Mobile Suit Gundam 00 Episode 23

This whole post is going to be pretty full of spoilers, so maybe don't read this until you've seen the episode.

So the United Nations Gundam Extermination Task Force heads into space to do battle with the Heavenly Being mother ship, and with Setsuna still making his way through the atmosphere and with Dynamis out of commission that leaves only two Gundams to defend the base. Both get pinned down pretty quickly; forcing Lockon to load Dynamis into a mobile armour and take it out too. The combined force of the three's counter-attack drives off the attackers, but Lockon learns that the warmonger responsible for killing his family is there and takes off after him. Lots of fighting. Dynamis is crippled even further, the warmonger is killed, and Lockon dies. Setsuna arrives just in time to watch him explode.

This is the first time that I can recall seeing a Gundam pilot die. Granted, there are a lot of Gundam series that I haven't seen, but that being said, this is a pretty big departure. This is, of course, setting up the last remaining Trinity sibling to join the team for reals and for Setsuna to find love, of course, but Haro will never be the same again.

My name is Dave and this has been your virtual reality check.