One of the more interesting things in the ep was the preview. Sucks we have to wait 2 weeks to see it, but oh well.

While at the end of this ep, Setsuna is saying he "can't become Gundam", in the preview it says that he will. That's going to be interesting. Setsuna's idea of "Gundam" seems to be similar to that of a "god". Will Setsuna bring Gundam-worship to Azadistan? Does this mean Exia will rather literally get a "god mode"? :eyespin:

From what I can tell, each episode should be 1 hour (or however long it is suppose to be within an hour) instead of 24-25 minutes long. There's just so much good stuff going on and it's hard to cram it all in a single episode to keep the audience hooked. That or maybe the story is just getting good and some of us just can't wait for the next episode.

Anyways, Setsuna may appear to be a cliche melodramatic character, but I'm starting to like him more and understand why he has the leading role. Out of all the characters, he seems to be the one that's emotionally attached to the ongoings of battle, as well as understands fairly well how horrific it can be. I can see why he tends to use drastic measures to force people into certain realizations.

The previews for the next episode looks good. Setsuna and Graham meet outside of their mobile suits? It doesn't appear that they'll know that they're opponents in the battlefield, but you never know. Then, both Exia and Flag Custom engaging in battle? Quite interesting indeed. The faces of the civilians below looked shocked at seeing Exia. I wonder why.

Cuz it's just so awesome? :uhoh:
That scene looks like God to me.

Screenshots:

http://celestialbeing.net/index.php?...ery&sec=00ep12

Its a repeat of the past for Setsuna.

Time index 6:13
http://img526.imageshack.us/img526/1...ap00dp8.th.jpg

Beatrice Eigen, one of the 138 missing person with doctorate within the last 200 years - Tieria's grand mother?

I'm confused here.

I was under the impression that fossil fuels were more or less exhausted.

So why are the citizens against solar energy? I mean they can't use fossil fuels (Since no one uses it and it's pretty much gone) and their country is in ruins because they have no energy?

In regards to Louise and Saji,

Heh. I can't understand a thing (though the Random Curiosity summary helps). I can't say I particularly liked this episode, got confused in all the different factions. Also, I'm not really all that interested in any of the characters involved... and I didn't like how any of them acted, except Setsuna: Graham is just asking for physical problems, Marina is useless, no one else does anything except Ali, who's all sinister like. (Here's hoping he'll die at the end of this arc.)

Setsuna though surprised me in how calmly he handled everything, even at the end. Maybe I'm just used to Al, who's batshit crazy, and Tieria, Mr. Overkill himself, but Setsuna was only a five on the out of control scale.

(Setsuna is going up on the cuteness scale though. A stoic cute. Yes.)

@Soldier of Darkness:
fossil fuels aren't all exhausted. There is some left, I think, but the UN made horrible export laws that made it very, very difficult to sell oil. Other than that, I'm not sure.

Something bad will happen to one of the three at some point, though whether it'll be Louise or her mom is still up in the air (my bets on Louise). Another point is how Louise's mom apparently knows an AEU representative personally...

If fossil fuels weren't exhausted then the HRL, Union, and AEU wouldn't be taking the enormous task of building these solar towers would they?

They'd all be sending in armies to conquer the middle east to secure those fuels.

.. Alright, I have no clue. I just know UN made sanction-type-thing on oil.

I guess those people are just against anything that's from the outside, especially foreign workers building receiver antennas.

Not if the supply isn't enough to meet their energy needs anyway. Why waste resources fighting over scraps that would then be completely useless only a few years from now? The energy needs of even one of the major super powers would have "wrecked" the tiny little hole known as Azadistan.

I think of it being this way. Their country was fine until the UN placed sanctions on their country. Outside people ruined their country. Now it's outside people who are helping their country. For heavily religious places that are very prideful like the middle east this is one step too far and they'll reject it. They want to save themselves even if it means rejecting what could save them.

Actually it's explained in this episode that there are still fossil fuels in the Middle East, however it's nearing depletion so the UN banned the export of fossil fuels, crippling the economy of the Middle East countries. I think maybe UN banned the use of fossil fuels so what's left can be reserved for some emergency use in case the solar energy generators suffer some problems, it's still a new energy source only around a decade old after all.

Since two of the three powers have the generator system online, and one is somewhat near completion, this isn't likely, especially with the amount of forces they all put around their elevator. (However, my suspicion is that the end of the half-season will be about the defense of one of the towers, perhaps the Union's, against some other force.)

Most likely, the export limitation is (officially) to keep the oil around longer for use in making plastics. You need infrastructure for an oil economy, which it looks like has long gone away, but oil could still be a (relatively) cheaper necessary material for the manufacture of certain plastics.

Considering the possibility that he was referring to the one that saved him before, I would think it was a mecha-nified version of being a hero. Silly as it may sound, I believe that's what Setsuna might think, especially after his reaction upon watching children getting killed.

With regards to any doubts regarding CB's (or Veda's) decisions to sent the respective pilots to the places where they get emotionally rattled the most-Perhaps it was meant as a challenge, a kind of 'face your demons' scenario here. If they did it earlier, it would at least have some meaning to it, especially for Allelujah, though I doubt his own issues with Super Soldiers aren't just over yet.

...Does this mean the end of the monarchy, or will CB do something interesting again?

There is also the fact that they will be most familiar with the place and tactics used by their respective countries. You use to your advantage any inside info the pilots will have of that particular organization/country. So it makes sense to send people from those areas, against those people. Allelujah wasn't expecting to hit another super soldier that he would react badly to and be incapacitated (and doesn't look like he's told anyone about that either, so without knowing that, he'll still be sent against them until he sorts out a way to stop it or he owns up). Setsuna knew he'd end up in the middle east eventually since it's such a war ridden place. He knew what it was like, yet he was still mentally unprepared for seeing a repeat of what he went through despite it being obvious that it was coming.

I'm not sure if I still see it that way(except for religious parts) because eitherway the fuels are near depletion so even if the UN didn't placed sanctions they'll still get screwed anyways.

That won't stop people seeing it as outsiders screwing them over even if their resources were abot to dry up. Countries that dislike outside influence just see it as them being screwed over by outsiders regardless of the reasons.

Sub finally out...

It's a Christmas miracle! :D

Graham really got to go for it yet again. This time taking a break from Exia and taking on Dynames. Did really well to and you wish they hadn't been interrupted. Since it seems Dynames was going to really pull everything out for this one. A really solid fight from long range and the intensity once they got to close range.