Kidou Senshi Zeta Gundam (Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam)

It is Universal Century 0087, and the One Year War between the Earth Federation and Principality of Zeon is over. The Earth Federation has created an elite task force, known as the Titans, who are responsible for hunting the remaining Zeon forces. However, the power-hungry Titans have shown themselves to be no better than Zeon, spurring the creation of a rebellious faction called the Anti-Earth Union Group (AEUG).

17-year-old Kamille Bidan lives in the colony Green Noa, home to a Titan base. Kamille gets in trouble after assaulting a Titan officer, an event that coincides with an attack led by former Zeon ace Char Aznable, now known as AEUG pilot Quattro Bajeena. When Kamille steals a Titan's prototype Gundam, he soon finds himself in the middle of the dangerous conflict.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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Related Anime

Adaptation:	Kidou Senshi Z Gundam, Kidou Senshi Zeta Gundam
Prequel:	Kidou Senshi Gundam, Kidou Senshi Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory
Sequel:	Kidou Senshi Gundam ZZ
Alternative version:	Kidou Senshi Z Gundam I: Hoshi wo Tsugu Mono, Kidou Senshi Z Gundam II: Koibito-tachi, Kidou Senshi Z Gundam III: Hoshi no Kodou wa Ai
Side story:	Gundam Neo Experience 0087: Green Divers
Summary:	Akai Shouzou: Char, Soshite Frontal e, Kidou Senshi Gundam Unicorn: Episode EX - Hyakunen no Kodoku, Kidou Senshi Gundam: Hikaru Inochi Chronicle U.C.

More characters

Characters & Voice Actors

Aznable, Char

Main

Ikeda, Shuuichi
Japanese

Bidan, Kamille

Main

Tobita, Nobuo
Japanese

Ray, Amuro

Supporting

Furuya, Toru
Japanese

Karn, Haman

Supporting

Sakakibara, Yoshiko
Japanese

Noa, Bright

Supporting

Suzuoki, Hirotaka
Japanese

Haro

Supporting

Shou, Mayumi
Japanese

Mass, Sayla

Supporting

Noa, Hathaway

Supporting

Hanai, Yasuko
Japanese

Zabi, Mineva Lao

Supporting

Itou, Miki
Japanese

Murasame, Four

Supporting

Shimazu, Saeko
Japanese

More staff

Staff

Yatate, Hajime

Producer, Original Creator

Uchida, Kenji

Producer

Tomino, Yoshiyuki

Director, Script, Storyboard, Theme Song Lyrics, Original Creator

Sekita, Osamu

Director, Episode Director, Storyboard

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Opening Theme

	1: "Zeta: Toki wo koete (Z・刻をこえて)" by Mami Ayukawa (eps 1-23)
	2: "Mizu no Hoshi e Ai wo Komete (水の星へ愛をこめて)" by Hiroko Moriguchi (eps 24-50)

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Ending Theme

"Hoshizora no Believe (星空のBelieve)" by Mami Ayukawa

Reviews

Aug 13, 2008

Monkey_D_Luffy

Recommended

Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam is, of course, the second installment in the Gundam franchise, so first off watch the original Mobile Suit Gundam beforehand. That should go without saying. Comparatively, this sequel not only lives up to its predecessor, but even surpasses it.

Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam's tale is set seven years in the future after its prequel, and quite a bit has happened since then. In the One Year War we watched a brutal war between the Earth Federation Forces and the Principality of Zeon. Now, we watch as a tyrannical sect of the Earth Federation, known as the Titans, and the Anti-Earth Union Group, ... a faction of rebels, duke it out. In the beginning of the series, we're sort of just quickly tossed into the middle of things, but as the story progresses things make more sense and it turns out fine.

Zeta's story is also a bit more mature, and becomes more developed than Mobile Suit Gundam's. There really is not a centralized antagonist, like Char in MSG. You could consider this a slight downfall, or perhaps even an improvement, because it's questionable whether or not Zeta would have felt a bit too dependent on the MSG story. So maybe you will feel like you're missing something, or you might be glad that it isn't just a rehash. But, as I was saying, the plot gets developed nicely as more obstacles, alliances, secrets, and politics are involved. Speaking of which, Zeta does an exceptional job at building up political battles, that aren't too simple, but that are still easily followable. Overall, Zeta tells a brilliant story that beats MSG's.

Now, here we go with the art and sound. My ratings on these are actually based on today's standards. If it was still the '80's, I'm positive the animation would be worthy of a perfect 10. But to still be given a 7 two decades later is remarkable. One aspect of the animation that I really liked was the nice use of camera splitting, for lack of a better name. It's something that isn't very popular in today's animation techniques I'd say. If you don't know what I'm talking about, it's when we have one image on the screen, and then part of it is split to display another image, or something pretty popular is when the screen is just cut in two with different images on top and bottom. Zeta definitely utilizes the best animation techniques available for its time.
Now, the sound is actually outstanding and very impressive. Most of the background tunes are made of magnificent orchestral pieces that capture perfect moods. The sound effects are of course a huge improvement from MSG, and they actually don't sound old at all or anything. The opening and ending themes are similar to the background music; really nicely made instrumental compositions. The voice acting is pretty much standard voice acting.

