機動戦士ガンダム /Kido Senshi Gundam episode 03
Mobile Suit Gundam – 03

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

As White Base approaches the Luna II asteroid base, the new crew attempt to get settled into their roles while taking care of the civilian evacuees on board. Frau brings Amuro some food and a change of clothing as he’s skipped the last two meals as he attempts to know everything he can about Gundam. Since the Musai is tailing the White Base but not attacking, Mirai speculates that they may be out of ammunition and in need of a resupply. Bright is not so sure since Char is involved but when a second ship is seen rendezvousing with Musai, Bright orders the new crew to the bridge and takes a vote on whether to attack the potentially defenseless Musai or make a run for Luna II.

On the Musai, Char learns that his resupply request is being sent on an old, obsolete ship and that he is only getting two Zaku units instead of the three he asked for. Meanwhile, White Base launches the Core Fighter (piloted by the rookie Ryu) and the Gundam (piloted by Amuro) to attack Musai. As White Base opens its gun ports and readies its weapons to support the action, Ryu and Amuro use the cover of an asteroid to approach Musai from the direction of the sun. As such, Amuro is able to launch a missile at the attached ships, destroying the conveyors before supplies can be transported. Char orders that the Zaku be delivered outside the ship as another missile finds its mark. With that, Char goes for his Zaku unit to defend his ship.

Ryu strafes the supply ship while White Base begins its own attack. Char manages to shoot down the next incoming missiles and goes after the Gundam. He orders that even if no other supply makes it, he needs those Zaku units. The attack by White Base has destroyed the catapults of the supply ship, meaning they will have to manually get the two mobile suits over to Musai. Ryu’s constant strafing attacks makes that job even harder. Meanwhile, Char schools Amuro hard as his Zaku unit constantly gets the drop on Amuro. However, Char is frustrated that what should be kill shots and attacks are not enough to take the Gundam out of action.

Back on White Base, Ryu’s actions cause gunners Hayato and Kai to not be able to bring the main cannons to bear, lest they hit Ryu. Since Ryu has his radio turned off, White Base cannot make contact. However, Kai and Hayato have a plan and since Kai has a license to drive a track vehicle, they get Bright to approve their taking the Guntank down to the surface of the asteroid to bring its twin cannon to the fight without the risk of hitting Ryu. Musai manages to get its main energy cannons charged and fires on White Base as the Guntank drives to get in range of the supply ship. Once in range, the Guntank’s cannons cause the supply ship to go down.

Seeing that the ship is lost, the crew eject all remaining supplies before the ship crashes and is destroyed. The captain of the supply ship, in his own Zaku unit to make sure Char’s new Zaku units were delivered, decides to attack the Gundam in revenge. While he has the superior skills, the Gundam is so superior as to allow the relatively inexperienced Amuro to destroy the Zaku. With the destruction of the supply ship and one enemy Zaku, Bright recalls his forces. Char sees the retreating Gundam and ponders how the Zeon could have been defeated so easily when it is obvious that the pilot of the Gundam and the crew of the White Base are acting like amateurs rather than trained soldiers. Realizing that the Federation has such superior technology cause Char to fear.

Thoughts/Review:

It is difficult to gauge how much time has passed since the events in episode 1 (the Zaku attack inside Side 7) to episode 3. If I had to guess, I’d say a day or two tops. I could be wrong though.

I was struck by some of the imagery in this episode that reminded me of the early episodes of Space Battleship Yamato. Not surprising considering both series came out in the 70’s (Yamato first). It isn’t a problem, but I smiled seeing some of the White Base corridors that reminded me of Yamato as well as the Core Fighter launching and being shown from the rear.

Story-wise, I liked how things played out here. A lack of supplies has been used on occasion as a plot point but here, the enemy having the supply issues is unique in my experience. However, the Musai needing to be resupplied with munitions provided both a realistic situation and a plausible means for the inexperienced heroes to score a victory when otherwise, they might have been blown out of the sky.

I had figured that even though a point was made about the age of the resupply ship, things would go fairly smoothly (some limited damage) and that Musai would quickly get the munitions loaded and go hunting but White Base would make it to Luna II in time. So I was pleasantly surprised when the attacks from Ryu, Amaru, and the limited attacks from White Base continued to keep the fresh supplies from being transferred. I really liked how the captain of the supply ship had the cargo jettisoned to save it before his ship crashed and was destroyed. Of course, he had to ruin things by being stupid but he paid for his stupidity so all’s well that ends well.

Amuro showed some talent for the job with his tactical thinking on how to attack Musai and the supply ship. However, Char’s continuing to school Amuro gives the audience a marker of how far Amuro has to go. Thankfully, the deus ex machina nature of the Gundam unit and possibly White Base means that Amuro has time to learn his job and gain proficiency.

As to the others, there’s the obvious convenience of how they all landed their jobs but beyond that, we really haven’t learned too much about the crew. I’m guessing that will change with time.

So through three episodes, things certainly are interesting and entertaining.