Movies/Reviews
Movies Reviews
The Movies section is not just about Movies, it also has reviews on current Anime series, with out spoilers :) Here is the first Review to hit the sceen, GUNDAM WING! Enjoy!
GUNDAM WING (DUB)
Animation: * * * * * (5/5) "What one would come to expect from the Gundam series. I'm still blown away at how they are able to Animate those Gundams with such detail. The cast looks fantastic as well, and their hair styles seem possible. (Unlike DBZ, Vegeta or Goku's hair!)"
Story Line: * * * * (4/5) "This would have got a 5 if it wasn't for the fact that.. if you miss an episode.. your lost. A lot of stuff happens, and I think this is a good thing. but confusion tends to make people angry. Oh well, I have to find one bad thing to say about this series, and it seems likely that I wont be able to find a fault anywhere else"
Voice Acting: * * * * * (5/5) " The best Dubbed series I have seen, next to Tenchi Muyo, and that's truly saying a lot. The voice actors to SUPERB job at living out the character. Hopefully other companies will see that the quality of GUNDAMS Voice acting triumphs over all other attributes. No matter how good the story is, you have to be able to tell it in an appealing aspect. Gundam Wing does that and then goes the EXTRA MILE"
History of Gundam part 1
Okay, so you've watched a few episodes of Gundam Wing, and you're
confused as
hell. Maybe you even watch it religiously, and are STILL confused as
hell.
Face it, Gundam Wing is a pretty confusing show. It's stuffed to the
gills
with complex characters, philosophical musings, and more plot twists
than
your average soap opera.
To make things worse, Gundam Wing is just one small part of a gigantic
franchise in Japan, stretching over two decades and innumerable
television
series, movies, novels, comics, games, and toys. In the past, the
Gundam
franchise has been called "Japan's Star Trek," and that's not a bad
analogy.
Gundam, like Star Trek, has been a cultural phenomenon for generations
of
fans, and has branched out into all sorts of media. It also helps
explain
some of the confusion of many American viewers new to the whole Gundam
"thing." After all, how confused would a non-Star Trek audience be if
"Voyager" was their first and only exposure to the franchise?
Never fear, though. I'm here to explain a bit about the Gundam
universe, its
history, it's innumerable spinoffs, and just where Gundam Wing fits
into this
whole mess.
The Beginning
Like disco, Gundam has its roots in the 70's. In 1979, animation
director
Yoshiyuki Tomino was tired of making goofy giant robot anime series
that were
nothing but excuses to sell toys. He was a fan of classic sci-fi books
and
movies, like Arthur C. Clarke's 2001, and he wanted to tell a serious
science
fiction war story. Inspired by scientist Gerard K. O'Neill's nonfiction
books
about space colonies in Earth orbit, Tomino created a story about a war
between the Earth and her rebellious colonies.
The Story
In the near future, overpopulation forced the nations of Earth to unite
as
the Earth Federation, and begin a massive program of space colony
construction. Hundreds of cylinder-shaped space colonies were built in
Earth
orbit, organized into "Sides" at each of the orbital Lagrange points.
To mark
this momentous event, the calendar was restarted, and the year the
colony
program began was named the first year of the Universal Century.
Giving a
warm-and-fuzzy name to a new calendar, though, won't change thousands
of
years of human greed and power-mongering. The colonies were populated
by
forced emigration from Earth, and the leaders of the Earth Federation
naturally exempted themselves from the journey. They also continue to
rule
the colonies from the mother planet, looking derisively on those who
are
forced to leave the cradle of humanity for an uncertain life in space.
As
the decades pass, though, the space colonists began to feel "different"
from
their Earthbound counterparts, and to chafe against the restrictive
Federation government.
On Side 3, the batch of colonies furthest from Earth, a young
revolutionary
named Zeon Zum Daikun preached that humanity was on the verge of
evolving
into a "new type" of human, and that citizens of space would be on the
forefront of this development. Daikun died under mysterious
circumstances,
though, and his ideals were perverted by the Zavi family. Using the
"newtype" concept as a justification, the Zavis declared that space
colonists
were superior to Earth inhabitants, and would no longer be controlled
by
them. Side 3 declared its independence, and became the Zeon Archduchy.
