Okay, technically 2 romances and 1 bromance. Above the Federation’s captured Luna base, the turncoat Reina Spriggan joins Fram and Zeheart’s fight with “no-kill” Kio and Asemu the pirate king. An X-Rounder test pilot, Reina lost the love of her life in a “training accident”, further evidence of the Federation’s corruption. Since then, she’s vowed vengeance on the system that so needlessly sacrificed the man she vowed to stay with forever. Even though they’re on the same side, Fram and Reina butt heads as the “love yet to be” and the “love lost”. Each vying for their chance at the Gundam, Fram for Zeheart’s recognition, and Reina for revenge.
After (yet again) commanding the Federation front from the shadows through Algreus, Flit embarks in the suped up AGE-1 to join Kio and Asemu now fighting a 3-on-2 battle while Federation forces dredge closer to the base on the lunar surface. Determined to exterminate the Vagan at all costs, Flit tells Algreus to prepare the Plasma Dive Missile, able to obliterate the entire base in an instant. Like most tactical weaponry, this missile isn’t picky about what’s in it’s area of detonation, most likely taking out all the Federation forces on the surface as well as Vagan.
Critical to any Gundam series is the romantic aspect, someone has to die for their lost love, and someone has to save their love-to-be. As the fighting continues, Reina begins to lose control of her X-Rounder abilities, and even takes control of Fram, Zeheart, and Kio’s bits as she lets loose attacking everyone out of spite for Girard’s untimely death. Kio tries to placate her with his “we dont’ have to fight” rhetoric, but, unable to move, all the X-Rounders are useless as Reina goes mad with power. I was hoping it’d be the Ace Pilot’s time to shine, and out-fight the X-Rounder, but it was Flit’s quick shot that was able stop her rampage. Kind of…disappointing, really (I hate giving him credit). But not before the star-crossed lover caused Zeheart’s suit to be damaged, leaving Fram to keep him safe from the premonition she had before the battle.
Back to Flit’s looming threat of Plasma Dive Missiles, Abis gets word of the preparations, and sees through Algreus’s endgame. They have 20 minutes to clear out the base, or die trying. Thankfully, the Vagan had competent command, understanding the value of their soldiers’ lives. Surrendering their officers with the condition that other personel be allowed to retreat, the Vagan return control of Luna Base back to the Federation. And I’m left conflicted, I like Fram, but she’s stealing Zeheart away from the one true bromance…oh, and Vagan’s home base thingy is headed towards the Earth sphere now.
Bundled with the PC game “Guilty Crown Lost Christmas” comes an animated short, an OVA to the original series following new protagonists Scrooge and Carol, a few years prior to Shu’s crowning with the Void Genome. In their timeline, Scrooge is on the run as the GHQ, along with our 2nd favorite mad scientist, Segai, rush to contain and preserve the secret of the Apocalypse Virus from the general public. First things first…oh how I’ve missed Bios in the background, good bit of nostalgia when those tones hit my ears. But also, as far as characters go, I think more than a few people will say Scrooge seems like a much better protagonist as he seems to understand how to fight and look awesome doing so.
To Shu’s credit, in his time as king, the GHQ had fully developed Endleaves, though Scrooge more than handily defeated a pre-fab model that Segai so elegantly dropped on someone’s house…now and then, the GHQ are the epitome of style and grace on the battlefield…Speaking of Segai, ever wonder what happened to his eye? Well, I won’t spoil, because I can’t, though I imagine the game will explain these virus crystal monster-things. One of which dropped down on Scrooge thanks to (who I’m guessing is) a Daath agent.
Scrooge, as well as being a certified badass, is accompanied by the cute tag-along Carol. Much like how Inori was Shu’s sword (literal sword, thanks to her void), Carol gives Scrooge a super-charged chainsaw/long sword, perfect for cutting down endleaves. Unfortunately, the virus monster seemed to be able to disengage Carol’s void. Shu would’ve most likely been screwed, as it seems he never discovered pulling voids from animals, like Scrooge was able to do. But the dog had some genome experimentation, which might’ve allowed it to carry a void…if only until drawn, and then it kinda crystalized with the Apocalypse Virus and died…
Overall, an interesting 15 minute special that I’d wish there was more of. I mean, Scrooge seems like a really good protagonist, and I know a lot of people want a Guilty Crown with a better main character (hence names like “Shoe”). This OVA makes me kinda want the game, which I’d probably get if I were more into PC games. At the very least it’s a nice, short piece for people who actually enjoyed Guilty Crown and can appreciate a little expansion.
New OP and ED are new. I liked the first ones more, but these are catchy and interesting too. I particularly like the 2-sided Kuroyukihime fighting over Haru…like he’s some sort of prize. I guess it means Kuro-sempai winning him over in real life as opposed to him simply following her duel avatar. Also, the Chiyu fanservice was kinda overdue and I’m sure much appreciated…Haru has now peeped on 2/4 main female characters, the remaining being Kuroyukihime and Aqua Current.
