Continuing from Season 1, Tekkadan, due to their efforts in combating Gjallahorn, have received a great level of praise from those the world over. They became known for their unyielding spirit, even in the face of decimation. The resilience became a story that people would tell their children about to inspire them. However, with all this newfound fame comes a new hoist of problems. Where season 1 was relatively light on politics, season 2 brings us deeper into the political machinations of Gjallahorn and their cohorts. We learn about the council of seven, which was conspicuously absent from the first season which causes me to think that they made those characters up on the spot. We learn of Mcgillis’s inspiration and founder of Gjallahorn, Agnika Kaikeru and his role in creating the Gundam Frames. With all this new information, you would think this season would fix the problems from the first but you wouldn’t be more wrong.
Season 2 focuses on the younger characters in Tekkadan, the new recruits and those who never got enough screen time. One of the leaders of the pirate gang, Naze and his harem of beautiful women, the young man Takaki and Akihiro’s adopted younger brothers all receive significant focus. The character centric arcs are easily the highlight of the show. Not only do they highlight the cruelties of war and its effect on human relations, but has some of the most consistent writing. The death scenes for some of these characters are phenomenally done. Sadly, the problem where characters do not receive any follow up or further development after their arcs still persists. One would think that after all of these horrible things happen to some of these characters, eventually we would see how it changes them long term. But alas, that remains a pipe dream and to the detriment of iron blooded orphans. Strong character writing does not consist of bad things happening to characters, it also entails how they survive after the trauma. Mari Okada still does not understand this concept.
This season’s primary antagonist, Rastal Ellion on of the members of the council of seven, is a very flimsy villain. His primary motivations are never clearly defined as the philosophical underpinnings of his beliefs. Ellion only exists as an obstacle to Mcgillis Fareed and Tekkadan. All conflicts between these groups are contrived and lack an emotional punch to get the viewer invested. His henchmen are also just as weak with Qujan being a brainless idiot and Juilet an undefined henchwoman who lives to do Ellion’s bidding. None of these characters are imposing and lack the appearance of a real threat.
Another issue that carries over from the first season is the godawful world building. Seriously, Mari Okada doesn’t have a clue on how to build a fully realized world. By the end of the second season, we still know next to nothing about the calamity war aside from Gundam frames being created to stop these omnipotent A.I. controlled machines. Who created these machines? And what was the goal of war? We never know. We know next to nothing about the philosophical basis for Gjallahorn aside from it was a coalition of people who came together to end the Calamity war. Agnika Kaikeru is so poorly described he might as well be a plot device instead of a character. The writers reveal no information about this character which makes it hard to believe he was such a major influence on Mcgillis Fareed, one of the show’s main characters. This is why the show feels unfinished.
Continuing onto the main cast, the new characters are relatively interesting for the most part. Takaki’s arc dubbed “the silent war” is easily the best part of the entire series. Emotional, brutal and full of heart that made Gundam what it is today, I would say it is Mari Okada’s crowning achievement in anime. This proved to me that there is at least a glimmer of talent within her. Aside from that, the same problems especially with Mikazuki and Orga persist. We never know anything about their backstory which pisses me off to no end. How are you going to write 2 characters and allude to them having a tragic backstory but never showing it? It is insanely incompetent and I will never forgive the writers for wasting my time with all of that teasing.
Lastly, the ending is the most unsatisfying part of the show. It provides us with closure but has a hokey sentimentality that is unbefitting of the series. A show can have a happy end if it doesn’t come off as forced and sadly it came off as forced in this circumstance. Okada was too scared to give the show a dark ending so cowered into a happy ending.
“Where do the shattered dreams of warriors go?” is a lyric from the second ending of iron blooded orphans season 1. We never know the dreams of the warriors, Mika and Orga, and our dreams end up being shattered in the process. Iron Blooded Orphans was an opportunity for Mari Okada to show her writing talents but working on a legendary franchise such as Gundam. It was too great an undertaking for her and she ended up drowning in shards of dreams of both the characters and the viewers. I wish I could have good things to say about this show, but sadly I am lost for words.
