Forum - View topicREVIEW: Gundam Reconguista in G Sub.Blu-Ray
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Angel'sArcanum
 Posts: 303 Location: Toronto, Ontario |
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Indeed, I actually had no idea of actual historical accounts like this happening in the past, but as Reconguista seems to suggest Tomino's contemporary outlook of how a WW3 would be like in our times, I think the confusion in the show's foundation establishes a consistent mood of disorientation the viewer IS SUPPOSED TO FEEL as well, but as for how effectively that clicks with you is more varied. I'd also like to clarify that the main villain is not the SU-Cordist priest, but the old politician from Capital Tower. It's revealed that he was from the Venus Globe originally, covertly taking residence around the Earth Sphere, gaining political traction and manipulating all these people to go at each other for his twisted Darwinian goals. In making the true villain a wicked old man, it contrasts the series' cast of the younger generation being thrown into strife at the whim of a generation past - archaic, dated and corrupt moral values. The whole conflict of the series is a conscious contrivance with that being said, these youth are volatile, mercurial people spurred on by strange things, switching sides based on emotions and a sort of gravitation towards gathered ideals. Captain Mask's entire motivation is a warped perception of racism that the evil old farts are deluding him into fighting for their beliefs as a means of feeding his ego and showing racial triumph through violence which makes him simply naive. Yes, people still have a few racist remarks for the Kuntala, but the answer to solve them isn't through violence which had lead Mask astray - the more he lost to Bellri just trying to uphold a peace as best he can, the more he get frustrated with his inferiority complex and the more the politicians would keep pushing him to get redemption in achieving THEIR goals. By the end, the 3-4 sides break down from territorial factions, but more just collective ideals. Ameria has all of the people trying to stop both the monopoly upheld by the big bad with the power reserves and the war he started over them, with a few people from Towasanga and the Venus Globe pacifists in tow, Klim Nick's portion of Ameria helps them out, but he's more aggressive, fighting for the same ends but doesn't handicap himself and try to minimize casualties AS MUCH as Bellri, Aida, Raraiya, etc, he's lead by emotions as well. Towasanga acts because the Earth group had been tainted by the old man's machinations and in a reactionary drive use it as fuel to argue for a personal reclamation of the Earth. Lastly, the Capital Army is the initiator of the conflict, casting the first stone and then wiping out those that try and take away their monopoly in defense; they recruited the rogue Venus Globe guys who in turn were seeking revenge when Bellri killed their leader in a last resort of self-defense, all about who will emerge in this war for survival, superiority and control. It IS a mess of a conflict, but that's the point - when rival characters are in the same room as each other, they tend to be in a situation where one of the groups has more people stationed there or there is neutral/holy territory, so it would be disadvantageous to try and start a fight there. Momentary truces come and go, the time of travelling between negotiations can serve as opportunities to seize dominance over, but it is always fleeting, everything is malleable, so they have to tread cautiously. The villain's defeat is unceremonious, coincidental, and almost anti-climactic even, but Tomino posits that the villain's love of war and making everyone brawl amongst each other means no where is safe and he is entirely vulnerable to the madness he created by has no physical power in, it was simply an inevitability to his selfish, misanthropic goals, and Bellri acts as he always does, (or at least, as he was more driven to do towards the back half once he stops pining for Aida and echoing all her beliefs, gaining more agency) to stop those who continue to fight while avoiding killing as much as it is within his abilities to do so. At the end, all the survivors make up and find ways to LIVE, Tomino brought his anti-war sentiments to their most abstract in form and primal in conception - a narrative where the "whys" are a bit murky as he focuses on the "therefores" and the "thuses" for the end result. He equally criticizes the youth not having politics as deeply ingrained into their way of life and understanding of society as they fight each other more driven by odd, emotional reasons and the bitter, outdated and twisted values of the past gens making others act out their own philosophies as opposed to those they are using. I want to say a cautionary tale of our technologically advanced but socio-politically muddled world, heck, you could even say the journey to the moon and Venus Globe worked thematically too, they tried to pursue answers of sorts, to learn and be educated and to stop a trivial war. I don't think it's perfect, I think the peace treaty and energy plans could've been a bit more overt still at the end, though the home media ending did seem to add a few extra scenes after Bell defeats Mask, but before Klim drops the ship on his dad (which I'll touch on too). I remember the TV ending had a fade to black after Mask shouts to Bellri after he'd been defeated and then it cuts ahead a bit, we get a few scenes of what the Venus Globe and Towasanga guys do in the aftermath thankfully, but still a tad lacking. Klim dropping the ship on his dad on rewatch felt a little more insincere than when I first watched it, laughing at how bizarre it was but still fitting with the themes of young vs old and personal agency in the series; on its own it's still not terrible, but it's the fact that Klim (while my fave character) isn't really reprimanded AT ALL while fighting with Ameria - he