Mobile Suit Gundam

[blkmage]

It could just be the terrible early-2000s fansub encoding, but yeah, I took a look at one of the SEED fansubs I had when I was going through my spindles of CD-Rs a while ago and it looked much worse than I remember.

[blkmage]

It's kind of a weird feeling that we're getting close to the end of this thing.

[ShiroiHikari]

It is a weird feeling. Time is going by faster than I thought it would. I'll be a little sad when it's finally finished :<

[TheSubtleDoctor]

It is a weird feeling. Time is going by faster than I thought it would. I'll be a little sad when it's finally finished :<

Says you =). I want it to be finished so I can buy mah DVD boxset.

[blkmage]

Grodek and Woolf continue to be the highlights of the show because everything else was stupid this episode. The entire situation felt really jarring. Like, maybe if there was some lead-in or something. They got to this colony last episode and there was no indication or foreshadowing that something is wrong with the colony and was just focused on that kid. And this episode suddenly there's a civil war? And the participating soldiers are really bad because they march down corridors and stand and shoot at each other? What? And they couldn't see the crazy mobile suit that attacked everyone?

[MasterDias]

And this episode suddenly there's a civil war? And the participating soldiers are really bad because they march down corridors and stand and shoot at each other?

I think that may have been the point and it was intentional actually. They were fighting a pointless and inconsequential "war" almost like a sport in an arena. They weren't "real" soldiers. Just the idle rich taking potshots at each other for outdated ideologies.

And they couldn't see the crazy mobile suit that attacked everyone?

Well, there is clearly something fishy about that UE suit. The timing is way too coincidental.

[TheSubtleDoctor]

Episode 6 was definitely the weakest episode so far. All the stuff in the colony felt rushed and probably could have been introduced better, as blkmage said. A little more forethought would have made this episode feel less jarring.

And, yeah. If they really didn't see the UE suit attack the city...well that's just frustrating.

[MasterDias]

I am sort of curious as to how/when they intend to switchover to the next generation. 50 episodes isn't divided evenly by 3. If they do it by cour, obviously one generation will be longer than the other two.

[blkmage]

Based on the 2ch leaked spoilers, I have a vague idea of how it might be split up. Then again, I don't think any other Gundam's arcs were split up exactly by cours other than maybe Gundam 00 if you can consider the split 2-cours thing like that.

EDIT: And wow, what a contrast the latest episode of UC was to AGE.

[Crossfire]

Finished watching AGE episodes 1-6. Have to admit, it's kind of growing on me, although I think it's a little too..."kid-ified" if that makes any sense.

[blkmage]

I was reading a post where someone mentioned that it's not so much that AGE is kiddy but its writing is extremely video gamey. Like, how situations, settings, and characters seem to fit if you consider them from the perspective of Flit and the White Base equivalent are going around and trying to collect a fleet and level up and solve the locals' problems and stuff and the behaviour of the enemies they encounter (random encounters even!). Which makes sense because it's Level 5.

[battletech]

I never thought of it that way. That makes a lot of sense.

[TheSubtleDoctor]

its writing is extremely video gamey

Victory!!!

[blkmage]

2nd gen promo image!



lol adult flit

[Agloval]

I've only caught the first five eps of AGE -- not much time to spare at the moment -- but I also picked up the first chapter of the new Crossbone Gundam manga which has just started.

It's pretty odd. Weirdly engaged with contemporary otaku-y things. On the other hand the idea of a Crossbone MS turning up mysteriously in the Victory timeline and fighting the Zanscare is pretty fun. And the action looks okay.

[TheSubtleDoctor]

Episode 10 of AGE:

Yes, yes. Don is right.

[blkmage]

Well, this was an episode filled with unintentional comedy.

[Crossfire]

2nd gen promo image!



lol adult flit

Why does Wolf look younger than Flit?

[battletech]

Why does Wolf look younger than Flit?

I think it is because that thing they found him in acts like a cryo chamber. Just a guess.

[blkmage]

hahahahaha

More seriously though, I think that making a project that is '"thoroughly dark" story that "even fans of [the first Gundam anime's] Universal Century timeline can be satisified with"' is missing the point of why people don't like AGE. I'm not talking about people who think the character designs are kiddy, or whatever, but I'm talking about the people who have real issues with the writing. The problem isn't that it's kiddy or whatever, but it's that it's dumb. The characters are doing dumb things and making dumb decisions. That is the problem.

It's exactly the same issue people have with SEED or W or 00, whether in its entirety or just large parts of it. You could argue that every Gundam series suffers from this and you wouldn't be wrong. I mean, people absolutely loathe ZZ. But I think each show has some stuff that mitigates the dumb stuff to some degree. How well each show does this is probably related to what we think of it now.

[Agloval]

Yeah, hmm. If I said that I was making a 'thoroughly dark' story that 'even fans of [the first Gundam anime's] Universal Century timeline can be satisified with', I would've been being sarcastic.

