Note: This review contains spoilers, especially in art, characters and story, but if you seen enough Gundam like I did, you won't have much of an issue with them. Some of these spoilers are also very predictable.
Story: 5/10
This is the hardest area to write about. The plot looks very promising and could hold much potential. Three story arcs? Three (Well, not three.) Gundams tossed around these arcs? A war with an unknown enemy with far superior designs? Sign me up.
Unfortunately, Sunrise managed to squander almost every opportunity to make the world more interesting, and the story more likeable. The three arcs can be rated as this: Not bad, but not good either - Good, even very good - What are you doing, Sunrise. Like the third arc's minirating suggests, the third arc turns so bad in its halfway point that the whole show looks bad. If you look more subjectively at the story, however, it's more forgivable, even though I like seeing a lot of combat and the appearance of the new Gundam model makes it pointless.
The worst issue with the story is the low amount of world-building and the amount of characters killed for almost no reason. There's some in the second arc that are almost completely pointless, and the third arc makes that even higher, removing possibilities of more character development.
Art: 9/10
Gundam AGE's art is criminally underrated - both the Gundams and the UE (or whatever I should call them for the sake of the review) have impressive designs that look more original than the designs in other installments. The idea of a modular Gundam is also great, although that concept is put on hold in the second arc, and only returns in the third arc, with the Gundam AGE-3.
If I could summarize the Gundams with just a few words, I'd describe them like this: Original Gundam - Zeta Gundam - Double Zeta (ZZ) Gundam. I won't describe the other Gundams - mainly because it would ruin the experience a little bit and they are quite distinguishable. It also isn't difficult to say what they're inspired by.
The Federation designs don't look too bad, either, and are a welcome sight compared to the typical GM-like mobile suit design that appears oh-so-often. The ships also look great on both sides of the conflict, and Sunrise wasn't afraid to experiment with designs overall, which made the show better.
Sound: 10/10
I got to admit, the soundtrack is flawless. It fits well into every setting it's placed in, and shows the intensity of the scenes well. The sounds are also perfect, especially in the Gundams' case. The openings are also pretty good and fit the arcs rather well.
Character: 5/10
This is where AGE falls again, and rather hard. I'm only rating it at 5 because I've seen far worse examples, and this definitely isn't one of them. The main characters are all pretty meh, except for Asemu, which is a decently built character, and Kio, who is practically THE reason the third arc flopped so hard. Flit doesn't seem bad, and in the second arc, he turns into a surprisingly good and believable character. The end of the third arc ruins that a bit, but that's expected. Woolf is a badass in the second arc as well, and he's still a good character in his own right in the first arc, too.
Unfortunately, a lot of female characters don't get that building they deserve, and they mostly turn into only romantic interests and, really, objects of insemination for the main characters. After that, they're practically only mentioned in sentences like "I wish Mom was here", or "Mom must be worried". I wish that wasn't the case, they could have brought some important character development. Some of the characters, as mentioned earlier in the review, tend to be killed off rather often, sometimes being introduced in the same episodes. One of the main villains even decides to throw some of that important building into the trash can and do some stupid things which only very few characters in Gundam can do, and that's quite an impressive feat.
Enjoyment: 7/10
Despite all these negative factors, the series is still enjoyable - a lot of the combat scenes are really likable, and the villain scenes are also decent. I feel bad for writing so little about enjoyment, since it's really pointed out by the previous sections of the review.
Overall: 6/10
I've seen a fair share of bad anime. This is a fairly mediocre one as well, but I don't think it deserves this much hate, despite me understanding all of it.
Would I recommend the series? No. There's definitely better examples of Gundam to watch, like Zeta Gundam. The series also failed due to attempting to fit three mini-series into a 49-episode format, and that's my biggest gripe with it by far.
Overall points:
+Great designs.
+Amazing soundtrack.
+Second arc in most of its entirety.
+Decent enjoyment overall.
-The second half of the third arc is so bad a seperate review could be made on it.
-Character development is pretty mediocre most of the time.
-Story's opportunities are mostly squashed, and thus the world-building is also rather mediocre.
-The attempt to implement three mini-series into the rather limiting episode format ends up rather badly.
(I think that's about it from me about AGE. I really expected this to be a shorter review, but I waited a few days for my experience to settle in, so I could form a more coherent and cohesive review. Sorry if the review is hard to follow, but that's just in my nature. I hope you enjoyed the review, and you can message me on my profile page about the reviews. -Hab)
