#GundamAGE ep16: not a bad start. Asemu's more well-adjusted than I expected. #anime 

Flit has a simmering and focused hatred. Emily is as forgettable as
ever. Vargas is still old and fat, matter of fact he's older and
fatter (uh duh!). And I could have sworn that was Largan in that
antique mobile suit. Or whoever that guy is inside, he has Largan's
luck. But the second "age" isn't gonna be about these guys, so let's
move on.

I'm surprised. Well I guess this series has nothing to do with
Yoshiyuki Tomino, so all that awkward teenage angst has been curbed
quite a bit. Asemu Asuno is very well-adjusted for a Gundam pilot.
He's appropriately set up by his dad to protect his family, which no
one else seems to be. And he's got a dad who is horrible at the job
of being a dad. Who knows how Tem Ray would have turned out. He just
went bat sh*t insane after that first attack. It looks like Asemu has
a little sister, too. This is all so normal and "not-broken" that I
don't know how to take it. Congrats Flit! You are already the most
successful Gundam dad in history. Just don't let your boy die a petit
mobile or some other piece of sh*t and the title is yours! He didn't
really breeze through that battle with those two Vagan grunt units
(not like any of the initial Gundam battles go that well, or are that
exciting).

It looks like the Vagans have solved their space travel predicament
the "suspended animation" way, or as they call it, "cold sleep". And
who pops up from those little refrigerator beds? A guy who looks like
he'll be the next Vagan commander and some kid who looks a hell of a
lot like Woolf. Matter of fact, Woolf popped out of cold sleep at
around episode 3 or 4 of the series didn't he? I sincerely wonder if
they're related? And it looks like due to his covert assignment for
the Vagan Empire, he'll be the series first masked pilot. I have to
say that from what little I've seen of the disguise, it works for him.

I believe I'm going to enjoy the little 3-way dynamic they're trying
to set up by having Asemu, the masked pilot and his love interest hang
out together. It could lead to some delciously tragic drama. I'm
most definitely looking forward to this second "age". But I guess I
better start by saying I'm looking forward to the seventeenth episode.