I was telling my friends that the movies were on the Gundaminfo channel, but looks like they are region locked in Spain, a country where Gundam never got a lot of traction and the original series is not available in any way afaik. Meanwhile I can watch them in the UK without a problem, and there is a recent release of the original show. One would think that they have nothing to lose (and maybe something to gain) in making it available in parts of the world where is not licensed. But that channel operates in a logic not of this world.
Speaking of regions, I was checking Gundaminfo channel to see whatâs available now and the Thunderbolt OVAs are not region locked for the UK anymore. But itâs only the first two chapters because who knows.
The movies themselves were fine, more enjoyable than I remember. Being compilation movies they have a âthings happens all the timeâ pace, which can be merciless given how long these movies are. And the Jaburo/Odessa part is confusing: itâs hard to figure out where the White Base is at each moment. But for all its flaws there is still an endearing story there. I like the approach of Gundam more than, letâs say, Star Wars âThe World is Your Rollercoaster, Chosen One.â It tries to give more humanity to the world, even if it doesnât get it right sometimes.
PD: The Gundaminfo version has a pretty bad video compression that gets really crazy during the âAmuro and Lalah meet each other too late and too soonâ part
Its a shame they are overcompressed because the compilation movies are the best the original series ever looked. So much new animation added in that third movie.
The liner notes in the old DVD box set gave figures for how much was new in each movie; I think the third movie was at least 2/3rds new animation, and it shows
Sadly, the new animation is what look worse thanks to the compression. It adds to the mystery of Gundaminfo logic: if you are going to release the movies to promote the Gundam brand at least make them watchable.
Thunderbolt looks sharp as hell, though. Glad they finally show some of that for the UK region. I am trying to keep things 100% legal in anime nowadays, but regions are still a problem. More so if you live between two countries.
Started watching Gundam SEED and it is shockingly good. I wasnât expecting much, the art immediately turned me off and I wasnât looking forward to âLetâs do the original AGAINâ, but Mu la Flagga is in it sooooâŚ
Itâs got some really good robot design and the mobile suits and tech feel very well developed, especially compared to series like Wing and After War X. The show makes it feel like thereâs a whole world behind the technologies and the Mobile Suits feel like this big cool hype thing, which hasnât been done fully convincingly, really, since the original and a few of the OVAs. The action is really good, too! Iâve heard people complain that itâs just âbeamspamâ but thatâs not the case at all, the problem solving is really good and done in subtle ways, like Kira changing equipment mid battle and that being significant due to his energy being tied to his equipment. Itâs all very smart, while being much smoother and faster than any previous series. The Gundamâs themselves have a good balance of power too, while theyâre at their most powerful since Wing they have obvious and clearly stated weaknesses. A number of the Gundamâs specialization have already been significant to the plot and Iâm only on episode 11, so that bodes very well.
Kira is a crappy main character, though, and the character designs are really blllerrrrgh and they have scary cat eyes and a lot of it is more AnImE than I like but I can bear with it
Most of the issues people have with Seed come with the later half and Destiny. This is when things like beamspam happen.
The first half is overall a fair approximation of the original MSG for a new age, and yeah the setting has a lot of potential that the shows never fully capitalize on.
turns out ZG is one of, if not the best anime iâve seen
MSG is also great but suffers from extremely poor animation and filler shots (vehicles coming back to the white base are just the launch animation in reverse o.O) - i also prefer the pacing and characters in MSZG - a bit more nuance to the newtype relationships than in MSG - ZG really builds on MSGâs characters in such a meaningful and natural way, and all the variations on themes presented in MSGâŚ
I thought I liked Zeta better at first but time has been kinder to Gundam. Theyâre both excellent though.
It hurts my heart a little every time I hear that Gundam has poor animation. Itâs cheap in spots and thereâs a few really bad off model cels here and there, but goddammit itâs beautiful. Even when the animators donât bring it all the way itâs so gorgeously, brilliantly storyboarded.