Kidou Senshi Gundam

Mobile Suit Gundam, the father of mecha anime, is without a doubt a revolutionary title. This is one of the titles that brought about more mature themes and stories to be animated. However, just because it was revolutionary doesn't mean the quality is up to par after 25 years. In addition, this review will compare MSG to the narrative standards of today and ignore the art and sound.

The first few episodes of MSG were interesting, setting up what would seem to be an epic tale. Also, we are able to see the origins of many ... mecha themes and ideas. My only real complaint with the first few episodes was the way Amuro (zero experience) was able to go toe-to-toe with Char, a legendary pilot. A mecha convention that just has to be accepted, not a big deal I guess. After the initial episodes, one would expect the action to die down and start developing the story and the characters. However, in the next few episodes there was more fighting. A few more episodes passed and it started to feel tedious. In comparison, Gundam SEED had several episodes that were completely devoted to character development.

In between the fights far too little happens to develop the characters and the story. Yes, there is some development but that is clearly overshadowed by the shear number of battles. As for the story itself, it seems to follow a "monster of the week formula" with new mechs and mini-bosses. The transition between each mini-boss/arc was quite bad and broke the overall flow the series. While this was expected and bad enough there wasn't enough continuity between each episode. Every time an episode ends, it ends. Conflicts arise and the resolution all happens within the course of one episode (cliffhangers don't seem to exist in MSG). Essentially, there is an episodic feel most of the time and the flow was not seamless. Gundam 0079 followed this straightforward and monotonous path until the last 8 episodes. The last 8 episodes were pretty good and the story finally starts to get interesting, especially when they introduce the concept of 'Newtypes', finally! However, that does not make up for the 30 episodes you had to go through to get here.

As for the characters, let me start off with Char. Simply put, Char is the most interesting and most complex character in MSG, perhaps in the whole Gundam universe. However, this can only be said after watching MSG, Zeta Gundam, and Char’s Counterattack, nearly totaling 100 episodes. Unfortunately, I can’t really say he received too much development over the course of MSG. He’s already quite charismatic and admirable from the beginning and pretty much stayed this way through out. Amuro, well at least in MSG, is quite a brat and does what pleases him as well as whine. Not exactly the most likable of character. However, this is nowhere as near a bad as Camille in Zeta Gundam and he does change over time. While Amuro may have been a brat for the first half this was no where near as annoying as the actual children. Why where they allowed to roam as they please? Perhaps they were used as comic relief? Either way, they were quite annoying and hurt the overall character score. However, the only characters that stood out in MSG were Char and Amuro, the rest were flat and forgettable.

Although it seems that I'm being very harsh towards this title I actually enjoyed it somewhat. Perhaps its a bit unfair that I'm reviewing this title 25 years after it was first shown. I'm comparing it to some modern titles that does what Gundam 0079 does but better in every possible way and I'm not just talking about animation and music. (note: I do not imply that all new mecha anime is better. There's plenty of crap out there and far inferior to MSG) At the time Gundam 0079 can be considered innovative and new. MSG pretty much redefined the whole genre of mecha anime, from super robot era of the 70's to the real robot era of the 80's. Mecha lovers should watch this if only for historical reasons. Ok, on second though you should probably watch the movies…

Overall, Gundam 0079 focuses too much on fights and not enough on the development of the story and characters. It loosely follows a "monster of the week" formula with its mini arcs. Not only is the continuity overall bad, it also has bad continuity in-between episodes. It seems every time an episode ends, it ends. As for the characters, only Char and Amuro stood out and the rest were quite flat. Sadly they didn’t spend enough time on the characters. The depiction of war and the people involved are far beyond its time. The ‘enemies’ are not evil, but simply on different sides. If only Gundam 0079 didn't have those 30 some episodes in the middle.

Gundam is one of anime's most longest living franchise. With about more than 50 titles under it’s name, gundam has become one of main poster childs of the mech genre as well anime as a whole. All of this couldn’t have happened if it weren’t for the revolutionary title Gundam 0079 that redefined the mech genre.

