The second installment of Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn has finally been released, eight months after the first installment. Let's see if any of us still remembers what's going on with the show. Aren't you supposed to keep the funnels away from the target so the target can't just slice the funnels? Funny the Unicorn sliced the Kshatriya on the same wing both times. Summary: Using the Destroy Mode of the Unicorn Gundam, Banagher forces Marida and her Kshatriya to retreat, but after the battle Banagher falls unconscious and is retrieved by the London Bell task force back to their ship, the Nahel Argama. Although forced to retreat, the crew of the Garencieres trick the Nahel Argama into revealing its location using some floating debris, and Suberoa relays the information back to his boss' ship. Inside the Nahel Argama, Banagher is eventually extracted from the Gundam much to the surprise of his friends Micott and Takuya, while Audrey and London Bell pilot Riddhe Marcenas (the pilot who rescued Micott, Takuya and Audrey) are also in attendance. Micott, Takuya and Audrey visit Banagher in the sick bay, but they are kicked out of the room by ECOAS commander Daguza Mackle just as Banagher wakes up. Daguza and a subordinate question Banagher about his connections to the Gundam but Banagher doesn't have much to tell them. Suddenly, the ship is attacked by missiles and approached by four Neo-Zeon mobile suits led by Neo-Zeon leader Full Frontal and his Sinanju prototype mobile suit. Full Frontal proceeds to knock out most Nahel Argama's defenses and mobile suits by himself, while his three escorts led by Angelo Sauper watch from afar. Riddhe ends up as the last surviving London Bell pilot with his ReZEL having lost a leg. The ReZEL should have brought a better beam sword. Unlucky Neo Zeon of the day goes to the guy in the background. Back inside the Nahel Argama, Daguza figures out Audrey's real identity as Minerva Zabi and uses Audrey as hostage to negotiate with Full Frontal. Full Frontal wants the ship to hand over objects and data related to Laplace's Box in exchange for letting the ship go, while Daguza wants free passage in exchange for Audrey's safety. The negotiation breaks down and Full Frontal announces that he'll destroy the ship. Tired of seeing Audrey being used as a bargaining chip, Banagher tries to launch in the Unicorn, and he is allowed to do so by Alberto Vist who states that the Gundam is only "the key" to Laplace's Box. Banagher launches and starts taking pot shots at the Sinanju with the Unicorn's supercharged beam rifle, and one of the Neo-Zeon escorts was unfortunate enough to be destroyed by one of the shots. Full Frontal moves in for close combat, and this forces Banagher to activate Destroy Mode on the Unicorn to force Full Frontal back. With some help with Riddhe, Banagher manages to clip the Sinanju on the leg with one of his shots. Banagher tries to move in for the kill, but the Kshatriya appears, grabs the Unicorn, and hits the Gundam in the cockpit which knocks Banagher out cold. Riddhe tries to interfere, but his mobile suit malfunctions, and the Unicorn is taken away by the Neo Zeons. Always good to have a couple of extra beam sabers when times calls for them. Time for a stretch. Looks like Char, sounds like Char, but is he Char? After the battle, Riddhe tries to confront Audrey about being the Zeon princess, but he fails to get much of a response from Audrey. Meanwhile, Banagher is taken to Full Frontal's office inside the space colony Palau, and Banagher is surprised by Full Frontal's resemblance to the legendary Char Aznable. Full Frontal wants to learn more about Laplace's Box and Banagher's connection to it, but Banagher is more inclined to point out how the Neo Zeon's terrorist activities are wrong. Banagher ends up being roughed up by Angelo who is angry at Banagher's rudeness and the fact that Banagher killed one of his comrades. After the meeting, Full Frontal hands Banagher back to Suberoa and Marida. We'll probably be seeing the mobile suit on the right a fair bit next episode. Back on the Nahel Argama, Alberto briefs the crew on a mission to attack Palau and retrieve the Unicorn. Despite some new mobile suits and supplies from ECOAS, most of the ship's crew including the captain thinks it's a bad idea. Back in Palau, Marida takes Banagher to have dinner with a family, and Banagher starts arguing about war and philosophy with one of the boys in the family. Afterwards, Marida takes Banagher to an underground church in the colony. Marida tells Banagher not to blame himself too much for killing enemy pilots during combat, but also tells the boy to make himself useful now that he is involved. Marida then thanks Banagher for taking care of Audrey and the two head back to their rooms. On the way, Banagher is bumped into by a drunk-looking man who hands Banagher a rolled up paper and a pen. Later back in his room, Banagher unfolds the paper and finds a map and a message telling him to go to a certain location by a certain time if he wants to live. Hey, the English is actually grammatically correct. At the entrance of the colony, the London Bell task force has started its operation. Back on the Nahel Argama, Riddhe knocks out the guard to Audrey's room and tells Audrey to come with him back to Earth. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A good episode when it came to the mecha action, but story-wise it's still hard to make out in which direction the series is actually headed. The issue mainly lies with that nobody really knows what's inside the "the box", and the series isn't giving the audience many hints either. Given how there are Gundam series/movies that take place later in the timeline, Unicorn isn't going to feature the conflict to end all conflicts, but it's kind of fun how the show keeps leading us on about "the box" for 8+ months without giving anything remotely close to being concrete. I'm not getting my hopes up too high on the contents being anything mind-blowing, but hopefully it'll at least be something interesting. We are introduced to the bad guy this installment: a Char Aznable wannabe complete with the mask, blond hair, red uniform, high performance red mobile suit, and the Red Comet Kick. I guess it wouldn't be a Gundam series without a masked mobile suit pilot, but there is not much else to say about Full Frontal. The other major development is that Banagher and the Unicorn are captured, and this gives Banagher a chance to see things from the other perspective. Banagher was more angsty and preachy this episode and made most of his chances to tell people how war and terrorism are bad. It's a bit annoying at first, but he does have a point and his view are probably more "correct" than those of of the Earth Federation or Neo Zeon. Too bad his way of speaking out isn't going to get anyone to listen. As for the other characters, Audrey didn't really do much. Riddhe tried to do things, but didn't accomplish much either, but it'll be interesting to see if he can actually smuggle Audrey to Earth. As for the mecha action, there was plenty of it in this episode and there are still as nicely animated as ever, but I would say the first episode had better action or at least more variety. The debut of the Unicorn was very nice (although Marida was wasting her funnels by sending them at the Unicorn); the debut of the Sinanju was pretty good as well, but the fight between the Unicorn and Sinanju consisted mostly of the Unicorn trying to blast the Sinanju from long range and that was a little repetitive. Things were good though once the Unicorn went into Destroy Mode again. Overall, I enjoyed the episode, although story-wise it's still unclear. Given nobody has any good idea of what's inside the box or even what the box is, the next episode or two will probably be about the two sides struggling to get possession of the Unicorn (and Banagher) which is said to be "the key". Hopefully more will be revealed about what "the box" actually may be and also what are the ultimate plans of Neo Zeon and the people behind the London Bell task force. However if there is enough slick mecha action then I might just overlook problems with the plot. Too bad the next episode will be another who knows how many months from now. From the feed of A Product of Wasted Time
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