Mobile Suit Gundam 00 - Episode 04 Discussion / Poll

[lubczyk]

Originally Posted by Demongod86

Indeed. I'm just wondering what the hell that maroon flag is in the president's office.

What happened to the stars and stripes?

The Stars and Strips are offensive. America in the future has instituted a non-discriminatory flag that embraces diversity.

[karasuma]

My.... this time, the Gundam world is too close to the real world. It is going to cause some sensitivity issue one way or the other.

[SoldierOfDarkness]

Well no one really knew what CB was going to do.

Everyone was pretty much waiting to see what was going to happen. CB attacked the Talibans so the president immediately contacted the US and asked for assistance.

In the end, his leadership was strengthened and anti-american sentiments died down or at least were silenced.

So everyone gained something...except for the soldiers who got massacred.

[Kaioshin Sama]

I'm so late on this one I don't know if anyone will even want to read it. Still Gundam 00 Episode 04 Review is up.

Incidentally, while people were busy focusing on Soma as a loli, did anyone notice that Wang suddenly went from an F Cup to what barely looks like a B Cup and suddenly got a lot more petite this episode. What's up with that. Some of the other character designs also looked a bit off, which is unusual for a Sunrise series. Though I did adjust my monitor settings a bit today, so it might just be me.

Other than that, the political intrigue themes in this episode get two thumbs up for me, and it was also exciting to watch from an action front too. I gave the episode a 9.5 on my blog, which I guess translates to either a 9 or a 10 here. I flipped a coin with heads being a 10 and tails being a 9 and came up with a heads. Looks like it's Gundams lucky day again.

[Virtue]

Originally Posted by Kaioshin_Sama

Incidentally, while people were busy focusing on Soma as a loli, did anyone notice that Wang suddenly went from an F Cup to what barely looks like a B Cup and suddenly got a lot more petite this episode. What's up with that. Some of the other character designs also looked a bit off, which is unusual for a Sunrise series. Though I did adjust my monitor settings a bit today, so it might just be me.

I think it's the outfit...

[Morgun]

Originally Posted by Phantom-Takaya

Here's a curious question that no one really can't answer, but I'd like to hear everyone's speculations and thoughts on this. Obviously, we see Setsuna and Marina in one scene of the opening sequence. My curiousity is what kind of connection would they have? Love intrested seems to be what's going around the most, but I'm partial to the concept considering that Marina is 24 and Setsuna is 16... Any thoughts on this?

Nah they match up really well. Setsuna is practically mute and Marina is dumb as a brick. I can't wait to see this awkward romance.

[Ori]

Originally Posted by Morgun

Nah they match up really well. Setsuna is practically mute and Marina is dumb as a brick. I can't wait to see this awkward romance.

Ah that's a bit harsh. She is not stupid, just very inexperience as a politician.

Somehow this image of those two "dating" by drinking tea silently together somewhere in the Middle East is rising in my head.

[Vallen Chaos Valiant]

Originally Posted by lubczyk

The country of Talibia is referring to Venezuela since. The creators use a modern map without even changing the name to Talibia and its boundaries are exactly the same as Venezuela:

Spoiler for Spoiler of plot points for people who have not seen Episode 4:

This makes me think that Azadistan is the result of the creators romanticizing Iran with the institution of a monarchy similiar to the days under Shah.

1. About the new report.. Whoops. guess the cat's out of the bag. Blame High Definition graphics.

2. I don't think there is anything romantic about Azadistan's formation. The nation is obviously messed up, and the return of the monarchy was only because the former ruling parties were desperately trying to control the spiralling chaos around them. The advisor-woman was probably a part of the former administration, keeping an eye on the princess.

[WhiteWings]

Well, a lot of things happened assuming this world's history was similar to our own world in 2007. Most likely the US managed to not fall into ruins and probably some series of events caused China and Russia to join forces and 'encourage' many of their neighbors to join. The EU managed to survive and change. Of course in the meantime fossil fuel pretty much ran out if not completely so. That most likely caused a major chaos and upheavel in the Middle East regions. Talibia was probably one such nations that lost its international clout after times changed.

The members of Celestial Being organization might deep inside not really expect to in their efforts to completely sucessfully force peace but hoping that their unusual actions might provoke the world enough to change for the better or worse.

As the for the events in episode 4... I can't help but wonder in there was some secret agreement and plan behind the independence movement.

[Vallen Chaos Valiant]

Originally Posted by WhiteWings

As the for the events in episode 4... I can't help but wonder in there was some secret agreement and plan behind the independence movement.

Well, the issue with 00's Venezuela is that it literally controls the flow of electricity to America. If CB had protected it against the Union forces, Venezuela could hold the entire Union hostage with blackmail.

Venezuela could become a world-power by proxy, that's a pretty big incentive right there.

[WhiteWings]

Probably. Or maybe the Union President is just simply smart in just allowing the rebellious member back into the fold so easily. I mean its more likely than assuming all this fuss was just a way to let some anti-US sentiments in the country to blow some steam off and a indirect attempt to get a hook the CB.

[Vallen Chaos Valiant]

Originally Posted by WhiteWings

Probably. Or maybe the Union President is just simply smart in just allowing the rebellious member back into the fold so easily. I mean its more likely than assuming all this fuss was just a way to let some anti-US sentiments in the country to blow some steam off and a indirect attempt to get a hook the CB.

