Gundam 00 (Episode 22)

Episode 22 is by far, my favourite Gundam 00 episode. And as a result, a mega load screencaps for your viewing pleasure. P/s: Exia never looks this glossy before.

After sustaining injury from the previous battle, Lockon was given immediate treatment. Sumetagi suggested he should be relieved from his duties but Lockon has no intention of slacking off. Meanwhile Tieria who secluded himself, blamed himself for what had happened to Lockon. More after the jump.

The United Nations Army announced a joint operation dubbed “Fallen Angels” to annihilate all Gundams. Graham and Billy are overseeing the progress of the GN Drive installation onto Graham’s Custom Flag while the HRL GN-X team had just done recharging their GN Drives and took flight to continue their operation to destroy the Thrones. On Ptolemaios, Dynames suffered serious damage as repairs are ongoing. Lockon went to confront Tieria, trying to console him. Tieria thinks himself as a failure being a Gundam Meister as he failed to link directly to Veda. Lockon did not see that as a problem as everyone makes mistakes. Tieria thinks that it would be impossible to achieve their objectives without Veda but Lockon believes the Gundams they have are enough. On Earth, the Trinity siblings are on the run from the GN-X team. Johann made contact with Liu-Mei who promised to bring them back to space. She also informed him about the incoming GN-X team and Johann made haste to get their Thrones off the ground. The problem they are facing however is that their GN particles are running low and the HRL GN-Xs are not going easy on them. Adding the fact that they are outnumbered, Neena’s Drei was damaged in the process and the Thrones are forced to make a retreat. In fact, the whole battle is live televised and among those watching are Marina and the ever gloomy Saji. Soma wanted to chase them as the Thrones are escaping but was stopped by Sergei who suggested that the Thrones are running out of the GN particles soon.

The person behind the Thrones, Alejandro, is not bothered about Team Trinity’s situation as he has his own agenda to deal with. Meanwhile inside Ptolemaios, the crews began to wonder if the world could change should the Gundams and Celestial Being by whole were to be destroyed. Setsuna questions the true purpose of Gundams, knowing that they are tools necessary to end wars. Yet the Trinity siblings used them to escalate the conflict further. Lockon suggested that they should intervene into the conflict faced by the Thrones with the UN Army. This may be insane but Setsuna agreed without second thoughts. Lockon wanted to tag along but was stopped by Lasse as he volunteered in his stead. Sumeragi also gave her permission to let Setsuna go, with an advice to him to return back alive. Soon enough, Exia returned to Earth using the combat container that also holds the GN Arms. On Earth, the Trinity siblings are again on hiding at a remote island as they are desperate for a way out. Suddenly an AEU Enact hovered nearby them, claiming to be have come without any intention to fight. While Neena was on standby inside her Drei, the Enact’s pilot showed himself and it turns out to be Ali Al-Saachez. He claimed to have come to help them and told them that Laguna is dead. He quickly fired a shot to Michael, adding that he is the one who killed Laguna. He also was able to subdue Johann and Johann told Neena to run away with her Drei. Surprisingly Ali let Johann go and to him to run away with his Throne.

As Neena and Johann tried to escape, Ali took over Michael’s Zwei and charged towards Johann’s Eins. Johann was surprised to see this because the Throne would only be operated with Michael’s biometrics unless he was able to use Veda and rewrites the programme. Ali who is more experienced, easily took on Johann and destroyed Eins, killing Johann along with it. Ali changed his target to Neena and as things seems to go bad for Neena, Exia intervened to save her. Knowing that the pilot behind Zwei is Ali, Setsuna needs no other reason to fight him. Meanwhile Libbons had finally cleared level 7 and this revealed Aeolia Schenberg who is preserved in his cryogenic slumber. Alejandro revealed that Aeolia planned to revive himself once the world changed to the way he intended to, and added that the ambition is no longer possible as he now possesses control of both Celestial Being and the world. Pointing the gun to the cryogenic chamber, he opened fire and makes sure that Aeolia is dead for good. Suddenly all the screens around him revealed Aeolia giving his predicament, saying that the world he wished for is not achieved yet if there is an evil someone in that place. He calls on humans as stupid who have only wanted to go for war, leading the world to further destruction. Yet he still kept faith in humanity and left behind his power and ideals.

Ali was having fun inside Thrones Zwei as he battles against Setsuna’s Exia. However Ali remained superior over Setsuna. Meanwhile Aeolia activated a system on the Gundams and at the same time, Exia begins to glow red. As though Exia received a power booster, Exia’s movement speed increased dramatically. Ali is now having trouble to keep match against the lightning fast Exia. In Exia’s glossy glory, Setsuna himself is clueless about the sudden boost of power in his Exia. Then Aeolia begins to speak to them. His message goes by his final hope being entrusted to the Gundam Meisters, which is the full utilization of the GN Drives in order to end all the warfare and bring peace to the world, not for the ideals of the Celestial Being but for their own in with the GN Drives. Zwei tried to counter Exia but was no match against the fully loaded Exia, forcing Zwei to pull back. Setsuna looks on his display showing “Trans-Am” and he was overwhelmed by the true potential of the Trans-Am system.

They may have been a nuisance but in this episode, I can’t help to feel sorry for the Trinity siblings. When Michael was shot dead, I thought that this may not be really bad after all. But when Johann asked Neena to escape (being a loving brother or so-called), I might consider that they may not be as sinister as the previous episodes suggested. Now that both Johann and Michael are dead, this leaves Neena alone with her Throne Drei. There may be a chance of her to join forces with the Gundams in their objective to achieve world peace as entrusted by Aeolia Schenberg but there is also a possiblity that she won’t and probably ends up dead sooner or later. Earlier in this episode, we also get to see Saji holding deep grudge against the Gundams and probably this hatred would develop further to more hatred and I can see that Saji would be on the opposing side against the Gundams in the second season. So the real deal of this episode is the Trans-Am system and yes, it was all too amazing. And Setsuna had never felt this good in his Exia before. An obvious boost for the Gundams in their intervention to stop warfare and does this mean that the GN-Xs are soon to be defeated? All I can say is that the poor fellow in the whole conflict is Graham who had only started to install a fake GN Drive to his Flag. Next one will be another confrontation of the GN-Xs, Ali in his Throne Zwei and the Gundams. It is probable that Ali may kick the bucket soon. The following is the preview of the next episode.