Best Gundam: Exia
- Pawned two Mobile Armors
- Defeated Patrick, Graham (twice), Sergei and Ali in one-on-one melee combat
- First to unlock the Trans-Am mode
- Defeated a GN-Field equipped MA but remained unscathed, faced a GN-Drive equipped Flag right after that and still managed to defeat it, in a short time as well.
- According to Lockon, it's the only Gundam capable of defeating a GN-Field
Worst Gundam: Gundam Throne Drei
- The only Gundam without any significant weapon
- Did not score a single significant kill
- Never really engaged any notable enemy actually
- The only Gundam not defeated or destroyed in a fight scene (she retreated)
Best Non-Gundam MS/MA: Graham Aker's Customized Flag (before GN-Drive upgrade)
- a Flag with a customized rifle only for Graham Aker
- first target miss by Lockon
- defeated Throne Eins with his own beam saber
Worst Non-Gundam MS/MA: Enact
First of all, don't get me wrong, I'm not judging Enact's quality based on Patrick's performance ^^;
Featured in the first episode, Enact was the latest MS produced by AEU, supposedly better in terms of specs as compared to Union's Flag and HRL's Tieren. Although all of them were cannon-fodders against the four Gundams, we get to see very little of Enact in action in later episode. In Episode 15 and 16's major desert sortie, we got to watch many Tieren, Flag and Realdo's variations, but Enact, the best MS from AEU was absent most of the time.
When the world received the generous offer of 30 GN-Xs from Alejandro Corner, all the three factions' mainstream MSs 'retired' from the major combat, and this included Enact as well. With such limited exposure, I don't see how Enact could be better than Flag, as mentioned in its debut. It was as if between the two MS with very similar design, the director picked Flag to run the story instead.
Even Bandai seems to be 'less confident' in releasing Enact's Gunpla. Notice that Tieren and Flag came out in their mass productive type first, followed by their variations (and now their 1/100 scale versions are coming too). Enact on the other hand, will be released with Ali's customized version first, when the anime is over some more. ^^; I expect the commander type of Enact to be out in next month, or maybe even later than that.
Best Fight Scene: Exia & Virtue versus Team Trinity
I was quite troubled with Team Trinity's 'armed intervention' in Episode 17 and 18, especially with the ridiculous damage done by Neena at the wedding reception of Louisse's relatives. So when Setsuna decided to intervene, I was like, "Hell, it's about time!".
The fight became even better when Tieria decided to help out as well. Both of them put aside their grudge several episodes back and applied several effective combat formations against Team Trinity. Exia made Throne Zwei's remote weapons, the Fangs looked like child's play, while Nadleeh's comeback after so many episodes demonstrated its true power as well as Tieria's hidden ability.
It's definitely my pick for the best fight scene. The only dissatisfaction I have about it is Team Trinity retreated when Dynames joined the fight, else it would have been an awesome three-on-three. ^^
Best Duel: Exia versus Aruvatore
MA versus MA, MS versus MS, and both were equally exciting to watch. In comparison, the final duel in SEED Destiny between Strike Freedom and Legend, as well as Infinite Justice versus Destiny were filled with flashbacks used for don't-know-how-many times, but the actual fights themselves were quite short. On the other hand, the duel between Setsuna and Alejandro were much lengthier, and I just love the movement of GN Arms in facing the MA: one moment it was firing its cannons at Aruvatore, the next moment it took off, then came back and fought again.
When the MS mode of Aruvatore appeared, Setsuna showed no fear of its GN Field, forcing Alejandro to turn it on and off all the time. Even so, he seemed to be struggling to keep up with Exia's speed.
Also, from the duel, I believe Setsuna finally found the real purpose of his fight as well.
Best Episode: Episode 25
Apart from the exciting duel mentioned above, the fight between Allelujah and Soma with Sergei is another reason why the final episode is my pick for the best episode. Just when I thought it would be all about MS combat, Allelujah's character change turned out to be quite a surprise. The high speed of Kyrios and its shield was just as great as Exia's fight.
Also, the episode managed to heighten our expectations for Season Two as well. Apart from all the hints from the epilogue, including the highly anticipatable Gundam Double O, I believe many are wondering the whereabout of existing cast like Sumeragi, Felt, and even the fate of Setsuna, Tieria, as well as the possible development of relationship between Allelujah and Soma. Instead of being satisfied with the story, Episode 25 just made me craved for more of Gundam Double O ^^
Worst Episode: Episode 16
With so much anticipation for Team Trinity's debut in the anime, it was so disappointing to watch them came with their overwhelming firepower to wrap up the major desert combat since the previous episode in such a short time.
Worst of all, the episode turned into Season One's review after that X_X Except for that major GN Particle flooding scene which looked like it was from Evangelion, I don't recall any important plot points worth remembering from that episode ^^;
Grimmest Moment: Lockon's death/Louisse's hospital scene
In Episode 18, when Louisse was shown sitting in her hospital bed, I thought, "At least she is OK." But the moment she revealed her amputated left hand, I just couldn't believe my eyes. It was the saddest thing at that point in the anime, to see such a joyous character, along with her relationship with Saji being tormented in such a way. I used to take Louisse appearance in previous episodes for granted, but the anime became so much gloomier after her hospital scene, which wasn't a comfortable thing bear with actually.
Thank goodness we still had Patrick back then ^^;
That's why Exia's appearance at the end of that episode rushing towards the Trinities, and the Gundam fight that followed in the next episode was so awesome to watch.
Need to explain more? ^^;
