Reviews

Gundam Thunderbolt is one of those anime series that are surprisingly short but within this small burst of four episodes we basically get one of the best animes I have seen in a long time. Thunderbolt delivers on so many levels and especially caters to long time fans of the series and the U.C. era. To a newbie to Gundam I would suggest you watch at least one other early U.C. era Gundam series before watching this one because the story kind of expects you to already know what's going on in this time period and as such mostly focuses on the battles and also "somewhat" devotes it to the characters as well.

Don't get me wrong the characters in Thunderbolt are great, even with somewhat limited time to explain their stories due to the small amount of episodes it still manages to get their stories across. Albeit I would've liked to see the main pilot of the Feds get more story as they somewhat focus on the Zeon's sniper ace more so, even giving an entire episode for him (Don't get me wrong I love him.) while the Fed's main pilot only gets maybe 6 minutes in total for exposition of his story.

In general the story isn't as shined upon and as such it might drive some people to view it in a negative light but the real meat of this show is definitely the action. The action and amazingly stunning art and animation of Thunderbolt is far from an eyesore. Not to mention the godsend of a soundtrack that compliments both the mellow and intense scenes. Composed by the wonderful Naruyoshi Kikuchi, he literally touches almost every main genre and nails it. Along with the brutal fights between all of the Mobile Suits and the amazing compositions you are also treated to the intense feelings of a real war.

Thunderbolt delivers the heart-wrenching feeling of how war truly is, as did previous U.C. Gundam series and definitely doesn't feel out of place within its mark in the Gundam universe. One of the aspects that makes this so is the fact that they focus both on the Feds and Zeon equally when you put together all the episodes. It gives the show a grander feeling and a bigger emphasis on the horrors of war. Supporting this is the character interactions, especially between the two main pilots who have a great sense of desperation and urgency against each other which at some point crosses the line between wanting someone to win to just feeling sad for the fates of these people who are fighting for their beliefs.

All of this and the aforementioned amazing OST, art, animation, and action makes way for a show that I think is just simply great. Although I'd like to see more story shown, what did they did with mind you, only four 18 minute episodes is much more than most anime series could hope to achieve. If you love or just generally like mechs, Gundam, or anything I mentioned above you will absolutely enjoy this show. It definitely made me want more from the artist and I hope a sequel season to the ONA and the movie is released.