GundamReviews

∀ Gundam Ep. 36: Militia Space Showdown

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Summary

Sochie and Fran float outside of the Willghem so that Fran can take pictures of the ship. Sochie asks if there are newspapers on the Moon that will buy the pictures, and Fran says that private collectors will probably want them. Inside the ship, Michael is disoriented as he travels through it and hits his head on the wall. No sooner does he recover than he sees Yanny and two other men float toward him in a confused knot and hit him. He knocks them away and realizes that moving around in space is difficult. In the mobile suit hangar, Loran makes repairs to the Turn A, and Sochie asks when he is going to get rid of the nuclear bomb. He says he wants to dispose of it far from Earth. Kihel has trouble moving in space, and Loran catches her. Sochie tries to join them but goes out of control and accidentally bonks Loran on the head. Later, Yanny grumbles to Michael that going to the Moon only benefits Guin, and Michael says it is difficult now that the ship is on course for the Moon. Ladderum walks in and points out to them that they are upside down. Elsewhere, Sochie and Kihel get undressed and talk about how it seems years have passed since they had fun together. As they take a shower, Kihel tells Sochie that she will have to complete the adult festival once they go back to Earth. Loran guards their room and reads the Turn A’s manual. Yanny floats by and tells him he is upside down, but Loran explains tells Yanny he’s not. When water floats out of the room, Loran rushes into the shower and sees Kihel and Sochie naked. He removes some of Kihel’s hair from the clogged drain and runs away in embarrassment. Later, Yanny and other soldiers get drunk on goblets of beer floating around in the hangar from beer barrels. Yanny puts on a normal suit and gets into a beer barrel so he can go back to Earth. The other drunken soldiers throw him out into space, and Loran goes out in the Turn A and rescues him. Kihel tends to Yanny’s wounds, and Sochie explains it’s due to Kihel’s hospital experience. Kihel doesn’t know anything about that, and Sochie wonders if it was actually Dianna doing that. As Sochie leaves, Michael comes in and says he wants to speak to Kihel.

Michael and Yanny take Kihel as a hostage and seize the bridge. Guin tries to talk to them, but Michael says he only wants to go to the Moon for his own benefit. Guin says they have to go to the Moon to settle the conflict and that using Kihel as a hostage won’t help. Michael doesn’t believe him and thinks that Kihel is Dianna. Kihel says that if she is Kihel or Dianna it won’t matter because she’d be useless either way. Guin realizes Michael may shoot her if he gets mad, and Sochie asks him if he will take responsibility if that happens. Harry shows up and asks if there is a riot. Guin tries to flush them out by having all the air from the bridge sucked out into space. Everyone outside the bridge hears lots of screaming, and suddenly the door opens and everyone clumsily files out. They all head for the mobile suit hangar and pile into two Borjarnons and the Kapool. Loran tries to explain that Earth is too far, and Michael says it’s close because he can see it. Aims tries to shut the hangar, but they all get out anyway. Harry says they should just leave them alone since they are troublemakers. He says that among the Moonrace that desertion like that is punished by death. Aims asks Loran to get the Borjarnons back, and Loran goes out in the Turn A. Michael and Yanny threaten to shoot Loran if he keeps approaching them. He continues his approach, and they start firing. As he evades their fire, he regrets not bringing his shield. One of the Borjarnons fires its bazooka at Loran and then chases him with a heat hawk. As Loran throws his hands up in defense, Harry jumps in with his Sumo and keeps the Borjarnon away. Suddenly, all three suits stop moving, and Harry guesses they ran out of oxygen because so many men were crammed into the cockpits. Lily asks Guin if Kihel is Dianna, and he says he doesn’t know. In the mobile suit hangar, Fran has everyone get into a group to take a picture. Afterwards, Michael looks at pictures of his family and breaks down in tears.

Commentary

After the fast-paced mini-arc of the cast getting into space and stopping at Sackträger, this episode comes across as a throwaway and a let down. The plot doesn’t move forward at all in this episode, and this minor beer rebellion only delays the ship’s arrival at the Moon. However, it does show that not everyone agrees with Guin’s ideas about going to the Moon. Also, it is pretty funny to see all the misadventures of the Militia soldiers trying to get used to space. In all other Gundam shows, moving around in space is taken for granted, but here they really show how clumsy everyone is. Just seeing a drunken Yanny trying to get back to Earth in a beer barrel is amusing. On another note, it looks like Sochie has finally realized that the girl she thought was Kihel for most of the series was actually Dianna, whom she of course blames for her father’s death. I wonder how that will change her perspective.

Overall Rating
3/5
∀ Gundam Info


Director:
Yoshiyuki Tomino

Writer(s):
Ichiro Okouchi
Ai Ota
Miya Asakawa
Katsuhiko Chiba
Tetsuko Takahashi
Hiroyuki Hoshiyama
Jiro Takayama
Minoru Onoya

Mechanical Designer(s):
Syd Mead
Mahiro Maeda
Kunio Okawara
Takumi Sakura
Atsushi Shigeta

Character Designer:
Akira Yasuda

Musical Composer:
Yoko Kanno

Format:
50 episodes; 2 compilation movies

Airdates:
Japan 04.02.1999 – 04.14.2000

Theatrical Release:
Japan 02.09.2002 – 02.10.2002

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