A manga web Series by Bandai in the Gundam Franchise, manga by Atsushi Soga and SOW
It’s taken a while, but we finally have the final installments of Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Eclipse episode four to review here (one is linked below). for those just joining this series, please go back and look at previous reviews – but this is a cross-promotional manga that has been released both in a hobby magazine in Japan, and on YouTube worldwide. I absolutely LOVE the idea, and hope more canon manga that normally stays in Japan is released this way.
“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.”
When we last left the members of ODR, they had infiltrated a weapons deal and discovered possible answers as to why weapons keep flowing into poor areas. It seems SOMEBODY has a plan to cause chaos as a way to get back at The Atlantic Federation due to their meddling in world affairs. It appears TAF has caused a lot of harm in and around parts of Asia under the guise of being peaceful. This mysterious organization is practically giving weapons away for free to cause unrest and destabilize the area.
We now know the two antagonist pilots are known as Vale, a female pilot who had a Zaku, and a as of yet unnamed man piloting a modified version of the Calamity Gundam, The Aile Calamity. All we know is that they have some kind of plan in the works, and it appears that the whole thing may have been a ruse to figure out what “ORB’s Secret Weapon is”. Whether or not the ODR guys have fallen into a trap or not is still unknown. I can’t tell by uniform where these people’s allegiance lies, it doesn’t look familiar to me, then again I haven’t watched Gundam SEED or Destiny in like 15 years, so there is that.
This was a VERY short couple of episodes, and I really have no idea why all of Episode four wasn’t just one or two sections. I’m really hoping future installments go back to being longer, and I quite enjoyed how Chapter one was introduced and maintained. I’m sure there will be more episodes in two weeks so my fingers are crossed that with a close to this chapter, we get more dialogue and worldbuilding in place. You never know, we might figure out who the antagonist really is next time.
Despite the “blink and you missed it” running time, these were cool episodes, and hopefully are the last puzzle piece before we really get the story moving along. Who are those guys? What are they up to? Hopefully we will find out very soon. I love the mecha designs in this, and the way the artist draws them, he has a good eye for size and making things seem menacing on the page that a lot of Gundam manga does not do so well at. Stay tuned for next time, hopefully in a few weeks!