The Official Gundam: Requiem for Vengeance Anime Thread Mk I

[Ryujin]

Trailer just dropped for the OYW CGI show animated with UE5, courtesy of Netflix:

JP sub version
Eng sub version

The Red Wolves Zaku team with them Red Shoulders, hm? Also a Zaku Tank, Dopps that look like Izubuchi's 0080 sketch & the 'Gundam as a kaiju' approach.

[Underrated GM Custom]

The CGI people are giving me some potent uncanny valley but the machines look great, really love that shot of the damaged Zaku tank with the cockpit visible. I'm really looking forward to a show with the Gundam as an antagoist, done like a Kaiju as you mentioned.

One of my favorite cut scene snippets from Gihren's Green where the Gundam moves faster than the enemy can react and pops over the hillside and the it freezes on the tech specs. It'll be fun to see the Gundam as an unstoppable antagonist.

[Seto Kaiba]

My hopes aren't high for this one... as I've said on other boards and social media, I'm concerned that it's going to be a tall order to make Zeon soldiers sympathetic and likeable as the story's protagonists. Neither side in the OYW were exactly on the side of the angels, but the Principality of Zeon were still pretty much card-carrying villains in a black-and-grey morality type situation.

On prior occasions when we've had a Zeon protagonist in canon - e.g. War in the Pocket and MS IGLOO - they've been able to remain likeable and sympathetic because they've been uninvolved in Zeon's various war crimes. 0080's Bernie was a fresh-out on his very first assignment right before the One Year War's end, and his one action was to try and prevent a war crime from being committed by Zeon by destroying the Gundam NT-1 before Zeon forces would launch a nuclear strike against Side 6. MS IGLOO's Oliver May and the 603rd were aloof from the entire war, being the technical officers spectating as various Zeon wonderweapons were thrown into the grinder and lost and only entered the fray themselves at the very end (the Battle of A Baoa Qu). OG's Cucuruz Doan is the exception, as a Zeon soldier who basically deserted to after a Heel Realization and devoted what remained of his life to making amends.

The protagonists of Requiem for Vengeance are apparently members of the Zeon occupation force... so they're pretty much in the card-carrying villain clique.

[yazi88]

MS Igloo also did not shy away from showing the various mishaps/mistakes during the war with the bungling of useless weapons and bureaucracy issues and worthless PR from Oliver's technical point of view than it being all pro Zeon. Although it did show the Federation to be much more villainous here similar to the Earth Alliance from Seed.

Here it does not seem to be too sympathetic, we even see a Zaku knocking over a statue in a village/town during landing which does not give a good impression on the protagonist team here as it seems to be intentional.

[tHeWasTeDYouTh]

I don't know about this
I know it's a trailer but the sounds feel like they are place holders....I hope that is the case.
movement of the MS also feels stiff in some parts.
I would rather Bandai had just done MS IGLOO part 3, maybe we move to Zeon remnants fighting the Federation before 0083 or set after 0083 and just before Z Gundam.

[BrentD15]

I hope it ends up good.

[Ryujin]

https://twitter.com/NetflixAnime/status ... 7063258448

New trailer released, with 100% more GM. Also, some people just can't seem to let go of Goufs shooting up Guntanks.

[Wingnut]

They're really going with the perspective that the Gundam is a mechanical demon for the Zeon rank and file here.

Spoiler

Especially with that shot where it seems that the Gundam took damage to the eye area and is slowly looking at the camera as if to say "You thought that would kill me?" to whatever poor sod who dared to fire the shot. Very Terminator style vibes.

[Seto Kaiba]

It looks like they're definitely calling back to the other OYW side stories pretty heavily... there's another MS-07B-3 Gouf like the one Norris Packard used in 08th MS Team in the trailer.

If this new trailer is a better indication of the show's contents, then it looks like we're in for a Mook Horror Show sort of scenario. That makes having Zeon protagonists more acceptable, IMO. Zeon's actual military in the field can never be anything but villain protagonists because of their many war crimes, but if we're just putting a human face on it to maximize the horror of the Gundam going through them like a tornado of knives... that's a good deal less problematic than trying to pretend Zeon's forces aren't the bad guys here.

[Ryujin]

https://twitter.com/NetflixJP/status/18 ... 0481315968

Opening scene, first four minutes.

[pirx]

It is available on Netflix now. Watched it. Gundam is definitely inspired by Shiro's Ez8 plus we have one character from 8th MS Team to show up.

Spoiler

https://gundam.fandom.com/wiki/Yuri_Kellerne

I was good to see some more Zeon mobile suits and such, but character animations are stiffled, they look like dolls.
Show itself... well it is watchable as another Zeon side story, but i am not sure is it necessary because i personally think they should leave OYW alone.
It's becaming another Star Wars Empire era where WHADYAKNOW! there's another Order 66 survivor!
In regards of OYW it is about Gundams. Gundam was unique prototype at that time. Now we have myriad of them and they keep pulling them out whenever it's convenient.

