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wordsandrobots · 2 years

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I think After War: Gundam X is my third favourite Gundam show.

This is way behind Iron-Blooded Oprhans and Turn A Gundam, but compared to the others I’ve watched, it’s definitely more to my tastes. I think it could have benefited from the extra episodes it didn’t get, especially to expand on some of the initial space-based adventures, and it has a lot of the usual issues I have with the franchise (erratically written female characters, a half-arsed approach to condemning structural oppression, and throwing out the ‘horrors of war’ maundering whenever it’s more plot expedient to mow down mooks like there’s no tomorrow). Overall, however, it packs in a much more coherent plot than predecessor Gundam Wing, some charming characters, and a few very deft thematic flourishes.

For example, there’s an episode early on where our heroes have to help save a psychic dolphin and her pod from being turned into an advanced sonar system. Now you might think that’s a very silly sentence and you’d be correct. But the point is, this is something the Federation (emphatically the bad guys here) developed during the war this series takes place after, in order to have more effective underwater combat suits. They took dolphin brains and turned them into spare parts. And a couple episodes later, we discover this is their attitude to psychic humans too, which seems to be the pay-off until we reach the end of the series and, well, let’s just say the approach goes all the way to the top.

In fact, Gundam X is very concerned with the exploitation of psychics both by those who treat them as tools to be used and those who venerate them as humanity’s next evolutionary step. And oh gods, this means I have to write about Newtypes.

[I shall put the rest of this under a cut because I genuinely think this is one series it’d be worth going in blind on and also because this will ramble a bit.]

All right, let’s get this out of the way: Newtypes as depicted throughout both the original 1979 Gundam and this show (which essentially starts as a bad AU to Gundam ‘79/the Universal Century) are humans with extraordinary abilities, who are theorised to be an evolutionary adaptation to living in space. Newtypes have greater levels of awareness, cognition and empathy. That is to say, they can variously gain a deeper understanding of the people around them or be really, really good at driving giant robots. They are in-universe hypothetical until war breaks out and suddenly a lot of people are very interested in the military applications of psychic powers. Also occasionally people get their brains blasted to mush by the weight of too many people dying near them at once and/or are able to unify humanity’s brainwaves in order to atomise asteroids dropped by manipulative blondes with eco-fascistic tendencies. It’s a whole thing.

I am being a little glib here and I also don’t want to delve into the out-of-fiction meaning of Newtypes because I feel woefully unqualified to write about that. But for myself, considering the fiction as presented, I’ve always found Newtypes to suffer from the Jedi Problem: it’s fine and dandy to have quasi-mystical power that increases human connection but if you’re only going to show its applications in war, you’re smothering a lot of interesting potential in the concept.

This is primarily a problem of genre. Gundam is a series of war stories. It is deeply invested in fighting and conflict, and not merely because it’s financed in order to sell brightly coloured war machine kits to children and adults alike. There is nothing wrong with that per se but it limits what can be shown with respect to the doings of the magic people we’re repeatedly told are the heralds of a new age of understanding. Yes, we get to see lots of Newtypes get traumatised by their powers, or artificially created by nefarious powers-that-be, or occasionally bugger off to the end of time with their boy- and girlfriend after causing an untold amount of harm to everyone around them. But we never really get to see much in the way of non-military applications of this supposed ability to connect with others on a fundamental level. Even setting aside creative disillusionment, the very type of stories being told back the idea into a corner.

This is not to say the Gundam ‘79 derived fiction hasn’t made much hay of the in-universe tension between the status quo and the possibility of radical change. It’s kind of it’s one trick. But to me, it feels like diminishing returns and I end up longing for a story of Newtypes just . . . being. What does that kind of power look like when it’s not plugged into the latest giant robot suit and being sent off to punch whichever red-suited dork is trying it on this week.

Gundam X is not a story of Newtypes just being. It’s a setting where Newtypes are conscripted, manufactured or mutilated to be used as weapons. It’s a setting where one faction has proclaimed everyone in space to be a Newtype, in order to justify the wide-scale slaughter of anyone left living on Earth. And it’s a story in which, as it turns out, Newtypes do not actually exist.

