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 Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory 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.


 * 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