- Last OnlineAug 2, 2022 7:03 PM
- LocationKingwood, Texas
- JoinedSep 14, 2018
RSS Feeds
|
![]()
Nov 27, 2021
(Spoilers for CCA, F91, Unicorn, and Hathaway)
You know that feeling when your favorite franchise gets a continuation of its main story, and despite enjoying the new narrative on its own merits, you feel as though its flaws hold it back, and in general get the vibe that all of it is unnecessary as shit?
A couple franchises are like this for me. For Star Wars it's the Sequel Trilogy, specifically the two movies that came after The Force Awakens, for Halo it's everything that came after Halo 4, and for Dragon Pilot: Hisone to Masotan, there is...literally nothing. Seriously. there's no second season or even an
...
OVA or movie, like COME ON IT WASNT EVEN THAT BAD THE CHARACTERS WERE AWESOME THEY DESERVE AT LEAST A SLICE OF LIFE SERIES.
And in the case of Universal Century Gundam, I have nothing but raw, burning hatred for literally almost everything that came after Char's Counterattack that was released between 2010 and 2020.
To be fair, I haven't watched Unicorn, but I read the plot synopsis and it goes like this: Char comes back in a stitched-together Newtype clone body, he fights the Federation because what else is he going to do with his time, and then Amuro's ghost appears and politely asks the reborn Char to stop his rampage, to which Char replies "Oh...okay."
It's not the worst thing I've ever experienced, but my main issue is...why? Why does Char's story need to be continued? It was resolved perfectly fine in CCA. Another issue is that (and this is a pretty obvious reason) Unicorn kinda shits all over Amuro's sacrifice to show humanity the light of the human heart, to overcome Char's evil and darkness, by just...having Char show up again. After he and Amuro have been dead for three years.
Now onto the main topic of this review, Mobile Suit Gundam: Hathaway. ....dear God..
I will give the movie this: for better or worse, it completely ignores Unicorn's existence, though I would argue that its own take on the post-Axis Shock period is far, far worse. The Axis Shock in Char's Counterattack was meant to symbolize humanity uniting to save the Earth from their own destructive arrogance. Both the Federation and Zeon were at fault, and both overcame their differences and rivalries to help save the cradle of humanity. This even gets explored in Gundam F91, where Earth's entire former population has completely migrated to the Sides for 30 years to let the planet heal from years of war and pollution.
Hathaway decides to completely shit all over those themes of unity, then throws them out of the window in favor of generic "edgy" Hollywood movie themes, where the Federation hasn't learned a damn thing from the past three Zeon Wars and continues to pollute the Earth and abuse its population. The ecchi is also really cringy and essentially symbolizes all the issues I have with modern anime in general.
I don't even want to talk about what they did to mah boi Hathaway Noa. He went from a scared but idealistic and brave kid in CCA to a complete psychopath who allows his forces to target civilians, and he and Char are portrayed as the good guys...?! What in the actual goddamn fuck.
The side characters are kind of just...there.
The female characters are hot.
That's about it. They don't get much else aside from that.
Okay so maybe I was wrong, modern UC Gundam is nothing like the Sequel Trilogy or the new Halo games. Aside from Advent of the Red Comet and Thunderbolt I legitimately hate everything about what they've done to Universal Century, and I've lost all hope for that franchise unless Sunrise can get their heads out of their asses.
To conclude, Hathaway is not even trying to be UC Gundam, or even a good anime movie. It's trying to be a by-the-numbers, bog standard, Hollywood movie, and good Lord does it show. With Double Zeta I could at least laugh at how stupid it got. In Hathaway there is just...nothing.
Reviewer’s Rating: 3
What did you think of this review?
Nice
 0
Love it
 0
Funny
 0
Confusing
 0
Well-written
 0
Creative
 0Show all
![]()
Nov 1, 2021
(Minor spoilers for AotRC)
Deranged Genocidal Lolicon: The Big Origin Story (also this is the last review where I'm going to suck Universal Century Gundam's dick so enjoy it I guess lol)
Welcome to Mobile Suit Gundam: Advent of the Red Comet, a series that is everything the Star Wars Prequel Trilogy should have been.
Setting up the universe's political climate and eventually the outbreak of the One Year War, as well as giving some amazing backstory to Char Aznable and Sayla Mass, AotRC is beautifully made. The music is fantastic, there are scenes that are animated so wonderfully they made me shit, piss, and ejaculate simultaneously
...
in pure awe, and the writing does Char's tragic backstory justice, setting up the man who would go on to become one of the greatest anime villains of all time.
Also baby Sayla is precious and is all you need in the world.
Amuro and chums show up as well. While they are not nearly as fleshed out as Char and Sayla, the series does give some good insight into what they were up to before the events of MSG.
