Gundam Mega Marathon

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Arbiter GUNDAM
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Gundam Mega Marathon

A few months ago, after we got the Build Fighters announcement, I decided to go on a Gundam Mega Watch, especially since there are a lot of Gundam shows that I've only seen once or not in a long time. I actually shoulda posted this a while ago since I'm kinda a ways along. I'm also not limiting myself to the TV shows. Movies, manga and books are fair game. A couple of things though--

1. I'm skipping ZZ since it was the most recent Gundam I'd watched before Build Fighters and AGE.
2. Skipping Wing. I know, it probably doesn't make it a complete marathon if I skip Wing but I watched Wing probably 8 or 9 times in the last 13 years. I will watch Endless Waltz though. ;)

So here we go--

Mobile Suit Gundam: I started with Gundam: The Origin and I gotta say, this is the version I prefer the most, especially with all the little changes that Yaz made, such as Sayla having her own custom GM and generally being more badass. But since the release is only up to Vol. 4, I'm finishing out the story with the Gundam novels. It's a very interesting contrast.

Zeta Gundam: Even though I've only seen the TV show once, I decided to go with the New Translation movies this time, as I haven't seen them either. An interesting, more upbeat take on the Zeta story. I'm not sure which ending I like better. I like Kamille getting a happy ending but the brain fry ending also shows the cost of war and that even the heroes pay a price. Also that new scene with Ben Wooder shooting Four in the face? That was hard…

Char's Counterattack: I'm probably going to blasted for heresy but as good as this movie is, there is one little thing that keeps me from enjoying it quite as much as Endless Waltz, F91 or Trailblazer and that thing is Quess. Frak I hate this character so much. I mean, I get what Tomino was doing with her but couldn't it have been delivered in a less crazy and annoying fashion? I will admit however that she's more tolerable in the sub than the dub.

War in the Pocket: Probably one of the best Gundam shows ever made. A compact, character-driven story that manages to make more of an impact in 6 episodes than than some of the full-length series.

Gundam F91: The series that almost was. The animation is gorgeous but it feels like the first 13-15 episodes of a series with the last episode for the ending. Plus the ending isn't that good. Sure Iron Mask is dead and the Bugs stopped, but the Crossbone Vanguard are still in charge of Frontier Side and as far as I know Crossbone Gundam doesn't fill in all the blanks.

I'm quite looking forward to 0083, as I haven't seen it in… probably 7-8 years. :)
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monster
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Re: Gundam Mega Marathon

In honor of it appearing in Build Fighters, please watch G-Saviour as well.
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Re: Gundam Mega Marathon

Well we might be doing that for Shoji Ramuro's Anime Movie Night. Maybe. :)
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Re: Gundam Mega Marathon

Arbiter GUNDAM wrote:I'm probably going to blasted for heresy but as good as this movie is, there is one little thing that keeps me from enjoying it quite as much as Endless Waltz, F91 or Trailblazer and that thing is Quess. Frak I hate this character so much.
off the top of my head, i can think of only one person in the entire Gundam fandom who actually likes Quess. so if disliking Quess is heresy, the Church of Gundam has done a very poor job of stamping it out.
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Re: Gundam Mega Marathon

Well, I meant more the "not liking it more than the other Gundam movies" angle. :)
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Re: Gundam Mega Marathon

I'll give a little credit to Quess... from SRW D where Char's Neo Zeon are good guys!
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Re: Gundam Mega Marathon

monster wrote:In honor of it appearing in Build Fighters, please watch G-Saviour as well.
IT. IS. HAPPENING.
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Re: Gundam Mega Marathon

Oh no, you're already way passed where I left off. Oh, well. I'll go back and rewatch the whole thing some day, without the color commentary, haha.

EDIT: Well, that movie was ... something, and LOL at all the hate, heh. But yeah, it does look like a Syfy film. I didn't know it was made for TV.
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Re: Gundam Mega Marathon

I'M BAAAAAAAAAACCCCCCCCKKKKKKK! :)

