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EP. REVIEW: Mobile Suit Gundam: Requiem for Vengeance




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rmcclo
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Joined: 05 Aug 2022
Posts: 18
PostPosted: Sun Oct 20, 2024 9:59 pm Reply with quote
I'm loving it so far, halfway through episode 2 on the Japanese dub/English sub track.
I like the subtle proportional changes they made to some mechanical designs like the dopp fighter and tanks to make them look less cartoony.
Some moments of unnatural body motion/uncanny valley, à la MS IGLOO, but I love the sense of weight you get from the Zakus, and the horror show feel as the Gundam effortlessly outclasses them (shortly after the Zakus are shown trouncing tanks and armored vehicles).
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Beatdigga



Joined: 26 Oct 2003
Posts: 4576
Location: New York
PostPosted: Sun Oct 20, 2024 11:36 pm Reply with quote
I think the best way to describe it is "Not as good as I hoped, but not as bad as I feared". I liked how the robots moved, the idea that a lot of this stuff is cobbled-together equipment, and the show gets that robots are why you're here. There is definitely something to the idea of the terrified grunts fighting the super prototype machine the hero usually gets, and portraying it as essentially a slasher villain is a new take. But there was a bit too much Zeon wank for my tastes, the humans did look weird with animation, and having yet another Gundam running around during the OYW makes you wonder just how many of those damn things were on the battlefield, not to mention how they all seemed to disappear by the time of the Battle of Solomon except for Amuro's.

Also, the main character looks uncannily like Rhea Seehorn who played Kim Wexler. Not too significant an issue but still funny.
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andramus



Joined: 19 Apr 2020
Posts: 191
PostPosted: Mon Oct 21, 2024 8:35 am Reply with quote
Is there supposed to be a review in the article this comments thread links to? Because I see nothing except a poster for the series when I clink on the article link.
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kgw



Joined: 22 Jul 2004
Posts: 1173
Location: Spain, EU
PostPosted: Tue Oct 22, 2024 7:43 am Reply with quote
I was wondering the same: I expected a full review, but… nothing?

Also, for me it's: maybe too much aimed towards Gundam fans who can tell a MS07B from a MS07BSS and they like to see spoiler[a Zakutank fighting a Gundam and almost winning]* and too much focus on Zeon. But, no matter how much they retcon the history of the OYM, the Federation barely had MS until the late stages and it was Zeon the ones with tons of every possible MS model.

Also, I know they used a videogame engine, but sometime it feels as if I were watching a game cutscene.

In summary: a late but good MS IGLOO 3

* spoiler[it's the second time -historically the first- that "minor" unit uses planned explosions to fight a Gundam (Bernie got better results)]
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dmanatunga



Joined: 12 Jan 2015
Posts: 70
PostPosted: Thu Oct 24, 2024 4:20 pm Reply with quote
I struggled to get through it. The concept of being stalked by a Gundam similar to a Terminator/Godzilla/Slasher Killer was a great idea, but the execution didn't meet the premise. The animation of the fights would go from really good, realistic sense to a Gundam that seemed to jump around like a kitten following a laser pointer. I also didn't really find any of the characters interesting, and the spoiler[protagonists decision at the end was baffling].

I also only did English dub because I found Netflix's CC subs distracting since they had audio cues. Personally, voice acting on that end felt rote.
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michaelarroyo01



Joined: 07 Apr 2009
Posts: 60
PostPosted: Thu Oct 24, 2024 4:26 pm Reply with quote
I do want to point out that I actually really enjoyed this series, and there is a lot that I liked about it. That being said:

I am really bothered by the idea that, after everything Iria went through, spoiler[she would decide not to return to Side 3 and be with her son, and instead go to fight for the Zeon Remnant in Africa.]

Through out the entire war, she says spoiler[her goal is to go home and see her child. She witness a child the same age of her own son die, and instead of going home and being a parent, she chooses to continue being a soldier in a war she should know is already lost.]

She justifies it by saying spoiler[she wants to prevent other child soldiers from fighting on the battlefield, but this makes no sense to me. By continuing to fight this losing war, you are almost insuring more people, more children, will die on the battlefield.]