Overall, a short but very well-made prequel series with some great emotional depth and the best action the series has ever had. In fact, I'd argue that it's the best mainline UC Gundam entry since Zeta and CCA. On that same token, however, I also feel like this is the last good UC entry we will ever get. *glares angrily at ZZ, Unicorn and Hathaway*
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
What did you think of this review?
Nice
0
Love it
0
Funny
0
Confusing
0
Well-written
0
Creative
0Show all
![]()
Oct 31, 2021
KonoSuba is, I think, the second worst anime I have watched this year, next to Gundam ZZ.
KonoSuba follows the exploits of Kazuma, a character that's essentially what Courier Six from Fallout: New Vegas would've looked like if they were a massive soyboy. After the little bitch gets turned into road pizza when Char Aznable runs him over in his red 2006 Honda Civic, he gets teleported to an alternate fantasy world, bringing a literal goddess with him. Unfortunately, this goddess, Aqua, is dumber than a sack of rocks. Together, with the help of the fire demon loli and the blonde BDSM bimbo, they must defeat
...
the Demon King, who threatens to conquer this new world....hey wait a minut- *DOOM music starts playing at an extremely high volume*
Now, I want to clarify that I have only seen the first four episodes, and going into it, I genuinely really wanted to love it. However, my main takeaway from those four episodes, and the reason I stopped watching it altogether, is that the show tries to be a jack of all trades, and ends up being a master of none. What do I mean by this? Well, you got the one note asshole/idiot characters and (at least the attempt at) humor of Red vs Blue, the world being based on RPG mechanics, and the demon-slaying story of DOOM. On the surface it sounds like a great combination, but in execution it's one of the messiest shows I have ever watched.
For starters, and I know this is a bold claim, but the show stops being funny after episode 1. Yeah, it's hilarious in the first episode, and then the humor takes a nosedive. Let that sink in. It seems as though after finishing the first episode, the writers thought they could get away with repeating the same sexual jokes ad nauseam (spoilers, they can't, sex jokes, ESPECIALLY ones involving underage characters, are only funny in moderation), and the whole comedy aspect becomes stale very quickly. Also, the main cast do not play off of each other nearly as well as Red vs Blue's characters, and are somehow even more generic archetypes.
So, what about the RPG fantasy world, then? Well, it's an interesting take on these types of anime, I'll give it that, but at the end of the day you'd be better off playing an actual RPG.
I know this anime isn't very story-centric, but the main overarching narrative still managed to disappoint. The story starts getting good at the end of episode 4, but then in right before the episode ends, all the tension and potential is destroyed via contrivances. That was the point when I gave up on the show and went to go play Halo to wash the sour taste out of my mouth.
And I think that best describes KonoSuba: it has potential, but from what I've seen it's never realized. The characters are generic, and not very engaging. The comedy is stale, and not very engaging. And honestly...I was gonna be nice and give it a 5 or a 6, because it does have some genuinely good character moments, but like with Gundam ZZ, I don't think I can forgive or even fully finish an anime with this much wasted potential.
Overall, while not the worst show I've ever watched, the only major positives I can give KonoSuba is 1) it's short, and 2) it's not as bad as Gundam ZZ.
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
What did you think of this review?
Nice
0
Love it
0
Funny
0
Confusing
0
Well-written
0
Creative
0Show all
![]()
Oct 31, 2021
(Minor spoilers for Zeta, CCA, Unicorn and Hathaway)
Deranged Lolicon Loses Everything and Gets Lost in Space for Five Years, Radicalizes Some Refugees, Gets Funding from a Corporation Playing Both Sides for Profit, and Attempts GENOCIDE: The Movie.
Welcome to Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counterattack, the big finale to the Universal Century saga that is a much better version of The Rise of Skywalker, but then got its legacy shat on 30 years later through the combined efforts of Unicorn and Hathaway.
Almost everything about CCA is a masterpiece. The political intrigue; the epic and satisfying conclusion to Amuro and Char's rivalry; Char embracing his demons
...
after losing everything, including all hope for the people of Earth, at the end of Zeta; the sound design; the animation; the action; and the soundtrack, oh God the soundtrack, it legitimately makes me tear up every time I listen to it.
I say CCA is almost a masterpiece because the arc between Quess and Bright Noa's son, Hathaway, is not as good as the rest of the movie...at least upon the first viewing. After rewatching it twice, I definitely do see their perspectives a lot better. Quess is fed up with watching her dad and all of the Federation's politicians being shady bastards, and Hathaway is a scared little kid going through puberty and being sent up to space for the first time in his life. But in the first viewing, Quess is a massive bitch and Hathaway is a giant moron, and even after rewatching it the arc is still a bit rough.
