Gundam 00 Awakening of the Trailblazer Review – F

Reviews,

I did not particularly enjoy the Gundam 00 TV series. But this movie makes the TV show look like a masterpiece. Seriously, this was atrocious. First of all, it suffers from the same problems as the TV series (note: the full list is much longer).

  1. One dimensional, boring characters who are complete assholes yet somehow popular. Exhibit A: Setsuna F. Seiei. He is a complete jerk, yet everyone loves him and thinks he is the only hope of saving mankind. In the original Gundam, Amuro was also a jerk, but at least everyone knew it and he had the decency to hate himself as well. Setsuna F. Seiei’s main character trait is his middle initial. He basically is a serial killer though, so I guess it fits. Which leads to my second issue.
  2. “I will fight to bring an end to war!” This was a major theme in older Gundam shows as well. But there, the characters were aware that there was a contradiction. In Gundam 00 it doesn’t seem like they are. They all shout about bringing peace, and the only way to do this is to blow stuff up. And they shout this frequently and loudly. Marina Ismail is guilty of a similar crime, except for her it is “I will sit here and do nothing to bring an end to war!”. It is even more annoying when their enemy is an alien species which they can’t even communicate with which is about to annihilate the entire planet.
  3. The Master Race. The innovators are the evolution of humanity, and superior to normal humans in every way. The original Gundam and Zeta Gundam had this same theme with the newtypes, but they actually challenged it and debunked it. The Newtypes were not really any better than normals (except in combat) – indeed, the two main examples, Amuro and Camille, were pathetic human beings. In these shows, newtypes and non-newtypes had differences which could be overcome. But in Gundam 00, Setsuna F. Seiei is the evolution of humanity – he is better than them. And this leads to…
  4. Might Makes Right. Celestial Being, with their advanced technology, have not only the right but the responsibility to “take care” of humanity by bringing peace through military action. Their condescending attitude stinks of colonialism as they “look after” Earth without so much as a by your leave.

End rant. Now the movie had all of the same flaws as the TV series. In addition, it jumped around between characters too much. They had to fit everyone and their cousin in. And they all had to fit in roughly equal amounts. Marina did absolutely nothing to advance the plot and yet kept showing up.

As in the first show, the battles were equal parts random screaming, Brownian laser motion, preaching about bringing peace while blowing things up, and pinkish nudity. They also made no sense, particularly in regards to the passage of time. I thought it was supposed to take ninety days, but it seems like they are fighting the aliens immediately after. And why exactly were there two battles? Plus the entire premise is stupid. Why are there aliens in my Gundam show?!

On the positive side: there were lots of explosions. Oh, and Saji and Louise were less annoying than in the TV show. Probably the fact that they didn’t show up much helped. The best part was the epilogue – Setsuna F. Seiei comes back, having become an alien and meets Marina Ismail, who is an old granny by now and can’t even see. Setsuna F. Seiei hasn’t aged at all. They hold hands and she is happy to see him. He doesn’t apologize or anything. A perfect ending for two of the characters I hate most. I do feel kind of bad for Feldt, but if she’s dumb enough to fall in love with Setsuna F. Seiei I can’t say she doesn’t deserve it.

  • Plot / Script – 4 / 10 – Painful to watch.
  • Characters – 3 / 10 – Setsuna F. Seiei.
  • Production – 9 / 10 – Great explosions.
  • Overall – F

How it would be Worse Better under Director Draggle – Give Setsuna F. Seiei more of a personality by letting him be taken over by either the aliens or Veda.
Recommendations – If you actually liked this movie – Gundam Seed. You’ll love it. Otherwise, the original Mobile Suit Gundam, Zeta Gundam, and Turn A Gundam.

Fractale 02

Fractale,

The second episode of Fractale introduces Nessa, a young girl who certainly brightens up the pace of the show. I was concerned at the end of the previous episode that she would be annoying, but this proved to be unfounded. She is quite energetic but it serves well to bring more energy to show. In the first episode this already seemed heavily influenced by Ghibli and Miyazaki, and in this episode the similarities were even more pronounced, particularly in the scene where Nessa wreaks havoc in the trailer park. That kind of lighthearted, childish fun doesn’t really seem to make it into too many TV series unfortunately. Team Rocket also didn’t bother me very much in this episode; they were predictable but still amusingly stupid.

