T5W#294-Top 5 Gundam Anime Corner Season Premieres

Today, the Gundam Anime Corner celebrates its 7^th Anniversary YAY!!!  As excited as I am to share my thoughts on Weathering With You as the celebratory title for the event (link to that review is right here: http://gundamanimeblog.blogspot.com/2021/03/weathering-with-you.html), the end of one year means its time to begin another.  Kicking off the next era of reviews for the Gundam Anime Corner wasn’t so important to me as when I started but in time, it’s become more fun to think of what title can start things off with a bang…more difficult to think of what comes later to maintain that momentum haha.  So, to commemorate what’s coming tomorrow, let’s take a look at the Top 5 Gundam Anime Corner Season Premieres.

Weathering With You

16 year old Hodaka Morishima runs away from home to find a life of meaning in Tokyo.  In a city where it hardly stops raining, Hodoka meets Hina Amano, a beautiful girl with a special gift.  If Hina prays to the sky, she can stop the rain for a brief period of time and let the sun in.  Hodaka and the rest of Tokyo find themselves praising this “Sunshine Girl” as hopes are lifted and dreams become reality.  Hodoka and Hina team up to bring life and hope back to Tokyo, but how long can this amazing miracle last…and does it come with a terrible cost?

Weathering With You is a movie that had a massive feat to pull off: it had to follow near perfect masterpiece that was Your Name.  Even sharing the same Writer and Director (Makoto Shinkai), music composers (RADWIMPS) and animation studio (CoMix Wave Films), whatever was done after Your Name was gonna have to prove that if it couldn’t surpass it, the movie could at least match Your Name’s level of quality.  That’s a lofty weight and a lot of pressure, I’m not envious.  Still, against all odds, despite some minor rough edges, Weathering With You is a sign that Makoto Shinkai isn’t just a one hit wonder.  If he can keep pumping out emotional, feel good movies like this, Anime is gonna be something else in the next few years for sure. 

The Gundam Anime Corner 7th Anniversary

March 31, 2014-It began as a simple exercise: pick an Anime Collection from my shelf; review a disc full of episodes every week until it was done; once it was done, choose another; wash, rinse, repeat.  Fast forward 7 years later.  Up to this point I have reviewed 70 TV Series, 170 Films (damn), 33 OVAs and 8 ONAs.  I’ve gone far beyond my own personal stash of Anime and expanded to whatever I can find on streaming services, YouTube, wherever I can track a title down.  Why go the extra length?  Because this is my blog and I love it as much as I love Anime and that love is the reason this blog exists at all.  I’ve revisited old favorites, gotten second opinions on others and found a bunch of new titles to fall in love with.  And even though I name this blog after my favorite Anime franchise of all time, this blog is more than just about Gundam, though I have finally been able to see more of it than ever before over the last few years.  The Gundam Anime Corner is a place to find Anime titles old and new, classic and cringe, where you can agree or disagree to your hearts content.  It’s a place to have fun, to get away from the world for a few minutes if you don’t mind listening to my ramblings and lists.  This blog has become a love letter to not just my own fandom, but Anime in general and I cannot wait to share what I have in store for the next year of its existence.  Actually…how about a sneak peak, eh

Code Geass: Akito the Exiled

As the Black Rebellion rages on in Japan, other parts of the world feel the wrath of the Britannian Empire.  Leading the European Union counterstrike against Britannia is the Wyvern Squad Squadron, led by the beautiful tactician Leila Malcal.  This squadron is made up exclusively of volunteers from Area 11, the former Japan and among their ranks is the ruthless Akito Hyuga, a young man with capabilities far exceeding a normal human.  As Akito and Leila fight against a powerful enemy and their own destinies,  Knight of the Round Suzaku Kururgi escorts a very familiar military advisor into hostile territory, bearing a secret weapon that could crush the European resistance once and for all.

For a franchise that seemed poised to rival Gundam, Code Geass hasn’t had a large presence in the Anime world outside of its juggernaut debut.  Which is a shame because Akito the Exiled is proof that the world of Lelouch Vi Britannia has room to grow, both around and outside of his shadow.  This OVA takes everything that made Lelouch of the Rebellion a blast to watch and experiments with it, both to decent and not so decent results. 

Steamboy

London, 1866.  On the eve of the Great Exhibition, young James Ray Steam receives a package from his Grandfather containing a ball whose power can change the course of Human history.  Pursued by a shadowy organization who will stop at nothing to get this ball, Ray flees to keep it safe but ends up in the middle of a battle between two opposing scientific factions.  With dangerous ambitions threatening the nations future and all who live in it, it’s up to Ray to take the power they covet so badly and use it against them, for the future of both science and Humanity itself.

Katsuhiro Otomo is a name synonymous with Anime thanks to one title: Akira.  After that film dropped in 1988 and blew the entire world away, all eyes were on this man.  Whatever Anime film he directed next would have an impossible task ahead of it.  Granted, Otomo has worked on other Anime projects since Akira, mostly writing and production credits for films such as Metropolis and Memories.  When it comes to directing Anime feature films however, Otomo only has two titles under his belt: the aforementioned Akira and the film I’m reviewing today: Steamboy.  When Steamboy arrived in 2004, it did so after a long, 10 year production and quickly became known as one of the most expensive Anime films ever made.  Makes sense, considering it’s a project helmed by a man who single handidly put Anime on the worldwide map, a studio would want to give him a blank check so to speak.  The million dollar question is: Is Steamboy at least good?