Short Synopsis: Rina reveals Yuki’s letter to Touya.
Episode Rating: 7,5/10 (Good)
Ah, there you have it. The whole reason why Yuki didn’t attempt to contact Touya was because she wanted to show him how much she has changed at her Christmas concert, and forbade herself to talk to him in the meantime. Way to go, girl.

Still, that doesn’t quite explain this series’ very mysterious lack of postmen. Seriously, I may be mistaken in this but it feels like every single letter has to be delivered in person. Because Yuki’s schedule is so hectic, the two of them could easily have decided to exchange letters with each other. Why didn’t they? The whole reason Yuki decided to stop talking to Touya was because she couldn’t contact him when he was on his escapades with Misaki, so why couldn’t she have sent him a bunch of letters instead? It’s very annoying to see that my suspense of disbelief with this series is constantly shaking, especially since there are so many good ideas stuffed into this series. it’d be a shame for them to go to waste like that.

But yeah, the big event of this episode seems to be that we finally know who Touya is going to end up with: Yayoi. In a way, it is a very original approach: you’d never see this coming at the beginning of the series, but it still just feels ludicrous and hard to believe how much the relationship between the two has spiralled out of control that way. I can understand Touya being seduced by her and all, but I still am in no way convinced about Yayoi’s actions. Even the reason she originally gave in order to hook up with the guy just feels weak: to prevent Touya from distracting Yuki. Was that really the best she could think of?

But the most pathetic scene in this episode was seeing Misaki confronted by the head of the drama club. For some reasons his minions are gone, he has gone insane, he stabs her with a knife but she is saved because she conveniently had one of Touya’s books at the place where she was stabbed. I mean, come on, that really was the best they could think of? Has there been any situation in which a conveniently placed body armour really worked at all?

I really don’t know what to think of that second season. The next episode really has a big climax in store, and it actually looks like things could get al resolved in the next episode, even if there wasn’t a second season, which leaves lots of potential for the second season to evolve into a completely different direction. But if it’s just going to have the same soap opera plot as the first season, then I really don’t know whether I’m going to feel like blogging 13 more episodes. I really tried to love this series. There is lots of great stuff in it, but in the end it’s just too much like a soap opera for me to take it seriously….

Short Synopsis: The big climax of Gundam 00
Episode Rating: 7,5/10 (Good)
And so, most of the conflicts are solved in this episode. All because Setsuna couldn’t stand to see all of his friends dying, which unlocked some sort of hidden powers in his Gundam which made it shoot out tons of GN Particles and allowed everyone to settle their difference. I’m not exactly sure what drug it used in order to resolve nearly every single conflict apart from the ones around Ribbons, but I guess that the overall message is that conflicts shouldn’t be solved by brainlessly fighting each other without listening to the other party. Nice, I guess, but a bit unrealistic. Ah well, at least I’m glad that it wasn’t Marina’s song that ended up saving everyone.

In any case, for all of the different conflicts that were solved in this episode, some were good and some were bad: Saji vs Louise was as horrible as ever, though the conclusion between Ali al Sarshes and Lockon was very solid and a very good gunfight. Marie vs Smirnoff basically went nowhere, and Billy vs Sumaragi was cheesy but served its purpose I guess.

Ribbons was pretty pathetic, though. The entire series has established the guy as some sort of evil overlord without any flaws whatsoever. And in this episode he just lets some random guys take over Veda without even an attempt to stop it. He should have known that all innovators could link to Veda, and since he’s such a 1337-hax0rz, he could have easily taken measures to prevent others from accessing Veda. And yet he acts all surprised when Tieria turns out to be alive, using the same trick he used a few episodes back.

I think that the big problem with this episode was that the “ultimate power” was a bit too convenient and selective: it was exactly what this series needed in order to wrap up every hanging thread: everyone conveniently gets healed, it conveniently calls the ghosts of some dead characters who help taking over Veda, while other dead people don’t appear at all, it conveniently cancels out Ribbons’ brainwashing on Louise, it conveniently clears most useless hatred. It’s just too convenient!

Overall, with one episode left, I have to say that I liked the first series better. Sure, Setsuna was pretty annoying back then, but at least his impulsiveness had a certain charm to it, which isn’t something I can say for Saji and Louise. It had a solid build-up with a great climax, and took place in a world that actually felt alive with a complex political structure. The second season focused much more on action and the characters, which all were either a hit or a miss for me.

On a positive note, I do have to admit that I really liked the background music of this episode. Great soundtrack.