killed a bunch of enemies, he crashed a ship onto his father when the latter was trying to push his politics and lie about the former's death at the end as revenge, but he doesn't seem to feel any guilt for any lives he took and doesn't face any sort of punishment really. I excuse him for being a loose cannon the others couldn't really handle, but it still would've been nice to see some more regret in him. Also I think the pacing still could've been sharper, maybe Tomino thought it would be four cour until he reached the second and that's why the first half feels quite leisurely compared to the second; on first watch I thought it was smooth after about 6 episodes or so, but now it's noticeably more uneven while a bit short at the end. Lastly, I think a few characters probably could've had a little more to them, and I also don't know why Bellri's mom didn't try to kill the old man herself at the end, especially since she had the closest connection to him, but maybe she didn't want blood on her hands. I still think it's one of Tomino's better Gundams, and I personally enjoyed its execution, characters and themes WAY more than Turn A which I found dull, glacial, emotionally and thematically flat and the characters were way more irksome and reprehensible than those of G Reco. I find Tomino has way more evidence to support the G Reco cast not killing one another under ceasefires than Turn A did where they let the Dianna Counter threaten the planet with NUKES, allow them to keep recovering their mobile suits by only passively fending them off, and leaving the Earth in their hands while they try to negotiate on the moon, only for the Dianna Counter to get wrecked by Gym's forces, cry to Dianna and be forgiven for all that crap. I hold Loran, Harry, Dianna and all the others just as accountable as the DC forces for allowing them to keep threatening everyone else so much, and again, as I mentioned back on the Turn A review, I was flabbergasted that Harry Ord had the gall to threaten people not under his command with treason for trying to LEAVE A TRIP TO THE MOON when the Dianna Counter (note: her name is in the militia's name) isn't directly dealt with by him or Dianna who actively start battles. It may be heresy, but G Reco is partly Turn A done correctly for me. I may have more to say, but I'll leave it at this for now. I had a feeling Lauren would really hate this one, and it was true, but I respectfully disagree about its quality. Last edited by Angel'sArcanum on Thu Sep 29, 2016 11:55 am; edited 3 times in total |
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Vaisaga
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As a long time Gundam fan and one who's seen every installment to date, this is the only entry I've actively disliked. The damn thing is just a total mess from start to finish with random shit just happening for no real reason and character motivations going all over the place. Say what you will about AGE but at least it's coherent.
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DmonHiro
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To argue that this show doesn't have a total mess of a story seems ludicrous. To say that people are just to dumb to understand said story is insanity. To compare it to Turn A and then call Turn A worse is hillarious. G-Reco is just a bad gundam anime, story wise. Hell, the ending is so stupid I will never forget it: Bell riding away to see the world.
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meiam
Posts: 3442 |
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Even the small stuff were either: unexplained, confusing, needlessly complicated or flat out non sense if not all 4 at the same time. And right from the beginning. spoiler[The first episode has the cadet getting there diploma ceremony in the space elevator (along with some cheerleader) for some reason. When they capture an enemy soldier, they imprison her to an empty old castle in the middle of a lake, then when they get attacked they just release her and have her run around the base completely free, so she just board her suit and run away, along with the main character for no reason.]
Last edited by meiam on Thu Sep 29, 2016 12:29 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Bawb
Posts: 3 |
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Stick to A/Z |
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Deacon Blues
Posts: 395 Location: Albuquerque, NM |
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Considering the reviewer thinks that Tomino has this huge hand in Gundam or ever did in the first place just goes to show how people fall for misconceptions on the internet. The number of non-Tomino shows far outweighs the shows/movies he has worked on, so the torch was never truly in his hands past the 80s anyways. He did set up the core construct for the Universal Century and all but even that was build up with Sunrise and their staff as well as everyone who labors under the name Hajime Yatate. Listen to some of his past interview on projects and you'll learn quite a bit. |
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SilverTalon01
Posts: 2409 |
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On your link, one of those is still bull. If it was oxygen deprivation (which I agree is what it looked like), then her magically getting better when they go to space makes absolutely no sense. Brain cells just don't magically recover. Tomino seems to know this too given Amuro's dad. The overall isn't an average.
I had no problems following what was happening, and the plot was indeed bad. The pacing was awful as well. I really wouldn't have expected such an experienced director to screw up the pacing that much to where he runs out of time and is forced to cram.
I'm with you there. I thought that was a horrible comparison. Yeah the prequel movies sucked, but 7 wasn't any better. Until someone else actually takes SW and makes something really good with it, you can't compare it to Gundam.
