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Apr 17, 2025
One thing about Soldiers of Sorrow on rewatch that really struck me was how it's structured. It was always, on paper, going to be the most difficult film of the group to make since it's covering the most episodic portion of the show (which is the Ramba Ral storyline and the eventual trek to Jaburo). You are inevitably going to have some stop and start unless you decide to just completely shift gears and do something totally different, which would also defeat the purpose of these movies, which is ultimately an easy money maker in the wake of a sudden popularity surge.
I do think though
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that Soldiers of Sorrow does ultimately do the right thing by instead re-ordering events to at least give the film two distinct halves with two clear antagonists, which helps immensely. Much of the fluff from the Ral arc is completely exercised, instead focusing on the meat from the backhalf of the story - mainly Amuro's desertion, Sayla's hunt for Char, and making sure everything with Matilda doesn't feel completely last minute and out of place - and it's almost relentlessly dour to the point of being difficult to watch on purpose. It's impressive that despite it's overall lack of graphic violence or language that the original MSG remains supremely effective in showing the cost of warfare, and it's less in the casualities, and there are many, but it's just in how it never seems to end.
Even after the first half and the film races to Jaburo and the finish line, the film's body count stacks up, the war isn't even close to being over even as the brass says it's going to be and the White Base crew is stuck playing a guniea pigs in a system that really is more interesting in whatever the hell a "Newtype" is. And while that Newtype business will mostly find itself in the last film (and where the movie trilogy really starts to ramp up in what it wants to do), here it's all background to emphasize just how little our lead cast's importance is in the grand scheme of the war. Again, this is survival, not victory.
The stuff I really do love how are the actual animation changes though, which are fantastic across the board. They are minimal and mostly relegated to some new scenes and shots, but they all blend in seamlessly and the new Core Booster fits the nature of the UC more then the goofy as hell G-Fighter (which always looked like a toy to me). I also do really think the film deciding to rearrange the Jaburo fight so it's one massive siege as opposed to two smaller attacks was a smart narrative one as it is still manages to keep everything in while amping up the tension.
I think overall this is probably my least favourite of the films, but only just barely. It's got a lot of middle installment syndrome and this is mostly heightened by it's dedication to try and stick to the original show as much as possible. Like the first film, I can't really recommend this to newcomers as a starter, but it's a great refresher and the newer elements are interesting enough to stick around for.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Apr 17, 2025
It's always difficult to discuss a compilation film as it's own work because, fundamentally, it's impossible to divorce from whatever piece of media it's originally condensing. And I don't think any other "recap" anime film, something that has been industry practice for a very long time, is a difficult itself to talk about then the original Gundam trilogy.
These aren't just recaps, at least not in the traditional sense. This one mostly is, as it's the least changed and screwed with of the original series, but even so it has the air of reimagining all over it. Gone are the smaller character moments that were the
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meat that held much of this cast together, and the majority of the battles have either been rearranged or deleted entirely. Instead, this really feels like a complete streamline of Tomino's original work, stripped down to it's bare essentials and basics while also bringing in more of the relative realism that was so key to the original series' success.
Is it better? Is it worse? I don't really know. On the one hand, I do think there is a relentless pace to this that does emphasize the constant state of peril and danger the cast is in, and it does means that Amuro's condition feels tangible and understandable. After around three battles in a row, seemingly within less then 48 hours, one would get exhausted. On the other though, one of the things I adore about the original series was it's willingness to have conflicts peppered in rather then these big confrontations all the time; supply runs would become important targets and logistical nightmares, while something as easy as hiding in the shadows become a full game of cat and mouse.
It's really lucky that, despite the clear shift in priorities, the film itself is still so good and so well crafted these are mostly just minor nitpicks in the grand scheme of things. The new sound mix and orchestral arrangements of the score are just sublime, the voice work is impeccable for the time, and the revised script feels tailored made to streamline itself for a newer, more widespread audience in a way that doesn't feel like it's ever dumbing down the material in any way. Introducing the idea of Newtypes early on here as opposed to how late the original series does it is probably the single best change these movies do.
