Kidou Senshi Victory Gundam

Victory Gundam is known to be extremely depressing and for good reason, Tomino, the creator of the Gundam Franchise was depressed at the time because Sunrise was merging with Bandai and this is personally his most hated series and even said 'You are a fool for watching this' But as a Gundam fan I felt it was my duty to watch this and I can see why he hates it so much.

While Victory is a 'kill em all' series, a lot of it was rather unpleasant to watch as there were a lot of deaths that were a little extreme like beheading, vaporized by ... a beam saber, and crushing your skull. Death is nothing new in the Gundam series but these were some pretty heavy killings and I wouldn't have much of a problem with it except for one thing which is that the main character Uso Erwin is only 13 years old, the youngest pilot at the time before Gundam AGE and all these things happen around him, its a little much for the series and of course the bath scene which I still find very unusual.

The animation is nice and very smooth but for some reason, none of the characters or mech's have any shading, its a solid colour which didn't really bother me but it does stand out while you're watching the series.

There are quite a few characters but I'll focus on the main 2 which are Uso and Shakti. Overall Uso is a likeable character with good traits and a skilled pilot, he does mature quickly in the series. Shakti however is probably one of the most hated if not most hated female lead because she constantly gets captured and actually sometimes goes to the enemy only for the league militaire to rescue her and suffer a casualty each time because of her.

Overall the series pacing was pretty clustered at first but did have a good ending, the characters were likeable except 3 people overall and it did have a pretty decent Gundam.

At one point Mobile Suit Victory Gundam was my most hated Gundam Show of all time. I hated the narrative and plot of Victory Gundam. I hated the characters, aboustly despite the pacing, hated the lack of actual substance of the show where characters would die randomly for no reason in the show and I hated the visuals for Victory Gundam as it’s very poorly animated and lack any detail. Even if Victory Gundam had a great soundtrack I still despise it for being a poorly animated and written shit show where I thought Gundam Seed Destiny, ZZ Gundam, and Gundam Build Fighters Try were ... better written then Victory Gundam. That how much I despise it.

However as soon I went to Gundam forums and facebook groups and I declared that Victory Gundam was the worst Gundam show ever made I got a lot of blackish from many hardcore Gundam fans who actually thought Victory Gundam was a good show. Many fans of the show thought me that I didn’t understand the show because the creator and director Tomino was going through depression and I should feel bad for him. Honestly I felt bad for Tomino that he was going  through depression but at the same time I thought Tomino should have abandoned the show halfway through and let another director take over the show because the show could have been a lot better and tolerable if the show changed directors halfway through but history is history and we cannot travel back in time to 1993 and change things around.

As people continue to blackish me for my opinion of Victory Gundam as well them telling me to re-watch it again my friend contacted me about my opinion my Victory Gundam and he told me to come to his house to get his Victory Gundam Blu-Rays that were released by Nozomi Entertainment in the US. Since I live in the UK I had to borrow his small Region Free Blu-Ray player that allows Blu-Rays from the USA to be played. I ended up borrowing his Victory Gundam Blu-Rays and the Blu-Ray player for a month and when I was not busy with personal life I sat down and watched the whole thing in 5 sittings and by the end of my re-watch I was honestly I liked it the second time watching. Don’t get me wrong I don’t think it was a great show but at the same time, I don't think it was a bad show and am going to tell you why.

Hello, everyone, this is Shawn aka KurataLordStage and welcome to my review of Mobile Suit Victory Gundam and with that out of the way let’s get started.

Story.
It is the year UC 0153 90 years since the One Year War, 60 years since Char rebellion and 30 years since the Crossbone Vanguard the earth is still lossly controlled by the greatly weakened earth federation who are under attack by the BESPA the armed forces of the space colony-based Zanscare Empire. Only a ragtag resistance movement, League Militaire, stands in BESPA's way as they swiftly conquer much of space and start their invasion of Earth, with the advanced mass-produced mobile suit, the Victory Gundam, as the League Militaire's secret weapon. However, BESPA's power continues to grow, using violent means, including public executions with guillotines, to strike fear into those living on Earth.

The story follows a 13th-year-old Uso Ewin who is living peacefully on earth with his childhood friend Shahkti in the Eastern European town of Kasarelia. However, the peaceful days would come to a end where they are thrown into a conflict when they encounter with they encounter ace BESPA pilot Chronicle Asher. Soon, Üso finds himself joining forces with Marbet Fingerhut and the rest of the League Militaire, Now Uso must pilot the Gundam so he can fight against the BESPA as well discovering the true horrors of war.

