#JIZIL JIZIN

[holmslice69art]

(2022)

[wordsandrobots]

Iron-Blooded Oprhans: Urdr Hunt - Episode 15: Brothers' Ship [Part 1]

Trafalgar Log's latest set of fansubs for the Urdr Hunt are up and this installment sees us whisked back to Earth for a Zan Clan family reunion, Wistario going into the mining business, and Berose fervently wishing the job market was more in her favour.

Before we get to that, I need to note my continuing discomfort with the artistic choices made regarding the Zan brothers and now their father. I'd welcome the opinion of somebody actually qualified to have one - particularly in relation to other depictions of African Americans in recent Japanese animation - but from the perspective of a white Englishman well-aware this is far from the worst example of racism in anime you could pick, the exaggeration and colouring decisions nevertheless feel extremely yikes.

Rightly or wrongly, nothing about the writing itself has struck me as egregiously othering. Rome and Aiko are rich, blundering bullies, but they're still presented as people, with this episode unpacking their motivation and adding a little more depth to Aiko in particular. I'd feel differently if they were the only black/non-Japanese characters in Iron-Blooded Orphans, but this is not at all the case.

IBO's art direction, however, makes a lot of its shady underworld types into grotesques. The anime's style is generally fairly unflattering, with few characters being overtly pretty (Shino has his jug-handle ears; Akihiro, his resting thundercloud face; Chad clearly needs to eat more; and while I notice someone has been turning the bishie dial up on his recent art, Eugene is generally more sour-looking in the show itself; etc). But then there are the likes of Orcus, the Brewers and even Jasley, who stand out for ugliness that takes on cartoonish proportions. Mix that with explicitly racialised features and the results aren't great, particularly when the detail level drops during the actual animation.

It's frustrating in light of, for example, Gundam:Narrative being actively edited for things like this in its English release, G-Witch not having the problem to begin with, and IBO's own manga spin-off presenting a comparable example of character design that *isn't* as heavily exaggerated. (This last being the reason I wanted to draw attention to this link with alignment - Jizil Jizin [Gundam names, my gods] is an honourable and upstanding man, in contrast to the Zans.)

Anyway. Didn't feel I could write this episode up without addressing that. Now on to the plot.

Hajiroboshi  (Part 1, Part 2)

Departure (Part 1, Part 2)

598 (Part 1, Part 2)

Corridor of Betrayal (Part 1, Part 2)

Holder of the Ring (Part 1, Part 2)  

Unexpected Encounter (Part 1, Part 2)

Venus’ Worth (Part 1, Part 2)

Brothers' Ship (Part 1, Part 2)

We open with Rome Zan phoning his local wholesaler. He and his brother are heading home to visit their ailing father and Rome wants some souvenirs. Hearing it's for Mr Rubian, the saleperson is happy to oblige, offering flowers before Rome insists on fine booze and a selection of luxury food as well.

Aiko Zan is less interested in the prospective gifts than the fact their dad has summoned them out of the blue: that is usually a sign he's pissed-off -- and not, as Rome suggests, that he's getting weaker and wants to see his sons.

Rome waves away the concerns, explaining that that's why he's going to show up with lots of gifts, but Aiko is unconvinced at his older brother's ability to put Rubian in a good mood, muttering that he always tends to make dad angry instead . . .

Of course, he's not brave enough to say this to Rome's face. But he is brave enough to threaten 'Berosuke' -- that is, Berose Kousa, the Zans' Urdr Hunt guide -- against blabbing about the brothers' total failure to make any progress.

Berose -- who is so utterly done with these two -- tries to explain that she hasn't had contact with Rubian since he gave the ring to his sons, which Aiko doesn't believe, though that scarcely matters. Rome is busy convincing himself that this sudden invite means his dad is about to hand full control of the Zan Clan over to him!

Spoilers: nope.

Down on Earth, presumably in the SAU, we arrive at an honest-to-goodness castle, set in beautiful garden grounds and decked out like a palace. In a fittingly richly-decorated room, Rome greets his 'Big Papa' with an enthusiastic hug, which the elderly man returns, greeting Aiko too. But the formalities quickly sour: the bed-ridden crime boss is not happy with Rome's gifts. He has no time for flowers and his doctor has told him to stay away from booze and meat. He called them here to discuss the Urdr Hunt. How's it going?

Rome deflects the question to Aiko who says it's going so well, dad'll laugh his ass off! Which does not sound like the reports Rubian has been getting . . .

We're then introduced to Jabiro, an actually competent member of this crime family (albeit not an actual relation, as far as I can tell). He has been monitoring the brothers in order to make sure the Clan's reputation isn't tarnished by their shenanigans. It's obvious he has a very low opinion of them and the feeling is mutual.

In any case, Rubian concludes over Rome's protestations that the fastest way to get an accurate update is to invite Berose in to join them.

