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The Gundam |OT| Destiny is something we all have to deal with
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Most of that was just flavor though. Quirky characters with quirky scenes to keep things lighthearted since the series wasn't a full-blown war setting. Though I do agree that the Kuntala discrimination felt a bit lackluster since we barely saw any of it, unless that's what Tomino was actually going for.
Who doesn't watch non-Gundam Tomino shows for that? Stupid details like that are part of the charm.
To each their own. I want nothing of that and I merely tolerate it when it comes in a package that I overall enjoy e.g. Zeta.
And it bothers me when time is devoted to stupid inconsequential details when the actual story is starved of time for telling important stuff that you then have to watch twice or cross-reference with something else to make sense out of it.
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My peeve with Reconguista is that it could have been excellent with a few tweaks but it turned just visually pretty, crazy and ultimately not very enjoyable (for me).
Proof that I love its mecha designs.
I don't know gacha tropes so I may be missing some stuff, but I do see a lot of generally repetitive video game motifs in the descriptions. An old guardian is holding on to a special mecha for our chosen hero who is joined by an enigmatic girl, and I'm immediately like "that sounds bad."
However, the tiny hopeful voice in my head says it is weird that they specifically announced the return of the original staff. If it is just a gacha game, why would they need them?
On one handy, maybe it is just a matter of attaching bankable names and cache to an otherwise low effort project in order to maximize profit potential. That seems cynical but also quite possible.
But on the other hand, maybe they just wanted to have a larger profit making structure, in this case a mobile game, backing up an otherwise risky narrative for an OVA kind thing?
Personally, I think of the IBO staff in general, and Mari Okada in particular, as the kind of people who want to take comfortable old tropes and put daggers in them. So I would be excited to see what they could do with such a relatively familiar premise, especially after all the ways they twisted up many of the usual Gundam tropes. Though, I very much admit that this is wishful thinking on my part. It is definitely what I want to happen more so than what I think is likely.
I guess it would just be awfully weird to see a plucky child hero have some typical adventure in a spin off to a show that deals with child sex slavery, polyamory, class warfare, physical disability/deformity, homophobia, and mass murder. But then again, I have seen weirder and more discordant shit happen in Gundam plenty of times, so I suppose it's very possible that this is just gonna be trash.
5 movies lol? Any idea when they are coming? Probably after the Hathaway trilogy?
My peeve with Reconguista is that it could have been excellent with a few tweaks but it turned just visually pretty, crazy and ultimately not very enjoyable (for me).
Proof that I love its mecha designs.
It really does have some beautiful designs. I bought the AKIMAN Reco artbook for a friend this X-Mas and he loved it.
The first G-Reco movie is sometime later this year, before the first Hathaway movie.
So an OVA retelling?
And yes, you nailed a lot of my concerns on the head.
If you watch the trailer again, you'll see them show a few characters in separate like... areas and they just look like vendors to me. The "Enigmatic girl" is probably the girl you'll be tapping on to do the gacha aspect of the game cuz a lot of gacha games use a cutesy girl for as a sort of mascot for that aspect.
Honestly -- if they put out more info and it sounds less severe to me, I'll be happy. But as it stands now? Kinda let down.
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MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM WING:
FIRST AIRING: April 1995
OVERVIEW: Where do you go after G Gundam, and I mean right after G Gundam, the week after it ends? Well, how about going back to the UC? Nah, we're doing the 08th MS Team OVA for that. Well, what about retelling the same basic story as the early UC only completely changing the perspective. What about if the space colonies developed the Gundams to get revenge on the United Earth Federations repeated attempts to squash independence, including killing their peace minded leader and silencing Earth leaders with the same outlook on peace? But what if the people behind the plan wanted something too drastic, like the complete annihilation of earth via repeated colony drops with five invincible Mobile Suits made out of a rare alloy called Gundanium handling the cleanup. What if the scientists who built the gundams decided to change the plan and send five pretty boys with orders to take out the players behind the scene, the global aristocrats who benefit most from a constant state of war and what would the response be from such an organization? Five teenagers with attitude it is then. Then what if the aristocracy pulls a coup using the Gundam boys to take control of the military and the earth government? What if the colonies turn against the boys and join the hegemony? What if a Char like figure shows up to lead the original rebellion with the intent of once again blowing up the earth? Well, you get Gundam Wing, the weird but kinda neat rehashing of MSG through Char's Counterattack in about a year's worth of episodes. Yes, a show of this scope is going to have pacing issues. Yes, like most Gundam shows to this point some of the character motivations are going to be bizarre or frankly unintelligible. But does it all work? Kinda! It looks totally different then what came before; the only way to do series back to back like this is to get a whole bunch of different people on it, and with Wing it really shows. You can squint at G Gundam and notice some character design similarities to Victory, only turned up to 11. But with Wing you get a show where it doesn't really look or sound anything like what came before. More realistic looking faces, more muted colors, it's like the first 90's Gundam show even though we've been in the 90's for awhile now. Some of the mecha look like what came before, Shenlong/Altron are basically a straight knockoff of the Dragon Gundam, Wing Gundam looks kinda like a kitbashed God Gundam but the non Gundam mobile suits look sleek and trim, with a bit of Battletech in there.
