**Warning: contains spoiler** (More so if you are unfamiliar with the UC Gundam stories.)
Mobile Suites Gundam: The Origin is first and foremost a powerful human story. It is also a war and politics epic. Of course, at the same time, it is a gundam show.
Char Aznable is a rich character. And Gundam: The Origin shows why. The Origin follows the trajectory of Char's life from his early youth to the establishment of his fame as the ace pilot of Zeon. Along that trajectory, Char's life started in one of the most privileged families, then thrown by external forces to the worst bottom, and later climbed
...
back to moments of glory. In his childhood, Char saw his father murdered and had his family torn apart in midst of political intrigues. He had to fend off assassination attempts while in exile. Nevertheless, he grew up intelligent, strong, sensitive, but also bearing a sense of deep hatred. My English is not sufficient to depict the heart-wrenching and absorbing stories of Char's early life. But Gundam: The Origin is.
Gundam: The Origin takes the care to develop the personalities and growths of Char with as much care in moments of thrill as in mundane details -- how he consoles his sister Artesia upon the news of their father's death when he was barely elder; how he stays firm at the last sight of their mother, when he understood it was the last sight; how he became aggressive with a spy upon hearing his mother's death. Those moments make you relate and root for Char. And the experience is enhanced by solid voice casting. In that moment Char is angry with a spy, his voice is angry. In the moments Char is calm but also cold, his voice is gentle but aloof and also masculine.
Char is not the only one The Origin excels at depicting and voice casting. Dozle and the Black-Tri sound like the muscular men they are on screen with their coarse voice and swift intonation. Artesia's voice cast has a nice gradient of pitch change -- from childish to mature -- as she grew more confident and independent in the series. The Origin offers a cast of characters each with their convictions and vices, virtues and flaws. For example, the monologue of Dozle vowing to protect his wife Zenna, while seemingly lacking in intellectualism in his choice of words, strikes at the core of wars in metaphoric terms. I enjoyed how Kycilia is shown to have conflicting traits -- honorable at times, cruel and bloody at times; ruthless and efficient at times, soft and gentle at times. The Origin (and to an extent the original '79 Gundam series) does not shy away from having characters who are conflicted internally -- just as how in real life humans are. The Origin also does not shy away from showing nuances in politics: from Gilren's zeal to Degwin's moderation, from riots on the street level to backroom negotiations. From yet a different perspective, in anime terms, Char is shown to be extraordinarily talented yet he does not come off feeling OP in a contrived way. That showcases the strength of the series.
With strengths come relative weaknesses. The character pool of Gundam: The Origin is on the bloated side. Its ties to the seminal Mobile Suite Gundam in 79' blesses The Origin with an abundance of attention, and with it funding and production quality, but also curses it with unique restrictions. The Origin has to make connections to all major characters in the 79's Mobile Suite Gundam. The characters on the Federation side, however, are less connected to Char's early life. They are thus spared less time to develop, which only adds to the feel of disjointedness. The flaws in the 79's original haunt The Origin. The group of civilians fighting as well as professionals left so big of a plot hole that only proper developments for all of them can do justice. The same can be said of Ramba Ral and Black Tri-star on the Zeon side who in the original were only 2-dimensional mini-bosses for Amuro Ray to practice on. I love what is done. Still, with 13 episodes, The Origin does not have the time to develop them all. And if it did, the disconnect can still remain an issue. Having said all the above, it is a paragraph of equal length to critique the weakness in characters of The Origin as to praise its strength. In actuality, the strengths easily eclipse the weaknesses.
The elephant in the room is, of course, the gundam. Gundam: The Origin is somewhat focused on mechas just like the other gundam series. That is not a vice to me. I think it is ok to assume and accept some elements of fantasy as long as the fictional universe comes with a rule set: in which fantasy elements blend with real world physics and social interactions to create something believable. So I have criticisms in that regard. Since war and mecha make a focal topic, quality and precision is called for. Impractical as they are, I can ignore the (lack of) rationale on having arms, legs, sensors in a "head", etc on mobile suits. I can ignore the impracticality of directed energy weapons against armored targets (along with their inexplicable colors). I still need other believable elements of warfare in order to not laugh at what is supposed to be a politics and war epic. In other words, realism inspires immersion. There needs to be enough realism to support immersion. In some places, Gundam took particular care with realism in combat and succeeded. In others, not so much. For example, I appreciate the depiction of spaceship turret mechanisms and ammo racks based on battleships of WWII -- it later helped to explain why Char is able to take out warships quickly with precision shots. I appreciate the depiction on battle formation -- although scant, recon rotation, the effects of Minkowski particles -- although also scant, the normal suites, the actions of the auxiliary thrusters, etc. They all played a role in building up the intensity of battles and the sense of realism in operating in space, which is a theme of the series. Nevertheless, certain things are wrong: spaceships do not sink; there is no deflection shooting in space; HEAT warheads need to raise elevation in flight and then drop on to MBTs in order to kill them; accelerating with Zaku does not create airflow in the cockpit; particle cannons do not have recoils; Ortega's Zaku flies backward relative to thruster direction when killing Revil's flagship; etc. Most disappointing though is the way the revolutionary strengths of Zaku is foreshadowed. And that's done by one thing only: [pointing to guncannon, Tem Ray shakingly said] this is not the Mobile Suits of Dr Minkowski! "Boss A is super strong. Because A is 10x stronger than B!" Why? No why. How? No how. So there we are back to kindergarten. _Not_ the politics and war epic we can immerse in.
