Mobile Suit Gundam École du Ciel



Mobile Suit Gundam École du Ciel (Tenku no Gakko) is a manga series written and illustrated by Haruhiko Mikimoto, starting publication sometime in 2002. One of its most notable characteristics is that it is only the second Gundam story to have a female protagonist. (Gundam 0080 has a female Gundam pilot, but she's not the main character. The first is Tiel's Impulse, in which the main protagonist is a 14 year old girl.) It is also notable for being the first one that's any good.

The story starts just as the events of Gundam 0083 concludes and the Titans are formed amidst apparent hostilities between Earthnoids and Spacenoids. Enter our heroine -- Asuna Elmarit -- enrolling into the distinguished military academy "Ecole du Ciel", training to become a mobile suit pilot. Of course, that's not what she really wants to do but she may not have a choice in the matter as the Titans have taken an interest in her due to her father's research - who has been missing since the One Year War.

Is currently an Ongoing Series.

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Contains examples of the following tropes:

 * Action Girl (Asuna and Marie, primarily.) - Which marks a notable departure from Gundam tradition, as Asuna is the only female protagonist of Gundam to date.
 * Axe Crazy
 * Bridge Bunny
 * The Captain (Marie)
 * Continuity Nod (all over the place. Aside from the Titans, there are references to Anaheim Electronics and when the timeline crosses into Zeta Gundam, there is a passing reference to the Gundamjack that starts that series as well as a snippet of Char Quattro's Dakarl address.)
 * Crossover (The timeline crosses a little bit into Zeta Gundam.)
 * Fantastic Racism (Asuna faces a lot of this in the short snippet where she enrolls into "Ecole Du Ciel".)
 * Fragile Speedster (Mecha designer Yoshinori Sayama describes the Le Cygne as a "Kunoichi Gundam".
 * Geo Effects (Asuna pilots really well in Space. On Earth or in a colony, however, she's not so good.)
 * Gratuitous French (The titular Ecole du Ciel, plus the GM Canard and the Le Cygne. Justified by the Ecole du Ciel being located in Canada.
 * Hostage for Macguffin (At one point, the Titans take Asuna's mother hostage and demands Asuna in exchange.)
 * Hot-Blooded (Francis.)
 * Hotblooded Sideburns (Francis has these. Figures.)
 * Lady of War (Marie fits this.  probably would have grown into one except...)
 * Lethal Chef (Asuna)
 * Humongous Mecha (It's a Gundam series, duh.)
 * Psychic Powers (This is Universal Century Gundam. There will be Newtypes. But, more specifically, )
 * Soundtrack Dissonance (manga version: "Happy Birthday to You" seems to be playing as )
 * Space Pirate (Marie's Pirates, enough said.)
 * Token Mini-Moe (Juna)
 * Tyke Bomb
 * With Great Power Comes Great Insanity