TURN A GUNDAM:
FIRST AIRING: April 1999
OVERVIEW: So Tomino was in a bad way after Victory. Sunrise had been bought out by Bandai, who wanted even more, even wackier toys. The tone of Victory Gundam shows this. In one episode you'll get super young teens doing wacky things to the inept space nazi standins and in the next you'll see very realistic depictions of a city razed by nuclear hellfire, or the brutal death of a teammate or two. And then maybe a wasp that turns into a helicopter or something. After that Gundam went for the AU trilogy, which ended in disaster as After War Gundam X was cancelled. So what else is going on in Gundam for those four years? Well, 08th MS Team hums along, basically releasing one part a year. Tomino, who has now had a half decade off of Gundam, finds himself much less depressed after releasing Garzey's Wing and Brain Powerd decides to come back for one last Gundam show for the 20th Century. This time instead of the futuristic space colonies versus the futuristic united earth government it is a tale of the moon people invading what appears to be very late 19th century earth. Before the invasion though they send some spies down to see if they can blend in and survive on the planet, and the hero of this tale is one of those sent down, a young man named Loran Cehack. One year later and things go to shit as the moon invades in the middle of a coming of age ceremony in front of a giant statue...which just happens to have a mustachioed white mobile suit inside. Other mobile suits are also found in old mountains and the earthlings begin to fight back against the mooninites, eventually taking the battle to space. The leader of the moon also happens to look exactly like the girl Loran kinda sorta likes and they end up switching places on more than one occasion. Eventually we learn that the Moon military is full of dicks and that the Gundam Loran has was the catalyst behind technology disappearing for so long...and that this has happened at least four other times because Turn A Gundam takes place in the CORRECT CENTURY, the endpoint of all Gundam series. It's a big hidden crossover! This show is good. It's weird, but it's good. It's the final cel painted show and its the best looking TV quality animation the series has. 19th century like not American American characters are a bit of a change. They still have that classic Tomino recklessness but at least almost everyone's motivations are clear. They want the Moon to stop invading.
MECHA: All the new stuff looks weird, intentionally so. They got famed sci fi artist Syd Mead to design the Gundam...but it wasn't quite recognizable enough so they turned that into the SUMO. The other new designs are gangly and distinctly not Gundam. The Turn A looks like a rounded face Gundam with a mustache and takes a bit of getting used to but is cool. All of the beam weapons in this show look more plasma-ish. The real treat is in identifying all of the throwback suits they find on earth.
MAIN CAST: Loran, the other moon survey team members are pretty fun. They love earth and just want everyone to live peacefully. And you know if they didn't invade there's probably less than a billion people on the earth right now, they could have just made a colony somewhere but nooo. The Heim sisters and the moon princess are real go getters. People love Harry Ord, I don't really get it myself, must be the glasses. The Luzianna Militia is full of Gundam military types only old timey. The villains are fun with the collaborator Guin Lineford (who's probably got the right idea in the end) and Agrippa Maintainer, the evil chancellor of the moon. They also got a real crazy ass war is great even though I've never fought a day in my life Gym Ghingham. A real piece of work that one is.
BRIGHT SPOT: Kihel Heim. She does a great job pretending to be the moon princesses...and eventually becoming her. She never shows fear in the various impossible situations they put her in and she's generally a great leader.
SHOULD YOU WATCH IT?: If you're a Gundam fan, you probably should. The premise is real strong though it peters out something fierce near the end. The characters are good, it looks great and sounds great. Lots of winks and nods here and there.
WOULD I HANG OUT WITH THE MAIN CHARACTER: Yes, Loran is a laid back guy. For televised Gundam this is an absolute rarity. Amuro and Camille were intense but nerdy people trying to do the right thing. Judau is a hoot but he's also a bundle of energy and determination. Uso shouldn't even be there. Domon is a loner, Heero is a stoic Jason Bourne type and the dude from Gundam X is just shitty Judau. Loran is a surfer boy with a heart of gold. He'll pilot the White Doll/White Demon/Moustachioed terror, Turn A Gundam but he's only there to just...you know, help out.
RANKING:
MOBILE FIGHTER G GUNDAM
MOBILE SUIT ZETA GUNDAM
MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM
TURN A GUNDAM
MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM WING
MOBILE SUIT VICTORY GUNDAM
MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM ZZ
AFTER WAR GUNDAM X
