Galeo killing mcgillis is legitimately my favorite emotional beat in gundam. The pain Galeo, feels as he realizes Mcgillis was always a broken child is just so incredible. Mcgillis's line about not knowing the difference between real and fake happiness is his entire character summed up.
its that genuine belief he was doing the right thing that really sells it. And hey he def had a point, Gjallahorn was rotten and it needed to change, like griffith however, he was willing to cast away his friends and humanity which was his fatal mistake. In some regards he's a take on Macbeth.
@anthonymonaghan4964 there's also shots of the yellowhead area from the east side of the river. Nobody in media refers to Edmonton, so I felt really proud to see it mentioned.
IBO was always an interesting installment for me. There's a lot that it does that I like, and a lot that I don't. Like you mentioned, the entire story might be based around Tekkadan's perspective, but they're a small footnote compared to the rest of the setting. Unlike shows such as 0079, Zeta, ZZ, Char's Counterattack, X, SEED, SEED Destiny and 00, we're not following the heroes that will end the conflict. We're seeing children trying to find the place they belong, and the poor decisions of the one that leads them caused their eventual downfall. The mobile suit designs and weapons also add to this. Turn A Gundam has the haunting Moonlight Butterfly. SEED and SEED Destiny have the absolute light shows that are the various Freedom Gundams. 00 has the ethereal particles and bright red glow of the Trans-Am. G-Witch has the mysterious yet beautiful Permit Scores. IBO? Nothing but physical weaponry meant to tear through opponents. We don't even have the traditional beam weaponry that's iconic to the show for any of the mobile suits, being exclusive to the mobile armors. All the ranged weapons are physical projectiles. Even when Mikazuki unleashes the full power of Barbatos, there's nothing in the show that actually implies the red eyes of Barbatos are actually happening, maybe being only a visual effect for the viewers. IBO's ending might be bleak to some, but there's that small tiny footprint that Tekkadan left behind, causing a ripple effect that changed the world for the better. A lot of people tend to dismiss this and hate the ending solely because of how many major characters die, but I think the message that the show tries to tell is interesting to see. Do I wish some of Tekkadan's members got a happier ending? Yes I do, but I'm not upset with how the story ends.
The thing about barbatos and the red eyes is that's just mikazuki using a fraction of the actual gundam frames you can see in urdr hunt that the gundams constantly have red eyes and look more like monsters then the actual mobile armors
@@epiclinksam9805 The red eyes are just excess power of the Ahab reactors, as they are being worked into overdrive as the Gundams were meant to face Mobile Armor and to Go All Out. Not just visual affects to the viewers
I ain't hating on the decision that they should all die, I'm just hating why there isn't a fully released sketch and model kits of 72 Gundam Frame yets.
My only reason for the hate on season 2 entirely is that those who have complete power not only abuse it but get to keep it in the end the only villian in season 2 to face any punishment for thier crimes is Iok and McGillis everyone else deserving of it walk away scot free and even better off or are we forgetting the constan warcrimes commited by the gallarhorn loyalists They commited so many if it was a drinking game you'd be dead by the end
IBO is still my personal favorite Gundam show for reasons you mentioned. In a way, however, I ended up enjoying Thunderbolt a lot specifically because of the sociopolitical nihilism. There were no grand commentaries or political soapboxes, just the grim acceptance of never-ending war which allows a focus on the personal struggles and rivalries of the pilots, especially for the first 'season'. I like how the anime cherishes aspects of both sides especially through music, without casting judgement for right or wrong.
There aren't many Gundam shows that make me cry, IBO made me ball like a baby in the last episode. Tears of sadness for Mika and Orga but also happiness for Kudelia, Atra and her and mika's kid and the future the kids dad helped to build even if Mikazuki was a bit of a bloodlusting murderer. Even a child soldier was able to transcend his fate and built a better world for the people he loved. I cry everytime I think about that story. It's a story worth telling. Even the worst person can be redeemed.
As a Transformer's fan I was recently challenged by a friend to take a look at MSG, they recommended a raft of series but I chose IBO, and am loving it so much, that i am 1/4 of the way through series 2, right now!
@@davinaandrews6250 If you love the brutality of IBO, i highly recommend Gundam Thunderbolt December Sky (the movie version) its an hour long and by far my favorite UC adaptation. You don't even need to watch the previous UC anime to understand its self contained story.
@@Jon_EL Tf Animated is fun, with great soh. Tf Prime is fantastic a bit more serious and more grown up but shares the same musical influence with the Tf One movie.
This show genuinely gets a lot less credit than it deserves. The politics are genuinely interesting and the fights are entertaining, which provides a good surface level for those looking for a more realistic series that still has fantastical elements. The biggest criticism I've heard about the show is that it has a lack of character development, but I think that serves to better enhance the story. The fact that the characters' motivations and goals remain stagnant contrast the drastic changes happening in the show's setting and political environment, and the main conflicts in the show stem from this. None of the characters learn to be better leaders or even better people, but the world that they're ultimately creating needs these things. Orga doesn't become a better leader, he just gains more influence, which ultimately leads to his downfall because the world has changed from when he assumed command. McGillis is an idealist, but refuses to accept the terms of the world he is trying to create, believing that reaching the top will make him untouchable. It's a great representation of the idea that the end justifies the means. The story itself uses the audiences tendency to root for the underdog to tap into their emotions. Tekkadan is by definition a terrorist organization, but simultaneously they are children with a twisted view of the world. Gjallarhorn is not innately evil either, they simply suffer from corruption which prevents them from performing their mission to preserve order. The story utilizes their conflict to create a complex sense of justice and peace, which taps into the audiences' morality and creates emotional intensity. I think the main reason why the show just gets put down is that people are just tired of seeing the gritty realistic takes that are just so prominent in modern media, but taken seriously, the show accomplishes a lot of things that many other shows fail at.
Love the video. Adding to it, in response to how other people determined how mcgillis action was foolish in the last part, I would compare it to a suicide bomber. He believed Bael's power unto the level of a religion, thus he just went with it without calculation. And the best thing was that audiences were also made believed that it would be the most powerful mobile suit, forgetting that it's just a mobile suit.
Love IBOs exploration of the long term effects of war, nature of rebellion, and sobering compromises made during wartimes. Tekkadin were caged dogs freed and desperate to preserve their freedom. Their collusion with a coup faction of gallerhorn was as much about their own preservation as it was their hatred for an organization who's negligence caused them to be. What an excellent video. Thank you kindly.
I noticed a lot of people hating on Rustell and were extremely unhappy he won, but I really enjoyed his character, mainly because I primarily judge characters on how well they serve their role in the story. It didn't take long into season 2 for me to realize that the story was going to be a tragedy and it all made sense. That meant the protagonists were going to lose and probably die and the antogonists were going to win. Although it is a testament to the character writing that I was routing for Tekaden the whole time as I watched them burn out like a shooting star. At the end of the series Rustell reforming Gallerhorn and making the world better just made sense. It was a glass of cold water on the audience. Not all great reforms come from epic acts of heroism. Sometimes they come from those who connive and scheme and work with the reigning institutions instead of working against them. That the rebel underdogs are not always the good guys. I loved how it took a much more nuanced and cleared eyed approach to how politics often really shake out. I think the Bismarck analogy is apt. Most of the Revolutions of 1848 failed, but many of the reigning Monarchs had to implement major reforms just to preserve the existing order and appease any future would be revolutionaries.
To me, IBO is the only newer Gundam show (That is finished, still love them all) that didnt dissapointed me in its ending and outcome for the MC. IBO shows the outcome most gundam MCs would had faced. The world learns instead of returning to same nation fighting the same pittyfull war, even after beeing devestated, somehow getting a weapon that should had made them win, but got defeated by an teenager named Yamato or something around that line. And to me at lest, was the "villain" Elion was actually reasonable and a more likable character than Mizuzuki (I Actually found his death a great fead for his characters development), what actually made him a good vharacter in its own sence. Oh and the politics finaly go beyond "War bad, but we still fight the same wars". Thats why a Bismarck like charcter worked so great in a gundam setting that tried more reasonable political motivations.
I never noticed how the Seven Stars being so... well. _themselves..._ could be a commentary on Gundam's recurring idea that a bunch of hot-blooded people in mechs can solve any crisis and change the world. You can see Iok as the (il)logical extension of this lol - he's... a _decent(?)_ pilot and not much else XD In a lot of Gundam series, that's fine, but this is a gundam series where realpolitik is king.
21 วันที่ผ่านมา +4
In 'Wing' the pilots are Nietzschian superhumans. And Amuro never changed the world, which kind of broke him.
I mean, You kinda could. Think of it like this. One really good modern fighter jet pilot going rouge could do world altering damage, as long as he has enough support behind him to manage logistics
IBO makes me see Gundam in a new light, its not just a robot anime for kids & teenagers, it can also relate to real world conflicts & politics. The route to power & victory is not a straight path & it always come with a cost. And damn the lessons are harsh. I'm also surprised at how the ending goes but I didnt surprised that it happened. Its sad but its not Guilty Crown sad.
The best point you made here was about the world feeling LIVED in. It feels like an improvement of the medium made by people who are life long fans. The best Gundam show for me.
IBO was my introduction to gundam and resonated with 16 year old me. I love it and dislike other installations in the franchise for almost the same reason as I love Halo Reach and none of the following games. IBO's synthesis of character and factions and greater motivations made the story feel knit together as people were pulling in the same directions for their faction as opposd to the "I'm chosen kid with OP mecha" that the other series I've watched focus on.
I love IBO, my favorite gundam ive seen by a significant margin, and like a lot of your other videos I just agree with almost everything youve said. I always read the ending as Elian, ever the pragmatist, recognizing that even with Tekkadan crushed, the publicity has exposed the corruption inherent to the artistocratic system, and without reform there would only be more and more unrest. Better, then, to institute reforms to secure gjallarhorn's and his own position at the top, while giving enough concessions to avoid further challenges.
Very glad you made this video. IBO was my first gundam, so obviously there's bias. But after watching many others I really came to your conclusion as well, which was, well, there's never a conclusion with UC. It's endless wars and endless conflict (makes me think of zelda games a bit) which, is honestly okay- otherwise they'd have to keep making spinoffs in new universes. But IBO just did a lot right, the world has really cool preestablished lore, sick combat, and the scale of conflicts was generally believable. Mika was a 1 man army for sure, but he could only do so much. The negativity I always see aimed at it was always so frustrating, like did people want IBO to play out like every other series? That's part of why I love it so much was the ending was incredibly bittersweet, incredibly hopeful, but the cast left a huge impact for all their very human decisions.
Not every revolutionary lives to see the fruits of their revolution. Not everyone gets a happy ending. That’s why I loved this series, outside of the combat and characters.
Thank you for the thoughtful analysis. It’s so common for anime video essays to spend way to much time recapping the series, so this was incredibly refreshing to watch.