Everything else is really, REALLY FUCKING GOOD THOUGH. Too bad Unicorn shat all over Amuro's sacrifice and brought back Char in a clone body. Also I wasn't a fan of Hathaway suddenly being the leader of a Zeon terrorist movement in Hathaway, considering in CCA he didn't even agree with Char's motivations or ideals at all. However, those are two topics for two future reviews.
All in all, despite a flawed subplot, Char's Counterattack is a fantastic movie, and as long as you ignore the fact that ZZ, Unicorn, and Hathaway exist, it's a satisfying conclusion to the saga that began in 1979.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
What did you think of this review?
Nice
0
Love it
0
Funny
0
Confusing
0
Well-written
0
Creative
0Show all
![]()
Oct 31, 2021
(Spoilers for Zeta and ZZ)
Strangers on the internet told me to watch ZZ to understand why Char does what he does in Char's Counterattack. Having watched the first 14 episodes and subsequently skipping ahead to the finale and CCA, I now think that those strangers were blowing smoke out of their asses. Or they were actual morons with shit taste. I'm not quite sure which.
Taking place literally right after Kamille got mind-raped by Scirocco, ZZ features Bright Noa being flanderized to unforgivable levels, one of the surviving villains from Zeta being flanderized to unforgivable levels, the entirety of Axis Zeon being flanderized to unforgivable leve-
...
okay you know what, ZZ is The Last Jedi of the Universal Century saga, taking everything great about MSG and Zeta and shitting all over it.
The story is filler incarnate, and not the good kind of filler like in The Bad Batch. This is garbage filler that Tomino wrote to entertain children while he worked on Char's Counterattack. I admit that I laughed at the jokes in the first few episodes, but that got stale real fast. The villains were a complete joke, Kamille gets rolled off to a hospital in the first few episodes and disappears because screw actually seeing him recover from his PTSD I guess, and Char doesn't even fucking show up. We learn jack shit about his motivations, and CCA ends up explaining why he does what he does in the best way possible.
Also the final fight between Haman and Judau isn't good or even a little bit fun like all the previous finales. You know how the finales of MSG and Zeta were split up into two parts to give the final battles the treatment they deserved? That doesn't happen in ZZ. Haman gets her ass beat, tells Judau he's a good kid, fucking kamikazes into the remains of a colony, and then Judau gets shipped off to Jupiter and that's it, all in the LAST, FUCKING, EPISODE.
Do not watch ZZ. You literally only need MSG, Zeta, and CCA, as well as the UC side story OVAs, those are great. But avoid ZZ like the plague at all costs. Easily the worst of the original saga.
Reviewer’s Rating: 2
What did you think of this review?
Nice
0
Love it
0
Funny
0
Confusing
0
Well-written
0
Creative
0Show all
![]()
Oct 30, 2021
(Minor spoilers)
While a lot of sequels these days do little to expand on the original source material, and in some cases actually make the original worse just by existing, Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam genuinely earned the status of being the sequel to one of the most revolutionary anime of all time.
It takes all of MSG's concepts and ideas and cranks them up to 11. Newtypes get fleshed out amazingly, and the post-war period is depicted as gritty and not all sunshine and rainbows. Zeta is substantianlly darker than its predecessor, having no qualms with slaughtering characters left and right, depicting the universe's political inner workings
...
with the darkness and moral ambiguity that would be expected of real-world politics, and only giving the main cast a pyrrhic happy ending.
The best part of Zeta, however, is Char Aznable. Returning from MSG, and now under the alias of Quattro Bajeena after finalizing his revenge plot from the previous entry, he now tries to forget his past and change himself for the better. It's awesome seeing him struggle with his new life yet being filled with hope, something he didn't have in MSG. By the series' end, however, Char is defeated in battle and escapes, but once again loses everything, even some of the people he considered his new family, which ties into his motivations in Char's Counterattack.
Kamille Bidan, the main character, is a massive bitch for a big chunk of the series, and in the first few episodes is a legitimate menace to society, but like Amuro, he matures and grows into a soldier. Speaking of Amuro, he does show up at points, and despite his grudge against Char and vice versa, they eventually get over themselves, if only temporarily, and fight together on the battlefield, which was really awesome to see.
I won't talk about much else because everyone and their dog on the internet has already written literal essays on why Zeta is the definitive Gundam story and whatnot, but I'll say this: The animation, sound design, music, characters, pacing, and story are a massive step up from MSG, and it is more than a worthy sequel.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
What did you think of this review?
Nice
0
Love it
0
Funny
0
Confusing
0
Well-written
0
Creative
0Show all
![]()
Oct 30, 2021
Mobile Suit Gundam. The anime series that went on to spawn a vast metaverse with multiple subfranchises, each with their own continuities and characters, and of course, Gunplas.
