But I can't say that about SD Gundam Force. If Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam showed us how awesome U.C. can be, Gundam Force shows us the depths of human depravity. I stumbled upon this blight on the anime world when a local video store was having a sale and my friend bought episodes 10-12 for a dollar. As it turns out, a dollar was asking too much.
Story: (4/10)
When someone tells you the good thing about this story is that you've seen it a million times before, you know you're in trouble. The story is set in the futuristic city of Neotopia, where everything is peaceful until an evil force called the Dark Axis arrives from another dimension. Shute makes friends with the sentient, mini-sized gundams and they fight bad guys. It's stereotypical, contrived, and one of the few parts of this anime I can stomach.
Art: (1/10)
Can you call an anime made of CGI an anime? I'm sure you can, but with Gundam Force, I'd rather not. This CGI may have been almost viewable when it came out, but it has aged far worse than the original 1979 Gundam ever did. Some may claim that it's from an era where CGI was new, but it's not. It's from 2004. Let's put that in comparison with another completely CGI series- Jimmy Neutron. Jimmy has been around since 2001 (Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius, a movie I hadn't seen in nearly three days), and his animation is still watchable. There is no excuse for Shute's mother, Keiko's, breasts, which also seem to function as double missile launchers. No excuse.
Sound: (4/10)
As far as the soundtrack goes, it's completely unmemorable, except for one very strange battle song. It boils down to country fiddle music, and combined with the robots attempting to kill each other, it's very jolting.
The voice actors are as ashamed of being in this as I am for watching it, and most of them go under pseudonyms. Yello Lollicup (I am dead serious), AKA Yuri Lowenthal, plays at least two characters in the dub, and they frequently fight each other. They brought together a great cast for an absolutely terrible anime, and they know it. Shute's (Deborah Sale Butler) base excitement comes from knowing she's getting a paycheck out of it. Dave Wittenburg's in there somewhere, but for the first time in his life, he actually succeeded in disguising his voice. As for the sub, they brought back seiyu who've played recurring characters from other Gundam shows, which is the best thing about this entire anime.
Character: (3/10)
Our characters range from Shute, our main character, to a variety of robots, good and bad, to-
I'm kidding. That's it.
Any other humans are minor or temporary. The characters are one-dimensional, and I honestly don't know why Shute needs to be there. There's a character named Sayla, and the homage did more to piss me off than feed any nostalgia.The robots include a knight who uses magic, which makes me bash my continuity-loving brain into a wall. I hate them all, but I hate them equally.
There is one character who deserves a special mention- Chief Haro. Let me explain- Haro is a green, round, robot about the size of a small child. You can fit it in your arms, but it's a pain in the ass. It was built by Amuro Ray, and rolled around White Base being mildly annoying.
Now take that and dress it up in a military uniform. It speaks and moves and waves its little ears just like the original did, except now instead of endearing it's terrifying. One glance at this abomination stopped my in my tracks. I can't sleep at night knowing that monster has been created. Upon seeing it I screamed and paused the video so I could take a picture of it and share it with all my equally appalled compadres.
Enjoyment: (7/10)
I know that's a high score, considering my obvious hatred. But if you pretend this anime is a gag anime it becomes incredibly hilarious. Yuri Lowenthal's lack of voice differentiation when fighting himself is ludicrous. It helps to down a couple shots of whiskey before you sit down to "enjoy" this piece of crap executives like to call entertainment, but to each their own.
Overall: (3/10)
When taking this anime seriously, its sucks. There is no excusing this. It actually manages to be less than the sum of its parts. It is, without a doubt, the worst anime I have ever seen.
(Sources: Wikipedia)
