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REVIEW: Mobile Fighter G Gundam Blu-Ray


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Lord Geo



Joined: 18 Sep 2005
Posts: 2662
Location: North Brunswick, New Jersey
PostPosted: Tue Jun 18, 2019 12:34 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
Over the course of his time at Tezuka Productions, Imagawa had gotten a reputation for dramatic, action-heavy mecha stories with a lot of theatrical punch.


Pretty sure this is likely a typo, as Imagawa never worked with Tezuka Pro; probably meant to say Sunrise. Otherwise, a great review; a bit late, but better late than never.
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Greed1914



Joined: 28 Oct 2007
Posts: 4608
PostPosted: Tue Jun 18, 2019 12:39 pm Reply with quote
I'm not surprised to see that there was a game of upping the ante on Gundam designs behind the scenes. I mean, this series gave us Windmill Gundam after all.
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Beatdigga



Joined: 26 Oct 2003
Posts: 4586
Location: New York
PostPosted: Tue Jun 18, 2019 12:40 pm Reply with quote
This show is the socio-political story of Gundam wrapped up in every pro wrestling cliche Tomino despised and it is wonderful and glorious for it. The men are loud, the women are loud, the romance is loud but makes a billion times more sense than half of the magic Newtype connections UC had, and it cheesier than a vat of queso fundido.

And for that it is a thing of beauty.
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Kicksville



Joined: 20 Nov 2010
Posts: 1244
PostPosted: Tue Jun 18, 2019 12:40 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
While this is an intentional change that doesn't stay true to the original, I think it's a great editorial decision.

I know color changes are one of the hardest things to determine, since they're so subjective, but I do wonder if it's just that the DVDs weren't great all along. It's hard to guess without another point of reference of course, so I wonder if anyone out there has ever seen, like, LD screens or something? If nothing else, the BD color do appear to be, uhh, toy accurate.
Quote:
For example, I loved the way the character of Chibodee Crocket pokes fun at American idealism, like when his crew insists his childhood lullaby was “America the Beautiful.” This is pure camp, which is why it's easy to brush off the more overt stereotypes—it's too absurd to offend, and too out-there to be taken seriously.

This was a change the dub made, the only really major one I'm aware of aside from the Gundam name changes. It's a different song (an original, I believe) in Japanese.
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penguintruth



Joined: 08 Dec 2004
Posts: 8499
Location: Penguinopolis
PostPosted: Tue Jun 18, 2019 12:59 pm Reply with quote
G Gundam is an incredibly fun series, even if it is (or maybe because it is) unconventional for Gundam. What do you expect when you have criminally underrated Yasuhiro Imagawa and his fondness for wuxia? This is how you do a tournament fighter anime.
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meiam



Joined: 23 Jun 2013
Posts: 3447
PostPosted: Tue Jun 18, 2019 1:01 pm Reply with quote
While the gundam design are outlandish it doesn't mean they're bad, quite a few of them are actually pretty nice and I would love for good kit of them to be made.

France gundam in particular is really good: https://gundam.fandom.com/wiki/GF13-009NF_Gundam_Rose

But yeah most of them are hilarious (doesn't mean I don't want them as kit)

Just a few classic:
https://gundam.fandom.com/wiki/GF13-026ND_Mermaid_Gundam
https://gundam.fandom.com/wiki/GF13-066NO_Nether_Gundam
https://gundam.fandom.com/wiki/GF13-047NMA_Skull_Gundam
https://gundam.fandom.com/wiki/GF13-049NM_Tequila_Gundam
https://gundam.fandom.com/wiki/GF13-012NN_Viking_Gundam
https://gundam.fandom.com/wiki/GF13-045NSP_Matador_Gundam
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LightningCount



Joined: 04 Mar 2018
Posts: 238
PostPosted: Tue Jun 18, 2019 1:27 pm Reply with quote
Does this set have the multiple, lengthy, behind-the-scenes "G-File" interviews with Imagawa that the Bandai DVDs had? (I haven't seen that confirmed by anyone.) Those interviews would go into what specific episodes were referencing what movies, and they were really insightful.

Anyway, G-Gundam is a great anime series and a great Gundam series. For new people coming in, imagine a tone along the lines of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. Even so, with its familial relationships, political overtones, a conflict that involves the social stratification of Earth and space colonies, and the effort it puts into its mecha design and combat, it is still very much a Gundam series, in my opinion. Not only that, despite its over-the-top goofiness, it is one of the best Gundam series--top three, by my estimation.

There are so many interesting scenarios that emerge, whether the episodes are standalone or more connected to the overall plot. That overall plot is actually very good, too, with tons of twists and a scope that gets bigger and bigger. Even more notable, this show wears its heart on its sleeve and has emotional interpersonal scenes that really only the stellar Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket rivals. It's been a while since I've seen all of it, but there are points where I felt it dragged a bit--like a training arc--yet it pays off consistently in all facets of its story. The music, done by Kohei Tanaka (Gundam The 08th MS Team, Dai-Guard) is amazing, enhancing all of the various moods this series goes through tenfold. For me, from top to bottom, it has one of the most memorable and versatile cast of characters in the franchise; only Gundam Wing and Gundam X are comparable. The mecha action is already a cut above, since its Sunrise in their heyday, but the directing and shot selection in this series is particularly strong.

