Kidou Senshi Gundam 00

In the distant future, mankind's dependence on fossil fuels will lead to their complete depletion, an energy crisis unlike anything the world witnessed. Out of retaliation and fear, humanity began focusing at an alternative source of energy: solar power. Different nations have united together to form three major factions—the Union of Solar Energy and Free Nations, the Advanced European Union, and the Human Reform League. Each of these sectors has access to a solar power generator, which gives them limitless energy.

As a result, countries that were once dependent on the sale of fossil fuels are now plunged in poverty, leading to years of warfare and internal strife over the control of solar energy. Amid this chaos, an unknown paramilitary organization appeared identifying themselves as "Celestial Being," aspire to end all warfare through armed intervention by using mysterious and technologically advanced Mobile Suits known as Gundams.

Mobile Suit Gundam 00 follows the story of Celestial Being's Gundam Meisters Setsuna F. Seiei, Lockon Stratos, Allelujah Haptism, and Tieria Erde. These four dive into the devastating battle between the three superpowers to accomplish their goal of changing the world.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Seiei, Setsuna F. Main

Miyano, Mamoru Japanese

Stratos, Lockon Main

Miki, Shinichiro Japanese

Erde, Tieria Main

Kamiya, Hiroshi Japanese

Haptism, Allelujah Main

Yoshino, Hiroyuki Japanese

Haro Supporting

Ogasawara, Arisa Japanese

Aker, Graham Supporting

Nakamura, Yuuichi Japanese

Grace, Feldt Supporting

Takagaki, Ayahi Japanese

Lee Noriega, Sumeragi Supporting

Honna, Youko Japanese

Al-Saachez, Ali Supporting

Fujiwara, Keiji Japanese

Peries, Soma Supporting

Ogasawara, Arisa Japanese

Yatate, Hajime Producer

Maruyama, Hiroo Producer

Mizushima, Seiji Director, Episode Director, Storyboard

Mima, Masafumi Sound Director

Reviews

Feb 11, 2024

MxS7HGS

Recommended

Mobile Suit Gundam 00 encapsulates all the quintessential elements of the Gundam franchise. From compelling main characters to nail-biting one-on-one mecha contests blended with elaborate military tactics and grand scale wars, it excels on all fronts. Despite the slight melodrama, it does not overwhelmingly cloud the plot like in Gundam Seed.

What truly sets this epic apart is its mature tone and character portrayals. Unlike most other mecha series, the protagonists in this one are not teenagers, but fully grown-up adults, giving the story an adult weight.

I highly value the neutrality the heroes' organization's ideological position, fighting to erase all conflicts impartially. It confirmed with what ... I have thought on before, and the series discusses it properly, even mentioning the hard real-life situations like the unrest in the Middle East.

Towards the climax there are instances where the Gundams get sudden upgrades, similar to tropes found in Dragonball Z or Naruto. Although it seems artifical, the rich storytelling and the character development overcomes these stand-out moments.

The task of keeping tabs on the many tertiary characters may be difficult but it's just a little nuisance.

Even though the series features the major event, it lacks the emotional punch conveyed in Gundam Wing and Gundam Seed. Also, the male characters may be cool but they have neither the depth nor the charm of their counterparts in those series.

Recommended to those who are already Gundam fans. For new fans to the franchise aiming to discover the appeal of Gundam, Mobile Suit Gundam 00 is a great place to start, being visually superior to both Gundam Wing and Gundam Seed. If you have fallen in love, the earlier installments are worth looking into, they develop different casts and the military dynamics.

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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Aug 17, 2020

kazuya2

Mixed Feelings

*NO SPOILERS*

This was my first and only introduction into the Gundam franchise. Based on the reviews I came in with high expectations, but was left a bit disappointed. Overall I think that this was enjoyable to watch, the action was good, and some of the more political elements were interesting, but other than that it wasn't much. The characters, although were provided with strong back stories, didn't really show much depth or development. I'd say that they were for the most part fairly one-dimensional. There was a lot of potential that was wasted. I still think that this anime is worth a shot but its ... nothing exceptional. Maybe give the first few episodes a try,

(I also watched the second season which although I found less enjoyable than this first season, still wasn't as bad as some people had made it out to be.)

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Jun 8, 2021

sensepirational

Not Recommended

Disclaimer: I watched the English dub version of this season. I have never watched a Gundam series or film before this one. I generally enjoy sci-fi, space, war/military, combat/fighting, and mecha themes in fiction.


