Kidou Senshi Gundam 00 Movie: A Wakening of the Trailblazer

When Gundam 00 finished its broadcast, I was quite excited to hear that there was going to be a film sequel to resolve the last part of Aeolia's plan mentioned in the TV series and that it would be the first Gundam iteration in the 30 years of its existence that would actually have aliens included in the story.

A Wakening of the Trailblazer takes place 2 years after the end of season 2 where peace is slowly starting to come true with the A-Laws disbanded, but with the arrival of a bizarre alien life form called the ELS from a space ship sent to Jupiter ... over a hundred years ago, all hell breaks loose and Celestial Being must step in again to save humanity.

Even with this basic plot, I was very excited to actually be able to see this film because I am a rather big fan of Gundam, but upon viewing it, I was both satisfied and disappointed at the same time.

First the good.

The animation looks very similar to the TV series(which isn't a bad thing) but it is of significantly higher quality and shows it off especially during the action sequences. Speaking of action, the movie is full of it. Almost the entire film consists of insane, fast paced mecha battles that made us watch 00 in the first place, you won't be disappointed. The opening scene of the film is hilarious and parodies the series along with making a tribute to the ever popular Gurren Lagann and somewhat referencing the battle of A Baoa Qu from the original Gundam. Also the mecha designs are still as unique as ever, I couldn't tell you how many times I geeked out whenever they started to show off the new Flag mobile suits(ie Braves).

Now for the bad(and sadly there is a lot of it)

The story is VERY generic and any actual plot movement is nonexistent. The only thing that really moves the film's plot is the arrival of the ELS and the constant jibber jabber that minor characters make about stopping them before they reach Earth. If there wasn't any of the fast paced fight scenes, I highly doubt anyone would have wanted to watch this film, there is no point to the story really.

The ELS are fairly underwhelming as alien antagonists. Other mecha series such as Macross were able to successfully utilize aliens into the story by making them unique and interesting with a good backstory. Come on, how are 40 ft aliens who are afraid of affection and culture not interesting? Liquid metal aliens that are fleeing from their destroyed home planet simply doesn't cut it and their assimilation into vehicles on Earth are not frightening nor interesting, they're actually quite hilarious.

The next major problem with the film was its handling of its characters. Several new characters are introduced to the film( ie Descartes Shaman and Meena Carmine) but add nothing to the story, it wouldn't make a difference if they didn't even appear at all. Shaman's character managed to disappoint me the most, as previews made him out to be a major character, instead he gets very little screen time and is there only to be cannonfodder. The returning characters also get very little screen time and most of their appearances are rather pointless, rendering them very one dimensional personalities. Saji and Louise were used in the TV series to show how ordinary people could get involved in conflicts that they don't think would affect them, but they don't serve any purpose in the film they're just there, much like Marina whose appearance seems even more pointless. I don't even know what their purpose was in being shown, despite the fact that they were there. These characters don't even progress any further in film or are the given any sort of epilogue at the end like in season 2, with the exception of a few characters in the last bonus scene.


Besides all of my ramblings about how flawed Trailblazer is, the film is still very entertaining to watch because of its fast paced action sequences and high quality animation. You won't get much depth out of its non existent story and one dimensional characters, but if you want to watch giant robots blow the crap out of each other in fast paced battles, look no further. However, if you are somewhat of a perfectionist and wants to get the ultimate satisfaction out of watching the 00 series, ignore the film completely and just pretend the whole series concludes with season 2.

To be very serious in reviewing this movie, I would say this is not at all a gundam series and that falls into several big problems that this series has.

Art; 8 points
Firstly, the art it is self is great, it is what you would be expecting out of a movie at this time from the Gundam anime industry. It represent a lot about how much the art has developed through time in the Gundam history. However, it is not the best art and graphic you can find from Gundam. Unicorn on the other hand is an OVA series yet, its attention to small details ... and effects are amazing and flawless. Therefore, in compare to an OVA airs about the same time that has better qualtiy overall, a movie has this level of art cannot receive its full marks.

Sound: 8 points
The sound effect is solid. It fits the movie really well.

