GundamReviews

Zeta Gundam Movie II: Lovers

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Summary

On the Audhumla, Katz serves as a lookout and spots a classic Comet plane piloted by Karaba’s Beltorchika Irma. Beltorchika comes in for a landing, but she has trouble because she approached the Audhumla from the front. Her engine gives out as she turns to enter the rear landing deck, so Quattro fires a line out from the Hyaku-Shiki to pull her in. As Quattro pulls the plane in, Amuro catches it with his Rick Dias. Beltorchika introduces herself to everyone and says she was glad to hear that Amuro would be fighting again. Her job – to guide the Audhumla to Karaba’s Hickory air base so that Quattro and Kamille can return to space. On the Garuda, Rosamia tells Buran that every night she dreams that the AEUG will drop a colony on the Earth to destroy humanity. Buran says he understands how she feels and gives her permission to launch during the next attack. On the Audhumla, Amuro asks Beltorchika if she hates him, but she says everyone needs to rest. She thinks that rest will help give people new meanings to their lives, but Amuro says he doesn’t have much confidence in himself. Beltorchika then kisses Amuro, but he tells her not to do that if it’s out of pity. Quattro suddenly appears, and Beltorchika leaves them alone. Amuro asks if he can have a mobile suit, but Quattro tells him he can’t leave behind the Gundam Mk-II or the Rick Dias. Quattro asks Amuro if he’s going to go to space, but Amuro says he’s afraid of weightlessness. Quattro thinks that Amuro is afraid of meeting Lalah Sune in space. Amuro then has a flashback to the One Year War when he accidentally killed Lalah. In space, the Argama enters Earth orbit to receive the shuttle on its next pass over Hickory. On the Garuda, Ben Wooder informs Buran that Hickory has a shuttle launching facility, so Buran orders an immediate launch. Kamille and Quattro use a Dodai Custom to fly down to Hickory, and Katz joins Amuro in his Rick Dias. Buran’s forces attack, and Amuro returns fire. Buran dodges Amuro’s attack and hides in the fog, but Amuro destroys a Hi-Zack. With five minutes to the shuttle launch, the Hyaku-Shiki is loaded onto the shuttle, but Kamille joins the battle. He destroys a Hi-Zack and tells Amuro to get Katz down to the shuttle. Before landing, Amuro gives Katz the gun he used to shoot at Quattro at the end of the One Year War. Quattro attempts to remove the docking clamps on the Hyaku-Shiki, but Katz holds him at gunpoint and tells him he has to return to space. Kamille fires his vulcans at the Asshimar, but Buran drops down and steals one of the Gundam Mk-II’s beam sabers. Amuro quickly slices off Buran’s right hand and then destroys the Asshimar once Kamille is clear. The shuttle launches, and Rosamia chases Kamille to the ruined Golden Gate Bridge. Kamille crashes on the road deck and fires off several shots at the Gaplant, forcing Rosamia to eject. Later, the massive Psycho Gundam docks with the Garuda, and pilot Four Murasame boards the air fortress, along with Namicar Cornell of the Murasame Research Institute. Four tells Ben she will fight in the Psycho Gundam, but she wants the freedom to do whatever she likes. At New Hong Kong, Hayato takes a car ride with Wong’s daughter Stephanie Luio. Her company is resupplying the Audhumla, and a video message from Wong reminds Hayato that New Hong Kong’s neutrality isn’t assured. Elsewhere, Amuro and Beltorchika visit Mirai Noah on the passenger ship Coral Oriental. Amuro asks Mirai if she wants to go to the Argama, but she tells him she can’t put her children Cheimin and Hathaway in danger just to see Bright. As Kamille waits in his car, he watches Four play with a glider that Cheimin dropped. As Amuro and Beltorchika leave, Four watches them and returns the glider.

