what the fuck
- 3 Posts
- 13 Comments
Joined 6 months ago
Cake day: November 6th, 2024
You are not logged in. If you use a Fediverse account that is able to follow users, you can follow this user.
1·3 months agoI’m with you. The spectacle aspect is fantastic, but it definitely rushes through the story.
Do yourself a favor and checkout Gunbuster (1988) and its loose sequel Diebuster (2004). Gunbuster was directed by Evangelion director Hideaki Anno (and it might be his most concise stand-alone work), while Diebuster was directed by his protege, FLCL director Kazuya Tsurumaki.
Both are just 6 episodes, with fantastic Gainax animation, great soundtracks, and masterful storytelling. I strongly recommend watching the original Gunbuster before Diebuster, though it isn’t totally necessary.
I know it may be a hot take, but I am not personally a fan of Gundam. Which seems like a perfect fit but for whatever reason every time I have tried to watch it I just never make it more than a few episodes in.
As someone who is in the process of catching up on all things Gundam before seeing GQuuuuuux (the new Gundam by the creators of FLCL, Diebuster and Evangelion) later this month, I highly recommend giving it another try and sticking with it until at least the second half of the original Mobile Suit Gundam (0079). There are a couple reasons for this:
- The back half of Mobile Suit Gundam is significantly better than the front half, and while the ending is a little bit rushed (the show got cancelled, or something like that), there are a lot of really nice Macross and Evangelion-esque concepts that come into it. Gundam really is significant to the history of anime in general and the mecha genre, and by the time I got to the end of it I finally understood why.
- Watching the original Gundam makes watching Zeta Gundam (the direct sequel) much better, and it’s a show that build upon the lore and characters of the original in a fantastic way. I know it’s a big ask to suggest that someone watch a 50 episode show in order to watch another (arguably even better) 50 episode show, but Zeta is truly a 1980s anime masterpiece in the same way that Eva is a 1990s anime masterpiece.
- If you ever watch the early Bones mecha anime Eureka Seven, which is pretty good in its own right, you’ll be amazed at how much it parallels the story and character development of the original Mobile Suit Gundam.
Gurren Lagann (It seemed okay but I never finished it)
There are a couple of rough episodes in the first half, but I love this show and recommend seeing it through. This is a show where the scale and scope of the story just snowballs into something really big and cool.
Finally, have you watched the SDF Macross movie retelling, Do You Remember Love? Because if not, it’s fantastic and worth seeing.
I really enjoyed Prospera as a character. And reviled her as a person while still retaining some forms of empathy. That’s a pretty big win IMO.
MAJOR ENDING SPOILERS (Mobile Suit Gundam: Witch from Mercury)
First half Prospera was super engaging as her motivation seemed to be to avenge her family and take down the corporations and power structure that lead to them being needlessly murdered during the prologue. She was undoubtedly manipulating Suletta (and in one of her best scenes Miorine calls her out for it, only for Prospera to point out the hypocrisy of that), but it felt like she was infiltrating the system and masterminding the demise of the Benerit Group. I really figured she would be like Char in the original MSG 0079, in the sense that she wasn’t going to be so much of a villain.
Instead she ended up becoming something like Gendo Ikari from Neon Genesis Evagelion with the Data Storm as her Human Instrumentality Project, all of this at the expense of her relationship to Suletta. But then at the end we got something of a “happy ending” where all of the kids are CEOs (or rather, oligarchs), the people of Earth are still subjugated (but I guess at least being “listened to”…), and Prospera is now having a picnic with Suletta and her keychain sister, despite the fact that she just wiped out an entire fleet and almost had both her daughters kill each other. Her arc didn’t really stick for me.
The thing about being Gendo Ikari is that there’s really no way to repair the relationships that you’ve destroyed in order to achieve your selfish goals. Prospera went down that route, but somehow everything turned out OK in the end in her toxic relationship to Suletta.
.
Speaking of details, they are everywhere, and they build on one another. Things like using cinematography to mirror an earlier scene, then later doing the same but with a different perspective to highlight the changes in the characters. The symbolism is rampant, some obvious, some subtle. This wasn’t a Tomino story, but it builds on one of his tenets: show, don’t tell. Environmental storytelling. I have a friend that really only engages with Gundam as “second screen” material while she’s doing something else. Unsurprisingly, she’s ambivalent about most of it and actively hostile towards WfM.
Overall I loved the idea, got very immersed in the setting and characters, and was a little disappointed when the pacing fell off. Still an easy recommend.
For sure, the show really looked great and was effective at telling the story. The drama and symbolism were truly great at times. When it hit, it hit. Some of the more intimate scenes with Suletta dealing with shit on her own were really genuinely touching and beautiful.
I also recommend checking it out and think it’s a worthy series. :)
Btw, @wjs018@ani.social was kind enough to open up !gundam@ani.social for us. And @Endmaker@ani.social volunteered to mod. So feel free to hop on over there and join us! 👊
I’m in! Still pretty new to Gundam but I’m quickly getting up to speed in anticipation of Gquuuuuux, having just watched 0079, War in the Pocket, 08th MS Team and Witch from Mercury. About 10 episodes into Zeta right now and loving it so far.