War in the pocket and 08th ms team are two of my favorite "realistic" gundam series, no newtype ms, pure mecha action and their movements are more like tanks rather than giant humans, much mroe realistic and the use of tactics and close quarters combat are a highlight.
Great video about my favorite Gundam series! Its story resonates because of its realistic elements and world, which you showed well. The action is also i think amazing and some of the best in the franchise IMO. The ending stings but i also love how it shows a better world than thanks to their actions and sacrifices
Third Gundam series after OG and Unicorn Def my #1 favorite, lmao Amazing show, beautiful mech designs, and even better music. Story is so good too *until the end of season 2 anyways*
i wasn't planning on stopping my day to watch a half an hour video essay, but you hooked me so easily in the first minute that before i knew it 28 minutes passed. excellent analysis, i love it
Every time I watch IBO I feel that the plot could be summed up by allusion to "The Scorpion and the Frog": The child soldiers of Tekkadan are the products of the current world order and were built to be war fighters desensitized to violence. Why should anyone be shocked that they constantly find ways to turn their circumstances into fights? Similarly, McGillis was also created by the Gjallarhorn system of governance in which might is right and people hold power based on titles and social inertia rather than true merit. (catalyzed but the fact that his his abuse was allowed because his abuser had the right title) Rustal seems to recognize that the entire Tekkadan/McGillis incident stemmed from a system of governance would only create the circumstances for this to happen again. I think that's why he ends up supporting the aspirations of Kudelia: the scorpion cannot sting you if you never bring it on your back, and it is easier to leave the scorpion behind than to try and teach it not to sting.
I cried watching it, the characters felt like the family members that I never had, I would be willing to fight in a Gundam and die for this family like Mika did, and probably got similar fighting styles too, give me a Gundam and into the IBO universe I go
One of the things that makes me love IBO as much as I do is how to this day people still have very differing opinions on how it ended. I'm with you in a lot of ways; I think the ending, considering every decision the cast makes throughout the two seasons, is very good.
Honestly this was the series that got me into building I have seen every tv show and movie since then and ibo is still my favorite series I love the design of all of the mobile suits I also like that all the weapons fire actual physical ammo the plot was amazing and as of now I'm waiting on that MG Vidar
IBO is my favourite Gundam Series personally. The realism of the revolution,the bargaining to get Martian rights recognized,the treatment of Gundams as (while powerful war machines) remnants of a past conflict now turned towards the ends of whoever pilots them rather than their original purpose (machines built to fight against the Mobile Armours in a devastating machine uprising precipitated by rogue A.I) much like many weapons left behind after wars in real life. A good analogue for how Gundams are treated is how after the Soviet Union collapsed,vast amounts of weapons,munitions & vehicles built to fight in the Cold War which never went hot instead were sold part and parcel by enterprising individuals to whoever could afford them legally or otherwise. All surviving Gundams in IBO bar Bael have all been sold,primarily as parts to different buyers who sought to use the weapons,armour or (like the original PMC Chryse Guard Security did) as literal power sources. The reactors from mobile suits can't be effectively destroyed after all,hence why the debris field exists as the reactors draw other debris closer together & Gundams themselves were never intentioned as a mainline unit,but as a limited production run with a clear cut purpose. It would be the Valkyrie units that became the basis for the Graze & other later mobile suits. Mcgillis Fareed is a character who seems to be portrayed favourably but only if you don't read between the lines at all. Association with Tekkadan does not mean good. Mcgillis is a textbook case of someone coming from a traumatic background turning to idolization of an idealized past & projecting himself onto that past in the position of the "protagonist",Agnika Kaieru,the first head of Gjallarhorn who also happened to be a pilot of Gundam 01 Bael. Beyond Mcgillis making Agnika seem like Jesus,we know nothing about Agnika beyond he existed centuries ago. It's highly likely Mcgillis (and others) simply made Agnika into a legendary figure because they only drew upon knowledge made public from a time when it was good publicity for the then newly established Gjallarhorn to have a public face who "ended the crisis" from among the existing & still alive Gundam pilots. We don't even know if Agnika & Bael even actually fought or if he was just the poster child with the first Gundam completed to give people hope against the Mobile Armour menace that was sweeping across Earth & her colonies. Point is, Mcgillis is an extremely unreliable narrator whose perception of how things should be were shaped by sexual abuse as a child,violence,a sense of isolation,disassociation from reality & the belief he needed to become a "hero" like the idealized version of Agnika Kaieru portrayed in propaganda books essentially. The result was someone who believed in convictions & personal strength over reality,had a highly distorted view of morality & normalcy,but had been given the keys to power by a mix of his own work & the work of the Gjllarhorn noble who'd abused him as a child & then adopted him. It is a very good thing Mcgillis didn't win,the tragedy is in how he ended up there & all of the souls he dragged down with him. Gjallarhorn would be reformed,but not under Mcgillis,instead under the leadership of the one who'd crushed his rebellion & now made concessions for change. Maintaining stability & power in a very volatile situation. Honestly the complexities of the show make me appreciate the writing immensely. Great characters too. Except for Iok. I wish that useless fucker born of nepotism could've died much MUCH earlier & saved us all alot of trouble & deaths. I do wish ALL of Tekkadan could've found happieness,but that is neither realistic nor likely after they threw in with Mcgillis. Was a very risky gamble,I appreciate though that Orga understood the risk. Alas poor Tekkadan, I knew you well.
Wow, this was such a a good video essay. You did a great job. I watched season one when it aired on Toonami and found it underwhelming, but your video has given me a new appreciation for IBO.
Watching this video helped me realize how big an impact this show was on how I perceive politics and change in the world. The ending were they lose and the world is better off with the villain takes control threw 16 yo me for a fucking loop in the best possible way.
IBO inspired me alot to work on drawing mecha and actually get into the model kits ( Akihiro custom Graze was my first kit), it has always been my fav Gundam even after watching other series after it, it has so much flavor to it compared to same gundam plot #12
Contextualizing failed revolutions in the reality of historical progress actually makes this the most optimistic and least cynical Gundam show. Making them fight you is its own victory, especially when it creates an intolerable condition for the ruling class.
Rustal Elion is a leader where you’re glad he’s on your side. He has a goal and will do basically anything to accomplish it within reason. Always look at the non mobile suit pilots they’re kinda insane. Bright Noa, Orga, Rustal.
i like both of them because of how human they are. id rather watch these shows than go through another hour of kira or setsuna talk about their gundams as some sort of next-gen messiah.
Iron-blooded Orphans focuses on the small individual group that is Tekkadan without warping the reality of the rest of the universe to make them magically the best, magically righteous in every way. The group the story follows has noble intent, albeit dubious means at times. Because the story follows them, everything is filtered through the lens of them having aligned themself with an individual, therefore that individual is seen as heroic. The reality is, Orga bought a bad line from a sociopath and everyone in Tekkadan paid the price. They didn't know what Mcgillis actually was when they threw in with him, they did not even really KNOW that there was an alternative at the time. I like Rustal as a counterpart to Mcgillis. He views it as a duty, not some divine right or personal station. To him, what is important, is preserving the stability Gjallarhorn provides. Because to him, the anarchy that comes when that order is shattered is the greater evil. Him being a political chameleon is actually fully in line with that. He sides with what lets him get his goals, without causing more problems than he is solving. He is a utilitarian with a singular ideal in focus. He's perfectly happy with letting reform occur, so long as it is through 'proper' channels, because it, from his perspective, doesn't undermine the stability. An attempt at a coup, even one he viewed as morally upright, would get at most a 'not getting involved' from him. But Mcgillis wasn't morally upright. He was the same kind of irresponsible 'might makes right' kind of fool that Rustal saw Gjallarhorn as protection from. If Mcgillis had gotten his way, it would have led to more violence and bloodshed. It would have led to an overall fracturing of the peace, with the more corrupt elements of the established powers milking that for all it's worth in hopes of increasing their own power. While Rustal simply wants to keep things from getting worse, and to maybe slowly chip away at the corruption within Gjallarhorn to make it represent what it was supposed to once more. Rustal is a war criminal, but in the end, his actions were just in the forward thinking, and his role in things overall served to prevent FAR worse outcomes. It just, as with any armed conflict, sucks for the little guys caught up in the grinding gears of it. He couldn't just LET Tekkadan go, because as mentioned in the video, there needed to be a message that a violent coup would not be rolled with. So, he took the middle ground. He let them have their delaying action, letting the people who weren't the 'faces' of the group leave out the back while the fight was going on, and pretended he didn't see them. A big part of perceived morality of any given situation, is the lens through which it is viewed. One man's hero is another's demon, and this has been the case throughout recorded history. History, being written by the winners, tends to massage the facts to make the victors look righteous, even when in reality, they were just as much at fault for the situation coming to be as the 'villains'. To get a bit controversial here: WW2 Germany doesn't happen without the extremely heavy-handed treaty of Versailles. WW2 Japan doesn't take the actions they do, without being treated as a non-entity around the time of the talks that led to the treaty of Versailles. People nowadays think the allies were squeaky clean, think that in WW1, the Germans and Austrians were somehow the bad guy. No. They were the same as the French or British. Dragged into an escalating war because of defensive agreements that they didn't expect to daisy-chain like they did, and in the end, continuing to fight because bowing out meant letting the other side break them. Do I even need to mention how 'Painter-in-Chief' gets treated as public enemy number one, while people conveniently forget that just about everything he did, Old Josef was doing as well?
Honestly, if it wasn’t for the Germans needing to kill the Jews and the unclean races, and the Japanese atrocities they though would make their men “tougher”, we might have seen a very different outcome to the wars, or at least how history portrays them. And Stalin can rest in piss
WW2 was pretty cut and dry the allies were no saints but what the Nazi's did to the Jews, Gypsies, Socialists, etc. was straight up cartoon evil. The same for what the Empire of Japan did in Manchuria and Korea. Look up comfort women and Unit 731. Stalin was a monster as well but he didn't deal out mechanized death on a scale approaching the axis. The rest of the allies were guilty of plenty of what would be considered war crimes today. Dresden, American soldiers executing Japanese prisoners etc. World War 2 is the one conventional war where black and white isn't really a problem. I do agree with you the arrogance and greed of the Allies definitely set the stage for what happened, but no one made the Nazi's annex Czechoslovakia, invade Poland, and murder 15-20 million people. Outside of actual combat. You're right about WW1 as well. Millions dead because of arrogant aristocrats. No one Empire was responsible but they all participated.