Gundam Takes place in the far flung future and humanity has already begun journeying out into the cosmos and settling in space colonies. These colonies aren't situated on planets, but are rather giant space satellites/stations that were suitable for human living called sides. One of these "sides" have broken off ... from the rest of humanity in order to form the Principality of zeon which leads to a one year war killing off half of the human race. While the war continuously rages on the real story begins to take place at one of the last remaining “sides” that survived the war, which leads us to our protagonist Amuro. The story starts making way as Zeon enters the “Side” in search of the Gundam, an experimental Mobile Suit being developed by the earth federation. This leads into a battle inside the “Side”, and Amuro piloting the Gundam with no prior experience until he and some of the civilians are able to escape on the spaceship known as White Base. after that endeavor the show is best split into three categories The Chase In Space, On The Ground, and The Newtype Hope.

The Chase In Space is just as it sounds like as White Base tries to run away from it’s Zeon Pursuers. Mostly outmanned due to the fact that many of the crew members are conscripts recruited from the abandoned side and are best described as an untrained militia. The group has to rely on Amuro and the Gundam to fend of the pursuers, and sometimes with the help of other crew members. The real purpose here is to emphasize how powerful the Gundam truly is despite the pilot being inexperienced, as he is going toe to toe with the most experienced mobile pilots. Speaking of experienced mobile pilots the main person going after them is a person named Char who despite being the antagonist has a lot of charm and charisma that he is an easily likable character. Yet this is how far as it really goes as it’s mainly about Amuro and Char fighting Until White Base makes it to earth.

On The Ground is the next part of the show as well as the longest as it mainly focuses on the White Base crew on earth trying to get to HQ while evading Zeon forces stationed on earth. While they are still being pursued by Char new characters begin to appear as well Such as the Zabi family, the head of Zeon, as well as military commanders such as Ramba Ral. It’s also here that more of the “realistic” aspects of war in the show begin to show such as the devastation the war has caused leaving cities in ruins, leaving people disenfranchised, War orphans, Ptsd, bittersweet victories, and giving character to enemy soldiers to show that they are not really bad guys but just people fighting on another side. While many of these ideas are great the way they are handled isn’t, and is just barely passable. Maybe due to the way the show has been formatted with most episodes being self contained or having small arcs of about 2-3 episodes long that many of these themes and ideas are touched upon on a surface level and that’s about it while most of the run-time is focused on fights. Even though the soldiers are given personality, it’s only a little just in order to have some smidge of sympathy for them. Even some of the bigger characters such as Garma and Ramba aren’t that well fleshed out and in the end just kind of feel flat. It especially true for most of the main cast on the White Base as they never get time to flesh out and develop their characters since they are busy fighting. That’s not to say no character got development, Amuro had a bit, Kai actually became one of my more liked characters, sayla had more screen time, and more about char’s motivation came to light. However that doesn’t excuse the fact that watching these episodes were tedious, with some good-ish moments in them that may or may not have been worth watching.

[About Amuro]
I think at this point i would have watched a good 30-ish episodes, and all i can say about amuro is that i don’t like him. I don’t really like his brat-ish attitude or the way he interacts with others, in all i just don’t like his character in general and not much of what he has done has really changed my opinion on that. I don’t hate him mostly for the fact that there wasn’t much to have me emotionally invested in him. In the end during this point i thought of him as less of a character and more of a device to keep the plot rolling and the Gundam operating.

The final part The Newtype Hope is about White Base getting sent back into space in order to help the Earth Federation fight against Zeon in any way possible. Some new things are revealed such as newtypes who are basically people with psychic like powers, and are able to use them to operate their mechs better. While it may have been there from the beginning it was only until now that that they reveal it. It just feels awfully misplaced and didn’t really sit right with me when reexamining the show from that view point. Char once again takes the stage during these episodes showing a bit more of his character and motivations which also happen to be with the newtypes. By the end it’s mostly alot of fighting with an abrupt ending that was caused by having less episodes than they planned to have.

All that’s left to say about the show is it’s production values which for the most part were all right despite the year it was made and the budget. All the characters have ok designs while the more mechanical designs ranged from meh to striking. The animation for the show is not so great mostly when it comes to human movement but works ok with the clunkiness of the mechs. There are multiple times of reused animation which is hard to not go unnoticeable. When it came to sound the voice acting was good although obviously hated a dated feeling to it. The soundtrack was good as well consisting of many catchy tunes with enough for the more sincere moments and others for the more campy moments that fit this anime just right.

Overall, despite having some flaws I think the show was an enjoyable watch and a decent anime that just barely stands the test of time. I liked many of the ideas that the show had even though many weren’t fully actualized. Maybe they could have done more with their story and characters, but what they had was serviceable enough.

