Gundam Franchise.
Three years after the events of Char’s Counterattack we have the Gundam Unicorn series, which despite sounding a bit crap, is actually really good! This comes from the kind of budget and attention that’s afforded OVAs rather than a stricter TV schedule, but it’s also a credit to the rather out-there plot created in the original novels the series is based on. So let’s dive right in and continue forward along the Universal Century timeline…
It’s been a little while since we returned to the Universal Century, mostly thanks to a slow down in UK Blu-Ray releases. Well, the Unicorn OVAs are now on Netflix is near-HD quality so I thought I’d do that, but before I get to them I didn’t want to skip past Char’s Counterattack, the big film that ties up all the Amuro and Char loose ends left over from the first two Gundam series. So let’s have a look at it (via my old US region DVD…), and see the big finale for the Amuro-Char relationship we’ve been watching develop since the very start…
The third series in Gundam history is definitely when it fell off of a cliff, thankfully redeemed by the movie “Char’s Counterattack”, released later. Double Zeta gets off to a poor start, then manages to pick up a bit before falling again, though thankfully never as low as it was to begin with. I commend Tomino for trying something different, but… yeah. Different isn’t always good! Anyway, let’s take an overall look at ZZ then!
Double Zeta reaches its conclusion, and what an odd ride it’s been. After an extremely light-hearted first two quarters and a really downbeat third one, the fourth quarter of the show seemingly tries to balance the two, but doesn’t really succeed. Still, seeing Neo Zeon implode from within was at least fun to watch! So let’s take a look at how the series ends, shall we?
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!
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