Berose proceeds to drop the brothers straight into the shit: so far, Rome and Aiko have failed to visit any of the four waypoints, instead starting fights with the other participants that they lost and suffered a great deal of damage as a result. She assumes this places them far behind their rivals.

Rubian thanks her for confirming Jabiro's intel and Jabiro himself is ecstatic, seeing this as proof the brothers are unfit to take over leadership. The old man concurs. He thought choosing between his sons by assessing which of them contributed more to the Hunt would force them to grow as leaders, but instead they've wasted time, people and money. If that continues, he'll need to have them eliminated for bringing harm to the Clan.

Jabiro would be only too happy to fulfill that order -- but at the end of the meeting 'Big Papa' relents slightly. Without much time left, he gives Rome and Aiko one last chance to make him proud they are his sons.

As the scene ends, we are informed that from the bottom of her heart, Berose does not care about any of this.

Returning to the battleship, an infuriated Rome wishes his dad would hurry up and die. Perhaps he ought to kill him and take over by force! Aiko cringes at the idea -- Rubian would definitely take Rome out first -- and anyway, surely he doesn't mean that? Rome shouldn't joke about killing their beloved father.

Rome brushes him off, caught up with worry that Jabiro is going to take over the clan in his place if they mess up again. He rounds on Berose, pissed she betrayed them but needing to know how they can win the Hunt.

She sighs over the fact they're only now asking this and explains she doesn't think it's possible when they're so far behind. She drew the short straw to act as their guide, and has given up all hope of them succeeding.

Rome grows angrier yet but Aiko begs him not to actually hit Berose -- what if that gets them disqualified? Berose herself expresses complete indifference to the prospect. Did I mention how few fucks she has left to give?

Thus thwarted, Rome orders his crew to prepare to crush all their rivals. If there's no one else left, surely that means they win? With another sigh, Berose proposes a more efficient method. The mission of the Hunt appears to be to visit each of the waypoints and hit certain goals (gather a prize, confirm you've been there, collect data). There might be a system by which everyone who reaches a waypoint could achieve the same goal. So if the other participants have completed the four already flagged, perhaps the Zan Clan could negotiate with them to share what they've already collected -- or something?

Predictably, Rome and Aiko immediately decide to take the data by force. But who to rob? They don't want to mess with the Omden Colony Company and one of the crew has found out that the Rakou Pirates are linked to Teiwaz -- definitely a no-no. With Foundling now under the Pirates' protection and the Zans apparently not being aware of Mendou yet, the choice is obvious: the brat in the three-horned mobile suit!

Pause because apparently we have character limits on 'blocks' now. Take a break! Have a drink! Revel in the fact that the IBO Moon Steel manga now has its own website! Now back to the story.

Over at Radonitsa Colony (an indeterminate time later; I assume the Zans were travelling to and fro over the couple of weeks established as passing in the last episode), Wistario himself is inspecting a refitted hangar aboard the Erda II. They'll now be able to carry both Hajiroboshi and Asmodey inside the ship, which Range in particular is happy about.

Katya hurries up with a basket full of cloth -- she's decided to make curtains for the windows inside the ship, putting her sowing skills to use. Although, she's disappointed with the fabric selection on offer in the colony. Don't they have fashionable shops here?

Demner admits it's a results of the limited supplies Radonitsa receives. They barely have what it takes to get by. Katya points out they'll need to improve that if they want to encourage visitors and sets herself up as an advisor on the kinds of goods to sell. Range is taken aback by her leaping straight to planning tourist tat -- shouldn't that wait until they've founded their country? But Katya is firm: there's so much to do, they *have* to start planning ahead. And off she goes to get started on those curtains.

The others reflect on her improved mood, with Korunaru concluding she must have sorted out her feelings before asking to be allowed to help Katya out.

Wistario, Demner and Range head back to the Afam Equipment office, where they find Sprah in the middle of a crisis. Mobius Metals have suspended deliveries of colony repair supplies on account of their entire mining workforce quitting to go find better-paid work further out in the Earth-sphere colonies. While I obviously salute miners seeking greater remuneration, this puts our Wiz in a bit of a bind, since without those metals, Afam Equipment can't keep Radonitsa in working order.

Never one to shirk his duties as an upbeat teen anime protagonist, Wistario decides the best course is to fly out to an asteroid with the mobile suits, mine the ore themselves (scab) and return it to Mobius for processing. If nothing else, it will be a great way to test the upgraded ship while they wait for the next waypoint announcement.

Impressed as usual with his charge taking the initiative, Demner starts to offer him a misuzu candy -- only to be beaten to the punch by Sprah! So many spoiled brats in this game, my word . . .

Might as well start doing segment breaks more generally then. Please stop me if I start doing custom line breaks ala my fanfic. Or, you know, don't. I'm sure I'll end up writing about these guys eventually.