The story of Victory Gundam begins in a very odd way because episode 1 is actually episode 4 while the episodes 2 to 4 were actually episodes 1 to 3, however, there was a reason for this awarkawd start. Around this time Bandi brought the rights to Gundam as well as Studio Sunrise and needless to say director Tomino aboustly hated it. The main reason why episode 4 was showed first instead of the actual episode 1 is so Bandai can promote the Victory Gundam mobile suit to increase model sales.

The one thing that should know that Victory Gundam is easily the darkest Gundam show to date even surpassing Zeta Gundam and this is mostly due to the fact that director Tomino was suffering from depression where if you know the man well it leads to a kill them all series.

Besides that what do I think about the story of Victory Gundam? Honestly, I thought it was just decent for the most part.

For starters, I really like the tone of Victory Gundam for the most part as it perfectly captures the atmosphere of war in a more darker manner. Unlike all of the Gundam shows before and after  Victory, this one is mostly dead serious in terms of tone as it rarely has any lighthearted moments.
I also really loved the themes that were explored in Victory Gundam such as betrayal, death, immigration, peace, and insanity and the show did a pretty great on exploring it' themes without being too preachy about it.

The final 12 episodes were Victory Gundam were pretty awesome overall as it was well paced had a lot of great elements which I won't mention due to spoilers, good writing great battles and the ending for Victory Gundam was great as it perfectly concludes the series in a sad but satisfying way.

However, Mobile Suit Victory Gundam has a lot of problems.
The first problem I had with Victory Gundam is the pacing. In terms of pacing Victory Gundam has some of the worst pacing I have ever seen in a Gundam show and while it’s not as bad as Wing and especially in Seed Destiny it’s still a big problem due to how nothing really important happens in the middle portion as it’s only featured a lot of repetitive fights in space.

The second problem I had with Victory Gundam were the deaths themselves. While I liked of how Victory Gundam explored the theme of death the problem is the execution at times for example characters who got little to no screen time until that point suddenly become the focus of the episode have the audience to get attached to these character for they respective episodes only them to be killed off by the end of the episodes. The was okay in the beginning but it really got annoying and predictable as the series went on. Honestly, what is the point of putting characters in the spotlight if they are going to be killed in the end?
This is just subpar writing and it really just toys with the audience emotions.

The third problem that I had with Victory Gundam is how women were portrayed. I understand the writers tried to make Women as ruthless as men in a war setting however they writers really jumped the shark here because all the women in Victory Gundam are either ineffectual or unexplainably psychotic and because of that they were all really hard to sympathize with which is a huge problem in terms of characterization.

The fourth and final problem with Victory Gundam was the despite being a dark Gundam series it was way unnecessarily over the top for its own good meaning the show would be too flashy about the deaths and other stuff in the show. It wasn't so bad in the first half but the second half really got carried away with it’s over the top nonsensical deaths to some of the cringe-worthy stuff like the Lupe bathtub scene in episode 29 which completely screwed up the tone of the series greatly.
Beside those shortcomings, I thought the story for Victory Gundam was okay that had a lot of good themes and elements.
6/10

Characters.
Like with the story the characters in Victory Gundam were decent for the most part.
Uso is pretty good Gundam protagonist. Despite being the youngest protagonist in Gundam he maturely says otherwise as he develops as a very compelling character to struggles to prevent the death of his friends and comrades but can never keep people from dying no matter how very hard he tries not to mention he is a greatly skilled pilot.
Shakti is probably my least favorite character in this show. While she was a decent chararter in the beginning but once she started to reach Lacus, Marina and Relena levels of annoyance and preachiness I started disliking her greatly.
The characters in the league militare were decent and enjoyable characters overall however apart from Odelo who was a good character they were all pretty underdeveloped.

