We roll right along with Zeta’s “New Translation” trilogy and as the title suggests, there’s a lot of focus on one of the more pivotal aspects of Zeta: the doomed romance between Kamille Bidan and Four Murasame. However, while I’m getting more used to the back and forth animation styles, this film is where things start to really deviate from the original source and the results are rushed and rocky. For certain, this isn’t as strong a middle chapter as Soldiers of Sorrow was for the original series compilation trilogy.
The runtime of Lovers clocks in at just over an hour and a half and covers Episodes 15-32 of the TV Series (gonna leave almost 20 episodes of room to cover in the finale). The film seems divided into three distinct acts: Kamille’s adventures on Earth and his romance with Four; the Battle of Granada; and the last which I can only sum up as…miscellaneous? Let’s start with the main draw of the movie. Kamille and Four have a love story that continues to inspire much of Gundams more romantic angles well after Zeta ended. It’s beautiful to see Kamille open himself up to someone he feels is so special and it’s heartbreaking to see that their love isn’t meant to last. And yet I feel like Lovers is in such a rush to cover so much overall ground that the overall impact of this story isn’t felt. I don’t think it helps matters that one of the biggest changes in this retelling is Four’s fate. Considering she still has a pretty important role to play during later events in the series, was killing her off getting Kamille back into space the right move? Also, is it me or did Kamille move on pretty quickly trying to hook up with Fa afterwards?
Love it or hate it, the constant transitioning between 1985 and 2005 animation approach is here to stay. I think I’m getting more and more used to it and am kind of just enjoying the action as it unfolds. There appears to be more of an evening between the artstyles and im guessing by the time we get to Part III, we’ll be seeing mostly new animation, which I absolutely welcome. Not only does it make the actions sequences, especially the defense of Granada, look absolutely stellar, it also allows for brand new scenes that lend more focus to the central cast of Zeta. Two scenes that stand out are a meeting between the AEUG’s main commanders and Captain Henken awkwardly welcoming his eternal crush, Emma, onto the Radish. Scenes like this help strengthen our love for these characters and make me wish that the 2005 animation was the default so we could see more of it. I especially loved that Bright still got to see the message from his family during the aforementioned meeting…and everyone was fine with it cause theyre not jerks like the Titans.
Like I said though, this middle chapter seems determined to get through its swatch of Zeta as quickly as possible and that means much is cut while important events are lost in the shuffle. Mirai and Beltorchika see their roles severely reduced, Mirai is almost a cameo. I didn’t mind cutting a lot of the Beltorchika stuff cause she was annoying when first introduced. Several battles are also merged together or placed really close together, such as Fours rampage through New Hong Kong followed by her tragic demise getting Kamille back into space. Jerid languishes a bit with a lot of his battle sequences squished together so he actually loses Mouar during the Granada battle rather than afterwards. Im most curious about how the New Translation will handle Reccoa since he big meeting with Scirocco has been totally scrapped. That one meeting was enough to start pushing her away from her allies but here it’s just Sarah talking about him that peeks her interest…well that and apparently a lackluster kiss from Char. It’s sad because of all the stuff they could cut from this new version of Zeta…Katz and Sarah still have all of their scenes intact. It doesn’t matter whether youre watching the series or the movies, these two are still the weakest and worst characters of Zeta. I know it wont happen but I hope Katz’s arrogant self dies by literally colliding with an asteroid this time instead of getting winged and then blown up.
I will say this about A New Translation, it knows how to end its movies. Last time it was the reunion between Amuro and Char. Here, we get a fun surprise entrance from Haman, leading the Axis Zeon welcoming party that saves the Argama from Scirocco. If seeing the Argama being marched off by an unknown force doesn’t get you psyched for the finale, I don’t know what will. Be that as it may, Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam: A New Translation II-Lovers suffers from the usual Compilation Film hassles of being too rushed, leaving important things out and not doing important events proper justice. It’s not impossible to do a good middle chapter of a trilogy like this, again see Mobile Suit Gundam: The Movie II-Soldiers of Sorrow for proof of that. Lovers just had a lot to live up to when it came to one of the greatest love stories in Gundam and Anime in general and it didn’t fully deliver. It is still a much better watch than either of the Turn A Gundam movies though…so there’s that.
6.5/10
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