The first and most important thing to say about Mobile Suit Gundam is that there are a great many sequences that use flashing images that could induce seizures in people who have photosensitive epilepsy. This is a series from a time when using strobe effects to represent explosions was still considered acceptable, and it is used liberally. The sequences that use this effect were unpleasant to watch for me, and it therefore seems likely they could have much worse effects on people with a sensitivity to such things.

Despite showing its age in many ways, Mobile Suit Gundam’s better qualities shine through consistently. TV anime ... in 1979 was primitive, to say the least. Every episode looks like it had a budget of about ¥23, but you can the direction pulling hard against those limitations to get the maximum possible value up on screen. Detailed mechanical design is a pipe dream, objects on screen often don’t rotate wherever possible, and the Gundam itself feels like it’s slightly off model a lot of the time. Despite that, there is a lot of striking shot composition, and careful use of the fairly limited score to build tension and excitement even though very often what you are watching is clearly a static animation cel being moved across a background. The depiction of the grim realities of warfare, and the ultimate inhumanity of death and destruction on such a scale are evoked very effectively despite the limitations of the animation, helped along by some excellent sound design. The technical design is also constantly wonderful to look at, there’s a very distinct and interesting aesthetic not just to the mobile suits but also all the technology, ships, and uniforms have a great look to them. A lot of it is a very 1970s vision of future aesthetics that doesn’t quite line up with modern sensibilities, but the Gundam itself is a design classic that has endured in our collective consciousness for a reason.

The writing side is a similar story in how it is in many obvious ways very flawed and yet clearly has something special about it at the same time. The central character, Amuro, has a mixture of neuroticism, fear, vanity, drive, and antisociality that feel right for a teenager thrust into a key position in a war, although it doesn’t always feel like those traits come to the fore organically or in the right order. The central antagonist Char Aznable, as an experienced and cunning soldier, is an ideal foil for him, and the scenes where the power of the Gundam is pitted against the experience and skills of Char are always exciting. They are surrounded by a good supporting cast, with the crew of the White Base believably developing from a rag-tag group of children armed with advanced military technology to a hardened fighting force. The series greatest flaw which drags it down more than anything else is that the plot is all over the place. The opening arc where the White Base is trying to escape to Earth is great, full of constant tension as they are pursued by Zeon’s forces. Once they get to Earth things start to get a bit wobbly. Char isn’t present for large stretches and none of the secondary antagonists introduced in the meantime can really fill the hole he leaves, and there are multiple short arcs that are a bit of a drag to sit through. Characters also repeatedly seem to change their motivations or relationships at random which leads to a lot of scenes feeling jarring. It might also just have been a deficiency of the subtitles I was using, but the motives of certain characters occasionally seemed opaque in a way that I don’t think was intentional. For example, I have no idea what Char was actually hoping to achieve in the last arc, which incidentally also takes a lurching left turn into being concerned with dealing with the implications of the emergence of Newtypes, humans with extrasensory perception. While the plotting is shambolic, the vibes do generally shine through; this is a crushing war of attrition, where characters can and will die, with moral compromise on both sides. Zeon’s nationalism and authoritarianism are the greater folly that initiated the war in the first place, but the Federation are not innocent of carrying out many of the same crimes. Likewise, although many combatants are dragged into the war against their will, they are not any less complicit in propagating it.

The practical upshot is that Mobile Suit Gundam is deeply messy and imperfect, but it is an imperfect mess that I have a lot of respect for, and contains much that is enjoyable. I wouldn’t recommend it on its own merits, but it’s Mobile Suit Gundam; we live in its world, and it doesn’t need to be brilliant to be worth watching. An enduring legacy of mecha anime started here, in the Universal Century continuity, the wider Gundam franchise itself, and beyond, and if you care about the history of the medium it's worth it for that reason alone.

I heard about this really old anime called Mobile Suit Gundam.. And if you know me i love old stuff! So i decided to watch this! And after month or so i have finally completed it... So let's start complaining!

