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I really loved the first season of demi-chan, unexpectedly more so than what most people seemed to have. So imagine my surprise when I heard (about an hour ago from the time of writing and submitting this) that they just made another episode.

I'm glad to say that the episode was a lot of fun. I wasn't expecting any serious character development or plot progression, instead I got exactly what I wanted. Lighthearted and silly demi-chan shenanigans. Instead of focusing on a particular character like most episodes of the initial season did, the screen time is mostly spread throughout most of the recurring characters of ... the show in a way that ties the ending of the episode with them together enjoying the summer festival.

There's not much to say since it's not particularly dense. I enjoyed it cause I love these characters, and find them interacting with each other (this time mostly in a non-school setting) pretty entertaining. If you remember enjoying the show as much as I did then give this a watch.

I understand the appeal of having gorgeous mecha blowing each other up in a well animated battle spectacle to the tune of snappy upbeat jazz, I really do. It’s just a shame that Gundam Thunderbolt couldn’t deliver much more than that. It’s definitely a good looking and sounding show, but its narrative and characters fall short in comparison. Not to say it can’t be enjoyable and entertaining, but your experience will greatly vary on what you look for in your gundam shows.

The main duo weren’t particularly bad, yet come off as very underwhelming. Not much effort on giving them personality outside of making sure they ... were polar opposites. Io Fleming is reckless, rebellious, and purely driven by his desire to feel alive in the battlefield. Daryl on the other hand is the calm, kind soul that fights to protect his comrades. After the motivations for hating each other are presented early on, these two contrasting individuals fight to preserve their ideals. This dynamic has been played out to death already, and the show doesn’t attempt much to try to change it up.

There is nothing memorable about Daryl besides his limb loss, that’s all he is characterized by. While Io's much more entertaining, he's also a one dimensional jerk. Had there been better characterization, the show would have been more than gorgeous war misery porn. I found it hard to be invested in the cruel war being depicted when the characters are just there to be pitied. Show me more aspects about them, anything besides how much they rather be somewhere else. Towards the climax, the characters are conflicted with tough moral choices, which could had much more impact had they been fleshed out enough for me to care about them.

The aesthetics are by far its strong point. Space battles look detailed and the character designs are appealing. The setting of debris and ruins isn’t particularly great, though the constant light effects keep it from looking dull. The flashback song's a little too corny but it'll mostly come down to whether you’re into jazz/country folk even though they fit the scenes well for the most part.

Its main theme is the harshness of war. Crucial decisions must be carried through, and the people in charge have to live on with its consequences. It’s a fine concept; the problem is that it doesn’t do much with it. “Hey did you know war is sad? Well it is, let me show you, and tell you…constantly”.

There is some strategy behind the battle scenes, but it usually comes down to who has the bigger robot dick. If the Gundam is on screen, be ready to watch a lot of defenseless Zeon mobile suits act as target practice. Enjoying the over powered Psycho Zaku and Gundam face off is the main appeal of the show, since the narrative behind it all isn’t strong enough to warrant a watch. I would recommend this to any mecha fan who wants pretty robots beat the crap out of each other in what is probably the darkest addition of the franchise yet. Fans of the UC gundam storyline may also enjoy it for its setting, references and solid action scenes.