In the year UC 0079, the newly minted regime attacked the other Sides
(which
were still under Earth Federation control). Whole colony cylinders
were
destroyed, and entire populations were massacred. The Zeon forces even
began
to drop empty colony cylinders on Earth itself. When the dust from the
initial assault had settled, almost half of the entire human population
of
both Earth and space were dead.
The carnage was unbelievable, and both sides signed a treaty outlawing
colony
attacks, colony drops, and nuclear weapons, but the war itself could
not be
stopped. The depleted ranks of both militaries were filled by
ever-younger
soldiers. As UC 0079 progressed, both sides began using a new weapon
to
fight the war: large powered-armor "mobile suits" that resembled giant
robots.
The Gundam Mobile Suit
The original 43 episode TV series, which premiered in 1979, followed
the
young crew of an Earth Federation space warship, during the war.
15-year-old
Amuro Rey, whose father built the Earth Federation's first mobile suit,
must
pilot the newly developed machine, called a Gundam, into battle. He
becomes
one of the ace mobile suit pilots for the Federation, not least because
he is
one of the first "newtypes" to evolve, and his heightened perceptions
give
him an edge in battle. Amuro must deal with his budding abilities in a
fashion very similar to the classic "Dune" novel. Amuro also has to
face
Zeon's ace Zaku pilot, Char Aznable, a newtype himself, and the son of
Zeon
Zum Daikun. This first series ends with the Earth Federation finally
defeating the Zeon military, but without peace being achieved.
Although this series did contain many of the "hero robot" cliches that
so
irked Tomino (such as the main character piloting a robot his father
built
and the heroes having to face unique, "monster" robot-of-the-week
villains),
Gundam managed to break far more genre conventions than it adhered to.
Gundam represented the first time that giant robots in anime were
simple war
machines, rather than super-powered icons in their own right. The
Gundam and
Zaku mobile suits were no more "special" than individual tanks are in
today's
armies. In addition, characters died in Gundam, often brutally. They
were
fighting a war, after all, and the series didn't shy away from the
consequences.
The Mobile Suit Gundam television series was a huge hit among fans of
all
ages because of these more mature themes. The release of detailed
model kits
of the Gundam mecha, rather than simplified kid's toys, also drew in
and kept
an older audience. In 1981, the 43 episodes were recut into three
theatrical
movies (with some new footage added), which only added to the
popularity.
These three movies are now available in the US, on both dubbed and
subtitled
videotape.
Gundam Wing history part 2
The Sequels
The success of the first series meant, as you might expect, sequels.
The
first series, Gundam Z (or Zeta), was released in 1985. This series
was even
more mature and complex than the original, with almost no "hero robot"
cliches and a much higher character body count. The "good guys" of the
original, the Earth Federation, were now the bad guys, ruling the
colonies
with an even more brutal hand than before, via a paramilitary group
called
the Titans. The characters of the first series began a new, smaller
rebellion against the Earth Federation and the Titans. Despite this
moral
shift, Zeta was a huge hit, and a third series, Gundam ZZ (Double
Zeta),
premiered in 1987. In contrast to the bleak Zeta series, Double Zeta
was a
throwback to the goofy elements in the original series. It was a silly
giant
robot show, and while it did well in the ratings and with kids, the
older
Gundam fans HATED it.
This was followed in 1988 by the movie Char's Counterattack, which was
the
first Gundam theatrical release since the compilation movies of the
original
series. It attempted to resolve the plot and character threads created
left
dangling since the original Gundam hit airwaves in 1979, as Amuro and
Char
faced each other for the last time in the year UC 0093.
This erstwhile conclusion wasn't the end of the Gundam series, though.
Ten
years had passed since the debut of Mobile Suit Gundam, and its
popularity
was as high as ever. In 1989, the first "flashback" series was released
to
videotape. Titled Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket, this series took
place
during the massive war between the Archduchy and the Federation that
was the
core of the original Gundam series. Unlike the epic, heroic original,
though, Gundam 0080 told a small, personal story about the war's effect
on
10-year-old Al, who lives on one of the space colonies being fought
over.
