Gundam Franchise.
Gundam ZZ finally succumbs to Gundam creator Tomino’s more bleak outlook (at the time) and the fun begins to turn into tragedy. While this quarter of ZZ isn’t devoid of humour, it’s certainly far more in line with Zeta than its first half, and possibly even pushes the “grim reality of war” button more than that did… So let’s take a look!
My photoshop is going bananas at the moment, so a pack shot will have to do! My review of the above can be found HERE. A more detailed look a the Origin OVA series will be on this site down the line, when I have all six, but until then enjoy this overview of 1 – 4 (and look out for my reviews of Gundam ZZ returning to this blog next week!)
The second quarter of ZZ pulls back on the slapstick comedy a bit, but is still more often than not for laughs. It focuses on Judau’s sister Leina being kidnapped and replaces gag character Mashmyre with a gag character of equal stupidity in Chara Soon, as well as new Cyber-Newtype “Elpeo Ple”. It’s an odd cast, but the show can still be fun in parts, and rather dull or cringey in others. Let’s have a look and see how much of it is actually good!
It’s time to take that tentative step into the world of Gundam ZZ (pronounced “Double Zeta”, for the record!), a show wildly inconsistent in its tone, though sadly for this first chunk of episodes, the tone is actually consistent…ly bad. I don’t mind a more light-hearted approach, but I do mind it when it’s not done very well! So let’s resume our look at the Universal Century timeline of Gundam by taking at look at ZZ’s first eleven episodes…
Time for a quick (ignoring the large copy and pasted Cast of Characters section…) look at Zeta Gundam’s overall ability to tell a good story. At 50 episodes it’s one of the longer Gundam series in general, but that’s not always a good thing… So, let’s finish this part of Universal Century off, shall we?
Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam comes to its grizzly and depressing conclusion! Yes, it’s well known now that creator Yoshiyuki Tomino fell into depression during the course of Zeta, leading to the extremely dark ending to the series, and … yep, it is that, but is it still enjoyable, in a sick, “realistic war scenario” kind of way? Let’s find out!
Zeta Gundam begins its march towards the series’ end as it introduces a third faction into the mix with the remnants of Zeon joining the fight between the Titans and the AUEG… as if my “Cast of Characters” section wasn’t full enough! Let’s take a look at this collection of smaller arcs leading up to the big finale, shall we?
20 episodes into Zeta Gundam and we finally see the Zeta Gundam! Also: lots of fighting on and around the moon, plus some political manouvering and backstabbing for good measure! Let’s take a look!
In a shorter batch of episodes (as it was so well contained as a stand alone story arc, I couldn’t resist) but a significant one. We not only get to see Amuro Ray return to piloting suits, but we also get our first mentally unstable Cyber-Newtype, a trope that will appear endlessly throughout all future Gundam shows… Let’s take a look!
My sort-of-in-order watch through of Universal Century era Gundam continues, sadly skipping the OVAs (as I may as well wait for a possible blu-ray release…) and heading straight for Zeta Gundam. I haven’t watched the show in nearly 10 years, but I still haven’t forgot never really liking Kamille, and it seems for good reason! Let’s take a look at the opening chunk of 13 episodes, shall we?
Hogan Reviews 