Oh, there are people with unusual abilities. A girl who has prophetic visions. A pair of brothers with a psychic link. Ace pilots who glimpsed the future. But the ultimate revelation is that these are one-offs and the grand theory of advancing human evolution via living in space is so much hot air, dreamt up to further various agendas. And that makes a hell of a lot of sense in hindsight.

You see, throughout Gundam X we see a wide variety of supernatural abilities, but only some of these are classed as ‘proper’ Newtypes (resentment over this fuels the primary antagonists, the Frost brothers, who decide to burn down the world over being dismissed). As a viewer, you get pulled along by this without thinking too closely about it. But there are hints from the start (including a couple of ex-soldiers selling themselves as Newtypes while clearly not being anything special) that the term might be less than it seems. Amuro Ray-alike Jamil Neate’s stated goal is to protect Newtypes from oppression but he finds a grand total of one to safeguard in the entire series. Our hero, Garrod Ran, is an unusually gifted, empathic pilot who never gets the term applied to him. The working definition the world-dominating Federation are using is simply ‘can operate our patented robot control system’. Meanwhile the leader of the Space Rebellion has, as I said, declared everyone born in space a Newtype, making the existence of supposed Newtypes born on Earth very inconvenient. The term is at once over-specific and overly-wide, depending on who’s using it.

And in the end? Turns out the ‘first’ Newtype was some poor sod who could use that robot control system and got turned into a computer on the moon for their trouble. That was the source of the working definition and everything afterwards was just various people building castles in the sky. The powers are anomalous. Inexplicable, but not any kind of evolutionary leap. They just . . . happen. Every Newtype is their own distinct thing and not really an indication of anything very much other than fluke.

Which is actually pretty clever. It means the whole conflict is driven by people building taxonomies and raising certain things on to pedestals not because of something that definitely exists but because it suits their agendas to do so. It’s also a neat solution to the Jedi Problem, turning it around and saying, yes, these people only display their powers in combat because those looking for them only said those that were useful in war were actually Newtypes.

(I know the Gundam ‘79 and its sequels do stuff like this as well, but Gundam X has the advantage of making it the entire point, rather than wanting to have it both ways because it has the ending of Char’s Counterattack to deal with.)

Bit of a shame this all gets rushed out in the last couple of episodes due to the series running short. But perhaps that’s for the best, given there’s nowhere really to go once you’ve pulled the rug out from under everyone and demonstrated the antagonists’ motivation is fundamentally a hugely inappropriate reaction to a categorisation error.

Other observations:

Garrod Ran is fairly generic as protagonists go but I do find it amusing how he basically gloms on to every angsty teenager he encounters like they’re a precious baby in need of protecting. Including the one who was definitely trying to kill him when they met.

Tiffa’s arc would have worked much better if her attempts to define herself beyond her status as a Newtype had been emphasised more. Like, it’s sort of there, but it only comes to the fore at the very end.

Toniya and Ennil absolutely deserve to end up together and leave Witz and Roybea moping around a cornfield somewhere.

I really like the design of the Dauntless mobile suit. It’s an almost unsettling take on the GM model from the Unviersal Century. In fact, I generally appreciate seeing a Wing-esque aesthetic mapped backwards on to the original style, with greater emphasis on making the non-Gundam machines look that little bit off.

For all that I enjoyed this show, I really dearly wish Jamil hadn’t gone back to the Federation at the end. They make themselves utterly irredeemable across the course of the series and there isn’t any functional need to maintain them beyond the end. It’s a sour note, honestly, especially without any indication the rampant empire building across Earth is going to be reversed. But that’s the kind of pat assimilation ending Gundam seems to trade in more often than not, so it’s not a unique flaw.

Depths Of Minds Elevating. Huh. That’s a very long walk for what is itself a totally undescriptive acronym.

I am somewhat tempted to write Jamil/Lanslow fic. Not even necessarily Like That, but just to explore an older, more relaxed Amuro/Char dynamic in which both sides have learned how to chill the hell out.

