Gundam: G no Reconguista

It's no secret that G-Reco is controvertial. It's hard to understand, far more colourful than contemporary anime and generally reverts to paradigmns more reminisent of the 80s and 90s than anything you'd see in 2014.
And as far as I'm concerned, that's why it's brilliant. It sports some of the most beautiful art in the franchise and demands your full attention to get the most out of it.
It's also brutal, with 2 named character deaths in the first 6 episodes, one of them in episode 2.
It is spectacular though.
If there's a downside, it's the dialogue. As mentioned before, it rarely gives you more information then ... you need and drip feeds you any you get. The dialogue is also a little cryptic at times with regards to the interpersonal meanings between characters, which is amplified in more the literal subtitle translations. This is nothing new for Tomino fans, but could be quite intimidating if you've never experienced one of his shows before. If you go in knowing you'll have to pay attention though, it should be a pretty enjoyable experience.
Overall, I certainly think it's worth a look at this stage. Many gundams are slow to start up and as of episode 6, it's certainly flowering as a story framed in beautiful art and the complex feelings of characters about the situation they're in.
And there's giant robot fights. Giant robots.
Enough said.

This show is full return to Tomino - in fact it is by the far the Tominoest of them all. Full of inconsistent characterization, questionable plotting, and cryptic and random dialogue. When I was younger, I interpreted this as Tomino being really weird, but as an older person I think this reflects Tomino's view that the world really IS strange and random.

"The show is weird -sure- but so is the world, damn it," - my imaginary Tomino.

Your mileage WILL vary, and it isn't helped by the breakneck pacing which I think is because the show's length's been cut in half from the original estimate. ... But on balance, I think what we get is a show that is fascinating to watch because you can't predict it. At the very least, the action's great, the characters are sympathetic, and the mecha design are actually really innovative- which is really refreshing after over a decade of the bland, unimaginative mecha designs since Seed. The main downside is that the characters are not super-memorable, and as the ship's crew travels along, they just keep accumulating. At the end there are at least twenty major characters who all don't do very much.

In spite of this, I highly recommend the show to people fond of the UC Series (Fun-Fact: This IS a UC series! Just WAY after victory... maybe before Turn A?) as you will recognize a lot of hallmarks from those. Admittedly, Unicorn's a better product overall, but Unicorn's is also very distinct from previous Gundam in feel. So it any old Gundam fans are feeling nostalgic, give this show a whirl. Just keep notes - there are more factions and characters here than Game of Thrones ( I count at least 9 factions by the end.)

Gundam: Reconguista in G (from hence forth RG) is an ambitious project from a man who made the Gundam metafranchise what it is today. The show takes some big risks, but unfortunately, the execution leaves much to be desired.

First some back story. When Tomino produced the original Mobile Suit Gundam, he was struggling with deep depression and extreme suicidal thoughts. This led to his signature "Kill'em All Tomino" storytelling that bears a remarkable resemblance to George R.R. Martin's way of storytelling today--develop characters, get the audience invested, then give them the axe. By the mid-90s, however, Tomino was receiving treatment and ... began to reverse his dark disposition. He was less inclined to "Kill'em All" and more inclined to work out happier endings for his characters. This can be seen quite clearly in Turn A Gundam. In short, the Tomino who produced RG might as well be a different person entirely from the Tomino who made MSG in the 1970s. He is happier, more at peace mentally and spiritually, and less inclined to the brutality he once showed his characters as avatars of his own psychological struggles. However, many of his inspirations--Star Wars, Star Trek, and others--have remained the same and are quite clear in RG.

Now, the best way to describe RG would seem to be a conceptual sandbox of all the ideas Tomino came up with in the 35 years since the original Mobile Suit Gundam. We have already seen him do this once in Turn A Gundam, and now again in RG. A lot of the ideas are actually quite good, and if you use your imagination a bit, you can even see where he is going.

Also, we need to get something out of the way--RG has a lot of the usual Gundam tropes that have in many ways shaped anime as we know it today. You've got your talented pre-teen. Your Char Aznable masked enemy. Your invasion force from space. And, as often happens in Tomino, a "real" enemy revealed (twice) in the storyline that changes the way things are headed. If you are a Gundam fan of any magnitude, these can be forgiven, and perhaps even enjoyed. But they might be groan-worthy for newcomers to the franchise.

Now the problem is that all of this is done sort of haphazardly. It never really feels like the characters develop much or that there is ever a credible threat in the show. Yes, there are plot twists and big reveals, but there is not much foreshadowing done and the characters don't really go through arcs in reaction to them. Compare Bellri, the main character of RG, to Amuro, the main character of MSG. Amuro suffers clear PTSD in reaction to the events of the series, and we, the audience, experience these traumas with him. Bellri on the other hand pretty much starts and ends exactly the same way. Though he experiences much and learns even more, he never really develops beyond the person we are first introduced to in Episode 1. This is a problem that exists in ALL the characters in the show. Motivations are assigned to them, but never really owned by them.

