It starts off where we last left, with Kamille dealing with a more psychotic Four Murasame. It ends with the return of Rosamia Badam, who is now brainwashed in her own terrible way. Back in volumes 3 and 4, I mentioned how I disliked how these two characters were handled. Both filled the same general role of "teenage girl made into mentally unstable Cyber Newtype", and were introduced within episodes of one another. I don't know what Tomino's intentions were when writing this part of the story, but either he or his editors realized that it would look sloppy for both of them to coexist. As a result, Rosamia was whisked away almost as quickly as she was introduced, making way for Four to dominate the entirety of Volume 4 to become Kamille's impossible love interest, the Zeta Gundam equivalent of Lala Sune.In Volume 8, these two tragic young women essentially trade places in regards to screen time, though it doesn't really matter. Four is killed at the disc's start (if you count her arrival at the end of Vol. 7, her return lasts just two episodes), while Rosamia dominates the last two eps, with at least one more appearance at the start of Vol. 9. Just like before, there's simply not enough time for the show to handle both characters properly, but once again I'd say that Four gets the better treatment. The show does a reasonable enough job selling the idea that she's (sadly) a lost cause, and her death allows Kamille to learn some important life lessons from his mentors. If the intention was to use Four to demonstrate the tragic nature of Cyber Newtypes, then I'd say it succeeds.
Rosamia, on the other hand, has been conditioned into thinking she's Kamille's brother, which leads to a very awkward episode which also features Haman Kahn and Mineva Zabi in a bit of absurd comic relief. For whatever reason, the AEUG take her on board, and it becomes apparent that she's going to be have a mental breakdown before flipping out and being killed in battle. With little background information on her character, and no knowledge as to what was done to her off screen, so far Rosamia feels like an unfortunate waste of a character. Perhaps they could have given her some of the purpose that was ultimately reserved for Four, though my gut tells me that it would be better to write her out.
I can't end this post without mentioning "Day at Dakar", perhaps the most widely referenced episode of Zeta Gundam. It is during this ep. that Char makes his famous speech, which anyone and everyone cites as one of his finest moments as a character, and a fine moment for Gundam in general. I'll have to go back and watch it subtitled, to see if it lends any more gravitas to the moment. In English, there's no doubt the scene is important, but for whatever reason I was expecting something more.
Despite my gripes with the characterization of the Cyber Newtypes, I liked this batch of episodes. It isn't Zeta at its most gripping, but it's well animated, and occasionally dramatic (and goofy). Still, I'm increasingly curious - and afraid - of what will come next. There's only ten episodes left, and it doesn't feel like the show is anywhere near ready to wind down. Something big is going to have to happen to set up for the endgame. That, or it will be rushed to at the last moment.
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