Friday, December 21, 2018

FIF#71-Mobile Suit Victory Gundam

UC 0153.  With the Federation growing more and more obsolete, a threat greater than any before has begun a relentless assault on the galaxy.  They are called the Zancare Empire and they are a religious whose intentions are clear: convert or be eliminated.  With the Earth and the colonies poised for another fateful showdown, the hope for peace rests with a gallant resistance movement, the League Millitaire.  When young Uso Evan loses his family in a Zancare assault, he not only becomes the League’s youngest mobile suit pilot but also the pilot of the League’s symbol for hope, the Victory Gundam.
 
Coming into our third week of GundamCember 2, we take a look at the series that closed out the Universal Century for a little while, Mobile Suit Victory Gundam.  Right out the gate, this is already a very odd Gundam title, and that’s saying something compared to alterverse Gundam shows like G Gundam or Gundam Build Fighters.  I could, and probably will, go into the weird mecha designs or the cast or the setup but mostly im confused about why the series starts in a very Star Wars style manner…in the middle of the opening act.
 
Rather than start things out with a more proper introduction (setting and conflict and soft introduction of characters), Victory Gundam throws us right into the middle of the action, presumably after things just kicked off on Earth.  We meet Uso, our young Gundam protagonist, and a few of his allies but there isn’t any time to get to know or get a feel for them with all the non stop chaos around, caused by a random ace pilot in a ski mask (I guess he’s our Char of the series then).  I understand wanting to get the ball rolling on a new show but it’s very possible to do an action heavy intro while still introducing the new world the show will take place in (every Gundam from the original series to Wing to Iron Blood Orphans managed this simple feat).  There’s also the bit where, outside of a few teeny references, this doesn’t really feel like the Universal Century.  Victory Gundam is supposed to take place the furthest in that timeline, 30 years after Mobile Suit Gundam F91.  F91 itself was set 30 years after Char’s Counterattack and it still felt like a UC entry thanks to the heavy Federation presence and a couple of familiar Mobile Suits.  Victory Gundam starts so fresh with all of this it might as well feel like a test bed for the Alternate Reality Gundam shows that came after it.
 
The characters were a bit all over the map and that isn’t entirely their fault.  Coming into the middle of a story without a proper intro can hurt characterizations a little bit.  I feel this strongly about the Char type, Chronicle Asher, who is presented as a hot headed pilot looking to redeem himself in battle by any means necessary.  He lacks the chill and calculative nature of Char types before him…maybe he was just having an off day?  As for Uso, well he’s the youngest kid to pilot a Gundam (13 years old I believe) and his age shows in his attitude.  He doesn’t seem to realize that once he begins to pilot the Gundam, there’s only one thing he’s gonna be asked to do by the League Militaire (weird name btw) and that’s fight. He’s unaware that, like Amuro Ray or Kamille Bidan before him, this is going to hurt him a lot.  There are a few others introduced from cute blonde Katjina to Uso’s mentor and fellow pilot Marbet.  Katjina will be one to look out for.  Her conclusion that the bombing of her hometown because they were so complacent is a big red flag into dark side territory.  Marbet, I could see maybe as a less sexualized Misato Katsuragi from Evangelion but we’ll see.
 
With a very whimsical artstyle and the daringness to jump right into the middle of the story, Victory Gundam kicks off and I really wonder if this will live up to the legend behind its troubled production.  There are signs of dark times to come, especially considering we saw a sea of charred bodies from an earlier battle.  I wonder if Victory can recover from this rushed beginning and live up to the previous successes of the Gundam television legacy.  For now, I think ill table this one and come back to it another time.  There’s a lot of other Gundam im curious to watch before this one but im glad I got a taste for now.

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