Now where to start with our Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam characters. This time the story follows a young man by the name of Kamille Bidan. He becomes a member of the AEUG aboard the Argama ship and is a valuable Gundam pilot. Like Amuro Ray, he is a Newtype. In the beginning he is somewhat of a whiny and foolish kid, but, no doubt about it, this boy suffers much more than Amuro did as an assortment of tragedies occur throughout the series. I'd say his character as the lead protagonist gets better developed than Amuro's as well. Speaking of Amuro, just about every character from the White Base crew have appearances. Some are more important than others, but it is nice seeing how the crew has all matured. Bright Noa and Char Aznable, better known as Quattro Bajeena in Zeta, are main characters as well, and Char himself gets much more developed as well. The characters of course deal with deaths, relationships, switching alliances, intense battles, and the like.

Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam absolutely does not disappoint in enjoyment. Every episode is action-packed with awesome mecha and space warfare. It is a superb and fun watch all the way through, and it totally lives up to the greatness of its prequel. It is a joy to follow and gets seriously epic at the right moments.

Overall, it is remarkable how well Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam was pulled off after the spectacular Mobile Suit Gundam. Pulling off another marvelous show that not only lives up to, but surpasses the first is hard to do, but here it is incredibly done.

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Apr 8, 2009

alex264

Mixed Feelings

"Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam", the smash hit of 1984, was often seen as the better offspring of "Mobile Suit Gundam" which was cancelled in 1979. Having completed the series within a couple weeks time, I was able to assess the entire universe of Zeta following the one year war and can confidently say that while yes, the series expanded to major dramatic plateaus, astounding animation for its time, and compelling character development, that I missed the optimistic ideologies concerning war that were so evident in the original Mobile suit series. This fact compounded with many shortcomings made me a confused fan by then end of ... the series' run.

The evolution that takes place after the end of the one year war made for a compelling plot turn, that caused viewers to change their whole perspective on what "sides" in a conflict actually entail. I thought this was great, it made it more realistic and made the series much more original and compelling than it had been. The re introduction of Char Aznable as an essential freedom fighter only sealed the concept of what "good and evil" really is. His devotion to his responsibility throughout the series was extremely gratifying to see, and his mysterious fight with Haman Karn towards the end only made things seem more realistic! The good guy doesn't always win! That being said, the story engaged me in the beggining, but I felt as it progressed it was much to focused on Kamille's development. These Titans are attempting to bring martial law to the galaxy and make the one year war a big hypocritical mess, and everything is just "oh well Kamille is just so emotional and maturingm and such a great pilot". Unlike Amuro in the first season, I felt Kamille couldn't give a damn about the war effort. He doesn't seem to even remember his parents after they die, and continues to overlook the big pictures as time goes on! His ending seemed to prove some of his core integrity but I think they should have introduced that earlier. I guess this is sort of story/character combined, whatever. I enjoyed the powerful figures in the series, Scirocco was hilariously anime evil but still felt more genuine than Kamille, and Haman is one of my favorite characters ever now. She was so dedicated to the Zabi family and shunned her feelings and that came through in the LITTLE time she even had on the show! As for some of the lesser characters...I felt Amuro was portrayed as much less enthusiastic even after he "awakens" just to make Kamille more dominant and for the viewers not to realize how much more likeable Amuro was. Look, Kamille is a teenager I get that, I get that we are unpredictable and emotional and mature slow sometimes, but this kid for whatever reason did'nt seem to be genuine at all! Its like they wrote his "mature" lines with the implication that he knew he was being mature just to get his own way. Every time I saw him "grow" I just saw him get wiser and more coniving, not more sympathetic or enthusiastic for ending the war, (at least till the very end). I didn't really think the show touched on Sciroccos strange powers enough, and I felt that it spent too much time on pointless side characters at times. LIke AMUROS RANDOM GIRLFRIEND god that was the worst! And FOUR!!!?!?, she was like female Kamille, both hollow robots who yell alot about nothing, AND ROSAMMY holy crap what a pointless plot stretch!>!>!I liked how Fa's relationship with Kamille played out however that felt realistic in terms of mecha anime at least. I also enjoyed the sparks between Katz and sarah and Haman and Char. Sometimes the show got preachy and random with live but I saw what they were trying for. In all the beginning was interesting and original, then the middle got predictable with the chases back to back to back, and then the ending was great. One more thing about character and plot....JERID IS THE WORST FOIL TO THE MAIN CHARACTER EVER. Boring no beneficial development, and a pointless poinless foil to Kamille. Every time they were both on screen it was just back and forth "Jerid!!?!?" and then "Kamille!?!?!?" In the first series Char was the perfect foil because he was a paradox and SIMILIAR to Amuro. I guess my guilty pleasure would be the kid factor, I love that tradition of the random kids on the ship.

