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Gundam Overviews: Revisited
Topic Started: Oct 2 2010, 10:17 PM (177 Views)
Omega
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Master of The World
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Hey everybody, It's Omega again. Looks like, again, I'm disappointed with my vids on Youtube that review each series, so I'm going back through and reviewing each that I made a vid on that was part of the main series. Sorry guys, no OVAs or movies. The thing is that all of the Gundam OVAs and movies are good in some way, I really can't complain about any of them. This time, I'll be giving more in-depth reasons behind my decisions on Plot, Characters, Art/Animation, Music and overall effect. As an avid film student and screenplay writer, I'm going to use my knowledge of good filmmaking to factor in each aspect and give individual ratings for each area. I'm actually no going in order of the vids or timelines, but which reviews I could have done alot better by way of which needs the most improvement, and the ones that need the least.

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Omega
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Gundam SEED

Plot: Taking place in the Cosmic Era timeline, Gundam SEED follows Kira Yamato, a young man who lives in the Space Colony of Heliopolis until a military force called ZAFT attacks the colony, which had been manufacturing weapons. Kira jumps into the cockpit of the Strike Gundam, joining the crew of the Archangel battleship in the process as Heliopolis is seemingly destroyed. Kira evetually must face all of ZAFT, his childhood friend Athrun Zala and the "evil" Rau Le Creuset in his fight to end the Bloody Valentine War. The plot of SEED, unlike most Gundam series is driven mainly by character action and very rarely on the mobile suits themselves. However the cast of SEED makes it hard to believe the plot is really any good, save for a few key parts I will actually name off. The actual rivalry between Kira and Athrun--the two friends who end up on opposite sides of the fighting with no knowledge of it--was actually an interesting one, since we've seen lovers (War in the Pocket) and brothers (G), but never friends who were unknowlingly against each other. Their chemistry; however, seems to come off more as lovers than friends or even rivals. The two are obsessive about the other, and really never seem to eliminate that awkwardness that they have when together throughout the course of the series. Another is Rau, God could I spend hours about Rau. He is one of the ONLY characters in SEED I found interesting, but his omnicidal goal is what makes him unique from other Gundam villains, an outright EVIL character to drive the Gundam storyline. Otherwise, I found the plot to not only be heavily copied from the U.C. timeline, but followed and read like a soap-opera, which is good...if you're a woman. I'm a man, and cannot get rid of that bias. As I said, the plot is driven heavily by character interaction, and unfortunately it suffers from it. Most of the character dialogue is very preachy material, often pretentious and insulting to the viewer's intelligence that they have to be told multiple times that killing is bad outright. Another thing is that love and sex are a sort of "Big Brother is Watching You" element, it is constantly there, and is probably why the series became popular (women are more inclined to like love driven stories and buy DVDs). I actually don't mind romantic sub-plots, it's just that your audience has to CARE for it to be relevent. As an added bonus, towards the end of the series with the fight between Kira and Rau, we see the overall tone become more close to that of a Shonen anime, which is good, but not when it comes in suddenly and without warning. Overall, it's a story that's not very original, and when it tries to be, it falls flat on its face. I give the plot of SEED a 4/10.

