Hogan Reviews

G Gundam comes to its rather spectacular end with its final 10 episodes. We find out the truth behind “Schwarz Bruder” (as if the name wasn’t obvious enough), we see the finals, then the um, battle royal after the finals and then the actual final of the Gundam Fight (what a confusing tournament it is!) and the Devil Gundam is once again defeated and once again returns to be taken out again… or is it?! Let’s take a look!

The previous episode ended with the reveal the Rain Mikamura had left the Neo Japan team due to Domon’s actions and it turns out she joined Schwarz Bruder’s Neo Germany team instead and is in his corner as he and Domon fight to decide the “overall winner of the individual matches” before the battle royal which will determine the actual finalists, or something? Well, either way Domon is beaten easily as he frequently claims he doesn’t need anyone’s help but then as he comes to realise he does need his friends and that he loves Rain so he finds the resolve to beat Bruder just as the corrupt Prime Minister Wong blows the ring with explosives. As Domon and Rain reunite they find out that Bruder was actually Domon’s brother Kyoji! (Shocker!) Domon heads off to the Battle Royal while Rain stays behind in hospital and finds out that Kyoji isn’t actually Kyoji but a duplicate made from robotics and DG Cells, who then reveals that back when the Devil Gundam was just the “Ultimate Gundam” created by Domon and Kyoji’s parents to heal the Earth they were betrayed by Rain’s father to the Neo Japan military who soon sent their General Ulube to capture it, resulting in Domon and Kyoji’s mother being shot dead, their father entering deep sleep and Kyoji stealing the Ultimate Gundam and fleeing to Earth only for its programming to get damaged during the impact and causing it to swallow Kyoji’s body, though just before his sort-of-death he created a duplicate of himself to help guide Domon, which is what Schwarz is. Bloody weird series of events, all things being equal…

… Nope, you can stick as many wings and sharp edges on it as you want, still don’t like the “Gundam popping out of a larger Gundam head” design…

As for the Battle Royal? It’s essentially the Shuffle Alliance vs. Wong’s resurrected Gundam Fighters, all in their transformed Gundams (so Michelo in the “Heaven’s Sword Gundam”, Chapman in the “Grand Gundam” etc) and the non-Domon Alliance members all team up to defeat some of the lesser resurrected foes while Domon, with Rain’s help, manages to calm down and save a re-enraged Allenby and then face off with the arriving Devil Gundam. Thanks to Schwarz and the remains of Kyoji within sacrificing himself (themselves?) the Devil Gundam’s cockpit is destroyed and its wiped out for good this time, absolutely not going to come back yet again, nope! This leads to the actual finals of the Gundam Fight as Domon faces off with Master Asia, who has found out that Wong has been using him all along and doesn’t share his goal of wiping the human race from the face of the Earth and returning it to nature and instead just wants the power to dominate mankind. With nothing left to lose he has a large and suitable epic final battle with his top student and is killed in the process, dying in Domon’s arms and thanking him for making him realise the error of his ways, even if it was at the last moment. As Domon is proclaimed the winner of the Gundam Fight he has to face off and eventually kills Wong in the “Walter Gundam” thanks in part to Master Asia’s horse appearing, tying up all the loose ends, right? … No.

“Domon, I just realised: wiping out the human race is a bad idea, you’re right!… now I’m dead.” “Sigh…”

General Ulube reappears in the present day and claims the Devil Gundam’s remains, saying that although the core and cockpit were destroyed it can be restored if it absorbs another life to create its “Core Life Unit” like Kyoji was and to do this he kidnaps Rain, who had come to the Neo Japan lab to confront her father for his role in causing the whole mess to begin with. Rain is absorbed into the Devil Gundam and Ulube watches as it not only regrows but it connects to the entire Neo Japan colony itself, turning it into the “Devil Colony”. With incredible power at his finger tips he declares good old fashioned non-Gundam Fight war against the rest of the world/space to conquer them rather than merely rule over them. Domon and the Shuffle Alliance head into space but its five Gundam against a living space colony, so it’s not looking good…

My last chance to get some of the weirder Gundam designs on the blog! Which is YOUR favourite?

While the last few episodes feel a little “out of nowhere” after Master Asia and Wong were positioned as the lead villains and the Devil Gundam had already been properly defeated, these episodes overall are a great time with some top-class early 90s animation and cheesy battle scenes.

Overall Thoughts:

It’s a Super Saiyan Bargain Sale!

G Gundam ends with what feels like two different over-the-top endings in quick succession, each being more grandiose and crazier than the last. The last few episodes do feel a bit rushed and in general both arcs end via the “power of friendship/love wins the day” trope in often the most literal way possible. Not a bad thing given the tone of the series, but overall not quite strong enough for a 5. Definitely a suitably bonkers way to go out though!

As Domon and co. fight there way into the Devil Colony we find out that Rain’s father has unfrozen Domon’s dad and that he soon tells Domon that the only way to save everyone is to kill Rain and destroy the core, but Domon refuses. As the Shuffle Alliance heads further into the Colony they encounter Ulube in a horrid-looking mishmash of previous Gundams titled the “Grand Master Gundam” but thanks to all five Shuffle member going Super Saiyan at the same time and all hitting an attack simultaneously Ulube and his Gundam are destroyed. While this is happening all the Gundams from the other Neo Countries (as well as a sneak preview cameo from the Wing Gundam from the upcoming Gundam Wing anime!) unite and join in on the Devil Colony battle though they’re not having much effect. The Colony resurrects the Grand Master Gundam which keeps the rest of the Shuffle Alliance busy as Domon heads to the core.

As close to an “Iconic moment” as the series gets.

There he struggles to potentially hurt Rain but with the power of their love she breaks free from the core and embraces Domon, who takes her into his Gundam. Together they then infamously create the “Erupting God Finger Sekiha Love-Love Tenkyoken” technique and with a pink heart-shaped beam of love destroy the Devil Gundam’s core and actually for real this time defeat it for good (unless you play one of the many Super Robot Wars games that features G Gundam, then it tends to come back again for the sake of their plots…) With everything safe and their love declared Domon and Rain head back down to Earth to live the rest of their life in peace.