pikestaff

Over the Moebius Skies

Fond of yuri and giant robots. Char Aznable's Pet Eevee, for better or for worse. Probably for worse.

last.fm listening


I watched episode 24 of G Gundam, which involved an extremely cool scene of one mech sacrificing itself to power another. I posted it on twitter (where I do my anime livetweeting) and got a few replies to the effect of "I'm glad they gave the Shining Gundam a proper sendoff instead of how the RX-78 kind of just got unceremoniously destroyed in a couple of seconds."

This is an extremely valid take but I actually really liked the RX-78 destruction specifically because it WAS so unceremonious. It took me off guard the first time I watched it. This is THE Robot Show, with THE iconic Robot, and it just kind of falls over and dies after losing its head.

But that's the point is it not? It's not about the robot, it's about Amuro. The human inside the metal god survives. In 0079 especially the Gundam is depicted as a sort of monster, a devil as much as a god (The White Devil after all), something greater than humanity, but in the end, it is destroyed, and that's fine, because Amuro still has some place to go home to. He doesn't need the robot, this machine that has been both a curse and a blessing throughout the show. To me, it fits perfectly with the themes of 0079. Ultimately, the robots are just the side piece to a very human drama.

G Gundam is different because the way the Gundams are piloted (and their general purpose in the story) is more tied to the humans themselves. The mechs aren't just war machines, they are representative of the characters themselves, so it makes sense to give them a flashy sendoff.

Anyway, both scenes are very good.


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