Kamille argues with Beltorchika about returning to the Audhumla, and Four overhears its location. As Kamille gets back into his car, Four asks if he can give her a ride. She asks Kamille if Amuro and Beltorchika are married, but he says they’re just licking each other’s wounds. Kamille says Four’s name is strange, but she says it wasn’t her choice because that’s what the Institute named her. Four says that Kamille is a nice name, but she realizes that he hates it. Four places her head on Kamille’s shoulder and tells him she’s searching for herself because she doesn’t have any memories of her past. Kamille turns on the radio, and Ben announces an ultimatum to the AEUG/Karaba – return the Audhumla by midnight, or the Titans will attack New Hong Kong. Kamille drops Four off and asks if he’ll ever see her again, and she answers that he will. Mirai and her children stay aboard the Audhumla while Hayato and Stephanie examine plans that Kai obtained for new Titans base in New Guinea. As night falls, Four walks through the city with a painful headache. Kamille sneaks off the Audhumla to ride off on a motorcycle and stops when he hears a noise. He sees Four arguing with a Titan named Dedham, who she slaps after he calls her “Number Four.” She tells him that she’ll be back by midnight and runs off with Kamille. On a rooftop, Four runs around and laughs at the fact that Kamille is the enemy. She says the EFF and AEUG are the same, and he thinks that’s a problem for adults. She asks Kamille if he likes her name, and he tells her it’s nice. She says she hates it because it was given to her as the fourth person at the Murasame Institute. She doesn’t remember her real name or her past because her memories have been wiped away. Kamille tells her that even without old memories, she can still make new ones. They kiss, but the moment is spoiled when the Garuda begins bombarding the city. Just then, the Psycho Gundam begins crashing into buildings. Four says she can’t stand the pressure and runs away. Kamille chases after her, but he loses her in the crowd that’s running from the carnage. Ben wonders why the Psycho Gundam is moving by itself until he notices that it’s moving towards Four. He tells her he just started the engine for an activation test, and she switches places with him in the cockpit. As the Audhumla prepares for an emergency take off, Amuro launches in his Rick Dias. Kamille uses his motorcycle’s headlight to get Amuro’s attention. Amuro asks Kamille why he left without permission, and Kamille says that because Amuro didn’t tell him anything about Newtypes, he went out to learn on his own. Amuro returns to the Audhumla, and Kamille launches in the Gundam Mk-II. Four goes on a rampage and destroys the surrounding area. If she can’t have her old memories back, she doesn’t see a point in making new ones. She smashes the rooftop where she was at with Kamille, and just then Kamille jumps on the Psycho Gundam. He realizes Four is the pilot and tells her she shouldn’t fight. Four corners Kamille and forces him into the bay waters. Amuro fires at the Psycho Gundam, causing it to fall in the water. Kamille gets out of his cockpit and runs over to Four. She tells him she was promised to get her memories back if she could defeat the Gundam Mk-II, and he tells her not to trust the people who turn humans into machines. Kamille asks Four to come with him, but she tells him that if the EFF can’t help her, how could the AEUG? Kamille returns to the Gundam Mk-II and joins Amuro on his Dodai Custom. Amuro searches for a weak spot on the Psycho Gundam, but his attack has no effect. A Hi-Zack attacks Amuro and then chases after Kamille, but Kamille destroys it with his beam saber. The Psycho Gundam escapes, and Amuro tells Kamille to forget about Four.

