DM’s Take:

Let’ss start with the Battle of Odessa. It was a bit of a letdown frankly. The battle scenes seemed phoned in (which has got to be hard to do with animation). I did like the bit about the traitor. Char’s return seemed to lack any emotional resonance as well. Maybe its just because I valued him as a character but it certainly wasn’t portrayed as momentously as I thought it should. That said I love the idea of new Zeon battle suits even if they seem to come in every flavor of the rainbow.

I never thought that I would say it but Amuro seems to have calmed down and accepted his life, drafted in the military. Almost no whining has been heard and hes even running military briefings. It may be too good to last though. I was also happy to see characters like Kai get some development time. He was a lot more likable after he got a few episodes to work with. I loved that they made me care about the spy’s death. If nothing else that in itself raised my respect of the writers for the show.

Does the fact that they are taking lots of brain pictures of Amuro make anyone else suspicious? It makes me wonder. Well all the kids have rank now so I suppose its official: they are never getting off that ship for any length of time. Until next week, watch out for those enemy bombs.

Vinnie’s Take:

I never thought I would say this but there isn’t enough giant robot in these episodes and I am sure that everyone else who has watched these episodes, really there wasn’t enough Gundam but there was a hell of a lot of G-parts, which I have gotten tired of, really I just want to see the Gundam fight other robots or planes or that kind of stuff. Part of me tiring of the G-parts is that so many episodes start with stock footage of Amuro in the core-fighter and combining with the other basic parts of the Gundam as they fall from the ship. I have gotten entirely sick of seeing that animation. There are so many examples in these episodes of reuse of footage, sometimes hidden on top of a different background, sometimes with different voice work.

All the while Zeon has developed 1000 new suits in a week. Up until this point there never a monster of the week feel in the show. Char is back but he’s at the bottom of the ocean in a submarine sending out a different suit each week. Each one was uglier and more ridiculous than the last. To me that is monster of the week bad writing. Meanwhile there is a nice spy plot with Kai. It was nice to Kai get some screen time where he is not whiny and complaining. I think we’re at the point where all the characters have removed the characters not being loyal to the ship entirely. I enjoyed some of the Jaburo battle episode and it was kind of cute to see the kids save the day. Other than that we’re done with Earth for the series and yet they still haven’t explained why Amuro is such a great pilot, but he got all those brainscans.

I’m tossing up a weird video this week. This is song from the end of the second movie as the White Base files to space. This is from Andrew W. K.’s cover album Gundam Rocks

DM

I am going to preface this by stating that Amuro is still a ridiculous boy with an inflated sense of self-importance. However, I do like how they dealt with his desertion and his redemption. Character development continues full throttle with Mirai showing some emotion towards Bright and getting some command experience. We also have Sayla discovering more about her past and perhaps maturing a little herself. And Ryu…oh Ryu. You were starting to become such a favorite character and now you are dead. Why couldn’t it have been Amuro?!

I’m sure that I was supposed to take Amuro losing his first love more seriously than I was but it was hardly a serious situation. She was twice his height and acknowledged his existence on a purely professional level. In the meantime, we have upgrades to Gundam (like it needs them) and next up we have the Battle of Odessa. Looks like it will be a good time. I hope Bright is better by then because Mirai is a much better second than commander.

Vincenzo

The block puts us over the halfway point in the series and some of the plot points are starting to come together, we’re getting very close to the point where they explain why Amuro is an ace pilot but it seems like the they are focusing on why Mirai is a constant worrier. Also, if you are watching along you might have noticed that you saw a flash of light across Amuro’s eyes, I think this is the first time we see this. This will later become very important.

Also the body count starts to stack up in these episodes, this week we’ve lost one of my favorite characters Ramba Ral, his wife Hamon, Ryu, and Matilda. Out of these we get two funeral on the federation side, the very heartfelt one for Ryu, and the stoic military one for Matilda, which Sayla and Amuro crying. With that I have to say I’ve gotten really tired of Sayla, I feel like every time she leaves the bridge she does something wrong, but I guess with Ryu gone someone has to try to fill-in for him.

As I mentioned we crossed the halfway point this week and every fan of Sunrise mecha shows knows that that means, its time for a midseason upgrade. This has to be one of the sillier ones out there. I want to know who decided it would be cool to turn take the cool looking robot and make it into this flying tank thing. Some of the forms are cool, like the one that the Gundam can sky surf on. Again, I say you at Bandai, you’ve done a wonderful job on the toys.

