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Some reasons I'm not LOVING Mobile Suit Gundam yet...

posted 18 years ago by jseger9000
10 replies | jump to latest

Please do not call for my death as you read this. These are just my opinions on what I've seen so for (up to ep. 8 or 9, Fly Gundam!). I'm in the process of watching the series for the first time. Prior to what I'm seeing now, I read the trilogy when it was first translated way back when. I don't remember much except a few major plot points (the Newtypes and Amuro dying at the end). I have not seen any of the later shows and know very little about the MS Gundam universe.

Watching this, I can see how Macross essentially swiped much of its' plot from these early Gundam episodes. The problem is that Macross was much better written. I know it isn't fair to compare a later series with an earlier one, but I can't help it.

Before you go dismissing my points by saying that this show was one of the first 'more serious' anime series, just remember Space Battleship Yamato came out about the same time and didn't have these issues.

Anyway, here's some of my issues with the series so far:

1. What happened to all the other military folks on the White Base? I can understand keeping Amuro as the pilot for Gundam, but I can't believe nobody else on the ship was trained to pilot it. I mean, who was going to run it on the first test run? And why do those other civilian kids pilot the fighters and the other mobile suits?

I can accept it as part of Tomino's anti-war message, but just barely. Gundam just doesn't seem very clear on how many people are on the ship and who does what. This is one place Macross handled the story better.

2. The series seems to be moving at a glacial pace. The White Base was forced down over Zeon occupied Earth, but how slow is that ship? A jet can fly you from Texas to Tokyo is less than a day, but the White Base seems to be struggling along like a covered wagon.

So far the show doesn't seem to have found much of a focus.

Also, now that I'm about nine eps in, it would be nice to have a little background on what the fighting is about, how Zeon captured parts of Earth, how much they run and so on. I liked that the show started in media res, but at some point they ought to fill in at least a little backstory.

3. Sometimes the writing is a little goofy. This I think is the translation and not an original fault of the show. I know to some it is sacrelige, but I wish when anime series are translated, they would also be adapted a little. I don't want the story rewritten or edited or anything like that. Just have a professional rewrite the dialog so that it flows better in English.

4. The Gundam, Guntank, etc. never seem to be damaged no matter how much fighting they go through. I know that if the suit was destroyed there wouldn't be much of a series left, but it whould be good to seem them maybe having to replace some armor on the Guntank or something.

These are only minor quibbles. I will purchase the entire series and watch the whole thing. This show is a milestone and is still pretty enjoyable. But I don't know if I'll hurry to pick up the subsequent series.

Admittedly, I'm still less than a fifth of the way through the series. That's why I posted this on a message board rather than a review.

[–] j_wong00 18 years ago

1: Majority is dead. The first attack by the Zeon forces did a number on the colony AND the White Base, that after the Captain, the next senior officer was Bright Noa; an ensign.

2: We are talking about space here. Going from Texas to 10738km(6673 miles), where as the distance between the Earth and Moon is 360,000km to 405,000km depending on orbital position. Plus in the Gundam universe there is no faster then light travel, so everything is pretty much crawling for travel.

3: You might enjoy the movies better. It's a retelling/compression of the TV series, and flows a bit better not to mention removing a lot of the "Super-Robot" elements and goofiness.

4: Operation V (the development) was designed against Zeon MS technology, so the armor was designed to withstand just about anything it's thrown at them... plus it's easier and cheaper to animate; we are talking about 1979 here.

[–] jseger9000 18 years ago

Wong,
Thanks for responding to my post.

1. I'll accept that.

2. No, they return to Earth in the fifth episode "Re-entry To Earth". Since each episode seems to approximate a day or more, I just wonder how long will it take White Base to reach freakin' Federation air space. I'm on episode 14 and they're still not quite there yet. A week on Earth? The White base has to be at least the speed of say... a jumbo-jet. And like I said, Texas-Tokyo=a day or so.

3. I can see why the show wasn't successful until it was compressed to the movies.

4. I don't know. I guess it's just that the series walks a line trying to be (somewhat) realistic and just being goofy. I mean Amuro has single-handedly taken out a dozen Zaks (I agree with Frederik Schodt, Zak sounds better in English than Zaku) and han't had to do any real repair work on the Gundam. Why didn't the Federation just build two Gundam prototypes and wipe out Zeon? But I do understand that like you said, the reality was that it was still sort of a super-robot show.

I guess it's just that Macross seems to have stolen a lot of the story from Gundam but did it with so much more style.

Also I have to say the show has picked up some after Garma's Fate. And I do enjoy the show. I've also ordered Tomino's next series 'Aura Battler Dunbine'.

[–] j_wong00 18 years ago

I believe they took longer to get to Fed space, was because they were caught deep in enemy territory. When you're stuck there, you just can't go hard and announce yourself to everyone. You sneak, and hope you can get to the boarder without being seen.

Popularity wise, it was when the show went into syndication that it got popular, and THEN did Sunrise went ahead to make the movies.

Finally, at the time the show was made, there were no "Super" or "Real" robots, simply "Robot" shows. Thus at the time it wasn't surprising that many of what we call Super Robot themes today was still very prevalent (most notably the "monster of the week" eps.).

