Kidou Senshi Gundam III: Meguriai Sora-hen

Mobile Suit Gundam: the Movie Trilogy is the definitive incarnation of the massively influential Mobile Suit Gundam TV series. It may not be perfect, but it definitely deserves its lofty status in the history of anime as a proven classic. As one cannot have one part of the trilogy without the others, this review will cover all three of the compilation movies.

The first question on any new viewer's mind regarding the story of Mobile Suit Gundam: the Movie Trilogy (MSG) would be: "Do the films condense too much story from the TV series to fit into its limited run time?" The answer to that is ... "no". MSG takes the liberty to cut some of the flab from the original series and manages very well in terms of preserving the integrity of the story. The pacing may strike as a little faster than usual, but there are no glaring problems pertaining to the question above.

The story of MSG follows the crew of White Base, a secret earth federation battleship housing the RX-78-2 Gundam. The protagonist, Amuro Ray, makes the difficult transition from an ordinary civilian to the ace pilot of the federation military, along with a number of other civilians who were also pulled into the conflict against the Principality of Zeon when their space colony was destroyed by a Zeon attack, the purpose of which was to destroy the White Base, along with the experimental mobile suits being developed in secrecy. The long journey aboard the White Base exposes Amuro to many ugly facets of war far beyond the destruction of his home and the loss of life. In the midst of it all, Amuro is burdened with the responsibility of risking life and limb to protect his friends and comrades aboard the White Base, a target of constant Zeon attack, with the gundam. All this weaves an engrossing tale of struggle and growth, rife with challenges on and off the battlefield, making MSG a very interesting war story. There is an epic feel to the films, because though the adventure of the White Base stretches over many destinations, it is but a small part of the vast web of war and politics that makes up the interstellar conflict, and the characters' struggle for survival in the monstrous web makes them seem all the more vulnerable and the story that much more gripping.

The characters of MSG are some of the most iconic in the history of anime. Amuro, as mentioned above, is a very well-developed character. His teenage angst may strike as a little too much in the beginning, but his clear maturation throughout the story makes him an endearing character. The antagonists of MSG also also equally memorable, as they are some of the best antagonists one will come across in anime: the cunning and skillful Char Aznable and Ramba Ral, the bold and courageous Dozle Zabi, and even the cold and calculated Ghiren Zabi -- all of them have plenty of admirable traits that really makes the viewer respect the nazi-inspired Zeon. Even when these antagonists bite the dust, the viewer would still feel for them.

Hailing from the early 80's, MSG's visuals and sounds are quite aged. Though the animation has definitely improved from the sometimes laughable quality of the original TV series, it will not win over any new anime fans by itself. The frame rate is low, the proportion are sometimes warped, and the details are always shallow. Yet despite all this, MSG still manages to produce a number of memorable battle scenes, which is something to applaud for. The mecha designs, especially that of the gundam and zaku II, influenced mecha designs for decades to come. Even to this day, these old-school robots are sights to behold. The sound effects of MSG are almost as iconic as the mobile suits themselves. Fans will recognize the buzzing sound of the beam saber as well as blast of the beam rifle from miles away. Granted, the quality of these sound effects aren't anything amazing objectively, but they serve their functions well, and their nostalgia value is beyond measure. There are also a couple of very catchy battles tunes to be heard, as well as great sound acting, though Amuro's voice may be a little over-the-top at times.

In the end, Mobile Suit Gundam: the Movie Trilogy should be a must-watch for anyone interested in mecha anime or the history of anime in general. Its influence, popularity, and historic value is simply through the roof. There is a reason why even almost three decades later, model kits of the old RX-78-2 are still selling like hotcakes and the name "Char Aznable" remains recognized almost everywhere in japan. MSG is the very definition of a classic, and this fact cannot be denied. What lies in question is the modern viewer's enjoyment of the aged classic. But with a stellar story and memorable characters, MSG still has the quality to win over its viewers, a quality that will most likely remain as long as there exists people who watch anime.

Now I watched all of the first Gundam as episodes and not as movies, so I decided to make this review on the final movie to make it easier. Definition of a Mid anime. To put it simply, you're sitting to watch a 43 episode history docu of “Space WWII.” It has its moments of being interesting and also has a good way of how war can affect a person. Amuro (MC) is 15 when the show starts, just a kid who likes to tinker. Then he turns into a battle-hardened warrior with a 400/0/0 KDA. The side characters thankfully don’t suffer from what I ... like to call the “MHA problem.” Although there are a ton of side characters, most don’t really matter since they don't affect the plot too much, so forgetting them isn't the biggest crime. However, the major problem this anime has is that you really can start anywhere (Remember I didn't watch it as movies.) You could basically skip to any episode, although not getting all the context, could simply keep going since the show just either skips it or tells it again. Overall, MID.