Characters: SEED is populated by a wide range of characters on both sides of the Natural-Coordinator line. To start off, Coordinators are essentially bio-engineered humans (Think Brave New World, but as a plot device for broken characters). To start off, Kira Yamato is your average coordinator teenager, except he's considered the "Ultimate Coordinator" perfect in everyway, with enhanced strength, speed, stamina and intelligence, the ultimate gary-stu. Other than that, Kira seems to take alot from Amuro Ray, due to his initial hesitation to fight, lack of motivation to fight, and angst. The differences: Kira remains angsty, vows never to kill again, becomes preachy about morals, fucks his bestfriend's girlfriend and then threatens to hurt him after he finds out, and is arrogant for no reason. Example for that last statement: When the Archangel is trapped in the desert (Episode 18: Payback), the ship is attacked by Andrew Waltfeld. Kira states that only he can save them, which would be true if Mu La Flaga, another very capable C.E. pilot, wasn't with them. If you think Amuro was in no position to gloat, let me put it to you this way: would you feel safe with Kai or Hayato defending White Base? I sure as Hell wouldn't. Along with Kira are his friends and lovers. Lacus Clyne is essentially a female "God", whom Kira acts as a prophet for in terms of spreading her anti-war message. Athrun Zala is the typical douch-bag friend, who is really good deep down despite his current affiliations. However, Athrun is just as pretentious as Kira, though not as angsty. Cagalli Yula Atha is Kira's "Natural" twin sister and Athrun's fuck buddy. She is the princess of ORB, and likes reminding people that she is one. On the whole, a useless love interest for the bishonen Athrun to boink. If anything, the only three interesting characters with depth are Mu La Flaga, Natarle Badgiruel and Rau Le Creuset. Mu is a comedic, yet serious character paralleling Sleggar Law from Mobile Suit Gundam, both sharing an epic sacrifice scene (except for the face that Mu is brought back in SEED Destiny). He's not only skilled, but laid-back and casual, not overtly serious about anything. His character is one people can actually enjoy when on screen no matter what their interests are. Natarle is different, she starts out as a total hard-ass, but eventually reveals her true self as she dies, that she is truely a kind, caring woman. Rau is, again, why this series was saved from a much lower score. He is a great example of the chameleon villain. He sneaks in, plays his role and then goes ape-shit when things are perfect. His insanity is very amusing to those watching him, almost as if he were like the Joker in the Dark Knight. The only problem is that his outright evil goal is a shonen trait that only one Gundam show could pull off due to being ALL shonen (G). To summarize, most of the characters are complete crap, but the few that don't suck, REALLY don't suck. The characters of SEED get a 4/10.

Art/Animation: The visuals in SEED are definately stunning. Though it is to be expected of a 21st century anime. The mobile suit designs and art are borrowed from several series, but also retain a unique quality to them (except for the blatant Zeon clones). Though the bishonen art is a turn off for any self-respecting man of the 80's and 90's, most mainstream anime fans of today find it "cool". The problem mainly stems from the facial designs, which makes it look like the characters all have the same face but different eyes and hair color/styles. Also, another problem is the constant recycling of animation not just for fights, but for entire episodes when possible story development is replaced with clip shows. That's called laziness. I give the art and animation a 6/10.

Music: Following the usual orchestral BGM of Gundam's past, while using very high profile musicians for the opening and ending themes, SEED has great music, there's no denying it. It may not be the overall winner, but pretty damn close. Music scores an 8/10

Overall: My thoughts on the series are pretty obvious. Music and art alone can barely support a poor story and shitty characters. SEED suffers from the fan influence, and it shows. The characters are shallow, overly dramatic (as if they were made from the anal secretions of William Shattner), and worst of all: insulting to the audience. Many of the characters blatantly sound their creed numerous times as if the audience didn't get them the first time. The overall story is not great by Gundam standards, and tries to be something it's not in the middle of what it was. I give Gundam SEED a 5/10
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Omega
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This one is a remake only because I didn't give enough information about it the first time.

G Gundam

Plot: Taking place in the Future Century timeline, the Earth is in ruins, while vibrant space colonies thrive in space. Every four years, a fight is held amongst the colonies for rule over all as a substitue for war. Each colony has a single representative called a "Gundam Fighter", who faces off against other Gundam Fighters in massive robots called, you guessed it, "Gundams". The problem is that the tournament (called the "Gundam Fight") is held on Earth, which has sustained incredible damage over the years, and continues to receive further abuse through the Gundam Fight. The stpry focuses on Domon Kasshu, the representative of Neo-Japan, who is looking for a mysterious man in a photo he carries with him. His journey takes him to the ends of the Earth, and through several battles to fight the ultimate enemy. Overall, the plot is straight forward and easy to follow, but not so superficial as to have no depth or message at all, with mainly viewer ignorance serving to make it seem otherwise. In short, G has it all, romance, action, drama and satire/comedy rolled up into one. If there were any problems story-wise, I'd have to say that G suffered from being to epic and original for its own good. The series was too short to show off the capabilities the plot had, and with the character depth that they had at their disposal. I give G Gundam's plot a 8/10.

