“Farewell In Side 6” is a powerful episode on how war transforms people. Side 6 is the neutral colony that has stayed out the war and has pulled people there who are connected to our heroes…from Amuro’s Dad to Cameron Bloom, Mirai’s fiance. I’ll get into those consequences in the assessment.
The episode was directed by Shinya Sadamitsu and Yoshiyuki Tomino and written by Masaru Yamamoto.
The story involves White Base 7 getting repairs from the neutral party outside of Base 6 as Dozle Zabi sends Conscon to shame Char so that Kycilia will stop using him. As the crew rests on White Base 6 Amuro finds his Dad and Mirai is confronted by her fiance. The story unfolds from there.
Here is the assessment of the episode:
The Pros: Amuro – Poor Amuro, his mother hates him for being a soldier and his father’s mind is broken from loss of oxygen and can no longer relate to people. He gives his son junk to install on Gundam and Amuro feels completely lost until Conscon’s attack.
Mirai – This episode has Mirai, Amuro and Char as the main focuses, and Mirai has the best arc as she realizes she doesn’t love her fiance anymore and hates how her father took away her agency in setting up the marriage. She leaves Bloom at the end which makes sense given how much power he assumes over that fracking Sleggar calls him out on. If you’re being called out by Sleggar…you have issues.
Cameron Bloom – The neutral afraid of conflict and a leader on Base 6. You see him do what he can to help but also to keep Base 6 out of the conflict. In the end it is powerlessness and unwillingness to face Zeon that drives Mirai away as he doesn’t appreciate her role on White Base 7.
Char – Char is great at being humble in the face of Conscon’s arrogance and calling him out on the unfair shaming. This is good as when Amuro and his Gundam inevitably defeat his Gundams he is scared of their power which Char knows all too well.
Sleggar – He stands up to Bloom for Mirai when he’s blocking Mirai and being controlling. It’s nice to know this guy does have some good qualities. He also tells Bloom how Mirai is like a mother to them all.
Okay: Base 6 – Base 6 isn’t fully explored and I would have liked more of the civilian interactions and representation of Base. They are an amorphous body so we don’t really get their point of view.
The cons: Conscon – Is an arrogant prick who is no more than that. He’s a pretty one faced villain representing everything wrong with Zeon in their privilege and royalty. Seeing his face after his defeat was the best part of the character.
Good episode for the character development, though Coscon is a pretty lazy villain and White Base 7 is still pretty invulnerable. A good episode for how it develops Mirai and Amuro though.
Final Score: 8.8 / 10
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