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Bebop Reacts: Mobile Suit Gundam Iron Blooded Orphans – Urs Hunt
NOTE: While I will be talking about the original series, it will be kept broad and spoiler free.
Despite its divisive nature amongst Gundam fans, the original run of Iron Blooded Orphans (IBO) was a return to form and more for me. As a fan of the franchise, and of Mecha Anime as a whole, the various shows leading up to IBO were disappointments: Age never really resonated with me, Reconguista in G was a mess, and the Build Fighters series, while fun, wasn’t anything serious. IBO, though, had a beating heart spurred on by passionate characters, emotional moments that had jarring effects, and combat that had a weight to it not seen in a long time. For all of those reasons, the new spin-off series excites me to no end, especially since pretty much the entire original production team is coming back.
From what we know about IBO – Urs Hunt, it will take place on a colony above the planet Venus, a planet which is in a worse spot than Mars thanks to its status as a prison planet. We also know that it takes place at the same time as the main series, the main cast will be trying to increase Venus’ status, and word of Tekkadan from the original IBO has reached Venus. On the topic of the trailer, it immediately introduced us to a main character, Wistario Afam, a new Gundam with seemingly aquatic capabilities, the Marchosias, a whole host of important looking characters, and a beautiful and almost Italian/Venetian setting. Coupled with the definitely more refined looking colony and its contrast to the presumably desolate Venus landscape, I anticipate that the flames of revolution will burn even brighter and in a more dramatic way than the original series. Whereas IBO focused a lot on the main group’s escort mission in season one and ambitions in season 2, I feel like Urs Hunt could show a greater dichotomy in social status and more developments in the ideals held by the main cast.
I know I was talking about a little bit about theory stuff earlier, but here is my big theory and reaction: Urs Hunt will eventually tie into the main series and will eventually result in a new main IBO season. It won’t necessarily happen during its own run, but I feel as though the ending of the original IBO left a few doors open for a continuation and the plot of Urs Hunt can both expand on the universe and introduce characters for the main cast to ally themselves with later on. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that Urs is the “Destiny” to IBO’s “Seed” (please kami-sama don’t be like that) but I am saying that this spin-off is a great way to flesh out the universe with like-minded characters to the original series while also allowing for Sunrise to gauge continued interest in this particular Alternate Universe.
Only time will tell whether or not this series carries the torch of the original IBO, but let me finish this by really emphasizing how great the original was. If you are a fan of Mecha anime I really recommend it (review coming soon-ish) but almost more than that if you are a fan of character dramas this show will really surprise you with its twists and turns. Hopefully we find out more about the series soon, but until then I’m signing off!
-W