Preface:
This OVA disappointed me. It had started off fairly well, it was good enough and a solid 7/10, but halfway through it took a complete nosedive. Apparently, folks are saying that this is due to a change in director. You can really tell. It was as if someone beat every character upside the head with a mental pipe halfway through the show, and they had to continue with severe brain damage.
The Good:
It's fairly easy to get the good parts out of the way first. The sound design was nice, and the art was fairly good as well. The premise itself was also quite intriguing. Also,
...
in all fairness, i believe the show started off enjoyable enough.
The Bad:
1-The mobile suit designs are...either boring or ugly. The unit 1 is fairly bland and vanilla, the unit 2 looks stupid, and the worst abominations i think i have ever seen are units 3 and the Neue Ziel. They might fit the tastes of some folks, but for me they simply looked ridiculous. It's a "Mobile Suit" without any mobility.
2-Timeline inconsistency. The events in this show are supposed to occur between the events of MSG and Zeta Gundam, and is supposed to provide context for the formation of the Titans and the Federation becoming "evil". Yet, there is absolutely no mention of any of these events in Zeta or ZZ. The only link between this show and Zeta is a brief glimpse of Haman, and the mentioning of a few characters key to the formation of Titans. They try and explain this by saying that the ending was covered up by the federation, but that makes absolutely no sense. How do you cover up a colony drop and a nuclear missile wiping 3/4ths of your entire fleet?
3-The characters are for the most part uninteresting. Protagonist is vanilla as hell, no particular motivations, he's just kinda there while stuff happens around him. The supporting cast is somewhat redeeming, primarily Keith, Burning, and Cima. However, that all goes out the window in the second half, as most of these characters disappear an are forgotten until the final sequence.
The Ugly: (Ending Spoilers ahead, but i don't consider the show worth watching anyways)
What in gods name happened in the second half? So you have Nina. She's a somewhat boring engineer character, designer of Unit 1 and 2, and Kou's "supposed" love interest. She was mostly out of the way in the first half, but the new director decided that she wasn't getting enough screen time. So, he retroactively created a love triangle between her, the main antagonist, and the protagonist. How do i know that it's retroactive and not intended? Because in the very first episode, the main antagonist, Gato, walks right past Nina, steals her precious Gundam unit 2, and walks away and they don't recognize each other at all. Yet, in the second half it turns out they were lovers before the the war, and that she's completely obsessed with him. This sudden bombshell and giant plot hole signals the start of Nina's complete irrationality. After this point, none of her behavior makes any sense, and the only justification we get is her saying "YOU GUYS DONT UNDERSTAND" repeatedly.
Her behavior becomes completely emotional, irrational, and nonsensical. She single-handedly derails the show. This leads us to what i consider the absolute worst scene in this entire show. Gato, Nina, and Kou on the colony as it's about to drop. Kou is going to kill Gato, but then Nina picks up a gun to protect Gato and threatens to shoot Kou. Instead of stopping Gato from dropping a colony on Earth, she lets him do it, and then threatens to kill Kou. She chooses Gato over Kou. The same Gato who nuked the fleet, same Gato who is about to drop a colony on Earth. Despite this being a huge blow to the viewers, and a complete 180 in the characters behavior, and a totally irrational move, i don't think it's that bad. What's bad is what comes next.
So, Gato dies to the fleet, we don't even get the pleasure of seeing Kou kill Gato. Nina also lives, despite me praying and HOPING that the directors have enough sense to kill her off. Kou doesn't die. Had Kou died, then we would have had a nice moral about someone not being able to choose one lover and ends up losing both. Nope. You can't have that. Kou lives and goes to prison for a year, then when he's let out, guess what happens? Yup. He's greeted by Nina and the ending implies they run into each other's arms.
Excuse me? What? Who the hell wrote this garbage? The main character is a total door mat that gets stepped on and treated like trash from the start of the show until the end. Had he showed any sign of development in that final scene, had he rejected Nina, had he done anything to imply that his character had grown and developed then i would have been able to let it slide. Maybe i would have given this show a 5 or 6 and a soft recommendation. But there is absolutely no payoff for the viewer. You leave this show feeling disappointed.
If you're going to shift focus to a more character based story in the second half, then the least you can do is make your characters motives sensible or rational, and develop and grow your characters, OR AT LEAST give us some form of cathartic payoff seeing the characters we hate get what they deserve. But as this show does none of that, it's not worth watching. Don't waste your time. You can skip this entry in the franchise since it has no impact at all on any other show or narrative.
Jan 8, 2020
Preface:
This OVA disappointed me. It had started off fairly well, it was good enough and a solid 7/10, but halfway through it took a complete nosedive. Apparently, folks are saying that this is due to a change in director. You can really tell. It was as if someone beat every character upside the head with a mental pipe halfway through the show, and they had to continue with severe brain damage. The Good: It's fairly easy to get the good parts out of the way first. The sound design was nice, and the art was fairly good as well. The premise itself was also quite intriguing. Also, ... 
Dec 31, 2019
Kidou Senshi Gundam ZZ
(Anime)
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---Preface:
When you come into a show expecting the worst, the best it can do is surprise you. ZZ definitely surprised me, but not in a good way. I very rarely write reviews, and i only do so if i believe that there is something to be said, and there is a lot to be said about ZZ. Firstly, it is not as bad as people make it out to be. It's still an okay Anime, it has it's moments that make it worth watching. However, it is incredibly flawed. Secondly, i believe it is worth a watch if you intend to continue watching the rest ... 
Nov 16, 2019
Kidou Senshi Gundam
(Anime)
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Great. 9/10.
Only issues are: 1-Re-use of same animations again and again, near the end of the series it gets extremely jarring. You'll see the exact same 3 second loop of a ship exploding maybe 3-4 times in ONE EPISODE. 2-Sound design is mediocre. Good in some parts. Extremely bad in others. Sometimes the music playing in the background gives off the completely wrong vibe. (Complete opposite of the sequel series, Zeta. The sound design there is astounding.) 3-I absolutely hate how they played out the romances in the series. If that kind of thing matters a lot to you then be prepared for a real mess. (Not ... |