Likewise, it seems like Tomino had planned to connect the Reguild Century more to the Universal Century, but all that really happens is a few one-off lines about the UC and some cameos of UC tech and locations. The show's main premise is that the human race has been limited in its expansion and use of technology on the planet Earth due to a system of beliefs developed at the end of the UC called "SU-Cordism". But the show never really outlines what the specifics of that system are. Indeed, it seems like SU-Cordism is a philosophy directly descended from Char Aznable's desire to clear the Earth of humans to allow it to recover, but this is never firmly established. Likewise, the signature of Tomino--Newtypes--are hinted at a few times but never expressly addressed, leaving some major questions over the evolution of humanity that had been raised throughout the UC Gundam series.

All in all, for a diehard Gundam fan, the show is enjoyable, but far from perfect. Hopefully, the places and ideas it established may form the basis for other materials in the Reguild Century that better trace its linage to the Universal Century. Though, overall, if you are on the fence about watching this series, you can probably safely give it a pass for now. For a similar series that has ideas on par with RG, I recommend checking out Gundam AGE.

G reco is what Gundam needs right now

00 started off as a really interesting show with a lot of new tricks, by season 2 though it had gone back to the old Gundam tropes. Unicorn was much the same being a great celebration but did little to push the franchise forward. G reco sets out to actually try and play with the formula and stick with the new ideas.

Much of G recos time is spent world building. This is a very different world than UC or other gundam worlds with a society who see any war tech as taboo and are dealing with a dark ... past of cannibalism. It feels very different from standard Gundam settings or other shows airing right now. Learning how everything fits is one of the most interesting parts of the show.

The characters all feel very unique and avoids generic anime tropes. They also don't just monologue what they are feeling constantly and you actually have to watch and understand their actions and what they say to understand them. It's nice to have a show that doesn't talk down to you with characters, they are not super complex but are nicely fleshed out. Time is also taken to flesh out "villains" so it doesn't just feel like fights are just hit the bad guy of the week. This may not sound like much but when you realise the amount of characters that keep being brought in Tomino has done well to make each feel unique. Don't go in expecting your brooding pacifist and tsun tsun love interest. Bellri is one of my favourite Gundam protags now being an actually trained pilot (not just an amateur who is gifted), not wanting to kill but willing to do when needs be (and doesn't complain as he gets this) and just happy. When did we last have a happy mech pilot? Not that he doesn't have dark or unhappy moments but he just deals with it and gets on with his job.

Storywise G reco is arguably a bit simple. The basis is a number of fractions wanting resources and power while the main crew figures out the mystery behind their technology. Throw in some ideas of old forcing wars on new and you've got G reco. It's a amazing then that many have found the plot so hard to follow but that is simply because this is a show you have to concentrate on. You can't have it open in another browser while you do something else. Characters will not always expound to you what is going on 5 times an episode so you have to listen to what they say. Of course with Tomino's quirks he likes to put in like characters miss hearing each other this is made more difficult but without this the show would lose a lot of personality. That doesn't mean the show isn't very laid back and casual, you just actually need to pay attention.

Humour is very important to the series. From mech bouncing off inflatables, Klim the genius to a hippo being moved the series may feel odd at times but if you can roll with it there is a very 80s jokes style to this. G reco is a very happy series, not full on comedy but it has a very jolly atmosphere and wants you to be happy watching it for the most part.

The art is where G reco probably does best. Amazing mech design very reminiscent of shows like F91 and the crossbone managa (for good reason). Most of them seem to be getting kits as well which speaks for itself on how well these odd mechs are doing. The art style is quite 80s and full of bright colours and gorgeous scenery. There is some cg but only on some structures and is generallykept to the background. G reco is a vibrant and pretty show, it stands out from a lot of dull and generic looking shows that are more common in mech nowadays.

The sounds in G reco is great. For a start there are all the gundam sound effects you want mixed with some new ones. It has two great openings and an ending theme that will be stuck in your head. The general soundtrack is also very good but not as memorable as other Gundam osts outside a few tracks.

If I had to compare G reco to another Gundam it'd be Turn A. Both are slower stories with a dose of Tomino weirdness. As G reco goes on though it nicely differs itself and carves it's own niche. Don't watch this if you want a tense war story as that isn't ever what it has tried to be, don't only half watch it as the series needs you to pay attention to understand it.

G reco is a happy simple story with many unique and interesting aspects. This isn't just the same again and that is great

I've noticed that a lot of reviews for this series say that the person who wrote them did not finish said series - sure, there are some people who have finished the series, but the first 11 reviews are by people who, at the time they wrote their reviews, had not finished the series. So, as someone who's finished this series, I thought that I might as well add my opinion to the mix. No, I'm not going to be comparing this to Gundam IBO, Unicorn, both seasons of Build Fighters, or Thunderbolt - I'm going to instead compare this to Turn A ... Gundam, which, in addition to being my favorite Gundam series, also happens to be in my top 5 (as well as the last Gundam series Tomino directed before G-Reco, not counting the Zeta Gundam compilation movies).