MECHA: This is a weird one for me. The Gundams are okay for the most part. Epyon is like an extra 90's version of Master Gundam crossed with a dragon. Wing/Wing Zero grows on you. Sandrock is just there. Heavyarms is a Gundam with guns. Shenlong is...The Dragon Gundam. Deathscythe is every 90's indie comic. But the non gundam mecha are outstanding. I love the zodiac suits, besides having one redundant extra water unit they all show logical progression in the changing realities of this conflict. They are sleek, they look like something a military might use in the weird case where bipedal robots were the solution. I super love the Tallgeese, probably my favorite suit in all of Gundam.
MAIN CAST: Heero Yui is the start of a new type of hero for gundam. The super quiet robot assassin who just wants to get his job done. The rest of the Gundam boys all fit into various stereotypes. The honor one, the smart shy one, the cool hair spy one, the 90's douchebag murder guy with a heart of gold. Releena Peacecraft is the other main character besides the boys and is basically the prototype for Lacus, only she's got more of that early Gundam insane motivation and drive. She goes from student, to would be revenge seeking assassin, to puppet queen of the earth, to a delegate for the new united government. The villains are okay. You get the first real Not Char in Milliardo Peacecraft/Zechs Marquise. He's a better person who also has a phase where he just has to drop a colony on the earth. His best friend/enemy Treize Khushrenada is a honor loving weirdo who might be playing 12th level chess to get ultimate peace or he might just be insane. His assistant had no chill until he taught her how to be chill, which is something. Most of the other hangers on are fun.
BRIGHT SPOT: Surprisingly difficult with this one. No one really stands out. Dorothy's eyebrows would be a great joke answer, but the real answer are the 5 Gundam Scientists. They made the suits. They changed the plan to get some actual justice done. They look like absolute mad scientists. They save the Gundam boys and upgrade the suits while working for the enemy. They go out like ballers. Howard can get an honorary place on their team.
SHOULD YOU WATCH IT?: If you're American/Canadian of a certain age and an anime fan then I daresay you already have! For everyone else though, maybe. The pacing is a bit messed up, understandable with how many facets of war they try to cram into less than 50 episodes. The characters have bizarre motivations, nothing that unusual for Gundam but if you're not prepared for it the actions of characters like Treize, Dorothy, and Releena can seem a bit...unrealistic to say the least.
WOULD I HANG OUT WITH THE MAIN CHARACTER? I like Heero. He's been through a lot. He also gets all the best lines and jokes. Amuro/Kamille never had a joke worth a damn. Domon isn't funny. Judau was. Uso was just too shook to be funny. Let's invite him over.
RANKING:
MOBILE FIGHTER G GUNDAM
MOBILE SUIT ZETA GUNDAM
MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM
MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM WING
MOBILE SUIT VICTORY GUNDAM
MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM ZZ
NEXT TIME: War is hell, after war is cursed.