In space, Bright is worried about the lack of contact with the ground because the Argama can only orbit the Earth twice. Back on Earth, the Garuda uses shuttle boosters to travel at high speed and catch up to the Audhumla. Four experiences another painful headache, but Namicar tells her that if she fights, she’ll have a chance to get back her memories. Ben makes an announcement to the crew that he intends to perform a kamikaze attack if Four isn’t able to destroy the Audhumla. Most of the crew evacuate, but several officers stay behind and volunteer to help Ben. On the Audhumla, Beltorchika tells Kamille that Amuro becomes to reckless when he’s around him. Kamille tells Beltorchika that she’s selfish and that the things she does will eventually get Amuro killed. As the Psycho Gundam approaches, Kamille launches in the Gundam Mk-II with a Dodai Custom. Four grabs hold of the Gundam Mk-II while Amuro attacks the Garuda. Kamille tells Four that he recently saw both his parents get killed. She asks him what the point is in telling her that, and he says that they’re things he wants her to know about him. He jumps over into Four’s cockpit and tells her this parents were idiots. He tells her how Franklin had a mistress, but that Hilda didn’t care because she was so absorbed with her work. He says that Hilda let Fa take care of him, and that Fa was always annoying him. Four asks Kamille again if he likes his name, and he says that now he does because it’s his own name. Four hugs Kamille and tells him he doesn’t belong there. She shoots at him with a pistol and tells him to get out of her cockpit. When he does, she transforms the Psycho Gundam and rams it into the side of the Garuda. She shouts out for Kamille to use to shuttle booster to go back to space. Ben runs down to the hangar and shoots at Four as she prepares the shuttle booster for launch. Four continues work on the computer until Ben shoots her in the head and kills her. Kamille latches onto the booster and prepares to launch. Ben jumps into a gun turret and shoots at Kamille, but Amuro rams his rifle into the turret and kills Ben. His Rick Dias is knocked away in an explosion, and the shuttle booster launches just as the Garuda explodes. Kamille rides the booster into space, and the Argama deploys its ballute and fires out a grappling line to retrieve the Gundam Mk-II. Elsewhere, Jerid and Mouar Pharoah launch from the Dogosse Giar in their new transforming Gabthley mobile suits. Jerid believes that he’ll finally be able to redeem himself with the power of the Gabthley. Scirocco tells Sarah Zabiarov to summon Jerid and Mouar after they return from their test. Scirocco tells them that Jamitov is at Dakar, where he is attempting to have the entire EFF fall under the authority of the Titans. Scirocco believes that this will bring about a new era that will be led by a woman. Sarah tells Scirocco that they’ve picked up the Argama‘s location, so he orders Jerid and Mouar to attack. On the Argama, Emma launches in her Rick Dias, followed by Kamille in the Gundam Mk-II. Nearby, Jerid, Mouar and two Marasais attack Reccoa and Fa, who are delivering the Methuss and G-Defenser to the Argama. Emma comes under fire from Mouar’s powerful cannon, and she’s soon forced to eject her cockpit pod from the Rick Dias. A Marasai attacks Reccoa, but she manages to destroy it. Kamille attacks Jerid, but Jerid grapples Kamille from behind and damages the Gundam Mk-II. Jerid’s Gabthley is damaged by a mega particle cannon, and Kamille ejects from the Gundam Mk-II. Fa fires the cannon on her transport shuttle, and Apolly arrives with the Zeta Gundam. Kamille floats over to the shuttle, and Jerid abandons his Gabthley and escapes with Mouar. Kamille awkwardly tries to kiss Fa with both their helmets on, but she tells him to stop.

The Federation General Assembly meets at Dakar, with Blex and Quattro in attendance as the AEUG’s representatives. Blex says that Jamitov has come down to personally lobby the Earth Federation, and Quattro regrets not coming down sooner. In Moon orbit, Sarah approaches the Argama in a Hi-Zack carrying a white flag. Bright, Emma, Reccoa and Kamille interrogate Sarah with Wong listening in via video conferencing. Sarah says she left the Titans because she was disgusted to hear of a plan to drop a colony on the Moon. Bright takes the threat seriously, but Wong thinks it’s a distraction to keep the AEUG’s focus off the General Assembly. Kamille mentions the news that a Side 4 colony has begun moving, and Bright says the Argama will stop any colony drop. As Sarah is placed in confinement, she waves at Katz, and he’s warned to stay away from her. Kamille interrogates Sarah further and asks what her real reasons are for coming. She says he was the first person to believe her story, but he tells her he only believes the part about the colony drop. When Kamille brings up Scirocco, Sarah reveals her hand and says she can’t agree with Jamaican’s methods that will kill millions of people in Granada. Kamille concludes that if the colony drop is successful, it’d be inconvenient for Scirocco. He wonders if Sarah is a Cyber Newtype and warns Katz that she’s dangerous. Elsewhere, Jamaican’s fleet approaches the Moon with the ruined Colony 27 from Side 4. He thinks Bask’s plan to drop the colony will put the AEUG in a tough position. Jerid and Mouar ask for permission to join the colony drop operation, but Jamaican tells them he’ll think about it. On the Radish, Emma tells Henken it’ll be difficult to stop a colony that’s already being pulled in by the Moon’s gravity. In the Argama‘s mess hall, Kamille again warns Katz to stay away from Sarah, but Katz snaps at him. Fa asks Kamille why he’s interrogating Sarah, and he says it’s Bright’s orders. She tells him not to act like an adult and reminds him how he himself hated being interrogated. In Dakar, Quattro returns to his hotel room and finds that Blex has been shot several times. As Blex dies, he implores Quattro to take command of the AEUG and lead the world to the right path. Jamitov receives a report and is confident that the news of the colony will sway the remaining politicians over to his side and give him control of the EFF. Katz brings a normal suit to Sarah, and she asks him why he isn’t launching. He explains that he doesn’t have a mobile suit, and she offers to show him how to use her Hi-Zack. Emma complains about the G-Defenser not being ready for her and launches in the Gundam Mk-II. On the Argama, Reccoa launches in the Methuss, followed by Kamille in the Zeta Gundam. On the Moon, Wong meets with the mayor of Granada and urges him not to issue an evacuation notice because it will cause people to lose faith in the AEUG. Katz takes Sarah down to the mobile suit hangar and says he was told to move her Hi-Zack off the launch catapult. On the Alexandria, Jamaican orders Yazan Gable to intercept the AEUG’s mobile suits. Sarah tells Katz that Yazan’s Gaplant has a blind spot on its underside. She also tells Katz he’s a nice person and knocks him away before she escapes in her Hi-Zack.

