Ranked #365

Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam

If the original Gundam depicted a bloody war on an unprecedented scale, then Zeta Gundam shows the profound human breakdown that followed. Set eight years after the first series, the post-war reconstruction is shown to have badly failed. The Federation, once a system the heroes fought for, has been corrupted by a military unit fanatically devoted to Earth supremacy.

Arguably the central theme of the Gundam franchise is the struggle between Earth and the space colonies that orbit it. Zeta takes this concept very far. As newtypes (theoretical evolutions of mankind, meant for space) have evolved and research on them has advanced, a growing divide has formed between them and normal people. This jealous paranoia turns the ruling Earth bureaucracy against its colonies, before they grow too powerful.

Kamille Bidan perfectly illustrates the rebellious, space-faring sentiment. His passion, continually whipping from bitter disappointment to righteous elation and back, transcends reason. Though his emotional depth includes a reserved quietness and easy-going nature, it is the extremes that contain the core of his being. Unlike Amuro, who fought to survive and protect what little he could, Kamille uses his Gundam as a means to many ends. It’s a weapon to strike down enemies of the Anti-Earth Union, and an ever-evolving representation of his powers as a Newtype. By extension, the Gundam is a symbol of the new humanity that touches upon the pulse of the stars, ready to travel the cosmos.

No raw power can connect without direction, the resistance finding theirs in an unwilling Char Aznable. Bright Noah and Hayato also return, this time older and more able to command. Amuro fights as well, in a crucial way, but his lingering guilt and stress limit participation. Most of the focus is put on new blood.

One of Zeta’s biggest flaws is how cheaply it treats characters. Some change sides at the drop of a hat, for trivial reasons, while others are killed unceremoniously. More alarming is that multiple girls are killed, resurrected, then swiftly killed again. There’s an in-universe justification, but I find the second deaths to be too quick, predictable, and all too lacking emotional resonance.

Similarly, the plot is treated with surprisingly little respect. Every single episode is guaranteed to have an arbitrary skirmish between AEUG and the Earth Federation. Typically this is the result of haphazard, overused actions like gundam high-jacking. The battles never have clear strategic meaning. Tactical command is non-existent in the face of random, dueling mobile suits. At worst, this can make the show feel like an excuse for formulaic drama coupled with obvious mecha toy advertisement.

I have to say that the show does a good job getting me excited about gundam. The cockpits close, the gears shift, the marching beats begins, and as the badass suit rises, we hear the bold announcement: “Kamille Bidan, Zeta Gundam... launching!” These takeoffs have an addictive quality. I don’t know when it was that they began standing out. I just know that, after enough exposure, I liked them a lot.

Moments like these are not created by the writing. For me, they’re captured by the audio. The soundtrack always suits the moment. When the aged animation forces long, occasionally ugly shots, music goes a long way to preserve the right feeling. Equally impressive is the Japanese voice cast, in particular Nobuo Tobita (Kamille) and Shuuichi Ikeda (Char). Char is very mysterious, so it is all the more cool that Ikeda can retain that while giving a very charismatic performance with huge amounts of screen-time. Kamille’s voice is probably one of the best for any seiyuu, ever. His character whiplashes from mood to opposite mood in the blink of an eye; this can go wrong in several ways, whether the actor cannot capture just how extreme each mood is, or is unable to create a believable transition. Nobuo Tobita wins.

I am a little guilty about liking Zeta Gundam as much as I do. It isn’t very well constructed, has old art, and feels like the creators made up everything as they went along. Considering many fans hype it as a masterpiece I should have been disappointed. But I wasn’t. As bad as it is in some respects, once things start moving the series succeeds tremendously. There is a complex, multi-faceted cast that averts boring anime characterizations. The mobile suits are highly detailed, coupled with unique, yet diverse character designs. The music is epic and powerful. Perhaps best of all, Zeta demonstrates a wonderfully tragic spiral away from sanity. read more

Even though this is a direct sequel to the first Gundam series, it primarily relies on a new cast of characters while other major characters like Amuro are now secondary and has a very small but significant appearance as well as Kai Shiden and Hayato Kobayashi. Despite this, little to no previous experience of the first Gundam series isn’t required to really follow the story though it is highly recommended to mostly understand Char or Quattro or whatever you want to call him. This series has a reputation amongst Gundam fans as being dark and gritty, and I can’t deny that. But I believe that whatever is presented should not be found offensive since there is meaning to what happens in this series and helps progress it, but I don’t think that this quality alone should define the series.

