Iron Blooded Orphans Season 2 Series Review

Posted on by Karandi

Overview:

Previously I reviewed season 1 of Iron Blooded Orphans so you can check that out here.

Season 2 pretty much picks up with Tekkadan trying to make it as a legitimate business but through various business and political maneuvers as well as some poor decision making we see our orphans going back into battle.

I reviewed this week to week so if you want to know my thoughts on individual episodes click here.

Review:

I’ve made no secret in the past that Gundam and I have a love/hate relationship. The first season of Iron Blooded Orphans was great. I really got into the characters because the orphans had some great chemistry (individual characters didn’t fare so well but as a group they were charming to watch face off against everything that stood in their way). So season 2 should have been fine.

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For the most part it is actually fine. The problem is that it doesn’t ever do anything more than fine. This is actually going to be a short review because if you’ve watched any Gundam show you know the basics of how they go anyway. And if you haven’t the Orphans is hardly the starting place even if it is fairly stand-alone.

Tekkadan is now established as a force to be reckoned with and realistically Orga should have been able to run the company legitimately with no further fuss. Yet this is Gundam and we have 25 episodes to fill, so let’s over-complicate things horribly with conspiracies within various organisations and hidden motives everywhere.

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I guess the question really comes down to what did season 2 really accomplish?

Season 1 had a clear purpose. The orphans overthrew the company that had pretty much enslaved them and then used their skills to get Kudelia to earth so that she could help Mars not be totally exploited. It had drive all the way through. The villains were clear and their purpose was simple. Stop Kudelia. Some of them were trying to do that to keep the status quo, while others had personal profits on the line, but it was all very clear.

But season 2 loses this sharp focus as motives and goals fragment across multiple organisations. Even the orphans spend a lot of the first half flitting between possible goals before they throw in behind McGillis (which is a really stupid move) and we finally move toward the, at that point, inevitable tragic end.

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However, you don’t care about this conflict. Season 1 made you care because you wanted the orphans to find a place and you wanted Kudelia to succeed. In season 2, the orphans have a place but they end up over-reaching and lose it. You can’t even see Rustal Elion as an actual villain because basically he’s doing his job (using somewhat underhanded and unethical methods at times). But we don’t get a motive from him and he doesn’t seem overly personally invested in the conflict.

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So there’s no clear purpose, the conflict is pretty much pointless, and there’s no villain to really speak of (though plenty of despicable human beings if that’s enough for you). There’s also very little in the way of character development for our main cast. They learn a little but mostly are fixed where they were during season 1.

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That doesn’t mean that there isn’t any thing going for this season. There are some spectacular space battles and lots of giant robots smashing each other into bits. Those who watch Gundam for the bang, crash, zwing sound effects will be really pleased. Plus, there’s a nice character death count by the end, though more of the orphans survived than I initially suspected would.

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Basically, I found season 2 watchable, but I wouldn’t really recommend it. It didn’t grab me the way season 1 did and while the end is satisfying enough, I’m still wondering exactly what the overall point of season 2 was supposed to be.

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Iron Blooded Orphans Episode 50

Posted on by Karandi

Review:

This ends exactly as you would expect though I will give them points for one or two surprises (such as Ride’s future which I didn’t see coming). Still, any potential character growth for Mikazuki ends rather abruptly mid-episode much as it should given what they were up against.

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However, the general tone of the episode is reflective. More importantly, after all is said and done and all the battles and fighting, things resume pretty much the status quo. There’s some changes in how the different organisations are run and Mars does gain a bit more freedom, but these are changes that could have come about just through negotiations if people had been willing to talk. And overall, the people in charge are still the people in charge. Given the massive cost and number of deaths Gundam remains true to its general message that war really doesn’t get us very far.

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While you can mostly pick where the characters will be in the future, the second half of this episode progresses through them one by one and we see where they have ended up. For the most part this is satisfying, though very little is as satisfying as seeing Iok finally get his on the battle field.

All and all, I didn’t love this second season but it holds it together well enough. I’ll do a full review soonish.

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Iron Blooded Orphans Episode 49

Posted on by Karandi

Review:

Orga’s death hits Tekkadan hard but Mikazuki actually takes some initiative, even if he is just using Orga’s words to rally the others followed by the blunt threat of violence. I’m not sure if this counts as development or not but it is more proactive than we have seen Mikazuki before.

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Spoilers below.

Someone finally killed McGillis. Seriously, that needed to happen episodes ago. He was a pathetic character and once his grand plan was revealed to be pretty much nothing his existence had become pretty superfluous. His death was fortunately not particularly grandiose nor did it have much impact on any of the events still in motion which is kind of the inconsequential death he deserved at that point.

Anyway, pretty much the guys from Tekkadan that we still actually know the names of are out buying time while everyone else hopefully escapes. Given Hush has already died and the others are well out-numbered I’m wondering what the final count will be next episode and whether or not the others will actually escape or if all of this is all for nothing.

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Iron Blooded Orphans Episode 48

Posted on by Karandi

Review:

Please note: Major episode spoilers below – no attempt to conceal details.

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There was a lot of Orga focus in this episode, for good reason. What I particularly liked is that Orga’s screen time didn’t suddenly advance, and other than one flashback (which we’ve seen before from a different perspective) we didn’t dwell on the past. Instead, we looked at how the other characters were viewing Orga and their relationship with him after everything Tekkadan has been through.

And of course, from fairly early on it is inevitable where all this is leading. I did like the set up though for the final blow and I love that Orga went out protecting his family (and thank-you writer who decided not to kill Ride because I was really tense as I expected collateral damage on this one).