Going into this, I expected it to be fairly solid. Even though I have never watched a Gundam series before, I've certainly been aware of the property. It's been around forever, and it's widely known and very popular. It also tends to get rated well. But after watching season 1 of Mobile Suit Gundam 00, I find myself with no desire to watch season 2, and very little curiosity about any other ... Gundam series if this is representative of what they have to offer.

I'm struggling to think about any general category this show did well. Art, character, story, dialogue, combat, sound... nothing stood out as exceptional or praiseworthy. In fact, I'd say very few things about this show even managed to be average.

Admittedly, I thought the start of the season wasn't too shabby. It had me interested in seeing where they were going with the story they had laid out, and how it would unfold and be revealed. But that didn't last long. The more they extended the story through the episodes, the more convoluted, confusing, and seemingly random it became. By the end, if it weren't for characters literally and incessantly reciting a brief, paraphrased version of a synopsis for no apparent reason other than shouty exposition, one might have actually forgotten what the story was supposed to be. That being said, the story did have a beginning, middle, and end, but it wasn't particularly satisfying, and it was filled with so many subplots, unexplained story elements, and plot twists that it eventually became a real chore just to get to the final episode, if for no other reason than completionism.

By the end, there are so many elements of the story that are never adequately explained or properly defined that it makes what little story there has been seem all the more confusing, despite how basic and straightforward the core of the story is. At some point toward the middle and into the end of the season, things just seemingly start randomly happening because they need to to get to where the story wants to go, but the show doesn't adequately explain how or why these things happen.

I don't have much to say about the art or animation. It wasn't terrible, but it's nothing special. I was expecting eye candy, but this show didn't deliver. It was all very basic looking. There's nothing technically wrong with any of it, but I just found it all fairly meh-worthy. I was similarly quite underwhelmed with the battle scenes, which never managed to bring me anywhere near the edge of my seat or invoke much tension or excitement at all. There was a distinct lack of awe that should follow from watching what are supposed to technologically incredible mechs firing laser beams and swinging swords around in space.

I think the sound contributed to how underwhelming the battle scenes were, too. Nothing sounded immersive. It was just generic pew-pew effects you've heard a million times before. The music wasn't anything noteworthy. And the dialogue, at least in the dub, was often mind-numbingly annoying.

I know it's sort of a common trope in anime to have characters evoke a sense of meaning or emotion by randomly stating proper nouns, or by book-ending scenes with stating proper nouns, but it seems like nearly half of one of the MC's dialogue here is nothing but this, as if the guy physically can't formulate complete sentences, and it's just so overused here it becomes grating. I suppose it would help if the character had anything of value to actually say, but he's so 2-dimensional, monotonous, and bland that I guess he has the depth of a inflatable pool.

There's not a lot of character depth in general with any of the other characters either. There's clearly and attempt here and there, and even some successful moments where depth and growth are delivered to some extent, but they are few and far between. There's too many characters getting focus (many of which are entirely unnecessary), and not enough depth to flesh any of them out very well, including the main cast. Of the main protagonist cast, everyone who has any semblance of a backstory has some kind of tragic past which is varying degrees of nebulous, often delivered by exposition or replaying the same few-second flashback clips over and over, and they all have their own personalities. I will give them that--that their personalities are at least fairly distinct from one another. But a good sense of their motivations or the reason they're doing the things they're doing is all rather phoned in and never really explored or defined with much substance.

As for the villains, they're nothing short of comical. That's hardly something that's unique to this show, but it doesn't make it any better. One of the two primary villains is "I want to destroy and remake the world in my image for reasons" and the other is "I like war for reasons." That's it. That's basically all there is to them. With the former, almost nothing about how he becomes involved in or achieves anything is explained--he's just kind there, and his achievements just kinda happen off screen. The latter just seems like your generic sadistic villain, who delights in causing suffering just because that's the way he is, or at least, that's what we're left to assume since we're given no explanation for why he might be the way he is.

There's a few other relatively minor antagonists, protagonists, and side characters, some of whom inexplicably get a lot of screen time that comes off as nothing but unnecessary and often pointless filler, and the rest of whom appear to be nothing beyond plot devices who are disposed with as quickly as they came into the story.

Anyway, overall I rate this a 3.

Reviewer’s Rating: 3

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