Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans Episode 38 Discussion / Poll

[LG-MAX 2.o]

Incredible episode, incredible fight, and I felt bad seeing the situation of Mika, everything was very heavy.

The series is getting the incredible made of having a second season much better than the first.

[StratoSpear]

Aside from the battle with Hashmal, it seems McGillis is starting to crave for power as demonstrated by Mika. Till now, we never had a confirmation if he does have AV system implanted but considering how he might be using Bael...

Also that last scene is quite a powerful, emotional one. Further drives the point that Mika might not survive till the end. For an apparent brute, he's quite smart to be able to figure out his symbiotic relationship with Barbatos. To be honest I almost teared up at that scene between him and Orga.

[Azurial]

another huge deathflag on Mika's head "sign"
Sakura-baba want Mika to stay at the farm forever scene change to Mars Heroes Memorial
Atra want Kudelia to have Mika's child to be someone to remember to when Mika's is gone
Mika cant stop fighting anymore
the place that Orga will take him and Tekkadan might be a place where Mika can finally stop fighting..........

now we will contest to see if Mika Deathflag or Plot Armor which side will win

[Skye629]

Originally Posted by StratoSpear

Aside from the battle with Hashmal, it seems McGillis is starting to crave for power as demonstrated by Mika. Till now, we never had a confirmation if he does have AV system implanted but considering how he might be using Bael...

Also that last scene is quite a powerful, emotional one. Further drives the point that Mika might not survive till the end. For an apparent brute, he's quite smart to be able to figure out his symbiotic relationship with Barbatos. To be honest I almost teared up at that scene between him and Orga.

No, he does not have the AV system currentky. First off hes a full grown healthy adult so its pointkess, its not like Ein who needed it to survive for a time. Next such an operation is extremely risky in his situation/position. Side effects of the treatement itself would be detrimental to both his healths and plans, and his current social position doesnt allow for it either. Lastly, hes a perfectly competent pilot as it is.

I dan only see him getting it if he throws everything away, even then thats slim

[Overmars]

Awesome fight! I know Barbatos would grab Helmwige Reincar Giant Buster Sword to end the Hashmal.

Seeing Ride now has his own customized mobile suit, I wonder if Deputy Boss Eugene will ever pilot one? He is the best spaceship pilot out there, but we have not seen him piloting a mobile suit. Also, I hope the writers will show us more of him. With the way Orga is in right now, I feel that this is the moment for Eugene to play more important role within Tekkadan.

[Obelisk ze Tormentor]

You know what's ironic? Mika could really use that cockpit-toilet from G-Reco right now. To think that one of Tomino's funny ideas is needed in this IBO-universe just blows my mind .

And they should give Professor X's wheelchair to Mika, or make a much longer AV-cable connected to Barbatos so that Mika can function outside the cockpit ala Evangelion's umbilical cable .

[Overmars]

Does McGillis have access to Bael? Or others within Gjallarhorn can get to it first before him?

Personally I would prefer him to stick with the Valkyrja Frame, maybe an advanced and upgraded Grimgerde 2.0. I wish he has the attitude of Graham Aker; you don't need a Gundam to defeat another Gundam. Heck, he defeated Kimaris with the Grimgerde, though it could be because of a shell-shocked Gaelio. For now, he should just dump the Graze Ritter and stick to Schwalbe Graze.

[Psyco Diver]

I got to say this is one of the darker Gundam titles in a while. About the baby thing, I think Atra plan is to give Mika something to live for aside from fighing just going by the conversation they had

[Skye629]

Originally Posted by Overmars

Does McGillis have access to Bael? Or others within Gjallarhorn can get to it first before him?

Personally I would prefer him to stick with the Valkyrja Frame, maybe an advanced and upgraded Grimgerde 2.0. I wish he has the attitude of Graham Aker; you don't need a Gundam to defeat another Gundam. Heck, he defeated Kimaris with the Grimgerde, though it could be because of a shell-shocked Gaelio. For now, he should just dump the Graze Ritter and stick to Schwalbe Graze.

Depends which family it belongs to/being held by, depending on that, it will determine whether he can just walk off with it or take it by force (at any rate he's the top candidate for it, just based on the plot, the model kit scans, and the little bit of foreshadowing in this episode)

And given what was said in the previous episodes, the main reason he's using the Ritter is simply his current position in the Military




Valkyrie* btw. And the Helmwige IS the Grimgerde 2.0

[tdx]

With Bael, it looked suspiciously blue to me, so I take it that McGillis, instead of just admiring from afar someone who might be the second coming of Agnika in his eyes, finally decided to take the plunge and become Agnika himself. Only, his enemies won't be MAs but fellow humans...

