ninjasan8's Anime List | ninjasan8's Manga List

ninjasan8's Profile

Story: Without a doubt, V Gundam is the saddest Gundam story to date. And before anything else is said, I think it's worth a mention to say that a lot of people die, and most of the time for no good reason at all. That aside, I have to say I really loved the storyline. However, some of the story arcs in the middle could have been left out, and the story would still be intact; a lot of the time during said arcs I found myself wondering why the characters were doing what they were doing. There's not a lot of narrative glue to stick the parts together, and to keep one interested during some of the low parts. But, overall it's a nice story, with an emphasis on death, and at least during the last arc, a huge emphasis on the beauty of life.

Art: Very good. V Gundam uses a very simple art style to convey the characters and the Mobile Suits; which is both good and bad. Most of the Suits are very similar to each other, and are very rarely any unique. Characters however, look very nice, and some are just too cool for words, while others are just meh. Battles are everything you would expect from a mecha show, and although somewhat exaggerated at times (or almost all of the time), they're mostly very good. The simple style works here to make the art very nice looking even today.

Sound: Not much to say here. There's an excellent cast of actors working on the voices, and the mecha sounds are great, but nothing really stands out in this category.

Characters: We've got a cast of mostly children and women, with the main villain and one of the main characters being male. The rest of the male cast are either lesser characters or very old men. I can't quite remember why the cast is like it is, but it brings a fresh look on what might be a stale storyline. It also has the effect of removing almost all romantic involvement between the main characters. There's a peace-loving-battle-scarred boy, a princess girl, and a group of what seem to be orphaned children. Interaction between them is what really pushes the story along. Without a doubt, Oliver and Captain Gomez were my favorite characters, both of which received little screen time, but both of whom were very central to the story.

Overall: No where near as good as First Gundam, V Gundam is nonetheless a very nice looking, anime featuring a somewhat lacking storyline that'll get your emotions running if you're not prepared for it. Definitely recommended if you've seen the other UC animes, however, the story is completely separate from the main meta-plot. read more

Story: The main story is split up into two main arcs (from 1-27, and 28-36). While the second arc might not seem very necessary to the story itself, it closes up the loose ends left behind from certain character relationships. The story is very fluid, pretty deep, and all around well-planned. It's unique, and I never found myself wondering, "Now why are they doing this again?" like in other animes. The anime has a starting point and an ending point, with very little fluff in the middle. Every episode has its purpose, and it's basically very well thought out.

Art: Now, it's an old(ish) anime, so obviously the art won't be as good as some of the newer shows. However, all that aside, there is very few sequences that are reused (one being a Zentraedi ship being destroyed), and honestly, it's aged very well. The character designs are very nice, and the environments look very beautiful. But we all know that the main point here is the Mecha design. Both the VTs (good guys' mechas) and the enemy mechas look great. They're every guy's dream, and are more realistic, closer to what Earth's mechas might look like in the distant future; unlike other animes in the genre.

Sound: Once, again, we're listening to an older anime, but this show pulls no hits in this department. Very crisp humming accompany the fighters, the classic rumble of the vulcan gun, and an excellent voice-over give this anime a great sound score. But, if you know anything about Macross, you'll know that the three main points are the Mecha, the love triangles and the singing. This time around, we have Lynn Minmey to give us the occasional concert. Minmay is one of my favorite Macross singers, and every once in a while I find myself humming "My Boyfriend is a Pilot" (while substituting Boy for Girl...) I really like the songs, and they're a pivotal part in the show.

Character: I love the characters, and like I said above one of the main points of the storyline is the love triangles. It's a pretty good idea, but sometimes it gets really frustrating, and sometime you'll say, "Just make up your mind already!" the character relationships are necessary to the story, and make up a large part of the emotional element. My favorite characters are Roy, Hikaru, Gloval and Misa, and my only regret was I wanted more of Roy and Gloval and less of Max (but he's also necessary to the metplot).

Overall: I really loved this series, and it ranks up there with First Gundam. All the above elements make one of my favorites of all time. read more