[kari-no-sugata]

Originally Posted by withered_joy

Haha, it's hard (to restrain my fangirlism) when the character designer is the one who drew loveless, famous for its...well, maybe I shouldn't delve into details too much

I see. So were you screaming "Hallelujah! Hallelujah!" when you heard about him being the character designer huh...?

Ali seems like a cool guy. The disciple will only beat the master near the end of the story in a typical storyline, so yeah, I'm expecting Setsuna to lose pre-tty pathetically despite having a better MS. I don't know about why Setsuna assumed that Ali was dead, but yeah...that kid is quite easily surprised during battle, reasonably though. I also had the impression that Setsuna looked up to Ali a lot in the past. He'll lose for confusion and inexperience.

I'm not certain that Setsuna thought Ali was dead btw. Just my impression.

As for Setsuna vs Ali, if we assume Setsuna loses (seems reasonable given him being punched next ep, though there are other possible reasons for that) then I think Setsuna will either realise that Ali is not the guy he thought he was and get overly fired up, or freeze up in confusion of the situation. Which would you prefer?

I wouldn't be surprised if it goes something like: Setsuna is losing and Ali is driven off (probably by Lockon). The mission may well be aborted (can't risk Gundams losing), and everyone goes back to base. Setsuna eventually regroups and the battle is resumed and this time Setsuna is able to drive off Ali. Given that Ali has the backing of a company that does weapons development, I expect him to get some rapid upgrades. He doesn't seem the type who is killed off quickly.

Maybe he got punched by Tieria for losing (based on preview hunches), since the pink-sweater megame is always so anal.

Tieria seems too anal to punch someone. More likely to be sarcastic and provocative. I suspect Lockon punched Setsuna (more of a wake-up call...)