Mobile Suit Gundam Part 9 The Movie Trilogy

The One Year War.  That is the name of the conflict that has ravaged the Earth Sphere in the year 0079 of the Universal Century.  Though Zeon has the upper hand, a secret project within the Federation hopes to turn the tide.  Through a twist of fate, the fruits of this project have ended up in the hands of low level soldiers and civilians not ready for the horrors of war.  Among them is a young man named Amuro Ray, a boy with special abilities and intuition.  As he takes control of the Federations greatest weapon, Amuro will become a symbol of hope for his allies and fear for his enemies.  For as the One Year War enters its final stages, history will forever remember Amuro and the Mobile Suit he pilots…the Mobile Suit called Gundam.

Here at the Gundam Anime Corner I tend to avoid reviewing compilation films.  The main reason is that, generally, theyre segments of Anime I just watched copy and pasted into a much shortened feature and don’t usually offer anything really new.  However, im making a rare exception in this case and here’s why.  Following it’s cancellation at 43 episodes, Mobile Suit Gundam found a new wave of life in the form of strong Gunpla sales and a trio of recut, reanimated and slightly restructured compilation movies.  These films, maybe more so than the original series itself, helped boost Gundams popularity in the early 80’s (along with reruns of the TV Series itself) which lead to the eventual release of Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam in 1985.  In short, without these films, Gundam might not have made it through its first couple of years, nevermind making it to 40.  So I decided to give this film trilogy a watch and im really glad I did.  Believe it or not, as much as I loved the TV series, I think I might like the movies just a bit more.

 

Story structure wise, yes this is the same exact story covered by the 43 episode series.  However, with three feature length films to fit it all in, director Yoshiyuki Tomino is able to adjust a detail or two, switch some things around and even change certain events but never in a way that it ever hurts the original narrative.  To get into specifics: the first film (The Movie), is the least touched in terms of carrying things over from the series.  A lot of the animation has been touched up but everything from the Side 7 attack intro to the conclusion with Ghirren Zabi’s speech to Zeon is unchanged.  The second film (Soldiers of Sorrow), takes us through the Ramba Ral arc right to the Battle of Jaburo but here is where the new changes begin to appear, two of them particularly standing out.  The first is the omission of the G Fighter unit piloted by Sayla.  The ship which allowed for multiple Gundam transformations is instead replaced with a simpler fighter plane, the Core Booster, furthering Gundam’s departure from traditional super robot tropes.  The second big change is the White Base does not participate in Operation Odessa due to back to back battles with Ramba Ral’s unit and the Black Tri Stars.  The battle is still won but, in one of the more impactful moments of the whole trilogy, we do see White Base arrive to see the aftermath and the carnage suffered by both sides.  It reminded me of an infamous battle from Star Trek, The Battle of Wolf 359 and seeing the Enterprise fly through debris from a hopeless battle with the Borg.  Upon seeing the White Base crews salute to the fallen, I knew this trilogy was doing things right (it already was but ill get back to why that is momentarily).

 

The final movie (Encounters in Space), is where Tomino really steps things up a bit.  Most of the film is made up of brand new animation, making the final battles of Solomon and A Bao A Qu look absolutely breathtaking.  The Mobile Suit combat is even more fluid and smoother than the TV Series ever could be and I feel like we really are seeing the true potential of Amuro in action as he makes the Gundam tear up everything in its path.  The film also swaps around a couple of events mostly to get the last of the big character exposition moments out of the way so that the second half is more straight up action right til the very end.  Again, these changes don’t hurt the original story or change any outcomes, it was just a pacing decision that pays off.  On the whole, from a production stand point, the films only improve as they go.  The standard TV look from early on in the first film is gone by the end and the newly animated sequences begin to dominate half of the second film to great effect.  By the time we get to the third film its clear we’re seeing Mobile Suit Gundam the way it was always meant to look, and sound too for that matter.  Yes, while several series themes are around, the trilogy gets a mostly new soundtrack that more than compliments both the epic action and quieter character beats quite nicely (I think it’s a much better score than the TV show actually).  And, since it’s a movie, we can see more intense action sequences.  It’s not all out gory but there are a couple of scenes where the intensity is dialed up so high because some battles are pretty gruesome.  It might not look as good as early 80s Anime films like say Adieu Galaxy Express 999 but these are still damn good films to look at. 