Story sucked monkeys balls.. Okay first of all what is a newtype!?! Mobile Suit Gundam didn't explain a single thing about them, well except that newtypes can predict enemies moves in battle. But other then that i still not sure where do they come from? Are they humans? Lalah had to be worst character in this.. Sometimes he agrees with Amuro and sometimes doesn't, pretty dumb. ... Story was pretty bad 4/10

Art was really good. Yeah even though they used same animations for like 100 times, it gets really annoying. Animation is good (sometimes), character design is good, good example of this is Char's mysterious design and The fighting robots look cool too! 7/10 for art.

Soundtrack was okay, voice acting is not the best and sound effect are good. I love especially Solar Ray system's shooting sound, it sounds so disastrous!
I would give it 6/10

Characters. suck. They do dumb decisions and just punch each other! I hate them so much and everyone just dies and cries so loud and its pissing me off! Characters are bad bad bad bad 3/10

I enjoyed some parts. I liked when they are not battling because that's what you see the 70 % of this anime. And it's sometimes really boring. And my favourite episode was the first one because it had characters interacting. But in the next episodes it's just boring fights. But some fight scenes can be awesome! Like the SRS (Solar Ray System) scene where the SRS destroyed everything on it's path. I would give it a 6/10

Overall i would give Mobile Suit Gundam a 5/10

I will say that it's pretty difficult to rate this series. It was the progenitor of so much anime so it's legacy is certainly a great one, and I really shouldn't be judging it in comparison to more modern shows. Still, I will say I appreciated a lot of what this series did, especially with more nuanced villains and antiheroes in the form of Char, as well as some deeper story threads that I'll have to explore in more detail through prequels and sequels. That being said, the series was incredibly slow to warm up, taking far too much time dragging its heels between episodes. ... It too far too long to really get going, and when it did, the cancellation of the show rushed everything. There are a lot of good ideas in here, and it makes me want to see how they developed things that take place chronologically after the series wrapped, but it's hard to say that this series really wowed me enough to stand out today.

For a long time I'd thought the importance of the original Gundam anime Mobile Suit Gundam was mainly due to its founding of the Real Robot genre as well the huge, sprawling Gundam franchise that's still going strong today. Having actually sat down and watched the show though, I realised that I seriously underestimated the influence of this seminal series: not only did it make its mark in anime history, many of its ideas remain relevant to this day.

It always seemed a little strange to me how Gundam series often recycle the same elements over and over. What became obvious once I started Mobile Suit ... Gundam was how these traditions were inherited directly from the original series. Even the opening shot was a spine-tinglingly iconic one, with the sun peeking out behind Earth and the sunlight tracing a circle around the outline of the planet. The backstory exposition immediately introduces a few other familiar elements, including the war between the Earth faction and the space colony faction with a name beginning with Z - in this case Zeon - and their infamous cyclops mech designs, as well as the notorious colony drop event, which I was surprised to see occurred only in the backstory and not the main one.

The original Gundam series begins in the middle of the war, during a lull in the action. It doesn't take long to see this lull broken, as Zeon forces led by Char Aznable, the original blond, masked maverick (whose doppelgangers are a staple of later Gundam series), finds a newly deployed Federation warship White Base picking up a batch of secretly developed weapons from a space colony. One of these weapons happen to be … drum roll please … the mobile suit (aka robot) Gundam. The action ramps up quickly as Zeon attacks the colony, and 15-year old prodigy Amuro Ray gets caught up in the conflict and ends up piloting the Gundam against Zeon forces as White Base tries to escape the colony, salvaging what they could of the newly developed weaponry.

Mobile Suit Gundam impressed me immediately with its watchability. For a show hailing from the 70s, just about the worst you can say about its production values is how amusingly dated its opening theme is. Having struggled through other 70s shows like Space Battleship Yamato, I was relieved to discover this 40+ episode series would not require nearly the amount of effort to sit through.

The early episodes consisted of mostly military tactics/action fare, and showcased some impressive battles despite the clearly limited animation budget. I found myself more engrossed in these primitively animated battles than many modern, better animated action sequences, which made me realise that well thought through tactics and clean choreography often trumps flashy, fast paced animation. One of the things that stands out about the battles is the importance of ammunition and energy: someone is always running out of one or the other, often changing the course of battle. These kind of detail clearly establish Mobile Suit Gundam as a new breed of mecha show - these are not super robots in action with their seemingly infinite supply of Thunderclap Groin Rockets and whatnot.