Gundam 0083: It had been many years since I'd seen this, so many in fact that the last time I watched it was on the VHS tapes I'd recorded off of Cartoon Network! I enjoyed the music and the animation and most of the story but the characters leave me cold. Some like Keith, Mora and Captain Synapse and Lt. Burning are good (oh and Cima, though having her backstory actually in the OVA would have helped) but others such as Kou, Nina, Gato and Monsha drive me up the wall. Other than that, it was lots of fun. Kinda wish they'd get Kawamori back to design some Gundams again.
G Gundam: I'd only seen this once before and it was great fun going back through it again though this show doesn't seem to be meant for marathoning. Domon's "THIS HAND OF MINE IS BURNING RED," routine gets old after a couple dozen episodes. And as much as I like Rain, my girl is, and always will be, Allenby.
08th MS Team: Still as great as the first time, although having the DVDs are much better than having to fast forward through commercials on a VHS. And even with the OVA animation as good as it was back in the 90s, there's a pretty big difference between the OVA and the Battle in 3 Dimensions short they put out a little while ago, but mostly just the difference between pre and current digital animation.
Gundam X: This one was a real treat. I just finished watching it today and it's such an underrated series. Though I wish it had gone ten more episodes like it was supposed to, it still tells a great story in the time that it has and is definitely up there in my top 5. Garrod and Tiffa probably have one of the best romances in a mecha and Gundam show besides Rain and Domon. But Ennil El is Best Girl.
Now on to Endless Waltz and Turn A Gundam
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Re: Gundam Mega Marathon

Arbiter GUNDAM wrote:I'M BAAAAAAAAAACCCCCCCCKKKKKKK! :)

Gundam 0083: It had been many years since I'd seen this, so many in fact that the last time I watched it was on the VHS tapes I'd recorded off of Cartoon Network! I enjoyed the music and the animation and most of the story but the characters leave me cold. Some like Keith, Mora and Captain Synapse and Lt. Burning are good (oh and Cima, though having her backstory actually in the OVA would have helped) but others such as Kou, Nina, Gato and Monsha drive me up the wall. Other than that, it was lots of fun. Kinda wish they'd get Kawamori back to design some Gundams again.
G Gundam: I'd only seen this once before and it was great fun going back through it again though this show doesn't seem to be meant for marathoning. Domon's "THIS HAND OF MINE IS BURNING RED," routine gets old after a couple dozen episodes. And as much as I like Rain, my girl is, and always will be, Allenby.
08th MS Team: Still as great as the first time, although having the DVDs are much better than having to fast forward through commercials on a VHS. And even with the OVA animation as good as it was back in the 90s, there's a pretty big difference between the OVA and the Battle in 3 Dimensions short they put out a little while ago, but mostly just the difference between pre and current digital animation.
Gundam X: This one was a real treat. I just finished watching it today and it's such an underrated series. Though I wish it had gone ten more episodes like it was supposed to, it still tells a great story in the time that it has and is definitely up there in my top 5. Garrod and Tiffa probably have one of the best romances in a mecha and Gundam show besides Rain and Domon. But Ennil El is Best Girl.
Now on to Endless Waltz and Turn A Gundam
So that means two more until the 2000's... Enjoy it while you can!
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Re: Gundam Mega Marathon

"My castle is now completely protected." Sure it is... from everything except big-ass beam cannons, ya moppet.
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Re: Gundam Mega Marathon

SD Sangokuden. Each episode is 10 - 15 minutes and is a fun show that plays around with the Three Kingdoms lore.
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Re: Gundam Mega Marathon

ShadowCell wrote:
Arbiter GUNDAM wrote:I'm probably going to blasted for heresy but as good as this movie is, there is one little thing that keeps me from enjoying it quite as much as Endless Waltz, F91 or Trailblazer and that thing is Quess. Frak I hate this character so much.
off the top of my head, i can think of only one person in the entire Gundam fandom who actually likes Quess. so if disliking Quess is heresy, the Church of Gundam has done a very poor job of stamping it out.
Somebody call me? :) No, even I don't like Quess that much, Tomino had to make that Gundam Evolve segment so I could agree that she was worth saving.

Ganbare, Arbiter-kun! :) I am not sure about G-Savior, that is one to watch on "scan" mode myself. (I'd like to say we do a MST3K commentary sometime, but I'm not sure there is enough content to rip on.)
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Re: Gundam Mega Marathon