First, let's start with the story. While I do consider Tomino to be one of my favorite directors, I will admit that one of the common criticisms about him, that his narratives can be rather difficult to understand, does ring true a fair amount of the time (for me, the most notable case would be Zeta, although that could have been due to the depression he was experiencing at the time he made the show) - Turn A was an exception to that rule, since when I watched it, I was able to follow the events rather easily. I had the exact opposite experience with G-Reco; there were quite a few times where characters are captured by opposing factions...yet instead of being treated like POWs like you would expect, the characters were allowed to move around unrestrained. In all other Gundam series, when this happens (granted, it doesn't happen often), there is always an explanation - heck, even Gundam AGE did this right! It feels like this series was supposed to be the standard 49-50 episode length, seeing as how they try and cram so many factions into 26 episodes - yet at the same time, it felt like they somehow managed to drag a 13-episode plot out for too long. And the ending in particular made me appreciate Turn A even more - in Turn A, the ending was easily one of the best, if not the best, endings I'd seen in an anime. G-Reco has NO REAL ENDING TO SPEAK OF.

Up next is the art. The art in Turn A Gundam reminded me a lot of Cowboy Bebop's art style - while I would still say that Bebop has the better animation overall, there were a few moments in Turn A that made me reconsider my stance. G-Reco's artstyle is one I can only describe as a mixture between the animation in Victory Gundam and Gundam AGE - the former I consider to be the worst Gundam anime, and the latter was the first Gundam series that I considered bad (before anyone asks, I watched them in random order). I didn't like the animation styles in those series, so to say I didn't like it here was an understatement. I do like the character designs though.

Now, let's talk about the characters. Now, in most Gundam series, you have characters on both sides you can root for. For example, in Turn A, the Earth side has Kiel Heim, Lily Borjano, and Loran Cehack; the Moonrace, on the other hand, has characters like Harry Ord and Dianna Soreil. G-Reco has...to be honest, I couldn't think of any characters I liked (or for that matter, disliked) in G-Reco. I guess you could say that I liked the cast because I couldn't find anything bad about it...but by that logic, you could also say I hated them because I couldn't find anything bad about them either.

I guess if I had to pick one thing that I liked about G-Reco, it would be the soundtrack - now, admittedly, it's pretty much impossible for any composer to compete with Yoko Kanno, so it's pretty much no contest when comparing Turn A's soundtrack to G-Reco. The one part I would complain about is something that everyone else likes a lot, the ending - while I know that a lot of people find it pretty catchy, it reminds me too much of the second opening to Victory Gundam, and considering that that song currently haunts my nightmares, you can probably guess how I felt about this song.

When I watched Turn A Gundam, it started out okay at first, but it grew on me, and by the end of that show, I had a show that I was more than happy to add to my top 5. With G-Reco, on the other hand, I found myself seriously wondering why I had even bothered, since it was so boring that I nearly fell asleep a few times while watching it - now that would be fine if this was, oh say, Mushishi, but it's not. There were no moments where I was awestruck by how awesome the fightscenes were, or impressed with how much the characters had changed. I just found it incredibly boring.

If Turn A represents Tomino at his best, then I'm almost inclined to say that G-Reco represents him at his worst - key word being "Almost", since I have not completed Garzey's Wing (which I've heard is easily Tomino's worst work). I suppose if you're a Gundam completionist, it's worth a watch, but as for everyone else...you're better off skipping this one.

I'm not going to make a long review for this series, as I have quite a bit I would like to actually cover, but do not feel doing so here would be the best. So I will make a very basic review, more or less outlining some of the points of Gundam: Reconguista in G.


--Story: (This is the part I have a lot to touch upon, but will wait until I have a more fleshed out script set up to add back in if possible or re-do my review later on since there is more I would like to add to the rest as well)

The ... story for Reconguista is G is very basic and straight forward. It follows the same basic set-up of most Gundam series' in that faction a is after faction b, with some sort of side agenda, or in Reconguista in G's case, factions a, b, c, etc. are after each other and will occasionally work with each other for their goals.

Now while the story is very basic and easy to follow, you NEED to pay full attention while watching. Gundam: Reconguista in G was very likely condensed from a 50 episode series into the 26 episodes we see. With this there are things that are skimmed over or information is fairly scarce. However it is so basic that as long as you pay full attention you will understand what is going on (aside from the first 4-5 episodes, they're genuinely a bit chaotic and you may need to re-watch those episodes). This is not something to excuse however.

The story for the show also does not require background knowledge of past UC timeline Gundam shows, however it does have some easter eggs and terminology that will resonate with those who have viewed them, making it a nice touch.

Overall the story isn't much to gawk at. It's very simple and easy to follow so long as you pay very close attention. If you do not go into Reconguista in G and give it your full un-divided attention, you will likely be lost. Tact that with the series likely being compressed and you will not enjoy yourself. The story gets a 6/10, it's not deep, it's not dark aside from a few things on history, and it doesn't do a lot to really set itself apart from other Gundam series', and it may as well be considered an Alternate Universe timeline rather than a continuation after the UC timeline since there is no real connection between the two present.



--Art:
The art is where Reconguista in G really shines, if you've watched Overman King Gainer, Eureka Seven, etc. then this is what you're going into. The animation looks extremely weird on some characters at first, some are down right awkward, however the environments, mobiles suits and a good majority of the characters will look very good and at times it looks almost hand-drawn, something that really made me enjoy the way the animation was handled for Reconguista in G.