The highlights of the early battles are the repeated run-ins between Char and Amuro. The clash of styles keeps the contest interesting: one is an experienced, supremely talented mecha pilot; the other is a rookie with deep potential piloting a mecha with vastly superior technology. Another reason why these encounters are so enjoyable is due to Char himself. He instantly comes across as an anti-villain with a fascinating personality and bundles of charisma. What's more, his complex relationship with other Zeon commanders adds a layer of political intrigue to the proceedings. No wonder his is the only name I'd heard of prior to watching this show.

Beyond the tactical elements, the early story plays out as a bunch of rookies getting to grips with a powerful but unfamiliar space ship while engaging in continuous skirmishes with Zeon forces. It reminds me of the early episodes of a certain show called Macross (you may have heard of it) that aired several years later. This shouldn't come as a surprise though, when you learn that several of the creative minds behind Macross graduated from the same Gundam fan club in university.

The second part of Mobile Suit Gundam takes place on Earth. This stretch lasts for a while, and it certainly feels like it too; they exhibit both the strongest and the weakest aspects of the series. On the plus side, there's some impressive character developments, with Kai's growth from a selfish shithead to a sympathetic character elevating him as an unexpected highlight of the series. In addition, there's more meat to the story, which showcases an astonishing number of ideas which would resurface and be further explored in later anime. Certain political and aesthetic elements would return in force in Legend of the Galactic Heroes (you may have heard of this too), and, perhaps more significantly and certainly more obviously, the mini storyline that illustrates the toll war exacts on a child civilian soldier germinated an idea that, well over a decade later, would grow and form the backbone of a little series called Neon Genesis Evangeleon (you probably hear-- nah, this is one series you probably haven't heard of).

To give Mobile Suit Gundam its due, some of its ideas were executed with surprising amount of nuance and emotional weight, making for compelling viewing even today. But as often is the case with early pioneers, at least as many ideas had too many rough edges. What made things worse was that, as much as Mobile Suit Gundam broke away from the super robot genre, it couldn't do so completely. Despite the attempted serialised storytelling, the series rarely thinks about more than two episodes at a time. As a result, romantic subplots would surface then get forgotten; minor characters get introduced and killed off within a couple of episodes like clockwork; side stories and ideas mostly resolves within the same time frame, even the more complex ones desperately in need of fleshing out. On top of this, the format of the episodes are rigid, and after a while the obligatory battle of the week begins to resemble the monster-of-the-week format so omnipresent in the show's super robot predecessors.

Hampered by the short-termism of the writing and the pseudo-episodic format, the series soon began to drag, in spite of the semi-regular short bursts of quality. Even the initially thoughtful military engagements peter out into mostly paint-by-numbers affairs thanks to the sheer number of battles exhausting the limited supply of good ideas. In addition, due to the children's toy tie in (unsuitable though it may be considering the content of the show), the show regularly gets hijacked by toy manufacturers keen to sell merch, so we're inundated with Gundam specs and battle configurations that aren't detailed enough to satisfy those (like me) who enjoy getting into the nitty gritty details of combat, but at the same time more than enough to bore those who don't care about such things.

The show also suffers from other flaws symptomatic of the times. For instance the comic relief kids, looking like they came from an entirely different type of show, whose greatest contributions were that of annoyance - and as a parent of a toddler going through the terrible twos phase at the time of watching I don't say this lightly. Then there's the smattering of casual 70s sexism which jars especially when placed next to the strong roles given to the female characters who aren't just damsels in distress. A few years later, Macross would take the strong women characterisations further, but here we're very much in the early stages of these ideas.

As the Mobile Suit Gundam limps into the final stretch with a return back to space, it gets an injection of renewed energy, and the meandering overarching plot appears to suddenly rediscover a sense of purpose. Unfortunately this is counterbalanced by a palpable shift for the direction of the plot. If it feels like the story's been redone, that's probably because it had: series creator Yoshiki Tomino's original story draft differed dramatically from what eventually got made. In addition, the series got cancelled due to low ratings, and the writers had to tie up the series sooner than planned. This left the show's home straight feeling invigorated but disjointed: ideas and concepts that went unmentioned for the first 30+ episodes are suddenly everywhere and on all the characters' lips ("newtype" anyone?); the new concepts predictably remain underdeveloped; characters forge unconvincingly deep connections practically over night; character motivations went through 180s (sometimes multiple ones). Char's character in particular suffered, and comes across as borderline split personality disorder towards the end. These gripes aside, the last few episodes were sprinkled with some of the most exciting battles and well directed scenes in the series. It really felt like team worked hard to pull out all the stops to end the series on a high. Alas, I found its deus ex style ending a bit of a let down.

