I've been watching gundam 00 for the past few days and i really like it especially now that bleach is going off in {in my opinion} unnecessary tangents.
Its about war and the ideal of one man to eradicate war everywhere on earth by attacking nations that have a military agenda. At first its all innocent and no one really gets hurt but then the story gets very personal and the fighting does not really seem to yield any good except breed even more war and accelerate the development of more dangerous and sophisticated weapons of war with the aim also to eradicated war but by subduing rebel groups and those that are against the UN-like federated government forces and chief on the list is a group of trouble makers who with their gundams and a brilliant war strategist have given the rest of the war making world something to fight about.
Season 1 saw the emergence of these gundams with special abilities that at the time surpassed the world's best defense systems intervening in war torn countries and territories to achieve its goals albeit in an unconventional, forceful way that won them both allies and enemies. The pilots for these gundams were chosen by a computer system, veda which also sought out targets and gave information necessary to complete missions. It was a critical part of celestial being's arsenal as they even control the gundams but somehow this system was infiltrated and its information was manipulated by those who call themselves the innovators. They believe they are the future, when all humans have destroyed themselves in war and division they will reign as superior beings without the flaws of these humans. They believe it was all part of the plan to eradicate war yet were always at odds with the motives and goals of celestial being.
With season 2 things got very personal. The war had touched so many lives that everyone must take a side to either become a rebel or be a government force with their questionable methods. The season revealed the reason why the pilots that engage each other in these battles do what they do.
For Setsuna fighting is all he knows and after fighting all his life he has about had enough of all the wars and is drawn by the ideology of celestial being to stop all wars and lead the way to peace. Funny enough the way they chose to do this is to fight some more. He has lost everything, his homeland, his family and hence has nothing else to lose yet after an encounter with marina he questions his motives.
For saji its a chance to get back to louise, the love of his life who has joined the fed forces' A-Laws on a revenge mission to eradicate celestial being after gundams attacked her family and destroyed everything she had. Blessed with wealth and fueled by hate she quickly rises up the ranks funding and fighting the assault on celestial being. Through a series of unfortunate events he has found himself with celestial being through setsuna who was his strange neighbour. After sitting on the fence and allowing his selfish actions cause the death of so many he is almost at the point of realising that you are either with the A-Laws or with the rebels. He has as everyone else experience personal loss because of the intervention of celestial being and so has his grudges and does not subscribe to their ideology.
There are others with their own personal vendetta but this is a war fueled by anger, revenge, a sense of loss and duty to which ever side one pledges allegiance to. Hearts are torn apart, lives are lost, the reality of war and the irony of its eradication.
When you think of it, you can't help but seek a solution, one that is different from that offered by the writers of the story. You kind of wonder what happened to "...a soft answer turns away anger..."? Its interesting the solutions that the bible offers to conflicts and how they require humility yet how effective and unconventional they are. War cannot be eradicated by more fighting no matter the goal because all it breeds is hatred and where there is hatred there is rebellion.
We all are at war also. Some of us are like saji, living in denial, not willing to accept that he has to take a side, seeking to be neutral from all the killing. Yet some of us are like setsuna, resolute and focused. Knowing he has the tools to do what is right in his heart and giving his all to accomplish his ultimate goal.