 

Clocking in at a little under 7 hours total runtime, the Gundam Trilogy moves at a pretty briskly.  From the beginning of the Side 7 attack, the first film becomes one nearly two hour long chase scene that sets the pace for the rest of the saga.  This means much of the series filler has been omitted or certain scenes have been saved and shuffled into other parts of the films.  What surprises me is that, unlike most compilation films, the moments that really help define the central cast and their characters arcs are all intact.  This does, unfortunately, mean we get Amuro’s whiny entitled brat routine that made him unlikeable.  And, for the life of me, I don’t get why Slegger was ever included in the series but in the films he has even less screentime, making his inclusion kind of pointless.  But Amuro did grow in the series and rewatching his tale, slightly accelerated, is still a good watch because all of the moments that help him grow and change are still here, especially the reunion with his mother and his friendly encounter with Ramba Ral.  Char is still Char, he just needs to be there and he’s done his job of being awesome.  Bright gets some really good attention and a moment of true bad assery when he point blank shoots a guy in the head to save Amuro during a Zeon attack.  But we also get some more quieter moments with the White Base commander, especially in the third film with new scenes between him and Miriai to highlight their unspoken romance.  I was surprised certain story arcs were kept around like Kai’s tragic romance with Miharu and Katz, Letz and Kikka’s adventure in Jaburo.  But again, these are moments that define the destiny of these characters and others.  Omitting them would have harmed the overall impact they have on the story and thanks to the three films of runtime, everything can be kept in properly.

 

If I did have to point out flaws, as much as I praise the pacing, its not quite perfect.  While the story with Amuro’s Mom, in retrospect, can be kept in the first film, it does kill the momentum built up through the first 2/3s of that movie.  Im back and forth on whether or not I feel the same way about starting Encounters in Space with the Side 6 arc.  It’s mostly kept intact and offers answers to some lingering questions of the series, such as the final fate of Amuro’s father.  But it comes after a big bang of an opening sequence and goes on for a bit before we start the march into the final battles of the series.  Like I said, im back and forth on that nitpick.  I cant say anything bad about the pacing of Soldiers of Sorrow…that was perfectly paced.  Speaking of final fates, characters who died in the series like original White Base Captain Paolo, Garma’s fiancé Icilina and Kycillia’s Captain M’quve are mysteriously written off without any indication as to whether or not they survived the events of the series.  Icilina’s case is a forgivable one because, as tragic as her failed attempt to avenge Garma was, it wasn’t needed in the movies.  But M’Quve was a major villain for the White Base crew and Paolo’s death had a serious impact on the crew, especially Bright, despite his short time on screen.  It feels odd Tomino would just shuffle these characters off to the side without much thought…and yet Slegger is still around (seriously I don’t like his character nor do I get the need for him to be Ryu 2.0).  I also question the decision to not reanimate the movies as a whole so everything looked as good as Encounters in Space.  Honestly, im not sure if all three films were made simultaneously before being released at various intervals between 1980 and 1981.  Perhaps just doing some tweeks to the first films animation and seeing how it was well received inspired the studio to allow Tomino to do more with the latter two films.  I bring this up because there are times when the original TV animation pops in, unaltered and unpolished, and its clear it doesn’t look as good as the more feature film quality stuff.

The Mobile Suit Gundam Movie Trilogy does what few compilation films have ever been able to do: retell a story with a few embellishments and some fresh coats of paint and still stay true to everything that made the TV Series so legendary.  The messages of war and peace, love and hate, evolution and doomed histories are still here as is the action around them and the characters all caught up in the middle.  In my opinion, while Soldiers of Sorrow may be my most favorite of the trio, all three films are a breeze to watch and enjoy and you wont feel much of a time lag either.  Each film just gets better and better with its new animation, original storytelling and intense action sequences that aren’t shackled by TV restraints.  Normally id fear going into movies like this, I mean what else is there to see when the TV Series is done and already did so much right?  Well we saw “right”, now with this trilogy we get to see “better”.  This is a perfect capstone to the triumphant first chapter of the Gundam saga and a trio of films that every Gundam fan should check out at some point.  You wont have many regrets, if any.  This is where the legend truly took off and has never stopped since.  Fly on Gundam

 

Final scores for the Mobile Suit Gundam Movie Trilogy are:

Mobile Suit Gundam: The Movie-8/10

Mobile Suit Gundam: The Movie II-Soldiers of Sorrow-9.5/10

Mobile Suit Gundam: The Movie III-Encounters in Space-9/10

And with that, the Gundam heads back to the hanger bay but we’ll be returning to the Gundam multiverse later this summer since ive chosen Turn A Gundam to be my big summer series to cover before Otakon.  Before we get too far ahead though, it’s time to return to The Year of The Slayers here on the Gundam Anime Corner.  You wont even have to wait til next week either.  Slayers Try starts Wednesday with a special premiere before reviews resume as usual on Mondays right here on the Gundam Anime Corner.  See ya then.