Originally Posted by ReddyRedWolf

Ride has a better taste in paint jobs. Now please paint Flauros something some other color please?

This. And Shino dares criticize Ride's taste, huh. I still can't forgive him for ridiculously pink Flauros. And I loved it how Ride shook off Shino's arm off his shoulder as if to say "I'm my own man, dude." I love the little guy

Originally Posted by Shlugo

Juliette seems to be inspired by Mika's performance against MA. Not sure if that's a good thing.

Going by Rustal's reaction, it's not. He might not have seen the actual Barbatos vs MA fight, but he made it clear his most valuable and loyal pilot is more useful alive and healthy than crazy and destroying herself. So I kinda get where people are coming from when they compare Rustal and Orga, the crucial difference is, though, that Mika basically leaves Orga no choice, psychologically forcing Orga to go along with his self-destruction initiative.

Originally Posted by NBG

I thought there was supposed to be something like the kiss between Mika/Kudelia from last season. Was it Atra telling Kudelia to get impregnated by Mikazuki?
Didn't really like that scene tbh
I understand it's kind of their thing to tease with this mika harem thing but it would have been nice to see Kudelia either agree or say no. Maybe we find out her answer next ep? This whole harem tease is kind of getting annoying to me. It's cute/funny (kind of) but i'm over it.

We've got unshed manly tears and despair levels not seen in this show before for the cour finale, which strengthened my opinion that season 1 was mostly adventure in genre, while season 2's main direction is full-blown half-drama, half-tragedy. Okada was allowed to have her freedom finally, it seems

As to the harem tease, it's probably not going away until the end. And I gotta say, I was trying to picture Kudelia agreeing to Atra's idea, but erm, I found that I lack imagination for the feat. Since Atra arrived to that, uh, proposal of hers on her own without any help, I at least can imagine her taking the initiative more readily than Kudelia ever can, and her knowledge regarding what to do should be significantly broader than Kudelia's, due to her working in a whore house in the past.

Besides, if we compare Kudelia and Atra, Kudelia is busy with business and strengthening Chryse's economy and apparently, atm she's nowhere near achieving her goal of improving the economy of Mars as a whole and making it economically independent, so the time when she can take a break to bear and rear a child without it having negative effects on her work is still very far away. Atra, on the other hand, has been living pretty much for Mika only and has all the time in the world on her hands to raise his child - on the farm that was Mika's dream. So from this perspective, again, Atra is a better candidate. But we'll see, I suppose. I don't expect any progression until the last few episodes anyway.

Originally Posted by Dark Wing

Meh...there is a good chance he won't live long enough to see his children anyway. So if the kids ever ask about their dad they could just say he died a hero or something.

Japanese has a special word for a child who was born after the death of their parent 忘れ形見 wasuregatami (also has the meaning of "memento", which is symbolic), and it was even something of a tradition in some historical period ... so I agree the show is heading to making that word applicable in the case of Mika.


Also, I feel Mika isn't the only one with another deathflag added in this episode. Orga isn't safe either after Naze calling him out on wanting to arrive somewhere and 楽になる raku ni naru ("to take it easy", "for the load to be taken off his shoulders" and this set phrase is also used in the sense of "to be put out of one's misery" which is... worrying). Omfg, what if they kill both leads at the end... this is something I refuse to picture, it's just too much

[Skye629]

Personally imo the only one of the two who should die is Mika, they're building up to it hard


Orga IMO should live, otherwise the lesson/experience for him is simply null if he dies. Not to mention if they have future material planned it would be nice to see how the past events affects him


Just my 2 cents

[tdx]

Originally Posted by Skye629

Personally imo the only one of the two who should die is Mika, they're building up to it hard

Orga IMO should live, otherwise the lesson/experience for him is simply null if he dies. Not to mention if they have future material planned it would be nice to see how the past events affects him

Just my 2 cents

I hope you're right. I kinda lowkey resigned myself to Mika not making it out of this show alive after seeing what happened to him in S1's finale and the show having 2 leads making it way too easy to kill off one of them, but if they off even Orga, it would be too much even for my resigned kokoro.

[asaqe]

Originally Posted by Shlugo

Wow, this episode, definitely a wham one.

The fight was awesome and looked amazing, but man it was brutal. The way they fought... not even wild beasts fight like that, with no regard to their own survival, only caring about destroying the opponent. To throw away one survival instinct, I guess that's the price paid for ending the Calamity War.