Characters: The one of the only Gundam timelines to have a cast of all human characters, no newtypes, no coordinators, no innovators, nothing, just plain old humans, who just happen to be shonen humans, capable of extraordinary feats. Domon Kasshu is a prime example. The main character, Domon is bold, brash and not afraid to speak his mind. He can be a bit of a prick to everyone around him, but it's a positive flaw, since he eventually learns to open up to other people, lending a dynamic attribute to his personality. Rain Mikamura, his partner and romantic interest, is a strong, level-headed woman who isn't afraid to scold Domon when he needs it, nor give him space when he needs to be alone. The connection the two possess, like most good romances, builds up to the moment where Domon proclaims his love, rather being a bombastic, in-your-face and constantly irritating. Each member of the Shuffle Alliance offers something to bring to the table as well. Chibodee Crockett is the embodiment of the "American Dream", rising from an empoverished life in New York to become not only a famous boxer, but Neo-America's representative in the Gundam Fight. George de Sand is an upper-class pretty boy with a few skeletons in the closet, yet follows by the code of chivalry strictly, and appreciating the company of his friends. Sai Saici is an annoying kid, who is constantly hyper, yet bears the burden of restoring the Shaolin Temple to its former glory and proving himself to be as strong as the other competitors. Argo Gulskii is a big man with an even bigger heart. A former space pirate, who never once intentionally killed someone, Argo is a prisoner of the very country he is representing. Argo is essentially a walking contradiction of the stereotypes he's supposed to represent. Finally, the villains. Master Asia is known as the "Undefeated of the East", a well respected martial arts master, Domon's sensei, and previous winner of the Gundam Fight. Master Asia is an enigmatic character, whose true goal you never realize until the very end. His wish for Earth to be restored to its natural form, though misguided, is in itself not evil, making him a tragic character who willingly chose darkness, believing the results would be beneficial for everyone. Finally, Kyoji Kasshu, the unwilling core of the Dark Gundam is Domon's older brother. Kyoji, though mostly sentinent, is always watching over his brother in the form of Schwarz Bruder (an android created by Kyoji). In the end, he has to order his younger brother to kill him, in one of, if not THE most heartfelt moments in Gundam history. G Gundam has many more great characters to explore, but to do so would take forever. Even so, G Gundam gets a 10/10 for characters.

Art/Animation: Being an older, 90s anime, G Gundam suffers when compared to the current CGI and computer cel-shading of the modern animes. Even so, the look of G is flawless, with a wide range of great looking characters and backgrounds. With mobile suits, it's a problem, some are really wacky and unfitting of "Gundam"...that is if you're a whiny bitch. Most of the wacky designs only get a few seconds of screen time, and most of the awesome designs last through the whole show. There are recycled scenes, but are mostly for the "Gundam Rising" scenes and special technique scenes, which are quite necessary and actually look cool. One famous still from G, which is used infamously as the "Reason why G is stupid and is a disgrace to Gundam", is a picture of Gundams riding on rockets. The problem with the statement; however, is that this scene not only lasted for about 5 seconds, it was completely unimportant and not serious, and was used as a cameo for the RX-78 and Crossbone X-1 Gundam, thus defeating the purpose of any argument. Besides fans of other series being butt-hurt, little can be said against the art style and animation of G. It earns a solid 8/10.

Music: G Gundam has the best musical scoring of any Gundam series and has the two best opening themes, both by Toshifumi Ushima titled "Flying in the Sky" and "Trust You Forever", the latter of which, Ushima actually wrote an entire english version of the song and had intended for it to be played for an American release, but Ocean's Group kept "Flying in the Sky" as the ending theme only, cutting out an opening completely. Both songs are catchy and upbeat, getting you ready for more hot-blooded action. The BGM too is outright spectacular, fitting each scene perfectly and sounding good enough to be memorable in and of itself. Essentially, G's music is unbelievable, bar none. A 10/10.

Overall: Even with the bad reputation G has from U.C. Nazis and SEEDlings, G continues to be the most original of all the AU timelines, and the most innovative with three contributions to the meta-series. One, the use of multiple Gundams became a staple when the technique was used again with Gundam Wing in 1995. Excluding Turn A, every series after G had multiple Gundams that were not carried over from a previous series or upgrades (Zeta, ZZ, Victory). Two, the concept of having more than one hero became present when Wing, again, followed G's lead and had five equally powerful main characters. The use of this technique only resurfaced in 00, but died down in the second half (many series don't use the technique because fangirls like to see single, invincible heroes). Finally, three, the Shining Finger, an attack so epic it gained the respect of fans and directors, who copied the move and made it a part of their timeline's technology (Turn A and SEED Destiny). To be honest though, G is an undermined great of the Gundam series, that despite the completely different style is still great in all aspects, can still manage to ask the question "Can mankind ever find true peace?". I give G Gundam a 9/10.
Edited by Omega, Oct 3 2010, 05:30 PM.
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