While the Zanscare Empire as just as ruthless as the Titans in Zeta Gundam however unlike like Titans in Zeta Gundam where some of the characters were actually likable every character in the Zanscare Empire minus Cornicle and Katejina were lackluster.
Chronicle Asher is the char clone of the series but is honestly not a good one. While he, not a good char clone I thought he was still a pretty decent chararter overall and I really liked his sympathy where he doesn’t like to target non-combatants but instead he rather order civilians away from areas of danger.
Katejina is a pretty interesting character because she is probably the character that I enjoyed the most in this show. Yes, she did some unspeakable acts through the series that would make anyone angry but think I enjoyed about Katejina was her journey to madness. She went from your typical spoiled rich girl who worried about Uso safely due to he being young in the League Militaire to an utter psychopath where she switched sides with the Zanscare Empire after being captured by Chronicle.
While I personally don’t like Katejina as a person thanks to her unspeakable acts I still liked how the show did with Katejina.
Overall the characters in Victory Gundam were decent but enjoyable for the most part.
6/10

Visuals.
For a show made in the early 90s, I thought the visuals of Victory Gundam were alright.
The character designs were pretty good for the most part and I really loved of how the show was able to showcase different skin colors instead of the usual white skin characters that we all seen before in many. It really gives characters more diversity in terms of how they looked.
As for the mecha designs, I thought there alright. I really loved the Victory Gundam and V2 designs as there were both original and great designs not to mention I really liked thy feature that they have such as V2 Wings of light.
The mobile suit for the Zancare Empire were pretty weird of Gundam standards. While I give them points for trying to be original but some of them were outright ridiculous like the Gedlav.
As for the actual animation, I thought is alright overall. While the show has no stock footage used and some of the fights were well animated I thought at times the show can get pretty choppy at times with its animation.
6/10
Sound.
The soundtrack is great as it perfectly fits with the dark tone of the series.
Both the opening and endings themes were pretty great overall yes they are very light-hearted compared to the rest of the show but I thought they were all great and catchy.
The Seiuyuus did a great job with the roles that were given so I have no complaints whatsoever.
Unfortunately like with ZZ, Turn A, and X victory Gundam does not have an English Dub.
Overall the soundtrack and voice acting for Victory Gundam were pretty great.
8/10

Final Thoughts.
So after re-watching Victory Gundam for the second time what I think about it?
While I personally thought it wasn’t an amazing Gundam show by any stretch of the imagination I also thought it was not that awful. While I prefer to watch most of the other Gundam shows that came before and after it I find the experience of victory to be pretty enjoyable for the most part. It still has a lot of problems in terms of the story and characters but it wasn’t an insulting pile of shit like ZZ Gundam, Build Fighters Try and Seed Destiny was. I thought Victory Gundam was a decent Gundam show that had a lot of good things in it but it does it have the problems that prevent it from being one of the good ones.   The pacing was way too slow for its own good at times, it was way over the top with its themes at times and dark nature and some of the characters were not that good.

Victory Gundam may get a lot of hate from non-UC Gundam fans and for very understandable good reasons mind you but I must remind you all that Victory Gundam wasn’t a total disaster. Victory Gundam had to potential to be awesome but sadly it was mismanaged and toyed with for the most part and because of that, this show ended up being a decent at best.

If you haven’t seen any Gundam show before I recommend you to avoid it until you have seen most of the U.C Gundam shows that came before it in the timeline.

After Victory Gundam was done director Tomino would be kicked off from the team and Victory Gundam would be the last U.C Gundam show from the timeline and for what it was I thought it was a decent end to a great timeline.
Final Score 6/10

Victory Gundam is really quite something, not as a show but as a testament to everything that Tomino has done for gundam thus far. This would be the last main universal century title to come out, and tomino last gundam show for a while before coming back but on a different project. The reason i’m putting Tomino in such high regard is not because he was the director, but also the writer for all the early main gundams. To the point that his very being is integral for him making these shows. With each passing title it’s easier to see the motifs, tropes, and cliches ... that people like tomino continually implement in their shows that give them their very own signature feel. The problem is that their not always good and victory gundam exemplifies all the good and bad qualities of a gundam show. Even without the meta-understanding of the series the show by itself has many problems.

The problems with the show are apparent as soon as the first episodes, as the way it was structured is shaky at best. The show has two timelines, while it really isn’t that confusing, it really offers nothing interesting that couldn’t have been done by going in a linear fashion. the only reason this could have been is to show off the gundam early so that people aren’t confused they are watching the wrong show since it would have taken several episodes for the iconic mech to appear. The show does pick itself up after a few more episodes and it becomes easy to notice how the show is very similar to many of his previous gundam works. While it doesn’t inherently make the show bad it does make it difficult to watch something that has been done before. Thankfully the show does add a bit to the show starting with the setting initially taking place on earth and being presented more as a historical work than a Sci-Fi as there are many historical analogs depicted in the factions. It also tries more to depict the Minutiae of battle to a certain amount of extent than its predecessors. Yet despite all this the show quickly falls on its face again and this becomes a common cycle throughout the entire show.

