Ninth Yells About G-Tekketsu Episode 9

[ninthfeather]

 Actually, really, she whispers excitedly in a dark room because light and noise sensitivity but, y’know, hyperbole is a thing.

 

So, yeah, I’ve got a migraine but this is so late and I’m not going to do the sensible thing and wait til I’m feeling better to post it.  Bonus: 100% more weird nicknames because I will forget people’s names and not bother looking ‘em up.  

 

So, for a continuation of last week’s fictive kinship celebration, speculation on what even is Teiwaz, a brief tangent about costuming and some pretty confident speculation about Shifty Fumi (thanks again to atomicpomegranate  for the name), head under the cut.

 

Edit: The cut, which I forgot the first time I posted this, whoops.

 

I have never had my this-team-is-a-family-feelings be so canon and I am so happy you do not understand.  Drunk Orga made me feel so many things, and then Akihiro came out and said “family”–and then there was that bit at the end with the redheaded kid…they are all being so freakin’ adorable and it is so perfect.  My love of this trope aside, it’s also very narratively effective because it repeatedly reminds us that 1) none of these people have actual families and 2) the people taking authority positions are really too young to be having to do so.  But, okay, let’s be honest, I’m just here for Orga’s painful drunken honesty about wanting to give them all a place to come back to…

 

On that note, the fact that Orga can’t hold his liquor is also adorable and a very nice bit of character-building, considering that up until now he’s been something of a consummate man’s man.  It’s a fitting flaw.

 

The blonde lady with the perfect bob…the one who looks like she might’ve escaped from a Tezuka anime and who gave Orga a handkerchief–I have no idea who she’s supposed to be but she was in the next-episode preview too and I like her.  She teased Orga and flounced off and I want to see where this is going.

 

As for the other ladies–I’m in favor of the Turbine ladies teaching the tinier Tekkadan boys not to be sexist, but the continued polygamy stuff is really starting to get skeevy.  I’m sorry, it’s not something I really agree with and especially not in a 40-some-women to one man who’s also their military commander/boss configuration.  Turbine’s nice except for that.

 

Teiwaz, though–what even is Teiwaz?  It appears to be some sort of Mafia/Yakuza mashup with both Japanese and Italian trimmings.  I mean, there was cannoli and also an elaborate Japanese-style ceremony.  So, I don’t even know what they’re doing.  This episode didn’t really clear things up for me much, honestly.

 

Speaking of that ceremony–well, I spoke last week about my feelings on Orga in traditional Japanese clothing.  But I was surprised by how much I liked Kudelia’s outfit too. You don’t see “Gundam Princesses” in black that much outside of funerals, usually, but it seems right on her and it gave her a really mature, serious look.

 

I also really liked her conversation with the head of Teiwaz.  The fact that she already understands how much responsibility she bears in this situation, and that she’s not still caught in the mentality of trying to enforce the pacifism she wants on a situation where it’s not possible is pretty mature of her.  I really hope her alliance with Teiwaz doesn’t turn out to be a double-edged sword.

 

It’s just…they’re the Mafia-Yakuza…and well, organized crime has codes, but, even so…I may be overly suspicious.  But there’s room for all sorts of political machinations and Kudelia’s still in a position to be turned into a figurehead, if someone with the wrong intentions gets ahold of her.  I’m worried.

 

One last note about Teiwaz–did that mechanic of Teiwaz’s remind anyone else of the Doctors from Gundam Wing?

 

So, how about that Ein?  “It’s all right to kill guilty children, isn’t it?”  Where the heck is he getting that logic?  Well, I mean, grief, yeah, except that the man he’s grieving literally went off to try to save the kids, and the least Ein could do was honor that instead of going on a stupid revenge-quest. This is Gundam. Revenge never ends well.

 

Okay, finally, Shifty Fumi. So, I’m pretty sure at this point that she’s Chocolate Man’s spy in Tekkadan.  How else do you explain her not wearing Kudelia’s necklace and then emoting like that about it?  It would also explain why she’s smarter and better at things than she pretends to be 50% of the time; she’s probably a Gjyallarhorn-trained soldier or something.  She seems to be having doubts about what she’s doing but if she’s gonna change sides she’s going to need to do it soon.  Otherwise Tekkadan will turn out worse for it.

 

A final note–of course Mikazuki likes the Japanese spelling of his name better than the English one.  I wonder if an Arabic alphabet is used in the standard written language on Mars or if Kudelia had another reason for starting in in it.  Dangit, a pet peeve of mine about anime is that they rarely indicate whether the characters are supposed to be speaking Japanese or not.  LIke, in Gundam 00, when Setsuna and Marina, two Middle Eastern people from fictional countries talk, they are probably speaking Arabic, but that’s just a guess because the show never tells us the language being used.  Does Mars speak Japanese?  Does it speak English?  Does it speak, I dunno, Spanish?  There are too many possibilities and I lack data.  Sheesh.

 

Questions: Again, what even is Teiwaz?  Does the blond robot-repairer kid have a canon crush on the brown-haired Human Debris guy and will this be important to the narrative? Who is blond-bob-lady and what is she going to do in the story?

 

Predictions: Shifty Fumi is the mole.  After Barbados is upgraded there’s gonna be a new model kit released and also Mikazuki will probably have at least one more successful battle.  From the preview, we are going to see Atra’s backstory next week and it’s going to be horrible.