Gundam Iron-Blooded Orphans Ep 01  [First Impression]

Eva’s First Impression

It took about three series, but finally… it feels like the Gundam that made me fall in love with the franchise in the first place is making a comeback. This premiere was incredibly fast-paced, solid and had a convincing introduction.
First off, our main characters are no strangers to the battlefield. They grew up as child soldiers who work through harsh labor while on stand-by. The main cast who are identified as the Third Group have such a fine dynamic, and just within this episode, they were able to establish their bonds and how much the value and care for each other. They all share a sentimental dream of going to the place they truly belong, and it’s that sentimental value that instantly makes this show way more promising than the last few previous successors. For a while now, the Gundam has been quite a hit or miss for me, so that’s why this series and this premiere makes me so excited. This type of storyline is right down my alley.

It is an understatement to say the pace of the episode was almost overwhelming due to the amount of information and how the trigger to set off the series of events to follow happened instantaneously. Not for once second, within this episode was there lacking intensity. Even when Kudelia was talking with her mother, the mood’s grim intensity remained overhead simply because we already know she is a target, and the moment she brought up how she was surprised her father was suddenly supporting her, raised a lot of flags. We knew just from the opening of the episode, this was going to get ugly real fast.

Right off the bat we learn the conflict is taking place on Mars. It involves a major movement striving for Mars’ independence, and Gjallarhorn, however wants none of that.
Now If I understood correctly, Gjallarhorn are the ones who are reigning control over Mars, but the only thing I presently need clarification on is, whether or not Earth Sphere and Gjallarhorn are part of the same fraction. Right now it sounds like they are due to the fact we have heard the Earth Sphere’s economy depends on Mars. So if Mars were to become independent, then the Earth Sphere will lose out on their economic resources. This would explain further why they absolutely want to suppress and dismantle this movement in any way they can, and the first step would be to assassinate Kudelia Aina Bernstein, who is considered as the leader of the movement. It certainly doesn’t help how her father had already sold out. Had she not handpicked the Third Group to be her escorts, her fate may have been very different.

Kudelia is perceived as a threat due to her family’s deep involvement/connections with Earth. In fact, that’s exactly where she was planning to go, to be an advocate for Mars. For her journey, she made the decision to handpick the Third Group to be her escorts. Her purpose for doing was so she could have the opportunity to get know them more and hope to gain understanding of their struggles and share their pain. You know right then and there with that mindset Kudelia is indeed naive and innocent. It was highlighted when she was trying to establish an equal relationship with her escorts. It was her naivety and her word choice that back-fired when she had requested to exchange a handshake with Mikazuki in order to “be on equal terms”. She was stung quite bad when Mikazuki called her out on her reasoning to make it so they are on equal terms. With that slap in the face, I am fairly certain she realized realized he was right. It is too bad because we know she had good intentions behind the gesture, but her reasoning spoiled it.

Within this episode, we are introduced to many characters, making it difficult to remember all of their names spitting out like rapid-fire, at least our two most important characters (other than Kudelia) were able stand-out in their own way. What made me instantly fall in love with our main cast is how they are no strangers to the battlefield. They are a band of brothers who grew up as child soldiers who work through harsh labor while on stand-by. The Third Group have such a fine dynamic (especially Orega and Mikazuki), and just within this episode, they were able to establish their bonds and how much the value and care for each other. They all share a sentimental dream of going to the place they truly belong, and it’s that sentimental value that instantly makes this show way more promising than the last few previous successors. It is also encouraging to have a relatively quiet character Mikazuki who is shown to be humane.

Orega is awesome, I am already a huge fan of his. He is a total badass, willingly to defy orders to protect his squad, and is such an awesome leader. I was actually quite worried about him being killed, but thankfully Mikazuki showed up with the Gundam in epic fashion. And speaking of which, it appears our Third Group squad are the ones who built the Gundam we see them take into battle today. I actually love that because this isn’t about some genius who designed and built it. This is clearly something this group has done altogether, and it embodies their hopes and dreams for a better future.

Overall yes, I am really impressed with this first episode. I haven’t even touched up on the character designs and animation quality- both top notch, and it truly speaks for itself. We have characters who grew up in a gritty and abusive environment, they are resilient, they have no armor, they have these injections in their backs to ‘hook’ them up to the mobile suits they use, and I really look forward to getting to know the rest of the squad (especially Biscuit). The oppositions is also very interesting, has their share of crazy characters, but also some interesting ones where I am very curious to see where they will go. We had one pilot who was disgusted at the commander who was leading the mission to assassinate Kudelia for causing unnecessary causalities, a trainee who (is very handsome by the way) appears to be very new and inexperienced to the battlefield. I am eager to find out what type of character he will become, a part of me hope he becomes more of a friend than foe because of reasons. Final Verdict: I hope this series will be good and all I can hope it that it will deliver!

PS: Have I told you how much I LOVE this Gundam Mobile Suit design, hands down, definitely my favorite to date!

Possibility of Blogging: Moderate – (Looking for partner for Joint-Coverage due to Health Condition)
Possibility of Watching: Guaranteed