Reconguista in G Movie Part 2: Bellri's Fierce Charge

Summary

In an attempt to rescue Bellri and the others, Dellensen launches an attack on the pirate corps's Megafauna. Bellri, forced into space combat in Earth orbit, fails to realize he is facing his former instructor and shoots him down with the G-Self.

Meanwhile, the Capital Army demands the return of the G-Self and Raraiya Monday, and deploys first the Mask team's Elf Bullocks and then Becker's Wuxia team. Behind the scenes, a crisis is developing which will drive them all to violate the taboos of SU-Cordism-the existence of a threat from space.

Review

OK, so we're at the point where the show- er, I meant movie, has settled down into the calm before the storm. If you need a refresher as to where we are in the story, please see my review of the first film. That is if you can call the first film a story as opposed to a series of sequential animation frames that tell a scripted narrative.

Bellri and his friends in the militia allied to Ameria (yup, subtle) have found themselves being pursued, not only by the Capital Tower (the nominal power on Earth that distributes the technology that the colony on the Moon makes) but by the newly minted Capital Army. The Army seems to be made of elements from the Tower who are more eager to confront the powers on Earth and on the Moon. They have access to more advanced equipment and ships, are more pro-military action, and have senior ministers at the Tower as their heads of staff. At the same time, Bellri is starting to find out why Aida was so upset with the death of Lt. Cahill in the first movie when he kills a former Tower instructor in battle.



This time around, the lines between the good guys and the enemy are starting to become blurred. Bellri finds himself drawn in by the gravity of the conflict and is starting to be bound to Aida's group not because they're any better than his old friends and comrades at the Tower but simply because he's in the seat of the Gundam and the suit's with Aida's people. So he fights with them. Along with that, Noredo Nug and Raraiya are with Bellri and he looks out for both of them. Raraiya's story starts to open up more and we begin to get indications of who she was before landing on Earth. Oddly, it is the insanely overconfident Klim Nick who starts to put some of Raraiya's story together simply by taking the time to chat with her. Aida's story also gets teased out and we begin to explore her position within the Pirates and how her father's place as head of the Amerian political machine colours her need to prove herself to the pirates even though they hold her in high regard.



Tomino is better here than in the first film, blending the mess of the battles with the mess of the political manoeuvring going on with each side. The Tower is blinding its own people as to why its Army is now in charge. The cheering crowds blindly enthuse as the latest squad and equipment is shown off to take the fight to the 'pirates'. All the while, the players behind the curtain plan the next act. What I like here is that Tomino is slowly introducing Towasanga; the colony on the Moon, the idea having been introduced in the earlier Tomino-created Turn A Gundam, that makes the batteries and tech that has helped the Earth recover from the events of the Dark Period (Turn A Gundam took place 500 years before Recon G, according to Tomino). Towasanga is a major player precisely because without them, the Earth and all its political machinations couldn't exist and function. How much the Moon race will tolerate as they see the Earth's factions starting to splinter and fight is a see-saw in the plot.



Reconguista in G still doesn't make a lot of sense. Tomino just doesn't care about things like pacing, editing transitions, or even tone. He is, however, obsessed with the idea of verisimilitude. That is the idea that just because it seems implausible for people who get caught up in the shenanigans of the plot would be that stupid and blunder further into a conflict with no notion of the players involved doesn't mean it can't happen. Indeed, Luin Lee (one of Bellri's old Capital Guard mates) takes on the persona of Captain Mask in order to bring the Pirates in. He does this because his people were once used as food (no, really) in the Dark era and he thinks by bringing in the pirates, specifically the G-Self Suit that Bellri now commands, his people will achieve recognition. However, the other Capital staff still regard his people as sub-human and brown-nosers. In the end, I think Lee will be disappointed at his rewards for a job well done. He doesn't see that he and his people are being used for another, more twisted, use. If they can be led down the path of self-destruction, anybody in the story can. I have no doubt that there are similar stories in the Amerian and Pirate groups.

Overall, this is a better effort than the first film. But is it because we are over the lunacy and chaos of the first film's endless back and forth between the Capital and the Pirate ship? Or is it because Tomino now has time to breathe (if such a thing is possible with him) and can dedicate time to his characters? I don't know but the third movie's going to be a doozy; falling back to the chaos of the first film or more development as in the second one. Remember, he has two more films after this one. Could I recommend this to someone new to the series? No, in good conscience I couldn't because the first film is a tough sell and that one helps introduce you to the settings and the characters. Here, you're dropped from orbit and have to hope for the best. Does that make it a bad film? No, the film's better structured than the first and the battles and animation are much better. You just have to get through the crazy haze from Tomino first to get here.

Rating: 7/10