#ms igloo

Right away - this second series is markedly different from the first. We're now on Earth following Federation ground forces as they try to hold off the Zeon invasion. And it seems like the animation has improved too. It doesn't look nearly as stiff and janky as the first series did.

Hell, if I'm being really honest... I think the character animations look better in IGLOO 2 than they did in Requiem for Vengeance.

So - in this first episode we're following an anti-mobile suit squad as they try to ambush some Zakus. Just straight-up human soldiers with missile launchers. They don't have any tanks or mobile suits of their own.

And there's this weird framing-device of a Shinigami or Grim Reaper or Death God following our protagonist - Ben Barberry.

While our anit-mobile suit squad is successful in taking-out two Zakus... They're ultimately all killed, including Barberry, when a third Zaku pops up out of the ground where it was hiding. Which seems a little odd to me? Why didn't it pop up sooner and maybe save its comrades?

Our second episode follows Sgt Rayban Surat as he's transferred to the 301st tank squadron. He's going to be driving for Lt. Herman Yandell - an ace tank commander that's taken out several mobile suits

But Yandell seems to be haunted by the same Shinigami that we saw in the first episode. And Yandell is seeking vengeance against a specific white Zaku.

We get a big battle between the tank squadron and some Zakus... Yandell manages to get his vengeance and destroy the white Zaku... But is ultimately killed himself when a group of Zeon soldiers arrives.

Our last episode takes place during the attack on Odessa.

We meet Aline Nazon - an engineer working on the RTX-440 project that's accused of leaking information to Zeon. She's taken out of her cell and pressed into service during the Odessa attack.

The RTX-440, incidentally, is one hell of a scary Guntank. It's big and fast and heavily-armed. Three of these things absolutely tear through Zeon's forces at Odessa.

As the episode progresses we get more of Aline's backstory... Seems she was in love with a man who defected to Zeon which is why she's been accused and left to rot in a jail cell. And it looks like she's made a deal with the Shinigami to get her revenge.

Ultimately Aline does get her revenge... She blows up her Guntank in a kamikaze attack against the Dobday that her ex-lover, Clyde Bettany, is in. She discovers far too late that it was actually all a ruse... He had "defected" to Zeon so that he could feed information to the Federation... And he was actually still very much in love with Aline.

And Aline, herself, gets killed moments later.

So this second series was very different... I realized in that final episode that the only real recurring characters this time around were Col. Colmatta and the Shinigami. Pretty much everyone else just died.

I think I liked the Shinigami framing-device... It felt kind of weird and out of place at first, but I can dig it. In a setting with newtype ghosts and psychoframe bullshit I guess I can accept the existence of some kind of God of Death. And I really liked how it was clearly just all about the death. There were hints now and then that it might be legitimately trying to help somebody get their revenge... But, no, ultimately just getting everyone killed.

It was really brutal to see these Federation soldiers trying to fight off Zeon mobile suits with missile launchers or tanks or whatever. Really very clearly outmatched in every way. Kind of terrifying to see those mobile suits stomping across the battlefield. You can definitely see the early advantage Zeon had.

We're still following the 603rd aboard the Jotunheim, and this time around we're testing out the Mobile Diver system. It's a weird kind of kludged-together weapon system designed to shoot down warships as they launch from Jaburo... There's a big weapon system strapped onto a Z'Gok that gets dropped from orbit and then tries to shoot down the warship mid-air.

And, again we see the old world tragically swept-away by the new. After several failed attempts they finally manage to shoot down several warships... Just before a couple core fighters show up and shoot down the Mobile Diver.

I really liked the family mythology presented in this episode... The Mobile Diver's pilot, Ensign Werner Holbein, has this story of how his grandfather never came back from fighting a shark. The obvious conclusion is that he died... But the family maintains that he's still out there, underwater, fighting sharks. We later discover that his grandfather actually died in a hospital on Side 3 - but the crew resolves to ignore that and believe that he's still out there fighting sharks.

I like to think that Werner himself didn't actually die in the last attempt... He's still out there shooting at warships.

The next episode sees the 603rd testing out the Oggo mobile pod - basically Zeon's version of the Ball. Yes, that's right, Zeon has resorted to using mobile pods. That's how poorly things are going for them.

We see a bunch of very young (children) cadets are deployed to the 603rd to pilot the Oggos. Yes, that's right, Zeon has resorted to using child soldiers. This isn't like Amuro jumping into the Gundam because he's actively getting shot-at and needs to do something... These kids have been intentionally recruited and trained for the job.

One of these kids is Monique Cadillac's younger brother, Erwin.

We get a brief glimpse of the Solay Ray in action as it wipes out a good chunk of the Federation fleet... And then we launch some Oggos to fight some Balls.

Tragically - the Balls are also being piloted by very new cadets/trainees. And, of course, it ends poorly for everyone involved. Erwin is killed and Monique is devastated.

