Mobile Suit Gundam AGE

Since completing the series, I feel I should update this review.

Well, this will be my first ever review for a series.. reasons for me actually taking the time to write one, is because I believe this is a very underrated series as it's part of the Gundam franchise.. I'll break it down.

Story: 10

The story progress was brilliance at it's best. The show progresses throughout 100 years, and moves through three generations.. I felt this was a very interesting concept that could be explored in other Gundam series in the future. There was a lot of accusations towards this series about being a children's version of a Gundam series.. This is inaccurate, as throughout the entire series it is very serious in the way it approaches the dialogue and story..

Art: 10

Why? because it was different then what I normally see and now in the end, it's unique.. People complain that the art is childish. the Gundam wasn't designed well,etc.. if you pay attention it develops into a very well designed Gundam; following the series as both the story and the characters evolve.

Sound: 9

The sound design is amazing, but out of the OP or ED I have grown increasingly fond of 'My World' by SPYAIR.. the song has such a great meaning behind it, which is a perfect fit for the arc, and after this series I have become a great fan of their music and I recommend anyone who enjoys the ED to check out the rest of their music line up.

Enjoyment: 10

I greatly enjoy this series, because I've grown to love each of the characters.. As you move through each arc you clamor to find out what happens to each of the side characters, the previous main characters, etc.. overall the show just engulfs you until the very end.. It proves that if you stick with it, it can stand with even the best of the franchise.

Overall: 10

This series has been a complete joy to watch and I wish it would of went farther into the storyline, definitely worth the watch.. if your hanging on the fence to watch or not watch, this is no SD Gundam.. and for that I am thankful.. To me this ranks with Gundam Wing and Gundam 00 , which are among my favorite series.. Go watch this already.. quoted from a comment on GA.com episode 20.. "People hated AGE, but it just keeps getting better and better.." read more

I was quite reluctant to write a review on this, but after seeing this anime getting so much hate which it truly doesn't deserve, at least not until someone has seen at least first few episodes of an anime which is expected to have a 4Q run (50-ish episodes), I decided to write a review on much hated Gundam AGE to share my takes on it.

What the synopsis tells is, the story begins with the death of Flit Asuno's mother. Flit's mother, and probably his entire family became a victim of an attack by Unidentified Enemy, or UE as they are referred to in short. Flit, a genius, carrying the bloodline of Asuno family, often regarded as the geniuses who have been the creators of previous models of Gundam, creates the Gundam AGE and develops its AGE System to protect everyone from further attacks from UE.

Lame the whole story synopsis sounds I know, and I was myself reluctant to watch this anime after seeing Gundam 00 franchise ending up being a complete trainwreck with 'aliens' in the movie 'A wakening of the Trailblazer' courtesy of Director Mizushima. ALIENS! is a NO NO for Gundam. Dare I say, we have Macross for that. So I was expecting pretty much similar failure of 'Aliens in Gundam' which never would work out. But after seeing the first three episodes, I can humbly say, it would have been a mistake to not have followed this series. Because so far, it has had a very steady but nicely paced development of a story that is expected to improve much more from here on out!

So here are my few takes.

Flit is our 14 year old protagonist, although looks more like a 10 year old. Yeah, he is a couple of years younger than Setsuna F. Seiei and Kira Yamato, which is a BIG MINUS(!) for most of us. I seriously don't know why though.

FIGHTING against ALIENS? Did they ever once show that the opponents are aliens? If you have asked me, they look more like mobile suits in Isekai no Seikishi Monogatari. And there is no way to tell they are 'alines'. At least they gave hints that those could be piloted by men's worst enemy. If you are smart enough, you might as well assume the rest. It's alright for Flit though, as long as he keeps thinking he is fighting aliens. No level headed 14 year old would keep his cool aiming his DODS Beam Rifle and destroying mobile suits being piloted by a species you would rather not aim at.

As many have stated already in their hatred, this is a matter of fact, a Wonderful KID'S ANIME(!), I will assume it is to be one, since it just showed nothing more than a little girl holding a teddy on one hand and her mother on the other and crying her eyes out seeing the place she was born being destroyed right before her, a helpless young boy unable to save his mother as she dies right in front of him, an entire space colony being destroyed with countless lives lost and lots of blood.

The characters are matured, despite some of them just being kids. Fourteen year old Flit is actually more matured than Setsuna and Kira ever became in their twenties. Emily is your 'simple' girl as many gundams had in their run, but unlike most of those, she seems to be the main heroine of the anime. Although Yurin, a mysterious girl, have grabbed my attention the most so far. The rest of the side characters so far have an air around them, which makes them not just another side character, two of them who stood out are Aynor Grudech and Aloi Miles. However, the character designs follow the old Gundam, and Gundam Zeta franchise, which might not be taken lightly by some fans, who actually loved the more matured and detailed character designs in newer gundams like Gundam SEED and Gundam 00. Don't get me wrong, since I am one of them too.