I don't know if I fully recommend these over the show these - the show has gone up in stature in my books in terms of quality - but I still find these to be a fascinating chapter of history in the medium and also remarkably important for the perception of the series in Japan. As such, they are still absolutely worth watching, even if I do think they are best served as more fanservice for long time fans rather then the definitive first watches for newcomers.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Apr 9, 2025
There is a moment early on in Mobile Suit Gundam's first episode that immediately sets the vibes and tone of the entire series, and it's when Amuro, in a desperate attempt to stop an attack on his home, gets inside of the titular mecha and we start to see it rise up. The vents open up, air releases as it's feet hit the ground and shake the earth beneath it. Despite the spectacular nature of it's existence - this massive, hulking suit of armor that uses laser weapons and has a beam sword - it's a tangible, physical thing with numerous buttons, levers, scratches. It's
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a lived in hunk of metal. And it needs a pilot.
Lots of write ups have been said about MGS, so much so that it's difficult to find new things to say about it. It's influence is so far reaching that most people are more likely to have seen or experienced the things that have reacted to Gundam over Gundam itself, and the constant parodies, homages, and general reverence for the series means it's a golden goose that most anime fans either refuse to touch simply due to it's onmipresence or feel like they "have to" even if they aren't necessary a mecha fan or even a science fiction buff.
Unlike what most would say, Gundam was not the first mecha to do many of what it did. The idea of a piloted suit had been done of a couple of shows before this, and even director Yoshiyuki Tomino's work leading up to Gundam touched on much of the same themes and ideas that MGS would tackle. Hell, even more "realistic" robots had been done, and the titular Gundam itself has elements of classical super robot mecha built into it's DNA. But what Gundam did have that made it a revolutionary work, and ultimately why I think it stands the test of time above that of others of it's ilk, is that tangibility it presents as early as it's first moments. It's a realistic conflict with realistic people and scenarios, less interested in the grand space opera narrative it cultivates and instead the day to day minutiae of it's characters. It's character study drama first, a war story second, introspective and thought experiment science fiction third, and a mecha anime fourth.
Because of this MGS just gets better and better every time it's rewatched, which is a difficult task for anything above two cours let alone three. So much of the show is in the details of it's structure and environment, like how the cylinders of places of Side 6 warp the insides where you can almost always see the other side if you look far enough down one way. Or how Amuro's slow transition from desperate child to soldier isn't told so much through angst but the slow, heavy toll of constant anxiety and exhaustion. Tomino's view on war is obvious but it's also fascinating to see just how much emphasis he consistently places on the oppressive nature of it to the point where, like the characters, you are almost begging for it to end.
The entire cast is great. It's impossible to name a singular bad figure among the core members, and much of the antagonists - especially the iconic and wonderfully realized Char Aznable - are nuanced and complex enough to stand on their own while also making sure that the true villains of the piece remain the fascistic Zabi family and the Zeon regime as a whole. MGS makes the institution of war as the threat itself, and while the Zabi family is in the way of ending that, their defeat is not the end goal. It is for Char, whose motivations in the series revolve around their defeat, but for White Base? For our core central heroes? Ending the war is the goal. Survival is the goal.
It's through all of this that even as Gundam slightly stumbles in it's second half - the loss of major creative force Yoshikazu Yasuhiko is felt and the series has to rush to a conclusion due to forces outside of the creative teams' control - it remains engaging, intelligent, and thoughtful. It's frame composition is effective, engrossing, and overwhelming to the sense in it's best moments and pushes past it's obvious shoestring budget. And it's never afraid to attempt something new on an episodic basis, clearly using the framework of a classic "badguy of the week" style that was popular as a way to test out new ideas and storylines even if they didn't entirely work. I would much rather a series like that uses it's limitations as a way to experiment rather then a show with a perfect production doing nothing interesting with itself, something becoming increasingly more common in the industry.
I don't know if Mobile Suit Gundam is a perfect show, as even I, a massive fan of the series and somebody who consistently goes to bat for older anime, recognize that some of it is clunky, particularly in some of it's late 70s period sexism that hasn't aged well or the brief episodes where it feels like corporate mandates are taking over from the genuine creative vision at hand here. But even so, there is just something about MGS that feels timeless and relevant, and as the world enters an age of uncertainty once again, MGS continues to delivers not necessarily answers but at least a comfort. A comfort of knowing that, through it all, humanity will indeed find a way to persevere, that good people will eventually win out, and that the pain of war may someday finally be extinguished. Overly optimistic? Maybe. But beautiful nevertheless.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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