life line by line

The “never ending” battle between the Phantom Pain and Minerva crew continues! Unfortunately not much happens beside that…

The battle was okay but the more I think about it, the more useless I think it was. Sure we got some good old gundam action and watched scrub Windams get destroyed, but I really didn’t see anything towards actual plot movement. The only reason I can see why they *might* have had this battle was for Shinn’s and Athrun’s views to butt heads, more so for Shinn to understand the meanings of war and how to use power correctly.

For the majority of the battle, Shinn and Athrun did not work well as a team as they both do their own thing somehow saving Minerva from the worse (though Lunamaria and Ray did save Minerva from Abyss’ underwater attacks). Shinn for the most part, was all “oh, I’m SSOOO good I don’t need to listen to anyone” in attitude as he n00bed all the Windams except Neo and fighting against Gaia. Meanwhile, Athrun sorta had his hands full fighting against Chaos while barking orders (since the captain put him in charge of the battle) at Shinn who doesn’t listen at all! Somehow, the crew of Minerva half-ly won but Athrun laid the slapdown on Shinn, literally. Apparently Shinn found the EAF secret base while battling and saw the natives being used as manual labor, decided to destroy the base and free the people. Shinn felt all high and mighty doing “the right thing” after that while Athrun breaks reality to him: if you have the power, understand how to use it correctly. Don’t go all heroic thinking that will always win while endangering others. Athrun’s little speech shuts Shinn up quickly, though one can tell Shinn thinks he was still in the right. All I can say for Shinn is arrogance will definitely be the end of him if things keep up as they are.

Beside the whole Shinn VS Athrun showdown, I had major MAJOR issues with the whole battle in general. For one, I’m surprised Athrun had to spend most of the time fighting against only Chaos even though he, Dereka, and Yzak already put him down once before. I thought the battle would have been more favored towards Athrun, considering he’s an veteran but I guess not. Also Savior transforming back and forth EVERY FRICKIN’ MINUTE was kind of annoying; maybe it was guerilla tactics but I never seen an gundam transform so many times in one episode! Another problem I had was with Gaia walking on water. Okay, maybe where Stellar was stationed it was shallow waters but it still rubbed me the wrong way for no particular reason. I will admit, however, her and Shinn short-lived battle in the forest was kind of cool. I want to also say I had problems with the massive numbers of Windams but I’m going to chalk that up to the normal need for n00bs to be cannon fold

The best highlight of the battle, I’ll have to say, was a bit surprising for me. The whole underwater battle against Abyss was actually pretty cool. Abyss’ sub mode wasn’t that impressive but watching it transform inbetween and just fighting underwater was neat. Too bad Ray and Lunamaria was pretty out-matched fighting against Abyss for the most part. Well at least them kept him busy for most of the battle.. until he decided to go for the kill and easily destroyed the submarine that was accompanying the Minerva. Those ZAFT folks didn’t even stand an chance!

I can’t forget to mention how Shinn went all psycho as he destroyed the EAF secret base. I think he’s the first in the Gundam SEED/SEED Destiny universe to damage random bases while there is no one to stop him and no real to do so (what happened at ORB and Alaska base in Gundam SEED was totally different). Shinn looked fricking nuts, especially after seeing the natives being held against their will, as he went killing and destroying anything in sight. I couldn’t help but think how cheesy it was when Shinn torn apart the fence keeping the natives in, doing his “good deed” for the day after finishing off the EAF base. All of it just seemed too wrong for some odd reason. hmm…

Finally, if there was an kawaii/cuteness award I would have to give it to Stellar hands down for this episode. Her total devotion to Neo as her father-like figure (I hope, better not be some love interest. Oh god, that would be so wrong!) was just too adorable; especially more so watching her reactions in the presence of Neo. Definitely need more Stellar screen time like that!