Indulge me, for a moment, while I Geek Out

The good news is that I don't mean in the "oh my god, something amazing is happening" sort of way. I just want to share my thoughts on something.

The anime show in question: Gundam 00. Season 2 just started up in Japan, so I've been watching both raws and subs (when they show up) of the first two episodes. Bottom line is it's good and y'all should see it.

However, I'm going to talk about something specific, and spoilerific to anyone who yet plans on seeing the first season. If that's you, and you don't want to know, go away.

Here's what is up. End of last season, they killed one of the Gundam Meisters. He went out in a wonderfully epic and manly way (Kamina would be proud) but he very much died. Earlier in the season, we get literally a tiny glimpse of a character who looks almost exactly like that dude. Guess what: it's his brother. Ho snap. But aside from that 10 second bit, no mention of him whatsoever.

Now, over the summer, media began to surface about the upcoming second season, including names and pictures for the new gundams and the cast. Oddly, that dead guy was standing right there next to his shiny new weapon of anthropomorphized mass destruction. What's going on there?

Yup, in a move that should surprise noone, it's not him but his brother. Neil is replaced by Lyle, who inherits his older brother's codename. So, from one perspective, it could be seen as the show's creators "undoing" the character's death because of audience response due to how popular he was. Guy looks the same, pilots the same machine (well, technically, the upgrade) and goes by the same name? Pretty much a clone, right?

See, here's where it gets interesting. I don't know how he's going to develop as a character. Will he be the same old Lockon Stratos that he never was? Maybe, but maybe not.

What I will say is that the more I thought about it, the more I actually liked doing this with the character. At first I thought replacing him with his damn-near-identical brother was a cheap move, but considering the history of the show and the characters in it, it actually makes perfect sense.

In any case, I'm interested to see how "New Lockon" adjusts to his new role as Gundam Meister. I'll probably need to wait a few weeks until his machine actually enters the show, but that's fine.

Ultimately, what's most important is this: Gundam 00 is back and looks to be laying some groundwork for a great second season. Let's hope the don't muck it up.

Out.