#gundam #After War Gundam X #is this a review?#it feels like a review #I'm not sure it's good enough to be analysis #let's go with #my impressions #spoilers

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ikiyou · 2 years

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Storm Bringer Stage Play Impressions

The stage play was so perfect last night! With everything going wrong in this country, it really brings back life into life. 💞💞💓💓💖💖 Could not have been timed better. I have a renewed desire to do everything BSD ^^

I hope everyone can enjoy watching the play!! Support the foreign fandom by buying a ticket for the sub if you can! This is truly unprecedented! 💕💕💕 Let's encourage them to keep doing this sort of thing and including us!!!!! 💞💞💞

This will be an impressions post rather than containing detailed spoilers - as the entire play was in Japanese, I was able to follow the main trails, wasn't too lost, but I don't have the fidelity on the detailed whys and wherefores regarding Chuuya yet. Those will wait until I see the subbed version.

(I haven't yet finished the book - I do my own translations for accuracy and to get my info straight from the source, so I stay away from spoilers. All translators bring something unique to the fandom and bring different flavors and impressions from works, and I like my experience and what I pass on to be authentic as well ^^)

Ok, to my impressions!! Mild spoilers if you’ve read English book translations, heavy plot spoilers if you’ve been in the dark until now, but no details regarding Chuuya.

I gotta say - I saw the first stage play live. Saw the second. It's amazing to be there and see it live in the crowd, and I highly recommend it if you ever get the opportunity. But there is NOTHING like being able to see up close and intimate all the characters’ expressions and actions like it was to see this virtually. The quality was quite good, there was only the very occasional lag/buffer spike (which usually seemed to be at the times when I was leaning in hard to follow the story lolrip).

All told, the fact that they not only streamed it live for foreign audiences, but will ALSO have an ENGLISH DUBBED VERSION available is not only WILD, it hopefully shows that they're becoming more aware of their expanded fanbase. I really hope it's indications of good things to come ^^

I have only previously seen them offer occasional virtual showings of the stage plays (seemed to start during COVID), and only available to the Japanese audience (those with the ability to purchase with a Japanese credit card and address). Only by going through a third party was it ever possible to watch.

Chuuya was amazing to watch! His interactions with Adam, with Dazai, with Shirase. All unique and different. The conflict between Chuuya and Shirase stemming from Shirase's 15 betrayal, and Shirase never forgiving Chuuya and then learning the truth...finally coming to terms with the fact that Chuuya still (bizarrely) cares about him and wants to protect him.

The hilarious relationship between Adam and Chuuya! How Chuuya felt he was a hindrance and an irritation, to grudging cooperation having no other choice, to his shock and horror when Adam died, and then the genuine smile on his face when Adam came back and he went up to interact with him at the end. I guess that means that Adam is currently alive?? God I would LOVE to see spin-off stories with Chuuya and Adam. That relationship is so fun!!!

Shirase was hilarious XDD. It was very interesting to see what had become of him post 15. His interactions with Adam were also gold ^^

Verlaine was amazing. He was like an AU version of Chuuya in terms of personality. The tension between him and Chuuya was sooo goooood. His ability to completely overwhelm Chuuya again and again 😁😁😁 so good! The whump feeling OMGGGG. Chuuya has the best most whump-inducing screams I swear 💗💗😂😂

The moments when Verlaine decides to help Chuuya out, but then Chuuya takes the moment to turn on him as he’s the actual aggressor instead of the scientist!

And the true haunting aspect of Verlaine's Ability. The stage play has very simple effects, but god are they effective. I had literal chills down my spine when they showed the horrific, haunting visage. It was just such a visceral feeling, the haunting, the evil. Very reminiscent of that moment in 15 where they showed the beast they called Arahabaki, but as if I was actually there to experience it. Such a good moment.

There was the silly moment of Mori and Dazai's dance introduction together (I love Mori!) they have such a silly relationship here XDDD.

The moment where Mori suggests to Dazai that he and Chuuya commit double suicide when all else seems hopeless, and the look in Dazai's face XDDDD

The actor timing and special effects use for the Abilities! Especially with Verlain’s Ability, the way he throws people around looks so realistic! For as simple as it is, leagues and leagues beyond similar things I’ve seen in actual movies. It was as believable as if one was watching Ability use occur in real life.