The other day I stumbled upon this 3 year old Tested video where they put together a “Perfect Grade” Gundam and they were really impressed by the intricate level of design and engineering that went into it, and I have to say I was too.
To see all of the moving parts underneath the outer armor/shell and the engineering involved to making it all work (not to mention have it stand up even under pretty extreme poses) was damn impressive. At this point I’m more worried about clutter than anything I think. lol
Yeah, that’s exactly how I feel.
Suletta’s and Miorine’s likability was the only thing that kept me on board until the end, but ultimately it felt like a show that walked right up to the edge of saying something meaningful about modern society (be it corporate capitalism, LGBTQ issues, women’s issues, war, etc.) but then stepped back for no reason.
Cool news about the Gunpla. I’ve never made a model but I’m getting dangerously close to getting into it after watching all of this Gundam stuff recently. I wonder how the GQuuuuuuuuuux models are going to be?
The story in the games is pretty convoluted, but I think it’s really cool to see them broadening out into a full-fledged anime with Guilty Gear. Hopefully it’s good!
What’s the other one?
For me the age isn’t really a big deal, as I’ve been really digging into 80s and 70s anime recently, including the original 1979 Mobile Suit Gundam.
I think Gunbuster is probably my best point of reference for comparison since it came out just a year prior to War in the Pocket, and in my opinion it’s a better show in every way. But then again, Gunbuster is kind of a masterpiece to me.
Akira was also roughly the same time, but that’s hardly fair… :)
Not overwhelming at all, and I enjoyed the read. Thanks for taking the time!
Like many in the west, my first exposure was to Gundam Wing on Toonami, and while I remember thinking the character and mech designs were cool, it never really clicked for me. I never watched it from the beginning, however, so I don’t think I can fairly judge it.
Mobile Suit Gundam (1979) Vague Spoiler Talk
I really enjoyed the original Mobile Suit Gundam (0079), having just finished it. Despite being aware of Gundam for my entire life as an anime geek, it always felt to me like its own niche thing. For some reason I always had the [false] impression that it was really super dry, with a focus on the military/technology aspects over character drama and storytelling. Initially I wasn’t sure whether to watch the series version or the film retelling, but I wanted to try experiencing the whole thing in its original form and I’m glad I did.
I did find it a bit slow at times, particularly towards the very beginning at around episode 3 when the focus was primarily on the battle dynamics between Amuro and Char. But once the story started to get into the human/psychological effects that the war was having on Amuro and others, I was able to really get into it and easily binge a few episodes per day. I wont say too much about the ending, other than that it was truly epic, ambitious, and very well done. I only wish some of the concepts that were important at the end would have been gradually worked into the show sooner, but obviously that’s hindsight that the creators didn’t have the benefit of.
As a HUGE Evangelion (and Gainax in general) fan I always knew that Gundam was a big influence on it, but I was still really impressed and fascinated by the many parallels–not just in terms of the story and characters, but also in the direction (like the style and timing of the cuts), and even the soundtrack (there are a few Gundam OST cues that I wouldn’t be surprised were used as placeholders or references during Eva’s production) . To a lesser extent I also like the original Eureka Seven, and the parallels there are even more strikingly obvious in retrospect–from the Gekko State being kind of like White Base, to the 3 kids on the ship, and some story beats being very similar. These shows obviously do their own thing too, but I really enjoyed picking up on the various ways in which Gundam had influenced them.
So yeah, I really liked 0079… Both from an “important part of anime history” perspective, but also just as a very good and ambitious 70s anime in it’s own right. I come away from the experience as a budding Gundam fan, and I think I’ve really been sleeping on the show. I’m looking forward to checking out more of the series.
Because I don’t have a lot of time before Gquuuuuux (what a name Khara… lol) premieres, I won’t be able to hit all the best stuff in order. So my current plan is to get a sampling of different well-regarded stuff from different eras. I’m thinking about going straight for 0080 War in the Pocket next (Small Gainax connection there too), then 08th MS Team, and then maybe checking out a bit of Witch from Mercury if I have time. Basically I’m going for the Gundam sample platter. lol
Finally, anything I should know about watching the series vs the films? Are the 0079 films meaningfully different (in terms of story, animation quality, etc.) than the series to warrant checking them out too? Would you recommend speeding through the Zeta films or waiting until later when I have time to watch the full Zeta series? Also, are there any standout must-watch films in the Gundam series in general?
Based on Tsurumaki’s past work on Diebuster and the Evangelion Rebuilds, I’m guessing it’ll feel very separate but also be connected in interesting ways.
I had pretty mixed feelings about Stampede but I’m glad to Vash and the world of Trigun coming back again. Pretty interesting that Oshiyama is doing the animation character designs. If only they could bring back Tsuneo Imahori (the composer of the original Trigun anime) for the soundtrack.