Macross competing with Gundam? Surely you jest sir.
In 29 years we've only had 3 TV shows, five OVAs and three movies out of Macross. With Gundam we've had 12 or 13 TV shows, a dozen or so OVAs and four movies in nearly 33 years.
In short, there is no competition. Macross is Macross. Gundam is Gundam.
Okay so here are my thoughts on the last few episodes of Gundam 00 and thoughts on 00 in general. I actually now think that one of the major themes of the story was correcting the "distortion." We hear Setsuna talking about this pretty early on, about how he thinks that something is distorting the world and whose fault it is. And we actually do see things start to distort in the show. Everything is going just fine for CB even though what they're doing is kind of morally ambiguous but then weird things start happening. First the Trinities, who not even the Observers knew about, show and cause even more chaos than CB, then the thing with the Trial system and Veda, then the revelation of Corner's treachery and the creation of the Veda/Ribbons controlled Federation government and A-LAWS. CB then fights to correct this distortion, even when they're not sure if that's what they should actually be doing. Ultimately they destroy Ribbons and A-LAWS, allowing the world to move on the path to peace by itself.
I like this ending because unlike say, Gundam Wing's ending, you don't get some magical change in humanity. I agree with you on that Burke, if the 00 Raiser had extended it's field to touch all people everywhere that would have been way unrealistic. In any case, what I mean is, ultimately CB only starts the ball rolling. Sure humans are starting to change into Innovators but as we see in the movie
even Innovators can end up being jerks. Plus the change into Innovators happens very slowly, even 50 years after the battle with the ELS, only 1/4 of humanity has made the change and it's implied by Ribbons that some people may never become Innovators, at least initially. I'm not sure if two Innovators can have an Innovator child. Also the new federation government may be pacifistic but they're not dumb enough to completely disarm.
In the end, I think 00 presents a more realistic ending than everyone-disarms-everyone-wants-peace-Gundams-and-MS-disappear, in the sense that CB is trying to correct Ribbons' "distortion" so that humanity can get on a better path.
Oh and for those that commented on the "magic" nature of GN particles, first off that one guy getting healed after his bomb collar went off? Well that was a manga so it's not really official is it? Secondly, how are GN particles anymore grounded in "science" than Minovsky particles? Or the Warp Drive of the Enterprise? Or all the weird crap they used to do with the transporters and the Swiss Army Knife deflector dish?
Now for the characters. Yeah, some characters like Graham and Allelujah got the short end of the stick this season, I won't deny that. And upon subsequent viewings I do wish that the Innovators had been a more credible threat. The only really interesting Innovades were Ribbons, Regene and Anew. Speaking of Anew, it's too bad she didn't get to wear the kinda clothes that Sumeragi, Christina and Feldt wore in season 1! And I actually did buy her realtionship with Lyle because the first time I saw them interact personally, I knew, yep they are gonna have a relationship. As for Setsuna and Feldt, I liked the moment they had back in season 1 over Dynames' cockpit and when she gave him the flower, I sat up and rubbed my chin and said, this looks like an interesting match-up. Especially when Setsuna says that he doesn't have "that kind" of relationship with Marina.
Oh Marina, Marina. Thanks to you guys, I'm not as hard on Marina but she still irks me in some ways. For example that whole scene with the gun and Shirin? I betcha Marina would feel a lot worse if one of those kids had gotten shot because she couldn't fire back at their attackers.
I also agree on Tieria, that he had some of the best character progression in the whole series.
Sumeragi. Yes, she was the resident uber-babe but she was a very human character and I loved it when we finally learned the reasons why she joined CB. Her development kinda tailed off after that but I did get the sense that she'd finally learned to deal with her demons, especially after she manages to talk Billy down.
Prince Ali, mighty is he! Some of you guys may think that he didn't get used in the second season as much as he should have but when you take his body count of named characters from the whole series plus that fact that he burned down the capital of Azadistan and his KPSA stuff, the man is one effective Mecha Murderer. And no, him breaking the fourth wall didn't bother me. Ali's cool like that.
