2307 AD. With Earth’s fossil fuels used up, humanity has now turned to solar power as a means of survival. Three orbital elevators, governed by three different super powers, stand to not only supply energy but like Earth to the stars. However, in defending these towers, hostilities are high as each powers (the Union, Human Reform League, and the AEU) secretly vies for control of another. But everything changes when a new power enters the fray. They call themselves Celestial Being, an armed private military force in possession of four powerful Mobile Suits called Gundams. And they have one goal: the eradication of war on Earth. A curious goal, but with the Gundams and their Meisters descending, all of Earth will feel their wrath.
Welcome to my great summer endeavor, my full series
review of Mobile Suit Gundam 00. Ever
since Gundam came into the new millennia, it’s always tried to find ways to
appeal to new and old fans, like every franchise should every decade or
so. Preceding Gundam 00, that task went
to the Gundam SEED saga. Gundam SEED did
an admirable job putting it’s own spin on the original 1979 Mobile Suit Gundam
saga. But Gundam SEED Destiny, the
follow up, was the exact opposite, horrendous and downright infuriating, a
devastating blow to the franchise, basically making things up as it went along
with disasterous results (seriously I want those 51 episodes of time
back). Which brings us to the successor
to SEED, Gundam 00…and from the first few episodes it’s a definite recoup from
the dark era of SEED Destiny.
The first smart move the series makes is in it’s
inspiration. Whereas SEED drew from the
original series and SEED Destiny the Zeta and ZZ sequels, 00 seems to take it’s
cues from fan favorite Gundam Wing, aka the show that made Gundam a household name
around the world not just in Japan. The
premise feels like Wing except a bit grander but the images of a set of Gundams
suddenly appearing around the world striking down military targets is still the
same. Even the feel of some of the
characters mirrors Wings. For this im looking specifically at main Gundam Pilot
Setsuna F Seiei, who could basically pass for Heero Yuy’s younger brother. Same goes for potential Relena Peacecraft,
Princess Marina Ismail, who seems to be learning the ropes of politics in a
harsh and unforgiving political realm.
Oh and as an added bonus for fans of the franchise, resident Gundam
mascot Haro is back, this time as Lock On’s co pilot and he’s just as good as
ever, I dare say this is probably my most favorite incarnation of Haro to date.
The series has a thunderous opening with the first
appearance of the Gundams and their parent organization, Celestial Being. But after the announcement of their goal: to
eradicate war from the Earth, the first couple of episodes seem to follow the
same pattern: recap the Gundams exploits, talk political plays, a battle pops
up, the Gundams intervene and an Ace tries to take them out…repeat. It isn’t until the last couple of intro
episodes that things get shaken up a bit.
So Celestial Being’s endgame goal: to bring about the end of war on
Earth, means they’ll target basically any military force with a Mobile Suit or
a gun. It doesn’t matter what sides
needs more help than the other, they’ll blow them up regardless. It’s funny when Gundam Sniper Lock On quips,
“We just picked a fight with the entire world” cause that’s exactly what’s
happened. And Episode 4’s turn to have
the Gundams attack a country that wanted them to fight on their behalf adds to
this, they aren’t making friends, they aren’t taking sides, everyone is an
enemy, that is all. Episode 5 is a bit
of a shake up as well as we see one of the pilots, the enigmatic Trowa Barton
hair styled Alleluia, deal with his split personality (?) and disobey protocol
to save a falling colony, rallying Human Reform League Ace Sergei Smirnov (Bad
ass name) and his forces to aid him.
The cast on this show is huge and I feel like we got
thrown a lot all at once. Besides the
Meisters and their support crew there’s also three governments with various
characters and even some civilians thrown into the mix. There’s some nice mystery to Celestial Being
spy…jack of all trades…young child spokeswoman, you know what, five episodes in
and im not sure what the heck Wang Liu Mei’s purpose in the show is, same for
her manservant and her male counterpart Alejandro Corner. As for annoying couple in love, the energetic
and pretty if loud Louise and her boring as all heck boyfriend Saji (seriously
how are these two compatible)…they do get swept up in the action during the
colony drop episode and are now kind of just there to be the civilian POV on
the whole conflict.
The rest of the production is pretty awesome. The
animation is about what youd expect for how far Gundam has come since the
1970’s. The action is just as intense
and the visuals, man they can be just downright terrifying. I don’t think we’ve reached the peaks of the
blood soaked battlefields of SEED or SEED Destiny but Setsuna imagining a
peaceful park destroyed while he sits there is still a pretty terrifying
appetizer for what might lie ahead.
What’s in my opinion the best treat, besides some really awesome mech
designs, is the soundtrack. Anime
composer Kenji Kawaii is behind the excellent soundtrack for this series. If you don’t know who he is, just watch a
Mamoru Oshii film…and then some
actually. His resume includes the
Ghost in the Shell and Patlabor films as well as live action features like
Death Note and Kibakichi. His mix of
symphony, choirs and his own guitar work is a work of art and suits a Gundam
series just fine.
Gundams are on Earth once again and it sure is great to
have em back. And just another heads up,
ill be posting more frequent new reviews throughout the week: Monday (the
regularly scheduled day for new reviews) plus Wednesday and Friday. It’s a long series, 2 seasons 25 Episodes
each and 14 DVDs between them and if I want to get it all done before Otakon,
that’s what it’s gotta be. Means I may
watch more and write ahead and some reviews may be shorter than others but no
matter what, this is how it’s getting done.
Welcome to Gundam 00…buckle up and Suit Up…yeah that
sounded cooler when Peter “Optimus Prime” Cullen was doing that for Gundam Wing
promos.
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