And then the 'ending credits' - the dance at the end with all the characters. It was like Chuuya reliving the moments that had happened. The happiness with his Mafia friends, chased by his face falling when he remembers they're gone, and the way his mouth twists and he looks up like he's trying not to cry. The moments where he's surrounded by all the antagonists, how he wants to resist, but then having no other recourse he starts to dance with them, unable to resist fate.

It was just so good!!!

I think that's all I have to brain dump on ^^ I'll have another after I see the English sub ^^ And once I finish translating the novel, it'll be interesting to compare details ^^

#bungou stray dogs #bsd stage play #bsd spoilers #nakahara chuuya #storm bringer #stormbringer #my thoughts #my impressions

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bosspigeon · 9 months

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so bc i am a Gross Dude my friends i and sometimes rate our burps and my coworker (who is a teen girl) burped in front of me once and i instinctively rated it

so now every time she burps she looks to me hopefully for a rating and bc she has delicate little baby burps i now have to create an entirely new Burp Rating System unique to her bc i rate anything below a 5 and she looks at me like this

#pidge speaks #im so sorry babe but i am a Monster #i am a demon #my burps register on the richter scale #i can burp on command #i used to be that kid who burped my abcs to impress people

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badolmen · 10 months

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People against piracy fail to realize that no, I can’t just ‘buy it.’ They stopped making DVDs and Blu-Rays. They’re barely offering digital copies for download. I am not spending money I could use for food or bills to pay for a subscription service just so I can always have access to a beloved piece of media. Especially not when the service will remove media on a whim without concern for how the loss of access to that piece will make its artistic conservation nigh impossible.

For example, I recently learned that Disney+ had an original film called Crater. It’s scifi, family friendly, and seems cool - I would love to buy it as a holiday gift for my little brother! But: it’s exclusive to D+ and THEY REMOVED IT LITERALLY MONTHS AFTER ITS RELEASE.

The ONLY way I can directly access this film is through piracy. The ONLY available ‘copies’ of this film are hosted on piracy websites. Disney will NEVER release it in theaters, or as something to buy, and it may NEVER return to the streaming service. It will be LOST because we aren’t allowed to purchase it for personal viewing. If I can’t pay to own it, I won’t pay for the privilege of losing it when corporate decides to put it in a vault.

So yes, I’m going to pirate and support piracy.

#ra speaks #piracy #media piracy #pirate to make hondo ohnaka proud #obligatory ‘don’t fucking pirate small authors/artists works wtf dude’ statement.#anyone who’s seen my media bitching before knows I’m a hype man for indie films this ain’t about them #this is about corporate streaming services killing physical media bc sales numbers are less impressive than number of streams #edit: USAmericans stop telling me to buy DVDs and blurays at Walmart. think outside your borders for a hot sec. fun thought exercise.#your experiences are not universal #edit: WHO GOT THIS TO 100k. I JUST WANT TO TALK (this post is my second to hit 100k woahg.)#in other news: fix your fucking posture. drink some fucking water. and go the fuck to bed if it’s late bc it’s for me rn. peace and light.

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cuprumbao · 8 months

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angel plumbers

#in my hometown we have a chirch that has black statues of trumpeting angels on the roof #and i could never get rid of the impression that the trumpets are actually plungers #art #digital art #angels #biblical #creepy?#original art

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mangozic · 1 month

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archivist be upon ye

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dutchs-blog · 8 months

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Winter Wonderland

#snow #winter #landscape #nature #ice #amazing #video #omg #strange #weird #my video #amazingly beautiful #beutiful #extremely impressive

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notbecauseofvictories · 7 days

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I'm re-reading the Discworld series for reasons, and honestly the most relatable part of reading these as an adult is how many of the protagonists start out being tired, used to their little routine and vaguely disgruntled by the interruption of the Plot. Sam Vimes wants to lie drunk in a gutter and absolutely doesn't want to be arresting dragons. Rincewind is yanked into every situation he's ever encountered, though he'd much rather be lying in a gutter too. (Minus the alcohol. Plus regretting everything he's ever done said witnessed or even heard about fourth-hand in his whole life.) Granny Weatherwax is deeply suspicious of foreign parts and that includes the next town over; Nanny has leaned into the armor of "nothing ever happens to jolly grannies who terrorize their daughters-in-law and make Saucy Jokes"

Only the young people don't seem to have picked up on this---and that's fortunate, because someone has to run around making things happen, if only so Vimes and Granny and Rincewind have a reason to get up (complaining bitterly the whole time) and put it all to rights. Without Carrot, Margrat, Eric, etc. these characters don't have that reason; they're likely to stay in the metaphorical gutter and keep wondering where it all went wrong or why anything has to change.

