Looks like my theory is starting to pan out.

Theory/Plan: Celestial Being's purpose is to be the 3 governments enemy and as they focus on destroying Celestial Being slowly they will stop fighting with each other. Celestial Being is trying to be such a threat to them that the governments will be forced to band together to defeat them.

Its going to be hard for CB to pull it off and even if they do the sign that the plan worked is when the 3 governments destroy CB, so nobody in CB will be around to celebrate.

HEH :twitch: I don't think. But you heard only the sound.Smelling like Yaoi:heh:

And "I am Gundam !" from this word 10/10 give to setsuna :D

Just thought doesn't this situation with Sri Lanka sound familiar? The Human Reform trying to stop the civil war between the natives, but supports one side just for influence over solar energy...

sounds like US in Iraq =\

Actually, Sergei did say that it was an ethnic conflict that had been going on for over 300 years... which concuring to our present time is none other than the Sri Lankan Civil War.

:eyespin:

Too bad this was a one-conflict-episode. I would've LOVED to see some Tamil Tigers Aces.:heh:

Well that won't really work, because if you think about it after Celestial Being are defeated they will still compete with each other just like Soviet and U.S after WWII. Both were allies because of their common enemy during WWII, but after the war ended Cold War between Soviet and U.S started.

It's starting to freak me out that the most popular character in the show right now has the same name as me, and it's not even that common a name. It reminds me of the Max Power episode of the Simpsons. Hopefully they don't turn Graham into a loser though like what happened to "Homer Simpson". "Uh Oh Spaghettio".

that's weird...shouldn't be a ru in there.

well, anyway, I've seen some of the subs have taken that phrase a little....literally, but main point is that it's the Zechs Marquise bit. Graham wants to know what the heck is going on, and now he gets his chance to test Exia's capabilities.

About Russia: Most of Russia is west of the Urals. Russia started out in Kiev (my birth-town) and expanded from there.

Most of Russia past the Urals is Siberia, and while there are plenty of natural resources there, there is very little civilization if I'm correct.

I was answering to why Japan uniting with USA instead of its neighbours may not be so odd. I was merely listing out reasons why I think that. The reasons I would have listed for why India and China are grouped together would be different. Like tsukiyomi said, it's more than just politics.

But anyway, What occured 300 years ago can have very big consequences to our world now, actually. The present is build from past efforts after all. Sure, the news won't be talking about WWII anymore... but that doesn't mean all the impact will be gone.

The relationship between Japan and China will be more friendly but it doesn't mean all tension between the two countries will definately be gone in 300 years (definately is the key). The segregation between Quebec and the rest of Canada still exist and that goes back to way before federation.

What I was and am trying to say is that I think the Gundam 00's world break up is plausible and not beyond comprehension. I was never trying to imply that split will happen in the future.

PS It's true that 300 years ago Japan and China were both feudal countries, but big changes in government structure don't always happen. Feudalism lasted in China for over 1000 years! USA is 232 years old (I think), and their basic political structure has not changed all that much.

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Switching topics now....

I have just saw a subbed ep 2. It was really good in my opinion.

I like how the other pilots are older than Setsuna. Their age difference is very apparent. Setsuna is still rather rash being a kid but the others are a lot more calmed. It's also nice to hear lines like, "I will leave you to take care of that kid."

The fight was pretty nice. I like the hand on battles in this episode. I felt a little bit shocked by how the Gundams actually killed quite a few soldiers...

Graham was just... :love: Love how he can go from being a gentleman in suit to a serious fighter in the span of 15 minutes. I have a feeling I will end up being one of his fangirls.

Personally I found a Miss Wang a bit unnecessary... her appearances and lines felt a bit random to me? But maybe that's just because I am not a guy and big chest just doesn't work on me.

Watching the GundamSnet sub, I saw this author's note:

This is not an accurate description of what a zero-sum game is. To make it simple, think of it as a contest where everyone is vying over a finite prize, so that the gain of one contestant comes at the loss of the other contestants. The following is a more precise description of zero-sum games:

So much for Econ 101. Heh.

