Ranked #303

Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counterattack

Well, I personally felt that this movie was conclusive, but felt more like a conclusion or some extension to the original series, and not really that well connected to Zeta and Double Zeta. Then again, this was the intention but I felt this movie could have used some of the main characters from that series or give us an update on Camille, Fa, and Judau, though there are other materials out there exclusive to Japan on what happened to them. Since the movie really has no direct connection to Zeta or Double Zeta, I don’t feel it’s really required that you watch those series, but I recommended you watch the Mobile Suit Gundam trilogy to understand the foundation of the rivalry between Char and Amuro. Resuming characters that play a significant part are of course Captain Bright, his son Hathaway, Bright’s wife’s former fiancé Cameron also plays a part as well. New additions for this movie are Nanai Miguel, Char’s right hand woman and Quess Paraya, the daughter of a Federation politician who has teenage issues and has erratic newtype abilities. The movie is reasonably paced and the characters all have their use. Granted the new characters do stand out, I just don’t think they were worth sacrificing some other characters over.

In addition to this movie going back to its roots with the Char and Amuro rivalry, the style and design of the mobile suits, specifically the Nu Gundam, Nu being N-U gives that impression as well. The current Gundam’s style goes back to its roots with the more blocky design rather than the aerodynamic frames that were present in Zeta and isn’t really as heavy packed as the Double Zeta. A notable difference is that it breaks the tradition of the red, white, and blue color scheme to a black and white one. With the Nu Gundam comes a new kind of material that is meant to go with the newtype abilities called the Psycho Frame and the addition of funnels also gives Amuro the chance to use those abilities at their fullest potential as well.

The suit Char has this time is the Sazabi, also reverting back to his iconic red scheme. The Sazabi is more cylinder like and kind of goes back to the bulkier and bloated design of the Zakus. The battles are more intense than ever with the heavy fire power and the potential of nuclear weapons being deployed by the Neo Zeon. There is more of a risk factor to the fights that make it more realistic and reasonably paced, but yet exciting. The character designs for the most part are still in tradition and faithful to the original, but presented in a new quality of resolution that really compliment the updated costume designs. Char’s design is quite unique. He’s more muscular looking and he’s more dignified, but yet still recognizable.

Well, the roles of Amuro, Char, and Bright are still respectively reprised by their respective seiyuus throughout the lifespan of the franchise and still pull off their roles as if they never aged a day. Anything I had to say about their roles in previous installments can be said here as well. For the dub, this came out before Zeta got licensed in America so some of the roles are reprised by the dub actors from the TV series as well such as Brad Swaile is still Amuro. I personally thought the dub was excellent in its own right.

The music is constantly intense. Not really as militaristic as Gundam soundtracks, but enough to pull you into the battlefield of space. The ending theme Beyond the Time also truly reflects the nature of the ending of the movie.

I wouldn’t call the movie fan service, but is truly meant for fans of Gundam because it’s really what I may call the symbolic ending to the original Gundam series. I wasn’t really that disappointed with Char’s character, but I think they could have built things up much better. But I guess I have to find other material that is either in manga or game form to get what I’m looking for. For what it’s worth, I do feel delighted this movie does pay homage to the original Gundam in its own right, but I felt they could have done some other things with it to make it more complete and balanced with the other series, but I guess they really wanted to make this movie distinctive with the newer cast.
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Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counterattack, by the well-known Gundam creator and director Tomino Yoshiyuki, is the first movie to enter the Gundam franchise. Watching this definitely requires the viewer to have at least seen Mobile Suit Gundam and Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam, because otherwise you will simply not get the full enjoyment out of it. With that being said, the film has some great aspects and memorable moments, but there are a couple disappointing flaws that weigh down its score.

The biggest flaw lies in the story. And not in the plot, but in the back story. The plot is a fairly basic tale in the UC Gundam universe that pits long-time rivals Amuro Ray and Char Aznable against one another again, but the background is a little foggy. Char is now the leader of the new Zeon army, and Amuro is back in action alongside Bright Noa, just like old times. This is all great and it sets up a nice story, but we get absolutely no explanation as to how these things came to be. Between Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ, the predecessor to this film, and CCA, there is no telling of how Char, who went missing after Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam, climbed the latter to become the Zeon big dog. Likewise, there is no telling of how Amuro, who was also last seen in Zeta, became a star fighter of the Federation again.
But aside from the poor lack of background, the story that we witness in the movie is fairly good and nicely played out. It has a decent mix of saddening situations and epic moments, as expected of Tomino and the Gundam franchise.

Now the art and animation, when taken into account dates back to 1988, is something truly stunning. The mecha designs look so much more detailed and the battles have wonderfully animated choreography, resulting in some pretty impressive action. Adding to the action's intensity is the well apt music, which has the classic space opera vice to it, once again suiting the atmosphere very well.

The quality of character is a little debatable. Mainly because there were some new supporting characters that made appearances that were a little unnecessary. The attraction and large amount of screen time to these small co-stars took away some of the focus on the fierce rivalry of Amuro and Char. And really, these two adversaries are who we want to see the most out of here. These two men are prominent stars of the Gundam metaseries, and we want to see them in all their glory. They deserve all the screen time is the point I'm basically trying to get at, and unfortunately these small fry that are introduced in this film steal the spotlight just a bit too much.

In the end though, this is still a thoroughly enjoyable watch for any Gundam fan. The rivalry between Amuro Ray and Char Aznable is truly unforgettable and one of the best in all of anime, and watching this undoubtedly caters to those who want to see more of it, even if they get a tad sidetracked along the way as I've explained above. Overall, this is a pretty solid movie and it deserves its place in the Gundam franchise. read more