[blkmage]

Aw man. AGE 11:
[SPOILER]I was hoping for Flit to end up with Yurin, but she's just trippin' death flags.[/SPOILER]

[battletech]

The Age 2 will be tranformable.
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/interest/2011-12-13/gundam-age-2nd-generation-gundam-transformation-revealed

[blkmage]

Newtypes confirmed.
[SPOILER]LOL X-ROUNDERS LOL[/SPOILER]

[TheSubtleDoctor]

So, I thought I'd mention a few things I like about Gundam Age, since (a) pretty much every Gundam fan has talked about why they dislike it and (b) I am really enjoying it at the moment and have for the past few weeks.

First, the tonal bait and switch. It is amazing to me how many anime series (high profile ones no less) do this and yet people never seem to recognize it as a possibility. If the first episode and character designs seem kid-friendly, then the show will and must forever more be that. Of course, there are shows that we can reasonably assume will remain tonally constant, but I would argue that the fact that Age is a Gundam series (re: a war story) makes it equally reasonable to think that the tone would eventually get darker (to a greater or lesser extent). The shift has been handled decently, if not as slowly as I would've liked. Perhaps, though, one could argue that it's been there the whole time, considering the nature of Flit's backstory.

Second, Age is not a re-telling of the events of the Universal Century. At least, not yet. Rather than colonies that want their independence versus the monolithic federation that wants to suppress them, the writers seem to be going for something a little different. Though the script is by no means a masterpiece, I think in the case of the Gundam franchise we can applaud an attempt to break the mold a bit here. and yeah, it isn't Shakespeare, but it also isn't terrible, IMO.

Third: Grodek. We have indeed seen his character type before; however, we have not seen him as a ship's captain. He has certainly transcended the tag of Jamille Neate part two (who started that btw,? how stupid...) and has surpassed the likes of Bright Noa in terms of gettin' stuff done. His resume is quite different than any other Gundam captain. He beat up fellow officers, stole a ship, blackmailed officials, gave his government the finger, conducted dealings with the mafia, and, oh yeah, he killed a man by his own hand. Pretty interesting to see him as a captain.

[blkmage]

I don't think anyone seriously expected that Gundam AGE would be for kids just because it had Ina11 character designs. And I think that now that there's enough of it to be seen, criticism of AGE has moved on from talk about style to substance.

Everyone's already beat up on the Fardain arc, so I won't go there again. But I don't feel like the show has undergone any shift at all. For instance, it's clear what they were trying to do with the whole Yurin angle, since it's not like it's anything new to Gundam, but that whole entire encounter just came off as silly and contrived to me. The entire show still feels like this, like it's dipping into a much shallower version of the themes that Gundam has always been about.

But yes, just about everyone who's still watching it has nothing but good things to say about Grodek.

[TheSubtleDoctor]

I don't think anyone seriously expected that Gundam AGE would be for kids just because it had Ina11 character designs.

Everyone's already beat up on the Fardain arc, so I won't go there again. But I don't feel like the show has undergone any shift at all.

I find this surprising. The last few episodes have been a bit more intense as well as darker in tone, IMO. Not only has Flit's suffering been brought to the fore, but dudes are just getting killed, and with gun 'n such rather than just some explosion to mask the violent nature of their deaths. Even if this is all clunkily done, it does seem to me that the director wants us to know that "AW, SNAP, show got DARK!"

The entire show still feels like this, like it's dipping into a much shallower version of the themes that Gundam has always been about.

Yeah, you're right on there. I just wanted to talk about the show's merits because I personally haven't seen a lot of that (read: any of that...though I have heard some such talk via podcast). Again, I don't think it's a great show or a great Gundam show, but I am enjoying it.

[blkmage]

Okay, I guess that should be 'I don't think anyone whose opinion I care about seriously expected that Gundam AGE would be for kids just because it had Ina11 character designs'.

[MasterDias]

I find AGE a pleasant enough watch, but I'm not really excited about it or anything. I was much more invested in Gundam 00 by this point.

I thought the Yurin stuff's execution was handled decently enough and I liked the song that was playing. My bigger problem was that it was telegraphed so heavily in advance (in both the episodes and the op/ed) that it removed some of the impact I probably would have felt. I understand that they like to reuse the same Gundam tropes, but they should at least keep people guessing.

Ratings-wise, AGE is doing alright for the Nichigo timeslot, but is pretty poor by Gundam standards. Also, kids still apparently aren't really watching it...

[TheSubtleDoctor]

the Yurin stuff'...I understand that they like to reuse the same Gundam tropes, but they should at least keep people guessing.

It's my understanding that what you're referring to has only been done in First Gundam, though there are admittedly a few I haven't seen (please, no spoilers).

I dunno. Though I can certainly see (and largely agree with) people accusing the writing of being sub-standard in general, I don't necessarily think one can fairly accuse it of being just another Gundam script or reusing tropes that the series has used on multiple occasions (apart from the presence psychics). I think it is trying its best not to put out a thinly disguised version of the UC history.