Interesting note on the English dub...well, first, it works quite well and has some great performances. But also, Domon Kasshu is played by Mark Gatha, also known for Irvine in [the underrated] Zoids and Mega Man X's title character (in the final days of that video game franchise: i.e. Maverick Hunter X and Mega Man X 8). But other than that, he has only a handful of roles, because despite his success, he left voice acting to become, I believe, a doctor. The voice acting was just to help his way through medical school, I've heard.

G-Gundam
having an English dub makes me wish Gundam X would get one. Gundam X is basically the middle ground between Gundam Wing and G-Gundam, and they all feel like sibling series to some extent. It deserves to have a dub, I feel.

I do wonder about the colors with releases like these. Sometimes they change so much, it's jarring. The Gundam Wing blu-rays looked really different, changing some moodier scenes as a result. (And sometimes, most notably, black tones were now the color green.) You just have to assume this was the original intention, but it's hard to adjust after so many years, and I wonder how it'll feel with G-Gundam, which has such an under-siege world, to have it so bright all the time.
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Marzan



Joined: 29 Mar 2009
Posts: 518
PostPosted: Tue Jun 18, 2019 2:06 pm Reply with quote
Seeing Tequila Gundam in HD might prove to be too irresistible.
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johnnysasaki



Joined: 01 Jun 2014
Posts: 946
PostPosted: Tue Jun 18, 2019 2:16 pm Reply with quote
do the subs use the original names this time or is still the dub changed names?
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Lord Geo



Joined: 18 Sep 2005
Posts: 2662
Location: North Brunswick, New Jersey
PostPosted: Tue Jun 18, 2019 2:44 pm Reply with quote
LightningCount wrote:
Does this set have the multiple, lengthy, behind-the-scenes "G-File" interviews with Imagawa that the Bandai DVDs had? (I haven't seen that confirmed by anyone.) Those interviews would go into what specific episodes were referencing what movies, and they were really insightful.


Yes, the complete G-Files takes up the entire last third of the hardcover artbook, and it's awesome to finally have that interview in a physical format that I can just open up & browse through whenever I want, instead of having to pop in DVDs & figure out which one has what I'm looking for. It's astounding.

As for the tone of G Gundam, it's actually much more heavily inspired, aside from wuxia & "world cinema", by the works of Masami Kurumada, specifically Ring ni Kakero & Saint Seiya. Imagawa cites those two manga often in the G-Files, down to specific scenes in the anime being based directly on scenes in RnK, the international stereotypes are very much in the vein of RnK's portrayal of international stereotypes (right down to Italy's rep being a Mafioso & France's rep being a rose-loving chevalier... only thing missing would be Chibodee being a black man, honestly), & Shining/God Gundam's Super/Hyper Mode is blatantly meant to be an homage to how the Bronze Saints in Saint Seiya eventually were able to power up to Gold Saint strength, complete with their armors & hair turning pure gold.

I finally saw G Gundam for the first time in ~15 years a couple of months ago, and I loved every bit of it, with the stuff in Shinjuku being the closest the show got to being underwhelming; coincidentally, it was also the part where the anime was the most "Gundam-like". Being a big Kurumada fan now, though, I had a blast just seeing all of the homages to Seiya & RnK, both big & small, and it's made me appreciate the series all the more now than I did when I first saw it on Toonami.

In fact, I'd love to see today's Toonami re-air G Gundam. Obviously, it won't ever happen, but it'd be cool to see happen, regardless.
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NJ_



Joined: 31 Oct 2009
Posts: 3100
Location: Wallington, NJ
PostPosted: Tue Jun 18, 2019 5:46 pm Reply with quote
johnnysasaki wrote:
do the subs use the original names this time or is still the dub changed names?


Here's your answer(s)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NivqX5ET9Dw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbwBqoCvMOk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkHOnynkoCo
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Punch Drunk Marc



Joined: 04 Oct 2013
Posts: 1750
PostPosted: Tue Jun 18, 2019 7:02 pm Reply with quote
penguintruth wrote:
G Gundam is an incredibly fun series, even if it is (or maybe because it is) unconventional for Gundam. What do you expect when you have criminally underrated Yasuhiro Imagawa and his fondness for wuxia? This is how you do a tournament fighter anime.


Even though this wasn't my first Gundam series (I like many americans born in the 90s caught Wing first) this is literally what I wanted when I first heard of the series. I didn't care about the politics between humans and Newtypes and the horrors of war on child soldiers, I just wanted giant robots punching each other with more cheese than you can fill your arteries with. And for that I will always love G Gundam.
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AiddonValentine



Joined: 07 Aug 2006
Posts: 2336
PostPosted: Tue Jun 18, 2019 7:06 pm Reply with quote
This is both the stupidest and most awesome Gundam ever made. Also props to the show to kinda being ahead of its time with characters like Rain and Allenby throwing in just as hard as the guys. It's an oddball, but endlessly entertaining.[/spoiler]
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NOGI48



Joined: 14 Feb 2016
Posts: 72
PostPosted: Tue Jun 18, 2019 9:06 pm Reply with quote
My 1st Gundam that I ever watch. Glad it was my 1st and the only reason why I got into Gundam. Been asking it to release it since it was announce that they would re-release the Gundam series and took 2 years of waiting and finally brought back to LIFE.
GUNDAM FIGHT SET READY GO!!!!!!!!!!
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Azure-Wind91



Joined: 31 Jul 2013
Posts: 198
Location: South Carolina
PostPosted: Tue Jun 18, 2019 10:22 pm Reply with quote
As absolutely cheesy as it is, the english dub has held up surprisingly well.
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