Characters: 5 points
Even more new characters are being introduced and follow second season's fashion, they are underdeveloped. Some very great characters are presented heroicly but was given less attention; while other, included even some core characters, are being overexagereated in a very unrealistic way and could not resolves much about them granted extensive time spent on these characters overall.

Story: 3 points
The worst aspect of this movie is the story. There is no clash between ideals, the story is very cartoonish and lacks the freshness value that a movie should have had. the untolerable point of this movie is that it has more elements of a super robot movie than a Gundam. Many striking similarities to Fafner can be recognized. The movie has a increasing amount of meta-science elements that leads its collapse at the end due to its conflict with the logical based concept that has always been the core behind any great Gundam series.

Enjoyment: 7 points
The battles are great as akways but that all it has...again, there are 'supermans flying around destroying everything' to a point, it becomes very typical. Anyone that dislike beam spamming should be dissappointed watching this movie since this has 10 times more beam spamming than Seed or Destiny ever had and for 90% of the time the Gundams would flying around spaming fangs, bits and beams...again.

The story is the crucial part to a Gundam movie or to any anime series overall since the art quality has been steadily improving in recent time while the level of depth to a story has been long given far less attention than it should really have. In addition, 'Awakening of the Trailblazer's failure to distinct itself as a Gundam series from the super robot series is perhaps its greatest weakness.

Thus, overall, even the beautifully done animtion cannot covers for its easily recognizable weaknesses, so the overall score I can give ti tis 5, average.

To sum up, the series has done very well in the first season but starts to decrease in quality over time while could not able to meet expectations from experienced old Gundam fans. If you are a new comer to Gundam and you prefer action rather story then 00 may not be a bad place to start with; however, it should be note that even if you watch 00, you can't obtain a throughout understanding of what a Gundam series should be as well as the greatness in the stories of many great old Gundam series. I would highly reccomend any UC series over 00

I had high expectations when I first heard of a gundam movie (although I shouldn't have with the crappy ending of 00) and I was thoroughly disappointed. The artwork and sound were fantastic as you would expect from an anime movie made in 2010 but it couldnt make up for all of its flaws.

Firstly, the story just didnt make any sense and it just seemed like it was trying to push some kind of peace message. The fighting was not very good and somewhat sparse throughout the movie. Honestly, this disappointed me the most as I was looking forward to some badass fighting.

The ... movie also introduced a lot of characters out of the blue and many for no reason. Also it was odd that everyone from 00 somehow became friends (and lovers...) quite quickly. I found it very weird when random characters were so unexpectedly in love with other ones.

Overall, its an interesting watch but dont go in with your hopes up. Then again I guess we should be used to sunrise by now...

Two hours. Two hours gone that I will never again get back. Two hours in which I could have done much better things with my life. Who knows, I could've created the next Flappy Bird clone in that two hours but no, I spent it watching this. So instead, I pass the torch onto you. Recreate Flappy Bird. Don't watch this.

Conceptually, this movie could have been something great. The basic premise, though simple, could have easily been expanded into a whole 'bother season. For the first time in some 30 odd years, the Gundams aren't fighting other humans. They are fighting an alien race. You ... would think that the creators would have went all out on this idea and made it at least on the same level as the series it's based upon but, alas, failure and disappointment are all that we get.

***Be forewarned, there are some spoilers ahead.***

To start with, let's get the "plot" of the movie out of the way. Four years have passed since the end of season 2 and things are going well for Earth. Peace has pretty much been found and the Gundams, though still around, aren't really needed much anymore. That is, until "they" appear. Who are "they", you may ask? Yeah, I don't know either. Gray space blobs from Jupiter is what it seems like. Though we will just call them ELS as the movie does for simplicity. Anyway, the ELS appear on a derelict probe that was sent to Jupiter some 100 odd years ago and are headed for Earth. Quantum brainwaves are there goal and where can they find those? In humans, of course! Yada, yada, time goes on and we humans are about to be annihilated. So we fight back. Kinda. Really, it's all about love and understanding our enemy. Seriously, that's about it. Through his mass amounts of love and understanding, Setsuna saves the day and the ELS create a giant flower in space. WTF?

