| Is it a bad thing that I adore Mobile Fighter G Gundam... but maybe for all of the wrong reasons? Yes, Mobile Fighter G Gundam offers a quirky shift from the usual Universal Century stuffs, especially when it first debuted. However, I wonder if I'm the only one who appreciates that, despite its silly and exaggerated appearance, G Gundam never forget that it's still a "Gundam" show by maintaining an anti-war message - and it never once treats its quirky elements as mere jokes or punchlines? Take a character like Chibodee, for instance. He may be loud and stubborn, but at his core, he is a well-intentioned character with his own unique personality and motivations. His backstory is particularly tragic; When he was just a child, he was taken hostage by terrorists in clown costumes and lost his mother during the attack just as they were about to move to the colonies, which left him with a deep fear of clowns; With the way people described this show, you might think this show would've treated this aspect of Chibodee's character like a joke, but that's not the case! The show handles this trauma with respect and seriousness, and the way one of Chibodee's opponents exploited this trauma to gain an advantage during the Gundam Fights was portrayed in a horrifying manner. Not to mention, the more you think about it the darker and more depressing a lot of things in G Gundam were. The Gundam Fight Tournaments for example, might just looks like "hehe DBZ with Gundams" for us viewers, but but when you actually think about what it represents in-universe, it’s horrifying. The reason why the Gundam Fights were even a thing? That was because by the time G Gundam's story began, all of the wars in the past had left Earth as nothing but a severely ruined hell hole, and the show implies that those wars were so bad, that this ridiculous Street Fighter-esque, Olympic-style robot fight tournament that they had held right now to decide things over is a much preferable, "lesser of 2 evils" option than allowing another war from breaking out. The Gundam Fights on-paper sounds like the perfect non-lethal alternative to war, but the way it was done, the Gundam Fights was just a way for the ruling class to mask warfare as entertainment while keeping themselves safe in space. It’s a glorified spectacle, where Earth and its people suffer so that the elites don’t have to. Despite the supposed rules preventing large-scale war, everything about the system still favors power, corruption, and backroom deals. And as a result, yes less people die, but the environmental and collateral damages across Earth never stopped...hence Master Asia. One could say his entire plan to cleanse the Earth from the human who did nothing but pollute it from his POV is a consequence of outer space's detachment from conflict, and he was so disgusted and disillusioned by all of these that he descended into villainy. (And that's just scratching the surface; If I had to delve into anything that had to do with the entire Devil Gundam subplot, we'll be here for half a day) I checked out G Gundam because it looks over the top and silly, like some Saturday morning cartoon at first glance, but what really hooked me with the show til the end was the more mature anti-nationalism, anti-war and pro-ecological activism messages that G Gundam has, not to mention the discourse about learning to open yourself to your loved ones, as well as the message of how envy and resentment if left unchecked, can turn people into absolute monsters. In the end, despite its over the top presentation, Mobile Fighterr G Gundam isn't much different than the anti-war message intended with Universal Century Gundam - It's still a show about both soldiers and civilians being manipulated or exploited by their respective governments and cultures that only care about their self interests, to fight as pawns for rulling class. Is it wrong that I enjoy Mobile Fighter G Gundam, but not because of all the over-the-top battles, the dramatic shouting, and the wacky characters that literally everyone else seems to love the show for? Is it a bad thing for me to got annoyed, by how often G Gundam gets reduced to the surface-level dumb and silly that isn't trying to "seriously" be anything by others, even through the show actually takes itself deadly serious despite how ridiculous and over-the-top everything looked at first glance, to the point where I can't help but ask "am I watching the same show as them?" ? Or maybe I'm the one that's "reading too deep into things"? |
X105-StrikeMar 14, 5:35 PM
| Wrong reasons? These are the right reasons to love G Gundam! It’s an unironically fantastic show, connecting with its emotional and thematic core is always nice to see, and good on you for seeing the value in it. Same goes for all other media, really. There’s no “wrong” way to enjoy a show, and don’t let anyone else tell you otherwise. |
| Barely catching my breath! Lay my eyes on the crest! Gonna square up to all of the heat that is left! So I carry the torch! To Inferno! Inferno! GENERATION 45: The first time you see this, copy it into your sig on any forum and add 1 to the generation. Social experiment. |
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