I think this episode made something clear about Mika - he's not just reckless, he's missing something fundamental as a human being. He has no regard for his own life, and sees it only as a currency to be spent. He knows only fighting and doesn't understand peace, he sees it as a threat to his very existence and identity. He' stronger than anyone, but it's a strength that drives him towards self-destruction. And he knows it, and doesn't care.

Poor Kudelia, that scene was heart-wrenching. What she was afraid of wasn't that Mika changed because of the injuries, but that he didn't. She understands that he won't stop until his body turns to ash. She has to watch the guy she loves destroy himself with glee.

And then there's Atra with her plan. I was like "Huh?" and had to go back to see it twice. She wants Kudelia to have Mika's baby, which I'm in favor of as a general principal, but I'm not sure how it relates to the situation at hand. If she thinks becoming a father will make Mikazuki less reckless, I'm not sure she gets why he does the thing he does.

Oh look, Iok is still an idiot. I hope his comeuppance is only delayed and not avoided.

Juliette seems to be inspired by Mika's performance against MA. Not sure if that's a good thing.

Macky is really going off the deep end now. I don't think he'll be satisfied with merely manipulating things anymore. He believes in brute force now.

And then there's Orga. As much as everyone and everything tells him he's rushing blindly and it'll cost him, all it take is just Mikazuki telling him otherwise to make him stay on the same course. Those two really bring out each other destructive tendencies.

Great episode, with both awesome action, plot movement and character stuff. Probably the best of second season.

Mika simply doesn't know what to fight for right now. In a sense, he felt the dread that had he failed, Kudleia and Atra would be turned to ash and Tekkadan humiliated. In a sense, everytime he gave his all to the point he can't see well and use his left hand and how unable to walk it was for Kudelia and Atra's sake. He cares about them a lot more than he cares about Orga. To Atra she was the one he saved personally from a life of bleakness and Kudelia gave him reasons to fight for something more. So he renews his resolve with Orga that whatever happens he is going keep giving his all because if they fail, Tekkadan is doomed and with it everyone's hopes and dreams under Tekkadan. In any other mission he never had to make such crippling sacrifices but everythng he did, he did it for Kudelia.

Worse yet, the storm is only getting worse, the Teiwaz civil war happens next arc and if Lafter wanted to admit her feelings to Akihiro she has kept hidden for so long.

[Skaddix]

Eh what no. Mika doesn't do **** because of Kudelia or Atra. If he was doing it for their sake he tell Orga to slow down and go the Biscuit Route. Just stick to the slow and safe path. He would have let Orga pilot that Custom Shiden. Mika is devoted to getting Orga alive to the promised land so to speak so that Orga can run things to the betterment of their family. What Kudelia or Atra want has never been all that relevant to Mika. He and Orga made a contract when they were what 4-6 and Mika's all about honoring that unbreakable bond even if he has to push Orga's Button. Thinking that basically means you have to disregard every line of dialogue from Mika.

I am not sure you can have a happy ending if both Orga and Mika die. I rate that as a Tekkadan loss straight up. Eugene is not holding it all together on his own. Doesn't even break neutral if they both die. As sad as it is Mika dying is less of the problem. The Great War is over at that point which means its time for Government which means you need Orga. Now some would say what about Kudelia. Problem is she is not really in a position to step in and run things on her own. As a partner with Orga sure. Alone not so much. Tekkadan is Orga's Organization not Kudelia's.

[n0m@n]

I guess Mika will be the first main character of Gundam TV series to die on screen at this rate (←Just my opinion. So don't take it too seriously since there is no proof). If you count movies & ova you do have Amuro and Bernie...

So that scene in the current OP where Mika is crawling with just one arm... Guess the OP was already showing the state Mika would be in...

But man. I can't wait for Bael and upgraded Barbatos lol.

[Boukenxha]

^^ Can't agree with underselling the Mika and Orga bromance. Just last episode, Mika objected to Orga's thought of going into battle in his custom Shiden, Mika explicitly said he will give his all for Orga to use.

Originally Posted by tdx

Yes, probably. She seems to think that Mika is in love with Kudelia and hopes that having a baby with her will be a chain powerful enough to have him stay in this world. It's a very simple, very naive and very "Atra" way of thinking, as she values the family-like bonds with Kudelia, Mika, bakery owner and the others the most, they are her goal and her greatest treasure, and also the terms she thinks in. With Kudelia and especially Mika it's different. It was sad to see that when Kudelia tried to insert herself as part of Atra and Mika's world, part of Mika's farm dream, Mika himself was the one to remind her that that's not her job, not her world, not her goal, not her path.