FIRST AIRING: April 1995
OVERVIEW: Where do you go after G Gundam, and I mean right after G Gundam, the week after it ends? Well, how about going back to the UC? Nah, we're doing the 08th MS Team OVA for that. Well, what about retelling the same basic story as the early UC only completely changing the perspective. What about if the space colonies developed the Gundams to get revenge on the United Earth Federations repeated attempts to squash independence, including killing their peace minded leader and silencing Earth leaders with the same outlook on peace? But what if the people behind the plan wanted something too drastic, like the complete annihilation of earth via repeated colony drops with five invincible Mobile Suits made out of a rare alloy called Gundanium handling the cleanup. What if the scientists who built the gundams decided to change the plan and send five pretty boys with orders to take out the players behind the scene, the global aristocrats who benefit most from a constant state of war and what would the response be from such an organization? Five teenagers with attitude it is then. Then what if the aristocracy pulls a coup using the Gundam boys to take control of the military and the earth government? What if the colonies turn against the boys and join the hegemony? What if a Char like figure shows up to lead the original rebellion with the intent of once again blowing up the earth? Well, you get Gundam Wing, the weird but kinda neat rehashing of MSG through Char's Counterattack in about a year's worth of episodes. Yes, a show of this scope is going to have pacing issues. Yes, like most Gundam shows to this point some of the character motivations are going to be bizarre or frankly unintelligible. But does it all work? Kinda! It looks totally different then what came before; the only way to do series back to back like this is to get a whole bunch of different people on it, and with Wing it really shows. You can squint at G Gundam and notice some character design similarities to Victory, only turned up to 11. But with Wing you get a show where it doesn't really look or sound anything like what came before. More realistic looking faces, more muted colors, it's like the first 90's Gundam show even though we've been in the 90's for awhile now. Some of the mecha look like what came before, Shenlong/Altron are basically a straight knockoff of the Dragon Gundam, Wing Gundam looks kinda like a kitbashed God Gundam but the non Gundam mobile suits look sleek and trim, with a bit of Battletech in there.
MECHA: This is a weird one for me. The Gundams are okay for the most part. Epyon is like an extra 90's version of Master Gundam crossed with a dragon. Wing/Wing Zero grows on you. Sandrock is just there. Heavyarms is a Gundam with guns. Shenlong is...The Dragon Gundam. Deathscythe is every 90's indie comic. But the non gundam mecha are outstanding. I love the zodiac suits, besides having one redundant extra water unit they all show logical progression in the changing realities of this conflict. They are sleek, they look like something a military might use in the weird case where bipedal robots were the solution. I super love the Tallgeese, probably my favorite suit in all of Gundam.
MAIN CAST: Heero Yui is the start of a new type of hero for gundam. The super quiet robot assassin who just wants to get his job done. The rest of the Gundam boys all fit into various stereotypes. The honor one, the smart shy one, the cool hair spy one, the 90's douchebag murder guy with a heart of gold. Releena Peacecraft is the other main character besides the boys and is basically the prototype for Lacus, only she's got more of that early Gundam insane motivation and drive. She goes from student, to would be revenge seeking assassin, to puppet queen of the earth, to a delegate for the new united government. The villains are okay. You get the first real Not Char in Milliardo Peacecraft/Zechs Marquise. He's a better person who also has a phase where he just has to drop a colony on the earth. His best friend/enemy Treize Khushrenada is a honor loving weirdo who might be playing 12th level chess to get ultimate peace or he might just be insane. His assistant had no chill until he taught her how to be chill, which is something. Most of the other hangers on are fun.
BRIGHT SPOT: Surprisingly difficult with this one. No one really stands out. Dorothy's eyebrows would be a great joke answer, but the real answer are the 5 Gundam Scientists. They made the suits. They changed the plan to get some actual justice done. They look like absolute mad scientists. They save the Gundam boys and upgrade the suits while working for the enemy. They go out like ballers. Howard can get an honorary place on their team.
SHOULD YOU WATCH IT?: If you're American/Canadian of a certain age and an anime fan then I daresay you already have! For everyone else though, maybe. The pacing is a bit messed up, understandable with how many facets of war they try to cram into less than 50 episodes. The characters have bizarre motivations, nothing that unusual for Gundam but if you're not prepared for it the actions of characters like Treize, Dorothy, and Releena can seem a bit...unrealistic to say the least.
WOULD I HANG OUT WITH THE MAIN CHARACTER? I like Heero. He's been through a lot. He also gets all the best lines and jokes. Amuro/Kamille never had a joke worth a damn. Domon isn't funny. Judau was. Uso was just too shook to be funny. Let's invite him over.
RANKING:
MOBILE FIGHTER G GUNDAM
MOBILE SUIT ZETA GUNDAM
MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM
MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM WING
MOBILE SUIT VICTORY GUNDAM
MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM ZZ
NEXT TIME: War is hell, after war is cursed.