Macross on the other hand, most likely had Gundam to build on as a base. However, where one is a war drama, the other is a space opera.

Oh, I would recommend Dunbine, as it follows much of the Gundam themes.

[–] jseger9000 18 years ago

I've watched through disk 5 so far. Next episode: The Black Tri-Star. I think the episodes after Garma's Fate have gotten much better.

I do know that part of what was troubling me has to do with the way that it isn't quite a 'Real Robot' show and it isn't quite a 'Super Robot' show. I know this is because 'Mobile Suit Gundam' is the first Real Robot show and they were still establishing it while fighting goofy requests from toy-makers (that's why I haven't complained about how dumb the 'flashy' Gundam looks against the very military-looking Zaks).

Post 'Garma's Fate' it looks like they've finally figured out what works for them and what doesn't.

I've ordered the first four Dunbine disks just because they were so cheap. The art on them is beautiful, though I've purposely avoided watching any trailers or anything as I want the show to be a complete surprise.

[–] gundamrgmgm 17 years ago

There were three Gundam prototypes. Two were destroyed in the attack on side 7 and both were rebuilt into the G3. One was mostly intact while the other was almost completly destroyed so they just combined them to make a new MS. That and unless they had mass-produced the Gundam.

Well one reason the Zaku's can't damage the Gundam very well is because the 120mm machine guns commonly used by them have a low velocity(compared to other bullets) and can't pierce MS armor very well. The titanium armor used by the GMs is sometimes to tough for the slower 120mm bullets to pentrate and they deflect off of the armor but the Gundam's Luna-titanium is an even harder metal so they are even less effective against that. Now for anyother weapon causing minimal or no damage I would like to just say plot-shielding.

[–] turinturambar30 17 years ago

Don't hesitate to pick up Gundam Zeta. It took everything Gundam built-up and just ran with it.

[–] dac287 17 years ago

Also if you really like the UC timeline you need to see hte original series and Char's Counterattack as well. Zeta is great, but Char's Counterattack is a must-see to know how it all really ended.

Also my favorite UC show was 08th MS Team. It's a side story about regular soldiers who aren't ace pilots and it is refreshing because besides War in the Pocket (another great UC show I recommend) it was the only Gundam show that felt like a war between regular people and not good guys vs. bad guys in super suits (which is how New Type fights felt).

I also know some fans dislike it, but Gundam Wing is a great alternative storyline and unlike G Gundam and Gundam Seed, it is one alternative storyline that lived up to the original while being mostly original (besides a character named Zechs and his schemes). I say avoid G Gundam and Seed with a passion, though.

[–] duesouth 16 years ago

1) All the senior military folks are killed or badly injured during Zeon attack on Side 7 (Episodes 1-2);

2) The reason is, resonably, White Base can't fly the speed of a Jumbo Jet (it seems clear she's waaaay slower), and can't use direct routes to the allied airspace because of Zeon surveillance. Being slow, low on ammo and fuel, helpless without partner ships, and unable to fly a direct route make this gigantic flying carrier much more beliveable (in military terms) than the space cruiser from Yamato or the flying fortress from Macross.

3) I own the brand new Italian dubbbed DVD release and can't recall much of the goofs of the older italian and US versions, but I agree that the movies work much better.

4) Gundam, Guncannon, Guntank are damaged a lot of thimes, often badly, but this happens further in the series, when Zeon begins to use much more sophisticated MS.

[–] Full_Blooded_Italian 12 years ago

Yea i just watched the first two episodes and while good stuff, it just feels like it flows at a real slow pace. I'll give it a few more shots, and if it's still meh I'll try the movies out.

Gundam wing while goofier with it's battles seems to flow better, is it just how the orgional series was made?

[–] narva24 9 years ago

Started watching this myself and I agree with many of your points.

The ship is slow - like really slow, to a point where it really shouldn't have the speed/power to take off from earth - so yeah, science fail. In fact, this ship is slow to a point where any decent commander would go back into space where the speed is much faster - and make a landing in a friendly territory from there.

Then there are robots - Gundam takes out the green robots like they are made out of paper - and yet, there are decent robots in the possession of the enemy as well, but they seem to make appearance only once in blue moon. Any reasonable commander would not send tanks/robots which stand no chance against the new technology developed by the enemy - especially not when they actually DO possess robots which are capable of countering it. Yet, time and time again, they send their greenies to die for and then send their decent robot only near the end. It reminds me of plenty of videogames where you kill tons of baddies and then have a boss battle. In other words, this has nothing to do with reality.

Also, what happened to the communications technology in that era? From what I can tell, despite the fact that this series seems to focus on the future, many of the technological advances seem to have gone nowhere since WW2. Why aren't the enemy bases connected in terms of communications?

All in all - a weird show - and it seems as if many aspects of it are not reasoned out well - thereby making little sense in terms of logic. So yeah - mature anime? I would say no.

If you want something spectacular - watch The Legend of Galactic Heroes. It was made in the 80's but is superior to this pile of crap (and admittedly, most new series as well) a thousand times over.