Nomi, new kid and nerd/bully (odd combination), has taken Haru by the nads, and the wings. Now Haru no longer rules the skies of Accel World as Nomi’s killer move allows him steal killer moves, abilities, and armors from other players, and to add insult to injury, Haru and Chiyu are being blackmailed at school to be Nomi’s victims. This is very much Haru’s weak spot, bullies. He’s returned to the same place he was before he became a Burst Linker, underfoot a nasty manipulator. Only this time Chiyu has been dragged with him and Kuroyukihime isn’t around to save him.
So it’s up to some…”other” friends to help Haru out. Ash Roller makes a comeback (glad to see friendly(ish) rivalries and that it’s not all about “I’mma fight you ’til you die!” or about becoming the best, some just enjoy the game like Chiyu tries to get Haru and Taku to) to find out Silver Crow’s wings have been clipped. Now he’s taken Crow (after an oddly bromantic motorcycle ride through the desert) to the home of Ash’s own guardian, Sky Raker, who’s supposed to be able to help him. I’m foreseeing a few pushes off the cliff as Sky Raker yells “Fly, you socially awkward warrior!”, only to watch Silver Crow plummet to the ground.
Not even sure if it’s possible for Nomi’s stolen abilities to be returned, it’s hard to say what’ll happen next. Will Haru simply learn to combat his own skill and somehow retake it from Nomi, or will he relearn flight, defeat Nomi, and deal with a bully for the first time in his life? Either way, I want that smug bastard dealt with. Nomi’s character does a good job of bringing up feelings of disgust and loathing towards him. I’d almost say he went over the line threatening Chiyu, but then I’d just start thinking he perhaps has some psychological error that’s causing him to be an evil little twerp.
Haru’s little outburst with Taku worries me a bit concerning that Catastrophe Armor seed that’s lying in wait for him (or what I suspect to be the Catastrophe Armor). Is this just Haruaki breaking down under the stress of the maniacal nerd who beat him down, or is the seed slowly working it’s way to the surface of Haru’s mind? Without his wings, Haru seems at a prime disadvantage that would lead him to give into the armor’s temptations of power. The kind of power that could help him easily put away any one who dared take advantage of Haru or Chiyu…
Kio’s time spent on the Vagan Second Moon has given him much to think about and he now weighs the burden of understanding that the Vagan are just humans looking to live peacefully. The people of Vagan want to escape the Mars Rays that are killing them, meanwhile, Flit puppets the Federation into a no-holds-barred fight to the death with the Vagan and their EXA-DB derived weaponry. Even though Exelcant wants to create a superior race of humans to end the fighting, he’s willing to sacrifice the Vagan people to achieve it. He must also intend on destroying non-superior humans to clear the path in his “Project Eden”, because removing the flaw from humanity is the only way to reach a peaceful utopia, in his mind. Now, in order to return balance to the fight, Asemu aims to help the Federation retake their moon base (that no one mentioned being taken away in the first place), a staging area for Vagan attacks on the Earth sphere.
Combining the EXA-DB and the Gundam AGE-3, Exelcant quickly outdates the Federation’s best suit using the Gundam Legilis, the Vagan’s own Gundam unit. Not even Kio and Asemu together could stand up to this singularly overpowered unit. But using data collected from the AGE-3, the AGE system has quickly whipped up the newest, and seemingly penultimate Gundam model, the Gundam AGE-FX (“Following X-Rounder”, as if naming was just a joke). Using the AGE-FX’s new agility and his newfound determination, Kio manages to fight without killing Vagan soldiers, by severing the cockpits and allowing the pilots to SOS for help. Flit, on the other hand, plans to go all out on the Vagan attackers, and blow the bases off of the face of the moon using very dangerous weaponry.
The generational opinion gap between Kio, Asemu, and Flit is growing wider as Kio is still looking for a peaceful resolution, Asemu looks to simply minimize casualties, and Flit wants to utterly destroy everything that thinks differently from him. I foresee Kio making a solid effort to use his method to end the struggle without unnecessarily killing Vagan soldiers, and Flit decides to blow the shit out of the Vagan-held base. Asemu and Kio will try to stop Flit, if they do, they’ll either alienate Flit from them or say something half-cheesey, half-inspirational to change Flit’s mind after years of hating the Vagan. Eventually Kio will have to meet up again with Deen, otherwise showing him joining the Vagan army is just pointless. I can’t decide if Deen is doing it to fight Kio, or just to meet him again.
The next episode seems to hold a focus on Fram (finally!). I can’t wait to see her in action and possibly some backstory. I don’t know why, but I’m just eager to see more of her, maybe it’s just the mystery of her role in the greater story and her changing ulterior motives. With Exelcant’s own clock running out, I think this story is quickly reaching a close as Vagan and Federation forces finally come to a conclusive head, where the views of three generations will be brought to bear against one another for the future of humanity.