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I'm sorry if I look contrarian when I reply to your reviews but it's just that I only comment on the things I strongly disagree with. The parts I don't comment on, either I agree with or I find OK even if they don't exactly reflect my point of view. It's all just opinion so no hard feelings.
In my case, the Zodiac suits are one of the worst things in Wing. They are simply ugly and look very much underdeveloped which to some will be part of the charm but it does nothing for me. I don't find them sleek but I agree on the part about "something a military might use in the weird case where bipedal robots were the solution".
One of the things I dislike about them is that most don't pass the "Can you look to your side?" test, be it because of fixed heads or enormous shoulders that block the line of sight. It makes them look extremely easily to flank. For this reason, the only non-gundam suits I like in Wing are Mercurius and Vaieate which are not exactly grunts.
Picked up Gundam Breaker 3 on a whim after the last Gundam based thing I had anything to do with was Awakening of the Trailblazer.
I know this is a broad question but what have I missed? Watching Unicorn on Netflix at the moment but looking to get some of the Blu rays. May want to rewatch Wing and 00 but what's good with the new anime? Was Iron Blooded Orphans decent?
I know this is a broad question but what have I missed? Watching Unicorn on Netflix at the moment but looking to get some of the Blu rays. May want to rewatch Wing and 00 but what's good with the new anime? Was Iron Blooded Orphans decent?
One of their best AU's. Give it a watch. It's all free on Gundam Info's youtube channel. Subbed and dubbed.
G-Reco is kinda divisive honestly, its kinda like Gundam Seed where people love it or hate it kinda series though I found it much better then Seed.
Its a series that is kinda the ultimate Tomino series, it has pretty much all of Tominos strength (Distinct World Building, memorable/diverse cast) while also pretty much all Tominos weaknesses (Some stuff isn't explained all that well in the show, characters shifting on a dime) so it can all depend on where you fall when you watch it.
This was the first Gundam series he directed since Turn-A
Animation wise its one of the best looking Gundam series with unique designs for everything in the show and great looking fights thanks to people like Kenichi Yoshida.
Though you could wait for the recap/redo movies of G-Reca Tomino is making to watch the series.
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This write-up has convinced me that I need to rewatch Wing. Thanks.OBILE SUIT GUNDAM WING:
FIRST AIRING: April 1995
OVERVIEW: Where do you go after G Gundam, and I mean right after G Gundam, the week after it ends? Well, how about going back to the UC? Nah, we're doing the 08th MS Team OVA for that. Well, what about retelling the same basic story as the early UC only completely changing the perspective. What about if the space colonies developed the Gundams to get revenge on the United Earth Federations repeated attempts to squash independence, including killing their peace minded leader and silencing Earth leaders with the same outlook on peace? But what if the people behind the plan wanted something too drastic, like the complete annihilation of earth via repeated colony drops with five invincible Mobile Suits made out of a rare alloy called Gundanium handling the cleanup. What if the scientists who built the gundams decided to change the plan and send five pretty boys with orders to take out the players behind the scene, the global aristocrats who benefit most from a constant state of war and what would the response be from such an organization? Five teenagers with attitude it is then. Then what if the aristocracy pulls a coup using the Gundam boys to take control of the military and the earth government? What if the colonies turn against the boys and join the hegemony? What if a Char like figure shows up to lead the original rebellion with the intent of once again blowing up the earth? Well, you get Gundam Wing, the weird but kinda neat rehashing of MSG through Char's Counterattack in about a year's worth of episodes. Yes, a show of this scope is going to have pacing issues. Yes, like most Gundam shows to this point some of the character motivations are going to be bizarre or frankly unintelligible. But does it all work? Kinda! It looks totally different then what came before; the only way to do series back to back like this is to get a whole bunch of different people on it, and with Wing it really shows. You can squint at G Gundam and notice some character design similarities to Victory, only turned up to 11. But with Wing you get a show where it doesn't really look or sound anything like what came before. More realistic looking faces, more muted colors, it's like the first 90's Gundam show even though we've been in the 90's for awhile now. Some of the mecha look like what came before, Shenlong/Altron are basically a straight knockoff of the Dragon Gundam, Wing Gundam looks kinda like a kitbashed God Gundam but the non Gundam mobile suits look sleek and trim, with a bit of Battletech in there.