It's also the polar opposite of Hisone to Masotan for some reason. While Hisone to Masotan had a godawful main story and an underdeveloped universe but great character arcs, Mobile Suit Gundam had a fantastic overarching narrative, with a unique and memorable setting and very interesting political intrigue going on in its universe, but at the cost of some characters getting worse development than others. Some of its animation also aged like spoiled milk.
Hands down the best
...
parts of MSG are the One Year War and Amuro Ray's development and growth from a bratty 16-year-old to a proper mobile suit pilot. The series has a very interesting message about growing up and adapting to whatever hardships life decides to throw at you, and weaves it into the story pretty well. Another thing that stuck out to me was the unexpected complexity of the series' big bad, Char Aznable, who only got better as the Universal Century saga went on.
But like I said, even the classics have some flaws. Since the show was originally made on a shoestring budget, some of the animation and pacing is quite janky and does not hold up well, and neither does the music. Also, while Amuro and a few others get some fantastic arcs and are fleshed out amazingly, other characters just kind of...exist.
MSG also had a habit of introducing a character, exposition-dumping their motivations and background, and then killing them off two episodes later. I wouldn't call it outright bad; this was the 70s after all. But it is reminiscent of tropes that are now commonplace in modern television.
Overall, despite its age showing in quite a few areas, Mobile Suit Gundam is still a classic and a great watch, and if you don't feel like slogging through 43 episodes of janky 70s animation, its compilation movies are on Netflix and are much better paced than the original. MSG was also the anime that started the legendary Universal Century saga and revolutionized the mecha genre for, I'd argue, the better.
Plus Gunplas are pretty cool.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
What did you think of this review?
Nice
0
Love it
0
Funny
0
Confusing
0
Well-written
0
Creative
0Show all
![]()
Oct 30, 2021
Ah, Dragon Pilot. The obscure anime that I watched back in 2018 and loved to death, and one that got me into the mecha genre. I recently got the chance to rewatch it, and uhh...
Dragon Pilot is...a weird show. It's Gundam, or Transformers if you prefer, with vore and dragons, but without the amazingly-choreographed robot fights or deep lore. There's no villain, and the overarching plot with the ancient fish god thing is a mess and isn't very fleshed out. So what does that leave us with?
Well, some of the best inter-character subplots ever written. Hisone Amakasu is a great and quirky protagonist and her
...
growth as a character is some of the best and most wholesome writing I've ever seen. The other main characters start of as archetypes, and they do have names, but I have affectionally labeled them as "Fat Mom," "Angry Bitch," "Master Chief," "The Only Relevant Male Character in the Entire Show," and "Depressed Edgy the Edgehog," and if you're wondering if by that I mean the archetypes or the characters themselves, the answer is yes. However the growth they do get later on is amazing as well, and their interactions with each other and Hisone is very sweet and heartfelt.
Now the story...dear God where do I begin with the main plot. The first half is filler, then in episodes 5 and 6 the main cast gets sent to survival training for character arc stuff, then in episode 8 they introduce a character who is unnecessarily menacing considering he never turns into an antagonist. And then the two-part finale rips off the last ten minutes of Char's Counterattack and stretches it out to 46 minutes. I'm exaggerating of course, and the finale is full of good emotional moments, mainly between Hisone and her dragon, Masotan, but the general premise is pretty similar.
The story is a mosh pit of messy and undercooked ideas. I love the individual character arcs, but the main overarching plot is kind of confused about what it wants to do, and at one point introduces a former dragon pilot that the show makes you think will turn into Hisone's mentor, and then she just...leaves the show. The plot also has some of the most godawful pacing I've ever seen. It constantly speeds up and slows down and gets almost nauseating to watch.
But to prove that I don't completely hate this show, like I said the individual subplots are great (and has my favorite anime ship ever), the artstyle is very unique, and the animation is super fluid, some of the best I've seen in a while. It also has a fantastic soundtrack. And it's very obvious that this show was made to harken back to simpler times, when giant shapeshifting robots, charming characters, and dragons were the coolest fucking things in the entire goddamn universe.
But is it really that kind of return to form for the mecha genre? Nah man, it ain't. It's about as much a return to form as binging on Taco Bell for an entire evening and then your poor anus imploding in the morning is a good experience (spoilers, it ain't.)
However, it's a decent enough show that'll keep your attention, and it's only twelve episodes, so I'd say it's a very enjoyable experience overall. I'd say check this out if you're into mecha and you're looking for something short and sweet that takes a break from the epic space operas the genre is famous for. And since this is the show that got me into the mecha genre overall, and eventually led me to Mobile Suit Gundam and the masterpieces that are Zeta Gundam and Char's Counterattack, I'd say there's worse ways to be introduced to, or to relive, the genre's glory days.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
What did you think of this review?
Nice
0
Love it
0
Funny
0
Confusing
0
Well-written
0
Creative
0Show all
|