@@bakernation See what I mean about people quietly downplaying Stalin to overfocus on Hitler? You yourself just outright proved my point. Current estimates are that at least 20 million civilians of his own nation died through Stalin-induced deaths, between famines, unpersonings, militant crackdowns on dissent, and forced labor. Stalin did, in fact, commit JUST as mass-scale of crimes against humanity (including ethnically, socially, and religiously targeted ones). He just did it to groups of his own people. Oh, and the red army going full absolute monster as they flowed back across Europe toward Germany, 'cleansing' and abusing as they went, in a way that is right in line with the WORST of what the nazis got up to. Then you've got Mao, Pol pot, etc, in charge of countries that WERE allies during WW2. Also, the reason the nazis were ABLE to get into power, was the mistreatment the german people felt from the rest of the world. This allowed them to isolate them and create a 'us vs them' mentality unchecked. It allowed them to stir up existing bad feeling and turn it into an acceptance of extremes. Yes, Germany DID, to a degree, HAVE to invade militarily. It was literally the only avenue they had at the time for growth as a nation due to just how obscenely restrictive the provisions of the treaty of Versailles actually were. You know they are restrictive, when even the countries that put them in place ACTIVELY turned a blind eye when Germany started flouting them. The rest of the world, during the leadup that became WW2, didn't care until they realized they would be next on the block. That Germany under the Nazis, would not stop taking until forced to.
I liked season one better because the mobile workers had a role to fill. it should have been the jack of all trades unit of the series. The size could have been increased slightly to use better weapons. In U.C. they were using mobile suits as AA turrets but that could have been filled by mobile workers.
Well for season 1,they doesn't have that many ms so mw is the answer,if i have to list it then 2 gundam,1 graze custom and 2 ryoue, that's all,in s2 tekkadan has grown so much that they doesn't need the mw that much in battle + the enemy they fight are using ms and ships in the space,i doubt an upgraded mw can do much in the battle
Always loved IBO, you hit a lot of stuff i missed when watching it. would like to hear your thoughts on witch of mercury, enjoyed the first half alot but less so the second
It's because of IBO that I absolutely despise Witch from Mercury. I'm so tired of magic robots that solve all the world's problems because the protagonist believes in themselves hard enough.
@@wolfiewoo3371 so true dude, the earth versus space conflict also didn't hit as hard speaking of child soldiers, igloo remains one of my fav in the franchise. wbu?
@@wolfiewoo3371 i still like G-Witch for what it was in the end but yeah, next to IBO you can really feel how saccharine and unchallenging its ending is. it just kinda dispenses with the nuanced and morally difficult earth v space conflict to focus solely on suletta's family drama, which like, i think was still well-written and interesting, but leaves the show feeling like it really pulled its punches, and is ultimately incomplete.
@@concon09090 at the very least, i like to think it's a good intro to younger gen about the universe. i hear mecha as a genre is on the down also we got figure rise minori out of the series 🤝🤝
IBO was, different, yes it had the usual child soldiers, but the Child soldier theme while being a centrepiece weren't really the centre, the major part was those soldiers finding a place of their own, that place is Tekkadan. IT also contains the most satisfying death, in any Gundam show, no death comes close to how satisfying the death of Iok Kujan was.
It’s funny that you mention double O because these are my two favorite gundam series, double O because I think it’s a way better idea to have gundams come from an independent organization rather than just having one of the main forces developing them. But IBO just has a great story overall and honestly makes the whole child soldier main character make a lot more sense than the others.
25:30 I’m reminded of the scene where he meets up with iok and julietta and takes them out to eat meat. Like if you had a boss who would take you out to barbecue would you want to go to war with him?
Two random referential thoughts: 1. Failed political economies becoming aristocratic despotates… Dune??? 2. Hey wait is this sorta like Gundam set in a Disco Elysium type society
i know this video makes the case for Gjallarhorn as a kind of calcified Soviet command economy but tbh since playing DE i have not been able to unsee Gjallarhorn as Gundam's vision of the Moralintern
I would like to disagree with your statement about the UC. While MSG was pretty much WW2 where a large war happened, Zeta, ZZ, Unicorn, and everything after turned it in to Proxy-wars and pretty much Space Africa. In a world where even the victors of the wars were devastated, it would stand to reason that the Earth Federation's grasp of its colonial processions would be loose and warlords and terrorist organizations would be able to wage wars. Especially with the fact that the battles of the post MSG were more similar to middle east/African warfare where its pretty much Soldiers on technical fighting multiple engagements. IBO's mechanics and philosophy follow a much more medieval approach with a feudal approach to its setting. While Ruestal was able to remove the aristocratic rule, it doesn't feel like he did. Which is that his base of power were the aristocrats. From the beginning of the show, its military structure is still aristocrat centric and between S1 and S2, there wasn't a huge shift, unless I miss an entirety of the show where it explores the fleet and power base of Ruestal and how his power base are anti-aristocratic, it doesn't really fit because in because their interest doesn't really align. Which is why most audience feel like it is out of the left field. Most parliamentary systems in the world are based out of long lines of wars and uprisings with people on both sides very clear in its implementation. Even Bismark, who is a staunch traditionalist have only allowed a small parliamentary system to "rule" and basically overturn them at every turn and ensure its power stays in the Monarchy, the crown, and the military. Because if not, Bismark would have been removed from power from its power base. However, the end made it seem like the he just removed everyone, even his own supporters. A realistic scenario of what actually happened to Ruestal would be Gorbachev where he basically implemented reforms that made his base of power weaker and was eventually removed by his own supporters and plunged Russia in to a lost decade.
Ok so i generally agree, especially with IBO being underrated and how unfair it is to reduce it to "edge" when something like Wing is out there and tbh also 00 as you said. I think a lot of the edgy stuff in IBO works quite well, also the to me cringe-inducing romance stuff, it just fits with the tone and also with the fact that most of the characters involved are quite young and had very unhealthy upbringings. I also remember a specific thing that i found quite interesting: I remember this scene where Mikazuki is fighting one more brutal battle/massacre and the kids of the Tekkadan crew are like "we must witness this" and go to look at it, putting themselves into danger watching the senseless slaughter, and the show plays some sort of heroic piece of the OST. The juxtuposition of the soundtrack and what the characters imply about the situation with what is actually happening was pretty cool. My issue with the show is that towards the end, it gets increasingly hard to follow imo and it feels like the importance of the big bad robot vs the big good robot increases with the existance of Gael. Also the tangent with the mobile armors. When i was watching it think i actually thought they would pivot the show back to more classic gundam plots with the sceeming bad guy in the doom robot.
08th MS suits are far too slow and grounded to be like AC. Contrary to popular belief but old gen AC was actually *VERY* fast paced. IBO even has evil AI like every AC game and the hard sci fi element like AC. Tonally ibo is closer to AC as well
The biggest problem with IBO is that it presents itself as such an edgy power fantasy right out of the gate for the first three episodes that a lot of people who wanted what it had to offer were turned away, and a lot of people who stayed didn’t enjoy the rest of the show. It doesn’t help that they put the name Gundam on it so a lot of people were too intimidated to start what they likely see as part of a One Piece sized anthology.
ps. I absolutely love your writing; I had planned on doing my first video essay on this exact anime/topic, but you've done it better than I ever could!
@@dogdoggodog I wouldn't say anything is socialist about IBO. It's generic politics in extremis The show is written in a deeply Marxist way, strictly insisting on a Materialist universe and course of history in contrast to most other Gundam series. But thats separable from any sense of leftist politics.
My favorite gundam series, one where yes the plot, characters, and main story pieces are not all one dimensional cases of obvious good, obvious bad, or obvious good with an obvious bad attached to make a tough decision. No, this one bothered with actual ideas of interconected complexity to a level the others just dip their toes in at some times. You can do good, working with bad people, using bad methods, where the good methods or stuff might not have produced any results. Is this thus, good, or bad? Ends justify the means or not? Lots of animes like to talk abou tthis subject, gundam especially, but very few ever really walk the walk as it were, having the main characters deal with it and the actual serious consequences of these. At most maybe something results in one character dying a long drawn out tragic end... and then there's this one where the main character plot armor is, while present, not nearly as all covering as it normally is. And while pretty solid against most combatants, is, against politics and the ideas they had tried to convey very lacking. Still a far cry from reality and how complex it can often be, but one of the best showings of trying to go for that real complexity and messiness that is reality. Still had to suspend the disbelief plenty, but overall less and with more interest and engagment in it's story than most. I dislike so many stories that try to have something serious going on where if you actually stop and think seriously for a second, the story breaks down, the obvious answers aren't used, and stuff just makes me mentally frusterated. Often finding these half assed attempts at real complexity worse than just skipping any attempts at it. Fallout 3 was in my opiinion better in player choice than New Vegas, why? Because basicly every New Vegas quest doesn't give you the obvious answers to pick from, if I can be given a problem, and solve it in a much better way than any of there's with ten seconds of thought, but am forced to play through nothing but stupid choices... it's just agonizing. Fallout 3, you just do the stupid over the top evil action, or the over the top good action, or you do a science and blow stuff up in some wacky way. It doesn't try to be too serious, you can just have fun with it all being over the top as it is, much more enjoyable to me. Iron blooded orphans, managed to make it mostly past that terrible middle ground in a few key areas, still sucked in some don't get me wrong, but a better attempt than most by far, to the poitn I actually enjoyed it quite a bit and it wasn't just mostly frustrating times of mentally ignoring stuff (like with Heavy Object... every episode at least two times I basically stopped, and just went ranting to myself for an hour about how dumb something was, why something didn't make sense, etc... and ya while I do like that anime it really was a hard watch for me...).
Facism in the US isn't a scare tactic. We are following 1930s germany with an elected president that has stated he will be a dictator. For all those that voted for him, I hope he does to you all the things he promised.
Just some yap from some guy who liked the new Gundam designs Something I kinda thought about was the fact that Our founding Gundam protagonist doesn't have a family name. Might just be the brain damage talking but the fact that Agnika doesn't even have any named descendant in the hierarchy of Ghorn can kinda shows that his ideals are gone and buried just like most of the mobile suits and armors from the calamity war. Not to mention the fact that his "soul" rests in Gundam Bael and that his family is just non-existent shows ,to me at least, that him and his ideals are something to look back on and just that. He was a mythical "GUNDAM PILOT" who came in to save the world with these new crazy mobile suits. His ideals were based in war and honor and all that jazz. I mean come on, his pilots were challenging AI death machines to duels! Bael, and by proxy Agnika, rest at the very bottom of Ghorn's seat of power. He is its foundation and as such shouldn't be dug up. So what happens? McGillis digs up the foundation, gets a bunch of people killed, and his plan is shattered to pieces. And Bael? Bael gets repaired and Agnika's body, soul and ideals are placed right back at the foundation of Ghorn and the world progresses for the better.
