Mobile Suit Gundam 00

Mobile Suit Gundam 00 , Kidō Senshi Gandamu Daburu Ō?) is the latest television anime of Sunrise's long-running Gundam franchise.
It is directed by Seiji Mizushima and written by Yōsuke Kuroda, and features character designs by Yun Kōga. The series was first officially announced by Sunrise during a 15-second trailer on June 2, 2007. Gundam 00 will consist of two seasons, with the first one containing 25 episodes. The second season began airing on October 5, 2008 and had its first trailer released on July 13, 2008. Mobile Suit Gundam 00 is the first Gundam series to be animated in high-definition as well as the first to be set in the non-fictional Anno Domini era.,

The series is set in a futuristic Earth and centered around Celestial Being, a private paramilitary force and their efforts to rid the world of war and conflict with a series of unique and highly effective mobile suits known as "Gundams".

Licensing for a North American release of Mobile Suit Gundam 00 was announced by Bandai Entertainment at New York Comic Con 2008 on April 18, 2008. Mobile Suit Gundam 00 will be the first Gundam series to air on national television in the United States since Mobile Suit Gundam SEED and will air on SCI FI in November 2008.

First season

The series is set in the year 2307 of Anno Domini. As a result of the depletion of fossil fuels, humanity had to search for a new source of power. The power was found in the form of massive arrays of solar power collectors orbiting the Earth, and supported by three orbital elevators, each one serving one of the three "power blocs" on the planet.

GN-001 Gundam Exia piloted by Setsuna F Seiei

With this nearly inexhaustible source of energy benefiting only the major powers and their allies, constant warfare erupts around the globe among minor countries for fuels and energy. Countries that once economically relied on fossil fuels have plunged into poverty. Some even believe that solar energy threatened the "promised land of God". This chaos led to the formation of a private military organization, called Celestial Being , Soresutaru Biiingu?), dedicated to eradicating war and uniting humanity through the use of four humanoid machines called Gundams.[4][6] Mobile Suit Gundam 00 follows four mobile suit pilots termed Gundam Meisters , Gandamu Maisutā?), sided with Celestial Being. The main protagonist is 16-year old Setsuna F Seiei エイ, Setsuna F Seiei?), a quiet, taciturn young man who grew up in the war-torn Kurdish Republic. He pilots the GN-001 Gundam Exia, a high mobility mobile suit effective in melee combat. Confronting the armed resistance of the three world superpowers, the Gundam Meisters were forced to fight several opposing aces, such as Ali Al-Saachez, a mercenary who was responsible for the death of Setsuna's and Lockon's family.

Unable to counter Celestial Being's superior technology, the three major powers eventually unite into the United Nations Army in order to counter Celestial Being's armed interventions. In order to fight the Gundams, the United Nations Army employed the help of Laguna Harvey. Harvey, a Celestial Being intelligence agent turned traitor, provides them with 30 GN-X, mobile suits equipped with pseudo-GN Drives that are on-par with the Gundams. As the United Nations resist Celestial Being's interventions, a second team of Gundams, known as Team Trinity, appears and assists in the Meisters' eradication of war, albeit in a much more cruel and cold-blooded fashion, in contrast with the original Meisters' less-aggressive nature of armed intervention.

Alejandro Corner, a former Celestial Being observer who plans to make use of the chaos and destruction created by Celestial Being to rule a reconstructed world, subsequently takes over Veda, Celestial Being's supercomputer which is located on the moon. Without the organization's artificial intelligence, Celestial Being is easily overwhelmed and overpowered by the equally powerful GN-X units and their superiority in quantity.

The United Nations Army initiates Operation Fallen Angels to destroy the Gundams, having discovered the location of the Meisters' mothership, Ptolemaios. During the operation, Ali Al-Saachez, kills Lockon Stratos after a climatic battle. Alejandro Corner, in his unique custom mobile armor Alvatore, attacks Gundam Exia as the GN-X units proceed to destroy the Ptolemaios and the remaining Gundams. Exia struggles with the monstrous Alvatore, but in the end succeeds in killing Alejandro. Graham Aker, an ace pilot of the United Nations Army, then challenges Setsuna to a fight, seeking revenge for his fallen comrades and questioning the purpose of Gundams' existence. The fight results in the destruction of both suits, with the fates of the pilots unknown.

Second season

Four years have passed since the final battle between Celestial Being and the UN Forces. Humanity, having established the Earth Sphere Federation, forms an independent security preservation force, A-Laws, separate from the formal Federation army. Given un-fettered discretion, A-Laws is charged with the duty to further unify nations and enforce the will of mankind. Unknown to the general public, however, is A-Laws' misuse of power and inhumane tactics to oppress freedoms, doctrines, and ideologies in the name of 'unity'.

Saji Crossroad has followed the path to becoming a space engineer, to keep his promise to Louise Halevy. Louise herself is compelled to become involved in Federation government reform and joined A-Laws as a mobile suit pilot during the four-year gap.