One thing about Lyle Dylandy aka Harlockon Stratos, I think Burke had mentioned this in a previous entry, but one of things that i liked about Lyle was that, as awesome as he was, he still had some major character flaws, i.e. he could have gotten out of his situation and left Ali and tried to get him another day, but he still tries to kill him, even as he tries to talk himself out of it, and ends up paying the price. I finally realized that's what he meant when ghost Lyle told Setsuna to change in place of him.
And now we come to Graham Aker and the theory that I wanted to share with you guys, although I think someone else kinda beat me to the punch. Okay so we can see that Graham, for all his awesomeness, gets obsessed with the Gundam as his continua defeats to the point that he even has Billy modify a Flag, a suit with a not so great anti-Gundam track record, with a GN Drive Tau. Then after supposedly beating the Gundam, he gets an idea that they may still be out there and figures the only way to beat them is to totally devote himself to the ideal of a warrior. This combined with his obsession just makes him go totally crazy and he does crazy things like. 'Oh the Gundam is disabled, my perfect battlefield is ruined! Until next time shonen!' Or, 'Your comrades have arrived to aid you, my perfect battlefield is ruined! Until next time shonen!' But thanks to the new found awareness that Setsuna's gaining as the first True Innovator, he drags Graham into Newtype Naked Space and explains why he's being a total moron in a way that Graham can't ignore. And it ends up working. Setsuna speaks to Graham's soul and as we see in the movie
he's awesome again.
Ah man, I could talk about the characters all day but I'll stop with this: I loved how Kati and Patrick actually did get married because you really would think that Patrick would be the last guy that Kati would get with but he's persistent and it pays off.
And Kati in a wedding dress? Yes please!
The mobile suits. I loved pretty much all the Gundams in this series, first and second season and all the mobile suits too. Yes, that includes the Aheads and Jinxs and no, I don't think they're any better or worse than the Flags, Enacts or Tierans. I also liked how they had an homage to the Leo with the Tieran's flight pack. The only mech I didn't like was Alejandro's way-over-the-top Alvatore and Alvarone. A giant golden mobile armor and suit with gold filigree around its comm screens with a gold pilot suit? I know we razz Strike Freedom for having gold bling joints but this monster of Alejandro's really takes the taco. Actually I wasn't that impressed with the Reborns Gundam either. In comes in way too late, and then just gets trashed.
Now if 00 does have one major flaw, it's leaving too many things to be explained in novels, mangas and other Expanded Universe stuff. Cross-marketing is all well and good (except when it comes to Star Wars) but not when you use it to explain stuff that should have been in the show, like Ribbons killing the Observers or background on Alejandro. Make up your own damn stories for the side stuff!!!
One other thing I wanted to mention, I think LightningCount said this, was how is the final battle between 0 Gundam and Exia anymore drooling, blatant fanservice than all the sexually-oriented stuff they shoved into SEED and Destiny?
When it comes right down to it, I think that 00 accomplished what it set out to do. Maybe not in the exact way it intended thanks to spiteful, moronic, fearful fanboys, but a success none the less. It is in my top five favorite Gundam series and will probably hold the number 1 slot for quite a while. Gundam AGE has so far shown that they really are aiming for a younger audience so I'm not quite enjoying AGE as much 00. Still, it was great way to cap off a troubled decade for Gundam and here's hoping that 2010-2019 will be even better!
P.S. Burke, have you seen Gunpla Builders yet?
P.P.S. More on the movie tomorrow.
Top Five Favorite Characters
1. Lyle Dylandy
2. Sumeragi Lee Noriega
3. Feldt Grace
4. Sergei Smirnov and Ali-al Saachez tie for this spot.
5. Ian Vashti (A man so smooth he literally has a wife that could be his daughter!)
Top 5 Favorite Mobile Suits
1. GN-001 Gundam Exia
2. GN-002 Gundam Dynames
3. GNX-603T Jinx
4. SVMS-01O Over Flag
5. GN-005 Gundam Nadleeh
Top 5 Favorite Gundam Series (so far)
1. Gundam 00
2. Gundam Unicorn
3. Gundam Wing
4. The 08th MS Team
5. G Gundam
oh, one last thing. Does anyone here think that there is any possible way that Anew could have come back just like Tieria and Regene did?