Reading Report: 12 May 2024

THEビッグオー

This week I continued Fullmetal Alchemist, started watching The Big O, and started reading a new book: 本当にあった！世界の〝機動戦士ガンダム〟計画. Details and spoilers inside.

鋼の錬金術師 FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST

Still slow going here. Kimberly is introduced properly, everyone is heading north to ドラクマ. Ed and Al are going to meet with Armstrong's big sister. She's hot but also mean (´・ω・｀)

THEビッグオー

If I wasn't already a fan of the robot genre this would have converted me. The main character is Roger, a "negotiator" and investigator who solves problems for people in the city. Almost every episode ends with him finding a reason to summon Big O, his personal Megadeus (giant robots in this world). There is a bit of a mystery (I won't spoil) about the origin of the Megadeus, why Roger has Big O, and what's the deal with Paradigm City anyway. According to the opening of every episode, Paradigm City's residents (human and robot) lost their memories during "an event" 40 years earlier. 40 years is a long time, so people mostly just go about their normal lives now, but it adds a layer of suspicion about the present power dynamics of the city.
The episodes are semi-episodic. Most of the plot is focused on a monster-of-the-week mystery, but usually the story will intersect with some mystery of the city, the history or memory of a character, or develop the relationship between Roger and Dorothy (a robot girl he saves near the start of the show).
Basically it's a near-perfect blend of all the things I want out of a mech anime. The only thing it's lacking for me right now is an emotional payoff, but there are 7 more episodes for that to come.

メイドインアビス

I finally got around to reading this volume of Made in Abyss. It was alright. It raised some new mysteries of the abyss, in particular about the twins that appear. Other than that there isn't much to comment on. Looking forward to the next volume.

本当にあった！世界の〝機動戦士ガンダム〟計画

I kind of lost momentum for manga to read, and I figured if I hurry now I might be able to finish one more book before I visit America. So...
This book is a non-fiction about the history and development of technologies that inspired the tech used in Gundam. There is an emphasis on tech used in the original series, but there have been some mentions of the GRYPS laser in Zeta.
I'm fairly ignorant of history and war, so I've learned quite a lot about tech developed in the 20th century. I read about Germany's V3 cannon, an ultra-high-range artillery that was an attempt to fire at London from France. It had a sequential firing system because they realised the explosives required to make it work would blow up the cannon itself. Unfortunately timing the sequential system was really hard and it didn't really work out.
I also read about anti-tank weapons, and remote-controlled ballistics. Even though infantry with rocket launchers and bazookas are a bit vulnerable, I guess building a bunch of tanks is way more expensive compared to the cost to destroy them. The book talked about how Russian anti-tank weapons given to guys in the middle-east basically made Israel have to rethink how they used tanks. But then the book also mentioned that the current Ukraine war has seen a return of tanks, and how that brings some hope to a future where Mobile Suits are relevant even if infantry had anti-MS weapons... it felt a tad tasteless when the comparison referenced an ongoing war but anyway.