Because it's like this:
Up until Daniel Craig, James Bond(s) have to be suave, and commandeering, caresses women, full of spy-gadgets like laser Omega watches, and that submersible Lotus Esprit in The Spy Who Loved Me.
Then Daniel Craig's Bond came along, and the idea of Commander Bond being witty, calculating, sly, sexual, a gambler, all that, well, he got his balls whipped.
"No Mr. Bond, I expect you to cry," Bond's villain sneered.
Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans works like that.
Its ball-wrenching, murderous, vengeful, self-destructing intent shatters comfort zones since 2015.
If you're a "Gundam fan" who sees Gundams full of lasers and overpowerful, moves like a mosquito, with armors thicker than French goat cheese, and you expect the enemies to be the numerous usual baddies who got shot or slashed, of course you'll see Iron-Blooded as off.
But, that'd be like you have to be the sort of person who'd be hating Daniel Craig's Bond because he has no explosive pens.
STORY - 8
It isn't particularly impressive for Iron-Blooded Orphans, so I won't discuss that much. But it is devious, and brilliantly executed to deviate from the "normal powerful Gundam" we know.
To understand it even, when you say "Gundam", it actually means the Universal Century timeline kind of Gundams: the RX-78-2, the Z-, the ZZ-, the RX-93, these kinda.
The "other" Gundams, like: the Shining, Wing, Strike, Exia, Barbatos, they're the "spin-offs", made to create "nth-versions" of the franchise. Hence, Iron-Blooded can create its "own version", correct? Right.
The themes have to be the same to make it Gundam-ish, ofc: politics and war, showing the human nature both complex and twisted characters who either participated the war or got involved, as well as these overpowerful "real robots" that could shoot a hundred mobile suits in a strike.
In Iron-Blooded, it's just metal-to-metal, no lasers, no frills thing of relic (according to story) that has difficulty finishing each enemy. No one gets erased by a laser that can fill your TV screens here, or raining plasma shots. They have to be crunched, gutted, and die horribly, no exemptions on any character.
ART = 10
I always score most anime as 10, anyway.
SOUND = 7
Seiyuus are awesome, with Takahiro Sakurai, and Squid Gi--I mean, Hisako Kanemoto around, yeah.
CHARACTER = 8
There are people who'd argue that Mikazuki is a flat character or didn't change throughout. And that's the thing, because "protagonists" need to change, need to be dynamic and such. And that's good, if you're actually making a "hero" type of protagonist, because the "plot" is his/her journey, he/she needs to develop it, one way or the other.
But let's say you're not into making "hero characters", you're a lot more creative than that. Like if you're the writer of Iron-Blooded, why follow some Lit101 lessons, when you have a darker idea in mind, right?
Commander Bond didn't "develop" from being a weaboo-spy nerd to an actual spy, you know. Protagonists, as well as deuteragonists, or any other characters types, that are complex can be, well, complex---that is, if you know what you're doing. Don't try writing something like a sparklepire.
Iron-Blooded had been as character-driven to begin with, anyway. It wasn't that Gjallarhorn just attacked them because they were planting corn in Mars, scene C happened because the characters chose scene A over scene B. Basically it's just that, and harbor a ton of characters that inherently still has as what Bandai/Sunrise is known for with their Gundam series, the thing called "human nature" that makes legitimacy of Iron-Blooded to bear the "Gundam" recognition on its own.
Forget the lasers, real lasers actually are invisible and US Army are already experimenting them even.
ENJOYMENT = 10
That is, if you're NOT someone who wears their comfort shells.
OVERALL = 9
Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans is a bizarre masterpiece.
It's like the wicked sheep of the family of Gundam series, the Daniel Craig Bond, the Hennessey Venom GT of supercars, the death metal of music genres, and unless you can get past the thought that Gundams doesn't always have to be ridiculously unbeatable, you'll see its dark-lit side of things.
But if you're still stuck with your comfort zone, then consider trashing this show, because it can damage and implode your comfort zones so bad.
VERDICT: a masterpiece that is not for uber-laser-powerful Gundam fans.