This felt like the point of no return for all of our mains, for Mika, for Orga, for Kudelia and even for Atra. Mika, in particular, is on a one-way express train bound to self-destruction, he's resigned to it (that's why he says there's no need to think about the world outside of Barbatos' cockpit and fighting anymore), and nothing, no waifus, no babies and not even Orga, can make him want to live anymore. It's a tragedy, through and through, one of Okada's most powerful ones to date, imo.

Well said, I like your observation of Kudelia's dilemma.

[SonicSP]

This is probably one of the best episodes of the series so far for me. Great kickass battle in the beginning and awesome politics as emotions for the rest of it. It may very well be the best too.

And for once I thought the Mika-Atra/Kudelia story didn't annoy me, it was really well done considering the emotions involved even with Atra's crazy suggestion at the end.

Also Hush carrying Mika was super cute, it just looked so adorable for some reason.

Also for the first time, I feel like the Gundams finally deserve the demonic titles they were given. That is what all the twin reactor power was for.

Also super lol at Ride's name choice. He castigated the Ryusei-Go III and then nonchalantly calls it the Riden-Go, plagiarism intact even.

[tdx]

Originally Posted by asaqe

Mika simply doesn't know what to fight for right now. In a sense, he felt the dread that had he failed, Kudleia and Atra would be turned to ash and Tekkadan humiliated. In a sense, everytime he gave his all to the point he can't see well and use his left hand and how unable to walk it was for Kudelia and Atra's sake. He cares about them a lot more than he cares about Orga.

I can't agree with this either. Mika knows exactly what he's fighting for - for Orga and the place Orga wants to reach. That was the whole point of their conversation at the end: in the face of the heavy price he (or rather Mika) has to pay, Orga is second-guessing himself, doubting if it's worth it, if he even wants to reach it at all, but Mika doesn't let him doubt himself and the path he's chosen because Orga doubting it will strip Mika's whole life and his current existence as a weapon (the only one possible to him anymore) of any meaning. Ironically, it's basically what Naze told Orga in the last episode of season 1: you have to be the one who believes in what you're doing, or all the lost lives and sacrifices Tekkadan made will be meaningless (loose quote).

There is no doubt that Mika cares about Atra and Kudelia, but his fanatical devotion to Orga is just on a completely different level. He'll do what he can for them, but if it's between Orga's safety and their safety, he won't hesitate to choose the former. Even with the MA, what decided Mika in the end wasn't Kudelia or Atra's safety but Orga explicitly intending to put himself in danger by going out into the field in his custom Shiden. There is a very clear list of priorities in Mika's head, and neither Kudelia or Arta are number 1 on it. It's sad, but it seems that Mikazuki was meant to be a tragic character from the start, so it fits.

Originally Posted by n0m@n

I guess Mika will be the first main character of Gundam TV series to die on screen at this rate (←Just my opinion. So don't take it too seriously since there is no proof). If you count movies & ova you do have Amuro and Bernie...

There is also the vegetable route, which in a sense might be crueler than just death, because he might become the living (except not really) manifestation and reminder for the other characters who are lucky enough to survive (mainly Orga, probably, I suppose - I hope) of the price their ambitions cost.

Originally Posted by Boukenxha

Well said, I like your observation of Kudelia's dilemma.

Thank you

Originally Posted by SonicSP

Also super lol at Ride's name choice. He castigated the Ryusei-Go III and then nonchalantly calls it the Riden-Go, plagiarism intact even.

To be fair to Ride, 号 'gou' is just a counter. Japanese requires a specific counter for each type of objects (there's a ton of them, I personally only remember the most frequently used ones), 'gou' is mainly for issues and for models/makes when it comes to vehicles (like, I'm sure most people watched One Piece at some point of their lives, so most should remember what the Mugiwaras call their ship, "Sunny-gou").

The rest is a combination of the last half of Shiden's name (獅電) and Ride's own name, making it 雷電 raiden, which means "thunder and lightning". That's why his MS has the blue lightning symbol on its left shoulder.

Spoiler for Raiden:

[Benigmatica]

Originally Posted by TheDoctor324

It seems like for the Gundam frames to be fully used you have to basically give up your body to the system. Mika is gonna turn into the guy from season 1.

I feel that Mikazuki's soul will be transferred to Barbatos which means that his old body will be discarded!

[kgrodriguez]

Originally Posted by Benigmatica

I feel that Mikazuki's soul will be transferred to Barbatos which means that his old body will be discarded!

So Mika will essentially become one with Barbatos? As in he will become part of the Gundam?

Boy. Someone will be very jealous.

- - -

Question guys, if the Batbatos remains as Mika's Gundam till the end, will it be the first time (non-UC timeline) that a MC did not change Gundams (minus upgrades)?

EDIT: Turn A. Right