Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron Blooded Orphans originally aired in 2015, and my first viewing of it was probably the following year. It had been ages since I had seen any Gundam, really not since the first run of Toonami. I enjoyed it then, but never finished it, for reasons that escape me. So a couple weeks ago, I started from the beginning and binged both seasons over about five days.
As per Gundam standards, our setting is a variety of colonies throughout the solar system, which are dominated by a distant Earth government, whose oppression foments revolution. The focus this time is on Mars, where a modern slave trade has taken root. Mercenary groups make use of child soldiers who have nowhere else to go, and the bulk of the Martian population lives in poverty. So right off the bat, IBO is explicitly about human rights abuse, and that dread beast, Colonialism.
Overview
The main conflict revolves, at least initially, around Kudelia Aina Bernstein (whose full name is repeated a comical number of times). Kudelia is the heiress of a noble Martian family, and a progressive political activist. She seeks to win increased autonomy for Mars, and improve the impoverished conditions Martians live under.
Joining her are a mercenary company called Tekkadan. After being betrayed by their adult leadership, Tekkadan has been taken over by Orga Itsuka and his cadre of child soldiers and former slaves. His right hand... boy is Mikazuki Augus, the pilot of IBO's hero mech, Gundam Barbatos. Kudelia hires this company of troubled teens to escort her to Earth so she can plead her case directly to the colonizer's government.
Opposing our heroes is Gjallarhorn, a combined Earth military force, whose ostensible purpose is to maintain the balance of power between Earth's economic blocs. They also function as the enforcers of Earth's will upon the rest of the solar system. Kudelia represents a threat to the established order, which means Gjallarhorn wants her dead or in their custody.
The final major player is McGillis Fareed, a high ranking official within Gjallarhorn. McGillis seeks to reform the organization and root out corruption, and will go to extreme lengths to accomplish that goal. Primarily, he acts behind the scenes, manipulating events to serve his broader purpose.
Review
IBO is a solid show. It's mecha design varies from slightly awkward, to impressively cool. It's got great animation, and well choreographed action. So the technical side is what you expect from Sunrise.
The story is mostly pretty good too, but there's some odd details. Like, oh I don't know, McGillis' child bride. Was her existence meant to be an early indication that McGillis would do any reprehensible act to seize power? Just what was the intent? Ok, so I get that the exploitation of children is a core theme here. I just... I'm not even sure the audience is meant to view his betrothal to a ten year old as an objectively bad thing. Eventually it's revealed that he only did so to gain control of her family, but prior to that, their relationship is depicted as wholesome. It's very strange.
Tekkadan and it's teenage membership spend a lot of the show being led by the nose by powerful adults with ulterior motives. All they really know how to do is fight, and the machinations of people they thought they could trust ultimately lead to their destruction. This is sad, but thematically appropriate.
In the years that follow, Gjallarhorn and the Earth governments they represent begin implementing more progressive policies on Mars. Kudelia becomes the president of a new Martian Union. Slavery and child soldiers are banned. The better world our heroes envisioned is coming to pass.
You may be asking yourself, "What prompted this change? Weren't the people they were fighting fundamentally uninterested in this kind of change? The colonizers were still in charge when Tekkadan was slaughtered, so what gives?" My best guess is that the McGillis Incident, as this little war came to be called, shook Gjallarhorn to it's core. Policy makers knew that something like this was bound to happen again unless Mars was appeased to some degree. The resulting age of progress still feels unrealistic, but let's be honest. You can't end a Gundam show on a downer. If half our main cast is going to be killed, you at least have to make their fight mean something. So Mars becomes a democratic paradise, the children get to be free, etc. etc.
Overall, I really enjoyed Iron Blooded Orphans. The ending feels good in the moment, even if it's logic is shaky on review. It's a show that tried to say things, and mostly succeeded. And if you don't give a shit about themes and messaging, well it's still got plenty of cool action. I give it a RAISE YOUR FLAG out of ten.






.gif)