Also if you want to relive the Black Tri-star Attack, there is no better way than to have done with grainy film and people. So for your viewing pleasure I present 3D Gundam:

Mobile Suit Gundam Episodes 9-13
DM’s Take
We are starting out with Amuro suffering from mental fatigue from his recent combats and that delights me. The realism inherent to the situation pleases me to no end. There is a patriotic air to the draftees that puts me into the scene better than I would have expected as well. With all that said, I was pretty satisfied with Amuro getting the crap beaten out of him. Ah well little Amuro is growing up.
A little bit of world development in episode 10-13 went a long way towards making this an engrossing series. I love how, as in Firefly, the future always resembles the past. What the hell is up with Char that he won’t even show his own people his face? Maybe they are not his people since he seems to casually betray them at a moment’s notice. Hands down, my favorite part of the series to date is the inner city combat scene in episode 10. It was a very entertaining bit of video. Second: The super weapon known as lightning.
The major thing I got out of episode 11 was that Zeon fought for independence so they could form a dictatorship on all of humanity? I am confused. This set of episodes adds a great deal of intrigue that I do like but it makes me feel like they were writing it as they went along. Amuro’s homecoming was not exactly what I expected. I wonder how mentally healthy he will be now that he has no hope to anchor him.

Vinnie’s Take
Watching these episodes, I saw a lot of the things that made me love Gundam, most of this was some of the great story elements that we had, the bulk of these were either finishing up the Garma Zabi story line from last week or its 2 episode epilogue. This was our first experience with the Zabi family and we get to understand more about the politics of Zeon. Like so many sci-fi franchises, it seems like the bad guys are more fun to learn about. Zeon is no exception to this. We start to see some of the family politics of a royal family, so fans of Downton Abbey, you should be watching this show, because I know you love seeing rich people wear ornate outfits.
As for the main characters, I think Amuro is just starting to figure out that he’s actually killing people but it seems to swing wildly between episodes depending on what the story needs, when he sees Icelina die he is clearly shaken by this but only two episodes later he fairly cavalierly kills a soldier, not while in a mobile suit but while looking at him. I would take this for a weakness of the show. I keep avoid watching episodes but in the end I’m enjoying them, not as much as DM enjoyed rewatching Firefly but that could be due to the fact that I just watched the movies back in December. Although, we are in the part with my favorite Zeon commander (excluding Char) Ramba Ral, who I will talk more about next week.

So, we’re changing the format of the article a little bit this week. Instead of talking about each episode we’re just going to talk about the batch we watched. We covered from episode 4-8 this time around.

Vinnie’s Take

So this week’s batch saw us move from space to earth and gave us the introduction of the Garma Zabi, the first of the Zabi family villains. The high points in this set were the times when Char and Garma and interacting both talking about the Gundam and Char working on his master plan. Meanwhile while we see one of the thing that make the series shine, the antagonist having a real personality (albeit here that are still pretty villainous, but it’s a step in the right direction) we also have some of the weakest parts of the show. Last week I wrote about how this moved the mecha genre from exclusively having super robots to having more realistic robots. Once the show moved to earth it seemed as if the robots got more human in the way they move. This bothers me mostly because I’ve gotten used to Gundams being realistic (I’m also watching Double-Zeta and AGE right now) but this is just part of the transition in the genre.

DM’s Take

I’m of two minds regarding Amuro. For one, he has kind of been a dick. However 2, is that I am really enjoying how realistic his portrayal is.  Seriously. He is a teenager thrown into war with all the violence and responsibility therein.

Red Comet is fast becoming a villain I love.  He’ll screw you over. He will screw his comrades over, his followers, and anyone he needs to.  AND YOU WILL LOVE HIM FOR IT

I am fast getting tired of all the I outrank you this is insubordination! Can we just acknowledge that these fold know more than you already?

I wasn’t happy with Amuro’s explanation of why the Gundam is so good.  If it is because of that reason then it really does not need him, does it?

My final thought on this batch: Civilians are idiots.

Gundam Video of the Week

Four men who sing the themes of other shows since the Gundam theme, almost a little off key.