[Seto Kaiba]

I gave this one a watch, and as impressive as the mechanical and background animation is the character animation leaves a lot to be desired.

Its weakest point, though, is the writing.

Requiem for Vengeance is not a story with a coherent narrative, developed characters, and sense of progression towards a natural ending. This is an Excuse Plot stretched paper-thin across a series of late OYW action set pieces. It's mostly just a mook horror show that depicts what it's like to see a Gundam with all the usual plot armor from the enemy POV. None of the characters are likeable, interesting, or well-developed. They're shallow stock characters who occupy the predictable stereotypes... the tough-but-caring commander, the wisecracking subordinate, the seen-it-all veteran, the naive kid, the tyrannical martinet senior officer, etc. It's all very shallow and trite and almost funny in how bad the delivery is. There are a bunch of spots in the series where the voice acting is so bad that it turns what are meant to be serious scenes unintentionally hilarious.

There's a brief moment in the third episode where the Zeon forces engage in a bit of introspection after finding safe haven at a junkyard and realizing the Federation now has the upper hand, and they come perilously close to realizing they're the villains. There's some extremely halfhearted attempts to "both sides" the situation that basically amounts to "We're fighting for our homes and families just like the Federation is!" but it's clear they are not entirely oblivious to the hypocrisy of saying such a thing as the aggressors in the war. It's about as close to a heel realization as any Zeek has come since Oliver May in MS IGLOO.

[yazi88]

This is the only time the Zaku Tank shines animation wise in the Gundam franchise I believe. Got some actual hits and kills although most of that was against type 61 which isn't saying much.

The Gouf Custom gets a lot of love here. I have to give a bit of credit that most of the Zeon pilots aren't getting killed in 1 hit by the Gundam, they are actually dodging most of its saber attacks.

[domino]

While it had its many flaws and a somewhat slow start, I enjoyed this entry to the OYW mythos.

I definitely enjoyed the 08th MS team vibes and to be fair, I don't think that OVA did a very good job of fleshing out the support characters either. We don't know much about Shiro besides a generic desire to rid the Earth of Zeon (as a spacenoid?) and that only progresses to him seeing the Zeon as more than just the enemy in a rather similar way as Requiem does imo however I do think 08th MS team had Shiro and Aina come to terms in a much better way than Newtype magic vibes.

The character animations were unnecessarily clunky but I enjoyed it a lot and will rewatch.

[BrentD15]

Special shout-out to that one Zaku Tank who put up a valiant effort.

[Rubybro]

Is this gundam entry yet another boring "zaku murder simulator" as the Gundams just solo the entire enemy army as usual?

[Seto Kaiba]

Is this gundam entry yet another boring "zaku murder simulator" as the Gundams just solo the entire enemy army as usual?

Yeah, pretty much.

It's a mook horror show, but told from the perspective of the Zeon occupation force instead of the Federation. An unusually self-aware lot who are sooo close to realizing they're the baddies and that what's coming for them is something they've earned.

[domino]

Is this gundam entry yet another boring "zaku murder simulator" as the Gundams just solo the entire enemy army as usual?

That's a funny way to put it but I'm not sure if there's another Gundam entry that can be considered a "Zaku murder simulator" besides maybe fanfics. Can you provide another example of such? Maybe MS Igloo?

I think the critics are being too harsh on this short series especially when we compare it to other recent Gundam series (G Reconguista, Witch from Mercury, etc) where the characters and plot are also full of flaws

Imo it's very much like 08th MS Team where instead of the Gouf Custom being the "monster of the week"; it's the Gundam this time around. Similarly, the MC is surface-level likeable and I for one was hoping she'd survive and achieve her goal so the ending was bittersweet even though flawed

I'd rate it 7/10

[Seto Kaiba]

That's a funny way to put it but I'm not sure if there's another Gundam entry that can be considered a "Zaku murder simulator" besides maybe fanfics. Can you provide another example of such? Maybe MS Igloo?

Given the description "as the Gundams just solo the entire enemy army as usual?", I'd assume he's referring to quite a lot of titles where the Gundam presents as an overpowered and unstoppable force. Like Wing, SEED (as long as it's Kira), Witch from Mercury, Stardust Memory, Unicorn, etc.

I think the critics are being too harsh on this short series especially when we compare it to other recent Gundam series (G Reconguista, Witch from Mercury, etc) where the characters and plot are also full of flaws

Folks are pretty harsh on those too... I don't think I've seen any criticisms of Requiem for Vengeance that I'd call unfair or unduly harsh.

[Rubybro]

Yeah Seto understands what I meant to say.

I just don't think gundam is for me but i do like other mecha shows that arent focused around a gary stu/mary sue robot.