F91-
I keep forgetting that at some point in time, Tomino actually was good.
F91 was an aborted Gundam TV series that later became juryrigged into one movie that it seems the staff were intent on following up but never happened, at least in anime format. The 2 hour movie covers what was supposed to be the first 13 episodes and you can tell as the movie starts to unravel after the initial colony invasion. It's a shame as there is a ton to like with the movie and in a slightly extended format, this could have easily been one of the stronger Gundam entries. The Frontier IV colony invasion is really remarkable as it might be the most brutal depiction of collateral damage in the entire Gundam franchise. There have of course been bigger atrocities in the Gundam universe such as Operation British (Australian colony drop) but using a civilian's viewpoint here gives a much more personal and brutal feeling than other massacres.
For example in the above scene, a shell from a mobile suit's gun falls and hits a mother in the head instantly killing her. The main characters for the most part aren't trying to fight back in this sequence but literally survive by trying to find a working shelter.
The people who actually do fight back in some capacity get killed. The invasion uses a lot of upwards angled camera shots to emphasize the scale of the mobile suits and a number of sequences focused on the environmental damage such as when a mobile suit crashes into a building.
The intro has a number of children crying because either their parents are missing or dead.
War in the Pocket is considered the hallmark for the depiction of how war ruins lives but in many respects this intro, and movie as a whole, does a better job than
0080 does.
One of the Federation officers straight up talks about using children as shields.
Unfortunately the rest of the movie isn't to this caliber as the condensing becomes more and more obvious. Scenes jump around in time and location that, while aren't impossible to follow, are needlessly hard. For example, Seabook goes from protecting a base to being far away and spying around back in his home town literally a cut later. The movie needs a little more connective tissue. What I did like was the focus on Cecilia and her development as a character (up to the last segment which is again missing some necessary character work).
Cecilia has her own goals in mind and I liked how she wasn't dependent on a man for most of the movie. Of course Tomino being Tomino there is another women who betrays the Crossbone Vanguard over a man which is a big disappointment with how well Cecilia is handled, again for the most part. The biggest problem with Cecilia's character is near the end when she leaves Crossbone as it had been leading up to her siding with Crossbone and then quickly transitions to her leaving. It feels like there needed to have been some trigger or event to justify her switching sides or just lay the groundwork to express her doubts. There was the event with her mother coming back and her stepfather getting killed but I don't think it's strong enough.
I liked a number of the side characters on both sides with two notable exceptions, Iron Mask and that asshole Federation officer on the ship/base who was doing his best Bright Slap impression. Iron Mask as a whole was woefully underdeveloped in terms of his ideological bent and comes off as a Char redux. I did initially like him having personal reasons for wearing the mask, even though they were a bit weak, but I'm not sure I like that he never took it off at certain crucial junctures. I feel one big demasking moment in an emotionally driven scene could have helped his character a bit. The Bug plan of his is interesting from both an in-universe perspective but also from Tomino's. In-universe having the systemic killing of people wholesale is relevant as it takes mental pressure away from the people actually doing the killing, similar to modern unmanned drones. Then there is Tomino who wanted a more visceral feeling to impart on viewers than previous mass murders such as with the G3 gas on Colony 30, although that was pretty gruesome. So the visual depiction is fascinating, especially with the large number of shots of families being killed. I just wish Iron Mask's reasoning for killing most of humanity was stronger.
Visually the movie is gorgeous. There are a number of detailed backgrounds and the mecha animation especially in the intro can be a bit breathtaking. One area I was impressed with was the character designs as there was a focus on multi-nationality.
One of the prominent children is clearly Asian. It's really nice when you see diversity in the character designs. Now the music on the other hand is a different story. Parts of the music were clearly ripped off from the Imperial March in Star Wars. Then the rest is largely forgettable besides the vocal insert and credit music.
All in all, I really enjoyed the movie despite its number of flaws. With a little sprucing up, this could have been something special due to great aspects like the focus on family but alas. Crossbone anime when?
lol