I've looked at the first two films based off of the original Gundam series. And now we're on the finale, Encounters in Space. So far, they haven't been good. They've been pretty trite and overly predictable. I'd like to see them end on a high note, but I don't expect it given what we've seen thus far.

Story:

So, when we left off our heroes were leaving Earth in White Base with the Zeon forces in hot pursuit and attacking the Jaburo headquarters behind them. Sayla also had a quick encounter with her missing brother who happens to be Char of the Zeon forces. Holidays ... will definitely be awkward for their family.

In this film, we open with White Base having returned to space and engaging in battles with Zeon forces there. The conflict is coming to a head and both sides are in an increasingly desperate state. The Zeon have a new super weapon and White Base is the lynch pin in the Federation attack against it.

Let's start with the biggest issues with the film. The most obvious being that, like the previous films, its way too predictable. Any major character who's going to die has an obvious death flag. The narrative itself has no unexpected twists. In addition to that, the bad romance writing gets particularly egregious here. There's a weird love pentagon thing going with Mirai, Bright and two other dudes who weren't in the prior films and only have minor roles in this one. So, it's kind of pointless and doesn't contribute anything except some contrived romance melodrama. Because that's what we need to add intrigue to this story about intergalactic war. Speaking of pointless nonsense, Amuro's father shows up in this for no good reason. Amuro just kind of speaks to him briefly, realises he's suffering from some kind of brain damage and then acts like the whole thing never happened.

You may recall that when I reviewed the first film I mentioned that it tried to make both sides sympathetic but failed because the Zeon are basically portrayed as space Nazis. Well, this film exacerbates that perception by outright comparing Gihren, leader of Zeon's forces, to Adolf Hitler. So, the comparison is deliberate and they're still trying to show the Zeon as somewhat sympathetic... Suddenly, it makes a lot of sense that the original creator of Gundam, Tomino Yoshiyuki, also directed, created and scripted both Brain Powerd and Garzey no Tsubasa.

The most interesting element is still Char's whole arc although it's kind of a letdown with how it ultimately concludes.

Characters:

The big problem with the characters as a whole is still that they're duller than a plastic spoon. Amuro is also really getting on my nerves at this point. There's a part of the film where he encounters someone on the opposing side who says it's weird that he's fighting without any actual reason. He doesn't deny the fact that he has no reason for fighting but still thinks it's petty that she's fighting out of a sense of gratitude and loyalty towards someone else. And while watching that exchange all I could think was "at least she has some motivation." Seriously, this guy just admitted to not having any real reason to fight and he thinks she's the one being petty in that situation? Fuck off.

Art:

So, we have art and mecha designs that haven't really aged very well. If I'm being honest, the only mech designs in this I kind of like are Ball and Big Zam and it's not because they're good designs. It's because they're stupid in a way that kind of makes me laugh. Ball is literally a tiny ball-shaped mech. Big Zam is a massive saucer with no manoeuvrability attached to a pair of huge legs for no apparent reason. Seriously, what purpose do the legs serve? All the weapons seem to be in the saucer section. Is it supposed to be so that it can kick or step on other mechs and call them scum?

Sound:

The acting is fine, even with Amuro's whininess. Inoue You and Ikeda Shuuichi have the strongest performances. The music is and has been the most consistently quality element in these films.

Ho-yay:

There's none. No one is Trowaing anyone else's Quatre.

Areas of Improvement:

1. You can't make your antagonists sympathetic while also making a clear comparison to them and Nazis.

2. Amuro needs stronger motivation. He comes across as someone who's letting themselves get dragged along into a conflict that they have no strong feelings about.

3. If you suck at writing romance, just don't have romance. Trust me, the fans will ship characters they think mesh well regardless and you certainly don't need romantic drama to add intrigue to a story about an intergalactic war involving mecha. You just need better writing for the intergalactic war involving mecha.

Final Thoughts:

This is not a strong ending. Not only are all the problems with these films still present, but they're actually accentuated with pointless scenes and a bunch of poorly executed romance. And because of that, I'm not giving this part of the trilogy an average rating. I'm giving it a 3/10.