gundam 00

Kidou Senshi Gundam Double O (Mobile Suit Gundam 00) is the newest encarnation of the popular Gundam saga, produced by Sunrise. It's planned on a first season of 25 episodes, to be continued later in another one. Apart from that, there are three side-stories serialized in various Japanese magazines.

The story starts in 2307 AD, in contrast to other Gundam series, which have fictional calendars. Fossil fuels (ie. petrol) have been exhausted and now people depends on solar energy. Generators of this energy have been placed all over the planet, with 3 principal ones, each built by a different organization. The problem is that these organizations only represent major countries, thus there are serious conflicts for getting the fuels. This leads to the creation of Celestial Being, a military organization which function is to erradicate war using four well-known mechas called Gundams.
The main characters are the Gundam Meisters, the four pilots of these robots, being Setsuna F. Seiei, a typical 16-year-old inexpressive, quiet and skilled boy, the protagonist of the series.

graham aker

Be careful, spoilers ahead! - Graham Aker (Acre) (sometimes mispelled as "Achre") is a mobile suit pilot, and a member of Union (shortened name for Union of Solar Energy and Free Nations, formed by America, Australasia and Japan). He appears in the first episode, and seems to be as skilled as the Gundam Meisters, and to have an obsession with their mobile suits, aka the Gundams, especially Setsuna's Exia. He's reckless and speaks in a strange way, almost romantic (ie. he says "seducing a Gundam" instead of "capturing a Gundam") Apparently, he was guilty of a superior's death in an accident, but it hasn't been confirmed yet. Graham's mecha is known as Flag, and has been upgraded to Flag Ms, and later to Custom Flag in recent episodes. He says that he understands Setsuna (the main character) perfectly, after having a fight against him and losing. If fact, it's as if had some sympathy for him. Futhermore, Graham has proved to be an important character in the series, showing not only a deep sense of duty as the leader of the Flag Squad, but also he can defeat a Gundam on his own. By the end of the first season, Graham gets his Flag upgraded with a pseudo-GN drive, and reappears in a decisive battle against Setsuna, the pilot of Exia. After what seems to be a strange declaration (of war... or maybe just the opposite) they fight fiercely. Four years later, Graham seems to have been seriously injured, and is shown wearing a mask.

billy katagiri

Be careful, spoilers ahead! - Billy Katagiri is Union's Intelligence Officer, speaks using double sense, and is in charge of Graham's mobile suit, Custom Flag. Billy also appears in the first episode, next to Graham, when watching a demonstration of mobile suits. Like his friend, he is very focused on his job. We also find out that Billy was an old friend of Sumeragi (the drunk but beautiful member of Celestial Being) at university, and had a romantic interest on her (he even gets to give her very confidential information in exchange for a dinner!), but he is rejected. After the attack of the Throne Gundams in their headquarters, Professor Eifman is killed, and Billy gets injured, yet nothing prevents him from helping Graham with his mobile suit, which he later uses to defeat the Throne Zwei Gundam. His last appearance in the series is to tell Graham that his Flag is about to be finished upgrading. In the future 4 years later shown, he doesn't appear, but it's assumed he's alive.

relationship

From the beginning they are shown together, and they seem to be very close friends - apart from being on the same side, Union. But there's something else about these two, and that's the double sense of their lines. Graham is the first one showing that, by shouting to Setsuna "why don't you appreciate my sentimentalism?!" while attacking him... And then, when Graham goes on speaking about "seducing Gundams" (conforming that he's a big perverted mechaphile), Billy takes it as a natural thing and even supports him. However, most of the time Billy is shown as someone much more cautious and mature than Graham, who has a completely suicidal reckless instinct. In the development of the series, the guys show a deep trust in each other, and also that they have been friends for quite a long time. Billy has some affair with Sumeragi, but they are on different sides; imagine what may happen if they realize about that... One thing is sure: being it fanservice or a true deep relationship (looking at the way things are now, I'd say both xD), Billy and Graham together kick ass (especially Setsuna's), and I support their relationship a lot.