MECHA: This is a weird one for me. The Gundams are okay for the most part. Epyon is like an extra 90's version of Master Gundam crossed with a dragon. Wing/Wing Zero grows on you. Sandrock is just there. Heavyarms is a Gundam with guns. Shenlong is...The Dragon Gundam. Deathscythe is every 90's indie comic. But the non gundam mecha are outstanding. I love the zodiac suits, besides having one redundant extra water unit they all show logical progression in the changing realities of this conflict. They are sleek, they look like something a military might use in the weird case where bipedal robots were the solution. I super love the Tallgeese, probably my favorite suit in all of Gundam.
MAIN CAST: Heero Yui is the start of a new type of hero for gundam. The super quiet robot assassin who just wants to get his job done. The rest of the Gundam boys all fit into various stereotypes. The honor one, the smart shy one, the cool hair spy one, the 90's douchebag murder guy with a heart of gold. Releena Peacecraft is the other main character besides the boys and is basically the prototype for Lacus, only she's got more of that early Gundam insane motivation and drive. She goes from student, to would be revenge seeking assassin, to puppet queen of the earth, to a delegate for the new united government. The villains are okay. You get the first real Not Char in Milliardo Peacecraft/Zechs Marquise. He's a better person who also has a phase where he just has to drop a colony on the earth. His best friend/enemy Treize Khushrenada is a honor loving weirdo who might be playing 12th level chess to get ultimate peace or he might just be insane. His assistant had no chill until he taught her how to be chill, which is something. Most of the other hangers on are fun.
BRIGHT SPOT: Surprisingly difficult with this one. No one really stands out. Dorothy's eyebrows would be a great joke answer, but the real answer are the 5 Gundam Scientists. They made the suits. They changed the plan to get some actual justice done. They look like absolute mad scientists. They save the Gundam boys and upgrade the suits while working for the enemy. They go out like ballers. Howard can get an honorary place on their team.
SHOULD YOU WATCH IT?: If you're American/Canadian of a certain age and an anime fan then I daresay you already have! For everyone else though, maybe. The pacing is a bit messed up, understandable with how many facets of war they try to cram into less than 50 episodes. The characters have bizarre motivations, nothing that unusual for Gundam but if you're not prepared for it the actions of characters like Treize, Dorothy, and Releena can seem a bit...unrealistic to say the least.
WOULD I HANG OUT WITH THE MAIN CHARACTER? I like Heero. He's been through a lot. He also gets all the best lines and jokes. Amuro/Kamille never had a joke worth a damn. Domon isn't funny. Judau was. Uso was just too shook to be funny. Let's invite him over.
RANKING:
MOBILE FIGHTER G GUNDAM
MOBILE SUIT ZETA GUNDAM
MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM
MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM WING
MOBILE SUIT VICTORY GUNDAM
MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM ZZ
NEXT TIME: War is hell, after war is cursed.
Wing was my first Gundam show. While I thought it was cool at first I found it meh later. Same goes for most of the mechas.
How can you not like the Tallgeese?
How can you not like the Tallgeese?
Because I don't like MS with thick thighs and puny lower legs.
In fact, the MS I tend to like have either tremendous bell-bottoms and big feet like the Gelgoog and Doms or lean legs with nice calves like most Gundams and GMs.
Gundam ERA: is the only way to watch Gundam Z in the US to buy the Blu-ray's/DVDs? I was able to catch half of it on the GundamInfo YouTube channel, it was hoping to stream it if possible.
If you wait long enough it'll show back up on Gundaminfo, but for right now the legal way is the disc way.
Thanks Man God. Now I have to decide between spending $38 on the blu-ray or on another model kit.