So, how does the show hold up today? Probably better than I expected. It's a bit of a mixed bag for sure: it features a serialised story constrained by the episodic narrative mentality; it contains some fascinating characters along with some dubious character development; it exhibited some great military battles early on only to run out of steam under the relentless rigid format. While far from unwatchable, I'm also not convinced Mobile Suit Gundam has enough to keep most modern audiences engaged. There is one group for which this show is an easy sell though - those with an interest in anime history, especially of the mecha genre. It's no exaggeration to say that you can trace visible, direct lines from this show to other giants of the medium that came out years and even decades later. It's one of those shows where I came out feeling like I'd grown as an anime fan just by having experience it first hand.

But for all its obvious influential clout, personally I think Mobile Suit Gundam was eclipsed by another legendary - though perhaps less influential - anime that started airing just half a year later: The Rose of Versailles. The two shows provide a fascinating contrast: while at first impressions the hilariously dated production of The Rose of Versailles aged far more poorly than Mobile Suit Gundam, as The Rose of Versailles goes on the story gained more and more momentum (perhaps due to having the unfair advantage of adapting an existing manga); it took full advantage of the serialised format and spun a superbly engrossing yarn that won me over completely by the end. Now there is a show I'd still recommend to a lot of audiences today. Mobile Suit Gundam? I'm not so sure.

Personal rating: +0.5 (decent)

First off I love old school anime, especially mecha anime. Macross (as Robotech) was probably one of the first anime I ever watched. After watching hundreds of shows since I thought it a shame I still hadn't watched such a classic as Gundam so with some free time I finally decided to watch it. Unfortunately my excitement and anticipation soon turned to shock and dismay at just how silly and dumb the plot of this show is, I couldn't believe it. THIS is the show that started a franchise that is still going over 40 years later? I'm dumbfounded. Two things to get out ... of the way first I love the Gundam (though it's combing with the core and other fighters got a little dumb) the design still holds up and was probably the best thing animation wise in the whole show. The music was top notch too, you can hear where a lot of later shows were derivative of it. However the plot and characters are just plain dumb, all of them. None of it made sense and the complete change in the final third with the "newtypes" was even more mindbogglingly dumb than the earlier parts. Outside of nostalgia or just to see where it all began I can't really recommend watching this as it will take quite an effort to sit through all 43 (for some reason the creator won't let episode 15 be released in the west even though it's no dumber than the rest) episodes, even if it was made for kids this is still an insult to children's intelligence. Honestly the best way to watch it as a comedy, since I honestly laughed at this more than some actual comedies.

As much as I respect the fact that Mobile Suit Gundam is the founding father of the Mecha and Gundam Genre, it hardly makes up for some of the glaring issues that in my opinion ended up ruining some of the better elements.

Foremost, plotwise, the White Base and Gundam duo are nigh unstoppable. If it weren't for those alone, the Federation would have had an exceedingly difficult war, yet the Plot Armor proved god-like, annihilating with ease every Zeon ace in its path. Why? That's explained with even more plot armor. It takes a spanning war and trivializes it as a boy who hates war ... is unwittingly its most potent killing machine.

This entirely takes away from the "war is bad" trope they push. Why would you entertain god-complex ideologies with your viewers and then tell them, "war and killing is bad m'kay"?

That aside, the character cast is phoenomal, the originality and art for its time were excellent.

In my opinion though, it wasn't great, and it certainly wasn't bad. It's a 5-6 in my opinion due to the overarching problems from above.

*Gets ready for fan boy hatemail*

*Progenitors walk so their descendants can run (I hope they'll run)*

~~

All due respect is given to this revolutionary title without second thought. One would basically be living under a rock were they unknowing of the breadth and depth of its success. No matter what I say here, it wouldn't ever touch its reputation. These are merely ramblings of a random person who thinks the very origin of the franchise feels inadequate in and of itself (final opinion should never be cemented in individual seasons comprising a whole, and it should never be taken too seriously when someone finds faults predominant in a certain part; practicing ... giving the benefit of the doubt while acknowledging the current state of affairs is the way to go), and I would be hard-pressed to believe otherwise when things are only getting started in the grand scheme of things, at least I hope it is.