Not comparable. G-Reco was aimed at a much smaller, older niche audience. That group buys more discs which is why the whole late night anime thing works. Prime time anime actually gets money from commercials, and offers much more visible product placement for merchandise. Prime time isn't going to necessarily mean lots more disc sales because the majority of that expanded audience doesn't buy expensive discs. I wouldn't call that exceptionally high either. 10k+ is exceptionally high (average, not talking about first volume only sales), and plenty of 10k+ series still aren't big enough for sequels. 7300 isn't a bomb or anything, but it is quite a leap to compare that to a prime time slot. The fact they didn't give it a prime time slot like every other made for tv gundam already shows they knew it wouldn't be popular on that level. |
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NearEasternerJ1
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Tomino is actually the worst Gundam creator. I never understood the hubbub of Zeta Gundam. It has the worst story and worst ending of any Gundam show. Way worse than SEED. Then there's ZZ Gundam. It's the worst anime of all time. It really is. Turn A Gundam was horribly paced, had horrible animation and was just hard to sit through. I don't get SEED haters. How is anything from SEED worse than those anime?
It's to be expected from Tomino. |
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pajmo9
 Posts: 630 |
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I loved this show. The way the characters were written was so free flowing. It was very un-anime like.
I definitely think it could have used a few more episodes. Not a full extra season but 3 or 4 more episodes would have been nice to flesh out some of the story after they went to Venus Globe. I see why someone would not like this show but it hit all the right notes for me. |
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Cptn_Taylor
Posts: 925 |
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Gundam Reconguista in G has one and one problem only. Story is not the issue, world building is not the issue. Damn even Bellri is not the issue. The issue is that the story was focused around 2 characters, and the writer (s) simply forgot about one of them way before midseason. Even Tomino acknowleged this error in one of his interviews.
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ryanvamp
Posts: 420 |
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"They did an excellent job of explaining why..." TO YOU. I did read those reviews until they were unbearable and made me realize I was wasting my time; same reason I did not dwelve into why those reviews were bad; users are expected to use this forum to reply as they wish during the amount of time they consider enough: I did just that. Also, it's hilarious that you accuse someone of being snotty only to respond in such a condescending way not only to my post but the following one. Even when you're not referring to anyone in particular you give that vibe away. It's especially funny the part where you "take down" someone's argument because of "namecalling", being yourself guilty of doing just that. Have a good day. |
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AiddonValentine
Posts: 2277 |
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To me another Tomino/Lucas comparison is this: great at making ideas, iffy in execution. Tomino to me is a guy who needs a second creative mind to make his ideas come to life but unfortunately it's clear Tomino has ego issues and thus doesn't do that despite the fact it could make for a better story. I'll never deny his influence and importance to anime, but I can debate his talents.
It didn't do well, but the king of bad performance still goes to AGE which would have kept the franchise of off the Tokyo Broadcasting Network if it weren't for Build Fighters plus how Bandai has no interest in bringing it over to America |
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Lynx Amali
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G-Reco made perfect sense to me but then again, it wasn't that complex to begin with. Probably my second favorite Gundam next to 0079.
Could it have used more to not feel compressed? Sure. Did it absolutely need them? Not really. I do wish it was disconnected to Gundam though, like the original teaser implied. That way, Tomino wouldn't have been restricted in terms of what he could do. SEED being brought up was great, especially in that context. Great for a laugh as stock footage will do that. |
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fathomlessblue
 Posts: 376 Location: Manchester, UK |
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But if you don’t to explain why you disagree with the post, your response effectively becomes a general snipe/dismissal of the reviewer rather than the contents of the article; so it shouldn’t come as a huge shock if someone treats such a reply in the same manner. I’m sorry if my accusations of being snotty felt like a personal attack; it wasn’t intended to be so direct but that is how your response comes across. We still have absolutely no idea why you disagree with the analysis of G: Reco, only certain people reviewing/talking about it. I’m genuinely interested what you took issue with, but without any context for the show itself, your reply isn’t a counter-claim or a discussion; it’s a straight up shut-down. If you actually consider the review a ‘waste of time’ why bother replying if you don’t wish to give any alterative suggestions or opinions? Without those it just appears to come from a place of pure cynicism & negativity. I do feel there’s worth calling out such behaviour when they occur but I will take into consideration the exact language used in future if that helps. Hope that explains where I’m coming from on this.
There's also certainly a similarity between the way both Lucas & Tomino deflect any criticism away from their efforts by shrugging off the audience as being incapable of recognising their brilliance. I get having your own vision but after a certain point you really need to acknowledge and try to understand the reasons why people are unhappy. Otherwise you essentially become the Principal Skinner "It's the children who are wrong meme". 
Honestly I find some of Tomino's directorial quirks like his off-kilter dialogue strangely charming. However, there's often so much weirdness in virtually every aspect of his productions that it's easy to see why so many find his works incomprehensible. Even auteur artists need to learn how to engage their ideas with other people or at the very least sweeten the approach stylistically. |
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Wyvern
 Posts: 1583 |
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"This show's writing isn't hard to understand! That's why I felt the need to compile a guide to help people understand!" You know what shows don't require special guides for people to enjoy? Well-written ones. |
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