The best compliment I can give Reconguista in G is that it's animation is always very consistent. It's action sequences are always very detailed and it doesn't resort to the pathetic streaking lines battles that seems to have become normal in Gundam since AGE. It is also something done in a lot of mech animes these days, but I won't stray to far. There isn't much more to say for the animation other than it is beautiful, and it genuinely deserves a 10/10.



--Sound:
There's not much to say about the sound. You have the usual Gundam sound effects that have been used for years, the musical scores are nice, albeit not the most memorable. There are a few scores that are still stuck in my head and randomly pop in and out here and there, but aside from that not much spectacular, yet nothing is bad so it's more of a hit or miss collection of tracks.

The voice acting is very well done as most would expect from a Japanese dub. Personally I very much enjoyed Mark Ishii's portrayal of Bellri Zenam (the main character of the series), even though it was his debut role as a voice actor. There were one or two times where I felt he overreacted a tad, but other than that he did a very good job, and the rest of the cast was no exception. Since there really isn't much to go about with the sound it gets an 7/10. While there weren't a lot of memorable tracks in the series, there were those really good ones that stood out, having the Gundam sound effects added in was a nice bonus and obviously good voice acting is important, which it fulfills on.



--Character
Here's the other part of the series where the show falls. It has a lot of characters that it attempts to introduce, but then a lot of these characters will either die, have no relevance until later into the show or at random intervals or they just flat out disappear and are never seen or mentioned again. For the main characters it does do a good job of fleshing them out, however Reconguista in G has a bad tendency of bringing in too many characters from all sides, trying to make them feel as though they may be relevant, only to have them become pointless tack-on characters for the sake of it.

If it wasn't for the MAIN characters getting developed well and fleshed out all throughout the series I would give this a 2/10, however because of how well the main, main cast is handled, it gets a 6/10.



--Overall:
Gundam: Reconguista in G was a fun ride. It can definitely be confusing if you're not in it 100%, but pay full attention and you will understand everything going on. It's a basic story that really doesn't try to set itself too far apart from the rest of the franchise. It does have very beautiful animation, with action sequences being some of the best I have seen in Gundam in years, the mech designs are interesting and diverse... give or take one obvious and very stupid mobile suit near the end of the series. The majority of the music may not do much for you, but the voice acting will, and the characters fall flat aside from the mains, but overall it's a fun watch.

Overall Gundam: Reconguista in G gets a 7.4/10, on the review itself it will say 7 since it does not let you judge outside of basic numbers, and I round to the nearest whole number so obviously 7 is it. I would recommend this to seasoned Gundam fans such as myself, and would likely steer newcomers of the Gundam franchise towards something else. However it does not require any previous Gundam history to get into so I wouldn't completely ignore recommending it to newcomers, although I would likely recommend older series' regardless just because.

Again I do have MUCH more I would like to actually touch upon for reviewing Reconguista in G, however I will wait until I can fully flesh out my review, and edit back on here or re-do it completely if the earlier is not possible.

First Review: If you are a Gundam fan, i'd personally stick to Build Fighters Try this season. G Reconguista takes place after the Universal Century in a time called the Regild Century. The writer and director of this series is the same guy who created Turn A Gundam back in 1999, so i suppose his take on the Gundam Franchise isn't as modern and could be a little outdated in terms of what the people what to see and such. The First episode i feel was filled with confusing dialogue and the lack of explanations when it came to what was going on and who ... was who etc. It left me personally very confused. I understand that it has only been 4 episodes but, come on now does anyone actually know what the actual f**k is going on? I grew up as a big Gundam fan, and I believe i have a pretty positive bias towards the series as a whole; I enjoyed all of the series I've watched and even the ones that are frowned upon by the big time Gundam fans. (Seed/Seed Destiny/Age/G Gundam) etc. Still it is really too early to be leaving feedback but my current honest opinion is that this is probably one of the worst I've ever seen. However, it could possibly be a Turn A in the making with the slow start up.

Disclaimer: not a big Gundam fan, but I'm not against the series either. So, I believe I'm rather impartial and look at each show on their own and not part of a series.

I get the distinct feeling that Gundam: G no Reconguista is the modern day Japanese equivalent to G.I. Joe, a show purely designed to push toy sales. Where G.I. Joe, however was a poorly animated episodic weekly with interesting characters and fun stories, Gundam G (or GG as I'll refer to it from here out) is a very well animated poorly written saga with terrible characters that instead of selling action figures is ... trying to sell a new Gundam and/or backpack accessory.

In all likelihood, I'm wrong, and I hope that I am... but there really isn't much else that explains how a show like this could be this well animated and yet be so poor in terms of story, characters, development, and the almost laughable "oh the research division just made a new Gundam or we just stole this backpack... every. single. episode.

The gist of GG's story is this young man in a Gundam academy meets a space pirate then defects to their side along with an unknown girl from space along with her special Gundam and a cheerleader who might be his girlfriend. What follows is an almost unbearable exchange between killing people's comrades and then them getting over it by the next episode. Then there are about 5 space elevator rides where no one really ever leaves Earth and appears back on the planet, one way or another, and a plot twist that you neither care about, nor really see as a plot twist. Without spoiling the story it has to do with the pirates (so if you've watched it, you should know what I'm talking about). Well I gave all that 10 episodes and I'm ready to quit. I really tried to like this, but it never really got better and I feel like I gave it 9 and a half episodes more than it deserved.

