Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans Episode 23 Discussion

TripleSRank said:
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It is from this state that I wish to digress and talk about Mikazuki's character. Although we don't know the particulars of his and Orga's childhoods, we do know that they were both exposed to violence at a young age, and children start largely innocent in their actions because they must be taught right from wrong. At that, I believe it was implied that they were defending themselves. While that may be morally sound, it understandably had an adverse effect on their development as people, especially in the case of Mika. Although Mikazuki has occasionally exhibited traits that border on sociopathy, we've been clearly shown that he often does care about other people, and we've also been shown that although his exposure to high amounts of violence have dulled his sensitivity to killing and death, his body still undergoes shock from killing (such as with the shaking in episode 13), and the deaths of those important to him do have an effect on him. Thus, I believe we can conclude that he has a conscience and empathy, but that doesn't change that his sense of right and wrong is skewed, which brings us to the next person of interest.

Orga can in many ways be held indirectly responsible for all of the actions of Tekkadan in general and Mikazuki in particular. Although he was only a child himself at the time, he is the one who "trained" Mika into becoming the desensitized killer that he is, but note that I use the word "killer" loosely since I don't intend to imply that Orga ever had Mika kill someone who wasn't a direct threat to them when they were young. What I am saying is that Orga is directly responsible for shaping Mika's moral values and sense of justice, as well as that of Tekkadan to a lesser extent. We can point out that he's young and that he likely doesn't fully understand the degree of impact his actions have had on the development of Mika and the others, but that doesn't absolve him of his responsibility. I'm making a point of this because he has always acted as Mika's moral compass and as the "limiter" to whatever wild actions Mika might have taken on his own. The relationship between them obviously isn't that static, as was explored near the beginning of the series with the reveal that Orga makes many of his decisions because he wants to keep impressing Mika and being the person Mika needs, but, again, he is in the leadership role in more ways than one, and has had a tremendous impact on Mika's personality and growth. That places a great deal of meaning on the recent developments with Biscuit and Mikazuki.

The point I'm getting to is that Orga can't afford to be letting his emotions cause knee-jerk decisions that could endanger Tekkadan and potentially compromise their moral stability. Mikazuki in particular has grown more and more independent over the course of the show, and to be honest this is potentially dangerous for Tekkadan as a whole since many of the other members look up to Mika: If Orga pushes the revenge idea and doesn't correct it soon, it could have an adverse effect on all of Tekkadan, and the "balance of power" between Orga and Mika has already shifted somewhat toward Mika's favor despite Orga's (late) realization that he is going entirely against Biscuit's wishes. No, Tekkadan did not have any obligation to accept Carta's terms of challenge; Lafter pointed out as much herself. However, Mika's actions were excessively brutal and had a direct effect on a large part of Tekkadan. While one could argue that Carta's group posed a direct threat to Tekkadan and Mikazuki "merely" stopped them before they could enforce that threat, it would be remiss to ignore that he essentially attacked non-combatants (which is exactly what Carta and her men were outside of their mobile suits), which is entirely hypocritical given his anger about how Biscuit died. He lowered himself to Carta's level in attacking her as a non-combatant, and while he himself may not care and many might feel vindicated in that he did it to "avenge Biscuit's death", that doesn't change that a line has been crossed by Mika (and by proxy Tekkadan) and Mika has had a direct, most likely adverse effect on Tekkadan's internal culture...

Harotaros said:
For some reason, I started to not care or feel anything towards the Tekkadan crew a few episodes back. I felt sadder seeing Carta's death than when i saw Biscuits..

HatsumiShinogu said:
While I like McGillis, wasn't he only fooling Carta? I bet he knew that she liked him and he used that to his advantage. I hate that he's trying to use Gaelio as well and I really hope that Gaelio doesn't end up killing him. That sure would be sad and tragic. Well, if Gaelio doesn't die, that is.

Kudelia sure is getting stronger but I still don't like her as a potential love interest for Mika. I like Atra but I highly doubt she and Mika will be together.

I'm pretty sure there will be a second season as there's no way they will wrap up the whole thing in two episodes. The only thing is that a major character might die by the end of this season?

Are we ever going to know whether Yamagi likes Shino or not?

Luminlight said:
That fight sucked.