The Art for the series was remarkable, the space battles were intense and vivid. I regret some of the loops of animation in the series, I swear I saw the same "zaku getting blown up" images 20 times a show, but its understandable. The animation on this show could pass for a 90s show and it was phenominal. I wish they would show some more of the inner colonies(inside those cyllinders) however, that would added more depth to their color palettes instead of the mostly blacks(space) and reds(lasers) and silvers(inside ships). The mobile suits looked great and it was a relief to see the core fighter system gone.

This series was serious trouble in terms of sound. That dubbing was good for character voices but the timing in many integral scenes was tragically off. For example Fa would say "oh.......kamille" after just bumping into him for a second in the hall, leading the viewer to see deep love out a supposed nothing, I'd have more examples if I wrote them down. In these series if the timing for talking isn't natural its just that not natural and less dramatic!!?!? I kept feeling like thats why they kept explaining every plot point instead of just subtle language, because their timing was horrible! The viewer is reduced to a sponge absorbing everything they need to hear in terms of plot instead of being able to decipher themes on their own. I really really wish I enjoyed this series more, the ending battles were great, but I feel that the main characters growth really sucked the life out of the show. I like dark shows trust, me, and I liked how dark this show got, but Kamille didn't compliment that darkness, he made it disingenuous through his snoody nature, you know now that I think about it maybe the sound is what made him appear "snoody" to me instead of mature! I dunno....but both were off. This show turned Gundam into a more serious force in the anime world, and I agree that it should be a classic for that AND for changing the enthusiastic pace of the show to a somber one, however, lame subplots, bad characters, and awkward dialogue made this installment sub par and less engrossing as the first. Even with the great battles..

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Mar 26, 2008

slpless

Not Recommended

Zeta Gundam (Zeta) is considered by many to be superior to the original, Mobile Suit Gundam (MSG) as well as being Tomino’s masterpiece. I decided to watch Zeta right after being disappointed by MSG. In particular, I was interested to see if Zeta would be as dark and realistic as many fans say. Like my previous MSG review I will judge Zeta by today’s narrative standards as well as ignoring art and sound in the overall grade.

First off let me talk about the technical aspects. Animation wise it is definitely one of the better animated series of the 1980’s. I ... was pleasantly surprised by the quality for a mid 80’s anime. Music used is more universal than that of MSG as they used many orchestra pieces, thus giving it an ‘era-less’ feel. However, the music is way too over done and in your face. Yes, we know this is supposed to be a sad scene, you don’t have to rub it in my face. With better animation, there should be some nice fast paced mecha action right? Well, they weren’t, many of the battles were very deliberate and slow. This confuses me to no end as to how the fight scenes were as slow and boring as MSG which aired 6 years before.

As for the story, Zeta suffers from the same problems as MSG. The episodes in Zeta are extremely standalone, build up, climax, and resolution all happen in one episode. So don’t expect cliffhangers and expect extremely disjointed episodes. Even in the 2nd to last episode there wasn’t any cliffhanger. The only thing keeping me going was the will to finish. In addition, I disliked how the new antagonists, the Titians, were depicted as too “black” or evil. Unlike, in MSG both sides are given screen time and both sides were extremely sympatric.

Now on to the characters, this is where Zeta loses most of its points. Kamille is what happens with you take all the bad parts of Amuro and amplify it several times over. If you thought that Shin from Gundam SEED Destiny was bad, then be glad you haven’t met Kamille. Kamille does whatever he wants with no concern for the greater good of the ship and people on the ship. Sure he’s a teenager, but someone that’s compromised the crew and ship so many times should never be in the cockpit of a Gundam, no matter how good of a pilot he may be. Not only is it him but, just about everyone seems to throw temper tantrums (except for Char and Amuro). The worst one would have to Katz, I swear I have never screamed at my monitor so much. In addition, the number of friends/lovers on opposing sides was way too high and becomes too hard to accept. Like with the whinny brats they over did it in this respects too. Zeta is filled with too much angst and not enough story or development to support it all. A real person has flaws, wants and desires, that is what makes us human. Zeta overdoes it in this regards by making them too selfish and flawed thus, makes the characters unrealistic and unlikable. I was literally screaming in joy near the end of the series when certain characters started to get killed off. However, I’ll have to give it to Zeta for not reverting to Char and Amuro as main characters as Gundam SEED Destiny did.

My last complaint, concerns the ending….what the hell was that!? I really can’t say much else without spoiling but it left me quite confused and dumfounded. I though they were going to continue the story in Gundam ZZ however, I heard it was very light in tone and inferior to Zeta Gundam.

Zeta Gundam suffers from the same problem as MSG in terms of episode continuity and pacing. The build up, climax and resolution all happen in one episode. It does feature some of the best animation of the 1980’s and very universal music albeit too overt. The characters in Zeta are filled with too much angst and there isn’t enough story or development to support it all. What makes it worst is that the characters are illogical and painful to watch.

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