On a positive note to end this, the animation is really quite good and the characters are interestingly drawn and portrayed. The action scenes could be better, but frankly it's a matter of story that they are typically not cool enough to get amped up about because you really don't care who wins.. ok well that's as positive as I could be with this forgettable series.

As a UC fan, I'm supposed to cherish this series a lot more than I actually do. It's like Char's Counterattack all over again : beautiful art and animation (you can clearly tell they got way more resources for Reconguista than for build fighter try) and awkward character develpment and interactions.
The show looks really pretty : colorful character design, interesting yet recognizable mobile suits, beautiful environment...... The animation is smoother than what you typically get from an anime tv series, which helps the show stand out a lot. The FX (explosions, thruster flames etc) are of high quality too, which remind me of what ... we saw in Gundam Unicorn. But......
The writing is so weird !!! It seems like Mr Tomino Yoshiyuki hasn't improved much on his dialogue writing since 1979. His characters tend to do way too much exposition, even for an anime. It very often gets confusing as I'm not sure if the character is talking to himself (explaining what's going on to the viewers) or talking to other characters. Character interactions are often awkward as their conversations tend to lack a sense of pace and are thus hard to keep up with. The characters are bizzarely developed and just don't feel right......
Like I said, Char's Counterattack all over again, which is frankly quite disappointing for me.

Where do I start to describe this mess?

After watching 10 episodes, all I can say is "I am sooooo lost". I get the parties "Moon", "Earth", "Armenians", "Capital Army", and "Pirates". They are fighting, sorta, and yet they are not...... Main character "Bellri" was a cadet at the capital army, defected for NO reason and joined the Armenians, ended up killing his instructor, and despite the "Oh what have I done" scene, the remorse lasted about 5 seconds.

His mother is supposedly a high ranking officer, and she just decided to go find him in nothing more than what might be a wooden raft in ... a big ocean, having no idea how to find him, and yet found him, while ditching her duties.

Having watched Gundams for a few years now I come to expect the various things that the machines are doing without too much of excitement. Afterall, it is like watching the transformers and be amazed at their transforming capabilities..... Not gonna really happen. So point here is, it does not exceed expectation when it comes to the subject title.

The only part I can make of the "G" in the title is "Gawd" [why did I even watch this sh*t]. Gundam has always been about honor code, loyalty, maybe treachery/betrayal, but nary for petty reasons. I am still trying to understand the rifts between the two parties, and so far the only conclusion I get: reasons unknown.

Funny thing is, I might still keep watching. It might end up being like pulp fiction. You need to see the whole thing to finally understand the pieces here and there.

I HOPE there is a light at the end of this tunnel. But for now, it is cow patty. Hands down.

I'm not too sure where to start, but I'll start with what I think impacted me the most. Every single episode, never fails to impress me in terms of...."WTF"!?!?!? It's like they try to create a logical story and then try their best to mess it up. The only thing I really enjoyed is the art. The story is just so bizarre and doesn't make any sense at all. Imagine a captain trying extremely hard to stop a war, goes out of his way to the president while dodging bullets from friendly fire to convince him, then the president says "oh sorry, I already declared ... war" then the captain is like "oh. yes sir! I will do my best to win your war!"...wait what? didn't you wanted to stop a war? huh? then the story moves on. It's a perfect series to watch when you get drunk or high or something, because if you actually care about the storyline, or the characters, you will be utterly DISAPPOINTED. Period. Not to mention the most annoying retarded useless character of all time "rayaiya" that completely gets on my nerves. I've watched years of anime, some good, some bad, but this is by far one of the worst. It's sad to see how gundam has fallen so low and seriously, the one who created the story is either high or retarded and should really be fired for ruining the gundam series.

Story:It hard to understand by watch one time and have many relax scenes but it makes this drama serie have good lesson for kids about wars and reasons to fight of them.
Art:Good , this is the one of all anime in previously season that have outstanding art.Especially,Mobile suit action scenes that born form animator drawn it and have red or blue shade when climax scene of that battle.And eyecatch dance scenes of main characters.Totally,it makes this serie easy to memorize.
Sound:Have a good soundtrack that suit this story even relax scene,battle scene,G-Self's Theme and Ending G no Senkou that have good meaning for ... this story.
Character:Many characters,many sides,it make so hard to memorize them but each main character have standpoint that make this seire have not good-evil character and outstanding to memorize.
Enjoyment: Gundam fans or beginner can enjoy this story if you love to see relax and drama war serie like me.

It's been years since the last real gundam serie. Even if I personally appreciate Gundam Build Fighters, it's good to see real Gundams in real fight situations. But it's a long wayè to the top if you wanna be a good Gundam serie.

The art is marvelous, it's the main reason I started the show. It manage to get both old and new artistic aspect of the Gundam franchise into one design, making it really unique and absolutely gorgeous !

BVut beyond that, well, it's pretty useless as for now. The story isn't really built yet so I can't really judge on that, but what we know ... isn't really appealing. Apparently, the characters here love to flip side, fight against their allies, and they didn't learn how to keep a prisoner, giving them full access to Mobile Suit and weapons.
It's only the beginning of the show, so maybe the characters will get a better background and some more interesting motivations, because we have a lot of trouble to like them as they do nothing.