Made a Comment some time ago on Bonsai Pop’s Video of IBO, especially in response to that video. As I did enjoy the Character arcs of McGillis and the Members of Tekkadan. But overall I had this argument to say about what made McGillis and Tekkadan the heroes at the end of the story. “These Guys Were the Heroes! Even McGILLIS was A Hero! It’s Just in order to Create a Better World, they Had to Sacrifice and Strive to MAKE THOSE DREAMS Possible! As Naive a Hope as that is, It ultimately Worked. Yes Rustal is still an ASSHOLE, but What McGillis And Tekkadan Did was Crush ALOT of Gjallohorne Infrastructure and Reserves! And it Didn’t help that One DUMBASS Member of Gjallohorne was Constantly Fucking Up Everyone’s Plans due to How Politically Ignorant He Was! So All RUSTAL could do was shift to Damage Control and hope that This would end with his Faction still able to function. Though it’s More than Clear that History Will Reveal in time that His Methods were Overblown! Why Would a Single Pilot Use an Illegal Weapon from McGillis Faction!? Leaks happen. And Speculation will always shift.” But yeah, I consider Rustal’s version of Gjallohorne to be on a Short Leash now seeing as how Most of the Senior members were in fact Corrupt, while most of their Younger replacements have either been killed, injured, or arrested for playing a part of corrupt military organization that showed willingness to serve Justice to the Child abusers in and around Mars. I also get that McGillis is not exempt from this, but I do think his actions (and personal trauma) ultimately contributed to breaking this Disgusting trend.
Interesting enough, the Japanese have an opposite reaction of what you said- they see Tekkedan as chaotic and somewhat villainous. They understand why they did it, but still think Tekkedan is in the wrong for the amount of destruction and suffering they triggered. This just show the different worldviews the West and Japan have. For the west, Tekkedan are freedom fighters who did nothing wrong. For Japan, Tekkedan only added fuel to the fire and got burnt and used in the process by smarter people.
@@MrTigracho That´s probably because japanese society is very focused on social cohesion. Tekadan are a force that seek to destroy the present society of the setting, so japan would naturally see them as evil, even if that society is one of child sl*ve soldiers.
This is a very good and well-argued video that has nonetheless convinced me that IBO is not the gundam series for me. Art is subjective, and while yes, IBO is realistic and its themes are presented quite well, it doesn't feel as satisfying as a good Gundam story. IBO follows an arc of history, and a quite realistic (if unpleasant) one at that, but realism doesn't necessarily make for compelling storytelling. Imo, Gundam is at its best when it plays with ideas and ideologies like chess pieces, presenting perspectives and concepts in an almost mythopoetic way. War is the backdrop for this drama, but Gundam to me is not a "gritty war story"; it's a quasi-allegorical exploration of growing up in a broken, hostile world and yet carving out a piece of hope in it anyway. It's not really about child soldiers and the cost of war, it's using the perspective of children fighting an adult war as a lens to explore those themes of growing up and realizing that the world is not as we would like it to be. It's also about how that same frustration with the state of the world can lead to tragedy and even a worsening of said state if one isn't careful, and how important it is to move forward and strive for a better future anyway, disabused of naive notions of an easy and simple solution to the world's problems. And most importantly (to me), it's about encouraging the world to look beyond the cynical, utilitarian inevitability of conflict and realize that as an entire species and civilization, we too need to grow up and embrace the wider universe and the uncertain future, as scary and unknown as it may be. IBO, on the other hand, seems to take the themes of Gundam more literally. It's about war, history, politics, and child soldiers. It's a realistic tragedy not about the importance of hope, but about how hope can lead you astray. And while yes, that is an important thing to express, and it is a theme present in other Gundam media as well, the tragic aspects overshadow the cautious, mature-minded optimism that makes Gundam's themes work. It asks a question and tries to hammer that question in, despite that question and its possible answers having already been explored better (in my opinion) in other Gundam series. The end result is that it feels like IBO misses the mark for me, doubling down on the aspects of Gundam that I don't care about and discarding the aspects I do. It leans toward espousing the kind of jaded, complacent cynicism that the rest of Gundam as a franchise is intended to counteract. All this is to say, to each their own. For me, my favorite Gundam story is still going to be the original run of Crossbone.
I’m kind of in the same boat, but I still love IBO. I think it’s a fantastic show, and a fantastic mecha show. It’s just not very good at being a Gundam show by the very fact that it is written as a subversion to just about everything Gundam has been prior to it.
It feels kinda weird to view Gundam as a sort of semi-abstract allegory for growing up when there are several other shows that just do that significantly more effective but in turn there's only a handful of anime that can tell a good war story like Gundam. Heck there's kind of a massively popular mecha series that's far more explicit at being an allegory for growing, I don't even need to say what it is because I know you already figured it out, it's that effective.
ill give ya a heads up if you touch witch from mercury understand it def takes some story ideas for its world from armored core games and its suits had 4 different designers for dif factions specifically to give them unique feel and its got episodes of sorta weird off plot feeling moments in season one but theres purpose behind it dont compare it to uc gundam like ibo its its own thing also if you can find the prequel episode unedited in all its well uncensored glory watch it the impact of that version hits way harder
Alright, so let me explain my side of this. I got into Gundam through Witch. It was a bridge from AC6, I quite enjoyed it because it eased me into the themes of Gundam while still being familiar to a lot of standard anime. I liked it and it set a relatively good bar. Going from Witch to IBO felt like a kick to the balls followed up by one to the head. It doesn't tiptoe around the fights, it doesn't "mute" what happens to the pilots, and it certainly doesn't shy away from themes of self destruction. IBO is special in that- much like Witch, it's not your standard Gundam show. It takes that lovely little handle labeled "Brutality" and pushes it to it's fullest. By the end of the series, you know not everyone is making out of there.
i think this video captures something ive really felt with regards to our own world in the real world. im kind of optimistic but in a sort of weird negative sort of manner? unfortunate shit will continue to occur, but that will occur alongside progress. progress is counter intuitive. since intuition would tell you a that some big change is due to some great event in history due to some heroic factor. but no not really. we say we stand on the shoulder of giants. but its really more us standing on the hill of many many ants. its like safety regulations for work places being written in blood due to there having actually been some event that warranted those regulations written. a present day topic is like global warming.... yeah its going to suck really bad. but i don't for once think it will cause humans to go extinct. since logically some rich group would eventually decide they can just go ham with dirty power and an enclosed indoor farm system thing to prolong their selves. at that point they can just expand and go full factorio if they don't need to think about preserving an already dead environment. thats what i mean by negatively optimistic? there is always a solution, so long as the situation we find ourselves in isn't something like nuclear annihilation or an extinction by asteroid. but thats like an extreme example. something more i guess toned down is say copywrite issues and tech monopolies. folks are afraid and get really negative about that but i say, Pirates will ensure that that isn't a thing. similarly i love the fact that there are different nations because one nation can just disregard the copywrite of another nation. not to say i like that. but its another factor that counters the whole fear of monopolistic big corporations. its partly how the EU showcasing regular tendency to strongarm big corpos like apple to being more consumer friendly. if i had to summarize it, the negatives of our world has its positives, im not justifying those negatives nor do i like them, but once logically digested they just counter certain other overblown worry i might come up with for the future. they balance out in a counterintuitive manner, and occasionally build towards some developments that benefit both sides and many sides just to maintain some semblance of peace. much like how attaining self control is for oneself, our civilization is progressing in a rather counterintuitive manner.
Long time Gundam super fan and plastic crack addict here. I'm about 13 minutes in and I am really digging the analyzing on not just the main themes but between the lines too for the characters the setting and the franchise as a whole and where IBO fits into that. I love getting a different lens and catching the small details that I missed and not much usually escapes me. This is quality content that I will definitely tune into whenever I see you upload. Please add a way for us to support your work!
Season 2 tackled too many things too quickly for me. It bounced everywhere and felt hard to follow. I almsot wish it got fleshed out more. For some reason, I didn’t really realize that rustal elion was the big antagonist. Tbh, I just didn’t know about him. He was just kinda “there.” Even though some things were realistic, I didn’t like them as storytelling decisions. It just felt like a “haha! Made you suffer!” Again and again. I’d love for more time to be taken upon the major character deaths. For them to affect people and the plot more. I guess i just wanted more from a season that tackled too many things. I probably could have gone without the mobile armor fight of the weird bird laser thing. I dunno
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I loved this series. But I'd say most realistic would be 08th MS Team for me.
![[MV] A leap of faith...ความเชื่อใจครั้งสุดท้าย (From "Petrichor the series")](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/U1piZH2CNXA/mqdefault.jpg)
Galeo killing mcgillis is legitimately my favorite emotional beat in gundam. The pain Galeo, feels as he realizes Mcgillis was always a broken child is just so incredible. Mcgillis's line about not knowing the difference between real and fake happiness is his entire character summed up.
I keep saying this, i'll say it again; McGilliss was a part of Tekkadan--an iron-blooded ophan in all but name.
its that genuine belief he was doing the right thing that really sells it. And hey he def had a point, Gjallahorn was rotten and it needed to change, like griffith however, he was willing to cast away his friends and humanity which was his fatal mistake. In some regards he's a take on Macbeth.
Absolutely. My favorite detail of the fight is Ein letting Gaelio take the joystick to deal the final blow with that knee drill bit thingy.
@@ORLY911
Mcgillis wanted to be the 2nd coming of Agnika Kaireu
just because Mcgillis became a retard for sake of that horrible ending
ITS SO REALISTIC THERE ARE ACTUL LOCATIONS FROM MY CITY IN IT .... i am still waiting on my money for damages from surviving a giant robot battle lol
The check was put in the mail. Unfortunately, the post office was destroyed. Sorry.
Bro, are you talking about Edmonton? Cuz when I heard them first mention that, my whole brain lit up.
@Grooveworthy yep one location is city center msll, and another us 104th street and jasper avenue looking north
@anthonymonaghan4964 there's also shots of the yellowhead area from the east side of the river. Nobody in media refers to Edmonton, so I felt really proud to see it mentioned.
@@Grooveworthy ya its one of the reasons i love IBO .. the story was great too
IBO was always an interesting installment for me. There's a lot that it does that I like, and a lot that I don't. Like you mentioned, the entire story might be based around Tekkadan's perspective, but they're a small footnote compared to the rest of the setting. Unlike shows such as 0079, Zeta, ZZ, Char's Counterattack, X, SEED, SEED Destiny and 00, we're not following the heroes that will end the conflict. We're seeing children trying to find the place they belong, and the poor decisions of the one that leads them caused their eventual downfall.
The mobile suit designs and weapons also add to this. Turn A Gundam has the haunting Moonlight Butterfly. SEED and SEED Destiny have the absolute light shows that are the various Freedom Gundams. 00 has the ethereal particles and bright red glow of the Trans-Am. G-Witch has the mysterious yet beautiful Permit Scores. IBO? Nothing but physical weaponry meant to tear through opponents. We don't even have the traditional beam weaponry that's iconic to the show for any of the mobile suits, being exclusive to the mobile armors. All the ranged weapons are physical projectiles. Even when Mikazuki unleashes the full power of Barbatos, there's nothing in the show that actually implies the red eyes of Barbatos are actually happening, maybe being only a visual effect for the viewers.
