機動戦士ガンダム /Kido Senshi Gundam episode 18
Mobile Suit Gundam – 18

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

Amuro’s desertion has caused White Base to land as he’s the subject of much conversation.  Frau Bow hears that execution is the punishment for Amuro’s crime but is assured by Mirai and Ryu that this won’t happen. Mirai is sent out on a dune buggy and she follows Gundam’s footprints to a ruined village.  Approaching on foot, she sees the covered Gundam and finds Amuro’s camp.  He nearly shoots her as he hears her approach.  When she tells him to return and that he won’t be executed, Amuro decides to leave again.  Frau Bow is angry because Amuro has no self-confidence and won’t admit it.  Amuro refuses to listen and gets into Gundam and leaves.  Frau Bow decides to follow him in the dune buggy.

Meanwhile, Kycilia’s flagship battleship Gwazine is dispatched from the Zeon moonbase Granada.  She meets up with M’Quve and the two fly in a new Zeon craft to M’Quve’s mining operation (having been spotted by Amuro before Frau Bow found him).  While inspecting the mining facility, Amuro discovers the base from a distance and hides behind a rock formation.  Using Gundam’s visual and listening devices, Amuro is able to see and hear despite the great distance and sends Frau Bow back to White Base to let them know about this mining base.  After Frau Bow leaves, Amuro decides that since there are no Zaku visible, he’ll attack the base solo and save General Revil from having to attack the facility/

Amuro begins raining down destruction, forcing Kycilia and M’quve flee to safety. Kycilia is not happy that M’quve allowed a Federation mobile suit to get so close.  She proposes they take out the heavily armed Adzam unit that Amuro had seen fly over earlier.  Amuro doesn’t have much difficulty defeating the Megella Attack tanks that come his way and destroys some gun emplacements.  When the Adzam arrives, Amuro finds a much stronger opponent. Witnessing Gundam’s abilities first hand, Kycilia realizes that the Zeons didn’t have nearly enough intelligence on the Federation mobile suit and states her desire to push Zeon development faster.  In the meantime, M’quve has managed to gain the skies above Amuro and manages to trap Gundam with dust and a make-shift cage that when activated, immobilizes the mobile suit.

Amuro realizes he’s in bad shape as 98% of Gundam’s energy is being diverted to protect the unit and the pilot.  He gets a break when the field trapping him terminates and M’quve opens fire.  Gundam breaks free, something a Zaku wouldn’t have been able to do, and Amuro goes on the attack, gaining footing on the Adzam.  He causes damage with his energy trident but M’quve shakes him off and at Kycilia’s command, causes the base to self destruct.  Amuro enters the ruined base to look for intel but his joy of being a hero is crushed when he finds a scorched piece of paper indicating that this base was #101, meaning there were at least 100 more like it.  Meanwhile, Frau Bow makes it back to White Base, who arrives to find the injured Zeon soldier Amuro saved. Their mission for Odessa Day is a much harder one now that the Zeon’s will be on alert.

Thoughts/Review:

Amuro’s desertion and stealing of Gundam shows how problematic his actions were for the crew.  Sure, he’d been the one to save the day, but when push came to shove, he abandons everyone, including his long time friend Frau Bow.  While Amuro’s childishness is annoying, I can understand it.  When one is that age, one tends to think in terms of “I’ll show them!” when one gets pissed off at an adult or even fellow mates.  No doubt, Amuro thought that he’d be a hero by taking out the Zeon mining base, but that Bright would beg him to come back.  Amuro is learning that his hero actions were nothing and that he could be executed if he even returns.  Welcome to life, kid!

Of course, had Amuro gone through basic training and then specialized Gundam training, this selfish streak of his would most likely have been either weeded out or he would have bombed out.  Since Amuro hasn’t undergone basic military training to understand the concept of discipline and teamwork, I don’t have a problem with anything he’s done so far even if he annoys me at times with his angst.

While I’m thinking of it, where does Sayla get off being so glib about Amuro needing to be punished?  Didn’t she steal Gundam not too long ago in order to learn about Char?  Oh wait, she DID.  *lol*

Going back to Amuro and Gundam, I will say that Amuro is being shown to have military aptitude and sense enough to cover parts of Gundam up to keep it from being so overtly obvious to passing by Zeon air patrols. He also slept lightly and had his gun at hand so that he hear Frau Bow when she approached and had she been an enemy, she would have been dead. However, he did two dumb things.  First, his size 100 footprints would be seen for sure and Frau Bow had no problem tracking him.  At least do something to make it sort of appear that you are going another direction (walking backwards) or something to lessen the odds of being discovered by a overhead patrol.  Second, he abandoned his covers when he left to flee Frau Bow.  Now what does he do next time he makes camp?

During Amuro’s attack on the Zeon base, I couldn’t help but chuckle at what seemed like a tribute to arcade shooter video games like Twin Cobra, except that Gundam predates all of those kinds of video games. So in fact, these different arcade games that came from Japan may very well have been making a tribute to Gundam.  What do I mean?  Well, for starters, you had Gundam vs. Megella Attack tanks in which Amuro blasts away and destroys them as fast as they appear.  Then as he moves forward, he encounters the gun emplacements which not only have heavy firepower, but also pop up and down behind impenetrable doors.  Then the “boss” Adzam appears, which is heard to take down and can do serious damage, but can be destroyed.  The entire fight was one I’d done in many a shooter arcade game, only the players were different.  ^_^

So, another interesting and entertaining episode.  Let’s see what Amuro does next now that he has to be running low on ammunition, fuel, and supplies.