AFTER WAR GUNDAM X:
FIRST AIRING: April 1996
OVERVIEW: Mobile Suit Gundam. Zeta Gundam. ZZ Gundam. Victory Gundam. G Gundam. Gundam Wing. What to do for your seventh outing, and the third consecutive Gundam series to air in the mid 90's? What about a post apocalyptic off brand version of the UC where 90% of humanity is wiped out by a space war that ended with multiple inhabited colonies being dropped on earth? 15 years later and the specter of war looms again as a New Earth Federation tries to solidify power on earth and the Space Rebel forces decide to come out of the shadows. Also both sides are looking for the true trump cards of the 7th space war, Newtypes while another man, a former newtype hero of the Federation decides to save as many of his fellow newtypes as he can by disguising himself as a Vulture, roving bands of bandit mercenaries scrapping together as much pre disaster tech as they can find and carve a niche for themselves in this cold uncaring world. Doesn't this sound like a can't miss premise? Well...it missed. Hard. Ratings plummeted over 30 percent in the first ten episodes and it had the typical year long order reduced by about ten episodes. It also moved timeslots from Friday Afternoon to very early Saturday morning. Gundam Victory had it's issues, F91 was clearly a prototype of Victory crammed into a movie, but this show? This show was cursed. It's got a great premise but every other part about it is bland. The characters are bland. The mecha are bland. The pacing is by far the slowest of any Gundam show to this point; almost glacial. The music despite one standout is bland. The VA are bored because they play boring characters. Well, besides one of the cast; the guy who plays Witz. This is his first major VA role and he'd later go on to voice Roronoa Zolo in One Piece. The main character is by far the most annoying voice of the ones so far...which is funny because he'd later go on to play one of my favorite characters as the star of GTO. The music sucks...well besides one standout track. Pretty much the only thing of note is that this is the last Gundam series for awhile. Oh and the episode titles besides the first are all named after quotes from that episode, and shown in the previews. It's actually kind of a neat touch. Oh it also has a two parter about psychic dolphins pissed off that their species is being harvested for their brains to be used as flawless navigation equipment.
MECHA: The worst so far. I might call ZZ overly derivative and that it has a shitty Gundam but After War has mobile suits that look like Zeon knockoffs you'd find at the world's dodgiest model store and the Gundams are ultra bland, especially the two extra ones. No suit stands out at all.
MAIN CAST: The worst so far. The captain is okay, if a little bland. The designs look like knockoff Gundam Wing designs. In fact the whole production just feels like a knock off of some other part of the series. I just watched this show again about a week ago and had to look up ninety percent of the names. Overly buff doctor, kid genius mechanic, Sexy halter top rivals. The primary villains are brothers who just want to fuck each other and kill all the newtypes because the only psychic power they have is the ability to communicate over any distance.
BRIGHT SPOT: This would be impossible to do...if not for one thing. The original ending theme is so out of place and ridiculous. This would not be out of place on any soft rock station in 1996. I knew the series was doomed when they changed it about ten episodes in.
SHOULD YOU WATCH IT?: Absolutely not. Unlike the two other huge stinkers to come it's not even that interesting a footnote in the history of the series besides being cancelled. The main gundam gets a bit of shine in a future series otherwise no one would care about it.
WOULD I HANG OUT WITH THE MAIN CHARACTER?: Garrod Ran? Absolutely not. I had to look up his name. If you want to argue Jamill as the real main character, then maybe. I'd love to watch the prequel series about the knockoff OYW that did not end well.
RANKING:
MOBILE FIGHTER G GUNDAM
MOBILE SUIT ZETA GUNDAM
MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM
MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM WING
MOBILE SUIT VICTORY GUNDAM
MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM ZZ
AFTER WAR GUNDAM X
FIRST AIRING: April 1996
OVERVIEW: Mobile Suit Gundam. Zeta Gundam. ZZ Gundam. Victory Gundam. G Gundam. Gundam Wing. What to do for your seventh outing, and the third consecutive Gundam series to air in the mid 90's? What about a post apocalyptic off brand version of the UC where 90% of humanity is wiped out by a space war that ended with multiple inhabited colonies being dropped on earth? 15 years later and the specter of war looms again as a New Earth Federation tries to solidify power on earth and the Space Rebel forces decide to come out of the shadows. Also both sides are looking for the true trump cards of the 7th space war, Newtypes while another man, a former newtype hero of the Federation decides to save as many of his fellow newtypes as he can by disguising himself as a Vulture, roving bands of bandit mercenaries scrapping together as much pre disaster tech as they can find and carve a niche for themselves in this cold uncaring world. Doesn't this sound like a can't miss premise? Well...it missed. Hard. Ratings plummeted over 30 percent in the first ten episodes and it had the typical year long order reduced by about ten episodes. It also moved timeslots from Friday Afternoon to very early Saturday morning. Gundam Victory had it's issues, F91 was clearly a prototype of Victory crammed into a movie, but this show? This show was cursed. It's got a great premise but every other part about it is bland. The characters are bland. The mecha are bland. The pacing is by far the slowest of any Gundam show to this point; almost glacial. The music despite one standout is bland. The VA are bored because they play boring characters. Well, besides one of the cast; the guy who plays Witz. This is his first major VA role and he'd later go on to voice Roronoa Zolo in One Piece. The main character is by far the most annoying voice of the ones so far...which is funny because he'd later go on to play one of my favorite characters as the star of GTO. The music sucks...well besides one standout track. Pretty much the only thing of note is that this is the last Gundam series for awhile. Oh and the episode titles besides the first are all named after quotes from that episode, and shown in the previews. It's actually kind of a neat touch. Oh it also has a two parter about psychic dolphins pissed off that their species is being harvested for their brains to be used as flawless navigation equipment.