IBO's ending might be bleak to some, but there's that small tiny footprint that Tekkadan left behind, causing a ripple effect that changed the world for the better. A lot of people tend to dismiss this and hate the ending solely because of how many major characters die, but I think the message that the show tries to tell is interesting to see. Do I wish some of Tekkadan's members got a happier ending? Yes I do, but I'm not upset with how the story ends.
The thing about barbatos and the red eyes is that's just mikazuki using a fraction of the actual gundam frames you can see in urdr hunt that the gundams constantly have red eyes and look more like monsters then the actual mobile armors
I get what you are saying. But i still hate the ending. Fuck Rustal.
@@epiclinksam9805
The red eyes are just excess power of the Ahab reactors, as they are being worked into overdrive as the Gundams were meant to face Mobile Armor and to Go All Out.
Not just visual affects to the viewers
I ain't hating on the decision that they should all die, I'm just hating why there isn't a fully released sketch and model kits of 72 Gundam Frame yets.
My only reason for the hate on season 2 entirely is that those who have complete power not only abuse it but get to keep it in the end the only villian in season 2 to face any punishment for thier crimes is Iok and McGillis everyone else deserving of it walk away scot free and even better off or are we forgetting the constan warcrimes commited by the gallarhorn loyalists
They commited so many if it was a drinking game you'd be dead by the end
I soooo love the plot of "HA I GOT THE HOLY RELIC FOLLOW MY ORDERS"
"no"
It never occurred to him that the people in power could or would move the goal post
I would love to see a prequel series to IBO. To see why the Mobile Armors were made , the Calamity War, and the true story of Gjallarhorn's founding.
Agreed. Agnika Kaieru is HIM. He got a Main Character's name. Its ridiculous if they dont make the prequel.
And the original 72 Gundam Frame
IBO is still my personal favorite Gundam show for reasons you mentioned.
In a way, however, I ended up enjoying Thunderbolt a lot specifically because of the sociopolitical nihilism. There were no grand commentaries or political soapboxes, just the grim acceptance of never-ending war which allows a focus on the personal struggles and rivalries of the pilots, especially for the first 'season'. I like how the anime cherishes aspects of both sides especially through music, without casting judgement for right or wrong.
You're going to love the manga.
Thunderbolt has great action and I do like a Gundam series that dispenses with some of the weight.
plus, the jazz is hella dope
There aren't many Gundam shows that make me cry, IBO made me ball like a baby in the last episode. Tears of sadness for Mika and Orga but also happiness for Kudelia, Atra and her and mika's kid and the future the kids dad helped to build even if Mikazuki was a bit of a bloodlusting murderer. Even a child soldier was able to transcend his fate and built a better world for the people he loved. I cry everytime I think about that story. It's a story worth telling. Even the worst person can be redeemed.
Same here :D
As a Transformer's fan I was recently challenged by a friend to take a look at MSG, they recommended a raft of series but I chose IBO, and am loving it so much, that i am 1/4 of the way through series 2, right now!
Try Gundam 00 next.
@@dr.donkey9254 Thank you for the recommendation, I will!
@@davinaandrews6250 If you love the brutality of IBO, i highly recommend Gundam Thunderbolt December Sky (the movie version) its an hour long and by far my favorite UC adaptation. You don't even need to watch the previous UC anime to understand its self contained story.
Any suggestions for Transformers series to get into. Transformers one movie is on my list
@@Jon_EL Tf Animated is fun, with great soh. Tf Prime is fantastic a bit more serious and more grown up but shares the same musical influence with the Tf One movie.
This series made me shed several tears. Orgas death chokes me up till this day.
IBO always had a feeling of a piece of history being told on a personal level.
This show genuinely gets a lot less credit than it deserves. The politics are genuinely interesting and the fights are entertaining, which provides a good surface level for those looking for a more realistic series that still has fantastical elements. The biggest criticism I've heard about the show is that it has a lack of character development, but I think that serves to better enhance the story. The fact that the characters' motivations and goals remain stagnant contrast the drastic changes happening in the show's setting and political environment, and the main conflicts in the show stem from this. None of the characters learn to be better leaders or even better people, but the world that they're ultimately creating needs these things. Orga doesn't become a better leader, he just gains more influence, which ultimately leads to his downfall because the world has changed from when he assumed command. McGillis is an idealist, but refuses to accept the terms of the world he is trying to create, believing that reaching the top will make him untouchable. It's a great representation of the idea that the end justifies the means.
The story itself uses the audiences tendency to root for the underdog to tap into their emotions. Tekkadan is by definition a terrorist organization, but simultaneously they are children with a twisted view of the world. Gjallarhorn is not innately evil either, they simply suffer from corruption which prevents them from performing their mission to preserve order. The story utilizes their conflict to create a complex sense of justice and peace, which taps into the audiences' morality and creates emotional intensity. I think the main reason why the show just gets put down is that people are just tired of seeing the gritty realistic takes that are just so prominent in modern media, but taken seriously, the show accomplishes a lot of things that many other shows fail at.
And one more plus side for this show is that the eng dub is actually decent
Love the video.
Adding to it, in response to how other people determined how mcgillis action was foolish in the last part, I would compare it to a suicide bomber.
He believed Bael's power unto the level of a religion, thus he just went with it without calculation. And the best thing was that audiences were also made believed that it would be the most powerful mobile suit, forgetting that it's just a mobile suit.
Of all the Gundams that they have ever made, this was the best.
I love IBO. Everyone is just trying to make their lot in life better, taking the best option they can get in every horrible situation.
Love IBOs exploration of the long term effects of war, nature of rebellion, and sobering compromises made during wartimes. Tekkadin were caged dogs freed and desperate to preserve their freedom. Their collusion with a coup faction of gallerhorn was as much about their own preservation as it was their hatred for an organization who's negligence caused them to be. What an excellent video. Thank you kindly.
The ground skating is so VOTOMS and I love it
I actually watched both seasons about 8 times, it's one of my favourite animes.
This was and still is my favorite Gundam series and has a sick intro too.
I noticed a lot of people hating on Rustell and were extremely unhappy he won, but I really enjoyed his character, mainly because I primarily judge characters on how well they serve their role in the story. It didn't take long into season 2 for me to realize that the story was going to be a tragedy and it all made sense. That meant the protagonists were going to lose and probably die and the antogonists were going to win. Although it is a testament to the character writing that I was routing for Tekaden the whole time as I watched them burn out like a shooting star. At the end of the series Rustell reforming Gallerhorn and making the world better just made sense. It was a glass of cold water on the audience. Not all great reforms come from epic acts of heroism. Sometimes they come from those who connive and scheme and work with the reigning institutions instead of working against them. That the rebel underdogs are not always the good guys. I loved how it took a much more nuanced and cleared eyed approach to how politics often really shake out. I think the Bismarck analogy is apt. Most of the Revolutions of 1848 failed, but many of the reigning Monarchs had to implement major reforms just to preserve the existing order and appease any future would be revolutionaries.
IBO is just so masterfully crafted. It's too good. My favorite along side 8th MS Team.
To me, IBO is the only newer Gundam show (That is finished, still love them all) that didnt dissapointed me in its ending and outcome for the MC. IBO shows the outcome most gundam MCs would had faced. The world learns instead of returning to same nation fighting the same pittyfull war, even after beeing devestated, somehow getting a weapon that should had made them win, but got defeated by an teenager named Yamato or something around that line. And to me at lest, was the "villain" Elion was actually reasonable and a more likable character than Mizuzuki (I Actually found his death a great fead for his characters development), what actually made him a good vharacter in its own sence.
Oh and the politics finaly go beyond "War bad, but we still fight the same wars". Thats why a Bismarck like charcter worked so great in a gundam setting that tried more reasonable political motivations.
One of the best gundam series i've ever seen
I never noticed how the Seven Stars being so... well. _themselves..._ could be a commentary on Gundam's recurring idea that a bunch of hot-blooded people in mechs can solve any crisis and change the world. You can see Iok as the (il)logical extension of this lol - he's... a _decent(?)_ pilot and not much else XD
In a lot of Gundam series, that's fine, but this is a gundam series where realpolitik is king.
In 'Wing' the pilots are Nietzschian superhumans. And Amuro never changed the world, which kind of broke him.
I mean, You kinda could. Think of it like this. One really good modern fighter jet pilot going rouge could do world altering damage, as long as he has enough support behind him to manage logistics
IBO makes me see Gundam in a new light, its not just a robot anime for kids & teenagers, it can also relate to real world conflicts & politics. The route to power & victory is not a straight path & it always come with a cost. And damn the lessons are harsh.
I'm also surprised at how the ending goes but I didnt surprised that it happened. Its sad but its not Guilty Crown sad.
The best point you made here was about the world feeling LIVED in. It feels like an improvement of the medium made by people who are life long fans. The best Gundam show for me.
IBO was my introduction to gundam and resonated with 16 year old me. I love it and dislike other installations in the franchise for almost the same reason as I love Halo Reach and none of the following games. IBO's synthesis of character and factions and greater motivations made the story feel knit together as people were pulling in the same directions for their faction as opposd to the "I'm chosen kid with OP mecha" that the other series I've watched focus on.
@@thermiteturtle3486 It's funny I just played Reach for the first time and this tracks for me too
I suggest you watching Gundam series like the 08 Ms team and war in the pocket then
I love IBO, my favorite gundam ive seen by a significant margin, and like a lot of your other videos I just agree with almost everything youve said. I always read the ending as Elian, ever the pragmatist, recognizing that even with Tekkadan crushed, the publicity has exposed the corruption inherent to the artistocratic system, and without reform there would only be more and more unrest. Better, then, to institute reforms to secure gjallarhorn's and his own position at the top, while giving enough concessions to avoid further challenges.
Very glad you made this video. IBO was my first gundam, so obviously there's bias. But after watching many others I really came to your conclusion as well, which was, well, there's never a conclusion with UC. It's endless wars and endless conflict (makes me think of zelda games a bit) which, is honestly okay- otherwise they'd have to keep making spinoffs in new universes. But IBO just did a lot right, the world has really cool preestablished lore, sick combat, and the scale of conflicts was generally believable. Mika was a 1 man army for sure, but he could only do so much.
The negativity I always see aimed at it was always so frustrating, like did people want IBO to play out like every other series? That's part of why I love it so much was the ending was incredibly bittersweet, incredibly hopeful, but the cast left a huge impact for all their very human decisions.
Not every revolutionary lives to see the fruits of their revolution. Not everyone gets a happy ending. That’s why I loved this series, outside of the combat and characters.
Great. Now I have to watch this entire series again and cry when Akihiro bites it.
Thank you for the thoughtful analysis. It’s so common for anime video essays to spend way to much time recapping the series, so this was incredibly refreshing to watch.
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This was my first anime. It’s been five years and it’s still got a really special spot in my heart
War in the pocket and 08th ms team are two of my favorite "realistic" gundam series, no newtype ms, pure mecha action and their movements are more like tanks rather than giant humans, much mroe realistic and the use of tactics and close quarters combat are a highlight.
