Camille in comparison to Amuro in the first series is more idealistic and wants to fight because he hates the Titans and somewhat out of spite of his home life, while with Amuro, he just felt forced into the situation. And I think this series was what also helped make Char more appealing to the hardcore Gundam fan base because of the use of his character and I think his role really reflects what people think of him in real life as well. The Titans, the main antagonists are despicable and truly people you can hate. In a lot of animes, there are time you can sympathize and relate to their main villains, while in this anime, you really can’t for the most part though there are some notable exemptions like Four Murasame.
Of course being a 1986 release, the quality of the animation won’t really be that appealing in a modern sense. Rather than pointing out the obvious, there are really little to no flaws with the design and execution of the battles. Granted the color schemes of some of the robots are very flash in a 1980s sense, but I felt with the recent release of the trilogy, it shows that the quality of the design is still timeless like how recent game releases based on the first Gundam still demonstrates this quality in relation to that series. The costumes aren’t as spandex looking like in the first one and are more loose and realistic to military code, and the frames of the majority of the new mobile suits presented are sleek, retro, articulate, and tight.
The designs of the mobile suits also perfectly reflect the nature of the battles being fast paced and agile which is very true with Char’s Hyaku-Shiki, a mobile suit that really compliments his piloting skills.
My only exposure to the dub to this day despite owning the DVDs is playing the English version of Gundam vs Zeta Gundam for the PlayStation 2. The dub was intolerable and none of the actors from the first season reprise their roles who I thought were good. That’s all I have to say the dub. The Japanese track as most anime elitists and fans would naturally of course say is much superior. Sorry to sound like that, but I just think that’s how it is. Characters from the first Gundam series who come back reprise their roles such as Ikeda Shuuichi as Char, Hirotaka Suzuoka as Captain Bright, and Furuya Tooru as Amuro. But for the new characters, there are some excellent additions. Narutards to casual fans and new fans of Naruto will probably enjoy the charismatic and captivating performances of Inoue Kazuhiko the voice of Kakashi as Jerrid and Ohtsuka Houchu the voice of Jiraiya as Yazan. Inoue still retains a youthful voice, but in comparison to his role of Kakashi he is more emotional and naïve. Ohtsuka’s voice is still recognizable but as Yazan he is very sadistic.
And last, I’ll address the voice of Camille, Tobita Nobuo, also the voice of Tomo from Fushigi Yuugi, Domon from Flame of Recca, and Uribatake from Nadesico, is very multi-talented in his own right. Even though he is more adult in those roles, in this one, he is convincing as a confused and enraged teenager in relation to his situations. Moving on, the music is very energetic and captivating in a 1980s sense. It captures a lot of its atmosphere of romance, war, and hope. I especially feel this with the 2nd opening theme, Mizu no hoshi he ai wo komete. The ending theme hoshi no zora believe is very campy cutsey but I think it’s used to wind the audience down after seeing something crazy in the series. I don’t know, but I like it. The movie trilogy relies of Gackt for their soundtrack. The songs are good, but I’m not a huge fan of Gackt personally. The background music is very intense and appropriate to the gritty atmosphere of the series, which you’ll have to hear to believe, or play the Gundam vs Zeta Gundam game itself which is also appropriately used.
As you can dispute on a certain number of Gundam series, fans will not only argue that this is the best Gundam series, but one of the best animes ever which is something I can personally agree with. I strongly suggest you watch the TV series over the movie trilogy which I personally found disappointing which is another discussion for another time. But anyway, I think the story is very captivating and comedy and romance is used when appropriate. You can really truly feel the characters. The designs and battle sequences are high octane and the music is just incredible.
