The Women of Gundam 00

I was chatting with Mackie-nii this morning when we came upon Gundam 00. We ended up debating with a lot of the female characters in the cast, so I thought it would make an interesting blog article for those who watch the series.

I realized how long this article mind end up, so I'll first talk about the women that I like and maybe write about the women I don't like later on. I've only seen until episode 20 of season 2 and had some spoilers from episode 21, so if you don't want spoilers, read at your own risk~

In no particular order, let's start with Soma Peries aka Marie Parfacy. She's actually one of my favorite characters in the series because she's a strong girl. It's difficult to picture her as Marie back in the HRL supersoldier program, who was paralyzed and robbed of her 5 senses, only being able to communicate using quantum brainwaves. However, I prefer her as Marie who assists Allelujah Haptism than as Soma who makes him worry...

Honestly, Allelujah should focus on fighting in the battlefield. Afterall, Marie reverted back to being Soma because she was horrified in losing Sergei Smirnov, the only father-figure she had. I agree with Lyle Dylandy that Allelujah should understand why she's chosing to fight, though I don't think seeking revenge is the right way of dealing with loss...

Then there's Anew Returner. When she was introduced to the crew of Ptolemaios in Celestial Being's L3 Base, we as an audience knew that she was an Innovator, but I use to think she was a double agent who knew what she was doing. I love Lockon Stratos' character in the first season and despite my preference of Neil over Lyle, I was a angry at Anew for playing with Lockon's feelings.

Or so I thought she was playing. In fact, she was being used by Ribbons Almark, the head of the Innovators, to know the location of Ptolemaios II. Anew was also used by Ribbons to try and kill Lyle but was shot down by Setsuna F. Seiei before Ribbons could do so.

You could imagine the tragedy and anger of Lyle that he could not kill Anew to even save himself, but instead of me being annoyed with Lyle, I feel for him... Anew did love him sincerely, and so did he to her. He knew early on that she was an Innovator, but he still loved her. It's a shame they can't be together anymore.

One of the most overlooked characters is Shirin Bakhtiar, who wishes to change Azadistan and give a brighter future to her homeland. She is willing to do anything to achieve this goal, which can be seen in her roles as Marina Ismail's confidant in the first season and anti-federation group, Katharon's sub-commander under Klaus Grado in the second season.

Marina refused to resolve to fighting and is an eternal pacifist, which is what made Shirin leave her side in the first place. At the end of the first season, Shirin knew that Azadistan would not change despite how the world stood as seemingly "united", so she continued to fight for Azadistan in her own way. Her theories were proven correct in the second season when Ali Al-Saachez bathed Azadistan in flames and the A-Laws started destroying any country which opposed their twisted version of peace.

It makes me wonder if she and Claus were able to survive that ambush. I hate Marina for not taking the gun and chose to be a burden for Claus and Shirin, but that's a different story.

And then we have Sumeragi Lee Noriega, the tactical forecaster of the Celestial Beings. I find her a little bit annoying for having drunk herself silly in the beginning of season two, but you can't deny her talent and speed in formulating plans to make their interventions successful. As Mackie-nii said, without her, Gundam 00 would be just another Gundam Wing.

I can't tell at this point whether I really like her or not, but I the good thing about her is that she's a sexy girl without the usually girly things that go with it. She's down to earth and doesn't worry so much about her looks which is a big deal for me since I can't stand girls who check the mirror every 2 minutes.

I do however, prefer her mentor, Kati Mannequin. She was able to figure out that it was Sumeragi, or rather "Leesa Kujo" (Sumeragi's real name), who was devising plans for th Gundam Meisters. I also admired how she decided to send her troops to help Katharon, Celestial Being, the regular army, and the rogues in eliminating the falling orbital elevator pieces during the coup d’état. It makes me wonder where she is now, since she's reported to be mysteriously MIA.

These are the women I admire in the series so far, but I'd guess this is subject to change when series comes to an end. I'll probably write about the women I don't like later on, but feel free to leave your own thoughts about the characters here... ^^