The real underlying reason is, supposedly, Zaku's Minovsky reactor has much higher output -- both in energy and in the quantities of Minovsky particles produced. (The series should clarify this for itself -- not through me.) The thrusters of mobile suits are supposed to use Minkowsky particles. Hence the enhanced mobility. Minovsky particles absorb/deflect radar and other electromagnetic waves. Thus guided weapons are useless in battles of the Gundam world. That explains the kind of warfare we see in Battle of Loum. Shying away from technical details creates serious plot holes. The Origin did spend time on technical aspects of warfare. It just all went to Tem Ray mumbling nothingness. So that is a failure of the series. Also, even after excusing the omission on Minovsky particles, it is not excusable how imprecise AA fires are without explanations and how fighters of the Federation fleet seemed to have done nothing. They resemble plot armor too much and thus hurt immersion. For full disclosure, actions of Federation fighters are cut away in the TV series from the original OVA series.
That brings to the next topic, which is editing. My above complaint with fighter scenes, among with a rare few others, are the only issues with the TV cut. In all other places, the TV cut adds to the fluidity of the series. For example, while Garma can certainly be meek, insecure and driven by emotions at times. He nevertheless was able to follow Char in military academy exams. Garma is shown by the series to have true abilities and he works hard for it. I am glad the TV version cut away the numerous flicking hair scenes of Garma. Being superficial and infantile to such an extent would undermine the narrative with Garma. So the TV version did away with them. Along with other edits, the cuts propelled the series to a different level.
A quick note on sound. I watched the series through Crunchyroll. And boi that site sucks in so many ways. (I pay a yearly subscription so I have the right to complain.) It completely butchers the audio track. For example, remember episode 10 when Char heads out with his Zaku? (Ignore his waving clothes, ofc. That's silly.) The drum beat sounds like a toddler's murmur with the Crunchyroll version. If you just came from Crunchyroll, you probably didn't know there are drum beats. With that in mind, I have found the BGM in Gundam: The Origin mediocre. By all means, I have no quarrel with Takayuki Hattori's compositions. To the contrary, I revere him as a composer. I particularly enjoy the use of brass in the series' compositions. Brass, along with other orchestral instruments, sound.. a bit old... but in a good way that adds to the feel of politics and war epic and it feels like a nod to the series' long and lasting history. What I do have complain with is that the soundtracks do not seem to organically interact with the scenes much. Without access to the alternative, I am really not sure if Crunchyroll is the only one to blame.
All in all, I loved the series. I loved the human stories. I enjoyed the sense of scale. I liked the subtleties that the series did not shy away from depicting -- be it in personalities, in politics or in warfare. Although it being a war focused series, I do wish for more attention to details in combat and warfare. If only The Origin can continue into an alternate version of the original Mobile Suit Gundam in '79.
To Gundam haters: this series is worth your time. With a bit of open mind and willingness judge a series by its content, you won't find the feature of mechas a burden. To Gundam fans: re-joice, Gundam: The Origin is a treat. More likely than not you will find it the best Gundam series -- and I say that with classics like 08th in mind. Gundam: The Origin brings new depths to the whole UC universe. Enjoy the show.
Aug 17, 2019
**Warning: contains spoiler** (More so if you are unfamiliar with the UC Gundam stories.)
Mobile Suites Gundam: The Origin is first and foremost a powerful human story. It is also a war and politics epic. Of course, at the same time, it is a gundam show. Char Aznable is a rich character. And Gundam: The Origin shows why. The Origin follows the trajectory of Char's life from his early youth to the establishment of his fame as the ace pilot of Zeon. Along that trajectory, Char's life started in one of the most privileged families, then thrown by external forces to the worst bottom, and later climbed ... 
Dec 20, 2017
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(Anime)
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(Anime)
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Sentou Yousei Yukikaze
(Anime)
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Pros: very epic and detailed battle scenes.
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