3:00 ok now I understand why these sudo mech knight families have so much power. Can’t believe I did understand this after watching like 10 episodes.
Great video about my favorite Gundam series! Its story resonates because of its realistic elements and world, which you showed well. The action is also i think amazing and some of the best in the franchise IMO. The ending stings but i also love how it shows a better world than thanks to their actions and sacrifices
Having this Gundam series with some fantasy themes like melee and music works so well
Third Gundam series after OG and Unicorn
Def my #1 favorite, lmao
Amazing show, beautiful mech designs, and even better music. Story is so good too *until the end of season 2 anyways*
Even though I grew up with some of the older gundam series than this one, this one is by far my favorite.
The reason why I love ibo is because of Gundam barbatos lupus and lupus Rex, they are just so badass
i wasn't planning on stopping my day to watch a half an hour video essay, but you hooked me so easily in the first minute that before i knew it 28 minutes passed. excellent analysis, i love it
Every time I watch IBO I feel that the plot could be summed up by allusion to "The Scorpion and the Frog": The child soldiers of Tekkadan are the products of the current world order and were built to be war fighters desensitized to violence. Why should anyone be shocked that they constantly find ways to turn their circumstances into fights? Similarly, McGillis was also created by the Gjallarhorn system of governance in which might is right and people hold power based on titles and social inertia rather than true merit. (catalyzed but the fact that his his abuse was allowed because his abuser had the right title)
Rustal seems to recognize that the entire Tekkadan/McGillis incident stemmed from a system of governance would only create the circumstances for this to happen again. I think that's why he ends up supporting the aspirations of Kudelia: the scorpion cannot sting you if you never bring it on your back, and it is easier to leave the scorpion behind than to try and teach it not to sting.
Damnit I’m now going to go rewatch this again. Number ten here we go
This is what got me into Gundam and take it seriously as anime
This was the only Gundam anime i watched fully, and I'm glad i did but also sad how it ended
I cried watching it, the characters felt like the family members that I never had, I would be willing to fight in a Gundam and die for this family like Mika did, and probably got similar fighting styles too, give me a Gundam and into the IBO universe I go
One of the things that makes me love IBO as much as I do is how to this day people still have very differing opinions on how it ended. I'm with you in a lot of ways; I think the ending, considering every decision the cast makes throughout the two seasons, is very good.
WFM was my first gundam so i was surprised how much more i enjoyed IBO
Honestly this was the series that got me into building I have seen every tv show and movie since then and ibo is still my favorite series I love the design of all of the mobile suits I also like that all the weapons fire actual physical ammo the plot was amazing and as of now I'm waiting on that MG Vidar
IBO is my favourite Gundam Series personally. The realism of the revolution,the bargaining to get Martian rights recognized,the treatment of Gundams as (while powerful war machines) remnants of a past conflict now turned towards the ends of whoever pilots them rather than their original purpose (machines built to fight against the Mobile Armours in a devastating machine uprising precipitated by rogue A.I) much like many weapons left behind after wars in real life. A good analogue for how Gundams are treated is how after the Soviet Union collapsed,vast amounts of weapons,munitions & vehicles built to fight in the Cold War which never went hot instead were sold part and parcel by enterprising individuals to whoever could afford them legally or otherwise. All surviving Gundams in IBO bar Bael have all been sold,primarily as parts to different buyers who sought to use the weapons,armour or (like the original PMC Chryse Guard Security did) as literal power sources. The reactors from mobile suits can't be effectively destroyed after all,hence why the debris field exists as the reactors draw other debris closer together & Gundams themselves were never intentioned as a mainline unit,but as a limited production run with a clear cut purpose. It would be the Valkyrie units that became the basis for the Graze & other later mobile suits.
Mcgillis Fareed is a character who seems to be portrayed favourably but only if you don't read between the lines at all. Association with Tekkadan does not mean good. Mcgillis is a textbook case of someone coming from a traumatic background turning to idolization of an idealized past & projecting himself onto that past in the position of the "protagonist",Agnika Kaieru,the first head of Gjallarhorn who also happened to be a pilot of Gundam 01 Bael. Beyond Mcgillis making Agnika seem like Jesus,we know nothing about Agnika beyond he existed centuries ago. It's highly likely Mcgillis (and others) simply made Agnika into a legendary figure because they only drew upon knowledge made public from a time when it was good publicity for the then newly established Gjallarhorn to have a public face who "ended the crisis" from among the existing & still alive Gundam pilots. We don't even know if Agnika & Bael even actually fought or if he was just the poster child with the first Gundam completed to give people hope against the Mobile Armour menace that was sweeping across Earth & her colonies. Point is, Mcgillis is an extremely unreliable narrator whose perception of how things should be were shaped by sexual abuse as a child,violence,a sense of isolation,disassociation from reality & the belief he needed to become a "hero" like the idealized version of Agnika Kaieru portrayed in propaganda books essentially. The result was someone who believed in convictions & personal strength over reality,had a highly distorted view of morality & normalcy,but had been given the keys to power by a mix of his own work & the work of the Gjllarhorn noble who'd abused him as a child & then adopted him. It is a very good thing Mcgillis didn't win,the tragedy is in how he ended up there & all of the souls he dragged down with him.
Gjallarhorn would be reformed,but not under Mcgillis,instead under the leadership of the one who'd crushed his rebellion & now made concessions for change. Maintaining stability & power in a very volatile situation. Honestly the complexities of the show make me appreciate the writing immensely. Great characters too. Except for Iok. I wish that useless fucker born of nepotism could've died much MUCH earlier & saved us all alot of trouble & deaths. I do wish ALL of Tekkadan could've found happieness,but that is neither realistic nor likely after they threw in with Mcgillis. Was a very risky gamble,I appreciate though that Orga understood the risk. Alas poor Tekkadan, I knew you well.
Wow, this was such a a good video essay. You did a great job. I watched season one when it aired on Toonami and found it underwhelming, but your video has given me a new appreciation for IBO.
Watching this video helped me realize how big an impact this show was on how I perceive politics and change in the world. The ending were they lose and the world is better off with the villain takes control threw 16 yo me for a fucking loop in the best possible way.
Legitimately the first time I watched a gundam regularly. Honestly it was pretty great.
I had this on the back burner of my watch list, but now it's getting pushed to the front.
IBO inspired me alot to work on drawing mecha and actually get into the model kits ( Akihiro custom Graze was my first kit), it has always been my fav Gundam even after watching other series after it, it has so much flavor to it compared to same gundam plot #12
Wow very beautifully put together. Literally never watched gundam other than some clips but I was pretty invested. Great analysis.
The best and my favorite gundam series ever. I'm 50 so I've seen them all
Has been my favorite gundam anime since it came out 🙏 Gusion rebake full city is also my all time favorite gundam, close second is prolly nu gundam.
Contextualizing failed revolutions in the reality of historical progress actually makes this the most optimistic and least cynical Gundam show. Making them fight you is its own victory, especially when it creates an intolerable condition for the ruling class.
Rustal Elion is a leader where you’re glad he’s on your side. He has a goal and will do basically anything to accomplish it within reason.
Always look at the non mobile suit pilots they’re kinda insane. Bright Noa, Orga, Rustal.
UC, IBO, and the original story are the best parts easily.
Biscuit was fat, argument defeated.
War in the pocket is my pick personally
agreed.
Came here to say this.
lol, what about the 08th?
Ay, War in the Pocket gang! I'm craving for some burger, somehow.
i like both of them because of how human they are. id rather watch these shows than go through another hour of kira or setsuna talk about their gundams as some sort of next-gen messiah.
Well put reasons why IBO stands out, also nice Monty Python reference at 18:40!
Iron-blooded Orphans focuses on the small individual group that is Tekkadan without warping the reality of the rest of the universe to make them magically the best, magically righteous in every way. The group the story follows has noble intent, albeit dubious means at times. Because the story follows them, everything is filtered through the lens of them having aligned themself with an individual, therefore that individual is seen as heroic. The reality is, Orga bought a bad line from a sociopath and everyone in Tekkadan paid the price. They didn't know what Mcgillis actually was when they threw in with him, they did not even really KNOW that there was an alternative at the time.
I like Rustal as a counterpart to Mcgillis. He views it as a duty, not some divine right or personal station. To him, what is important, is preserving the stability Gjallarhorn provides. Because to him, the anarchy that comes when that order is shattered is the greater evil. Him being a political chameleon is actually fully in line with that. He sides with what lets him get his goals, without causing more problems than he is solving. He is a utilitarian with a singular ideal in focus. He's perfectly happy with letting reform occur, so long as it is through 'proper' channels, because it, from his perspective, doesn't undermine the stability. An attempt at a coup, even one he viewed as morally upright, would get at most a 'not getting involved' from him. But Mcgillis wasn't morally upright. He was the same kind of irresponsible 'might makes right' kind of fool that Rustal saw Gjallarhorn as protection from. If Mcgillis had gotten his way, it would have led to more violence and bloodshed. It would have led to an overall fracturing of the peace, with the more corrupt elements of the established powers milking that for all it's worth in hopes of increasing their own power. While Rustal simply wants to keep things from getting worse, and to maybe slowly chip away at the corruption within Gjallarhorn to make it represent what it was supposed to once more.
Rustal is a war criminal, but in the end, his actions were just in the forward thinking, and his role in things overall served to prevent FAR worse outcomes. It just, as with any armed conflict, sucks for the little guys caught up in the grinding gears of it. He couldn't just LET Tekkadan go, because as mentioned in the video, there needed to be a message that a violent coup would not be rolled with. So, he took the middle ground. He let them have their delaying action, letting the people who weren't the 'faces' of the group leave out the back while the fight was going on, and pretended he didn't see them.
A big part of perceived morality of any given situation, is the lens through which it is viewed. One man's hero is another's demon, and this has been the case throughout recorded history. History, being written by the winners, tends to massage the facts to make the victors look righteous, even when in reality, they were just as much at fault for the situation coming to be as the 'villains'.
To get a bit controversial here:
WW2 Germany doesn't happen without the extremely heavy-handed treaty of Versailles. WW2 Japan doesn't take the actions they do, without being treated as a non-entity around the time of the talks that led to the treaty of Versailles.
People nowadays think the allies were squeaky clean, think that in WW1, the Germans and Austrians were somehow the bad guy. No. They were the same as the French or British. Dragged into an escalating war because of defensive agreements that they didn't expect to daisy-chain like they did, and in the end, continuing to fight because bowing out meant letting the other side break them.
Do I even need to mention how 'Painter-in-Chief' gets treated as public enemy number one, while people conveniently forget that just about everything he did, Old Josef was doing as well?