Besides bringing them back to the Union, there isn't much they could do. Instability in Venezuela would jeopardise the electric pipeline one way or another.

Sure, there would be some political consequences, but since the conflict was about how the nation tried to leave the Union, the restoration of Union links was the ideal goal of America in sending troops. No point making a bigger fuss once the primary objective is achieved.

[Karnot]

Here's the thing after CB are gone then what? It's will be just like Soviet and U.S. Became allies to fight the common enemy, Hitler, and after the war was over (or right at the Yalta depends on how you want to look at it) it was the cold war. That reuniting plan just does not work.

Oh, it would work just fine, had the US leaders at the time been actually sane, instead of paranoid and traitorous bunch. What do you expect from a country that sold supplies to both sides.

a power bloc of India, Russia and China is already unusual

How so ? Its quite natural, actually. And the fact is - if even one of those would ally with Russia - the other will instantly demand their place in the alliance, so as not to be played against.

Under modern conditions, I'd sooner expect a union of China and the US.

Not gonna happen any time soon. Never, i hope. US doesnt have allies, only slaves and servants. And China knows that well.

Also, isnt it amazing that even 300 years in the future the USia is still generally called America ? Come on, Talibia, an American-based country is declared to be anti-American ? Sounds quite nonsensical. My, arent we important, taking the name of the whole two continents for one little country ?

[Skane]

The... theory mentioned by the Advisor-lady towards the end of the episode reminded me of the following trope, the "Xanatos Roulette" in which a person or people manipulate events on an absurd scale.

The implication here is that Bryan and the Taribian PM were in league with each other from the beginning and plotted together to get an end result that was beneficial to both of then while playing Celestial Being for a fool.

Heh.

[Vallen Chaos Valiant]

Originally Posted by Skane

The... theory mentioned by the Advisor-lady towards the end of the episode reminded me of the following trope, the "Xanatos Roulette" in which a person or people manipulate events on an absurd scale.

The implication here is that Bryan and the Taribian PM were in league with each other from the beginning and plotted together to get an end result that was beneficial to both of then while playing Celestial Being for a fool.

Heh.

I personally disagree that the final outcome was somehow what was orchestrated, because it assumed they already know what CB was going to do. This can't be possible, because they don't know CB's true objectives.

Instead, what the advisor was describing was a win-win situation. She was letting her princess knw that in politics, you need to plan for everything, even in worst-case scenarios. Taribian managed to plan for what to do when everything went pear-shaped, and how to stay on top even after failing the main objective.

[Skane]

Originally Posted by Vallen Chaos Valiant

I personally disagree that the final outcome was somehow what was orchestrated, because it assumed they already know what CB was going to do. This can't be possible, because they don't know CB's true objectives.

Instead, what the advisor was describing was a win-win situation. She was letting her princess knw that in politics, you need to plan for everything, even in worst-case scenarios. Taribian managed to plan for what to do when everything went pear-shaped, and how to stay on top even after failing the main objective.

It is plausible for them to predict Celestial Being's reaction as explained by Ms Wang. In theory, it is possible that they chose to play the fool in order to get an appropriate response out of Celestial Being. It does sound convoluted, but that is the whole point of the "Xanatos Roulette" trope.

Cheers.

[Pride]

A little off-topic... anyone knows how to convert .mkv to the PSP format?
I tried playing conclave-mendoi's episode 4 on my psp (converted by PSP video 9) but it gave me some error.

[KiNA]

Question regarding sub.. is nyoro~n version good enough, or is ep3 havoc happened again.. I prefer anon's but can find the subbed version for both ep 3 and 4. Mendoi's version kinda stutter a bit on my comp >.>

[brightman]

Originally Posted by 4Tran

To me, these federations don't look significantly different from the blocs in Gundam 00.

Well, IMO you're wrong, since those federations were fully consolidated states, each with a central government. The blocs in 00, as shown in Ep 4 (now that I've finally seen it), are based on closely-knit economic and military alliances.

Originally Posted by Karnot

Also, isnt it amazing that even 300 years in the future the USia is still generally called America ? Come on, Talibia, an American-based country is declared to be anti-American ? Sounds quite nonsensical. My, arent we important, taking the name of the whole two continents for one little country ?

That's true. People from Latin America would never call the USA 'America', since they consider themselves Americans.

But then again, this show is in the Japanese language, and in Japanese its perfectly valid to call it "America", as it is true in English. Perhaps if this show gets translated to Spanish they will refer to it as "estados unidos".

[Vallen Chaos Valiant]

Originally Posted by Skane

It is plausible for them to predict Celestial Being's reaction as explained by Ms Wang. In theory, it is possible that they chose to play the fool in order to get an appropriate response out of Celestial Being. It does sound convoluted, but that is the whole point of the "Xanatos Roulette" trope.

Cheers.

What you are forgetting, is that under your theory, the entire plan will fall apart if CB attack Union forces. And there is no reason why CB wouldn't attack Union forces. (It is as likely as anything else, so it has to be planned for)

In fact, one of the supposed 12 countermeasures CB planned probably included an attack on the Union forces. In this situation, Venezuela gains independence and America becomes a puppet state. That would hardly be an agreeable result for president Brian, as such he could not have been in on this.

The 2 most likely outcomes was America invading Venezuela, or America getting its power cut off. Such polarised results means the two factions can't work together in a way that they know could cause one or another. Unless someone got spies within CB, or this was CB-orchestrated, the attack on Venezuela by Gundams cannot be relied upon.