Kidou Senshi Gundam: Gyakushuu no Char

The year is Universal Century 0093. Char Aznable has taken command of Neo Zeon, the rebels of outer space. He firmly believes that humankind can only achieve peace by relocating to space. Thus, he plans to crash the giant asteroid Axis into Earth and plunge the planet into an uninhabitable winter. Char also eagerly anticipates this opportunity to settle a 14-year rivalry with Amuro Ray. The two have been reluctant allies at times, but Char has never forgiven Amuro for causing the death of one of his comrades during the One Year War.

Only the Earth Federation's Londo Bell Unit has the power to stop Char from fulfilling his dangerous goal. Leading the defense of Earth is veteran captain Bright Noa and Amuro Ray with the latest Nu Gundam mobile suit. In this thrilling conclusion to the original Gundam series, Londo Bell engages in a final conflict with Neo Zeon that will decide the fate of Earth and end this long-standing rivalry—once and for all.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Aznable, Char Main

Ikeda, Shuuichi Japanese

Ray, Amuro Main

Furuya, Toru Japanese

Noa, Bright Supporting

Suzuoki, Hirotaka Japanese

Haro Supporting

Noa, Hathaway Supporting

Sasaki, Nozomu Japanese

Sune, Lalah Supporting

Han, Keiko Japanese

Yashima, Mirai Supporting

Shiraishi, Fuyumi Japanese

Paraya, Quess Supporting

Kawamura, Maria Japanese

Agi, Chan Supporting

Yayoi, Mitsuki Japanese

Medoz, Astonaige Supporting

Hiromori, Shingo Japanese

Yatate, Hajime Producer

Uchida, Kenji Producer

Tomino, Yoshiyuki Director, Script, Storyboard, Original Creator

TM NETWORK Theme Song Performance

Reviews

Apr 6, 2024

Yes_that

Recommended

For any other series but Gundam, an ending this inconclusive would have frustrated me. The plot focuses on a rivalry that we've seen nothing of for the last 60 episodes, to the detriment (especially in screentime) of nearly every other character the show has introduced over its previous installments. The animation, voice acting, etc were all phenomenal as usual, but the movie felt rushed, almost unfinished, and my immediate feeling after it ended was disappointment, because this ending wasn't what I imagined at all. Somehow though, I didn't hate it, and I couldn't figure out why.

As with all things, it just took time. Change ... comes slow, after all. The more I analyzed the film, the more I loved it, but I also understood more and more why people are confused or dissatisfied with it, because so much of the merit of the film is in its incredible amount of buried subtext, which is is so understated it's almost frustrating. Why would you write something this genius and shoot yourself in the foot by making it so subtle??

Char's Counterattack is not a perfect movie, but the more I reflect on it, the more I realize what an insane masterwork of writing it is, and how perfectly it fits into the overall series. In CCA, Tomino has managed to distill all the themes of Gundam into two characters, and it feels like he's always meant to do it. If Zeta was a well-oiled machine, this is futuristic technology, because this is storytelling at a staggeringly efficient level. And the thing that gets me is it's still not perfect. There's still some wasted lines, some unwanted plot threads, some untapped potential. It gives me hope for writing as a whole, because if something this amazing is also so obviously flawed, then what other greatness will be written in the future? Obviously art isn't a competition, but its endless cycle of people doing their best to express themselves and hoping others will understand, and taking inspiration from the work of those that came before them... well, it's fitting that this movie made me think of it, because it's nearly the exact theme of the movie. It's a love letter to art, and to humanity.

Tomino himself has always been one of the most interesting aspects of Gundam to me, in the way that the series is clearly inseparable from him and his beliefs. His writing style is bizarre, but in a way that I can't get enough of, and I can't imagine anyone else being able to make a series like this with the unique charm he did. With a series I was so hyped about, I had begun to create my own vision of what the ending should look like, and when it didn't match with the reality, it felt like something had gone wrong. But Tomino was never going to cater to me, and I'm glad he didn’t. Every major plot and thematic thread, whether obviously or not, was brought to a close in this movie, and it is, in my opinion, the perfect send-off to this glorious series, in the most Gundam way possible.

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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Jul 13, 2021

MarsZ11

Mixed Feelings

Overall I liked CCA quite a bit but there are some pretty big flaws with some of the characters and their impact on the story.

