And so, Harry created another Gundam topic and annoyed people... ahem, anyway...
Victory is the last Gundam series set in the Universal Century era (G-Saviour is officially Alternate UC now, thankfully). Set in UC 153, 73 years after the One Year War, most of humanity has almost totally migrated to space, having left the Earth to regenerate. The Federation has grown even more complacent, leaving Earth ripe for takeover by the Zanscare Empire, who wish to make it their sanctuary. They are lead by Queen Maria Pia Armonia, who preaches of motherly love and peace to all (how nice). Unfortunately, the Queen's ideals and hopes are manipulated by her closest advisors, and as a result Zanscare has become twisted and dominates anyone who does not follow their ideals. Even the use of the old French Revolution execution system, the Guillotine, has been invoked to put fear in the hearts of those who are against Zanscare. With nobody standing against this looming terror, cue the League Militaire and their mass-produced V Gundam, and their star pilot, 13 year old Uso Evin.
This is, without a doubt, the darkest Gundam so far. The character death toll is just ridiculous, especially as the show finale nears. I'm not just talking about throw-away side characters either (though there are plenty of them) - by the end of the series you can count the surviving chracters on your fingers. Tomino is said to have gone through a period of depression during creation, and apprently there was some alleged disagreement with Sunrise at the time as well (how much of this is true, I'm not sure). Anyway, the result is that Tomino tried to sabotage his own show in various ways, i.e. introducing the sexy Shrike Team pilots and killing most of them off within a couple of episodes of their appearence. The mecha in this is kind of marmite in appearence - the Gundams are fairly generic looking, but Zanscare mecha are insectoid (Dubine influences?), and travel in a Mobile Armour helicopter mode or even in giant tires (!). Personally, I love the designs, especially given the relatively uninspiring new recycled (oxymoron? Hmmm...) mecha we have currently in Destiny. Speaking of the Gundams, they are not the powerhouses they usually are (except maybe the V2). They are more like powered-up grunt units with an elaborate docking system, which is great if you were getting fed up of the almost super-robot kind of attributes most of the other series gives them.
I've seen all but 2 Gundam series to date (First and ZZ), and for me this is my favourite so far. Even through all the destruction and death, the ending presents a form of finality that is rare in most Gundam series. Even if you haven't watched any Gundam at all, this one is fairly stand alone, although having some of the background on Newtypes might help a bit. Though its a show Tomino would like to forget about it, I think its one of his best works to date.
Give it a go.
Victory is the last Gundam series set in the Universal Century era (G-Saviour is officially Alternate UC now, thankfully). Set in UC 153, 73 years after the One Year War, most of humanity has almost totally migrated to space, having left the Earth to regenerate. The Federation has grown even more complacent, leaving Earth ripe for takeover by the Zanscare Empire, who wish to make it their sanctuary. They are lead by Queen Maria Pia Armonia, who preaches of motherly love and peace to all (how nice). Unfortunately, the Queen's ideals and hopes are manipulated by her closest advisors, and as a result Zanscare has become twisted and dominates anyone who does not follow their ideals. Even the use of the old French Revolution execution system, the Guillotine, has been invoked to put fear in the hearts of those who are against Zanscare. With nobody standing against this looming terror, cue the League Militaire and their mass-produced V Gundam, and their star pilot, 13 year old Uso Evin.
This is, without a doubt, the darkest Gundam so far. The character death toll is just ridiculous, especially as the show finale nears. I'm not just talking about throw-away side characters either (though there are plenty of them) - by the end of the series you can count the surviving chracters on your fingers. Tomino is said to have gone through a period of depression during creation, and apprently there was some alleged disagreement with Sunrise at the time as well (how much of this is true, I'm not sure). Anyway, the result is that Tomino tried to sabotage his own show in various ways, i.e. introducing the sexy Shrike Team pilots and killing most of them off within a couple of episodes of their appearence. The mecha in this is kind of marmite in appearence - the Gundams are fairly generic looking, but Zanscare mecha are insectoid (Dubine influences?), and travel in a Mobile Armour helicopter mode or even in giant tires (!). Personally, I love the designs, especially given the relatively uninspiring new recycled (oxymoron? Hmmm...) mecha we have currently in Destiny. Speaking of the Gundams, they are not the powerhouses they usually are (except maybe the V2). They are more like powered-up grunt units with an elaborate docking system, which is great if you were getting fed up of the almost super-robot kind of attributes most of the other series gives them.
I've seen all but 2 Gundam series to date (First and ZZ), and for me this is my favourite so far. Even through all the destruction and death, the ending presents a form of finality that is rare in most Gundam series. Even if you haven't watched any Gundam at all, this one is fairly stand alone, although having some of the background on Newtypes might help a bit. Though its a show Tomino would like to forget about it, I think its one of his best works to date.
Give it a go.
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