What about the character development, you may be asking? Well, look elsewhere because none will be found here! The only real development is that Feldt suddenly has a burning love for Setsuna. I don't know about you guys but I didn't see that one coming. But then she decides that Setsuna's love is simply too great for any one person. He's just too hot to handle. Other than that, Setsuna goes all flower power on us and turns into some shiny white-haired guy/thing. I hope that's not their idea of what the Innovators should look like. Other than that, everyone else just stays the same. I thought they had some potential with Descartes but nope, they kill him off in the most anti-climactic way. And what's with Meena? Who the heck is she and why is Billy with her? Oh, it's because she has a nice rack and legs, as evidenced by the fan-servicey scenes involving her.

The animation was good though so it's got that goin' for it, which is nice.

Really, I look at this movie in the same way I'm looking at Vladimir Putin of Russia right now. He spent all this money and all this time on the 2014 Sochi Olympics so that the rest of the world would look at Russia in a new light and then he goes and "invades" Ukraine. In one single move, he ruined everything he was working towards. And that's what this movie does to the Mobile Suit Gundam 00 series. It takes everything that I found masterful about the original series and smashes it all to bits.

So again, I say to you, save yourself. Save yourself two hours of your life. Flappy Bird must live on and you can save it. Don't make the same mistake I did. Let season 2 be the end of Mobile Suit Gundam 00 for you and pretend this movie doesn't exist. You'll thank me later.

Over and out.

A quick preface to say that if you haven't read my review for the Gundam 00 series then I recommend that you do because this is going to be written relative to what I said there. And one of the things I said was “I'm finally done with Gundam 00.”, but oh ho ho this is the Gundam series that just will not quit. With this two hour movie Gundam 00 is just barely the longest Gundam series ever made... for better and worse as it continues the downward trend that happened through most of season 2. But season 2 still generally held on to ... the series's good qualities and didn't succumb to its missteps. Can the movie accomplish the same? Let's take a look. Also, expect spoilers or skip to the final paragraph if you want the recommendation.

Mobile Suit Gundam 00 The Movie: A Wakening of the Trailblazer [sic] is a title that's two integers and one random semi-colon away from being the name of a Kingdom Hearts racing game. It also stars something new for the Gundam franchise: aliens! All is well in the Earth sphere now that everyone has abandoned their differing interests and have gained an inexplicable peace without war that satisfies everyone, but soon humanity faces a new common enemy as a race of aliens dubbed the ELS threaten to drive humanity to extinction. Instead of the usual thing with the aliens being a race almost exactly like humans except with a tail or a weird symbol on their forehead, they're actually metallic-like shape-shifters that can't verbally communicate and bond with things to assimilate (i.e. kill) them.

The addition of aliens to Gundam has met with a lot of controversy, but I can't understand why anyone would care. Gundam 00 is an alternate universe series, and that's the whole reason they exist: to experiment with the standard Gundam formula that's been kept mostly consistent in the Universal Century timeline. It doesn't taint any franchise ideology. The existence of aliens in Gundam 00 doesn't imply the existence of them in other series. Secondly, communicating with other intelligent life was hinted at in the actual series which in fiction is practically enough to confirm they exist in that universe so it's not out of nowhere. Lastly, the use of a non-verbal lifeform that's threatening to humanity's existence is a great medium to use for displaying the series's general themes of understanding to prevent conflict, and ties it to the series's unique technology that's a necessity to communicate such as telepathic quantum brain waves and Innovators. The aliens were the most clever thing the movie managed to come up with, and their first doomsday attack on Earth was cool to watch and had one of the four cool things Allelujuah did in the entirety of Gundam 00.