MECHA: The worst so far. I might call ZZ overly derivative and that it has a shitty Gundam but After War has mobile suits that look like Zeon knockoffs you'd find at the world's dodgiest model store and the Gundams are ultra bland, especially the two extra ones. No suit stands out at all.
MAIN CAST: The worst so far. The captain is okay, if a little bland. The designs look like knockoff Gundam Wing designs. In fact the whole production just feels like a knock off of some other part of the series. I just watched this show again about a week ago and had to look up ninety percent of the names. Overly buff doctor, kid genius mechanic, Sexy halter top rivals. The primary villains are brothers who just want to fuck each other and kill all the newtypes because the only psychic power they have is the ability to communicate over any distance.
BRIGHT SPOT: This would be impossible to do...if not for one thing. The original ending theme is so out of place and ridiculous. This would not be out of place on any soft rock station in 1996. I knew the series was doomed when they changed it about ten episodes in.
SHOULD YOU WATCH IT?: Absolutely not. Unlike the two other huge stinkers to come it's not even that interesting a footnote in the history of the series besides being cancelled. The main gundam gets a bit of shine in a future series otherwise no one would care about it.
WOULD I HANG OUT WITH THE MAIN CHARACTER?: Garrod Ran? Absolutely not. I had to look up his name. If you want to argue Jamill as the real main character, then maybe. I'd love to watch the prequel series about the knockoff OYW that did not end well.
RANKING:
MOBILE FIGHTER G GUNDAM
MOBILE SUIT ZETA GUNDAM
MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM
MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM WING
MOBILE SUIT VICTORY GUNDAM
MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM ZZ
AFTER WAR GUNDAM X
GUNDAM OVA CORNER PART TWO
This might be the last of these, the rest of the OVAs/Theatrical releases are mainly retellings or stuff I haven't seen. I guess I could do Thunderbolt. There's also A Wakening of The Trailblazer. Either way I need to cover 08th MS team as it's as long as a regular series this way and represents the UC for the mid 90's...like all of it. They took their time with that one and it really shows.
08TH MS TEAM
FIRST RELEASE: January 1996 (Final release January 1999!)
A show about grunts in a jungle war on earth given hybrid GM/Gundams. The most down to earth war story of the lot...and a backdrop for a really awful Romeo & Juilet story. Snake, can love bloom on the battlefield? Ignore this though and you get by far the prettiest Gundam show of the first twenty five years of the series. They took four years to make twelve episodes and it shows. I'm sure most casual anime fans have had someone show them the Gouf/EZ fight. Despite the really very bad romance the rest of the story is pretty compelling look at the regular joes who fought near the end of the OYW on earth.
GUNDAM WING: ENDLESS WALTZ
FIRST RELEASE: January 1997
A three part OVA recompiled into a movie. The direct sequel to the end of Gundam Wing. It's a dumb story with cool (some say too over the top) redesigns of the Gundams. The total disarmament of the earth sphere is almost complete...When a girl claiming to be Treize's daughter shows up with an army. The Gundam boys go and find their suits (Wu Fei joined the bad guys so he wouldn't have to give up his suit) before they were shot into the sun and have some fun stopping this crazy rebellion on Christmas eve. It's the lesser of the two Christmas Gundam OVAs. This does look good, and sounds amazing. It's also not terribly long; The OVA version is barely over an hour and the theatrical version is just shy of an hour and a half.
This might be the last of these, the rest of the OVAs/Theatrical releases are mainly retellings or stuff I haven't seen. I guess I could do Thunderbolt. There's also A Wakening of The Trailblazer. Either way I need to cover 08th MS team as it's as long as a regular series this way and represents the UC for the mid 90's...like all of it. They took their time with that one and it really shows.
