May 25, 2015
"Leave it to the criminal who just loves to fight! Is acting on all your ambitions all you think about? Your handcuffs are never going to come off and you won't ever get anything accomplished!"
Gundam 00f, the tale of the fifth original GN drive, if that doesn't interest you, then the manga will likely prove itself to be outside of your interests. 00f takes place during the first season, and continues on to between the seasons of 00 and follows the story of support organization for Celestial Being, Fereshte. 00f is also in many ways more of a sequel/successor in execution and tone than
...
the second season proved to be.
With an entirely original cast of characters (save for cameos by characters from the anime) the fairly short manga does well to provide another perspective to Celestial Being's impact on the world. The characters themselves have a good variety between them and their relationships as well as their interactions with one another are entertaining to read and develop as the story goes on. The protagonist in particular is always in handcuffs/restraints as well as having a bomb strapped to his neck, and doesn't even agree with Celestial Being's philosophy (even laughing at it), needless to say, he's the radical choice for a pilot, but is very good at what he does (his skill rivaling even Hallelujah's) making him indispensable to a degree, it's an interesting scenario for the crew. Another character who was originally supposed to pilot the GN-001 before Setsuna is conceited and robbed of his fate to be a meister time and time again. Another being a haro capable of projecting itself as a human with the more or less cliche developing emotions/attachments segments (though its history and presence are the more interesting bits, as for an example it does have control over the protagonist's restraints) and just because its cliche doesn't mean it's bad, it's handled well for the most part. Just to describe a few of my favorites in any case.
Returning to the protagonist, Fon. "I like people who try to change the world with their own strength". He has no qualms with taking the lives of others, even his own comrades, even casually thinking that he'll kill Lockon if Lockon fails to satiate his expectations (entertain him) as he watches him at one point. Though despite his very caustic and 'don't give a f**' demeanor, is very astute and perceptive, often figuring out what's going on before any one else in Fereshte or even CB, and can be very pragmatic when he wants to be. He's a refreshing change of pace for a Gundam protagonist, definitely an aberration in any case.
The story fits right in with 00, and follows up on it without disturbing the first season's canon. The story does maintain itself as interesting despite those restrictions though. Fereshte's suits alone have an interesting tie-in as they're the predecessors/prototypes to the suits CB uses in the anime. They even have a very entertaining predicament where Fereshte has four gundams, but only one GN drive, forcing them to select only one gundam for each sortie. In short, Fereshte has its own beginning, its own purpose, its own problems, missions, and end. If anyone has read well executed fanfiction, it often has that feel at times, it takes scenes from the anime that may have not had much purpose, analyzes them, and gives them one, which in turn finds itself on Fereshte's agenda in one form or another, be it a conversation piece, a concern, or even bearing the seeds of an objective.
The art does well to emulate the feel of the 00 anime, panels transition well-- it would be an easy task to adapt if they desired to. Though there are typos (in the official english release), and they can be glaring from time to time.
Overall it's a pretty good read and I'd recommend it if you enjoyed the first season to any fair extent. Though if you didn't, I honestly have no idea how you even chanced upon this manga. I read somewhere this was retconned though, a real shame if that's true, as it could easily have been a better follow up to the first season of 00 than the second season.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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