A manga web Series by Bandai in the Gundam Franchise, manga by Atsushi Soga and SOW

As of today, I am finally caught up with Gundam SEED Eclipse, and am awaiting the next couple of parts in “episode 4” to be released. I honestly have no idea how long this will run, but I assume it will be a couple of volumes, considering that’s how long these usually go. Since the rest of the chapters have been in groups of two, I have decided to keep that going, even though episode 4 has 4 parts apparently. Without the further ado, lets look at the story so far…When we last left out heroes, they were planning a daring “recon mission” in order to get to the bottom of worldwide weapons sales through the black market that risked the security of ORB itself. Miyabi plans to get captured causing a need for the boys to come shoot everything up in her defense. As ORB is a neutral nation, any sign of open aggression is a no-go so things like this are necessary and are why the ODR exists.

“C.E.72, a unique era which would later be called the “two blank years.” Some also call it “the time of peace on thin ice”, and others call it “the break before the oncoming frenzy.” This is the story of an interval. A story that takes place between two large wars in which members of a hollow unit known as ODR risked their lives.”

What Miyabi finds is that these militia groups need more than just cheap weapons to get much of anything done! Doing her best attempt to “accidentally” get spotted, she discovers a group of the laziest soldiers this side of a Metal Gear videogame in one of the more comical “stealth missions” I’ve seen in a while. I’m still at odds with how comical this series is so far, seeing that the rest of the Gundam SEED franchise is VERY serious, but I guess it lightens the mood for tough situations such as Tatsumi, The pilot of the Gundam, and his desire to not kill anyone making him vulnerable to all sorts of bad situations.

We get to see more of the woman that is working to move around low-cost and free weapons of war to terrorist groups. We find out she is there as a counter to The Atlantic Federation, who has been doing all manner of bad things in the name of so-called peace. For example, the inept would-be terrorists are members of the Singapore Labor Union, and despise The Atlantic Federation due to trade embargoes that hurt local traders and seem to have a political bent in favor of an occupying force. They tried to ask for relief by normal diplomatic means, but have made the desperate turn to terrorism because they feel there is no other way to get anything done and help their people.

This is where Gundam is at it’s best – pointing out the futility of war, and the fact that no war really has a “good guy” or “bad guy” side. Every actor in conflict acts in their own self-interest, allies change as those interests shift, and sometimes awful things are done in the name of peace. It seems this mysterious organization is a counter to the efforts of the ODF and may have a small army of mobile suits themselves. The next volume promises to be VERY action heavy, and it seems like yet another mysterious fighter is about to enter the ring. Check back soon, to see if more of this gets posted, and I will have a review ASAP. While you are at it, Hulu currently has an HD remaster of Gundam SEED up right now, it might be a good time to prepare for this and the upcoming SEED film!