The most noticeable failing would be the character deaths mostly on how the characters were handled, and their are a lot of named character deaths. The trend shows itself early on after the introduction of the shrike team as many of them are killed off with only a smidge of personality. Their deaths may have been fine just as that, but the show makes a grand deal about this with the way it was shot, the blaring sad music, and the crying characters. While it may be tragic and could be argued that it’s in service of the characters that are still alive, it still does nothing for the viewers. While there may be sympathy for their deaths the fact that they don’t have enough development of being actualized tangible characters makes it difficult to empathize or reach a higher level of emotional investment. This doesn’t happen all the time as it’s more of a hill and valley situation but it’s still a lot of character deaths, and as more time progress after each episode it’s easy to realize how forgettable many of the character deaths are.

As the story continues with the cast moving into space, and back to earth there is some credit to be given as there are some refinement to the formula of the show. While the plot make sometimes feel a bit erratic with sudden shifts in objective it still manages to keep a sense of cohesion that was lacking in the previous shows. The show also has a bit more downtime between the action so that the show doesn’t just feel like a sporadic mess of mech-battles. The shame is that they are never used to their fullest extent to develop the characters which the show really needed. So while not perfect there is a clear sense of progression even if it wasn’t handled that well.

As the show started to head towards its final act there was one word to describe this show with Katejina being a prime example, and it’s that the show is very abrupt. There are times when there are transitions that make no sense and it takes time to get my barring of what was going on. While there may have been logic behind what was happening there was never a follow through before it happened that destroys the flow of the story. The reason katejina is the example is her entire betrayal to the zanscare empire. While there may have been some logic to it the way it transitioned her character was terrible with it being mostly a few throw away lines before we see her again fully changed. It’s parts like those where i feel like a miss something and when going back i find nothing at all, and it was just a sudden change and makes the show more difficult to follow with.

Victory was made during the cusp of the japan bubble burst that hampered their economy and i feel that it may have affected the quality of the anime. The show feels like a regression of art style as it’s quality feels like something that would have made between 079 and Zeta. it doesn’t have the cartoonish characters or plastic like mechs of gundam, but it also doesn’t have the more detailed look of the character and mechs of zeta. Still that character designs for many of the characters are still appealing and the mechs look decent even if some of them are dumb like the insect themed bespa suits. The animation for the show is good enough as well but there are noticeable dips with obvious tricks to give a sense of movements and many stilted frames that feel jarring to watch. The audio for the show is decent with the voice acting and sound effects being passable less because it’s bad performance, but because it may have been recorded on a poor device. Still the soundtrack is good with the orchestrals adding more thrill to the battles, and overall bringing some emotion to the show.

While the show may be over hated, i do see the reasons why. From it’s abrupt plots and character development, mostly shallow characters, and seemingly poor production quality.
Not to mention watching this after more than 3 main series with the similar formula ,and the refinement of the repetition not being substantial enough to really warrant watching this. Victory just ends of being an ok-ish enough show not worth remembering.

I dub thee, Gundam of Thrones. Seriously, this one is brutal, with gore, decapitations, and lots of death. In spite of its otherwise childish tone and visuals, literally no one is safe, so be sure to lock up your waifus and children. This is called "the most depressing Gundam" for a reason.

To qualify this review, going into this I've watched basically all of Universal Century Gundam back to back in more or less chronological order, and this was the last one on my list. And boy was this an interesting one.

There is a lot to like (and a lot to dislike) about this show. In ... many regards, it could be argued that this is a more polished and ambitious version of the original Mobile Suit Gundam animé, and I do give it high praise for that, because it was attempting to go in new and interesting directions.

The opening (which spans four interlinked episodes) is probably the strongest beginning to any classic Universal Century Gundam show, and it also features (in my opinion) one of the best and most likeable protagonists, Uso Ewin.

So the question is, why have I rated this show a 3, which is LOWER than I rated the original? Well, in short, Gundam of Thrones reaches for the heavens, but lands with a resounding thud.

THEMES (2/10):

It attempts to play with some interesting themes (matriarchy, mind control, life, death, rebirth, and of course the horrifying nature of war, all packaged in a French Revolutionary aesthetic), but they are almost always handled clumsily, and many lines exploring such themes are delivered bluntly without any subtext, like a bad infomercial.

