Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans

Mika wants Orga to be a great leader, he doesn't care about particulars, that much was made pretty clear. He only expressed his opinion about what they should do twice - that they must protect Kudelia, and that he doesn't want Tekkadan to fall apart, both of which Orga agreed with anyway. His presence don't make Orga a stupid leader, but a strong one, he pushes him forward to be better.

It can make him rash as in no negotiations, even though he ended up making the right call in this situation. It doesn't bode well on level headness for the future if he makes decisions that may be prove too costly because Orga didn't want to let Mika down. I agree with you that Mika is a force for Orga to do better but it's foolish to say that doesn't carry any negative repercussions. And pretty stupid to call Biscuit a filthy coward to at least try for a better deal.

I keep thinking back on Mika and see how he exhibits traits of that combat veteran stereotype that military people hate of someone who's easily provoked to violence. Being in a combat environment cultivates hyper vigilance and an us vs them mentality to better survive. It's useful there but inappropriate in other peaceful contexts like when Mika was choking out that dude I can't remember the name of.

Mikazuki is a terrifying kid and something is wrong. My bet is on the AV system...

So Cybernetics Eat Your Soul?

Naw, more being child soldier is super shitty.

¡I Suggested Something Similar some Posts ago!

"Death's vastness holds no peace. I come at the end of the long road—neither human, nor devil... All bends to my will." -Demifiend.

Mikazuki doesn't want Orga to be a strong leader. He wants to start a farm and be with his friends in Tekkadan, and because he hero-worships Orga, he thinks his friend knows the best way to make that happen. Orga, meanwhile, has no idea what the fuck he's doing and is terrified of letting Mikazuki down (because he knows the kid basically worships him like a god) so he tries to be a cool, decisive badass, and goes for violent, uncompromising solutions because they make him look like a cool, decisive badass.

Tekkadan is not a healthy, sustainable organisation. It's a bunch of uneducated, impoverished, under-equipped kids plunging themselves into mortal danger because it's either that or starve, and egging each other on into horrifying, lethal rituals that they've internalised as proof of their manliness (the kids talking about how they were going to get Alaya-Vijnana implants so they could be just like Mikazuki was impressively creepy). Their heroes are a traumatised, rage-fuelled killing machine and an insecure kid who prioritises being a badass for his friend over his and everyone else's safety.

The show hasn't been remotely subtle about either of the above two points, so I'm really surprised people ITT aren't getting them.

What's precedent ever done for us?

Not bad.

Though Mika doesn't act traumatized, I will think he is if not by virtue that he seems oblivious to it. It's depressing to see that he's not bothered by all the carnage but then again plenty of RL soldiers are well adjusted and some can handle the battlefield better than others. So whatever works for keeping him sane, though I'm still wary.

edited 17th Nov '15 4:29:07 PM by vicarious

I get it, it's just that this is a 2010s Gundam that came after Build Fighters and G-Reco, I expect it to be further down on the idealism end.

Of course those are just my expectations.

And with how well the show has been going so far, maybe they'll bring up the issues with Tekkadan.

I'm pretty sure they already have. Just look at Kudelia and Biscuit's reactions to... well... everything.

I'm pretty sure that the Turbines are going to end up as a temptation and cautionary tale for our heroes. On the surface, they're basically walking, talking validations of Orga's vision for Tekkadan - a close-knit family unit who are rich, successful, and feared, and seem likely to become the boys' new best friends (all signs indicate that the Barbatos's complete 'fourth form' will come from them). Since the show has so far taken pains to show that Orga's vision is kind of screwy, and not what his charges want or need (for a start, it'd probably involve the Tekkadan children getting the Alaya-Vijnana whiskers they're so hyped for, which is all kinds of horrifying), I'm guessing our new Jovian friends are way too good to be true. Don't get me wrong, I imagine they will turn out to be good people under their rough exteriors (see also, the scene in the PV of Amida snuggling up to a baby), but I expect their violent, uncompromising lifestyle to rear up and bite them hard. Internal Teiwaz power struggle, maybe?

edited 17th Nov '15 5:09:04 PM by Iaculus

What's precedent ever done for us?

I think Iaculus is being a bit too harsh on Tekkadan in general and Orga in particular. While it's true that they're making things up as they go and they're walking a thin line between between immediate disaster by getting themselves killed and slow disaster by running out of money, they really don't have any other choice and they're doing pretty well for themselves on the whole.

