#GundamAGE ep22: Flit has put so many previous Gundam protagonists to shame, that Tomino should feel ashamed of himself. #anime 

I don't know whether to be more impressed by Flit, or by the
Federation forces' overall competence. This also once again allows me
to say that despite Zeheart's sexy quotient and first-rate X-Rou--
Newtype skills, he's still a terrible commander. He's no Char or
Athrun in that department. But most of all it allows me to say that
Gundam AGE is a very entertaining show. There's a special kind of
payoff you get from this type of narrative.

And that's the enjoyment (artificial or not) of seeing characters
progress over a long period of time. And the additional joy of seeing
various relationships evolve, devolve and permeate.

The episode starts off with a flashback of Zeheart at a very young age
talking to Lord Ezelcant, who for now remains faceless. Zeheart is
told of the beauty of Earth and foolishness of humans. When I hear of
someone talking of the "human foolishness" it's either a god, or some
guy who has completely lost faith in humanity. Those people are
generally very dangerous, because they end up becoming capable of
taking or ordering the taking of many human lives. It's a level of
contempt that leads to a an extreme level of cowardice and
callousness. It happened with Char in Char's Counterattack, and has
continued in Gundam ever since. I have no doubt that Lord Ezelcant
will be no better.

He also seems like a powerful Newtype, giving Zeheart a vision of
Earth, just by touching him. I have to say, that kind of telepathy is
pretty boss.

Regardless, it seems this conversation is something Zeheart holds
onto, and it's helping to spur him on through his actions now. Those
actions happen to be the annihilation of Big Ring and the invasion of
Earth. And the show doesn't waste much time with prep before we're in
an all out battle.

It felt good, reminding me of the first generation of AGE at its end
when things got brutal and intense. You could feel the intensity in
this battle even amongst the grunts. I don't know if the Newtype
corps of the Magician's Eight were supposed to be a nod to the Black
Tri-Stars (they didn't have any personality and they weren't a trio,
so I say no), but they did show far the Vagain forces had come in
cultivating Newtype powers. I thought for sure they were gonna cut an
uncontested swath through the Feddies, all the way to Woolf and Asemu.
I was wrong, I underestimated the most powerful, most important
character in this show up to this point. Flit Asuno.

I know Flit was dedicated, but to think that he has become such a
competent tactitian and commander is pretty amazing. I'm not saying
he's a Legend of the Galactic Heroes-level tactitian, but he's
definitely an improvement over Grodek. Despite having what the show
called an inferior force, he was able to neutralize the Magician's
Eight (mostly) and protect his flanks without sacrificing any defense.
Things only got truly crazy once Zeheart (bad commander! Bad!) and
Desil (that wonderful ball of pettiness and chaos) joined the battle.

I have to say, I'm worried about Woolf a bit now. Once Desil and
Zeheart joined the chaos, he took some serious damage. I've been
trolled before by perceived sempai mortality (Macross Frontier), but I
have enough experience to believe that the golden armor that has
protected him for so many episodes may finally be starting to fray.

Any battle that pushes Woolf back gets my attention. It didn't look
like he could handle Desil and Zeheart was getting some dangerous
eagle-eyed shots on him. If it wasn't for Flit's surprisingi
intervention (good commander! Good!) then I might have thoght that
Asemu would be picking up his Newtype powers from a tragic loss.

Ah yeah! Flit's return to battle was the crowning moment for this
episode. When a Gundam pilot returns to combat after a long hiatus
it's usually a big moment. It was for Amuro, though there are plenty
of stubborn pilots who never really take a break from piloting (Heero,
Char, Setsuna).

Every Gundam needs a good, bitter rivalry. Bad blood and hate are the
spice of a good Gundam narrative. That said, Gundam AGE needs Desil
and Flit right now. Zeheart and Asemu feels a little too whiny and
angsty for me. Too much like Athrun and Kira not seeing eye to eye.
That rivalry rarely got intense enough for me. And I don't see
Zeheart packing his foot locker and shuttling over to the Feddies
anytime soon. So that kind of relationship seems like a waste at the
moment.

In the end, Flit dominated his duel with Desil despite his aging
AGE-1, and he won the battle tactically with a little help from his
XO. He truly outshined the entire cast, including the current gen
whelps who peppered his battlefield. It was a glorious, though
temporary victory that left the Vagan military running away with their
tail cannons between their jagged pointy legs. You gotta love it.

On the more subtle side, I'm sure Desil will only be more obsessed
after meeting Flit in the AGE-1 again. Asemu is only gonna get more
insecure after encountering Zeheart again, and once again coming short
of praise from his father. And you would think Zeheart would get some
criticism for losing such a big battle. But I'm not so sure about
that last one. He may be too pretty to suffer any consequences
without further failures.

Oh by the way, do we really need cutaways before and during the battle
of Romary looking forlorn on the bridge, uttering Zeheart and Asemu's
names to herself? We get it! Don't make this like Bleach or Naruto
or even the first age of Gundam AGE where the chick calls the guy's
name out over and over again without doing a damn thing! Seriously!
This is one of my pet peeves. It's so annoying and it gnaws at me.
Have a decent female character with a decent part, or have her shut
the hell up until after the mission/campaign.