The music is good, it reminds me of the old Gundam soundtrack.
And I think it's the idea behind this project, use the past of Gundam to build a new story with modern technology of animation. Which was expected from a 35-years anniversary show.

The Story of Gundam Reconguista in G is simple but can easily cause confusion among its viewers. I have gained a complete understanding of whats going on within the storyline but not without a backtracking. What I believe causes this confusion is the easily forgettable dialogue. In my opinion the forgettable dialogue is due to the pacing of the show or quirky onscreen antics of the characters that overshadow the dialogue.
Gundam Reconguista is a unforgiving yet enjoyable series so far. My advice is to closely pay attention to the dialogue within episode 3, 4, 5, 8 & 9. Backtracking to these specific episodes greatly ... assisted me.

Im 45 and grrown up a Gundam fan. Ive watched most Gundam series and Gundam G no Reconguista is the only Gundam series I can recall that I can say is terrible.

Ive watched 21 episodes and signed up just to give this a review. I gave the story line and the overall score a 5. Though if you are a Gundam fan the graphics alone are worth watching it.

Generally most of the Gundam genre have been really dark and more adult oriented because of the violence and engaging story line

The graphics art is stunning gave it a 10. Same with sound ... 10.
Character 6. Storyline and overall both 5


I feel like I'm watching a rated G series that I could take 4-5 year olds to see. Everyone is happy and laughing literally every episodes. For different territories at war they have to be the happiest people ever fighting. Even when taken captive the captives are treated like family with free reign to do whatever they want and go wherever they want and they are all more than happy to help the enemies out and laughing and always smiling.

Obviously young kids wouldn't understand it at all because it is way to complex for the mind of a young child but they would probably have a good time watching it because of all the happiness and laughter


Basically to sum up the story line everyone is far to happy to the point of it being weird and everyone wants fighting is short lived and everyone teams up against a new enemy only to have a short fight and then treated like family and now there is a new place and new enemy that appeared out of nowhere only to take off and the main characters are treated like family again.

Not trying to ruin the series but basically everyone wants control of the main gundam and powercells. Other than that the storyline is different from any other gundam war series and a total mess. Ive never everyone so happy as if the fighting was all just a fun game and not a war because after every battle everyone is like family to each other.

I'm one of the biggest defenders of this series and find it greatly misunderstood. For me, it was like watching something you would find in avant-garde cinema. Maybe not necessarily from an experimentation standpoint, but in the sense of trying to piece the narrative together. It was such a perplexing, daring, and challenging experience.

The messy politics, confusing human relations, lore, characters, and sprawl of it all was fascinating for me to unpack. Each episode is dense with thematic exploration and plot movement. You cannot watch this with your brain on autopilot mode. This series makes you work to understand it all because you won't get ... any info bumping from the director.

G Reco is also Tomino at his most auteur, so you're either along for the ride or not. It is uncompromising and refuses to appeal to modern anime storytelling conventions. I find it impressive that Tomino is still making unabashedly daring pieces of art this late into his career. I see Gundam Reconguista as the Gundam series for the diehard Tomino fans. If his style was never for you, then don't rely on this series to make you a fan of his work because it is not easy.

It is also quite postmodern in places because I get impression Tomino is providing meta-commentary on the franchise and fanbase throughout the work. It's not overt commentary or anything which makes it more meaningful when you find it. Turn A Gundam was getting at similar metatextual themes which makes sense when you consider the relationship the two series have together.

I also appreciated how this series was like something you would've seen in the 1980s only with modern animation. It's simply the best looking Gundam series ever in my book. All-in-all, it's not for everyone, but it was certainly for me. I think it's a bold masterpiece and one of the great Gundam series. Don't let others shape your opinion of this show.

Before drilling down into details, the summary:
With an interesting premise and impressive mecha battles, the story development is somewhat erratic and leaves viewers(Like me) confused most of the time.

Story 6/10:
The story doesn't exactly live up to its potential or rather, the plot development is really difficult to follow. While I see it as an attempt to create a politically-heavy driven plot, with sides changing from one episode to the next, things move so fast that half the time I'm left wondering which side is doing what, who is allying with who or why this side is doing this.

Art/Animation 8/10:
Nothing much to elaborate here other ... than the fact that its good despite having an old-school art style. Opinion varies though, I have known people to dislike it.

Sound 7/10:
Music is on cue, befitting of the intense situations our characters are drawn into especially the mecha battles.

Character 7/10:
The characters are possibly the most enjoyable part of the show but not without its flaws: Mainly the reasoning of some characters. The banter is entertaining and hilarious even in serious situations, but there are parts where the dialogue during battles makes no sense at all.

Overall Enjoyment 7/10:
I suffered through the first half of the series initially before all the factions were properly established, then I actually started to enjoy the show, that was about 15/26 episodes later. Most people would have dropped the series by then. The flashy battle scenes are prevalent in almost every episode and are its biggest redeeming quality. May not be everyone's cup of tea but I'd say give it a shot!

Many Gundam fans avoid G Reco due to its reputation as being confusing and nonsensical, whether these claims are accurate or not is very subjective yet one thing is clear: G Reco is an extremely flawed work.