Honestly, if it wasn’t for the Germans needing to kill the Jews and the unclean races, and the Japanese atrocities they though would make their men “tougher”, we might have seen a very different outcome to the wars, or at least how history portrays them. And Stalin can rest in piss
WW2 was pretty cut and dry the allies were no saints but what the Nazi's did to the Jews, Gypsies, Socialists, etc. was straight up cartoon evil. The same for what the Empire of Japan did in Manchuria and Korea. Look up comfort women and Unit 731. Stalin was a monster as well but he didn't deal out mechanized death on a scale approaching the axis. The rest of the allies were guilty of plenty of what would be considered war crimes today. Dresden, American soldiers executing Japanese prisoners etc. World War 2 is the one conventional war where black and white isn't really a problem. I do agree with you the arrogance and greed of the Allies definitely set the stage for what happened, but no one made the Nazi's annex Czechoslovakia, invade Poland, and murder 15-20 million people. Outside of actual combat. You're right about WW1 as well. Millions dead because of arrogant aristocrats. No one Empire was responsible but they all participated.
@@bakernation See what I mean about people quietly downplaying Stalin to overfocus on Hitler? You yourself just outright proved my point.
Current estimates are that at least 20 million civilians of his own nation died through Stalin-induced deaths, between famines, unpersonings, militant crackdowns on dissent, and forced labor.
Stalin did, in fact, commit JUST as mass-scale of crimes against humanity (including ethnically, socially, and religiously targeted ones). He just did it to groups of his own people. Oh, and the red army going full absolute monster as they flowed back across Europe toward Germany, 'cleansing' and abusing as they went, in a way that is right in line with the WORST of what the nazis got up to. Then you've got Mao, Pol pot, etc, in charge of countries that WERE
allies during WW2.
Also, the reason the nazis were ABLE to get into power, was the mistreatment the german people felt from the rest of the world. This allowed them to isolate them and create a 'us vs them' mentality unchecked. It allowed them to stir up existing bad feeling and turn it into an acceptance of extremes.
Yes, Germany DID, to a degree, HAVE to invade militarily. It was literally the only avenue they had at the time for growth as a nation due to just how obscenely restrictive the provisions of the treaty of Versailles actually were. You know they are restrictive, when even the countries that put them in place ACTIVELY turned a blind eye when Germany started flouting them.
The rest of the world, during the leadup that became WW2, didn't care until they realized they would be next on the block. That Germany under the Nazis, would not stop taking until forced to.
I liked season one better because the mobile workers had a role to fill. it should have been the jack of all trades unit of the series. The size could have been increased slightly to use better weapons. In U.C. they were using mobile suits as AA turrets but that could have been filled by mobile workers.
Well for season 1,they doesn't have that many ms so mw is the answer,if i have to list it then 2 gundam,1 graze custom and 2 ryoue, that's all,in s2 tekkadan has grown so much that they doesn't need the mw that much in battle + the enemy they fight are using ms and ships in the space,i doubt an upgraded mw can do much in the battle
I love this show so much
Always loved IBO, you hit a lot of stuff i missed when watching it. would like to hear your thoughts on witch of mercury, enjoyed the first half alot but less so the second
It's because of IBO that I absolutely despise Witch from Mercury. I'm so tired of magic robots that solve all the world's problems because the protagonist believes in themselves hard enough.
@@wolfiewoo3371 so true dude, the earth versus space conflict also didn't hit as hard
speaking of child soldiers, igloo remains one of my fav in the franchise. wbu?
@@fwra1234 I haven't seen igloo before. Is it good?
@@wolfiewoo3371 i still like G-Witch for what it was in the end but yeah, next to IBO you can really feel how saccharine and unchallenging its ending is. it just kinda dispenses with the nuanced and morally difficult earth v space conflict to focus solely on suletta's family drama, which like, i think was still well-written and interesting, but leaves the show feeling like it really pulled its punches, and is ultimately incomplete.
@@concon09090 at the very least, i like to think it's a good intro to younger gen about the universe. i hear mecha as a genre is on the down
also we got figure rise minori out of the series 🤝🤝
Ibo is the closest I've seen to a battletech anime
IBO was, different, yes it had the usual child soldiers, but the Child soldier theme while being a centrepiece weren't really the centre, the major part was those soldiers finding a place of their own, that place is Tekkadan.
IT also contains the most satisfying death, in any Gundam show, no death comes close to how satisfying the death of Iok Kujan was.
It’s funny that you mention double O because these are my two favorite gundam series, double O because I think it’s a way better idea to have gundams come from an independent organization rather than just having one of the main forces developing them. But IBO just has a great story overall and honestly makes the whole child soldier main character make a lot more sense than the others.
25:30 I’m reminded of the scene where he meets up with iok and julietta and takes them out to eat meat.
Like if you had a boss who would take you out to barbecue would you want to go to war with him?
No joke, Mika wouldn't be too out of place as a Mechwarrior in Battletech.
Two random referential thoughts:
1. Failed political economies becoming aristocratic despotates… Dune???
2. Hey wait is this sorta like Gundam set in a Disco Elysium type society
i know this video makes the case for Gjallarhorn as a kind of calcified Soviet command economy but tbh since playing DE i have not been able to unsee Gjallarhorn as Gundam's vision of the Moralintern
I would like to disagree with your statement about the UC. While MSG was pretty much WW2 where a large war happened, Zeta, ZZ, Unicorn, and everything after turned it in to Proxy-wars and pretty much Space Africa. In a world where even the victors of the wars were devastated, it would stand to reason that the Earth Federation's grasp of its colonial processions would be loose and warlords and terrorist organizations would be able to wage wars. Especially with the fact that the battles of the post MSG were more similar to middle east/African warfare where its pretty much Soldiers on technical fighting multiple engagements.
IBO's mechanics and philosophy follow a much more medieval approach with a feudal approach to its setting. While Ruestal was able to remove the aristocratic rule, it doesn't feel like he did. Which is that his base of power were the aristocrats. From the beginning of the show, its military structure is still aristocrat centric and between S1 and S2, there wasn't a huge shift, unless I miss an entirety of the show where it explores the fleet and power base of Ruestal and how his power base are anti-aristocratic, it doesn't really fit because in because their interest doesn't really align. Which is why most audience feel like it is out of the left field. Most parliamentary systems in the world are based out of long lines of wars and uprisings with people on both sides very clear in its implementation. Even Bismark, who is a staunch traditionalist have only allowed a small parliamentary system to "rule" and basically overturn them at every turn and ensure its power stays in the Monarchy, the crown, and the military. Because if not, Bismark would have been removed from power from its power base. However, the end made it seem like the he just removed everyone, even his own supporters. A realistic scenario of what actually happened to Ruestal would be Gorbachev where he basically implemented reforms that made his base of power weaker and was eventually removed by his own supporters and plunged Russia in to a lost decade.
i just realized that in 24:02 there's a Haro Ball in a desk... THE MOBILE ARMORS ARE RISING AGAIN
loved the video🙏
I never noticed that I can't believe that cute lil guy exists in that rough and tough world.😊❤
Ok so i generally agree, especially with IBO being underrated and how unfair it is to reduce it to "edge" when something like Wing is out there and tbh also 00 as you said.
I think a lot of the edgy stuff in IBO works quite well, also the to me cringe-inducing romance stuff, it just fits with the tone and also with the fact that most of the characters involved are quite young and had very unhealthy upbringings.
I also remember a specific thing that i found quite interesting: I remember this scene where Mikazuki is fighting one more brutal battle/massacre and the kids of the Tekkadan crew are like "we must witness this" and go to look at it, putting themselves into danger watching the senseless slaughter, and the show plays some sort of heroic piece of the OST. The juxtuposition of the soundtrack and what the characters imply about the situation with what is actually happening was pretty cool.
My issue with the show is that towards the end, it gets increasingly hard to follow imo and it feels like the importance of the big bad robot vs the big good robot increases with the existance of Gael. Also the tangent with the mobile armors. When i was watching it think i actually thought they would pivot the show back to more classic gundam plots with the sceeming bad guy in the doom robot.
What IBO also does well is just characters, so many likeable main-characters and side-characters.
IBO is the closes Gundam has ever gotten to Armored Core
08th MS Team...
08th MS suits are far too slow and grounded to be like AC. Contrary to popular belief but old gen AC was actually *VERY* fast paced. IBO even has evil AI like every AC game and the hard sci fi element like AC. Tonally ibo is closer to AC as well
The biggest problem with IBO is that it presents itself as such an edgy power fantasy right out of the gate for the first three episodes that a lot of people who wanted what it had to offer were turned away, and a lot of people who stayed didn’t enjoy the rest of the show. It doesn’t help that they put the name Gundam on it so a lot of people were too intimidated to start what they likely see as part of a One Piece sized anthology.
edgy power fantasy? no more edgy than the actual child soldiers in Africa.
A socialist slave revolt Gundam series was something I never expected but profoundly adore.
ps. I absolutely love your writing; I had planned on doing my first video essay on this exact anime/topic, but you've done it better than I ever could!
It isn't socialist in any way, shape, or form.
@@dogdoggodog I wouldn't say anything is socialist about IBO. It's generic politics in extremis
The show is written in a deeply Marxist way, strictly insisting on a Materialist universe and course of history in contrast to most other Gundam series. But thats separable from any sense of leftist politics.
My favorite gundam series, one where yes the plot, characters, and main story pieces are not all one dimensional cases of obvious good, obvious bad, or obvious good with an obvious bad attached to make a tough decision. No, this one bothered with actual ideas of interconected complexity to a level the others just dip their toes in at some times. You can do good, working with bad people, using bad methods, where the good methods or stuff might not have produced any results. Is this thus, good, or bad? Ends justify the means or not? Lots of animes like to talk abou tthis subject, gundam especially, but very few ever really walk the walk as it were, having the main characters deal with it and the actual serious consequences of these. At most maybe something results in one character dying a long drawn out tragic end... and then there's this one where the main character plot armor is, while present, not nearly as all covering as it normally is. And while pretty solid against most combatants, is, against politics and the ideas they had tried to convey very lacking.
Still a far cry from reality and how complex it can often be, but one of the best showings of trying to go for that real complexity and messiness that is reality. Still had to suspend the disbelief plenty, but overall less and with more interest and engagment in it's story than most. I dislike so many stories that try to have something serious going on where if you actually stop and think seriously for a second, the story breaks down, the obvious answers aren't used, and stuff just makes me mentally frusterated. Often finding these half assed attempts at real complexity worse than just skipping any attempts at it. Fallout 3 was in my opiinion better in player choice than New Vegas, why? Because basicly every New Vegas quest doesn't give you the obvious answers to pick from, if I can be given a problem, and solve it in a much better way than any of there's with ten seconds of thought, but am forced to play through nothing but stupid choices... it's just agonizing. Fallout 3, you just do the stupid over the top evil action, or the over the top good action, or you do a science and blow stuff up in some wacky way. It doesn't try to be too serious, you can just have fun with it all being over the top as it is, much more enjoyable to me. Iron blooded orphans, managed to make it mostly past that terrible middle ground in a few key areas, still sucked in some don't get me wrong, but a better attempt than most by far, to the poitn I actually enjoyed it quite a bit and it wasn't just mostly frustrating times of mentally ignoring stuff (like with Heavy Object... every episode at least two times I basically stopped, and just went ranting to myself for an hour about how dumb something was, why something didn't make sense, etc... and ya while I do like that anime it really was a hard watch for me...).
