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The Gundam |OT| Destiny is something we all have to deal with
- Thread starter donkey
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Great Mecha design the second act is really good, first act is meh final is bad
Finally powered through the end of 0079 the other week. The last third or so of the series really takes a turn into all of the newtype stuff. I really thought that newtypes were going to feature more prominently and consistently throughout the series, but by the end it almost seemed like they shoe-horned another show entirely. Amuro's character development throughout this was a bit unpredictable, and I'm not really sure I understand where he's at when the series ends. Maybe that's the point? He's just kind of whisked along by the events unfolding around him, and although he grows some I suppose it's not essential that he has some kind of catharsis by the end. Now, with 0079 out of the way I was finally able to start Zeta...
Hoo boy! This show rocks! The leap in animation quality from 0079 is STAGGERING. I think back to what Austin Walker said on the UC Gundam episode of Retronauts: when you think about how anime looks, you think of Zeta. That is to say nothing of the opening song which absolutely rips.
I'm about 10-15 episodes in, and here are some loose observations:
Hoo boy! This show rocks! The leap in animation quality from 0079 is STAGGERING. I think back to what Austin Walker said on the UC Gundam episode of Retronauts: when you think about how anime looks, you think of Zeta. That is to say nothing of the opening song which absolutely rips.
I'm about 10-15 episodes in, and here are some loose observations:
- World building is omnipresent but also never thorough enough. When exactly is it explained what the Titans are, in relation to EFSF and Zeon? It really feels as if there is no such thing as the EFSF anymore, just Titans. Is that the point? (I know what the Titans are thanks to wikis, and it's somewhat more explicitly stated after a half dozen episodes or greater).
- It's hard to keep track of which mobile suits fight for which side. The first battle where GMs show up, I had no clue who they were fighting for. The fact that the Galbaddys are the same color as Quattro's Rick Dias, and look similar, doesn't help. At first it seems like there's only one red Rick Dias, but after Quattro's disappears it seems like they're all red - and I stop seeing Galbaddys. Huh? I suspect this is somewhat intentional - i.e., the Hizacks just beeing Zakus but with Gundam-looking chests and being used by the Federation - to show the blurred lines. However, in practice it's sometimes confusing. At least I can keep track of the Hyaku Shiki!
- Corporal punishment is honestly a bit much. It feels pretty gross to see, but it seems like the show wants me to agree that it's useful to "correct" the arrogant people on the receiving end. The scene where Kamille almost hits Katz almost made me sick. But I guess that's how abuse works sometimes, right?
- Kamille is another inscrutable and annoying protagonist. I guess if he ends up making a turn-around before the end, it'll serve as "character development," but so far this guy seems like a dangerous loose cannon.
- Gradually reintroducing 0079 characters in new context is interesting, but the show has so far done a pretty bad job of showing the motivations of Amuro and Char. Hopefully these bear fruit eventually - or maybe I'll just have to wait until I reach Char's Counter Attack.
The leap is not too too surprising considering it was made ~5 years after the first series with 4 other shows under Tomino's belt. I do prefer MSG's animation, but maybe I just like the incongruous cartoony Yasuhiko takes.
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I'm cool with goofy fluid. I've got Dunbine in the backlog and I've been curious to watch it. Yes I've been forewarned I'll be depressed by the end XDThe leap is not too too surprising considering it was made ~5 years after the first series with 4 other shows under Tomino's belt. I do prefer MSG's animation, but maybe I just like the incongruous cartoony Yasuhiko takes.
I dunno, I feel like Kamille was way too valuable for them to constantly be beating his ass like they did. They were way outta line. There's one scene where I was like yo if you're this mad at Kamille, you hop in the Zeta and figure it out. No? Then stop beating that kid's ass lmao. Sometimes with hyper-talented people they're cocky, and that's just something you have to deal with.
Oh I'm in total agreement with you. Physical violence as a means of discipline is fucked up. I'm just not sure how the show wants me to feel about it.
00 didn't lose the plot. Sure it meandered in S2, but the overall plot was there. And continued into the movie, for those that actually paid attention.
The answers were to evolve humanity to prepare for the dialogues to come and that can't happen with humanity at war according to Aeolia schenberg. Which were coming within a few years. They had the plot people didn't pay attention to that plot
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I feel like Z's early worldbuilding is very deliberate in what it omits. It once again opens with Char infiltrating a colony to get a look at the Federation's new Gundam. The AEUG is only ever characterized by the words of the Titans, painting them as Zeon-remnant terrorists, leaving some doubt that perhaps Kamille has been swept up by the "bad guys". Though it's of course kept very grey on both sides, the Titans clearly represent the Earth Federation yet they're obviously pretty douchey, and even though they have the new Gundams, their mainstay suits look an awful lot like Zakus.
Not worth it. The first arc is ok but ends well, the second arc is good (or at least better), third arc is bad and ends with maybe the worst ever Gundam finale.