Emma heads for the colony while Kamille engages Yazan. Yazan dodges Kamille’s attacks, and Kamille hears a voice telling him about the Gaplant’s blind spot. Kamille flies underneath Yazan and fires his grenade launchers, which damage the Gaplant. On the colony, Emma reprograms the nuclear pulse engine to change the colony’s course. Jerid and Mouar hide behind asteroids, and Jerid tells Mouar not to go to great lengths just for his sake. When Kamille enters the area, Jerid attacks. Jerid grapples onto the Zeta Gundam and is about to shoot the cockpit, but Kamille pulls out his beam saber and repels Jerid. He then knocks Mouar away and fires a killing shot at Jerid. Mouar jumps in front of Jerid and tells him she said she’d protect him. When her Gabthley explodes, Jerid goes berserk and attacks Kamille, but the result is that his Gabthley is heavily damaged. The colony’s nuclear pulse engine ignites, which changes the colony’s course. The colony misses Granada and breaks apart after crashing into an uninhabited part of the Moon. After the battle, Quattro, Henken, Bright and Wong meet on the Moon to discuss strategy. The situation is becoming more difficult because Jamitov has gained control of the Republic of Zeon’s space fortress A Baoa Qu, now renamed the Gate of Zedan and moved next to Gryps. Wong says that the problem is the Zeon remnants at Axis, which are attempting to join forces with Scirocco. Wong orders Bright to take the Argama to Axis and make contact with them before Scirocco does. Bright asks Henken if he can take Katz aboard the Radish as a crew member. Bright says he’s been looking after Katz since the One Year War and wants the best for him, and Henken agrees on the condition that he can have Emma too. Kamille goes down to the rec room where Fa is playing with Shinta and Qum, the children Quattro brought back from Africa, but Wong hassles him to get back to work. In the mess hall, Quattro sits down to eat with Reccoa. She tells him she’s wondering what kind of person she is and suddenly leaves. On the Moon’s surface, Sarah lands a Hambrabi and is accompanied by another Hambrabi and the Messala. The Hambrabi’s secondary pilot gives Sarah a box with clothes, and she tells him to leave her if she doesn’t return on time. Kamille writes in his journal, and Fa tells him that Shinta and Qum have vanished. She mentions that they said they wanted to visit Armstrong Park in Granada. Sarah walks through the streets and hides in a dress shop when she spots Kamille and Fa. Sarah enters one of the spaceport’s maintenance rooms and plants a bomb inside a pipe. Kamille senses Four’s presence, but instead he sees Sarah. She runs away, and when Kamille catches up to her, she says she wanted to see him and Katz. Kamille tells her she should quit being a Titan if she hates what she’s doing, but she tells him it’s not so simple. Kamille runs over to an ice cream stand and buys ice cream for himself and Sarah. Kamille tells Sarah that Katz lost faith in people because of her. He warns her that he’ll kill her if they ever meet again. Sarah tells Kamille that he can’t return to the Argama because everything will be destroyed. He asks her if she set a bomb, and she confesses that she did, and that it’ll explode in 30 minutes. Kamille calls Fa and asks her to warn Bright so that the Argama can escape.

