Universal Century 0087.
Seven years after the end of the One Year War, the landscape of Earth
and Space has changed. To prevent the
rise of a future Zeon like threat, the Earth Federation establishes an elite
taskforce known as the Titans. Ruthless
and without conscience, these soldiers deliver their brand of justice no matter
who gets in the way. Opposing this new
regime is the AEUG (The Anti-Earth Union Group) and they might’ve just scored
two key weapons that could give them the edge.
One is a young man with a temper and latent Newtype abilities named
Kamille Bidan. The other is a new model
of one of the most legendary Mobile Suits in history: The Gundam Mark II.
Considered to be the moment when Gundam really took off
as a franchise, Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam is seen as one of the true Golden Boys
of the franchise.
If Mobile Suit Gundam
wrote the book on how to make a “Real Robot” series in the mecha genre, Zeta
Gundam is apparently the “Hold my Beer” equivalent.
I’ve been waiting a really long time to get a
shot at reviewing this and, Ladies and Gents, this holiday season, that time
has come.
The Gauntlet is being thrown
down once again.
Welcome to GUNDAM MONTH
MARK V-THE GAUNTLET PART II.
But more
importantly at the moment, welcome to Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam.
Let’s get to it.
Well the scene that is the Universal Century sure has
changed since the end of the One Year War.
The Federation are now the bad guys and Char Aznable, er I mean Quattro
Bajina…you know what, I’m just gonna call him Char, is fighting alongside a
resistance group of former Federation officers who are fed up with the ways of
Titans.
Guess things must be pretty
desperate and they actually really are in Zeta Gundam’s premiere.
The Titans and their leader, Bask Oum, are
the perfect sequel successors to the Zabis: ruthless, unrelenting and just
plain bullish in everything they do.
The
Titans were assembled to keep another Zeon like threat from rising and yet they
have become that threat.
These guys will
even physically beat the crap out of regular Federation officers for offering
an opinion differ from theirs.
Honestly,
these guys all deserve the worst fate possible for daring to land one of those
beatings on Bright Noa of all people.
How can the Federation really be blind to acts of violence and careless
destruction that the Titans seem to dole out on a regular basis?
Guess that’s a mystery to be solved later in
the show.
If the Titans are natural successors to the Zabi’s,
Kamille Bidan, our Gundam pilot for this outing, is a solid follow up to the
early days of Amuro Ray.
However,
whereas Amuro was an antisocial loner techie, Kamille is a living embodiment of
pent up aggression.
His parents aren’t
exactly in the running for Parents of the Year and the simplest mention of his
name sounding “girly” is enough to send Kamille into a fit of rage.
I’m not opposed to Titans getting their
punches in when possible.
But Kamille
being just as foolhardy as them to just act on impulse and stupidity…well this
is our hero folks.
Kamille has heart but
his brains is centered solely on himself and his priorities.
If you thought Amuro was insufferable at the
beginning of Mobile Suit Gundam, Kamille isn’t starting off very strong
either.
However, Amuro became more than
his own capable bad ass by the end of the original series.
If Zeta Gundam follows that awesome example,
Kamille’s growth will begin…eventually.
I did feel bad for the poor kid losing his parents so early on to the
Titans dirty tactics…well not so much his dad, Franklin Bidan was an absolute
scumbag who got what was coming to him.
Zeta Gundam’s supporting cast looks to be stacked as one
of the best in the franchise.
I already
mentioned Bright coming back and im sure that beating he received will be all
the reason he needs to ditch his Federation threads for a bit.
And yeah, Char’s back too with a silly alias
but all of his cool is still intact.
What’s funny is that everyone is like 99.9% sure that Quattro is Char,
so why the subterfuge?
I guess having
his name out in the open again could cause more trouble in some way.
Still, only a matter of time before Gundam’s
best baddie turned frenemy ditches that stupid name and returns to his Red
Comet ways.
We’ve also got a pretty
strong cast of girls along for the ride.
Emma Sheen and Reccoa Londe both have more than enough strength to stand
with the boys and even put Kamille in his place when his tempertantrums get a
little out of hand.
I’m surprised Emma
was ever put in the Titans before coming to the AEUG.
Considering every other Titan is kind of a
jerk, she totally stands out.
Being nice
is a quality that would probably get you killed by the Titans themselves even
as a member of their ranks.
Doesn’t
quite explain how Jerrid Messa is part of the Titans though.
Dudes a total idiot who lucked his way
through the first few episodes and even had little sympathy for Kamille even
after he learned he killed Kamille’s mother…God this show is full of asshats.
Thanks to the success of the Gundam Complilation Trilogy,
it looks like Sunrise was willing to go all in with director Yoshiyuki Tomino
on this one cause Zeta Gundam looks pretty damn good for a mid 80’s space
Anime.
Some segments even look as good
as Char’s Counterattack, which came about three years after Zeta Gundam in
1988.
The Mobile Suits and their combat
feel a lot more fluidic and fast paced compared to the original Gundam series
and it isn’t skimping on the violence factor with a couple of exploding bodies
being included when a Mobile Suit or two explodes.
The mecha themselves are pretty solid follow
ups to Mobile Suits of the original series.
The Titan Hi-Jacks are meant to look like next gen Zaku’s for a reason
I’m sure but they look great.
Char’s red
painted Rick Dias moves pretty well for such a clunky but formidable
machine.
And then there’s the Gundam
Mark II.
In it’s original black design
it’s a monstrous looking machine.
A far
cry from Amuro Ray’s original colorful counterpart, the Mark II is meant to
strike fear into the hearts of anyone who lays eyes on it.
Thankfully, the AEUG got their hands on all
three Mark II models from the Titans and one of them is getting a friendlier
paint job…that said, the Black Mark II is still awesome.
Only five episodes in, I can see why Zeta is seen as such
a special show in the franchise.
Sure
Kamille’s got a ton of growing to do.
But the darker atmosphere, the sweet new suits and the return of old
faces plus some promising new ones and the further promise of more tragedy to
come makes Zeta Gundam feel like such a natural progression for the Universal
Century saga.
And while I have this in
my favor, you don’t even really need to see Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory to get
a better understanding of why things have changed to much.
When Zeta Gundam can lay out the situation,
the characters and what’s at stake pretty clearly in five episodes, you know a
show has done something very right.
And
we’re only just getting started.
Mobile
Suit Zeta Gundam continues tomorrow as we get settled into Gundam Month Mark
V-The Gauntlet Part II.
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