Meanwhile, Setsuna, having survived the battle with Graham Aker four years ago, has witnessed a change in the world due to the actions of Celestial Being. With the defeat of Alejandro Corner, he dreamed of a peaceful world without conflict; but before his own eyes was the reality of the continuing strain on peace, caused by the oppression of A-Laws. He decides once more to fight with Gundam, the power with the potential to change the world.

[edit] Characters

Main article: List of Mobile Suit Gundam 00 characters



He is the primary protagonist of the show and was discovered by Celestial Being at the age of 14 for having special potential as a pilot. He is currently a Gundam Meister for their organization, piloting the Gundam Exia, and later the 00 Gundam. Setsuna's real name is Soran Ibrahim; Setsuna being his Gundam Meister codename. He was a child soldier in the war-torn Kurdish Republic.[15] He murdered his own parents under Ali Al-Saachez's influence in order to prove his devotion to God,[16] and hence bears a deep hatred towards Saachez. Due to his previous religious brainwashing (and awakening from it), Setsuna no longer believes that God exists within the world. Setsuna believes that war can only be stopped through direct confrontation, and therefore has little tolerance for diplomats and politicians, believing that their "peace talks" only lengthen the conflict and cause more casualties.

Disappeared since the end of the first season, Setsuna reappears four years later and rejoins Celestial Being, piloting the GN-0000 00 Gundam.

Lockon Stratos Rokkuon Sutoratosu?)

Lockon decided to join Celestial Being after losing his parents and little sister to terrorists in Ireland; because of this, he loathes terrorists. As the eldest pilot, he is considered the team leader of the Gundam Meisters, and sports a more easygoing, flamboyant personality as compared to the other Gundam Meisters. He owns an orange Haro to control Gundam Dynames when sniping and just like Setsuna, he has a personal feud with Ali Al-Saachez, who was directly involved in the terrorist bombing that caused the death of his family.[17]

Lockon, who died at the end of the first season, is replaced by his younger twin brother who assumed the same codename and became the pilot of the GN-006 Cherudim Gundam.

Allelujah Haptism ( Areruya Haputizumu?)

Allelujah spent his childhood as an orphan in the Human Reform League as a Super Soldier experimental subject. While generally gentle and rational compared to the other Gundam Meisters, he has another harsher, unstable, and outright sadistic alter ego, named Hallelujah inside him, which was the result of the Super Soldier experiments. For this reason, Allelujah/Hallelujah appears to harbor a grudge against the Human Reform League. [18] He is the pilot of GN-003 Gundam Kyrios.

Allelujah is imprisoned during the four year timeskip between both seasons, but eventually rejoins Celestial Being piloting the GN-007 Arios Gundam.

An enigmatic character, his history, nationality and origins all a mystery. Within his gentle tone, he can give a sense of cold intentions. He values the mission above all other issues, including life, and does not show any 'concern' for his teammates. As the Gundam Meister of GN-005 Gundam Virtue, Tieria seems extremely loyal to Veda, and will go to any length to ensure the secrecy of Celestial Being's technology and operations, even if he has to kill other Gundam Meisters himself to achieve this end. Compared to the rest of the Gundam Meisters, Tieria is the most enigmatic, with none of his past explained. Throughout the first season he gives hints that he might actually be a robot which explains why he still looks the same after four years. The only ones that might have noticed or knew was Feldt and the original Lockon Stratos. [19]

Contrary of the other meisters who were either K.I.A. or M.I.A. in the end of the first season, Tieria continued to work for Celestial Being during the 4 year timeskip and became the pilot of the GN-008 Seravee Gundam.


Development

According to Hiroomi Iketani, one of the Gundam 00 producers, planning for Gundam 00 started in 2005, under the temporary name "Next" Iketani approached Seiji Mizushima, the director who was initially reluctant about accepting the job due to his lack of knowledge regarding the Gundam series, for the first time at the end of 2005.

The staff, consisting of over 300 people, spent roughly 2 years planning the series. Compared to other anime shows, Gundam 00 has more main staff members, partly due to the detailed mobile suit designs.

The series premiered on October 6, 2007, replacing Toward the Terra on the terrestrial MBS and TBS networks, occupying the networks' noted Saturday 6:00 p.m. timeslot. The first season ended its run on March 29, 2008. Season one of the series will be re-broadcasted across Japan on various television networks such as TBS, Kids Station, MBS and BS-i from April onwards. Season two is being broadcast in the MBS and TBS Sunday 5:00 p.m. slot since October 5, 2008.

Currently, seven DVD collections have been released.[23][24] The DVDs performed well in sales, with the first collection selling approximately 42,847 copies on the first week, ranking third on the Oricon's overall weekly DVD chart.[25] The Blu-ray disc collections have been confirmed, with the first and second volume slated for an August 22, 2008 release.

The final DVD of season one contains a whimsical trailer for the second season. Featuring voice work by the four Meisters, the trailer lampoons many early ideas for the show, fan theories and anime clichés before leading into a special message from Mizushima and a preview of the 00 Gundam.