will prevent any further attacks on the PLANTs. As the Minerva approaches the Moon, Abbey relays new orders to Talia. Instead of rendezvousing with the lunar fleet, the Minerva is to directly attack the Daedalus base and destroy Requiem’s control center. Talia then briefs Shinn, Rey and Lunamaria on the situation. She says that timing is a problem because they don’t know how long it will take for Requiem to recharge. ZAFT’s lunar fleet attacks the Fauré relay station, but it is protected by ships equipped with positron reflectors. Yzak launches in his GOUF Ignited, followed by Dearka in his Blaze ZAKU Phantom. Dearka attacks a Zamza-Zah and is unable to penetrate its shield, so Yzak whips it with his heat rod and destroys it. As Requiem’s charge reaches 50 percent, Djibril boasts that he will succeed where everyone else has failed up to now. Rey goes over the mission plan with Lunamaria and Shinn. He and Shinn will attack the base’s forces to provide cover for Lunamaria while she destroys the control center. Lunamaria blames herself for not shooting down Djibril, and Shinn tells her it’s Orb’s fault for sheltering him. Rey tells Lunamaria to not make any more mistakes and leaves. Lunamaria hugs Shinn, and he tells her it’s too dangerous for her to attack Requiem’s control center herself. She says it’d be dangerous even if she was just a diversion and asks him to trust her. Shinn then hugs her and they spin in the air in the pilot’s ready room. Lunamaria then launches in the Core Splendor and forms up to the Blast Impulse.
The Daedalus base picks up the Minerva on its sensors and in response deploys Windams, a Zamza-Zah and a Gells-Ghe to stop the ship. The Minerva activates all its weapons, and Rey launches in the Legend Gundam, followed by Shinn in the Destiny Gundam. Shinn destroys several Windams, and Rey uses his DRAGOONs to pierce the shield of a Zamza-Zah and destroy it. Shinn and Rey destroy more Windams, and the Minerva destroys several Windams and gun turrets. Talia has the ship change course and activate the Tannhauser. Durandal orders that a live feed of the battle be broadcast across all the PLANTs so that the citizens can know what is happening. Three Destroy Gundams launch from the Daedalus base, and Shinn says they haven’t learned their lesson yet. The Minerva activates the Tannhauser and fires, but the shot is blocked by a Gells-Ghe’s positron reflector shield. The Destroy Gundams fire at Shinn, but he dodges their attacks and uses his palm beam cannon to destroy the cockpit of one of them. Rey uses his DRAGOONs to pierce the shield of another and destroy it from behind. Several Windams attack Lunamaria and Shinn, but they are all destroyed. With Requiem charged to 61 percent, Djibril orders that it be fired immediately. Yzak destroys a ship, and the ZAFT fleet damages Fauré and knocks it out of alignment. Djibril says he doesn’t care and believes they can at least destroy the fleet at Fauré He tells an Alliance officer that they can surrender Daedalus and still escape to Arzachel. Several Windams and a Gells-Ghe attack Lunamaria, but Shinn destroys them. The Minerva hits the Daedalus base with the Tannhauser, and Rey destroys the final Destroy Gundam with his beam saber. A Zamza-Zah attacks Lunamaria, but Shinn destroys it with the Destiny Gundam’s anti-ship sword, allowing Lunamaria to fly into a narrow tunnel and enter Daedalus. Shinn blasts his way into Daedalus, and Djibril boards the Girty Lue to escape. Lunamaria blasts into the main shaft of Requiem and destroys the command center, while nearby Shinn destroys several battleships in the hangar. As the Girty Lue leaves dock, Rey deploys his DRAGOONs and destroys the ship. On the Archangel, Athrun tells Kira that it’s a quiet night and he wishes they could stay there forever. The next morning, the Archangel prepares for take off and Cagalli gives the Akatsuki Gundam to Neo. Cagalli addresses the crew and says that she has formally made the Archangel part of Orb’s forces. She then says that Orb wants peace, but not through surrender. Murrue then announces that the ship will head to the lunar city Copernicus for a recon operation. Cagalli runs into Meyrin in the corridor and asks her to take care of Athrun because she can’t go with everyone. The Archangel then takes off from the drydock and heads for space.
Well, with Djibril out of the way, Durandal basically controls the world. Most of this episode is a battle, but it’s another case of “send the Minerva to smash lots of stuff.” In this case, it plays out sort of like a space-based repeat of Heavens Base. It’s not much fun to see Shinn destroy lots of things he’s already destroyed before. Why does the Alliance even bother with Destroy Gundams and mobile armors? As big as they are, they’re just a joke because Shinn destroys them in a second. The Girty Lue reappears after being gone for about 40 episodes, just to be destroyed in 5 seconds by Rey. As Shinn and Lunamaria become closer, Rey seems to be becoming more abrasive and even more distant than usual. On the Archangel front, the ship finally takes off and heads for space. Cagalli stays behind, making the Akatsuki Gundam the fastest hand-me-down suit in Gundam history. Also, it almost seems as if she’s given up on Athrun. He notices that she’s not wearing his ring, and she cries after telling Meyrin to take care of him. Given their bizarre relationship up to this point, who even knows what they’re doing? With only 5 episodes left in the series, the ball is in Durandal’s court, and we’ll have to see what he does with his Destiny Plan.
Director:
Mitsuo Fukuda
Writer(s):
Chiaki Morosawa
Hiroyuki Yoshino
Hiroshi Ohnogi
Kazuho Hyodo
Shigeru Morita
Natsuko Takahashi
Yuuichi Nomura
Mechanical Designer(s):
Kunio Okawara
Kimitoshi Yamane
Character Designer:
Hisashi Hirai
Musical Composer:
Toshihiko Sahashi
Format:
50 episodes; 1 TV special; 4 compilation movies
Airdates (Original):
Japan 10.09.2004 – 12.25.2005
Airdates (HD Remaster):
Japan 04.xx.2013 – 03.xx.2014
Video Release (SE):
Japan 05.26.2006 – 02.23.2007
U.S. 06.17.2008 – 01.13.2009
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