Mobile Suit Gundam's length and its neverending series of battles actually finds strong defense against people who find it dragging and repetitive: it shares to the viewers the weariness of the White Base crew. As a type of war which has seen skyrocketing casualties in the span of around nine months, the first of it already having cut the global population in half, it is an essential step to dedicate time in staying put in the battlefield. Especially effective is the fatigue felt when our crew is filled with teenagers, unseasoned soldiers, regular civilians, or a mixture of the three, who have little idea on what they are doing. Not to mention that their victories rewarded them with more work. It was something else feeling like the episodes were a drag and yet being aware that this is but a drop of the exhaustion the main cast has been undergoing through.

What I perceived it has done, however, in focusing on the wasting of human lives instantaneously like a flicker, is neglect the worlds under and above the surface of human life itself.

Although it fulfilled its job of presenting the aftereffects of a world war: in causing the death of loved ones (Frau Bow's); providing vision to a widow's emotions; displaying the complete eradication of natural habitats; showing the existence of refugee camps; soldiers blinded by pursuit of valor and forsaking morality; generating loss and separation (Kai, Mirai, and Ryu); conflicting the relationship of once innocent people (Char and Sayla); sourcing the desire to retire and repay one's debts (Cucuruz Doan); the despondence of a mother upon witnessing her son participating in the cold war (Amuro and his mother); perpetuating the cycle of hatred (Amuro and Icelina); among few more things, it fails to hammer me with the hopelessness, the unkindness, the utter evil of human nature that it implied was the universal impression from the replayed recitations summarizing Universal Century 0079.

Zeon's condescension is an appropriate response to the burgeoning population as the antagonistic faction, yes. At the very least their ideology foils, making it thematically relevant. But I am yet to be convinced of their fervor to enact domination and superseding this model of mankind for superior ones without any reason for it--a "just-is" action cannot work for me here. A promising premise turns empty without support. By that same logic, the presentations I mentioned on the above paragraph lack profound substance if not used to install weight upon the gravity of the global crisis.

After fleeing Side 7 after its devastation, I understand that the people were suspended in tension enough to go through the first battles. However, it seemed so disturbing that Frau Bow did not so much as exhibit reactions one would be forced to show in response to such grievous loss. She lost her family, but she, an ordinary human being, seemed just fine after all of it, save the short instance of paralysis? She had the children and Amuro to cope up with the loss, but even then, it felt psychologically impairing were I to be in her shoes.

What was the purpose of Kai having his own little arc if he still remained the same as before? More eagerness to bring down Zeon shown in his better combat performance? The effect seemed minute and insubstantial that it can just be traced to his common behavior before the ordeal, rather than a concrete reason for some sort of development.

The same holds true with Amuro after he left his mother on Earth. What were the consequences of that event? His mother was not even mentioned after that, and there were more than a half of the anime left. One would have thought something so depressing as that would have left its mark to be frequently remembered, but Amuro was as coarse, as inept to sensibility like always. Pity when the imagery during the farewell was verily striking. I insert that episode on Cucuruz Doan's island where they talked about the beauty of transience in the midst of an era where the world is a graveyard. Keen notice of ephemera is indeed a movement to sit upon; such a beautiful inclusion!...until it's left to dust like the others. It's like the team felt that they have done their job to impact the audience and did not find the need to re-acknowledge it by layering it with more substance thereafter.

External elements away from the White Base crew, including the widow, the destruction of habitats, the refugee camp, the retired soldier, lacked a jarring element as a stimuli to elicit dread. Pieces were placed on the puzzle, but it felt so little in comparison to the magnification of metal battles. Through Gundam's establishment of 0079's state of humankind as something at the pits of favorability due to the massive scale of the war, it is a must to fortify the claim by making it so abundantly evident that people really are suffering. As it is, it lacked the emotional manipulation which would have made it believable. Maybe the foremost intent is the showcasing of choreographic mecha battles--I'm sold on that, for sure. I'm just left to want something more.

Moving outside the confines of battle once again, we find drama strutting through the grounds. How wonky everything regarding Mirai was. I thought her and Bright had a thing together. Then in a beat she was smitten by the lieutenant? Nothing short of cheesy was the four-way romance centering Mirai, and I really wished they didn't include that at all, or at least took the lieutenant from the equation.

