機動戦士ガンダム /Kido Senshi Gundam episode 30
Mobile Suit Gundam – 30

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:
 
The Zeons begin a bombing run, which a Federation observation station reports as routine. As soon as the report is done, Char’s Acguy mobile suit force destroys the station and infiltrates the base.  Inside Jaburo, the alert sirens are ignored because it is routine and promotions are given to the entire crew of White Base.  Meanwhile, Frau Bow has her hands full with Katz, Letz, and Kikka so they are taken to the base’s daycare center.  Once there, the trio find other kids but not an atmosphere they want and so they run away.  During the course of running away, they happen to run over the head of a Zeon mecha, which was down in a ravine as Char and his men disembark to lay charges to destroy Federation mobile suits and White Base.  The kids are found by some of the Zeon men, who bind them and leave them to die in the forthcoming explosion.

Meanwhile, the kids manage to free themselves and start removing bombs from the mobile suits and place them in a vehicle. The kids manage to start it and take off and are met by Amuro, Kai, and Hayato, who have arrived to inspect the new Gundam units.  After learning the situation, Amuro takes over the kid’s vehicle and sends them to Kai as he drives the vehicle to a ravine to send it over the cliff where the bombs explode. Amuro is picked up by the others as they race back to White Base, realizing it is in trouble. At the same time, Char and his team have completed their mission and he requests his Acguy mobile suits to cause a distraction.  As such, the open fire on everything.

Char and his team are running for their mobile suits when he hears Sayla calling for the kids. He stops to investigate and finds Sayla.  The two immediately know that they are brother and sister.  Sayla says that her Casval-niisan couldn’t have joined the Zeons and Char says that Artesia should quit the Federation. Mirai sees Char in the distance and shoots but when she gets to Sayla, Sayla lies about him having been there as Char flees to join his men. Entering his Z’Gok, Char and his Acguy escorts retreat as Amuro launches in Gundam to pursue. He takes out one Acguy, forcing Char to try to create a diversion. Amuro cuts off one of Char’s Z’Gok arms before destroying three more Acguy units. Finding an underground river, Char turns to fight and causes a minor cave-in in order to escape.

After the fight, the Federation wants the orphan to remain at Jaburo, where the female officer in charge of the children there says they’ll be safe.  Kai questions this in light of the most recent attack on the base. Further, Kai points out that the orphans have already seen more combat than most adults and have been right alongside adults during some of the worst firefights.  Since the kids don’t want to leave White Base, the officer decides to allow the children to stay.

Elsewhere, the newly promoted Bright is in a briefing and has orders to join the 13th Autonomous Corps.  Because the Zeons are so obsessed with White Base and Gundam, the Federation brass feels that White Base should act as a decoy to keep the Zeons preoccupied since the Zeons overestimate its value.

Thoughts/Review:
 
So, its confirmed — Char and Sayla are brother and sister.  It seemed rather odd to me that on their second meeting, they would suddenly know for sure that the other was their long-lost sibling whereas on their first encounter, they acted all unsure.  Clearly, they’ve been apart for quite some time for Char to have joined the Zeons and Sayla to have joined the Federation.  Still, why was “Casval” renamed “Char” and why was “Artesia” renamed “Sayla” and why were they separated at all?  I remember a flashback showing Sayla as a kid with Zeon officer Ramba Ral but there was no Char there.  If Char and Sayla are surviving members of a Royal family, then that would explain separating them to protect them. If it was Zeon that they belonged to, as I strongly suspect from that previous episode, then why is Char fighting for them if his life might be in danger from the current rulers?  Just throwing out some random thoughts as I should have been in bed ages ago. ^_^;

It was nice to see Ryu get mentioned again with his posthumous promotion. I didn’t find anything odd about how the Federation honored him but obviously Amuro did.

One thing I found a little surprising is the fact that none of the Zeons questioned why there were little kids at Jaburo.  Then again, they may have known about the orphanage there but the inhuman way they reacted was surprising. Indeed, it was just, “sorry kids — you get to die.”  Well, it is war but still, to purposefully kill kids is just not cool.

 Bright may not care for the assignment that much, but the Federation is right in using White Base as a decoy unit.  I recall in World War II how the Allies used General Patton as a decoy.  He had been stripped of command after two incidents where he slapped soldiers.  The German military leaders could not believe that the Americans would throw out such a brilliant and effective general like Patton over something to trivial, even if the press did make a lot of hay over it.  As such, the German’s were convinced that Patton would lead the invasion of Europe.  When the Allies learned of this, they gave Patton a fake command to keep the Germans occupied while the real invasion plans went on.  Indeed, even after D-Day, for a short time, some German commanders believed that Patton would still lead the main invasion, which he never did.

Its the same in Mobile Suit Gundam.  There’s no doubt that White Base is a powerful ship and that Gundam is an insanely powerful mobile suit (how else could civilians run these things?).  So naturally at first, Zeon military leaders like Char want to know its secrets.  When White Base and Gundam defeat or thwart Zeon forces in encounter after encounter, naturally the Zeons are going to want to remove this threat, much like the Allies wanted to remove the threat they saw in the German battleship Bismarck and its escort Prinz Eugen.  So, it may be a thankless assignment, but the crew of White Base will tie up a lot of Zeon resources and allow Federation forces to have an easier time, possibly saving lives.

While the Federation plan for White Base is sound, the military leaders of Jaburo should either be sacked or otherwise punished. Even with the daily Zeon bombing runs that had become routine, the facts that (1) the hotly pursued White Base was docked at the base and (2) the Zeons had already discovered two entrances to the base and had infiltrated the underground installation should have been enough to make the Federation forces on a higher alert.  Instead, the alarms sound for the Zeon attack and everyone basically snorts, turns over, and goes back to sleep. It doesn’t take much tactical knowledge to figure this one out but instead, the fact that the Zeons make it inside for a second time is seen as an annoyance that will go away with White Base.  Were I the Zeons, I’d again try to wipe out the place.

The next wave of Zeon mobile suits appear in their apparent endless varieties of them (yeah I know — for the toys).  I liked how good Amuro is getting, not only in easily dispatching four of the Acguy mobile suits, but in actually landing a blow on Char, removing Char’s suit’s arm (and giving him an excuse to get a new mobile suit of a better type, no doubt). Every other time Char has retreated, it has been either for prudence sake or because of an order to do so.  This was the first time I felt that Char retreated because if he didn’t, his life might well be in danger on top of just needed to escape Jaburo.  That could make the future Char vs. Amuro fights a bit more interesting if Char isn’t smirking nearly the entire time.

Wow. I wrote a lot more than I expected but the episode made it easy to just bloviate like that. I’m looking forward to seeing what’s next.