G Reco, just like its spiritual predecessor Turn A Gundam, has amazing worldbuilding, we are presented with a seemingly peaceful Earth with a complex political division due to the regulation of energy resources and technological advancements by a religious institution. Several factions, with diverging ambitions, fight across this stage, thus giving the setting to the plot of G Reco. The protagonist Bellri gets to pilot the G Self by ... mere casualty, a mysterious advanced mecha that fell from the sky with an impaired pilot. The plot advances when Bellri starts to learn truths about the army unit he belongs to at Capital Territory and its role on the stagnant conflict with the continent of Ameria. During the escalation of conflict, Bellri has to challenge his religious beliefs and other preconceptions in order to understand fully the motivations and struggles of all parties involved, this being made by joining a rogue unit of space pirates alongside the strongwilled Aida.

Due to Tomino's narrative style, the motivations and allegiances of characters and factions change rapidly without little to none exposition, therefore requiring the viewer to pay attention and note of every dialogue line and even actions. The plot could even be considered to be grounded and logical yet suffers due to the breakneck pacing and constant introduction of new characters and factions that leave the viewer with little time to assimilate the events of the previous episodes. Even following the plot closely, one of G Reco's worst flaws is the lack of character depth and development. During the 26 episode run, we learn very little about Bellri and his personal thoughts, his character development being also basically zero from the start of the series. Aida, who in my opinion should've been the protagonist, is the only character who has some sort of character development and has consistent thoughts and ideals. Due to the lack of character depth, the motivations of each character can get lost throughout the conflict, this being especially bad during the final episodes of the series.

What G Reco excels at is keeping the audience at the edge of their seats due to its constant twists and imaginative exploration of the setting. The setting gets more complex with practically each episode, adding layers after layers of worldbuilding and (weak) character relationships. The animation is beautiful, the first cour especially offers lush backgrounds and a rich color palette, the character designs are unique yet beautiful, showcasing a diverse cast with recognizable designs and personalities. The mecha animation, done almost only in 2D, is fluid and even expressive, somehow a rarity in modern mecha series. The mechanical design is varied and colorful, referencing several eras of mobile suit design throughout the Universal Century yet can be forgettable due to the sheer amount of units being rapidly introduced during the series.

Is G Reco enjoyable? Yes, it is, if you are able to follow the plot and overlook its many flaws. I would only recommend this show to viewers familiar with Tomino's works and narrative style, definitely not the best choice for Gundam beginners.

G-Reco is a mix of the best of the UC with the politics of Wing. Very human, sometimes autistic-like characters go through strings of mini arcs that defy conventional plot structure. Along their way some of these arcs may have "pointless" conclusions. In a traditional anime a character will go through an arc and then they will be changed. In G-reco, a general may learn the truth in one arc, but then go back to his home country and choose to still continue with their potentially improper military campaign. A girl will learn her enemies are human, but still choose to continue trying to kill ... them for selfish reasons when her mettle is tested. Exposition is rarely given except to subvert expectations, and people do not always grandly declare their motivations. Sometimes extremely important plot-related dialogue will be delivered in passing conversations. This is all classic Tomino. Throughout it, you also see an extension of the themes of Zeta, Turn A, and other Tomino classics.

One thing that's truly wonderful is how it presents combat. When combat occurs on Earth, especially early on, you see it from the perspective of nature. A mobile suit moves, and dozens of animals are displaced. A shot is fired, and trees in the forest burn. This is presented the same way some earlier Gundam and many other series present character deaths. However characters dying is treated as secondary in many of these scenes. You can see that the real issue is the destruction being caused to the Earth. Even in scenes where people are passively outside of their Mobile Suits, the Earth brims with life.

It's through storytelling like this that many of the themes of the story are relayed to you.

Tomino, like Anno, hates the average anime fan. He hates the Otaku, the Gundam Fan. He hates people who feel they're owed something by a piece of art, or that they own it. This can be seen in much of his storytelling structure. Early on characters give "awkward exposition" but they don't tell you anything you don't know. When they begin to speak about something new, that would allow you to "make sense" of the world you're seeing, the scene focus will shift or they'll be cut off. You are forced to piece together much of the important information yourself.

I love this anime. I love how it relays information. I love the characters. I love the very normal ways it displays characters doing things like eating, or screwing up. I like the lack of grandiosity to most of it. In my opinion it's at its worst when it's having epic battles, or the finale.

My main critique is that it could have used about 10 more episodes of breathing room, to properly decompress, as the ending is rushed. Truthfully though, almost every Tomino Gundam series ever has been rushed or cancelled, so that's just par for the course.

Many people will not like this anime, because it is not traditional anime in any way. It is a rejection of convention on almost every level. Much like Turn A, it is at times intentionally produced in a way to upset people who feel certain ways about how things should be done, how characters should act/be presented, and things of that nature. It was on a budget, so at times it's also not a feast for the eyes, though to me it never looked ugly. I often found it quite pretty, but I can't deny it doesn't have the budget of some anime.

If you are used to Tomino's work, or looking for extremely unusual structure and character actions in an anime, then embrace this one.