While DM went with a show that is popular and a major part of modern Scifi dialouge, I am picking a show that is significantly older and not very popular with American anime fans but is one of the supremely important anime, this is Mobile Suit Gundam.

Up to its release in 1979, the mecha genre was based around so-called super robots, with heroes yelling attack names and meglonaical villians, think Mazinger Z or Voltron. Gundam is the first of the so-called real robot shows, the robot is a tool with a purpose. That is not to say that some of the elements of super robots are not here but this show was the game changer. A good example of a real-robot show that people in America should recognize is Macross, which become the first part of the Robotech.

Similar to Firefly, this show was not successful first time around, it had its order cut, howful with the release of plastic models the show grew in popularity so much so that the 43 episodes were recut in to three films (if you don’t have the time or dedication to watch the show, watch these, also they removed a lot of the super robot elements that were present), a few years later they made a sequel series and the franchise has lived on since.

Now, for me this was the Gundam series that made me into a Gundam fan, unlike many who fell in love with Gundam Wing, which had aired the previous year on Toonami. I had watched Wing but I really watched MSG and loved it until it stopped airing after 9/11 (this was right at the end of the series, so the point where ships are crashing and people are being killed with a beam through the back of the head), CN tried a few years later by putting it in a worse spot and got through less episodes. However, now is the time for every to see this show, Bandai Entertainment has re-released the show in two sets and for the first time both language tracks. So in light of these facts Mobile Suit Gundam is the second entry in the All Geeks Considered continuing column, Being a Better Geek.

So you get an idea of the show, this is what I saw back in 2001, as an ad for this show:

Episode 1- Gundam Rising
DM’s Take
The intro was hokey as I thought it would be. There is not much more to say about that. The suspension of disbelief that watching this show will require is going to be enormous but I think I may be up to the challenge. MSG is said to have its battle suits based on the novel Starship Troopers but I think they are pulling more than battle suit tech from the book. The very atmosphere of a war torn universe and martial law seems to match the novel well. We get some character introductions in the pilot, including Amuro Ray. Some general thoughts on the pilot… The action sequences were strong and appreciated. The dubbing and animation synched up nicely and contributed to a general sense of tension. The technology seems ridiculous. How did Earth develop such advanced technology without Zeon being aware of it? And exactly how user friendly is a Gundam Suit? I do not care if Amuro is a techie, it is like saying your local technogeek could go and pilot a stealth jet. In any case, it was an all right pilot and I will continue to watch with an open mind.

Vinnie’s Take

 

 

 

 

 

Space Ships Shooting Lasers!

 

 

 

 

 

Ugly Robots, like they would be in reality

 

 

 

 

 

I wonder why this show was cancelled after 9/11 (that’s New York).

 

 

 

 

 

The Cute Mascot, Haro, built by Amuro

 

 

 

 

 

It’s the protagonist, in his underpants, this is first time we see him.

 

 

 

 

 

And Char, with his awesome mask, if you say otherwise, clearly you’re missing the point.

 

 

 

 

 

See giant shells, realism

 

 

 

 

 

Just think if this was made today, you’d have seen her panties.

 

 

 

 

 

The first of many slaps, in this case it was slap a women out of hysteria, oh 1979 Japan.

 

 

 

 

 

The Gundam activates

 

 

 

 

 

The Zaku’s pilot is dead.

 

 

 

 

 

And that was an aimed kill shot, remember this is a kids show.

 

 

 

 

 

His reaction to killing, in actuality I hope this is at least a little realistic

Episode Two- Destroy Gundam

DM’s take

We have part two of the pilot here.  Amuro continues to assist Earth forces in the Gundam Suit, although they begin to get suspicious of exactly who is piloting quickly.  We have what I suspect is a recurring villain in enemy pilot Char.  I would say that the two episodes together make for a stronger story and I suspect that was what was intended when originally aired.

Vinnie’s Take

 

 

 

 

 

How do you seal breaches to the colony? With huge amounts of bubble gum.

 

 

 

 

 

Kai gets slapped for the first time, this time for being a coward. Good job, Sayla.

 

 

 

 

 

For a man who wears a mask he reveals his face pretty early in the show

 

 

 

 

 

Could these blond people who dress in pink be related?

 

 

 

 

 

Char’s Custom Zaku II, notice the red color and badass spike on the head.

