Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam Episode 50 Discussion

First, let me get this out of the way: Emma, you will be missed. Her death saddened me the most. She and Four were the best girls in the show - and, sadly, we lost both of them.

I've got to hand it to the show's creator: he chose a truly unconventional way to end the series. No happy ending, no narrator providing explanations, no words of consolation, everything appears broken (physically or mentally). I can only guess how it'd feel if I was living back in '85 and watched this series when it was broadcasted! Now, we can jump right into ZZ and watch the continuity. But then? So, it's really something to end a series like this!

Now, as an overall impression... I think Gundam Zeta reached its peak somewhere during the middle. The episodes that focused mostly on earth, where we saw Amuro and there was Four and everything seemed to progress smoothly. Up until then, it was awesome and an improvement over the 079 series in almost every aspect.

But the last part of the series was clearly inferior... Although Haman and Scirocco were worthy adversaries, the whole political agenda surrounding them was presented in a rushed way - and by the end, watching AEUG and Axis fighting one another almost made no sense. And how about those characters?... I've already written a lot about what I consider the show's biggest flaw: its characterization. Characters like Reccoa almost made no sense - perhaps they would make sense if they were better written and they were given backstories - but we didn't get any. Scirocco felt as "A-level villain" material, but, by the end, without getting any backstory on him, he, too, feels more like a stereotype. Characters like Jer(k)id? At first I thought we could see some kind of "progress" in him - but no. He was just an evil dude, basically a jerk, nothing more. Four or Rosammy? They could be potentially great characters - IF we had a chance to delve a little deeper in them.

That's how I felt about the second half of the series: a big "what if" potential that was lost.

Instead we got amazing action and one of the most unconventional endings I've ever seen, in any anime. Was it better than the first series? I'm not sure. I say yes, but not by far. To me, if the first series deserves a 7, this is an 8 out of 10: really enjoyable, but with some flaws that dragged it down. It's mostly the almost excellent first half, thirty episodes or so, that earns that 8, on my part. Can't hide I've got an urge to go on with ZZ right now - but there are many other anime on my watch list and, to tell you the truth, I'm a bit discouraged by ZZ's lower reputation. I'll probably watch it to make my own mind, sometime - but probably not right now.

By the way: whenever there was an attempt at romance, during this series, I thought of Macross (which I completed some months ago) and thought to myself: "Macross did romance and characterization better". As for the political stuff? Well, as I write these lines, I've already watched the first 15 episodes of The Legend of the Galactic Heroes - and all I say, now, is: now that's how you make a political space drama!

Still: Gundam is legendary for a reason. The action was superb and some of the characters have become personal favourites of mine (I still can't wait to see Sayla once again). And up until the middle, I thought Zeta Gundam was one of the best anime shows of the 80's. Perhaps it still is. This, alone, is no small feat.

FWIW ZZ started airing the week after Zeta finished.