The Zans are back in the Venus-sphere and they pick up the Erda II as it heads off to do some blackleg mining. Rome immediately orders his (I remind you: human debris-piloted) mobile suits to smash the Afam crew to bits in an all-out attack. Aiko reminds him the aim this time is to steal the Hunt data and totally crushing them would therefore probably not be a good idea. Rome counters that he only means to destroy the mobile suits; they'll take over the ship afterwards.

Quite correctly, Aiko points out that they've failed multiple times to best Wistario and Range. He calls on the crew to support coming up with a better plan, which gets a couple of tepid positive responses, to Rome's extreme displeasure. He accuses Aiko of being a coward, telling him not to worry. Rome's taken care of everything so far. Better to let him keep handling things, right?

This proves to be Aiko's breaking point. He insists they need to do things right this time. Because, he adds tearfully, Dad said he was proud of them!

Berose reminds the audience that this is not exactly what Rubian said, but Aiko warms to his theme, saying they have to win the Urdr Hunt to make their father happy (which, to be fair to him, does indicate he's got the gist of his situation even if the details haven't quite landed, and he certainly has a better grasp on what will make Rubian happy than Rome does).

Aiko proposes dividing their forces, with one half creating a diversion to draw the Gundams out before the other surrounds them for the kill. Rome stands fast though. Why should the mighty Zan Clan need to plan against such a tiny organisation? His dad always made the Clan bigger by attacking their enemies head-on. That's how Rome -- the Clan does things and anyone who has a problem with it can step forward now!

With the crew cowed and the ship arriving at the asteroid, he orders the first and second squads out, with two more and a chastened Aiko on standby . . .

The Edra II quickly detects the approaching Gildas and we're treated to a new launch sequence centred around the extended mobile suit bay, which can now deploy both Hajiroboshi and Asmoday at the same time. It's cute and provides a clear idea of how the cockpits work, even if the bay itself is literally just a big box bolted on to the back of the ship.

Range is still wearing his poncho over his normal-suit, by the way. Love a man who commits to the bit.

Anyway, the Gundams unceremoniously wipe the floor with the Zan Clan forces because of course they do. Rome actually appears to attempt a variation of Aiko's suggestion here, allowing the first wave to engage the enemy then sending the third and fourth squads to surround them, but it's to no avail. Frustrated, Rome orders Aiko to head out and take command. But again, Aiko says no. This happens every time! They've got to pull back and regain their strength.

Naturally, this does not calm Rome down. He insists if they keep attacking, it'll be different, and hits Aiko for talking back to him.

Quite possibly from the floor, Aiko correctly breaks down his situation: Rome is always like this. He's always right, Aiko is useless, he does what Rome says. Well, Aiko can't take it any more! He's going to go his own way to do his own thing!

And taking his mobile suit plus a couple of crew members (who came to his assistance when he was struck and now seem very eager to get off this ship), he leaves, Rome shouting impotently after him.

In space, Wistario notes the Zan Clan seem to have stopped attacking, which Range observes was quicker than usual. Where are the gaudy brothers? Well, who cares? Time to dig up some rocks!

Rome gets a report about the Gorgeous Silver and two Gildas escaping the ship. He cannot believe Aiko has turned his back on him. With a roar of rage, he once more demands his brother return.

Watching from the sidelines, Berose wonders what the hell she's supposed to do now.

And there we leave things for this installment. As I said up top, I do feel this started to give us some depth to the Zan brothers. It's nothing unexpected, but it's clear that while Rome is willing to make a performance of caring for his father, he lacks any real affection for the man and just wants him to hurry up and die. Aiko, by contrast, genuinely seems to care about making Rubian happy and definitely craves affection from him. Rome's unthinking aggression in combat is apparently derived from beliefs about the way his dad did things, while Aiko continues to display a greater degree of thought that he can't really do anything with in his brother's presence. It was predictable they'd come to blows and I'm interested to see how this pans out. I think it unlikely Aiko will be in a hurry to genuinely ally with Wistario but I do wonder if he'll do something with Berose's suggestion of negotiation now, even if only as a ploy.

Berose herself gets some extra characterisation too, which is mostly 'this sucks and I couldn't care less about these people', placing her at odds with the other guide we've spent time with. She did leap quite quickly to suggesting ways for the brothers to catch up, though, implying that she could continue to be a source of support for Rome going forward. We'll see.

[aaron-the-blm-ver-ka]

IF YOU  EVER FEEL EMBARRASSED BY WHATEVER NAME YOU GIVE TO YOUR OC’S, I WANT YOU TO REMEMBER THAT THERE IS AN OFFICIAL CANONICAL MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM FRANCHISE CHARACTER NAMED

JIZIL JIZIN