The Moonrace Invasion Force, spearheaded by the Ghingham
Fleet, descends upon an outmatched planet Earth. With two Gundams at his disposal Gym is
unstoppable and even the traitorous Guin is unable to keep him in line. Knowing the full destructive secret weapons
hidden in both the Turn A and Turn X, Loran and whats left of his Militia
allies gamble one last desperate plan to retrieve the Turn A and defeat Gym
once and for all. In the end, the
yearning hearts of three youths: Loran Cehack, Dianna Soriel and Kihel Heim,
will determine if humanity is doomed to repeat the Dark History or forge a
golden path to the future.
In the wide world of Gundam, finales tend to be a go big
or go home challenge. Many series and
films in the past have sent their Gundam tales out with a huge bang, whether
they were good or terrible in the end is a matter of perspective. So, does Turn A Gundam live up to the lofty
expectations set by amazing Gundam finales like The Original Series, Char’s
Counterattack or 0083? (that last one had serious spectacle it was almost
enough to forgive the poor character writing).
Well…yes and no but I don’t think no in a totally negative light.
We picked things up right where we left off heading into
the last set. Did we really have time to
watch the Moonrace come to Dianna’s aid and paint a spaceship for half an hour
(with a little action thrown in for good measure)? Probably not but this wasn’t the first or
last time this set that we saw Dianna’s power of love for her people inspire
such fierce and immedieate loyalty. It
was enough to quell the riots on the Moon, it was enough to bring Phil and
Miran back to her good graces, it was enough to make the entire Dianna Counter
risk their lives to stop another Dark History Armaggedon. It even attracted the welcome return of Corin
Nander, who ended up sacrificing his life to stop the Moonlight Butterfly given
off by the Turn A and Turn X (that made me sad, I was actually glad to see him
again). Dianna has often blamed herself
for the calamity that’s befallen Earth since the Moonrace’s return and she was
determined to right that at any cost.
Clearly her time on Earth with Loran has toughened her up and made
Dianna one of the Gundam franchises most enduring lead heroines.
The Ghingnham Fleet invasion was as terrifying as
expected to be when bloodthirsty maniacs with giant robots descend from
space. Their all out assault pretty much
made anything the Dianna Counter did in the beginning of the series look like a
nice picnic by comparison. Several
cities were set ablaze and places considered harbors of peace and safety
weren’t spared, like poor Keith’s bakery.
And, of course, Guin saw very little wrong with all of this, or at least
he thought he could keep things tidy just like Agrippa did when Gym was let off
the leash. It surprises me that Guin
survived to the end of the series, even if he was basically cast out by his ex
soldiers and his biggest groupie (Lilly).
Sure he got insulted and his dream of becoming the most powerful man of
a Moon tech based industrial age was torn apart, but I still think Guin got off
a bit easier than he deserved.
Another character who I feel got off a bit light was
Joseph, former assistant to tech wizard Sid, who basically stole the Turn A
when he got a chance and refused to give it back to Loran cause…of an
inferiority complex? Yeah that’s
something that had been kind of brought up in the past, though Joseph’s initial
disdain for Loran was because the kid was from the Moon. But here it was just another delay to get
things to the end of the road and Joseph nearly died trying to be the hero he
wasn’t meant to be. The only reason he
gets a pass is because Fran wasn’t going to raise that baby of theirs alone and
it looked like Joseph was doing a good job of that in the final montage (more
on that in a bit).
And what of my main man, Loran? Well quick factoid first: Loran and I share the same birthday, November
2 (granted his is 2328)…no wonder ive always liked him. Loran stayed solid throughout this whole
finale. He lost his Gundam and remained
chill. He confronted Guin and laid out
just how insane anyone is to follow that man in any plan. And when it came time to confront Gym, Loran
never stopped believing in the peaceful possibilities of the human heart,
contrasting to insane Gym’s rageful claims that battle is all he and mankind
are good for and he’d revel in destroying the world to start anew. It’s all very familiar ideological battles
between main series rivals (a la Amuro and Char). And it even came with its own Char’s
Counterattack esque ambiguous ending as the Turn A, Turn X and Gym were
enveloped in an energy cocoon created by their combined Moonlight Butterfly
effects. What does it mean? I have no clue but it was pretty.
