Ranked #2351

Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ

Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ, the third installment to the Gundam franchise, gets a considerably poor reputation among the Gundam community. I've even read that some fans accuse Tomino Yoshiyuki, the director of the Gundam metaseries's first group of series including ZZ, of intentionally trying to ruin the franchise. That's pretty harsh, but I don't think it's truthfully quite as bad as it's believed to be.

The plot takes place directly after Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam, and stars a group of teenagers who are junk collectors, the main character being another Newtype by the name of Judau Ashta. Now here's where things get a little different story-wise. The first half or so of the series is very lighthearted and comedy filled, contrasting greatly to its predecessor Zeta's intense drama. Then the story later takes on a more serious persona, which causes some little inconsistencies. There have been a lot of shows that integrate comedy with seriousness very well, and Tomino claims that he did wish to cheer up audiences, but the comedy-seriousness shift wasn't all that great here, causing the show to suffer some points.
The deaths, which are a part of every Gundam series of course, weren't really handled very well in the series either. The overall tragedy and impact of the events was just missing a tad, which is definitely a disappointment because those moments deserve some good emphasis.

Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ aired very shortly after Zeta finished, and thus the art is just of the same caliber. It's pretty good animation for the time, which is to be expected of a Gundam title. The sound department, however, falls a bit short of Zeta's outstanding musical quality. Not to say that it is bad, but it does not touch Zeta's work here. But, I will add on a positive note, that the first opening theme, "Anime Ja Nai", is a very memorable song. Also, elaborating on that point, the contrasting theme songs display exactly the difference between the two halves of ZZ. The former, "Anime Ja Nai", is close to a kid's tune, whereas the latter, "Silent Voice", exhibits a more somber mood.

Due to the whimsical first half, the characters aren't quite as developed as they probably could have been. Some of the main crew aren't really too appealing as characters, but there are some significant persons that deserve mention; Chara Soon being the first one to immediately come to mind. Several characters from the past series make appearances as well, but most of the said appearances are just cameos, with the exception of everybody's favorite captain Bright Noa and the Axis leader Haman Karn.

The enjoyment factor is a little hard to judge, again because of the split tones of the show. The comedy half is enjoyable, but in my opinion the serious half is much better. That is of course just a matter of opinion though that will vary from person to person, depending on if you find the first half a nice change of pace, or if you condemn it for not living up to the previous stories.

Overall, I think Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ gets cut down a tad too much because it simply doesn't match up to the standards and strong qualities set by Mobile Suit Gundam and Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam. However, it is still definitely worth the watch for any Gundam fan, and you could certainly turn out loving it if you're the right person. read more

This is a direct sequel to Zeta, but not only as that, I think of them as one big series itself despite the opposite nature of the first half ZZ that no reviewer should over look when reviewing this anime. Apparently some of the audience, executives of Sunrise and Bandai, and Tomino’s wife thought that Zeta was way too dark and gritty which is something many fans thought was what made that series distinguishing. Plus Tomino even felt bad about the nature of Zeta and thinks anime should make people happy. Then again, he was going through a depression. While with the first half of Double Zeta, he makes it very campy and childish. It’s pretty bad to the point where it has driven fans away from the show. Granted it is annoying, sorry to bring this as a spoiler, but it eventually goes back to the dark and gritty nature of Zeta, which I thought was enough to redeem itself. Thankfully this transition gives opportunities where the characters will develop and they become likeable. But I think you should understand Tomino’s mentality and approach to things to truly appreciate the story and characters.

The contrast of this anime is a little brighter and the designs are more neon in a very 1980s manner. Especially the hair styles and costume designs. It’s just more childish to truly make it more cartoony in comparison to Zeta and thus being more kid friendly. And of course some of the battles in the beginning are more comedic and ridiculous and untradtitional of what you can say is Gundam, though not as cheesy or over the top as G Gundam of course. But it’s nice to see that the Zeta Gundam, and other suits from Zeta are still in use and present, but they don’t have the same charisma which is a bizarre way to describe it as they did in the first season. But I do think the Double Zeta is pretty nifty and it’s bulkiness and style brings another kind of likeable distinction mostly because it’s different. But the battles eventually go back to the quality it had in Zeta and what most hardcore Gundam fans would like.

Some of the music is also of course more campy and childish though it still retains some of the background music from Zeta Gundam. The first opening theme, Anime Janai is very ookie and geeky, but despite that, I naturally have to agree that it did compliment the nature of the series at that time, but still went well with the presented imagery. But the 2nd opening theme, Silent Voice where the series gets better is more traditionally of something you’d rather hear in anime. It’s very high spirited and intense and energetic.

The seiyuu cast is still top notch. Yao Kazuki, the voice of Jedau sounded a little old for a 14 year old and the childish nature of his character. He was also the voice of Iketani of Initial D, Takeda from History’s Strongest Disciple Kenichi, and Fei Long in Street Fighter II V. It’s hard to take him seriously in a more comedic role and as an early teenager. And I enjoyed the voice of Sakakibara Yoshiko as Harman. She had a passion and charisma to her character as well as this intimidation to her voice. So I got nothing much to complain in the voice acting department.

Just like One Piece, this series takes a while to get into and get into a certain pace to truly appreciate it. I don’t think the initial episodes despite how insulting it was after going through Zeta should not refrain you from watching the whole series since it does redeem itself. I was only able to survive and enjoy the series because I gave it that chance. Afterall, this isn’t Gundam SEED Destiny, which is what I personally found as the worst Gundam series of all time and got progressively worse. Anyway, I say this is something more for the likes of dedicated Gundam fans, and not necessarily for casual anime fans. Just give this series a chance.
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