I finally watched this trailer and wow, they really do spoil everything lol
I was actually a little disappointed by the movie
bc the beginning is so good and then it changes and it’s like oh this is what I signed up for to begin with huh sigh
Very Digimon the Movie feeling in how it jumps from one story to another halfway through lol
I went in mostly blind. The most I saw floating around going in was that Char would somehow feature and there was a red gundam.
At first I was kinda turned off that the first ep/act was a near pure Restart of UC79. Last thing I wanted was another redo even if it was a What If scenario that I think already exists in some games. I lightened up once it started fast forwarding through the alternate war really gassing up Char’s greatness but once it hit the big bang moment I was intruiged. .
Now it get to 0085 in a relative peaceful if full of tension period and has become what I have pitched as Jet Set Gundam Radio. The visuals and audio is super my jam and not just because I’ve got vtuber brain rot and Suesei did the insert song during the fight. I also can’t help but feel this show is going to have a big Gundam VS marketing push given that the show makes an in universe logic about 2v2 formation fights.
Not so much a prediction but I think it would be infinetly funny is Shujji, our street artist savant that has seen the newtype colors, was some part of some forgotten branch of M’quave’s family. I just think it would be interesting if that aristocract fop who wasn’t afraid to use the war to collect art/antiques under the guise of protecting art suffered a big fall and now brings out a real artist of sorts. This is the fun part this show is doing to my UC brain. I hope there’s some mention or even a cameo for Ramba Ral in this time line. As for the new stuff I’m ready to see more and at the very least consume the visuals and comb over the soundtrack for a good bit.
To think I was afraid of Anno helming a gundam project. I was afraid he’d try to hard to make his own Char’s Counterattack with even clunkier thematics.
I was not expecting de-aged and sexed up Challia Bull. But why the hell not.
It had been so long I thought he was a new original character but boy are they giving the fujo’s good food out of this.
Show seems like it’ll be fun. Feels like a FLCL and Diebuster followup as much as anything else, which I expected, and am happy with. I’d be happy to have any show from this crew. That it’s a Gundam and they’re giant Gundam dorks is icing. Feel like they must have really enjoyed working on the 0079 stuff. Kinda jarring when that shifts, but into it. I for one am glad they’re leaning heavy into the Newtype stuff right away.
A trip to hear someone other than Shuichi Ikeda doing Char. New guy’s missing a certain… irony? … gravity (lol)? to his voice, but he’s pretty alright.
Meanwhile, where the fuck is the second Hathaway’s Flash movie
Yeah he’s a real interesting choice to bring into such a major role in the series. He was cut out of the movies and his existence in the larger Gundam world always seemed a little off because he was seemingly the only like middle-aged Newtype dude.
Now he looks like he’s just a dapper 20-something, around Char’s age.
EDIT: Looks like he’s 34 (in 0085, presumably), according to official material. Nevertheless.
EDIT TWO: Man, the number of characters that could show up in this series could be wild. Pretty much expecting to see Lalah show up in some capacity.
A friend pointed out that Amuro must be alive and doing well in this timeline bc he made Haro and they’re out there in the world now. My other friend thinks Haro has Char’s soul lol. It DID unlock the Gquack for Mashu though 
It was really fun for me to see them doing an AU except Gundam technology is freakish and Eva-monster looking. I especially loved how they shot the original Gundam like Eva, with the face shots where they look away from the camera, or the very specific environmental framing, and even some Eva-like music like the control room/mission briefing song but now with Gundam instrumentals?? Maybe those songs existed originally and I didn’t notice.
Anyway, I think it’s funny how they setup a system where a mecha pilot has a partner and codified it as “MAV,” when it originally started bc one of Char’s underlings had a technical malfunction so one had to wait behind and only one could follow. I bet it was all Chalia Bull’s idea bc he wanted to make his romance with Char canon
I hope the show goes beyond bum fights soon though bc it’s not that interesting to me when they started with giant colony dropping war and then moved on to comfortable middle class spoiled teen is bored and wants to experience freedom. Like if they started there, I would’ve been ok, but man it’s such a tonal shift to restart there
I don’t know the first goddamn thing about Gundam but I just watched this movie in a theater purely on the strength of the creators involved. I loved it! Incredible soundtrack, especially the 70’s psychedelic space opera music in the first half. Has Gundam music sounded like that before, or was that a new thing?
Also, if I want some context before the rest of the show comes out, but I don’t want to watch 100 hours of Gundam, what should I watch?
The original series reduced to 3 heavily edited movies gives you what you want to know even if it isn’t the best form for it.
Manga version of Gundam The Origin is also a good read that covers most of the original with some new details that help it feel a little more human and feel more like a historical drama. Tomino characters often times feel like they jump between emotions between camera cuts. Yas is able to flesh characters out much better and smooth thier emotional ramps. Or at least makes them feel earned in the moment.
As someone who has been trying to watch UC Gundam chronologically over the last year, I’d say you can just watch The Origin OVAs and learn enough to understand/appreciate how GQuuuuuuX deviates from the original UC timeline.
I think its pacing is much better than the original film trilogy, which I have accidentally fallen asleep to multiple times. IIRC there are four hour-long episodes and they were all really good
The Origin Ova largely just covers the new back story for Char and and the formation of Zeon. Still good but a very specific cut of the Gundam story. More of a prequel than a quick telling of 0079.
I am as big a 0079 fan as there is, and man, I do not like the Origin OVAs. A few reasons for that, but the main one is Char just doesn’t work as a protagonist.
I think if you loved it you can suck it up and watch all 43 episodes of the original gundam (17 hours! is much less than 100) then maybe your heart will lead you to more gundam, or not. but the original series isn’t that long
Damn you Khara. Way to shoot yourself in the foot if this is a real exclusive. G Witch built up a lot of momentum of new gundam watchers and I don’t think most of them are going to want another subscription.
oh cool the one service i’m forever boycotting lol
The Origin OVA is my favorite one! I have a taste for melodrama, morally suspect protagonists and complicated political maneuvering
Yeah I was gonna say, I watched the whole original series with my kid and it was good times. It’s pretty chill to get through.
like five years ago i was in this same situation i was like ‘ugh im not gonna watch more than zeta’ no watch the original series its worth it
IMO watch the original series, just do it, it’s good. You’ll know if you want to watch Zeta after it. It’s one of my favorite TV shows ever and is way better than you’ll expect.