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Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans
Episode 6

by Lauren Orsini,

How would you rate episode 6 of
Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans ?
Community score: 4.1

There were no Gundam fights in this week's installment of Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans. Clearly, we used them all up last episode. Instead, we had a slower-paced half-hour of character development and world-building. Amidst some mumbo-jumbo explanations, we learned a lot about the history of this universe and its people, indicating that if any future romance between Kudelia and Mikazuki is going to have a shot, it'll have to bridge a great socio-economic divide.

Iron-Blooded Orphans is better at showing than telling. I only grabbed snippets of this episode's extensive history of the Calamity War. We learned that there are 71 other machines like Barbatos, so there's some potential foreshadowing. Kudelia's maidservant Fumitan distinguished herself as a character through an equally confusing description of the Ariadne communication network, which she can navigate like a pro. Indeed, everyone on the ship is finding their own job to do, including Kudelia who is now the ship's teacher. She's not only well-versed in the universe's highly complicated history, but she also knows how to read and write—two skills in short supply among the orphans. So Kudelia offers her skills to Mikazuki and some younger kids.

Mikazuki is certainly the first illiterate Gundam pilot, and perhaps the first blue-collar one as well. Most Gundam heroes are very educated, either self-taught in the technology or thoroughly schooled. With none of those tools at his disposal, Mikazuki is fighting solely on instinct. It's especially interesting how Mikazuki's illiteracy is paralleled with Kudelia's privilege. Mikazuki can't read, but he's not dumb. Kudelia's educated, but not worldly. When she expresses her plan to liberate the Martian people, Mikazuki's response is, “So you're the person that's going to make us happy?” Once again, he questions Kudelia's savior complex—why is she the one to liberate Mars and not the Martians themselves? It echoes back to the second episode, when Kudelia apologized for the invasion, and Mikazuki chided her for assuming that everything happened because of “just one person.” Kudelia has studied the socioeconomic inequality keeping the Martians down, but she hasn't seen them as people with their own strength until now. The princess character striving for peace is a Gundam staple, but never has the trope been so self-aware.

This episode also further explored the somewhat toxic friendship between Mikazuki and Orga. We already know how Mikazuki feels about Orga—he's ready to do his bidding without question, no matter how many people he has to kill. But a conversation with Biscuit reveals that Orga doesn't always feel strong enough to lead his friend. “I feel like you're taking the dangerous path on purpose,” Biscuit says, and Orga agrees. He needs to be strong and cool to impress Mika, whose eyes ask him, “what exciting thing are you going to show me next?” This friendship seems to have warped both characters, suppressing Mikazuki's conscience and making Orga take unnecessary risks. It's not a positive relationship, but it's interesting. I'm hoping that we'll get a thorough backstory on that pair soon.

After plenty of downtime, the episode ends on a cliffhanger. It seems more poorly paced than usual, cramming all its intensity into the final moments. I'm sure it will pick up the pace next week.

Rating: B+


Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans is available streaming at Daisuki.net and Funimation.com.

Lauren writes about anime and journalism at Otaku Journalist.


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