The background details and the background music in Gundam AGE are nothing short of brilliant. I am really impressed with the level of animation quality they have put in an anime that is expected to run a whole year! The OP by Galileo Galilei is good, but the ED by Kuribayashi Minami is one of the best of all the OPEDs of anime airing at this moment of time.

The only thing probably I am really trying to overlook is the Gundam model itself, which is not as detailed as the gundams we have seen over the last decade or so. I cannot agree more with those who think the Gundam AGE design is mediocre and lacks originality, because I thought the same way too. But what gives? I already think the anime has huge potential and could be one of the better shows this season, or might even become one of the best shows in the whole calender year. You just never know. Into episode three, and it has shown much more promise than Gundam 00 managed in its entire first half of season one. There you go. I have just said it. I hope you didn't judge Kemono no Souja Erin by its cover, and I will request you not to do so for Gundam AGE too! We are definitely going to see a few time-skips! read more

I'm kind of a minimal Gundam fan. I was raised by badly-dubbed Malay episodes of G Gundam and Gundam Wing, and i've seen the first two episodes of Gundam SEED and i kind of enjoyed it.

When i heard about people raging over Gundam AGE, i said to myself "Hm, stupid weeaboos not being raised by Doraemon, Astro Boy and Ninja Boy". From the character design i can basically tell that it's not only for kids, but it's also for parents or those raised by traditional kids anime from the 80's and early 90's. And i understand that. This is not for the 00/SEED fan. And it pretty much says that in the artwork.

But seeing the first two episodes, i said to myself "Hey, this is not bad. Not a great start like 00 but still decent". It's okay.

The story is pretty much a rip-off of Nadesico where some kid named Flit Asuno (played by Toyonaga Toshiyuki from DRRR!!) lost his mom but got this AGE system which enables him to pilot Gundams. He has a cute female childhood friend named Emily and works with an Agasa lookalike scientist in the development of a new Gundam.

In this story the space colonies are under attack by unknown Alien-looking mechs called GAFRANs. The fact that they look different that the usual Gundam enemies makes me want to believe that the story is pretty much a rip-off of Nadesico. Dead parents, supernatural technology, space colonies and alien enemy mechs without an early backstory makes this story sound like Nadesico, and to me that's kind of a low point.

The characters are okay. Flit is a type of guy who wants to pilot a Gundam, since they look cool in oil paintings. Alot of them look very old-school, especially one military guy named Aynor who looks like he just came from a 1980's mecha anime-themed Japanese barbershop. And Haro's back. Hooray.

I'm really loving the art. It looks well-made and very polished. So far they are using the budget well and it's use of simplicity to create a very child-like character design is one thing i applaud Sunrise for. I love it when anime companies that do really big projects does an anime that is based on childlike art (like IG's Usagi Drop and Gainax's P&S), and Gundam AGE is one of them.

The sound is nothing to be judged. I'll wait for the next few episodes before making a judgement out of it. So far, Toyonaga makes an okay Flit and i love the AnoHana OP from galileo Galilei, and having them do the OP for AGE is pretty cool.

So far, it's an okay show. It has a chance to get better after the next few episodes provided Sunrise won't fuck this up in SEED Destiny levels. I'll keep my eyes on this. read more

Latest TV Series of the Gundam Franchise (2011-12)
Advance Generation
Review from my POV (w/personal biases after watching whole run)
Lite Spoiler Warning

Pros:
+ The concept of a "50 episode run, going thru 3 generations of a central conflict with protagonists that relate to each other" sounds pretty FN dope and it works....... some of the time. (like a compact 0079, Zeta, ZZ run)
+ The Viewer should should like they were given positive dividends when continuing from Gen 1 thru Gen 2
EX: Gen 1 Flit was aiight, BUT Gen 2 Flit was pretty Badass. He develops a cold hatred towards the enemy after what we've seen him go thru in Gen 1. and that's cool
+ The 2nd Generation as a whole was really enjoyable to watch
+ AGE-1 Spallow

Cons:
- Antagonist has no face in the 1st Gen
- Little to no creativity for mobile suit design
- Took awhile for me to get into the pokemon-esque character design.

3rd GEN Cons (yes, it's so bad, it gets its own section)
- Pretty much after the halfway point of the 3rd Gen is utter bullshit. Lemme explain
- The 3rd Gen hero Kio Asuno switches up his view after experiencing something tragic, making his choices completely illogical and down right dumb. It also changes his combat style, which is also bullshit.
- Character development is pretty much shot.
- The're trying to force emotion by constantly having a death occur constantly
- Char clone. and a bad one
- Flit Asuno in the last moment becomes IMO the worst protagonist in the Gundam franchise.

Final Note/Impression:
A cool concept that's completely defiled by the 3rd act of this TV Series. My feels about Flit Asuno are similar to a playthrough of Mass Effect 3: I work so hard for a satisfying conclusion, only to realize that what i wanted will never be presented in front of me. read more