This series also updated the old 70's-style mobile suit designs for the
90's.
There was a second "flashback" series as well, Gundam 0083: Stardust
Memory,
released in 1991. It was set between the end of the original Gundam
series,
and the beginning of Gundam Zeta, and told the story of how the
victorious
Earth Federation became even more oppressive, and why the brutal Titans
were
formed. Unlike Gundam 0080, this particular series is almost all
action,
with massive naval battles and hyperkinetic mobile suit combats.
At roughly the same time, Gundam F91, a theatrical movie, attempted to
tell
the story of the Universal Century saga's future. Set over thirty
years
after Char's Counterattack, only the Gundam mobile suits themselves
really
connect this series with the classic tale of war between Zeon and
Earth. A
private army of mobile suits is ravaging the space colonies and taking
control of them, with a weakened Earth Federation, armed with a special
new
Gundam variant, trying to stop the tide.
F91 was followed by V Gundam, set thirty years even later. By this
point,
humanity lives almost completely in space, and the old Earth Federation
is a
nearly extinct organization. V Gundam tells the story of yet another
colony-based empire, which sets out to conquer its neighboring
colonies, and
the small volunteer force of mobile suits that defend against their
assaults.
The Spinoffs
The Universal Century sagas weren't the only Gundam series to be
released.
The first of these "alternate Gundams," 1994's G Gundam, had even less
to do
with the original series than F91 or V Gundam. In this series, the
space
colony concept is the same, but rather than having mobile suits be
generic
war weapons, each colony has one and only one Gundam. These Gundams,
which
reflect the ethnic origin of their home colonies (a samurai Gundam for
the
Japanese colony, a windmill-shaped Gundam for the Dutch colony, and so
on),
then compete in tournaments held every four years. The colony that
produced
the winning Gundam then becomes leader of the colonies...at least until
the
next tournament.
Fortunately, the next two Gundam spinoffs were a little closer to the
original concept. 1996's X Gundam explored what would have happened if
the
Earth forces and the rebellion colonies annihilated each other. On the
devastated Earth, mobile suits left over from the war are rare and
powerful
weapons, used by roving gangs and petty warlords. Into this
Mad-Max-with-giant-robots world comes a young prodigy of a pilot, his
extremely powerful Gundam X model, a young newtype girl, and a man who
fought
in the last war in his youth.
It is the third of the alternate Gundam stories, Gundam Wing, that is
the
closest in tone to the original series. All the familiar elements are
there,
such as a dominating Earth government, a colony independence movement
sparked
by a long-dead visionary, and mobile suits as generic combat vehicles.
This
series also borrows elements from the "hero robot" style of show, with
five
young boys piloting individual, extremely powerful Gundams. This time,
though, the Gundams are fighting for colonial independence. It is this
series which is the most familiar to American audiences, thanks to its
broadcast on the Cartoon Network.
The last alternate Gundam series, 1999's Turn A Gundam, is the most
different
of them all, with its steam powered technology, Victorian-era look and
feel,
mustachioed Gundam mobile suits, no space colonies, and ancient
artifacts of
a lost civilization. Ironically, it also attempts to tie every single
previous Gundam series together, UC and alternate stories alike. Set
thousands of years in the future, it tells the story of an Earth ruled
by
feudal lords and armed with biplanes, fighting against the inhabitants
of the
moon and their two-legged combat machines. A recovered, ancient mobile
suit,
the Turn A Gundam (designed by Syd Mead, who did a lot of design work
for the
Hollywood film Blade Runner), may hold the key to victory...and to the
past.
Turn A Gundam is the last Gundam series to be produced to date. Like
Star
Trek, though, Gundam is seemingly eternal. The franchise isn't worn
out just
yet, and undoubtedly another Gundam anime, whether alternate-universe
or
classic UC, will be announced shortly. With Gundam Wing's success in
America, it's not likely that Bandai, the creator of the whole shebang,
will
let the Gundam concepts lie quiet for very long.
