The Argama rendezvous’ with the La Vie En Rose supply
ship. Through it, they receive the
powerful new Gundam model, the Double Zeta, and beautiful pilot Roux Louka, to
bolster their fighting strength. Still
dogged by endless pursuit, the Argama’s new recruits begin to feel the strain
of war but things get personal when Judau’s sister, Leina, falls into enemy
hands. And then there’s the mysterious
colony Moon-Moon, which contains a long lost arm of humanity who could be the
ultimate ally or ultimate destruction for both the Argama and their pursuers.
If my patience with Gundam ZZ is being tested at every
turn, I can only imagine how fans in the 80s handled this train wreck of a
series.
Frankly, it’s a miracle Gundam
survived this colossal misstep and went on to become the legend that it
is.
I’m not saying the franchise is full
of winners (G-Saviour and Gundam Seed Destiny are proof of that).
But this is early days Gundam, when it was
supposed to be setting a pretty high standard for mecha Anime.
I guess all of that glory went to Zeta Gundam
because Gundam ZZ has shown it has learned nothing from its predecessor.
Are we even sure Tomino directed this
one?
If it seems like I’m ranting pretty
early that’s because there is only one thing that’s actually good about this
short set of episodes (it’s only a minor mercy that I’ll have 4 episodes a set
for a bit instead of 5 due to how theyre presented on DVD), and that’s the ZZ
itself.
The Gundam ZZ finally arrived (a lot sooner than the Zeta
did in its own show actually).
If the
Zeta was a force to be reconkned with, more of an evolution of the original
RX-78-2 than the Mark II was, then the ZZ is a flying tank that is also a
Gundam.
The thing has mega particle
cannons for days and armor that puts it’s offensive capabilities on par with
that of a battleship like the Argama.
It’s also the most Super Robot a Gundam has gotten in the franchise
(aside from the ZZ inspired Gundam AGE-3 in Gundam AGE), as it’s made up of
three components that can be launched separately as a fighter squadron if need
be.
The ZZ can launch as a whole if need
be and I think/hope that will be the norm going forward now since the Argama is
getting not just that but also a rebuilt Gundam Mark II as well.
Which means once a proper team is selected
from this sorry lot of characters, everyone will have a Gundam to sortie
in.
But does anyone deserve a Gundam in this show?
Ill admit, Roux might and Elle is growing on
me a little.
But I have just about had
it with this despicable cast of teenagers.
The Argama is no longer the well oiled machine it was fighting the
Titans.
No, the inmates are running the
asylum and I hate saying this but Bright is an idiot for bringing these kids
onboard.
Sure, Judau and company are
about his age when Amuro and the White Base crew took on Zeon and ofc Kamille,
Fa and Emma were the same in Zeta.
The
difference is, maturity levels are far different.
Even at his most selfish, 0079 Amuro is far
more tolerable than Judau.
At least when
Amuro deserted White Base he didn’t seek to sell the Gundam for money.
Judau’s mind is money and vanity before
anything else and he’ll gladly stop an important supply run to grab a drifting
Zaku to sell for a fortune.
If the old
adage of “Get rich or Die tryin” applies here…I hope the latter happens for
pretty much every new character in this series.
Ok, I rag on Judau because he deserves it but he might
not be the worst of his lot onboard the Argama.
At least Judau decided to give a damn when his sister, Leina, was
somehow captured by Neo Zeon.
My main
beef is with Beecha and Mondo, who are so obsessed with ditching the Argama and
seeing it burn because they’d have to work to live there it’s rage
inducing.
The pair continue to sabotage
the ship, rat out its position and even try to steal the ZZ to take to Neo Zeon
as a defection gift.
These two are
freaking selfish morons and if anything bad deserves to happen to anyone on
this show, it would be them.
Tying a
close second is Shinta and Qum, who I wish to God had gone with Fa back to
Shangri-La.
Twice these little snots
nearly spell doom for the Argama by helping an enemy pilot escape, thinking
he’ll take them to Fa; and stopping the Argama mechanics from stopping Judau’s
attempt to take the ZZ to go rescue Leina.
Shinta and Qum are a far cry from Katy, Letz and Kika in the original
series.
Those three kids proved
themselves multiple times on the White Base and even saved Jaburo from
destruction at one point.
Shinta and Qum
have whined, cried, fought each other and just generally wasted time and space
on the ship over the course of not one but two series.
No wonder Bright’s thinking he’s such a bad
father: his ship is infested with teenagers about as emotionally mature as
Shinta and Qum.
Is it a wonder Hathaway
turns out as messed up and irritating as he does in Char’s Counterattack now?
Onto the villains side, if you thought starting the Neo
Zeon roster off with Mashymre was a bad idea…yep, he’s become the lesser of two
evils.
The popmus Knight of Neo Zeon
ditched his ship when Haman sent an unstable babysitter named Chara Soon to
supervise him.
Chara is all kinds of
special and is probably a Cyber Newtype given how messed up her mind is.
The girl is a D20 roll of personality: will
she be a rock and roll goddess with a hot bod?
Will she be terrified of Mobile Suits and space combat?
Will she be super turned on by Mobile Suits
and space combat?
Once again, even
Zeta’s more uneven Cyber Newtypes like Rosamia are more tolerable than
Chara.
That’s probably because Rosamia’s
overall story was a tragic one, as it was for most Cyber Newtypes in Zeta
Gundam.
Zeta focused heavily on young
pilots having their minds mucked with in order to unlock their Newtype
potential and found themselves mentally destroyed beyond repair.
No matter how badly Kamille wanted to help
them, it just wasn’t possible.
ZZ does
the worst kind of crime by trying to put a comedic spin on mental illness
caused by experimentation and it is sickening.
It’s really, really hard to take Neo Zeon seriously at this point.
I cant even take Leina getting abducted
seriously because this show is so devoid of actual drama and stakes and
instead, just full of crap.
Last point of discussion is Glemy Toto, who I guess seems
poised to be the Jerid Messa in this series, except far more of a parody.
Jerid may have been a joke to me in Zeta but
he brought the menace when needed and became Kamille’s nemesis for good
reason.
Glemy has all of Jerid’s
arrogance but with the additional baggage of being obsessed with Manners, Roux
and his Mother.
He’s determined to prove
himself but has always been bested by Roux’s flirtatious deceptions multiple
times.
Leina was captured by Glemy by
pure accident, he thought he was snatching Roux.
Whereas Mashymre had a glowing adoration of
Haman in his mind, for Glemy it’s his mother (who we haven’t seen).
But I’m with Roux: the way Glemy talks about
his Mom I’d assume he has a pretty big Oedipus Complex (look it up if you don’t
know what that means).
We ended this set with the Argama and Enrda locked in a
battle in a colony belonging to a cult of colonist called Moon-Moon…and that’s
all I’m going to say on that.
It’s that
pointless Adesan two parter from Turn A Gundam all over again and I cant
believe Tomino didn’t get it right fifteen years later for Turn A Gundam when
he was doing Gundam much better than he is here.
I suppose it would be a mercy if Gundam ZZ
ended here.
But this is review Part 3
out of 10…this show has none and now I know why everyone hates it.
Guess what, im definitely one of them.
Back to the mines of massive salt that is
Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ tomorrow, right here at the Gundam Anime Corner…gonna go
cry in a pillow now.
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