Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam: A New Translation III - Love Is the Pulse of the Stars

Love is the Pulse of the stars is the last of 3 digitally remastered movies that encompasses the Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam storyline (A New Translation). The final movie covers the last third of the MS Zeta Gundam series.

The digital remastering was not done totally. There would be new scenes added in with wonderful new animation. Just as you're happy and marvelling at the animation they cut to the scenes lifted 100% from the series, which while they might have been remastered look very dated. The switch between the "new" and "old" scenes is very jarring and affected my enjoyment of these movies.

That being said, some new scenes added in were very good and helped with character development. They also cut out a lot of fluff which made the movie much more enjoyable than the series, which tended to move along at a snail's pace.

Overall the final movie is leaps and bounds more enjoyable than the series as the pacing, animation (spotty) and character development are much better. The final scene and closing songs are also very well done and look modern. Of the three movies I enjoyed this the most as it seemed like more effort was put into the digital remastering for this one, compared to the other 2.

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Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam: A New Translation III - Love Is the Pulse of the Stars is the 3rd and final part in the trilogy movie adaptation of the Zeta Series and in my opinion is the best out of the three.

Now like I said in my two previous reviews source material and keeping it authentic to the original version of the anime that I remember was key and it urked me back when I watched the first two parts of this movie trilogy because I felt certain important moments where left missing in both parts 1 and 2. When it came to this part though I felt everything that was important was present. There were certain scene I did not remember it was indeed been a while so I'm not sure it they were added or I just don't remember them. Example the conclusion fight between Yazan and Kamille I don't remember it playing out this way but if it didn't play out this way I do feel this version is actually better than how ever it played out in the anime adaptation. There were also moves that the Zeta Gundam was using that I also do not remember it using like "Beam Confuse" as it is called in this movie, I felt little additions like that made the experience fresh and new to me. Also the pacing I felt was great.

Now as for the one thing that obviously still plagues these movies is the combination of new and old scenes and if you've stuck around to watch all three of them like i said in my review in the second one you should have gotten used to it by now. I felt it was 50-50 when it came to new and old scenes. Also the new scenes was outstanding for the time it came out. The triple treat fight between Scirocco, Haman and Char that scene was by far the best scene visually that impressed me, so I'll commend them for it.

Overall like said before and once again I only recommend this to someone who is familiar to the Zeta Series new comers I recommend the anime as I still feel as an overall package is still the definitive version but this one out of the three is indeed the best of them.

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(This only applies if you have watched the original series before watching the "New Translation" films)

If one has seen the original than this is a definite welcome addition to it, it adds better animation and sound whilst also making the ending far better. The ending of the original is, well, let's say abrupt to put it charitably. This gives it a much better sense of closure, and for that (despite a few important cut scenes), it is the best of the three "New Translation" films.

The obvious failings are the clashing animation styles due to the odd choice to only overhaul the animation for half the film and leave the rest as it was previously.

The story is intense, fast paced, but lacks the emotional impact of the TV series.
Haman is morore decisive and threatening, until the conclusion.
The new ending is more unambiguous, which depending on your tastes will impact your enjoyment positively or negatively.

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25 years is definitely a landmark to be celebrated. Few franchises can claim to have truly gone on for that long, and Gundam most certainly can. Of course the question then becomes how to celebrate it? A new series? A new movie? Well, the answer… is sorta the second one. Here, we’ll look at something that was done for the anniversary of the franchise, a trilogy of Compilation movies for Zeta Gundam. Like with my review of the MSG Compilation movies, all three movies are being covered here and I’ll ditch my usual reviewing style. So, let’s get into this mess.

Much like with the MSG Compilation movies, all audio has been rerecorded. Like with the MSG movies, I do prefer the newer audio, especially for the returning actors, who get to use the many years they’ve had of experience in the field to their advantage. Rather infamously, though, a good lot of the cast has been replaced. This caught the ire of many fans, and I can see why… but honestly I don’t mind it as much as other people do. Most of the replacements are good, and overall, while I don’t think they exactly surpass their original actors, rarely do I think they are worse. To wit, some of the new actors include Natsuki Rio, Namikawa Daisuke (Who had the bad luck of playing Katz of all people) Arai Satomi, Okawa Toru, Asakawa Yu and Ishii Koji. Also, his reprisal of Bright in the last movie would end up being Suzuoki Hirotaka’s last role, a sad, but fitting send off to the man.

Similarly to the MSG movies, all the music has been changed too, bar in a few scenes in which the music is kept the same. I actually quite like some of the new tracks, and I’m glad stuff like videogames keep using them.

Let’s get into what stops these movies from being great though: The animation. These are Compilation Movies, but Tomino originally didn’t want that. He wanted a full remake of Zeta Gundam in movie format, but Sunrise (In their infinite douchebaggery) didn’t allow that. Thus, half the movies are absolutely gorgeous movie quality animation… and the other half is an Anime that came out of the 80’! And yeah, the shift between the two is damn jarring, not helped by the less than stellar editing. It becomes less jarring as the films go on, but it isn’t perfect.

Finally comes the question of how well does Zeta Gundam translates from a TV format to a movie format. And I’d say that, for the most part, it does so quite well. Some things are simplified, sure, but it helps keep the movies going at a reasonable pace (Bar movie 2, but more on that later). Movie 1 in particular simplifies a lot of the early plot to make it much more bearable. They also redo some of the dialogue, nothing major, but it is notable (Char’s infamous line of never having betrayed anyone is changed slightly to him moreso saying that he was never in Haman’s side to begin with). Also, the arc in which Four dies for a second time (Basically the show had a fake out once and then she reappeared much later for two episodes to kill her off for real) is removed and thus she only dies once. Thank you!

Though these movies aren’t perfect on the story department either. Movie 2 in particular just feels like two completely separate stories clumsily put together, and it progresses at and odd pace when compared to the other two movies. Also, while a lot of bad moments were removed, a lot of the good ones were as well. In particular I missed the whole stuff with Rosamia. Mind you, part of the reason so much is cut out is due to time: The original MSG movies were two hours long each, and these ones are only about an hour and a half long. Also, many of the issues in Zeta’s early parts are still here. They aren’t as bad, but man are they still annoying.

Finally, let’s talk about the big thing: The Ending. Rather infamously, the last movie changes the ending of the TV series to a more bittersweet one rather than the downer that the TV series was. Personally… I prefer this Ending. Yes, I know, the original ending was more depressing, and I do like that, but as I stated in my review, it was a very blatant sequel beg. Here at least the Ending feels like an Ending!

So overall, the Zeta movies aren’t perfect, but I do like them. Are they as good as the series? Eh, probably not. But I think these movies are great if you wanna rewatch Zeta Gundam but don’t have enough time to do so. I’d say that you should at least give them a shot.

Final Score for Movie 1: 7/10

Final Score for Movie 2: 6/10

Final Score for Movie 3: 8/10

Final Score for the Movies Overall: 7/10

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