Review 12.12.2017: Gundam G no Reconguista
Written by SMGJohn
"Every review is subjective, art is subjective your opinion may differ, never trust reviews to make the opinion for you, use them as a guide and make your own journey."

Tomino is certainly known to be very skilled at writing interesting really strange stories, Reconguista is a return to the old Tomino style of odd dialogues, very strange character behaviour choices and a world very unlike our own however despite being so alien and so strange its actually very evident that Tomino WANTS it to be different.
Its not that Tomino cannot write consistent dialogue and realistic character ... behaviour because he can however there is a certain uniqueness to Reconguista because of this chosen style and while I hated it at first I grown to understand Tomino as a strange man with fondness of unique taste is style.
However the series has a serious pacing issue, some episodes feel like they were meant to be two episodes but instead are crammed into a timeframe of 21 minutes, therefore its rushed and suffers from sudden cuts and transitions with many questions unanswered between what happens.
However it is completely false and ignorant to assume you wont understand anything, the plot is still cut good enough to be comprehensible, there certain charm to the story development of this anime and can be comprehended more easily if you divide it into three and a half acts instead of trying to piece it all together as one.
The story has a lot of interesting details to it that still makes it worthwhile with the classic Tomino twist to it.
Towards the end of the series however we really start to notice the restrains of the limited episode count, you are left with the feeling of wanting more and wanting to know what happens next, you are never truly shown the big fight that was unfolding instead it wraps up very quickly even for Tomino.

Art wise Reconguista is the best Tomino Gundam to date, its beautiful, unique and fluid, everything fits very well together, the little CG use is extremely well implemented one will easily forget its even there, all the mobile suit fights are properly animated with no CG use a relief in modern day anime.
To put it simple, the art style looks old school but has a modern production value to it, instead of appealing to the new kids in school Tomino choose instead to make a Gundam the old fans will enjoy and he could not present it any better.
The mobile suit fights are very simplistic at first portraying the lack of skill however as the show progress we are given far more complex combat scenes with surprising fluidity for being Sunrise and all the mobile suit fight scenes are done old school.

When people talk sound they only talk music, while Yugo Kanno makes for some excellent soundtrack with punchy orchestra that gives a good amount of emotional impact in scenes and the openings and endings could not be more Tomino alike, happy and catchy only to be led on by false promises with devastating deaths that will make you realise you been Tomino trolled.
Sound design in Reconguista is very good, in an age of overused repetitive sound effects its a welcome change to see some proper sound design again, we still get reused Gundam sound effects but with a surprising modern twist to them, you can truly feel the weight of a Gundam through the sound alone, the power of its blaster and good punchy explosions.
Overall the sound truly enhanced this anime to another height, good sound can make your day or break your day very easily and sadly majority of studios underutilise it.

Surprising amount of memorable characters in Reconguista thanks to not just the outstanding character design simple but effective, but also memorable voice acting and funny behaviour makes the character very real yet so different from us.
In classic Gundam fashion we already are presented major characters that end up dying catastrophically unsuspectedly a theme that is surprisingly restrained throughout the series for being directed and written by Tomino.
The main characters are very unique to Tomino character writing, Bellri can be comparable to Unicorn’s Banagher in that he switches sides very easily and therefore can be considered neutral until the last act of the anime however unlike Banagher, Bellri is extremely naïve and has no real idealistic vision for what he truly wants, he just follows the flow of events.
Something that reflects the entire series, characters are mere actors in a big play, alone they cannot achieve much but their individual actions add up to a sum of change frequently portrayed in the series.
And then there is Char Aznable, COUGH I mean captain Mask, the Char of Reconguista, he probably is the most memorable person of the series, unlike Char in many ways he is a very compassionate person but that is where the differences end, Captain Mask is very responsible and mature and also a very competent mobile suit pilot who happens to be the biggest road block for Ameria the enemy of Capital Guard which Captain Mask serve.
Most side characters feel very well developed surprisingly and in good fashioned Tomino style can sometime even have an entire episode dedicated to them before they brutally perish whether done on purpose or just duo to lack of time is another question for another time.

Overall the best thing about Tomino is that he writes stories that are built by characters direct or indirect actions, and does not follow the norm of a story building the characters.
Reconguista reflects a very different type of Gundam, it has the ingredients but tastes different from the other, and while being time limited I think the series still delivered and I only want more of it, watching Reconguista is a memorable experience, more so than most of Tomino's work recently, time flew by so quickly that when I reached the end I want to answer of where is the rest?
The biggest flaw of Reconguista it has too much to tell in too short of a time span and because of this I do not think it can ever be considered a masterpiece but certainly a timeless favourites among Gundam fans, a certainly good watch that requires patience and good deal of accustomisation to Tomino's unique style of directing and writing.
If one thing is true with the works of Tomino is that you either like it or you hate it, there is rarely a middle ground to it.

SUNRISE: Its important to note that Tomino did not have enough time under the development of Reconguista and was only given 26 episode production funds instead of the 50 he had originally asked for, the decision by Sunrise is not well understood but its thought by many there is great deal of jealousy and spite towards Tomino because of his personality.
As a result, the team had to cut the 50 episode script down to 26 as the script was already written because Sunrise only gave notice right before production started.