I think Age might have been the most recent Gundam show I actually finished. I liked the first two parts, but the 3rd was indeed very weak. It is a shame too because the 3rd part had some Gunpla I really wanted that will probably never happen now.
I love Age 3 Orbital! Could use an alt color scheme but everything else about it is great.
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I loved Wing as a kid. But I rewatched it last year for its 25th anniversary and so much of it is just gibberish. Like you said nobody acts or even talks like a person; lines of dialogue are thrown at each other at cross purposes, nobody actually has a conversation where someone responds to what the other person is saying. It's political melodrama for 12 year olds.
Hey, I like Age Mecha Designs! It's one of the two things Age has going for it alongside its second arc, lol.
I've never been keen on most Netflix Originals, but this is roping me in to subscribe.
I hope Z and ZZ are available soon.
Fantastic turnaround. Friggin' Pokemon wishes it was this on the mark.
Probably Rightstuf's replacement SEED blu rays.
Lucky, mine still says Pending.
Wow how was yours so early lol.
I just got my notice today.
Gundam Seed hype.
Gundam seed collector's edition they screwed up and sent discs broadcast versions and not blue ray.
Probably because I didn't read the notice correctly and did the update address process despite my address not being different and the exact same one I put in
They also screwed up the replacement discs.
Wrong levels (SDBD and the two SD encoded Character Theater extras on Disc 10 are not affected). You can somewhat "fix" this by setting the Blu-ray player to RGB Full.
Corrupted frames
Wrong levels (SDBD and the two SD encoded Character Theater extras on Disc 10 are not affected). You can somewhat "fix" this by setting the Blu-ray player to RGB Full.
Corrupted frames
Forgot Hathaway came out today here... tempted to go see it tomorrow morning. Maybe if I can get one of those spiffy posters at the theater shop or something I'll get a seat but I think I'll just wait. Gundam movies in general tend to not be good imo but even NT was fun in IMAX.
Damn and I doubt they are going to replace this one.They also screwed up the replacement discs.
Wrong levels (SDBD and the two SD encoded Character Theater extras on Disc 10 are not affected). You can somewhat "fix" this by setting the Blu-ray player to RGB Full.
Corrupted frames
If I lived over there, I'd totally show up on day one. And I'm not even, like, a huge Gundam fan -- I like it a fair bit, but I don't collect much gunpla and such.
Go for me!
I checked my theaters site and apparently they are not doing pre-sold tickets which is weird... I was already going over to the mall its in today so I'll see what the times are. But honestly, just waiting two weeks for the Netflix version is tempting too since Japan is playing fast and loose with coronavirus.
Just what I've heard from other sites, but apparently you can just go to the theater and buy a ticket, and that lets you go to the pop-up store or w/e it is and buy the blu ray there. Don't even need to watch it in the theatre, just need the ticket.
Just an alternative idea lol, if it actually works.
No bluray player lol, sold the PS4 for a PS5 digital when that came out last year. But either way, all the blurays were sold out haha. Apparently there's already a lot of reselling for the merch. All I wanted was a poster since they were all so cool 😂 It's fine though. All the tickets for the day were sold out since they have half capacity atm. If I really get into the idea of watching I'll go after work Monday or something.
edit: Restaurant owner I know and Gundam fan sent me a message asking if I saw it, when I said no he told me he would play it on his projector tonight in his place lol. Was nice to have dinner and the movie! Thought it was great, my Japanese isn't perfect (especially for Gundam's political/ideological shenanigan's) but I really enjoyed it. I think the Gundam movie curse has been broken lol. It was just a straight up well made movie in general imo. Especially the Hong Kong battle.
might be a bit anti-climatic for most though
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Kinda what I was expecting in a best-case scenario -- a strong adaptation of something that would need to be tinkered with overmuch to deliver as a "popcorn movie." Hopefully, it doesn't nuke sales on the sequels. But the Gundam fandom is hardcore; I doubt they'll do terrible.
The Hathaway OST is out and up on youtube and various music streaming services. If you, like myself, have been wanting to scratch that itch and hear the full track featured in the first trailer since it dropped months ago, that particular track is "Xi." I'm probably going to wait on the rest of the soundtrack to hear it in context first.
It's actually the opening theme.
This song here is used as an insert
Would I miss much if I just watch the original series movies instead of the episodes? Want to catch up on UC before Hathaway.
The MSG trilogy is perfect and anything referenced in CCA will use this as the basis. It's commonly viewed as the canonical way that things happened.
Zeta is the opposite, actually. If memory serves, the movies make some changes that are incompatible with ZZ and so on.
The only thing that invalidates ZZ is the ending. Imo one could watch the movies, then find the TV series end on YouTube to watch before ZZ if they really wanted to.
Not ideal (that would be watching Zeta itself because it's a good series), but if you're trying to speedrun UC its a decent way.