............well, that's not quite true. You get the sense that Vetinari knows how much certain people hate the Plot. And as the person sitting behind the metaphorical lighting board of Ankh-Morpork, he takes no small pleasure in forcing the Plot-haters specifically to stand up, and say some lines.

#I finished guards guards just yesterday and I forgot that vimes and wonse were set up to be mirror images #both boys from the shades of very different natures; who made good (ish) in wildly different ways #also it's interesting reading this books from an adult perspective; my mind isn't blown that these books exist #anymore; plus I've read so many good books since #and they're not perfectly constructed novels! especially these early books;#there are plenty of spots where I can feel the narrative get thin; where there's more handwaving than I remember #but each book IS better and tighter; the jokes are funnier and the irony sharpens; the footnotes are better utilized #the characters are getting more interesting and complicated as opposed to set-ups for jokes.#it's an illustration of someone getting better at their chosen field and that in itself is more impressive than I was anticipating.#discworld

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ecoamerica · 24 days

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youtube

Watch the American Climate Leadership Awards 2024 now: https://youtu.be/bWiW4Rp8vF0?feature=shared

The American Climate Leadership Awards 2024 broadcast recording is now available on ecoAmerica's YouTube channel for viewers to be inspired by active climate leaders. Watch to find out which finalist received the $50,000 grand prize! Hosted by Vanessa Hauc and featuring Bill McKibben and Katharine Hayhoe!

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cupidtxt · 2 months

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#art #my art #the amazing digital circus #tadc #jax tadc #pomni tadc #chica the chicken #fnaf #chica was drawn from memory and honmestly i impressed myself

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lnmei · 5 months

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👏💥

#my art #figure drawing #fullmetal alchemist #blown out white light is actually something I rarely try even tho I like how it looks so much…#the model wore the actual metal arm it was very impressive

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wordsandrobots · 2 years

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It occurs to me that I've now watched all the past Gundam shows I'm inclined to. So how about a totally arbitrary personal ranking? Here are brief opinions on each iteration of the franchise I've seen, mostly surface-level, bad to good, intended purely to get them out of my head and mark the 'achievement' of having binged quite so much giant robot nonsense. Every one of these shows will be someone else's favourite and I respect that. I too have things I like a lot that other people don't. That's how it goes.

(I stress this chiefly because there's a new Gundam airing right now and that probably makes this a really bad time to start weighing in with opinions on the internet. For the record, I am watching The Witch From Mercury too, but consider it way, way too early to say what I think of it.)

So, first up, let's exclude the ones I bounced off too hard to finish, which are Mobile Suit Victory Gundam (1993) and Mobile Suit Gundam SEED (2002). I quit each after a few episodes, so I don't feel like I can form a proper assessment beyond 'I didn't like it'. I will probably continue with Mobile Fighter G Gundam (1994) some day but that too is hovering at the 'I'm not sure this is worth it' mark – it's just not the kind of show I enjoy.

Also – honourable mention for Code Geass. Utterly batshit crazy, tonally all over the shop, and possibly the worst attempt at anti-imperialism I've ever seen in my life. If that's even what it was going for, which I am not sure it was. Frequently delightful anyway and the slashiest closing art you could imagine.

Now on to the Gundam shows I actually got through. Mild spoilers to follow so everything else will go under this cut.

Mobile Suit Gundam AGE (2011) – Actively fascistic. Not intentionally, I don't think, but while it's got a decent structural conceit, it's off with the birds in its grasp of how conflicts actually work and ends up relentlessly painting an abandoned underclass as the aggressors. I realise part of the point is flipping that around at the end. My point, though, is that it fails to land in the worst way possible. Plus all three of its protagonists are extremely irritating.