08TH MS TEAM
FIRST RELEASE: January 1996 (Final release January 1999!)
A show about grunts in a jungle war on earth given hybrid GM/Gundams. The most down to earth war story of the lot...and a backdrop for a really awful Romeo & Juilet story. Snake, can love bloom on the battlefield? Ignore this though and you get by far the prettiest Gundam show of the first twenty five years of the series. They took four years to make twelve episodes and it shows. I'm sure most casual anime fans have had someone show them the Gouf/EZ fight. Despite the really very bad romance the rest of the story is pretty compelling look at the regular joes who fought near the end of the OYW on earth.
GUNDAM WING: ENDLESS WALTZ
FIRST RELEASE: January 1997
A three part OVA recompiled into a movie. The direct sequel to the end of Gundam Wing. It's a dumb story with cool (some say too over the top) redesigns of the Gundams. The total disarmament of the earth sphere is almost complete...When a girl claiming to be Treize's daughter shows up with an army. The Gundam boys go and find their suits (Wu Fei joined the bad guys so he wouldn't have to give up his suit) before they were shot into the sun and have some fun stopping this crazy rebellion on Christmas eve. It's the lesser of the two Christmas Gundam OVAs. This does look good, and sounds amazing. It's also not terribly long; The OVA version is barely over an hour and the theatrical version is just shy of an hour and a half.
Wufei joined the bad guys for very legitimate reasons though.
I don't know if this has been brought up, but does anyone know what this Gundam Universe thing is? Just another dead-end toyline that probably won't go anywhere, like Assault Kingdom and Universal Unit, or something more grand in scope along the lines of Mobile Suit in Action?
I'll take the Gundam X with its lunar panels any day rather than the nonsense of the angelic wings of Wing Gundam Zero Custom. At least one of them has one hint of mechanical sense. The X Divider is too plain without the panels and the Double X falls into a "moar panels" pitfall.
Talking about 08th MS Team but only bringing up Norris Packard's fight without mentioning him. Norris is my man, an oltdype so overpowered that even when he loses, he wins. Named Gouf pilots are usually in my good books.
Talking about 08th MS Team but only bringing up Norris Packard's fight without mentioning him. Norris is my man, an oltdype so overpowered that even when he loses, he wins. Named Gouf pilots are usually in my good books.
I prefer Norris because he is a father figure to Aina when she only has her deranged brother as family by her side. Additionally, Norris gets bonus points for being extremely competent when Bernie is quite incompetent (I cannot forgive his Australia blunder getting his teammates killed). I wouldn't ever want him in my team.
I hate how they tell you this about him, though. It's told to you. There's no build up. There's no hint at this anywhere other than one coversation.
08th MS Team is beautiful, but fumbled its storytelling.
A huge amount of important pieces of information in Gundam is delivered like this, though. It must be Tomino's influence. Just a hint, draw your own conclusions or read a spinoff manga that fleshes the character more.
I'm OK with it when it's manageable. It's annoying when it's close to having to use a reading guide.
08th MS Team is perfect. Except for that last episode, which should just be ignored. It's not even particularly bad or anything, just a totally unnecessary coda that, despite not doing anything, still feels like it take away something from the end of the Shuddering Mountain. Toonami was right not to bother airing it.
Sure other series do this, but it was one of those moments in a rewatch recently that I hadn't caught when I watched it years ago as a kid. It doesn't work to make things anymore emotionally heightened or something. It's one of a handful of critiques is all I was pointing out. I think the entire OVA lacks strong character writing, really.
It misses the mark with character writing. But yeah that last episode is bizarre.
I'm ambivalent about the epilogue to 08th, but if they were going to do it, I would have preferred more ambiguity to the ending. Then again, I like ambiguous ending in general.
I choose to take this as a slight against Ramba Ral.
I choose to take this as a slight against Ramba Ral.
That's because Bernie was never in top 10 Zeon people who are MS pilots while Rambal Ral and Norris Packard are.
Some good news if you're in the US and want to watch Gundam Narrative. From the Gundam Global Portal page on Facebook:
https://www.fathomevents.com/events..._4QiCOj-fZAfuHHyf1Ph6wQRILyTeWq4x-uH6L0KgcAt0
https://www.fathomevents.com/events..._4QiCOj-fZAfuHHyf1Ph6wQRILyTeWq4x-uH6L0KgcAt0