Kidou Senshi Gundam Thunderbolt: Bandit Flower

What's here in this film is fantastic, but I have a big problem with what's not here. The action scenes are some of the best in any Gundam series or film I've seen, there's so much grit that makes everything much more intense. Like the first film, Bandit Flower is an unfiltered portrayal of the horrors of war in the Universal Century, it's extremely violent and dark which makes everything feel so believable. I also really liked the music which did a great job complementing the chaos of the battles and the emotion in other scenes. My main issue with this film is how it ... doesn't finish its story arc and hasn't got a sequel to do so either, this sucks because there isn't anything resembling a resolution here. You would have to read the manga to see what happens next which is a shame. Even with its unfinished story arc, watching some of the best battles in Gundam history is more than a fair tradeoff, this is well worth a watch.

(LAZAROTH REVIEW - MEDIUM LENGTH - SPOILER FREE)

"Mobile Suit Gundam: Thunderbolt" movie/series 2, "Bandit Flower", is a visually stunning, but narratively disappointing, OVA sequel to the first OVA. This review will be shorter since most of my relevant critique is found in my first OVA review, as it carries over to here.


Animation/Art/Music.

Animation remains almost as stellar as the first OVA, such a beauty. There's some Mild CGI, but it's most often used sparingly to enhance a scene, rather than outright replace entire animation like most modern Mecha. Speaking of Mecha, the new mobile suits from both sides look incredible. There's some really great and ... creative cinematography. The varied settings due to taking place on earth rather than space is fresh, but loses some of the lustre of the first OVA.

Music is experimental, which I give credit for, even if it sounds like a bunch of drunk monks moaning into the microphone at times. The jazz is jazzy, so if you're a fan, you'll like it.


Story/Characters/Action:

The story suffers from being too short.

If it was longer, as in an entire anime season, it would feel much better as, really, not much happened in this OVA. Like, at all... I'm left with a feeling of "So that's it?", especially since it's been ALMOST A DECADE since this movie released. But I'll touch on that later, first, I need to praise the novelty of its narrative setting first.

Focusing on the direct aftermath of the One year war, it's very intriguing to see the Federation and the universe as a whole dealing with Zeon remnants who won't abide by the ceasefire after the Zeon empire's full official surrender. This is the earliest content (I think?) right after the war ended, but it hasn't really ended yet until the rebel resistance is squashed forever. I love that we get something like this, as it is something that media rarely portrays. Usually in war stories that have the war end on screen, by the very next scene, the world has returned to normalcy. But in this anime, things are more realistic. There will obviously be those who never give up, too prideful or vengeful to admit defeat.


There are some decently interesting ideas, but the story feels so... frivolous that I really wish they had just turned this into a 24 episode season or something. There was enough source material for that at the time, surely?


Overall:

This OVA was still quite entertaining due to the action, even if I didn't enjoy the story. I don't think I can even recommend that people watch this movie after they have seen the first movie. The first movie can be enjoyed in a purely visual way, the 2nd movie is more plot focused, even though the plot is extremely underbaked, partly due to this movie/series feeling like an "in-between" movie/series, but even then, it could've been better executed.

As much as I think it's a cardinal sin to say this, I think you're best off watching only the fight scenes on YouTube or something :/



Bonus:

I'm VERY disappointed that the Thunderbolt storyline wasn't a finished series. I hadn't realised that they were adapting an ongoing manga until it was too late. I HATE stopping in the middle of a story, especially when I have to wait YEARS AND YEARS for a continuation, as I have a horrible memory, which is part of the reason why I write such detailed reviews for almost everything I read/watch, to remember my feelings on something. I prefer to BINGE COMPLETED things, though I do make some exceptions, like with weekly/monthly manga that I keep up with. But if it's Video, I prefer binging, so I don't watch anime weekly. I wait until it's over to see all of it at once. Since there hasn't been a Thunderbolt anime in almost an entire decade, I really hate that I will probably forget the story whenever that other movie comes out, if it ever does!!

Worse than that, they've only adapted 7 volumes out of 24 (with more on the way)! Usually in this situation, I'd read the manga, but I really like the animation quality of this spin-off adaptation. It was a treat for the eyes, but I guess with a story this meh, I can forgive stopping in the middle like this.


Animation: 9.2/10
Action: 9.1/10
Plot: 3.0/10
Characters: 5.6/10
Ending: (It's unfair to judge an ongoing story on an arbitrary ending due to not adapting the entire thing, so no rating here...)

Overall: 6.2/10

(Yes I uploaded this review twice, for both versions of the adaptation.)

I liked the first movie well enough. I can't say I liked this one. It carries over the visuals of the first movie, has some excellent fight scenes and some cool new tech, there are some interesting dynamics to the missions, we get some new characters that warrant some attention, more characterization for those that die so it doesn't feel like just fodder, and... that's about it.

I think the first movie worked well because it felt like a personal fight between two fighters in a distinctly impersonal battlefield. This movie introduces more complications, including a cult that feels half-baked and only gets some explication in ... the end (including a minor cliffhanger) and a revelation about a specific character that functions as motivation for one of our leads but never gets explained, both of which might have barely been enough for me to see this further... if there was any further to go. Yep, we stop here, so everything ends in anti-climax. It's hard to recommend a series that ends this way, even if I feel the ride was worthwhile, so despite my score remaining at mid-level, I can't recommend this one. If you see the visuals and think the ride is worthwhile, there are other Gundam entries of similar quality that won't disappoint narratively.