Gundam Franchise.
Here we go again… *sigh*, and I mean that far more literally than I’d like, as for the most part these three episodes follow the exact same story as the three previous. More of the same cast of uninteresting characters, more prototype weaponry and more test pilots dying. Oh, and of course, more cheapo looking CGI! Hooray?! Let’s take a look at the second IGLOO OVA then, at least there’s only one left to go!
This is a rare treat, a Universal Century Gundam review where I’m seeing it for the first time! Wow! … oh, wait, there was a reason I never bothered to import it. It’s IGLOO, the CGI OVAs that became terribly dated just a few years after they released in 2004, let alone now! Seriously, my review of the first Resident Evil CGI film was harsh on the then-infant technology, but this takes the biscuit, which is a shame because the actual plot is quite enjoyable! Oh well, let’s get the first of these THREE OVAs out of the way…
Our journey through the spin-offs set during the One Year War continue with this 12 episode OVA series. Ignoring my constant annoyance that it’s called “08th” which always made me read it as “Oh-Eighth” rather than just “Eighth” (entirely me being stupid, don’t worry about it), it’s actually a good story, very much Romeo and Juliet, just with a bit of a different setting, to say the least! Let’s take a look…
Before I move on to alternate era Gundam shows, I really wanted to finish the UC timeline first (still-being-released stuff aside, obviously!) so I’ve finally brought a multi-region Blu-Ray player and ordered a bunch of UC OVAs, films and Victory Gundam from the US (my poor wallet…). The one I didn’t order is this one, 0080: War in the Pocket, as it isn’t released on Blu-Ray in the States yet! So I thought I’d pop on my old DVD of it and kick off the UC review finale. War in the Pocket is a surprisingly fun and quite emotional mini-series to kick off non-Tomino-written UC Gundam shows. Let’s take a closer look…
Gundam Unicorn comes to a close with a feature-length finale, finally revealing what Laplace’s Box actually is, and giving us a big dramatic send off. Satisfying is the word that best describes it, even if some might find the big reveal to be a let down, but those probably don’t know much about Gundam’s history with mixing politics with action… Let’s take a look!
Although they have some big moments between them, OVAs 5 and 6 of Gundam Unicorn is all about setting the stage for the big final battle in the final chapter, but it certainly doesn’t coast its way through. There are plenty of great moments, both character based and some action scenes, but it certainly achieves the goal of making you want to watch OVA 7 right away! Let’s take a look.
Much like the Origins OVAs I reviewed a few months ago for Anime UK News, I expect this to be covered in more detail on this blog far sooner than later, but as they asked if I’d cover, I was hardly going to say no! So, for now, Click Here to read my thoughts on Mobile Suit Gundam: Thunderbolt – December Sky!
On related news, the other half of the Gundam Unicorn OVA reviews on this blog should resume next week. It’s been an unusually busy few weeks for Anime UK News reviews!
Gundam Unicorn’s next two OVAs cover similar ground, to varying degrees of success, but for the most part it’s a great slice of Gundam. Also OVA 4 sees the debut of Bright Noa, making this feel like proper Universal Century Gundam! Let’s take a look!
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…
Hogan Reviews 