The Gundam Thread

I've been collecting the Gundam blu-rays but so far only watching the UC stuff, I finally got around to Reconguista in G and I'm loving it, only 3 more episodes to go.
 
Been watching more Gundam recently so heres my thoughts on them:

MSG The Origin
Parts 1-4 were actually the first Gundam I watched quite a long time ago and rewatching them now (having now seen the original series) I picked up on so much more! They were really really good and looked great. Parts 5 and 6 were also really good though to be honest I could've done without the silly side 7 plot that goes nowhere and only exists so Amaro is in it. There was literally no need for him to ever appear in this miniseries as far as I'm concerned.

MSG the trilogy movies
Honestly I think the series is better. The first 2 films cut out way to much for me to make them worth while. The third film however was very good and did add worth for me in understanding the series.

MSG Reconguista in G
Really enjoyed this show. It was mad and the end in the final episode was super sudden and I wish Mask had died as I hated him but overall i thought it was great. I think it could've benefited from being longer as with so many factions it was a bit hard to keep track of at times and the final battle was just complete carnage. But I enjoyed the ride and the characters and the animation.
 
MSG Origin was/is an adaption of the whole of the 0079 the manga is i mean so adapting that is going to cause problems as all its doing is setting some some remake that hasn't happened yet, I think it will eventually happen maybe after Tomino lets Rec in G die.
 
MSG Origin was/is an adaption of the whole of the 0079 the manga is i mean so adapting that is going to cause problems as all its doing is setting some some remake that hasn't happened yet, I think it will eventually happen maybe after Tomino lets Rec in G die.
Ah fair enough. It'll be interesting to see if it does happen.
 
Bandai are running a poll. You have to pick 2 Gundam designs that have HG model kits. The 2 kits with the most votes will fight each other in an anime short. The poll is extensive, including designs from pretty much everything so if you're a fan this is an exciting chance to see 2 designs you love (some never animated before) go at it.
 
Finished Mobile Suit Gundam 0083

Really enjoyed it. The art and design work was top notch in this series. The first time the Pegasus class ship was shown I was pretty blown away! The story was good and a good mix of heros and villains on both sides like the best of any Gundam story. Though I have to say I really hated Nina at the end. I loved her at the start but the way shes reduced to a simpering, lovestruck, bad desicion making fool at the end really wound me up! Other than that though it was great.

Only watched the series. Is there anything extra in the movie? Or is it just a compilation.
 
Had a Gundam Wing binge over the last week.

Mobile Suit Gundam Wing
It strikes me as odd that a show that only exists to sell toy weapons of mass destruction would go all in on having a message of total pacifism being the only salvation for humanity. It's a bold juxtaposition.

The show itself looked great with some great design and animation work. The cast is large and varied which was fun but also lead to the shows major problem of being a convoluted mess. It was still an entertaining ride though. I also didnt much appreciate that the Gundams were basically indestructible which made most of the battles flashy but low stakes. It was certainly the case for me that most of the drama and tension in the show came from the political storyline.

One other oddity was how the show was full of strong/smart/varied/important female characters but decided, not only all 5 of the Gundam pilots had to be boys but also made one of them casually sexist.

Operation Meteor OVA
Watching these right after the series made for an utter pointless experience. Dont be fooled, it's just a 4 hour clip show.

Endless Waltz
This was a fun watch. Peace is once again threatened and everyone has to step up to defend it. It's pretty break neck in its pacing so some parts feel a bit rushed. Wufei gets the short end of the stick again and instead of being casually sexist is turned into an insufferable edgelord for no reason.
 
Mobile Suit Gundam 00 + A wakening of the trailblazer

Well this was exceptional. So many varied and complex characters. Everyone is either effected/traumatised by war or becomes so during the show. It's a fascinating look at how war perpetuates war. Everyone is fighting to end war and bring peace not realising they are just contributing to it. The show also looks great. The designs, characters and mechs, are awesome. The battles great to watch and the story takes so many twists and turns it's always engrossing.

The movie is also spectacular and feeds into the themes really well. If humanity can find peace what would happen if something looked upon us and only saw the fighting?

The simple message that discourse and understanding is what's needed for true progress is really well handled and everything in the show feeds back to it.

Its great.
 
Gundam Info have put up a YouTube playlist containing the Zeta movies, CCA, the 00 movie, the 08th MS Team movie, all of Unicorn and 0080.

UK blocked but there are ways around that to still support an official release...

 
They reanimate bits and change the ending but I couldn’t even finish the first one it was so bad the two animation styles clashed and it made no sense.
Also the ending change makes ZZ, CCA and Unicorn all null and void so it’s been ignored now too with unicorn etc
 
They were never meant to be followed. They're literally just an alternate self contained retelling to celebrate the anniversary. The idea it was intended to be some massive retcon of UC really needs to die. It's been stinking up fandom for 15 years.

Though I will agree they're very underwhelming.
 
I watched Wing in its entirety over the past few weeks. I found it pretty enjoyable, but it got somewhat tedious as it went on with its repetitive primary school level philosophy about war and pacifism. The characterisation also seemed to reach for complexity but instead confused itself. In fact, I'm not sure why I enjoyed it at all but I did. Endless Waltz seemed like a pretty pointless sequel, effectively a very condensed replay. I've had to wiki Frozen Teardrop, but at least that seems to do something different with the characters.

I've got the UC Gundam Libraries edition of 0079 on pre-order so I'm looking forward to that next month. Depending on how I like the look of that (it's a fair expense), I'm thinking of getting the 0080, 08th MS Team, 0083 and Zeta releases in that series as well.
 
Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn

What a finale this series had! As an entry in the UC building on the themes and ideas that have come before this was a great story. Also the final film was pretty amazing. The animation was great and the battles really fun to watch. There were lots of twists and turns throughout with the bulk of the narrative built on a chase down the mysterious macguffin storyline. The series was also pretty fast paced which sort of touches on the only criticism I have.

That for the length of show there were too many characters and they couldnt be developed properly. In some cases this meant very 2 dimensional, but prominent side characters. In one case it meant a main character who was almost unrecognisable episode to episode as he behaved however the plot needed him to with no logical or at least believable reason for it. However most of the main cast was resonalbly well handled but I felt if this had been a full 50 ep series there would have been space for some slower purely character based stories. Something older Gundam shows have been great at.

Also Bright made an appearance and made me very happy.

Despite my rather long winded grumblings this was a great entry into the Gundam franchise and its finale really elevated it.
 
Gundam NT - Well this was dull somehow a sequel from UC that took all the worst aspects and made them worse, rushed not good characters weak villains and some good action. Not the worst Gundam nowhere near good either. It’s just there. Let’s hope Hathaway’s flash is better.
Or if they do do another sequel like the end hints at.
 
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