Getting back to the ongoing story, it's been two years since the end of season 2. Which isn't that much time, but apparently it was enough time to make a big budget movie about Celestial Being that we see a bit of at the start of our movie. Although it's not enough time to expect anyone to noticeably physically age, the creators still want to show time has passed so everyone with short hair has now grown it out considerably while everyone who had long hair has had it cut. It's not a big deal, but it's pretty funny how it's seriously almost a 1:1 ratio. However silly this was, it was all worth it because Felt with short hair is adorable. Short haired Felt is 90% of the reason to watch this movie. She also now has a sudden romance with Setsuna that feels completely undeserved (like anyone's interest in such a dull guy), but it's probably because the creators realized she got the short end of the stick out of all the main characters. Too bad Setsuna doesn't care as usual.

The rest of Celestial Being also gathers together again, each with a newly designed Gundam that looks far better and more elaborate than the season 2 redesigns. While on this subject of art design, the animation is as good as ever which is actually kind of lame. Since the series looked almost as good to begin with, the jump in quality you'd expect from a movie almost isn't there. The frame rate is better, but that's the only change that really stands out. Despite the action being as intense and flashy as ever, it's far harder to get into because of the nature of the enemy. There are no interesting one-on-one rivalries because our new opponents are completely mute and without identity, and so for all of your action scenes you have a bunch of mechs flying around avoiding the metallic spears trying to latch onto them while shooting wildly. No beam saber clashes, no clever maneuvers and people shouting "what!?", just going fast and blasting away for several minutes in wide-open space. With the action scenes and exciting scenarios being the greatest strength of Gundam 00 and what season 2 had to fall back on being nearly gone, A Wakening of the Trailblazer has to rely on its story and characters.

Several characters return but none develop because their character arcs were already finished. New sub characters are introduced only to end up dying and/or doing nothing because the story is still too focused on Setsuna like season 2 was. One new character is named Meena, who looks exactly like Nena would after this time skip. But lo and behold, this confusing thing is never addressed in the movie and only in a niche manga where it's revealed one of Meena's ancestors contributed DNA to the clones that became the Trinitys. In that case Meena's family must have been incredibly lucky with inbreeding considering they look exactly the same generations later. Graham returns and is the only one who has their personality elaborated on in ways the series didn't do as we're actually shown the change in him after his final fight with Setsuna. Susano-o, however, does not come back even though it wasn't fully destroyed and then Graham just ends up being tossed away again for characters less cool than he is.

Nearly all of this movie falls apart under scrutiny and you'll wonder where the time went after numerous unnecessary scenes of the government talking about how they need to evacuate citizens and their attacks on the ELS that continuously do nothing. This all climaxes in Setsuna using his new Gundam's improved powers to telepathically communicate with the ELS to understand what they want.

We learn that the ELS's home planet was under danger so they're migrating. Okay, that makes sense. And that they're bonding to and killing humans in order to understand them. ...What? With the ELS's ability to learn about things they touch, you'd think they'd realize that it's impossible to read the conscious of someone who is dead and give up. But more importantly, why does this have anything to do with their survival? They aren't even after Earth's environment since they just pack up and leave after like nothing happened. If they just want to bond with humans, then why did they begin with taking over vehicles and running them over? That doesn't help anyone. Why are they after people with quantum brain waves? Why do they want to merge with people without them as well then? How does Setsuna's communication with them do anything to fix the problem of their migration? Why do they form a big flower at the end? Is this their new planet or something? If they can do that anywhere in space, why was their extinction even a possibility? Why why why? Nothing is resolved and all we learn is that the problem made no sense to begin with because the ELS apparently didn't have one. For a story about understanding, I didn't understand diddly squat. The ELS just killed a ton of people for no reason. I just watched a two hour movie just to be told at the end it was all for nothing and there's no concrete thematic lesson. Get out of here.

Well, I said all about what I've wanted to say already. For two hours you'd expect I'd have more to talk about, but so little of significance actually happens and the plot is thin despite being stretched so far out. The good qualities of the series such as the action are diminished while the worst parts like plot depth and character drama are exacerbated. It's an unnecessary conclusion and doesn't really shed light on anything from the series. I'd say skip it unless you still loved season 2 despite its faults. If its faults are enough to make you hesitant about the movie's continued decline of quality, then steer away. You aren't missing anything important. What a lame end to something that started off so promising.