I actually think there is a vaid plot reason for Japan to be a part of the Union.

First, even though the 00 story is set 300 years from now, Japan must have joined Union much earlier. (Japan looked to have fully integrated into the Union by the time the story started.)
Hence there could well be more year 2000 political influences than one might think.

Second, currently Japan has a better political relationship with USA than China or Russia. This might change in the future, but I can tell there are people in both China and Japan who wouldn't let that happen.
Thus if there was a political deal to merge, Japan would have gotten a better offer from the Americans than the Chinese/Russians.

Third, I am not so sure about this, but I think the Union were the first to develop the Space Elevator? And that the nations merged for the purpose of building this expensive object?
If the Union were the first to build the Elevator, then America must have made the first offer for merger with the Japanese. Assuming all the nations were dying for energy, then Japan would most likely have said yes.

and the basic political connotation of this is exactly what they explained in the opening: the world remains divided into 3 factions (vs. uniting) because they see it as beneficial to act in their own interests overall, despite occasional alliances in particular matters that are in two countries interest.

ah well, I'm sure they'll fix it later.

300 years is quite a long time. Anything can happen within those years, especially when fossil fuels run out. As Ashlay noted these factions arose out of necessity so the major players linked up with their closest allies.

So in this case since Japan is closer to the US it would link up with the US and vice versa with the other guys.

Depends on whose older. We know the HRL's elevator is 10 years. So if Union is older....

I don't think that's what happened. Orbital elevators would require an quite a bit of resources to develop. What I think happened was when the economic crisis occured, a solution/proposal was developed, Space elevators, and thus, all of the major powers in the world banded together in order to pool together the necessary resources to construct these towers of babel. With a lack of resources...who the heck is going to be fighting anyways?

And besides, last I checked doesn't Japan rely on Nuclear power?

Well, the ep gets a 6/10 for me. Meh. Nothing amazing.

What's up with Sumeragi and the boozing? She certainly seems a lot darker than Murrue...

I'm wondering if CB is being really stupid...if you're going to set the whole world against you, you need more than four superior skirmish units.

Virtue's big gun proved more of a use today, but eh...bar a Wing Gundam Zero type suit of sorts, I don't see CB lasting long without plot armor/plot holes/plot devices.

Just watched the subbed version.

It's nice to get some background on each faction and the things that are going around. So it turns out that they are all at a cold war state due to the fragility of the elevators.

The action is pretty good though I must admit I was impressed by the Tierens.

The battle between the Tierens was quite good. Squads moving in with artillery support, etc.

Then the gundams come in and all hell breaks loose:heh:

Though you must admit the Tierens actually TRIED to fight back this time. The Tieren tried to punch Exia when it lost its right arm and the artillery actually scored a direct hit on him as well. That's good aiming.

When Kyrios bombs that base though we see the gore of the fight with soldiers on fire and dead. Pretty brutal.

The Tierens though really need to update themselves. They seem way too outmatched.

I thought Union Flag can't transform in the midst of battle? So Graham can transform his and this surprises Setsuna?

This episode was pretty good IMO. Gundam Exia slicing through the Tierens like a hot knife through butter is really nice. One question though: How come the 3 union's MS are so outdated compared to Celestial Being's? Wouldn't they have better ones, since they have more resources?

Gave this episode an 8/10.

Seriously, CB sure is twisted when it comes to eradicating wars by making themselves the common enemy. I mean, yes, I also do think that it won't be enough for them to just have four Gundams, while one of them (Virtue) can be owned easily in a MS battle against ace pilots like Graham. Unless it has plot armor, then there's nothing to talk about.

And yes, I so want to see Graham own Setsuna in the next episode.

Hmm.. I wonder where Australia is in all of this since they aren't with any of the 3 main groups. :confused:

Australia is with the Union ... look carefully when they show the Union's territories - it's on the bottom left.
They cut most of the continent out -_-