ART & FIGHTS (6/10):

The art is simple and colourful. They sometimes refuse to draw noses properly and intentionally choose not to shade anything unless the light is particularly dim as part of their aesthetic, but otherwise it is perfectly serviceable.

Although the Mobile Suit fights are nothing special in terms of animation, and most of the designs for mobile suits are iterative and samey, they do make a conscious effort to consistently up the anti by adding in new tactics and weapons for both heroes and villains to use, which is very satisfying and again, is one aspect of the show that deserves a lot of praise.

CHARACTERS (3/10):

While it has the large ensemble cast that Gundam is famous for, which had a lot of potential initially, this show ultimately spreads itself much too thinly, I'd argue significantly more so than any other Gundam (including the original, Zeta and ZZ), which ensures that we get very little meaningful development of anyone other than Uso (and even then, if I am entirely honest, it is not much deeper than "his life is filled tragedy and he perseveres in spite of it all").

Characters frequently make grand heroic sacrifices, but this is rendered meaningless most times because we simply haven't spent enough time with any of them, sometimes you get a hint that there is more to their character prior, but none of that is ever explored.

The Char-analogue, Cronicle Asher, while again promising at first (with subtle signs of morality and heroic traits), becomes a bland villain without any coherent motivation by the end, as does another character I shall not mention (as it would be a spoiler), who becomes a complete raging psychopath for no logical discernible reason. Oh, and yet another villain also goes from interesting and somewhat reasonable to laughing like a total murder-clown for their final appearances.

For all intents and purposes, the villains mentioned above might as well all be different characters entirely, which renders their early appearances worthless in terms of character building. And you end up shouting at the screen alongside Uso, demanding to know why on Earth they are acting like this, while receiving no intelligible answers.

Lastly, an honourable mention must go to the best villain of the piece, Duker Iq, who is by far the most respectable, wholesome, competent, and memeworthy villain in the show. The lack of people picking him as a favourite character is deeply saddening to me. Please do your part to correct this injustice, as I have.

PLOT AND WORLDBUILDING (2):

Characters frequently make bizarre decisions that undermine the storytelling. And given the ultimate goals of the Zanscare Empire, their actions for the middle arcs of the show make actually no sense, it is simply a complete waste of their time and resources, it's just there to fill screentime really.

The political situation is arguably at its most unclear in all of UC Gundam, while also having an uncharacteristically clear-cut "good side" and "evil side", which again limits the investment you can have in the show. (Yes, I am a Zabi-Zeon apologist. This next part isn't a spoiler btw, as it is literally in the first few seconds of the opening of the original MSG series; sometimes your colony drop accidentally misses its original target, splits into three, and one of those pieces happens to hit Asia. I mean, of course half of the world's population is going to die if THAT happens, so cut them some slack, okay? You can't diss a whole society based on a few bad apples and bad luck).

And to cap it all off, halfway through the show, they suddenly introduce the idea that Mobile Suits go full nuclear bomb if hit by anything other than fists or beam sabers (even though this isn't how they've worked in past series of Gundam, and isn't even how they've worked for the entire first half of THIS series) just to try and up the stakes, but it is so hard to take seriously.

There were ways they *could* have justified it (for instance, enemies deliberately using experimental unstable reactors to discourage direct attacks against them), but none of that is implemented. They also do not talk about the consequences of the radiation released in these explosions, which I see as a missed opportunity. Perhaps there are effective ways to treat it in the future with super-medicine, but the implication being that it's rationed primarily for the military, or something. Not that this show needs to be more depressing, but you know.

IN CONCLUSION (TL;DR):

Diehard fans of classic Gundam will probably get reasonable enjoyment out of this show, which has many great aspects to it, but just as many serious drawbacks. It is a diamond in the rough, but it is primarily going to be enjoyed for its sentimental value rather than its market price.

I certainly did enjoy my time with it, arguably more so than with Stardust Memory and a number of others. However, my rating of 3 represents the very significant and often immersion-breaking issues with the show, especially in how it stacks up against other animé in general.

Strangely, the more modest and less ambitious storytelling of the original MSG show actually counts in its favour, as that show manages to competently hit the targets that it sets for itself, rather than making a pig's breakfast of everything like the more ambitious MS Victory Gundam does.