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Zeta Gundam Ep. 33: The Messenger from Axis

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Summary

Quattro lands the Hyaku-Shiki on the Argama’s deck and sees that the Axis ship is the Gwadan. Bright is surprised that Zeon remnants constructed such a large battleship in the asteroid belt, and Wong notes that the Federation government lost interest in space after the One Year War. Bright and Wong leave the bridge to board a Space Launch to fly to the Gwadan. Fa asks Kamille why he has to go, and he answers that it’s Bright’s orders. She tells him he’s too preoccupied with Reccoa, but he denies that. Quattro, Reccoa and Apolly board the Space Launch, which is buzzed by a Gaza-C on the journey to the Gwadan. Quattro and Kamille disembark and feel the pressure from Haman. The AEUG delegation is taken to an ornate chamber where Haman is waiting. Wong introduces himself as the AEUG’s representative, and Haman leads them into the adjoining throne room to meet Mineva Lao Zabi, who is still just a child. Quattro remembers being with young Mineva during his time on Axis. Haman asks Quattro to approach Mineva’s throne, but he hesitates before complying. When Quattro removes his sunglasses, Mineva excitedly calls him Char Aznable and says she recalls playing with him when she was younger. Quattro asks if she can remember things that happened when she was two, and she nervously glances over at Haman. She then announces that it’s time for Axis to make its move and asks Quattro to help revive the Zabi family. Quattro approaches the throne and angrily asks Haman how she could raise Mineva to be like this. He asks why she’s trying to make Mineva such a narrow-minded person, and Haman answers that as a Zabi, Mineva is destined to become the leader of all Spacenoids. Haman thinks that Mineva’s attitudes are befitting her position, but maybe it’s Quattro who has had a change of heart. Quattro grabs Haman by the shirt and has to be pulled off her by Axis soldiers. Bright orders Quattro to stop, but Quattro ignores him and punches several Axis soldiers. The AEUG delegation is placed in a locked room, and Wong blames Quattro for ruining their chance at negotiation. Quattro asks Kamille to help him escape and starts punching him as a diversion. Kamille calls him a coward and yells that Char shouldn’t be in the AEUG, which gets the guard’s attention. Bright says one of their people is injured, but the guard responds that he’s not falling for that. The guard sends for a doctor and goes inside the room, where Wong grabs his pistol. Quattro leaves, and Wong tells Bright that they’ll be killed if they stay on this ship. Bright wonders if they can escape, and Apolly suggests following Quattro. On the Argama’s bridge, Fa tells Torres that Shinta and Qum finally fell asleep. Reccoa wants to find Quattro and Kamille insists on accompanying her, so Bright tells them to rendezvous on the deck in 15 minutes. Quattro attacks a guard to learn Haman’s location and puts on a Zeon pilot suit. Kamille asks Reccoa why she keeps getting herself into these dangerous situations and she answers that it’s her nature. Mineva cries in her throne room because she’s scared that someone is going to come to hurt her. She continues to cry and begs her attendants to get Haman. Out in the corridor, Haman complains to a soldier that Mineva’s cowardice is a problem, but she stops when Quattro appears and points a gun at her. Quattro tells Haman that he’s going to kill her, and when she states that he’s betraying her, he counters that he’s never betrayed anyone in his life. Haman says that she’s disappointed since she sent Quattro to scout the Earth Sphere. Several soldiers appear from behind Quattro, but they’re all shot by Reccoa and Kamille. Haman shoots at Quattro, but Reccoa jumps in and takes the bullet in her arm. Haman escapes, and Kamille asks Quattro why he isn’t level-headed like he normally is. Clutching her wounded arm, Reccoa yells at Quattro that he should think of a way to escape.

