Kidou Senshi Gundam: Cucuruz Doan no Shima

The reimagining of Cucuruz Doan's Island from an episode of the original MSG to a movie is a solid adaptation, albeit a little conflicted in its tone and goals. Following the Origin continuity of the One-Year War, the movie attempts to give wider importance to the events in this originally self-contained story. However, the magnitude of the consequence is so great that it creates a great deal of tension with the many light-hearted and comedic moments.

Although Gundam has developed a reputation over the decades for being a more dramatic series that strongly emphasises the pain and cost of conflict, the original series was sometimes incredibly ... campy. It was a product of many factors, probably the most significant two being the time it was made and the goals of the series sponsors for Gundam to be a vehicle to sell toys, therefore requiring it to be perceived as kid friendly. While there are plenty of serious and dramatic battles throughout MSG, it is arguably not until the White Base leaves Jaburo and returns to space that the more mature tone becomes dominant in the show. Prior to that, there was always the presence of Katz, Letz and Kikka, as well as the many interlude episodes that centre around comedic scenarios. While that can be seen as a weakness of MSG, Doan's Island faithfully follows this tone. The movie mixes the more light-hearted moments of life on the island/White Base with the more serious combat scenes or discussions of the war. While there is tension in the tone of these two elements, it is not impossible to reconcile and have it serve a narrative purpose. After all, Doan's story is about a soldier who gave up fighting because he could not bear the collateral damage he inflicted on innocent people. The implicit contrast of the war going on to the children's antics has a strong thematic bite throughout the film.

Yet, because the story cannot be satisfied with being self-contained, it overplays its hand with how much tonal contrast the show can take. Choosing to tie the events of Doan's island back to the larger events of the One-Year War is a fun bit of fan service, but it gives the whole show a distinct feeling of mismatch. What could have been a smaller scale, endearing story like the original, a snippet into the consequences of the war on innocents, is now burdened with being a pivotal point in the wider war. The stakes are increased by giving the island greater strategic importance to the conflict, ultimately bringing the Zeon forces back to it and creating the climax of the show. The impression alone is that the creators of this adaptation were not confident in the story's emotional punch without war-altering stakes being involved. But the more concrete issue is that almost none of the main cast is aware of the strategic purpose of the island and the threat it poses. The character tension for Amuro and the White Base crew centres solely around the mobile suit combat and if they can prevail. This leaves the larger strategic threat feeling like it is just there for the audience's benefit since most of the cast is ignorant of it and thus does not interact with that element of the plot at all. It takes the viewer distinctly out of the experience on the realisation that an entire plot element is invisible to a majority of the cast, leaving its resolution feeling arbitrary and unsatisfying.

The movie's leads, Amuro and Doan, have a surprisingly subtle depth to them. While we do get flashbacks for both of them to their earlier experiences in the war, there is never a cathartic conversation about it during the show. While we get some dialogue that implicitly discusses the war experience of Amuro and Doan, most of it is subtly reflected in their behaviour and mannerism around the island. It is interesting, though a bit strange initially, to return to teenaged Amuro. While most his more recent incarnations are just as brooding, they are all distinctly more mature in how they carry themselves. But this should pose no issue for a viewer newer to the Gundam series, and older fans will find that Furuya Toru's performance is still spot on for a younger Amuro despite the decades that have gone by. Although they play only an indirect role in the movie, the scenes with Bright and Mirai are some fantastic character moments, though they are not strictly necessary for the plot. The rest of the White Base crew are as charming as ever, with Kai, Sleggar Law and Sayla standing out.