This film is infamous for its full fledged alien (fossilised space whales appear in SEED) in the Gundam franchise, and I agree this I a bad thing, Gundam introduced human antagonists in order to make them more relatable and the conflicts ambiguous. This is an alien invasion story, while the ELS were oblivious to their attacks at first, this is the problem you cannot sympathize with the ELS properly as they have a different concept of morality, you can sympathize with the oppressed spacenoids that made up Zeon, the abandoned humans that became the Vagan, and ZAFT being victims of racism.
Secondly, Feldt declares her love ... for Setsuna out of the blue, although I like the pairing it just wasn't introduced right, it makes sense that they have been comrades for a long time but there wasn't any build up to it, she just confesses randomly and worst of all, their relationship is left unresolved.

As a continuation that wraps up the original TV show, it feels kind of... out of place. After seeing such a realistic setting with pretty much serious tone, then we get, eh, aliens? Yeah, I know that it was already been teased in the original series, but it still feels weird for me.

Anyway, this movie wraps up Aeolia Schenberg's whole plan from the TV series; aliens came for invasion to Earth. I address it that way because that's the way it is; the main conflict is already resolved in the original 00 series (albeit it might still leave some questions behind), so this one is ... just an addition to it. Characters also feel more flat compared to their TV series' counterpart, even the newly introduced characters barely played anything significant here.

I'm not really fond on how they conclude the overarching theme of 00 here. It feels so cheesy lol. It might be the result on delivering it in a way too idealistic. It's kind of disappointing since 00's theme is probably one of few things that I like in the series.

Despite that, I still found myself enjoying the movie, mainly for the great visual. It's also great to see old characters made their return.

Pros:
-Great visual
-Good character designs return
-Likable characters make comeback
-Good epilogue

Cons:
-Bland plot
-Flat characters (both the returning and new ones)
-The overarching theme is delivered in a way too idealistic and cheesy; it makes a supposedly great message can't be taken seriously

[Edit] I liked Gundam 00. It is one of my favorites. The show had some problems, but I was OK, because, overall, it was a great show, with amazing mechas and a decent story (excluding the conclusion of Season 2). Then, they released this OVA. Let me explain, it is not bad, but it is not good either. I`ll leave my opinions so you decide for yourself.

Story: It starts pretty well, and you have high hopes. The end of Gundam 00 leaves some questions behind how the OVA is going to proceed, right? I mean, you are reading a review for the OVA, I assume ... you`ve watched the show. Well, so, it actually starts well, and they give you a reason for some events that happened in the main series.
Then... I don`t know, it becomes a mess. It goes from a 10 to a 0 so fast that you will get lost, thinking "what am I missing? " Some events are tackled in a hushed way, they will provide weird explanations, weird motives, and weird decisions for crucial events that will confuse you even further. As always, it gives you that mystery, making you wonder "Holy s***! I bet it will be an epic explanation because this is awesome!". Hahahaha. No. Don`t expect a good conclusion. JUST DON`T! It makes me sad because Gundam 00 is a good series. And... they decide to close the story with this. The conclusion is so bad that I can give you an analogy using LoTR for you to understand. Imagine that instead of explaining that the One Ring had less influence on the hobbits because they have a pure heart, the One Ring had less influence because the hobbits are ALIENS.
By seeing Awakening of the Trailblazers you are putting at risk the whole sentiment you have for the story of Gundam 00.

Art and Sounds: Amazing, as the series. Saw the series? Same thing.

Characters: Nothing changes. I had high hopes, thinking, well, maybe Awakening of the Trailblazers (ATB) will follow Gundam Wing Endless Waltz's example and develop/fix the characters. One of my major complaints about the main series is the lack of character development - thus, I thought they would give more character development in the OVA. But no, they stay the same. There are some highlights, one I can`t say, the other is some things about Setsuna. But, that's it, nothing more. Their development is in complete stasis. Once again I wonder why the writers chose to forget about character development for this series - it's absent.