Mobile Suit Gundam F91 (1991) – I . . . can barely remember anything that happened except that watching this was like pulling teeth.

Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory (1991) – Top Gun with mobile suits was an experiment worth doing but the cast is pure cardboard.

Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counterattack (1988) – I originally watched this without the full context of the preceding series and honestly, coming back afterwards doesn't really improve things. I'm not sure I have a strong opinion, except that a lot of it feels deeply mean-spirited.

Mobile Suit Gundam: Hathaway (2021) – I'm dropping this low primarily because I despise the battle animations. They make the mistake of assuming 'at night' means 'dialling the contrast down' and it undercuts the visuals entirely. Textbook example of poorly implemented CGI ruining an otherwise well-thought-through creative decision. Beyond that, it's mostly OK, I guess.

Mobile Suit Gundam (compilation movies; 1979) – Yes, I wimped out on watching the whole thing but in my defence, I don't like Amuro Ray very much. That said, there's a real charm to the animation that very few of the other series ever match. This show renders guys being dorks like nothing else. And I do absolutely see why it lasted. It's a rough first draft but there's a lot to get the teeth into, even if it is, ultimately, not my thing.

Mobile Suit Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket (1989) – Technically leaps and bounds ahead of its predecessors both in terms of animation and story construction. Absolutely unafraid to be soul-crushingly cynical, which works to its advantage. Also not my thing but I respect its ambition.

Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt (2015) – Same, really. Plus a test case in how far empathy for people on the side of the space-Nazis can be pushed. Actually, it's worth pausing on that because the contrast being 'extremely psychopathic' Federation pilot Io and 'generally sweet-ish' Zeon pilot Daryl highlights the grey vs grey morality inherent to the Universal Century (UC) timeline. At its best, that leads to genuinely nuanced stories about what conflict does to both people and ideals when various factions use them to vie for power. At its worst, it leads to a total muddling of audience sympathy and political message. Thunderbolt is, I think, squarely in the middle.

Mobile Suit Gundam 00/Mobile Suit Gundam 00 the Movie: A Wakening of the Trailblazer (2007/2010) – This, for me, is what's called a Curate's Egg – parts of it are very good. Get yourself someone who looks at you the way Patrick Colasour looks at Kati Mannequin. Or if you're into it, the way Kati looks at Patrick. The super-soldier stuff is interesting in ways the Newtype idea generally isn't. And random cross-dressing is always welcome. However, I can't say I like it overall. Rooting early sections in 'resolving' real-world conflicts is tasteless and it's the epitome of Gundam not understanding pacifism as an ideological position. It also plays straight the idea of humanity making an evolutionary leap to godhood, which I don't enjoy for a wide variety of reasons.

Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam (1985) – Honestly, I'm mainly giving this such a high ranking because the English dub gives Char such an incredibly sexy voice. On balance, I'd say I enjoyed more of this than I did of 00, but it probably ought to go lower for being an example of that thing a lot of Gundam shows do which is having interesting female characters, then doing feck all with them or mashing them into teeth-gnashingly bad unrequited love subplots.

Mobile Suit Gundam: Unicorn (2010) – I am putting this ahead of 00 and Zeta because it's a technically superior piece of story-telling, with a much clearer idea of what it's doing. And it does indeed do some things very well; they're just not ones I gel with.

Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ (1986) – And now to stress that quality does not necessarily equate to enjoyment, here's the comedy one placing above Zeta and Unicorn. Well. 'Comedy'. It's not necessarily especially funny. But I find the characters and set-up to be generally more appealing than a lot of the UC shows, and some of the slapstick works pretty nicely. Plus, you know. Haman Karn. Who doesn't love a dastardly villainess? (I actually do think she's one of the more interesting UC antagonists, albeit mainly when she's in active contrast to the others.)

Mobile Suit Gundam Wing/Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz (1995/1997) – I am delighted by the story Gundam Wing's many fans have hallucinated into existence. I genuinely think it's a lovely example of how fandoms construct and expand on things only gestured to in the original text. Which is the nice way of saying coming back to this 15 years on from first watching it was a bit of a slog. There's something very theatrical about Wing, in that it does a lot with narration and flimsy set-dressing. It's insanely ambitious in what it's attempting and I have a lot of nostalgic affection for it. But in the end, I think it's less than the sum of its parts.