Speaking of Bright, there were hints that he likes Sayla after all. Really, what was him and Mirai all about?

In relation to abrupt surprises we have Lala risking her life for Char for reasons that he was her savior...But how did he save her, is the question that was never answered at all. A gaping hole precludes the holistic formation of her character, which is sad because she indeed was the most intriguing addition to the story as a newtype.

Ah, yes, newtypes. It's a perfect segue to discuss about it. I'm actually quite invested in this major turning plot point because it explains Amuro's miraculous stand-off against Char in his first battle. We were led to believe it was all the Gundam's computer doing all the work, elevating its innovation to the highest highs when it could even carry an amateur fighting against one of the best pilots, and it was great in order to concentrate on mecha as an evolved weapon, as well as its connection to the pilots deploying it (the age old sentiment being man is humanity's best tool). And it turns out, Amuro had the potential to be superhuman from the beginning. Char, too, but his awakening is more delayed.

Not much detail is published on newtypes. The first season properly built up on it though despite announcing it on the final stretches. It achieved a level of excitement for Zeta. Indeed I little qualms at its addition. Lack of foreshadowing was an issue. The first Gihren speech was wrought with pretense of Zeon being the "good" nation in painting the Earth Federation as an oppressor. The second and final one, in raising morale before the siege against A Baoa Qu, exclaimed his true goal to the public: to only retain the superior breed of mankind. I don't think it helps the Zabi sovereignty when Gihren switches standing like that, from it being a justified war against evil to straight-up sweeping the planets off unwanted species. As such, that really wasn't a smart thing to do, but in the end the soldiers were all in for it for some reason. Of course the civilians never had their time to be in the spotlight.

These were the problems I've been riddled with in my watching experience. There is a lot to want; I haven't even touched Casval and Artesia's siblinghood. As for the positives, I actually have enjoyed both music and visuals. I did not feel production was an issue when the anime didn't play itself as so deficient in those departments given the era of its creation. Most noteworthy is that one image of Amuro's fierce face infused by the waves of Lala's influence, with her on the center. Such creative presentation which would have made me an instant faithful apostle of the franchise were I to see it in times prior to this version of how I look media, and were I not already hooked by the mobile suit fights. Those episodes were fitting of its cosmic setting, having reach throughout the edges of its scope. Mobile Suit Gundam would have been remiss to forego involvement of good ol' fate and destiny in the spiritual conversation between Amuro and Lala. Enough said, I was all in for it, and I will most certainly carry this sentiment as I continue through this dense franchise.

This show is about a group of ordinary people who become soldiers and use the Earth Federation's powerful ship, the White Base, and their new weapon, the Gundam, to fight the Zeon Empire. I found the story repetitive as the group traveled from one place to another to get supplies and repair their weapons. However, the show stands out for its focus on character development and interpersonal relationships. The protagonist, Amuro Ray, must grow and learn to work with his team in order to overcome his enemies.

The show also highlights the human cost of war. It shows how war affects not only soldiers but ... also innocent people. It emphasizes that war is not just about winning and losing but about the loss of life and human suffering. Gundam provides a sincere and refreshing perspective on war that is absent in many contemporary shows, where the humanitarian aspect of war is often used for emotional manipulation and tear-jerker subplots. However, the show's main weakness is its incomplete story. As a result, some character arcs were rushed, and the main war narrative was tied up quickly in the final episodes.

Anyway, I was more interested in the Zeon side of the conflict. The story included a subplot of political maneuvering and power struggles among the ruling party of Zeon, which I found intriguing. The character Char Aznable was especially fascinating, as he was a highly skilled mobile suit pilot and rival to Amuro Ray. His past and motivations were revealed slowly, making me want to know more about him. He is my favorite character from the entire Gundam series.

The battles are more realistic than those of recent Gundam series like Gundam Seed and Gundam 00. The show emphasizes teamwork between Amuro in the Gundam, the weapons and support team on White Base, and the other pilots in their mobile suits. Each battle is suspenseful because of the inexperienced crew and the vulnerability of the Gundam, which creates a greater sense of peril than in the recent Gundam series.

Admittedly, getting into this series may not be easy, mainly due to its age. The animation style is painfully outdated, which is one of my main issues. However, if you can overlook these aspects and are interested in a well-crafted war drama, then you may be able to enjoy this show.