Gundam Reconguista in G 8-13 (Streaming)

Review Date: 2015 February 02 20:43

Reviewed by: Eeeper

Released by: Viewster

Age Rating: PG

Region: 2 - UK

Volume 2 of 4

Length: 175 minutes

Subtitles: English

Audio: Japanese 2.0 Stereo

Summary

The Universal Century, a history marked by space colonization and space warfare, has passed. Humanity's prosperity has ushered in a new era of global peace known as the Regild Century. Bellri Zenam, a pilot training with the Capitol Guard, is chosen by the G-Self-a highly maneuverable Mobile Suit of unknown origin, operable only by a select few-to embark on a journey that will change the course of the Regild Century forever.

Review

I keep thinking I'll awake up any minute now and find out that Reconguista in G is a different show to how I'm enjoying it right now. I feel like it should be more boring and dry but as the show makes it to the thirteen episode mark, I still find myself watching it and praying it stays this good. The events of the first arc are now moving into more serious territory with a new threat, old ones realigning themselves and our heroes caught in the middle.

After the Capital Army's failed attempts at "rescuing" Bellri, Noredo and Rarariya from the clutches of those terrible pirates, the true origins and reasons for the Pirates existence is revealed. Turns out Aida's Dad, Gusion Surugan, the effective head of the armed forces in Ameria is fronting the entire operation. It's not stated, but it's safe to say that the elected officials in Ameria are in on it too. Whether or not that's the case, the pirates are actually trying to find out about a colony of people on the moon, Towasanga, because if they are there they are in violation of the Ag-Tech Taboo and all kinds of crazy, violent things might happen. Before the mysterious Mask can strike down the pirates, the Amerian space fleets and anybody else who is threatening the Capital Tower, all of them have to deal with the lunar visitors who have the entire planet over a barrel.

A lot of this arc has to do with the deals going on behind the deals. In the beginning we are told that the Capital Tower's defacto head Colonel Cumpa Rusita is actively looking for ways around the Ag-Tech Taboo by building up his military forces, despite being explicitly stopped from doing so by the by-laws of the Capital Territory. That's not changed at this point in the story. The matter itself is starting to show cracks in the Capital Guard and the Army. The Army is shown happily following Rusita no matter what the cost and elements of the Capital Guard are shown helping Director Zenam smuggle in some people into the Capital that don't want to be found. This makes me wonder just how cosy are the two elements of the Capital forces. On the surface, they look chummy with everyone acting like old turn of the century cadets from WWI with proclamations of strength and valour against an enemy that doesn't seem to be around. But scratch enough and you see people like Luin Lee who is a good person driven by the shame of being part of an ethnic group that was used as cattle in the last collapse of civilisation. This causes him to take up the mantle of Mask, the Capital Army's ace pilot, being sent to fix problems before they become one. As Mask he is cold, aloof and cares only for the well-being of his team and the mission. Even though people who knew him as Luin Lee are concerned about him. On the other side of the divide, Bellri and Noredo are enjoying their time with the Pirates but the arrival of Bellri's mother signals that their time getting into scrapes is now over and the fight to get to the Capital Tower and the highest point of the space elevator calls for skills they didn't have to practice in the safe environs of Earth. The new team of Mask, Barara (who is a whole other case of crazy fish herself) and their squad mates are acting on orders of Rusita directly which probably means they'll be able to get away with all kinds of things before anyone can complain. Here, playing by the rules isn't possible for the Megafuna crew and Bellri.

The action is much better in this arc with Bellri and Aida having to take on a new and a relentless enemy in the form of Mask. While he is a mystery as to his training, there's no stopping this guy. Every time he gets defeated by Bellri, Aida or any of the pirates, he comes back stronger and quicker. He goes through two different mecha before he settles on the Mack Knife, a lightning quick combat mecha which can run rings around both Bellri's G-Self and Aida's G-Arcane. I was a little confused in certain battle scenes in low Earth orbit with the Megafuna crew saying that some opponents were behind, below or ahead of them. The problem, as you science minded people know, is that in space, even low orbit, there is no real up, down, ahead or back. So I had to conceptualise it in my head a lot of times.

This arc ends with a showdown between the forces from Towasanga and the Earth based forces with Ameria and the Megafuna crew joining forces, albeit temporarily, with the Capital forces under Rusita and Mask's direct command. Without giving anything away, I hope, nobody is telling each other the truth, there is no real truce with the various groups and Bellri and his gang decide at the end to take matters into their own hands and take Rarariya to the lunar colony on the moon to get some answers. If things play out like I hope they are, this means I'm in for an all out brawl over the moon in the next chapter.

Reconguista in G has me interested in Gundam at long last. While some might not like it and prefer a more clinical Gundam show, I like that Tomino is directing the show like it is still the 1980's and he's got everything to prove. While I can't say this is going to make a convert of me, it's at least a start in the right direction. I can't wait for this to arrive on disc.

Rating: 8/10