This series looks like it will inspire some discussion about the ideas of freedom, family and what a home is. Clain’s discussion with his parents about how living in a house with each other would take away their freedom and show a lack of trust was quite interesting.

My impression from the first episode was that everyone lived by themselves and only communicated with dopples, but it seems like Clain is actually an outlier in his society. I’m guessing that most children live with their parents but in trailers, although this still isn’t entirely clear.

Hourou Musuko 02

Hourou Musuko,
You look like a little girl!

This episode of Hourou Musuko was even better than the last one. Now we actually delve into the main characters deeply enough that we really have a good idea of who’s who. And yes, they are just as interesting as they seemed on the surface from what we saw last week.

Chiba X Takatsuki? Who's with me?

One of the things I like best about Hourou Musuko is how all of the characters are so well developed – no one seems to suffer from “main character’s friend” syndrome, where the only reason they exist is to bring the main character news and chat with him in class. Sasa and Ariga are a great counterexample to this – both of them actually have a personality and will of their own. They aren’t just the main character’s lackeys – in fact, at least in Sasa’s case, it’s more like the main characters are her lackeys.

The animation continues to be beautiful, and the direction is top-notch as well. It just flows along so smoothly and the dialogue is interesting and has a certain rhythm to it. It’s hard to believe that this show is coming from AIC of all people.

Puella Magi Madoka Magica 03

Puella Shoujo Madoka Magica,
The bat is what won me over.

Well, this episode turned out so great that I had to just go and blog it. Since I’m going to be doing three shows on Thursday, this might end up being a bit much and some will probably be pushed back to Friday.

But man! My senses for epic destruction and despair are really tingling now! Maybe it’s a character flaw but I really love the type of story where things being with a semblance of peace and normalcy and the characters steadily descend into despair as the world falls apart around them. But in the end they gain more then they lose in terms of their dignity and development as a human being. Simoun is my favorite show of all time, and for those who haven’t seen it (go watch it now!) this is basically the plot – a country begins as the strongest in the world and is completely conquered and subjugated. This isn’t only a theme in anime either – I have a soft spot for the Mayor of Casterbridge, the Name of the Rose and Foucalt’s Pendulum, and my latest fad, a Song of Ice and Fire.

Those are definitely not tentacles! Right, Shinbo?

So in this episode things take a decidedly darker tone, as Mani is apparently killed (?) and we learn the darker side of being a magical girl. We also learn that Mani has issues and seems to have ulterior motives for recruiting new magical girls. I doubt that Mani is dead since we haven’t seen a corpse, but who knows. She definitely seemed to lose her magical girl powers as she changed back into her school uniform.

Mahou shoujo ba-to!

The most disturbing part of this episode however, at least to me, was Kyupei’s reaction (the weasel thing). He didn’t seem to be concerned about Mani at all. He is definitely plotting something. The cutesy art combined with the dark themes is what really makes this show great though. As Higurashi has so aptly demonstrated, it’s just that much more terrifying when the person holding an axe over your head is a cute, smiling girl.

Kore wa Zombie Desu Ka Episode 2

Kore wa Zombie Desu Ka,

The second episode toned down the pace a bit from the first episode, but it was still enjoyable. The break dancing was the best joke by far, and in comparison the rest fell a bit flat, aside from Ayumu’s delusions of Yuu which were once again hilarious.

I’m not quite sure what to think of the new character, Sera – so far there isn’t anything that makes her particularly interesting. I think there is some joke about her sword style which might have been lost in translation. She is a vampire ninja though, and so far we haven’t seen anything vampiric so things will likely pick up. Maybe Ayumu will become a zombie masou shoujo vampire thrall.

In other news, dragon crisis definitely annoyed me less this week than last week, so I will probably keep watching. The entire premise just doesn’t thrill me though.