Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam's tale is set seven years in the future after its prequel, and quite a bit has happened since then. In the One Year War we watched a brutal war between the Earth Federation Forces and the Principality of Zeon. Now, we watch as a tyrannical sect of the Earth Federation, known as the Titans, and the Anti-Earth Union Group, a faction of rebels, duke it out. In the beginning of the series, we're sort of just quickly tossed into the middle of things, but as the story progresses things make more sense and it turns out fine.
Zeta's story is also a bit more mature, and becomes more developed than Mobile Suit Gundam's. There really is not a centralized antagonist, like Char in MSG. You could consider this a slight downfall, or perhaps even an improvement, because it's questionable whether or not Zeta would have felt a bit too dependent on the MSG story. So maybe you will feel like you're missing something, or you might be glad that it isn't just a rehash. But, as I was saying, the plot gets developed nicely as more obstacles, alliances, secrets, and politics are involved. Speaking of which, Zeta does an exceptional job at building up political battles, that aren't too simple, but that are still easily followable. Overall, Zeta tells a brilliant story that beats MSG's.
Now, here we go with the art and sound. My ratings on these are actually based on today's standards. If it was still the '80's, I'm positive the animation would be worthy of a perfect 10. But to still be given a 7 two decades later is remarkable. One aspect of the animation that I really liked was the nice use of camera splitting, for lack of a better name. It's something that isn't very popular in today's animation techniques I'd say. If you don't know what I'm talking about, it's when we have one image on the screen, and then part of it is split to display another image, or something pretty popular is when the screen is just cut in two with different images on top and bottom. Zeta definitely utilizes the best animation techniques available for its time.
Now, the sound is actually outstanding and very impressive. Most of the background tunes are made of magnificent orchestral pieces that capture perfect moods. The sound effects are of course a huge improvement from MSG, and they actually don't sound old at all or anything. The opening and ending themes are similar to the background music; really nicely made instrumental compositions. The voice acting is pretty much standard voice acting.
Now where to start with our Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam characters. This time the story follows a young man by the name of Kamille Bidan. He becomes a member of the AEUG aboard the Argama ship and is a valuable Gundam pilot. Like Amuro Ray, he is a Newtype. In the beginning he is somewhat of a whiny and foolish kid, but, no doubt about it, this boy suffers much more than Amuro did as an assortment of tragedies occur throughout the series. I'd say his character as the lead protagonist gets better developed than Amuro's as well. Speaking of Amuro, just about every character from the White Base crew have appearances. Some are more important than others, but it is nice seeing how the crew has all matured. Bright Noa and Char Aznable, better known as Quattro Bajeena in Zeta, are main characters as well, and Char himself gets much more developed as well. The characters of course deal with deaths, relationships, switching alliances, intense battles, and the like.
Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam absolutely does not disappoint in enjoyment. Every episode is action-packed with awesome mecha and space warfare. It is a superb and fun watch all the way through, and it totally lives up to the greatness of its prequel. It is a joy to follow and gets seriously epic at the right moments.
Overall, it is remarkable how well Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam was pulled off after the spectacular Mobile Suit Gundam. Pulling off another marvelous show that not only lives up to, but surpasses the first is hard to do, but here it is incredibly done.