IBO isnt my favorite Gundam, but damn if it isnt the most realistic, the cynical optimism in the end is just amazing, great story
I see you monty python reference there ;)
18:00 that is a CRAZY sentence.
I’m gonna steal that.
27:46
Tbh, we get to see like 30+ years of U.C. history. In IBO we only see 2 years of the settling. So who knows..
IBO IS MY FAVORITE GUNDAM SERIES 💯❤️
My Favourite Gundam is the alien in Men in Black
Facism in the US isn't a scare tactic. We are following 1930s germany with an elected president that has stated he will be a dictator.
For all those that voted for him, I hope he does to you all the things he promised.
Just some yap from some guy who liked the new Gundam designs
Something I kinda thought about was the fact that Our founding Gundam protagonist doesn't have a family name. Might just be the brain damage talking but the fact that Agnika doesn't even have any named descendant in the hierarchy of Ghorn can kinda shows that his ideals are gone and buried just like most of the mobile suits and armors from the calamity war. Not to mention the fact that his "soul" rests in Gundam Bael and that his family is just non-existent shows ,to me at least, that him and his ideals are something to look back on and just that. He was a mythical "GUNDAM PILOT" who came in to save the world with these new crazy mobile suits. His ideals were based in war and honor and all that jazz. I mean come on, his pilots were challenging AI death machines to duels! Bael, and by proxy Agnika, rest at the very bottom of Ghorn's seat of power. He is its foundation and as such shouldn't be dug up. So what happens? McGillis digs up the foundation, gets a bunch of people killed, and his plan is shattered to pieces. And Bael? Bael gets repaired and Agnika's body, soul and ideals are placed right back at the foundation of Ghorn and the world progresses for the better.
Made a Comment some time ago on Bonsai Pop’s Video of IBO, especially in response to that video. As I did enjoy the Character arcs of McGillis and the Members of Tekkadan.
But overall I had this argument to say about what made McGillis and Tekkadan the heroes at the end of the story.
“These Guys Were the Heroes! Even McGILLIS was A Hero! It’s Just in order to Create a Better World, they Had to Sacrifice and Strive to MAKE THOSE DREAMS Possible!
As Naive a Hope as that is, It ultimately Worked. Yes Rustal is still an ASSHOLE, but What McGillis And Tekkadan Did was Crush ALOT of Gjallohorne Infrastructure and Reserves! And it Didn’t help that One DUMBASS Member of Gjallohorne was Constantly Fucking Up Everyone’s Plans due to How Politically Ignorant He Was!
So All RUSTAL could do was shift to Damage Control and hope that This would end with his Faction still able to function.
Though it’s More than Clear that History Will Reveal in time that His Methods were Overblown!
Why Would a Single Pilot Use an Illegal Weapon from McGillis Faction!? Leaks happen. And Speculation will always shift.”
But yeah, I consider Rustal’s version of Gjallohorne to be on a Short Leash now seeing as how Most of the Senior members were in fact Corrupt, while most of their Younger replacements have either been killed, injured, or arrested for playing a part of corrupt military organization that showed willingness to serve Justice to the Child abusers in and around Mars. I also get that McGillis is not exempt from this, but I do think his actions (and personal trauma) ultimately contributed to breaking this Disgusting trend.
Interesting enough, the Japanese have an opposite reaction of what you said- they see Tekkedan as chaotic and somewhat villainous. They understand why they did it, but still think Tekkedan is in the wrong for the amount of destruction and suffering they triggered.
This just show the different worldviews the West and Japan have.
For the west, Tekkedan are freedom fighters who did nothing wrong.
For Japan, Tekkedan only added fuel to the fire and got burnt and used in the process by smarter people.
@@MrTigracho That´s probably because japanese society is very focused on social cohesion. Tekadan are a force that seek to destroy the present society of the setting, so japan would naturally see them as evil, even if that society is one of child sl*ve soldiers.
This is a very good and well-argued video that has nonetheless convinced me that IBO is not the gundam series for me. Art is subjective, and while yes, IBO is realistic and its themes are presented quite well, it doesn't feel as satisfying as a good Gundam story.
IBO follows an arc of history, and a quite realistic (if unpleasant) one at that, but realism doesn't necessarily make for compelling storytelling. Imo, Gundam is at its best when it plays with ideas and ideologies like chess pieces, presenting perspectives and concepts in an almost mythopoetic way. War is the backdrop for this drama, but Gundam to me is not a "gritty war story"; it's a quasi-allegorical exploration of growing up in a broken, hostile world and yet carving out a piece of hope in it anyway. It's not really about child soldiers and the cost of war, it's using the perspective of children fighting an adult war as a lens to explore those themes of growing up and realizing that the world is not as we would like it to be. It's also about how that same frustration with the state of the world can lead to tragedy and even a worsening of said state if one isn't careful, and how important it is to move forward and strive for a better future anyway, disabused of naive notions of an easy and simple solution to the world's problems. And most importantly (to me), it's about encouraging the world to look beyond the cynical, utilitarian inevitability of conflict and realize that as an entire species and civilization, we too need to grow up and embrace the wider universe and the uncertain future, as scary and unknown as it may be.
IBO, on the other hand, seems to take the themes of Gundam more literally. It's about war, history, politics, and child soldiers. It's a realistic tragedy not about the importance of hope, but about how hope can lead you astray. And while yes, that is an important thing to express, and it is a theme present in other Gundam media as well, the tragic aspects overshadow the cautious, mature-minded optimism that makes Gundam's themes work. It asks a question and tries to hammer that question in, despite that question and its possible answers having already been explored better (in my opinion) in other Gundam series. The end result is that it feels like IBO misses the mark for me, doubling down on the aspects of Gundam that I don't care about and discarding the aspects I do. It leans toward espousing the kind of jaded, complacent cynicism that the rest of Gundam as a franchise is intended to counteract.
All this is to say, to each their own. For me, my favorite Gundam story is still going to be the original run of Crossbone.
I’m kind of in the same boat, but I still love IBO. I think it’s a fantastic show, and a fantastic mecha show. It’s just not very good at being a Gundam show by the very fact that it is written as a subversion to just about everything Gundam has been prior to it.
@@suspiciouscheese4518I would say mainly the second season is were all of the subversions happen
It feels kinda weird to view Gundam as a sort of semi-abstract allegory for growing up when there are several other shows that just do that significantly more effective but in turn there's only a handful of anime that can tell a good war story like Gundam. Heck there's kind of a massively popular mecha series that's far more explicit at being an allegory for growing, I don't even need to say what it is because I know you already figured it out, it's that effective.
Heavily disagree with your opinion of other Gundam shows. If you think UC Gundam shows are optimistic you're not watching the same thing I am.
ill give ya a heads up if you touch witch from mercury
understand it def takes some story ideas for its world from armored core games and its suits had 4 different designers for dif factions specifically to give them unique feel and its got episodes of sorta weird off plot feeling moments in season one but theres purpose behind it
dont compare it to uc gundam like ibo its its own thing
also if you can find the prequel episode unedited in all its
well uncensored glory
watch it
the impact of that version hits way harder
Alright, so let me explain my side of this.
I got into Gundam through Witch. It was a bridge from AC6, I quite enjoyed it because it eased me into the themes of Gundam while still being familiar to a lot of standard anime. I liked it and it set a relatively good bar.
Going from Witch to IBO felt like a kick to the balls followed up by one to the head. It doesn't tiptoe around the fights, it doesn't "mute" what happens to the pilots, and it certainly doesn't shy away from themes of self destruction.
IBO is special in that- much like Witch, it's not your standard Gundam show. It takes that lovely little handle labeled "Brutality" and pushes it to it's fullest. By the end of the series, you know not everyone is making out of there.
i think this video captures something ive really felt with regards to our own world in the real world.
im kind of optimistic but in a sort of weird negative sort of manner?
unfortunate shit will continue to occur, but that will occur alongside progress.
progress is counter intuitive. since intuition would tell you a that some big change is due to some great event in history due to some heroic factor. but no not really.
we say we stand on the shoulder of giants. but its really more us standing on the hill of many many ants.
its like safety regulations for work places being written in blood due to there having actually been some event that warranted those regulations written.
a present day topic is like global warming.... yeah its going to suck really bad. but i don't for once think it will cause humans to go extinct. since logically some rich group would eventually decide they can just go ham with dirty power and an enclosed indoor farm system thing to prolong their selves. at that point they can just expand and go full factorio if they don't need to think about preserving an already dead environment.
thats what i mean by negatively optimistic? there is always a solution, so long as the situation we find ourselves in isn't something like nuclear annihilation or an extinction by asteroid.
but thats like an extreme example. something more i guess toned down is say copywrite issues and tech monopolies. folks are afraid and get really negative about that but i say, Pirates will ensure that that isn't a thing. similarly i love the fact that there are different nations because one nation can just disregard the copywrite of another nation. not to say i like that. but its another factor that counters the whole fear of monopolistic big corporations. its partly how the EU showcasing regular tendency to strongarm big corpos like apple to being more consumer friendly.
if i had to summarize it, the negatives of our world has its positives, im not justifying those negatives nor do i like them, but once logically digested they just counter certain other overblown worry i might come up with for the future.
they balance out in a counterintuitive manner, and occasionally build towards some developments that benefit both sides and many sides just to maintain some semblance of peace.
much like how attaining self control is for oneself, our civilization is progressing in a rather counterintuitive manner.
this series was fantastic
Sometimes, it just feels like they have a quota on who to kill for the week, no matter how small the effect will be
EB-06 Graze my beloved ❤
"Circa Zeta Tomino did not believe women had agency"
LOL
Long time Gundam super fan and plastic crack addict here. I'm about 13 minutes in and I am really digging the analyzing on not just the main themes but between the lines too for the characters the setting and the franchise as a whole and where IBO fits into that. I love getting a different lens and catching the small details that I missed and not much usually escapes me. This is quality content that I will definitely tune into whenever I see you upload. Please add a way for us to support your work!
Season 2 tackled too many things too quickly for me. It bounced everywhere and felt hard to follow. I almsot wish it got fleshed out more. For some reason, I didn’t really realize that rustal elion was the big antagonist. Tbh, I just didn’t know about him. He was just kinda “there.”
Even though some things were realistic, I didn’t like them as storytelling decisions. It just felt like a “haha! Made you suffer!” Again and again.
I’d love for more time to be taken upon the major character deaths. For them to affect people and the plot more.
I guess i just wanted more from a season that tackled too many things.
I probably could have gone without the mobile armor fight of the weird bird laser thing. I dunno
I loved this series. But I'd say most realistic would be 08th MS Team for me.
08th MS Team would like a word.