And what about spoiler[her kid? Does he even know she is still alive? If he thinks she died at Odessa, he’ll probably grow up and want to seek vengeance on the EFF. If he knows that her mother is alive, but chose to stay behind and continue fighting, he’ll probably grow up to resent his mother. Even if she claims she is fighting to protect him, he will still grow up without a mother, when she could have easily returned home and protected him by actually being there for him.]

If she really wanted to spoiler[fight to protect others, she could have done it in other ways besides piloting a Zaku for the remnants of a losing army. She could have become an activist in the colonies. She was somewhat of a celebrity before the war. She could have used her notoriety as a musician and career in the military to speak out for her beliefs. She could have just become a medic like the Doc, and worked to save lives instead of taking them.]

The ONLY way I see this ending making sense is that spoiler[she is so traumatized from her experiences in the war, seeing that young Gundam pilot die, that she cannot face her son until she can atone for her failure. She is continuing to fight, not because she is protecting her child, but because she is running away from the responsibility of raising her son because, if she couldn’t save the Gundam pilot, how could she protect her kid. If they would have spun the ending in that way, I could have accepted it, but in trying to make her choosing to stay and fight in Africa noble in some way, it just makes her decision seem selfish.]

Andspoiler[ AFRICA!?] SERIOUSLY!!!?

The place where spoiler[Zeon remnants wasted away in the desert, waiting for a chance to strike, only to be wiped out for nothing by the Gundam team in Gundam ZZ?]

It just makes everything feel so spoiler[disappointing. I feel like, in the end, she learns the wrong lesson from her experience though out this series.]
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Thesarum
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Joined: 25 Mar 2022
Posts: 495
PostPosted: Thu Oct 24, 2024 4:35 pm Reply with quote
kgw wrote:
Also, I know they used a videogame engine, but sometime it feels as if I were watching a game cutscene.


Yeah, the whole thing felt a lot like an extended cutscene from a middle budget videogame. Sorta fine, if a little too grey-brown, then suddenly someone twists their neck in an entirely unnatural way the the geometry distorts making them look their they're made of rubber.

I liked the general concept of the Gundam as an obscenely powerful monster stalking them, and the twist that it's just a kid inside who is scared and wants to go home as much as everyone else. But the stiff game-NPCs couldn't really sell it so I found it hard to invest in anyone, even Sorari.

michaelarroyo01 wrote:
I do want to point out that I actually really enjoyed this series, and there is a lot that I liked about it. That being said:

Yeah, the ending struck me as weird too. It was like they wanted to hit some bittersweet ending note, but couldn't figure out how when they got there.

So it was just about fine, it was more Gundam, but it was also entirely disposable and inconsequential and I doubt I'll remember anything much about it apart from the fact it was rendered in Unreal in 6 months time..
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Kicksville



Joined: 20 Nov 2010
Posts: 1241
PostPosted: Thu Oct 24, 2024 9:00 pm Reply with quote
I've said here before:
Concept is basically what people on Gundam.com circa 2002 would say when asked, "What if you made your own Gundam show?"

After seeing it: Really is exactly that, for better or worse. If you were one of the people begging for this, it may just be what you've been waiting for.

Here is the Wish Fulfillment list it feels like this set out to do:
- Zeon perspective, lots of scrappy grunt MS action.
- Focus on battle hardened adult soldiers. Very hardly military driven story.
- Gundam from Zeon perspective as an invincible killing machine.
- Overall kind of a downer.
- spoiler[Kid Gundam pilot dies, killed by some nobody. That's the punchline I know certain fans were drooling for back in the day.]

I thought it was...OK, I guess. I didn't love it.
- Every character being a dry stereotype is the biggest hang-up.
- Similarly dry performances, direction, etc. (As the review says: Half the runtime is people about to get blown up, then not)
- The animation is "off" in notable ways, but perhaps better than some people are giving it credit for.

I am sort of curious what non-Gundam fans will think of it - this is a fulfillment of one version of "what non-Gundam fans think Gundam is like", so I wonder if that will be more or less satisfying. Although it may set some odd expectations from there. The original UC Gundam shows (and many of them after) are kinda weirder than you might expect. This one very much isn't.

If you're already a fan and wanted UC Gundam with every drop of weirdness extracted, well...here is what you get.
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