And while I question the wisdom of Orga's make-Mika-happy decision making strategy, the only time it's really had negative consequences for Tekkadan so far was in the most recent episode. We'll see if he continues in that vein or not, but for now, I can't really call him a bad leader. As for Tekkadan being self-destructive, I don't really see that, either. The scene with the younger kids talking about getting more whiskers implanted was one kid, and his buddy immediately said "hell no, the first one hurt like hell, no way I'm getting more". Given that we already know that some pilots, like Mika and Akihiro, got the implant multiple times even under CGS, this doesn't seem to be a major change in their behavior.

I suppose that I'm giving Orga the benefit of the doubt that he's aware of Tekkadan's long term problems, but choosing to focus on their short-term ones first, as the long-term issues won't matter if the short-term ones kill them first. I could be wrong, and it wouldn't surprise me if Orga continues to develop into a less-capable leader than he initially appeared to be, but based on what we've seen so far, that's my take on it.

Really from Jupiter, but not an alien.

It's more the idea children should not be in the giant robot killing people ie Kudelia. It's like being child soldiers is considered a bad thing.

But she and we know that they need to survive and all the fuss in the world won't change that. Well, maybe.

The implants are bad because the installation process has a 6/10 survival rate (yes, Orga says the failures were hospitalised and never came back, but the implication that CGS was being euphemistic is obvious). Turning them into a rite of passage that pre-teen kids treat like a flu jab (and call each other cowards for not attempting) is eye-wateringly fucked up.

What's precedent ever done for us?

That's not how I saw that scene at all. It's not like they're saying "all the cool kids get an implant" — they've both already got one, after all.

Really from Jupiter, but not an alien.

That's exactly what they were saying. 'If you can't take the pain, you'll never be like Mr. Mikazuki'. All the cool kids are doubling up on their life-threatening surgery, so why aren't you?

What's precedent ever done for us?

Right, and the one kid who didn't want to get a second implant didn't care. He doesn't say "oh man, you're right, I have to get a second implant or else I'll be lame!" He says "nope, doesn't matter, not doing it".

Really from Jupiter, but not an alien.

I don't think anyone's trying to say that the Whiskers implants are a good thing. I believe the scene where a young boy is excitedly talking about getting one is supposed to be seen as sad: the kids don't really understand what they're talking about, they just want to be cool like their big bro Mikazuki, which is totally normal for kids.

What I don't see is any evidence that Orga would approve of anyone else getting the surgery. The image I had was that CGS forced the implants on the kids as "part of their job". Sure, some of them volunteered for multiple surgeries, but I don't think most of them volunteered for their first.

edited 17th Nov '15 6:54:46 PM by DarkHunter

Oh most definitely it was forced. Maruba says as much, if they didn't eventually risk getting the implants, then they were useless to him.

I think Biscuit was right that there was room to negotiate. For example, they could have promised to use the profit from completing their job to pay for the ship. Or even give the ship back and buy a new ship. That's just off the top of my head.

I mean, that doesn't mean they would have succeeded, but hat-guy didn't seem so unreasonable that he wouldn't have at least listened. Orga doing the daredevil thing wasn't the best choice, and I don't think you're supposed to believe it was.

This is from a bit ago, but on the subject of Mika's violent tendencies: Literally the first scene in the show is a flashback of Orga's to Mikazuki killing two dudes and being (or at least appearing) largely unconcerned by it. This was in their pre-CGS days, too. There's a decent chance that that little ball of violence is just who Mika is.

Should've checked the list.

Orga was shocked to see it. So we know that people react to it as you'd expect. Terrified.

This week's Episode:

And, whoops, it turns out that, yeah, the whole ship's crew is Naze's harem. Literally all of them are his wives. Guy even has the kids on board, and there are more of them at the Teiwaz main port.

edited 22nd Nov '15 3:59:04 AM by MyssaRei

I thought that was already known? The website even mentions the one lady as the first wife a week ago.

edited 22nd Nov '15 4:43:48 AM by OmegaRadiance

Every accusation by the GOP is ALWAYS a confession.

Yeah, I was kind of assuming that too. It plays nicely with the family metaphor that they already had going with Tekkadan (which they actually made explicit this episode).

Another (relatively) low-budget character development episode this week. Not the best, but we do get to see a new side of Orga, and the parts continuing from the previous episode were fun

I guess last episode's fight counted for a lot, since it looks like next episode is also combat-free

Naze is living the dream.