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So yes, Orga has been killed and now I just have to wonder, what will Mikazuki do?

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Iron Blooded Orphans Episode 47

Posted on by Karandi

Review:

This is like watching a collision in slow motion. You know the impact is coming and you know it is going to be bad but you’re just kind of inching toward it. This episode saw them finally arrive back on Mars but with no allies and no money, Tekkadan really has no chance. Zack is about the only one with a brain for bailing but even then I think he’s going to have trouble given they seem pretty determined to wipe out Tekkadan.

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And I love how they threw this line in from Kudelia but then backtracked and said they weren’t sure. Though it kind of seems like they are doing everything possible to raise a death flag for Atra.

Anyway, my emotional investment is still gone and this episode didn’t do much to bring it back. Tekkadan willingly threw themselves at this conflict naively believing things would work out because they did before. It kind of just seems like a logical consequence of that and while its tragic and all it isn’t as though they couldn’t have avoided this whole mess with some smarter decision making earlier on.

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Iron Blooded Orpahns Episode 46

Posted on by Karandi

Review:

Shino’s death hits hard (you know, unlike the other half the cast that already died, we actually cared about Shino) and after the dust of the battle settles (or, rather Tekkadan and co scurry away to potential safety) we get the regret, the lamentation and the half-hearted I’m glad you didn’t die speeches. Yamagi offers the only purely positive moment when he esssentially tells Orga to get over himself and find some way to salvage the situation (or at least pretend it can be salvaged).

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The thing is, its all kind of meaningless at this juncture. Emotional investment in the boys from Tekkadan faded after season 1 when random new recruits and kids who hadn’t been through the same experiences joined (essentially, the group got too big to see as individuals anymore). And so far in this battle, Shino is the only significant casualty and it was so heavily foreshadowed and locked into place so early in the battle it was hardly stunning or in anyway surprising. The only surprise is the lack of core characters being dead.

By the way, if the comment about Atra looking different means she’s pregnant I’m truly terrified by her chances of survival. She’s about the only character at this point that I do care significantly about in terms of whether they make it to the end of this battle and I’m more or less ready to assume this show is going for pure tragedy given the position we find the characters in.

Iron Blooded Orpahns is available on AnimeLab.

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Iron Blooded Orphans Episode 45

Posted on by Karandi

Review:

This episode is essentially the battle that we’ve been heading towards for quite awhile. Though with so little reason to care given Tekkadan threw themselves willingly into the hopeless conflict, McGillis’ plan was pretty much nothing, and given none of the other players have mattered in the slightest, essentially this is just watching bits of metal beat and shoot each other into space debris. Even the known character who died at the end of the episode couldn’t really create an emotional response given again, his death was so obvious and he willingly threw himself at it. While I genuinely had a great time watching season 1, season 2 of this show has been mostly tedious and to be honest I really don’t care who wins this battle or who survives. Still don’t want Atra to die but I’m struggling to see how she’s going to survive at this point.

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Iron Blooded Orphans Episode 44

Posted on by Karandi

Review:

There was a line early in this episode that just made me laugh.

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“You all must obey me now.” Really? Because you dug up some ancient mecha. And if they don’t?

Well, clearly nobody thought that far ahead because it turns out they can choose to not obey and all he can do is clench his teeth. At least they don’t choose to oppose him (not that I care about McGillis in the slightest but if anyone from Tekkadan is going to survive that was kind of important). Still, this final fight is not looking good for anyone.

Please don’t kill Atra. It would be like swatting a really cute puppy.

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Iron Blooded Orphans Episode 43

Posted on by Karandi

Review:

After so many episodes of talking and set-up we finally know what this has been heading towards. The problem is, that it isn’t such an awesome reveal. In point of fact it’s pretty lame. One three hundred year old machine and Fareed thinks he can take on the world.

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I guess the only question left is with Tekkadan stick with this guy until the end or will they also fall out with him once they really his plan is bonkers? Or worse, will he actually succeed? That would be depressing.

That said, we do get a lovely and dramatic return including a line that makes no logical sense but is great for an over the top stage quote, complete with pose.

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There were a few of these moments in this episode. Mikazuki letting the wrapper fly out of his hands just as Orga says they had something in their grasp was another incredibly subtle Gundam irony. For all that the first season of Orphans did a few things we haven’t really seen in Gundam before, the latter half of that season and all of season 2 has pretty much fallen back into the traditional patterns and I’ve become increasingly less engaged with the story as we’ve gone because everything that made the characters interesting has gradually been removed.

It isn’t terrible its just increasingly not really my thing.

Iron Blooded Orphans is available on AnimeLab.

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Iron Blooded Orphans Episode 42

Posted on by Karandi

Review:

And so Tekkadan cuts ties with their allies and avenges the deaths of Naze and friends. Points for acting on emotions and drama but this is hardly a master plan and now things are unraveling fast. The fight was almost anti-climatic given the cowardice  and weakness of the enemy and really this whole situation was just a catalyst to push Tekkadan onto a path of no-return for the remainder of the series. However, even the show seemed to realise it had been awhile since we had some heavy handed reminders of where Tekkadan came from and why they were supposedly fighting, so cue some throw away dialogue about being human and a very brief reminder that human-debris are still a thing in the universe. This show is working but I’m definitely feeling like we’re going through the motions at this point rather than really experiencing the events.

Iron Blooded Orphans is available on AnimeLab.

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