Mechas: The mechas design is solid. Raphael Gundam is an enhanced Nadhalee (thumbs up), 00 Quan is there, looking badass, Harute is not much different than Arios, and the Cherudim upgrade is the best of them all. Not much to say, except that I loved the mecha designs.

Overall: ATB is not a good conclusion to the show. In fact, the Gundam 00 Universe would be better without it. Maybe you can enjoy the action and the mechas, but that's it. The rest, just don`t hold up and the conclusion is terrible.

SPOILERS FOR SEASON 1 & 2 of Mobile Suit Gundam 00 and Awakening of the TrailBlazer.

Have you ever watched Gundam 00?

Have you ever watched Transformers 1 directed by Michael Bay or Independence Day?

You have essentially watched this film then, however despite that, I really think there is quite a bit of merit to this film if you seperate it in your own mind from the 00 canon (the Anno Domini timeline).

The animation in this movie is some of the best honestly, the action sequences are greatly animated despite some weird choreography and the fact that the aliens that are fought in this movie have no ... real defining features. All of the upgraded suits get their chances to flex their new weaponry and maneuverability. Getting to see the powerscaling that happened between Season 2 and the time this movie takes place is also something, considering everyone has access to Trans Am now. The usage of CG for the aliens is actually rather natural. I still stand by the fact that this is one of the most beautiful anime movies I've watched.

Sound is really nothing that stands out, I loved the OST in the 00 series and also all the intro/ending songs from them, but nothing here really blows my mind. The voice actors in both the dub and sub do a solid performance especially the VA's for Setsuna and Graham as they take a lot of the spotlight in this film.

There are a lot of interesting setpieces in this movie that are action movie cliches, examples including Allelujah and Marie being chased by aliens and doing acrobatics for example as well as the entire final act. But the plot itself is all over the place. These aliens are invading Earth, but there is absolutely no reason why. Not only that but the entire theme was to understand what the aliens themselves are thinking, but that is not given to the viewer in any sort of direct way in TrailBlazer. In fact the philosophy of this film is really lacking when compared to the brilliance of 00 season 1 and some of the slightly less brilliant but still thought provoking questions in 00 season 2.

Character arcs are all over the place, Setsuna is the only one who's evolving in a way that makes sense following the series. Allelujah, Marie and Lyle all stay relatively the same, but at least Graham dropped the entire Mr. Bushido nonsense which is honestly one of the dumbest fuckest things ever which would have made this movie even worse. Tieria is absolutely useless here which is unfortunate because before Setsuna became OP as fuck, Tieria was easily the best Celestial Being meister and he had my favorite Mobile Suit. Now Tieria is like Navi from the legend of Zelda in which he just sits on Setsuna's shoulder spouting exposition (I know his physical body was destroyed in season 2 and he's been integrated into Veda, that's no excuse for him not to have bodies he can upload his being into). Louis and Saji are in this movie and don't really do much at all, considering the Qan-[T] no longer really needs the 00 Raiser, Saji is truly useless again and Louis' arc has been over despite the fact that it could have been expanded more since she's an innovator.

Oh yeah, there are some minor shipping things like Nena Trinity and Billy Katagiri, this makes no sense, but after Sumeragi bitchslapped Katagiri despite him letting her live in his house for 2 years. What even happened during that relationship? Of course Patrick and Kati are a thing, that was inevitable. But a lot of the Hetero couples they seem to be pushing just because they're hetero. Tieria x the curly haired Celestial Being associate despite the fact they have no chemistry really. Both Setsuna x Feldt and Setsuna x Marina have no soul to them, because I just can't see Setsuna as a romantic or compassionate person despite all the changes he's gone through. All of the old ships that have sailed are still great, Allelujah x Soma, Louis x Saji despite having no point in this movie. But enough about shipping, the plot overall is just not that great, aliens are there, why? Fuck you T-1000 that's why.


Overall while I did have immense amounts of fun watching all the explosions in this movie, some of the most fun in my life, there are many aspects of this film that are terribly written and ruin the 00 franchise as a whole, opening up a can of worms that can't really be sealed again.

For those reasons, Mobile Suit Gundam 00: Awakening of the Trailblazer gets a 6/10 from me.