PROS: The animation and fight scenes are incredible, and there are a lot of them. Sunrise knew what the fans wanted and the last 30 minutes were just god tier fight scenes with amazing animation, especially compared to the 3 series beforehand. In terms of story, you're thrown into the middle of things which I know some people did not like, but I actually really enjoyed. There's no wasting time on narrating in detail what happened. Instead you quickly ... find out through dialogue that feels natural.

CONS: The biggest flaw for me are the new characters especially Gyunei, Quess and Hathaway. I thought pretty much all their scenes were dumb and the only time Quess felt relevant was in the conversation at the end between Amuro and Char. Also CCA is the finale to a pretty huge show with long character arcs. Rather than introduce new characters I don't care about, I think it would have been better if they just focused even more on Amuro vs Char and the final clash between them and their ideals. That's what everyone wanted. There are also some questionable decisions in terms of events of the story, but they're almost always related to these 3 characters.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Nov 11, 2018

edarel-triparte

Not Recommended

TL;DR: A well animated very bad written movie that doesn't deserve to exist.

Now, let's see where we are, shall we?
We've seen Gundam 0079, an interesting show that suffered due to budget constraints and a comittee that did not understand what kind of show Tomino and his team wanted to make. However, things changed for good. After the succesful run of the compilation movies everyone and their mom went crazy for Gundam, so Tomino pretty much had a way bigger budget and a green light to do with the next show as he pleased.
So, he made Zeta Gundam, an amazing anime with impactful stories and characters, ... truly one of the best shows in all of Gundam history. He used both the original and new characters to develop meaningful emotions and grow his cast with a not common complexity in anime.
...Then everything went downhill. ZZ Gundam happened, and god knows we don't talk about ZZ Gundam.

So, let's recap, the original show introduced us to the Amuro/Char rivalry. These characters went from enemies to comrades to even some sort of friends in Zeta Gundam. The last thing we knew about Char was how he blew up fighting alongside the AEUG crew against Haman Karn and Neo Zeon, trying to save the earth against plans of mass destruction. So, it totally makes sense that when we meet Char again in this movie suddenly he thinks genocide isn't so bad, he somehow became the leader of Neo Zeon and is 100% ready to drop massive things onto earth like a previous baddie he fought did. *cough Haman Karn cough*

If you think this doesn't make sense, well that's the entire movie, my friend.
The story is total nonsense, there's no character development for any of the old characters or even the new characters, It's not consistent for previously established events or straight up doesn't care. The pacing is horrible. This is the movie for you: There's a space battle at the beginning, then characters talk for a bit. Then there's a new space battle, then characters talk for a bit. And then there's another new space battle and suddenly the movie ends.
That's not the worst part, pacing issues would only be trouble to a certain extent, making the movie mediocre at worst. But no, there are many things more. They only needed to show us the final showdown between Amuro and Char, and what led to it. But instead we got this 30%-40% screentime dedicated to Quess Paraya and the other idiots in this "love" triangle. Hathaway and that other imbecile whose name I already forgot. They serve no purpose to the plot, they serve no purpose to the thematic elements, they serve no purpose to anyone's character development. They just waste precious runtime in a movie that's already way too long and needed more time to flesh out other way more interesting aspects, like Mirai's struggle trying to survive in earth, which just as it is doesn't add anything to the movie and is totally wasted.

Then there's the ending. Oh god what an awful ending. At first i thought it was going to be a nice ending that the movie did not deserve, as I'm someone that enjoys melodramatic events that may not make sense or seem chessy but help drive an emotional message to the viewer, and I thought Amuro dying pushing away Axis with the help of other units was a good end to the character and a fitting message of hope and sacrifice that the film was not worthy of. But then he just sparkles the shit out of everyone and the meteor, we have a brief montage of people on the earth reacting and suddenly the movie ends. There's no actual end to the conflict. Neo Zeon still exists, they just ruined the plan they had in mind. There's no aftermath or closure to talk about. It just stops dead.

This movie does not deserve to exist. It serves no purpose other than being the first Gundam film. Nothing leads to the events of this film. We gain nothing. We've met so many characters thru the first 2 shows. But seems like nobody in the production team cared about them. Char's sister Sayla? She's nowhere to be found. Kamille? No. Apparently all the relationship they developed together during Zeta was not worthy of even being mentioned. So much for being his mentor and father figure I guess. But Quess throwing tantrums about having a crush both on Amuro and Char really deserved the screentime I guess.
I'm starting to think Tomino is just a bad writer/director who just got lucky when making Zeta.

But hey, at least the mechs are cool.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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