Mobile Suit Gundam 00: Awakening of a Trailblazer

Ah, screw it! I may as well get this rant out of me while it's still fresh in my mind. I'll try to keep the obscenity to a minimum.

WARNING: SPOILERS BELOW!

The probe from Jupiter that was seen at the final moments of the second season of 00 is returning to earth for unknown reasons. After the Earth Federation destroys the probe in space, pieces of it land on earth and strange things start happening. Vehicles begin to move on their own, electronics malfunction and Humans with strong Quantum Brain Waves with the potential of becoming Innovators begin to be encased in metal and killed. It's up to Celestial Being to deal with it with the aid of the Federation.

I rather liked Gundam 00. It was a good series and it certainly was much better than Gundam SEED. Even if Patrick Colasour never DIED like I wanted him to. The cast was interesting and Setsuna reminded me, fondly, of Heero Yuy from Gundam Wing. I was amped and looking forward to watching Awakening of a Trailblazer and I left that motherf-... experience very disappointed. There are some rather weird things in the series that fly because they worked. The evolution of Mankind anything new in the various Gundam universes. First it was the Newtypes in the UC timeline, then the Coordinators in SEED and SEED Destiny and now it's the Innovators in 00. Whatever, it works. Then they started alluding to the presence of aliens from Jupiter when my red flags kinda went up. Luckily they never actually appeared in the series. They come out in force for the movie, though.

I'm not gonna lie, at the start, the conflict was really well handled. The mystery surrounding the incidents, the reappearance of an old nemesis, and the ominous nature of the aliens was really well balanced. It wasn't until the climax of the series when it started to unravel. At one point I had to stop and check the title when the alien armada brought out they moon-sized battleship (not exaggerating) and make sure I wasn't watching Vandread. So the central conflict was out of place, even though it was alluded to throughout the series. Then there's the 00 Qan[T]. Remember the first Iron Man movie? How they spent the whole movie hyping up the suit for an entire hour-and-something just to end it with a disappointing 7 minute long battle near the end. That's what Trailblazer did for the 00 Qan[T]. It shows up near the end, all it does is fly towards the alien battleship, attack a couple of things, get in, and teleport away not to be seen again. Disappointing. It's like getting a really good handj... I mean like paying for a really delicious looking burger and smelling it's aroma for a good 10 minutes only to get two cold buns and some frozen cheese.

Overhyped and underused.

The fights were easy on the eyes. That's to be expected, though. I mean I mean the fights in 00 were always a sight to behold and that's even more true for Backbreaker... I mean Trailblazer. If you've seen the series, you know what to expect. The ending is what really killed it for me. I don't think I've ever had a WTF?!?!?!11SHIFTONE moment like the ending of this movie. Setsuna teleports to the alien home world, isn't seen again for like 30-something years, and comes back as the T-1000. Okay maybe I'm paraphrasing but that's essentially what it came down to. Overall I guess it wasn't terrible but it definitely could have been better. If you watch Awakening of a Trailblazer, I suggest stopping about half an hour short of the end. Spare yourself the headaches.

Verdict: Eeeeeehhhh....

If you liked Gundam 00, then feel free to watch this. Even if it does fall apart at the end, everything leading up to it was really good.