Camille in comparison to Amuro in the first series is more idealistic and wants to fight because he hates the Titans and somewhat out of spite of his home life, while with Amuro, he just felt forced into the situation. And I think this series was what also helped make Char more appealing to the hardcore Gundam fan base because of the use of his character and I think his role really reflects what people think of him in real life as well. The Titans, the main antagonists are despicable and truly people you can hate. In a lot of animes, there are time you can sympathize and relate to their main villains, while in this anime, you really can’t for the most part though there are some notable exemptions like Four Murasame.

Of course being a 1986 release, the quality of the animation won’t really be that appealing in a modern sense. Rather than pointing out the obvious, there are really little to no flaws with the design and execution of the battles. Granted the color schemes of some of the robots are very flash in a 1980s sense, but I felt with the recent release of the trilogy, it shows that the quality of the design is still timeless like how recent game releases based on the first Gundam still demonstrates this quality in relation to that series. The costumes aren’t as spandex looking like in the first one and are more loose and realistic to military code, and the frames of the majority of the new mobile suits presented are sleek, retro, articulate, and tight.

The designs of the mobile suits also perfectly reflect the nature of the battles being fast paced and agile which is very true with Char’s Hyaku-Shiki, a mobile suit that really compliments his piloting skills.

My only exposure to the dub to this day despite owning the DVDs is playing the English version of Gundam vs Zeta Gundam for the PlayStation 2. The dub was intolerable and none of the actors from the first season reprise their roles who I thought were good. That’s all I have to say the dub. The Japanese track as most anime elitists and fans would naturally of course say is much superior. Sorry to sound like that, but I just think that’s how it is. Characters from the first Gundam series who come back reprise their roles such as Ikeda Shuuichi as Char, Hirotaka Suzuoka as Captain Bright, and Furuya Tooru as Amuro. But for the new characters, there are some excellent additions. Narutards to casual fans and new fans of Naruto will probably enjoy the charismatic and captivating performances of Inoue Kazuhiko the voice of Kakashi as Jerrid and Ohtsuka Houchu the voice of Jiraiya as Yazan. Inoue still retains a youthful voice, but in comparison to his role of Kakashi he is more emotional and naïve. Ohtsuka’s voice is still recognizable but as Yazan he is very sadistic.

And last, I’ll address the voice of Camille, Tobita Nobuo, also the voice of Tomo from Fushigi Yuugi, Domon from Flame of Recca, and Uribatake from Nadesico, is very multi-talented in his own right. Even though he is more adult in those roles, in this one, he is convincing as a confused and enraged teenager in relation to his situations. Moving on, the music is very energetic and captivating in a 1980s sense. It captures a lot of its atmosphere of romance, war, and hope. I especially feel this with the 2nd opening theme, Mizu no hoshi he ai wo komete. The ending theme hoshi no zora believe is very campy cutsey but I think it’s used to wind the audience down after seeing something crazy in the series. I don’t know, but I like it. The movie trilogy relies of Gackt for their soundtrack. The songs are good, but I’m not a huge fan of Gackt personally. The background music is very intense and appropriate to the gritty atmosphere of the series, which you’ll have to hear to believe, or play the Gundam vs Zeta Gundam game itself which is also appropriately used.

As you can dispute on a certain number of Gundam series, fans will not only argue that this is the best Gundam series, but one of the best animes ever which is something I can personally agree with. I strongly suggest you watch the TV series over the movie trilogy which I personally found disappointing which is another discussion for another time. But anyway, I think the story is very captivating and comedy and romance is used when appropriate. You can really truly feel the characters. The designs and battle sequences are high octane and the music is just incredible.
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