And it feels especially pointless because the Oggo isn't really a new system that needs testing - it's already been adopted for use. The 603rd is just being pressed into actual military duty. And worse still, after the Solar Ray attack, the engagement here in lunar orbit is kind of unnecessary. It's just truly senseless death.

Our final episode unveils the Big Rang mobile armor. This is another weird, kludged-together system made up of a Bigro strapped onto a kind of maintenance depot module designed to resupply Oggos in the field.

There's no longer any illusion of the 603rd testing anything - they're being sent to defend A Baoa Qu along with everyone else.

Monique is still reeling from the loss of her brother.

Oliver is ordered to pilot the Big Rang... And he doesn't do too bad. They manage to hold off a sizeable Federation attack. We eventually get word that A Baoa Qu has fallen, ships are ordered to cease-fire and retreat... But a group of angry Federation mobile suits refuses to stand-down.

So, again, we see a lot of tragic and pointless loss of life. The battle is over, the war is lost, everyone could go back to their ships and live another day... But, instead, they're out on the battlefield murdering each-other.

MS IGLOO is a fairly short series of episodes that originally showed in the Bandai museum in the early 2000s. I guess it also got a physical release at some point... But I never had the opportunity to watch it until now.

This first trio of episodes is called The Hidden One-Year War and follows the 603rd Technical Evaluation Unit aboard the Jotunheim as they test out prototype weapons. And, as the title suggests, it's taking place during the One-Year War.

The Vanishing Serpent of Loum is our first episode...

And right away the first thing I'm noticing is the super-dated computer-generated animation. It doesn't look bad, necessarily... But it's very noticeable. It reminds me of old video game cutscenes.

We're introduced to our recurring characters... Captain of the Jotunheim - Martin Prochnow. The Jotunheim itself used to be a civilian transport ship and the captain is absolutely not accustomed to combat. Then there's Oliver May, the Engineering Lieutenant that serves as our main POV for the series. And Monique Cadillac, a Lieutenant Commander attached to Special Operations.

This first episode revolves around the Jormungand, a super powerful long-range anti-ship cannon. The idea is to take out battleships from well-outside their engagement range. Unfortunately this episode is set around the Battle of Loum so we know the Jormungand is going to be rendered obsolete by the introduction of mobile suits.

Next we have Howls Stained in Dusk.

The ground-war has started and Zeon isn't faring great. They're digging up old materiel and throwing it at the wall, seeing what sticks. This time around we're going to see the Hildolfr in action... It's a giant, transforming tank.

The 603rd is sent to Earth to test the Hildolfr, but they run into a group of Federation forces using captured Zaku IIs. The Hildolfr performs admirably and takes out a half-dozen Zaku IIs... But is ultimately destroyed.

The final episode is Dance of the Orbital Ghosts.

This time we're seeing the Zudah, which was a real treat for me. I've heard about the Zudah here and there, but this is the first time I've actually seen it in action.

For the uninformed - the Zudah was an early contender for Zeon's main mass-produced mobile suit, but lost out to the Zaku I because it had an annoying habit of exploding when pushed too far.

The war continues to go poorly for Zeon and they're trying to raise morale by showing off their great new mobile suit - the Zudah. Which, unfortunately, is the same exact suit that still likes to blow up, just given a new model number and a fresh coat of paint.

This episode is a lot of fun because we get to see some great propaganda films from both the Zeon and Federation.

MS IGLOO is an interesting show...

I definitely got used to the visuals pretty quickly. By the third episode I wasn't really noticing them anymore. I was definitely swept-up in the narrative and caring more about the characters than the graphics.

But, aside from the actual graphics, there's a very odd sense of weightlessness to some of the visuals. Obviously they're in space, so I guess "weightless" isn't the right word. Massless, maybe? There's some scenes where giant battleships move far too quickly and nimbly and it looks very strange.

The Zeon have always basically been space-Nazis... But it feels especially obvious in this show. Something about how many blonde-haired, blue-eyed characters we have... Or the stark lighting... Or the old-timey film-grain effect... It's all got a very heavy WWII aesthetic. And that makes it a little weird to be seeing all these events from the Zeon perspective.

It's kind of fun how these episodes dovetail with the events of Mobile Suit Gundam. We get a brief glimpse of Operation British in-action... Char's red mobile suit has a cameo... We see a completely different perspective on the Battle of Loum... We get to see the aftermath of the Battle of Odessa as Zeon forces flee to space...

There's kind of a recurring theme of the old being swept-away by the new... We see a gunnery officer who dies as the age of big guns and battleships gives way to the age of mobile suits. We see a washed-up tank commander die fighting valiantly against a group of mobile suits. And we see an old test pilot go out in a blaze of glory proving that his mobile suit wasn't a complete failure.