The action and animation are excellent, as expected of Sunrise, with plenty to keep the viewer engaged. The CGI mobile suits are fantastically modelled and give the fights a sense of weight that older Gundam series sometimes lack. Much of the older animation had action happen at a breakneck pace, with the mobile suits being animated as incredibly nimble, whipping back and forth. The CGI models have the ability to convey the immense weight of the mech while combining it with this nimble action to create incredibly kinetic fights. The scenes with the RX-78 wielding its beam sabres are a highlight, evoking the old-fashioned Kurosawa-style swordfights in the movement of the mobile suits and how the tension is built up as they size up each other. Of course, there are some misses, like the truly idiotic moving turtle design of Admiral Gopp's flagship La Grandpa. But these are extremely minor issues. And in defence of the movie, the design of vehicles from the original MSG, like the Gunperry, do also look distinctly retro and unrealistic by current standards. On the music side, it is similarly fantastic, with plenty of leitmotifs and tracks from the original MSG OST being incorporated into the movie. In particular, the more mellow version of Tobe! Gundam with the acoustic guitar is a standout, evoking both a mellow nostalgia and a tender, at times close to sorrow when it is played. All these aesthetic elements combine with and significantly enhance the characters and the plot.

Overall, Cucuruz Doan's Island is a solid entry in the Gundam franchise. Though it does suffer a bit from a conflict in its tone with how it tacts on the larger potential consequences of its plot, there is still an emotional core of a man bidding farewell to arms. Even though it would have probably been emotionally and thematically stronger as a more intimate story with fewer stakes, akin to the original episode it is based on it, it is still a strong 7 out of 10. Probably even an 8 out of 10 for fans of the original MSG characters in particular. And as a stand-alone film to someone unfamiliar with the franchise, it is still something entertaining and a reasonable taster of what Gundam has to offer.

Considering that this is a feature-length adaptation of a single TV episode, I was pleasantly surprised at the pacing. It doesn't feel stretched too thin. Much of it is reminiscent of the Ranba Ral arc from the original series, in that it gives Amuro some downtime away from White Base. Despite that, the stakes are ultimately appropriately high for a movie by the climax. The story only falters in the resolution of one major conflict, which ends too quickly and easily, and is the main vestigial element betraying that this was originally all over in 25 minutes. Overall it feels like a classic Tomino-style war ... story.

The animation is excellent, especially for the well-directed mobile suit battles. Character designs retain the look of The Origin, being faithful to the original series for the main cast while having some minor characters seem relatively unhinged almost to the point of parody. While this is primarily an Amuro story, its depiction of Bright Noa was particularly interesting. Having only seen the movie trilogy version of the original, he's portrayed as mature and confident from the outset there, but this movie reveals uncertainty and a lack of experience, making him seem more the 19-year-old out of his depth that he was at that point.

The only aspect of this movie I didn't like was that the story gives a huge amount of screen time to various annoying little kids. This was probably unavoidable given the nature of the story, but these kinds of characters were a recurring weakpoint in the early Gundam shows. At least they're not as annoying as Quess.

This Doan's Island movie feels, overall, out-of-place. While the episode it is adapting has a self-contained plot, pulling it out of Mobile Suit Gundam and stretching it to the length of a movie has resulted in an empty experience. This movie would have been better off as a shorter episode in an OVA of reimagined 0079 escapades.

Character animation is emotive and interesting, but very exaggerated, just like The Origin OVA's. The writing and characterization is also just as exaggerated.

Mobile Suit combat is done in stylized CGI. This looks pretty good at points but also has awkward moments where you notice the anti-aliasing on faraway models.

In ... regards to the plot, the movie can't seem to decide whether or not it needs to justify itself or not. The stakes are sometimes played up unrealistically or literally raised in comparison to 0079's Episode 15. At other points, it tries to feel like the episode should; a moment of downtime and an exploration of Doan's dilemma. A Zeon pilot deserting to look after war orphans; what does this teach Amuro?

Maybe I'm just pessimistic about modern imaginings of the Universal Century, but I did come in with a positive outlook. I won't say this is a bad movie by any means, just a sort of disjointed thing. It doesn't fit as a replacement for the original Episode 15 and it isn't a good follow-up for the Origin OVA's.