G Gundam Episode 16: Ultimate Power and Evil! Rise of the Devil Gundam

The Devil Gundam revives; Neo Germany’s Schwarz Bruder makes his debut.

Episode Summary

As Chibodee, George, Sai Saici, and Argo come to terms with what happened last episode and the fact that they’re now members of the Shuffle Alliance, there’s an earthquake!

The Gundam Fighters and their crew members fall underground, separated into groups. As they find their way back up to the surface, Rain catches a glimpse of the Devil Gundam absorbing Death Army mobile suits. One of them tries to attack her, but she’s rescued by a masked ninja – Schwarz Bruder, Neo Germany’s Gundam Fighter.

The Devil Shows Itself

Devil Gundam breaks out of its cocoon, which was inside the Shinjuku government building the whole time, right under everyone’s noses! The Fighters all get in their Gundams, but Master Asia swats them like flies.

Schwarz appears in his Spiegel Gundam and fights Master on equal terms, giving Domon the chance to activate Shining Gundam’s Super Mode. He aims his beam sabre at Devil Gundam’s head, but hesitates for a moment after seeing Kyoji, and accidentally strikes the cocoon instead. Devil Gundam absorbs the sabre’s energy, then leaves the scene with Master.

Thoughts

The climax of the Shinjuku arc: Devil Gundam has finally resurfaced, and it’s our first time seeing it in person and not in a flashback. Yet despite this momentous event, the episode is not quite as exciting as the previous one, but to be fair, it’s pretty hard to top that (and it’s still good regardless).

Most of the action here takes place underground as we watch Domon and the others overcome obstacles, like rats and DG cell-covered skeletons, and it gives us a good opportunity to see how they all work together as a team. Chibodee and George especially make a good duo; I’m not sure if I’d call it a friendship exactly, but it’s definitely what you could call it a “buddy pairing.”

One of my favorite characters, the cool and mysterious Schwarz, is introduced this episode. He’s G Gundam‘s obligatory masked character (they are legion, for they are many), following in the footsteps of Char Aznable and Chronicle Asher of previous Gundam series. As we’ll see, Schwarz takes on more of a mentor, as opposed to rival, role and will help set our disarrayed heroes straight very soon.