Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt vols. 11 & 12

I blink for a minute and now I’ve got two volumes of “Thunderbolt” to review.  That’s not a bad thing as vols. 11 & 12 represent a major turning point in the narrative.  It’s clearly seen in vol. 11 which focuses exclusively on Darryl and his comrades as they defect from Zeon to Sojo Levan Fu and the Nanyang Alliance.  It’s not a clean process, but it exposes enough weakness and rot within Zeon that the rightness of this choice is abundantly clear. That, along with the long-awaited restoration of Karla Mitchell’s mind, are enough to fully sway Darryl over to Sojo’s side.  We also get to find out Sojo’s great plan and why he needs so many Psycho Zakus, their creator Karla, and pilots. It’s a very ambitious one that seems like it’s going to involve a whole lot of people dying in order for Sojo to bring about the age of peace that he’s been preaching about.  Whether or not he’ll actually be able to pull it off likely depends on whatever’s hiding behind Karla’s smile on the last page.

We get back to Io and his comrades in the Federation at the start of vol. 12 as they prepare for the assault on the Nanyang base at Taal Volcano.  There’s some comic relief at the beginning as Bianca breaks Io’s tattoo cherry, but the drama ramps up quickly as the preparations for the battle begin and we find out that Sojo isn’t going to be the only Newtype in this series.  Then, when the fighting starts, it’s a pretty spectacular reminder of how no plan survives first contact with the enemy. Even if the Nanyang Alliance was prepared for a fight, the Federation troops show that they’re resourceful enough to handle everything that’s thrown at them.  Which is a good thing because, in order to have that final showdown with Darryl, he’s got a psychically-bestowed objective to complete: Kill Karla Mitchell.

I don’t know if we’re heading into the endgame of “Thunderbolt” but it sure feels like it after reading these two volumes.  Sometimes they can get a bit expository when the characters start talking about their motivations, but there’s a real feeling that everything’s coming together which really drives the plot.  Throw in some clever twists which upend expectations and create uncertainty about what happens next and you’ve got a couple of volumes that serve to make what’s coming next — whether it’s the end of the arc or the series — awfully exciting.