Which brings us to the final moments of the series. Kind of like Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz, we
got an epilogue montage showing the fates of the main cast. Dianna and Kihel swap places again, with
Kihel going to the Moon with Harry to rule the Moonrace while Dianna stays on
Earth to live out her days with Loran (however long she has left). Sochie, who for whatever reason gets a kiss
from Loran (sorry, I know they have a connection but im Loran and Dianna all
the way) stays behind to become the future head of the Heim household. Lilly begins joint Earth and Moonrace
operations to rebuild their homelands and much of the Militia begins building a
life of peace on Earth with the Dark History tech they found while Guin slinks
off with no role to play in this new age.
This all felt pretty rushed and I wouldntve minded a couple of points
explained (or an extra episode actually), most importantly Dianna and Loran’s
log cabin arrangement. Was Dianna too
drained by the barrier she put up to protect everyone from the Moonlight
Butterfly? Are she and Loran officially
a couple? I suppose, like the Dark
History itself, the true meaning of this ending is up to the viewer. Me, I would’ve liked a more clear cut answer.
There were a couple of stumbles to the finish line. Ive talked about the unnecessary delays on
the Moon and Joseph’s ridiculous macho attitude. But the animation, which had been pretty
solid all throughout the series, took a couple of creative risks that didn’t
pay off. There was a sudden influx of
mixing 2D and cel shaded animation styles, especially during the final battle
between Loran and Gym. It’s not the
first time we’ve seen the cel shaded style in the series and I wont say it was Silent Mobius terrible, far
from it. But it was very distracting and
it stood out like a sore thumb. The
final battle could’ve benefitted from being done in the same hand drawn
artstyle as the bulk of the series. Ugh,
part of me hates typing that just now cause I wonder if it should affect my
final grading on a series that ive really, really enjoyed.
Guess there’s no better segue into it. What are my final thoughts on Turn A
Gundam? “Wow” would be the first word
that comes to mind. You’ve got the most
unique (and beautiful) setting for a Gundam series. Many of the Gundam Universes tropes are
either removed or converted into Easter eggs while not sacrificing the central
messages Gundam always conveys (though I feel “War is Hell” is only illustrated
more in such a beautiful countryside setting it might as well be Eden). Loran Cehack feels like the embodiment of
every Gundam protagonist from the first 20 years, like an ultimate evolution of
Amuro Ray. Even when he was doing things
that were silly and made calls that were questionable, I never disliked Loran
for a second, he’s definitely one of my favorite protagonists in the franchise. Kihel and Dianna were an awesome pair and
they made the identity swapping storyline work better than you’d think. Both grew stronger and found their own
rewards for their journeys: Dianna got to live the life of an Earther and Kihel
found true love with Harry Ord. I can
see why future female Gundam heroines like Lacus Clyne from Mobile Suit Gundam
Seed and Kudelia Aina Bernstein from Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron Blooded Orphans
might’ve drawn some inspiration from these two.
The rest of the cast is memorable for their own reasons, good and bad:
From Char level bad ass Harry Ord to the irritating Sochie Heim. The animation, save for the finale, is some
of the best in all of 90’s anime and one of the best looking entries in the
Gundam franchise, if not the best one hands down. It was good to have Yoshiyuki Tomino write a
more optimistic story for a change and shy away from his “Kill em all” heyday
that was a staple of Gundam shows he’d manned in the past. And yet, the urgency and intensity you always
find with Gundam is still intact and, save for a couple of unnecessary stand
alone detours, ran at a rapid pace that always kept me wanting to see more of
this story and where it was all headed.
Yoko Kanno…my God can that woman do no wrong when it comes to music. It was all the operatic genius of Escaflowne
sent in Gundam’s direction and it paid off beautifully. Yoko Kanno with any series is a blessing but
Yoko Kanno and Gundam are a match made in heaven.
If the finale had been a bit stronger, id actually be
THIIIIIIS close to giving Turn A Gundam a perfect score of 10/10. However my final score for Turn A Gundam is a
very, very strong 9/10. This really is
an entry I think every Gundam fan needs to see, whether you’re a long time
viewer or have only seen a couple of entries.
Seeing as how this was made to celebrate the first 20 years of Mobile
Suit Gundam, Turn A Gundam was able to shake up the formula and deliver an
amazing project while staying true to Gundams roots and messages. It’s a celebration and a loving homage to one
of the greatest Anime sagas of all time.
And I cant wait to revisit the series one day down the line…what a rush.
BUT we’re not done just yet. There’s still one more day before Otakon, so
im going to kind of break a rule of mine….again
I’m going to close out my Turn A Gundam coverage with a double feature
review on Wednesday as we take a look at the feature film compilation movies:
Earth Light and Moonlight Butterfly.
Will trimming this 13 hour saga to about 4 hours make a difference and
push their score to a 10? You’ll have to
come back Wednesday to find out, see ya then.
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