I not too long ago took the chance to see the theatrical 4K screening of the feature-length Gundam Wing: Limitless Waltz Particular Version in theaters. It was preceded by two quick works from the world of Gundam Iron-Blooded Orphans, and people are what I’ll be specializing in.
First up was Cell Swimsuit Gundam Iron-Blooded Orphans Urdr-Hunt Particular Version: The Path of the Little Challenger. The title is an actual mouthful, and that’s as a result of it’s a compilation work consisting of animated shorts from the Urdr-Hunt cell recreation, which is ready within the Iron-Blooded Orphans universe. It facilities round a boy from Venus named Wistario Afam, who enters a mysterious stellar scavenger hunt referred to as the Urdr-Hunt.
The self-esteem of the story is clearly derived from the supply materials’s game-esque components, and the shorts themselves are just a little disjointed, with the in-game components meant to attach them collectively seemingly changed by narration and probably different bits of animation. The primary forged of Urdr-Hunt doesn’t embody any established characters from the anime, however numerous facet characters do make appearances. Provided that the presentation is inherently flawed—it feels much less prefer it’s about making a cohesive work, and extra about having a longtime model of the animations in a format that doesn’t require you to play a recreation that’s not accessible—I in the end don’t begrudge it being a little bit of a slog to observe.
My fundamental takeaways are available in two components: First, I loved the best way it expands on the woefully under-explored setting of Iron-Blooded Orphans, comparable to the looks of extra of the Cell Armors from the “Calamity Warfare” that’s so important to the backstory. Second, as the one Gundam sequence explicitly in favor of polyamory, I might inform that this ingredient was nonetheless very a lot current in the principle “love triangle.” Nothing is conclusive or occurs outright, but it surely isn’t fooling anybody.
Following Urdr-Hunt was the Iron-Blooded Orphans tenth anniversary quick, Wedge of Interposition. It takes place between seasons 1 and a pair of, and exhibits the Tekkadan crew transitioning to a brand new stage of their lives now that they’ve some actual notoriety, with explicit concentrate on Orga because the chief having to discover ways to work together with extra “civilized” bigwigs by doing issues like “studying to learn and write.” I discovered the quick to be a quick but heartwarming take a look at the group’s camaraderie, which I understand is kind of uncommon amongst Gundam entries. Positive, there are many tales about folks being introduced collectively in warfare, however any sense of unity often comes from extreme rising pains.
After which the ending credit are crammed with shirtless footage of Orga, Mikazuki, and the remainder. Really, they know their viewers.
The conclusion I got here to in watching each of those is that I definitely wouldn’t thoughts a prequel or sequel to Iron-Blooded Orphans. Whereas I actually just like the animeoverall, one of many extra disappointing issues ultimately was not attending to see extra of the worldbuilding. What now we have with these two quick items is respectable, however I believe there’s a lot extra tales to inform.