GUNDAM MEGA-MARATHON
TODAY'S ENTRY: ENDLESS WALTZ
ICONIC SCENE: "Your shelter is secure, isn't it?"
Ah Endless Waltz, my old friend. It's that time of the year again, and it just so happens to coincide with arriving at Endless Waltz's place in the Gundam timeline. Like a lot of you, I'd wager, I first saw this on Cartoon Network and later purchased the DVD, one of if not the very first piece of anime media I ever owned.
EW is now 18 years old, so how does it hold up? Pretty well I'd say but my DVD is definitely showing its age. One of these days I'll have to get the BD. It's a fun adventure romp but there are a few things I noticed this time around that I thought I'd comment on.
I noticed this time that having so many flashbacks in the movie tends to make things kind of jagged. It seems like everything has to come to a halt every ten to fifteen minutes so we can have some insight into the Wing Boys. Don't get me wrong, they sorely needed some more character development but it's probably not a good thing that they had to shove it all into this movie. And what we do get (besides Heero) isn't a whole lot compared to what's in the Episode Zero manga.
Dekim didn't seem to have his invasion plan very well thought out. I guess he was hoping to intimidate everyone through sheer force of arms? For example, when they invade Brussels, I don't think it is ever mentioned whether the ESUN president is actually inside the mansion or not and if he wasn't... then what was the point? The ESUN isn't a monarchy or dictatorship where capturing one leader will guarantee your takeover, and even if it was, if you didn't actually capture that leader, what exactly have you accomplished? Again, I guess they were going for total intimidation.
I also noticed what might be an animation error or maybe a difference between the movie and OVA versions. When Heero prepares to fire his last shot, a brief scene show's him aiming off center, presumably so the blast doesn't totally annihilate the bunker, yet in the next scene the blast hits dead center. Just a little thing I noticed.
All in all, Endless Waltz is a fun romp, even if Mariemaia is almost insufferable. Personally, I'd have to still rate it a little higher than some of the other Gundam movies but objectively it falls between CCA and Trailblazer and then F91 and G-Saviour.
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Re: Gundam Mega Marathon

Arbiter GUNDAM wrote:I also noticed what might be an animation error or maybe a difference between the movie and OVA versions. When Heero prepares to fire his last shot, a brief scene show's him aiming off center, presumably so the blast doesn't totally annihilate the bunker, yet in the next scene the blast hits dead center. Just a little thing I noticed.
Nope, that's not an error. He started to divert because Dekim said "Stop firing, Relena Peacecraft's in here!", but her simple affirmation of trust convinced him to stay the course.

I remember seeing the dub premiere of EW at Anime Weekend Atlanta over a decade ago. The audience burst into cheers at precisely two moments: the iconic scene you mentioned, and Relena intercepting Lady Une's slap and running it in for the touchdown. Though I do slightly prefer the manga version of the former, where Heero mockingly asks "Do you feel safe in your cage?" before he opens fire.
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Re: Gundam Mega Marathon

ShadowCell wrote:
Arbiter GUNDAM wrote:I'm probably going to blasted for heresy but as good as this movie is, there is one little thing that keeps me from enjoying it quite as much as Endless Waltz, F91 or Trailblazer and that thing is Quess. Frak I hate this character so much.
off the top of my head, i can think of only one person in the entire Gundam fandom who actually likes Quess. so if disliking Quess is heresy, the Church of Gundam has done a very poor job of stamping it out.
If it's not me, then you can +1 me to that list, because I thought Quess was adorable.

But then, I seem to have a soft spot for unstable girls who pilot massive murder machines in general -- Quess, Stellar from DESTINY, Loni from Unicorn, all of them are my lovely ladies. :mrgreen:
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Re: Gundam Mega Marathon

Trust me, if there's any CCA opinion you're gonna get blasted for, it's NOT hating Quess.

EDIT: I assume I'm that one person ShadowCell is talking about. I'm not actually the only person in the English Gundam fandom who likes Quess (there are a few of us actually, we almost have a little support group going), though I'm probably one of the more vocal ones. She seems a bit better liked on the Japanese end, though it seems to be largely for nefarious reasons.

Now, disliking Char or some other mega popular character is gonna get you labeled a hieratic.
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Re: Gundam Mega Marathon

Is disliking Char gonna get people labeled a heretic? My experience with the western fandom seems to be that many have a backlash against popular Zeonic characters (I know I've seen quite a few even blast people who like Zeon suits over others.) Though take into account my experience with western fandom is here, a few small boards, and twitter.
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Re: Gundam Mega Marathon

it waxes and wanes. i'm sure as much as there are Char fanboys, there's a backlash to Char fandom, and then there's probably a backlash to the backlash brewing, and then there will be a backlash to the backlash to the backlash, and it will go on and on forever until cockroaches rule the world, at which point they will decide that Harry Ord was the best Char and we won't be able to argue with them because we will be bleached piles of radioactive bones.

for a while, Zeta Gundam was held to be The Most Holy Crown Jewel of Gundam, Above All Reproach. there's a fashionable backlash to that. and there's a fashionable backlash to that fashionable backlash. it's how fandom works.
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Re: Gundam Mega Marathon

But Shadowcell, Harry Ord IS the best Char of them all. :3
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