This is my first review for an anime, though this is not my first Gundam series and it will not be my last. Hopefully some will find this useful.
I've been an avid watcher of both mecha animes and the Gundam series itself. I was initially discouraged, from both word of mouth and initial reviews, to do my best and avoid this series entirely. Eventually, I decided to see for myself just how this new series stacks up to the competition.
No synopsis, lets go right in to the nitty-gritty.
Story: 6
The story and idea itself isn't bad. Rather it was quite novel idea that Bandai came
...
up with. A Gundam series spanning three generations. Sounds great on paper, but somewhere along the way things just went awry.
Lets start with the first thing: UE or the Vagan. The premise of Flit and co. fighting against what can be perceived as aliens doesn't work. The majority of the reasons given are somewhere alone the lines of "the scenario doesn't work because it's a Gundam series". A better way of looking at this is that the scenario itself is poorly executed. Recognize that unknown enemy doesn't necessarily have to translate to aliens. A rogue group of emotionless humans who cause destruction through advanced technology and never leave behind witnesses or evidence can also be shaped to fit the mold of an unknown enemy. If anything, what is just described above fits similarly to what the Vagan are. Through rumors and stories it is understandable how that will eventually become what the characters believe are aliens. But to have even the Earth Federation believe that the Vagan are aliens themselves? That really stretches suspension of disbelief. Even though it is revealed that the top brass knows who and what the Vagans are and with all the foreshadowing, to present such this scenario to the viewers for a little over 15 episodes is a bit too much and can fails to hook on to viewers given the silliness of the situation.
The second thing is the pacing and premises of the three generations/arcs are suspect. In regards to Flit's arc, I can count 5-6 episodes where it was spent on non-important issues. The Fardain arc, though interesting, does little to nothing in terms of driving the plot or setting up character development. Sure the death of Boyage has an impact on the development of Flit but that happens several episodes down the road and could have been setup without wasting 3-4 episodes on Fardain. Time spent on Euba and Zalam, that were basically never mentioned again, could have been used to develop characters like Woolf or Largan or setup other plot points. Though Asemu's arc was interesting the weird pacing of the arc lessen the impact it could've had on the audience. It is hard to believe that Asemu comes to a sudden realization of his fatal flaw near the last 2 episodes of his arc and only after Woolf dies. Not only does it make light of everything else that happens to Asemu as a result of his jealousy (including his near death experience), it may slight viewers by making Woolf's death as a quick fix to wrap up a plot point. Out of all three arcs, Kio's arc is perhaps the most boring and does nothing to add to the story. Project Eden's true intentions and EXA-DB are revealed, but they add little to help wrap up the story.
Overall the story is extremely mediocre and could have been made to be a lot better.
Art: 7
The art designs of the characters and mobile suits really brings back nostalgic memories. Though some complain that they look childish, the art designs feel as though it has gone back to the roots for a more MSG type look. With that said, some of the mobile suit designs could be better. This is especially true of the Vagan mobile suits. Most of them looking like flying lizards. It also seems as though the art department got lazy and didn't feel like making more mobile suits for the Earth Federation. Come on, Genoaces for all three arcs?
Sound: 7
The musical compositions are solid. They are not anything amazing like the Unicorn or MS IGLOO but they get the job done.
Characters: 5
When it is easier to empathize with a minor character that gets kill off in two episodes than it for a major character than there is a major problem in the works. The character development for some of the characters are just outright bad.
Two of the more egregious examples are Zeheart and Kio. For a fair part of the anime, the viewers see Zeheart as a person who struggles between fulfilling Ezelcant's Project Eden and his wishes to lead a normal human life. Though Zeheart seems as though he is willing to go through with fulfilling Project Eden, one can see that he has difficulty ridding the obstacles to the plan namely Asemu and Gundam. Not only that, Zeheart has streak of being a stern but caring commander. Which is why when he blindly submits to Ezelcant after becoming the leader of the Vagan and killing off his subordinates in order to achieve his plan, it ruins his character. This isn't to say that it wasn't a valid way of developing his character but it is a bad way. It contradicts and ruins everything that makes Zeheart who he is up until that point. Even something like Zeheart altering Ezelcant's plan after finding out the truth behind Project Eden would make more sense.
As for Kio, he never really got character development to begin with. He reaches that phase of naiveté where he "wants to protect everyone" and "stop the fighting". This is fair considering he was exposed to the more humane side of the Vagan but he never grows out of that phase. He desperately tries to stop the fighting for the better part of the last arc and doesn't stop after seeing that his attempts are fruitless and the deaths of his fellow soldiers. Kio almost becomes this wishy-washy Kira clone who constantly spews about peace, but never actually does enough to amount to anything.
Compare Kio to Uso from Mobile Suit Victory Gundam. Much like Kio, Uso is constantly bombarded with the realities of war and seen deaths of those close to him. There is a small time frame in which he comes to the same conclusions as Kio, but after seeing that the only way to stop the fighting is to fight and forcibly end the war, Uso's character develops. Uso values peace but understands that he has to fight for it and rather than enforcing his views on everyone he uses it as a rallying call to motivate himself. This example could have been a direction in which Kio could have been developed except it never happened.
These two are only the more prominent examples but there are other gripes to be had. One can make an argument that Emily was a poorly done version of a concerned friend - almost bordering on possessive and obsessive. Yurin is the star-crossed lover of Flit who is so one dimensional it seems as though she was only added in as a love interest and to fan Flit's hatred of the Vagan.
Some interesting characters seemingly fall off near the end as it seem that the directing and writing team struggled to make a consistent character and resolve plot points. It was interesting (at least in the Gundam franchise) to see a character so driven by revenge and hatred and have it affect every decision he ever makes. And yet he softens up at the end just to tie up the plot. Again this makes for extremely bad character development.
All of these characters could have been used to make the anime slightly better had they been better developed.
Overall Impression: 6
Was it bad as everyone made it out to be? Not exactly. Were there parts that really annoyed the hell out of me and made me feel like dropping this anime all together? You betcha. As a Gundam fan I wasn't as disappointed as I was with the fanfic plot that is Gundam Seed Destiny. But that's not really saying much. There was an opportunity that the Gundam franchise and Sunrise could have capitalize but due to shoddy directing and writing a lot of it went to waste.
For the average watcher, they may get some mild enjoyment out of this. Even then it may feel taxing and boring at times. It stands as a mediocre Gundam series and will always be remembered as a mediocre Gundam series.
Jan 6, 2013
Kidou Senshi Gundam AGE
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This is my first review for an anime, though this is not my first Gundam series and it will not be my last. Hopefully some will find this useful.
I've been an avid watcher of both mecha animes and the Gundam series itself. I was initially discouraged, from both word of mouth and initial reviews, to do my best and avoid this series entirely. Eventually, I decided to see for myself just how this new series stacks up to the competition. No synopsis, lets go right in to the nitty-gritty. Story: 6 The story and idea itself isn't bad. Rather it was quite novel idea that Bandai came ... |