Kamille forces Sarah to take him to the maintenance room where she planted the bomb. He reaches into the pipe and touches the bomb, but it falls from where its resting and goes down the pipe. Sarah attempts to escape, but Kamille tackles her and knocks her out. Kamille carries Sarah back to Armstrong Park, and Apolly breaks in with his Rick Dias to take them back to the Argama. The Argama lifts off and escapes just as the bomb explodes and engulfs the port in flames. The Radish departs to get information on the Gate of Zedan. Sarah’s companions from the Moon take off and attack the Argama. Kamille and Reccoa place Sarah in a normal suit and lock her in place in a normal suit storage room. Kamille asks Sarah why someone would pick her up after a terrorist bombing, and she answers that Scirocco doesn’t believe in suicide bombings. She tells Reccoa that Scirocco is a kind man, and Reccoa tells her to pray that the Argama survives the attack. As the attack commences, Reccoa launches in the Methuss, followed by Apolly in the Rick Dias. The launch catapult is damaged, so Kamille jumps up and joins the battle. In the normal suit storage room, Shinta and Qum emerge from the normal suits they were hiding in. Sarah tricks them into releasing her and asks why they’re hiding. They say they like Quattro and Fa and don’t want to go back to Dakar. Sarah escapes through a hole in the hull, and Reccoa thinks she hears Sarah calling for Reccoa to come with her. Kamille slashes into a Hambrabi and forces it to escape. Sarah grabs onto the Messala, and all the units retreat. Scirocco thanks Sarah for her work because she caused the Argama to leave port without repairs and supplies. The Dogosse Giar enters a parallel course with the Argama, and Wong suggests a preemptive strike to prevent Scirocco from reaching the Axis fleet first. Quattro finds Reccoa throwing away all her plants, and he asks if she can use the Methuss as the power supply for the upgraded Mega Bazooka Launcher. She asks Quattro if he’s going to shoot down Scirocco, and she agrees on the condition that he kiss her. Scirocco meets with Yazan and discusses his power when he’s informed about the incoming AEUG mobile suits. The Dogosse Giar launches several Galbaldy Betas and Hi-Zacks, but they’re quickly destroyed. Quattro deploys the Mega Bazooka Launcher and begins targeting the Dogosse Giar. After Reccoa connects the Methuss, Quattro senses Scirocco’s pressure and fires, but he misses. When the power recharges, Quattro fires again and damages the Dogosse Giar‘s mobile suit catapult. Scirocco remembers fighting Quattro earlier, and Quattro’s third shot passes right in front of the bridge. Yazan launches in his Hambrabi and barely avoids being hit by Quattro’s fourth shot. Quattro tells Reccoa to break off so he can move in closer for his last shot. Yazan attacks Kamille and slashes into his back, followed by some additional damage to the backpack. Suddenly, Yazan is bombarded by a wave of weapons fire and is forced to retreat. Kamille and Reccoa pull back and spot the source of the attack: Axis’ Gaza-C mobile suits. Scirocco sees that things aren’t going his way and orders a full retreat. Axis leader Haman Karn examines the Argama‘s mobile suits in her custom Gaza-C. A large number of Gaza-Cs surround the Argama and lead it toward Axis.

Commentary

As the second movie in the trilogy, Lovers picks up right where Heirs to the Stars left off and doesn’t even bother with an opening sequence. As is expected for a compilation movie, there are many changes here. First, Katz’s Gundam Mk-II sortie is removed, and the San Francisco battle with Rosamia is combined into the last battle with Buran at Hickory. In Hong Kong, many parts are changed. Stephanie Luio is now Wong’s daughter, which she wasn’t in the TV series. Mirai’s kidnapping is removed, and Kamille and Four meet in person before they ever fight each other. The biggest and most obvious change is Four’s early death. Here, Ben shoots her in the head and kills her. This new death is a drastic change from the TV series, where Four was mortally wounded by Jerid at Kilimanjaro and died in Kamille’s arms. That was an important development for Kamille, because it set off the downward spiral that he went into toward the end of the TV series. Kamille’s return to space is the same, but Operation Apollo is gone. This makes the colony drop seem out of place, because in the TV series it was Jamaican’s attempt to make up for his failure in Operation Apollo. Some other minor battles from the TV series are cut, and Jerid and Mouar’s attack at Side 2 is folded into the colony drop. Speaking of Jerid, once again a lot of his screen time gets the axe here. Instead of being Kamille’s vicious rival, he comes across as more like a glorified grunt who won’t die. Mouar’s screen time is also reduced, which takes away a bit from the impact of her sacrifice to save Jerid. There’s plenty of new animation in this movie as well, but it’s more concentrated than in the first movie. The opening battle is new, as is much of Hong Kong. Jamitov gets a totally new scene at Dakar, and the AEUG strategy meeting on the Moon is new as well. The end battle features a substantial amount of new animation, including Haman’s custom Gaza-C and her mobile suit inspection. Overall, the movie is fast-paced, but some of the editing seems rough here, much like Gundam II: Soldiers of Sorrow. Some of the transitions are very quick and could’ve been a bit smoother. If you enjoyed Heirs to the Stars, there’s no reason not to see Lovers.

Overall Rating
3.5/5

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