Quattro looks at Reccoa’s wound to stop the bleeding, and they go to a nearby locker room so that Kamille and Reccoa can put on pilot suits. Kamille says that he understands why Quattro was mad, but that it was a mistake to confront Haman here. Reccoa notes that there isn’t time to talk and tells Kamille to guard the door, but Quattro says that he can’t blame Kamille for what he said. Quattro admits that he couldn’t help himself after seeing how Haman made Mineva act that way. Reccoa asks if reviving the Zabis isn’t his goal, and Quattro answers that he has nothing to do with the Zabis and has always been an independent man. Quattro, Kamille and Reccoa come under fire as they head for the deck, where Bright, Wong and Apolly are pinned down. Apolly makes a run for the Space Launch and is shot in the leg, but then Quattro arrives and shoots the attackers. Kamille blasts a nitrogen container and sets off an explosion in the hangar before opening the airlock for the Space Launch to escape. Torres sees the fire from the Gwadan and orders the deployment of dummy asteroid balloons to provide cover for the returning Space Launch. He then orders mobile suits to prepare for launch. Haman is informed that everyone escaped and they’ve lost sight of the Argama because of the flood of dummy balloons. Quattro orders Kamille to launch in the Zeta Gundam, and Reccoa tells Fa that she needs medical treatment while changing normal suits. On the bridge, Wong blames Quattro for acting foolishly, but Bright thinks it was always likely to end up this way. Haman is informed that incoming mobile suits are approaching the Argama, so she decides to sit back and watch. Multiple Galbaldys approach the Argama, led by the Hambrabi trio of Yazan, Ramsus and Dunkel. On the Dogosse Giar, Scirocco tells Sarah that talks between the AEUG and Axis broke down as he expected, and the tide is now shifting in their favor. Quattro launches in the Hyaku-Shiki, followed by Kamille’s Zeta Gundam and Reccoa’s Methuss. Reccoa chases after the Hambrabis, and Kamille follows and wonders why they’re flying together. The Hambrabis scatter and trap Kamille in a wired “spider web” that they use to electrocute him. Ramsus and Dunkel aren’t impressed with the Zeta Gundam, and Reccoa suddenly tackles Yazan. Kamille cuts his way free of the spider web just as Quattro arrives to provide backup. Reccoa senses that the Hambrabi’s pilot isn’t Scirocco, and Yazan heavily damages the Methuss to break free. He declares that he can’t stand the sight of women on the battlefield and flies in for a final attack, but one of his hands is blown off by attacking Nemos, forcing him to withdraw. Ramsus and Dunkel continue to attack Kamille and Quattro, but they retreat when Emma arrives in the Gundam Mk-II with reinforcements from the Radish. The suits from the Radish haul the damaged Zeta Gundam, Hyaku-Shiki and Methuss back to the Argama. Reccoa thinks about Yazan having retreated back to the Dogosse Giar. On the Gwadan, Scirocco kneels before Mineva and pledges his life to serve her. Mineva accepts the pledge, and Haman thinks to herself that Scirocco is a clown. Bright thanks Henken for the support, and Fa hugs Kamille because she’s so glad that he returned safely. In her quarters, Reccoa clutches her injured arms. In his quarters, Haman is annoyed by Haman, whom he considers to be Zeon’s ghost.

Commentary

To say that the AEUG’s negotiations with Axis went poorly would be an understatement. Actually, they never even started because Quattro ruined the whole thing at the introduction stage. Mineva first appeared in the original series as a baby, but now she’s just Haman’s puppet. I can see how it would make anyone angry, but Quattro’s reaction didn’t help anything. Bright thinks that things would’ve still ended up the same way, and it’s certainly possible given how prideful and arrogant Haman is. Reccoa puts herself in a dangerous situation again and takes a bullet for Quattro, but she’s still distracted by thoughts of Scirocco and people connected to her. It was reckless of her to pilot a mobile suit while injured, but recklessness is clearly her thing. With this battle, Kamille becomes the second in a long list of Gundam protagonists who get electrocuted inside their Gundam. If there was even a moment of doubt that the Titans are hypocritical fascists, this episode puts that to rest. Their supposed mission is to hunt down Zeon remnants, but here they are allying themselves with the biggest Zeon remnant group for the sake of fighting the AEUG and holding on to power.

Original Review: January 24, 2002

Overall Rating
4/5
Zeta Gundam Info


Director:

Yoshiyuki Tomino

Writer(s):
Hiroshi Ohnogi
Yumiko Suzuki
Tomoko Kawasaki
Yasushi Hirano
Akinori Endo
Miho Maruo
Minoru Onoya

Mechanical Designer(s):
Kazumi Fujita
Mamoru Nagano
Kunio Okawara
Makoto Kobayashi
Kazuhisa Kondo
Hideo Okamoto

Character Designer:
Yoshikazu Yasuhiko

Musical Composer:
Shigeaki Saegusa

Format:
50 episodes; 3 compilation movies

Airdates:
Japan 03.02.1985 – 02.22.1986

Theatrical Release:
Japan 05.28.2005 – 03.04.2006

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