Mobile Suit Gundam: Twilight AXIS (2017) – Very lightweight and inessential. Nevertheless, an interesting exercise in telling a complex story with extremely limited space.

Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin (2015) – OK, fine, I'll admit it. I might not rate a lot of the Universal Century stuff but watching Char connive his way to power is fun. And this assays the original animation style very well, even if the CGI mobile suits jar in the extreme. Overall, this is a case of general quality boosting where I'm prepared to rank it.

Mobile Suit Gundam Narrative (2018) – Proves you can go a long way with a decent soundtrack. Also, I think I prefer stories about people caught up in the wake of Newtypes than about the Newtype characters themselves. Benefits from knowing the wider UC backstory going in and not necessarily 'good', but definitely enjoyable.

Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team (1996) – Dumb as rocks, driven solely by machismo and excitement, very dodgy in its handling of sexual politics, and the single most fun piece of UC media I have watched. A case of hitting a genre so squarely in the bullseye, forgiving its faults is easy. Gundam as an 80s action flick and it knows it. Has one of the few UC protagonists who fully commits to giving the Federation two middle fingers and peacing out of their bullshit, and ends in a surprisingly sweet and thoughtful manner.

Gundam Reconguista in G (2014) – I could not begin to describe to you the plot of Reconguista and I'm not sure anyone involved in writing it could either. However, I did find the main characters to be a delightful bunch of total numbskulls to hang around with for twenty-six episodes. Also one of the more successful aesthetic shifts in the Gundam franchise. I suspect this is the one that will have the greatest influence on the current iteration's look and feel.

After War Gundam X (1996) – I covered much of my thoughts on this already. A great final act twist and all the benefits of streamlining over continuity wrangling. Nicely focused on the idea that what humanity screws up, humanity can undo (in both senses of the word). I admit to ranking this highly partly to spite the reviews quoted on Wikipedia, which are straight up wrong; it does have a lot of flaws, just not the ones those reviews point to. But also I really enjoyed it. It does Wing's breakneck geopolitics better and UC-esque themes with greater clarity. I'd love to see this setting and cast developed more, so it's a shame it's joined Reconguista in G as the also-ran of the franchise.

Turn A Gundam (1999) – Where to even start? Beautiful to look at, audaciously clever in how it relates to the other Gundam series, a wonderful, engaging cast of characters, and the splendour that is Harry Ord's fashion sense. Manages the rare trick of having an intelligent, genuinely meaningful identity switch plot, as well as showing that Gundam can treat pacifism with respect and real engagement if it tries. Brought down in places by lazily racist genre tropes and gets a touch rushed towards the end, but overall a very solid show. All this and the main mobile suit is referred to by its moustache throughout. What more could you want?

Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans (2015) – This. I mean, this is what more I could want. After making the experiment over the last year and change, I'm quite happy to declare that I am not a Gundam fan, I'm an Iron-Blooded Orphans fan. For me, this one stands head and shoulders over the rest in terms of plot, characters, aesthetics and general vibe. While I've enjoyed going back and seeing first hand where the self-references come from, I think this is the only Gundam show that is ever going to occupy so much real-estate in my mind as to fixate me on writing fan-fic for a solid year and a half. I won't bore you by repeating stuff I've said in my other posts on the subject. However, I would quite honestly recommend this as A Good Show to anyone interested in the mecha anime genre, with the upfront warning that it is plotted as a tragedy and should be approached as such.

And there you have it. Again, this is all personal feelings and not intended as any slight on anyone with a different opinion (I will probably look at you askance if you say AGE is your favourite, but only because I had such a visceral negative reaction to it, it's going to take me a while to be open to reassessing). Now if you'll excuse me, I have to get back to being pathetically ill in the most annoying way possible.

#Gundam #so much Gundam #opinion #more rambling #sorry I'm not tagging every single one of these shows #mobile suit gundam #turn a gundam #Gundam Iron-blooded Orphans #After War Gundam X #gundam 00 #this is not a critical analysis #gods help me I'd be here all day if it were #my impressions

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