Episode Three: Vote to Attack

DM’s takes

I am just going to say it: Earth Federation Forces are pretty hard up if 10 year olds are voting whether to attack or not. We start getting additional character development in this episode as well as an idea of how the civilians are fairing on the military ship, White Base. Amuro has taken his posting as the Gundam pilot seriously and studies up on its manual while forgoing silly things like food, rest and showering. I think that at this point the thing that is most hindering my enjoyment is lack of any stand-out characters.  With any luck that will change soon.

Vinnie’s Take:

 

 

 

 

 

Our characters are now getting their uniforms and remember cadets are colored coded for your convenience, boys in blue and girls and in pink.

 

 

 

 

 

Zeon, the home of cock-eyed, mustachioed supply ship captains.

People often ask, why would an engineer build a robot with legs, this is the reason.

That’s all for this week, see you next time.

 

 

So Gundam is an old franchise, it has it highs and lows, but I’m not talking about a high or low point today, I’m talking about the newest addition to the franchise Gundam AGE, particularly the first 15 episodes which make a clean story line, that might be able to stand alone as its own series (albeit not the most fulfilling one). For me this is a first, this is the first time I am watching a Gundam series as it airs, I’ve tried with SEED and 00 but I never managed to do it.

All the comments I have refer only the first story arc (episodes 1-15), so don’t get bent out of shape if you are reading this is the far future and say these things are not true based on like episode 47 or something, that didn’t happen yet. This show felt more like a UC show than any of the other shows I’ve seen in a while (SEED feels like a while ago, and I never finished Destiny, and Unicorn is being ignored for this discussion since that actually is UC). I think that it still managed to this without being stale and try something new. I know that a lot of people didn’t like the fact that the enemy was sort of nameless-faceless at first and that this was totally un-Gundam, I say to them, so what, try something new and who knows the writers might make something cool if not good.

The designs of everything were very reminiscent of the Mobile Suit Gundam and it looks like the second storyline looks a little more like Zeta. They managed to make something that didn’t go too crazy with the designs like they have with other alternate universes. I think that this show is the fresh start for the Gundam franchise that might bring in new fans and a new generation since this show has such a low level of prior knowledge (about 0, which is the lowest of any Gundam series other than MSG and G Gundam).

Another issue that people took with this show was that it was designed for kids, and yes the designs are more reminiscent of a show for kids and this show is aimed at a younger audience but that doesn’t mean it still won’t be a good war story that is somewhat realistic. I think Gundam AGE pulled this off better that most others that I’ve seen managing to balance the effect of war on people and still be more or less kid friendly (episode 15 is a stretch, but it’s a great finale for the show). If you like Gundam and have hesitation about Gundam AGE, I say that you will still enjoy this show and if you aren’t a Gundam fan this might be the show for you to check out.

In what appears to me as a bit of a shock is the shuttering of Bandai Entertainment for the purposes of production and distribution of DVDs and BluRay Discs. This feels kind of like the rug got pulled out from beneath us. I don’t know if there were signs I was missing but I didn’t expect this to happen. Although looking at the cancellation list everyone knew they were slowing down. Now this is not mean they will stop production of currently in-print works, so while Gundam 0079 is in print get it. I don’t know how long that will last in print, but grab it while you can. Sadly, what is now going to be forgotten in Turn-A Gundam which had been announced last year.

Alternately, I think that this might be part of a bigger plan to release things through Bandai Visual or Sunrise. This was the first time in my years of being a con-goer that I’ve seen Sunrise do a panel, and this happened, not once but twice this summer. I suspect they will be starting up a US branch in the near future.  The experience we’ve had in the past has never been the most positive of the relationships with Japanese companies. I hope they learned from Bandai Visual’s failings but I’m not holding my breath. I think that Gundam properties will keep having a pathway to the country since Japan keeps thinking they do well here. I love them and so do many others but they are vocal, not vast (in numbers). I’m sure that right now, Funimation and Sentai Filmworks are planning how to get Cowboy Bebop and Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex and Code Geass and Gurren Laggann but really that will be it; most of the other stuff will get lost in the wind and never seen again.

I say to Bandai, you were there for my early formative years and helped me become the fan I am today with shows like Mobile Suit Gundam and Outlaw Star.

Source: ANN Article