On the note of Char's Counterattack, I've seen it probably about 3 times in my life. Once when I was waaaaay younger and Adult Swim had it on after midnight for the first time in America (or was it Toonami?), and the other times were probably closer to a decade after that. I've written analysis stuff in the past about Char's actions and Quess' erratic behavior, but I have no idea where any of that would be since it's been so long.
I found CCA to be an amazing movie on account of watching it for the first time around when I was the same age as Quess is portrayed in the movie (found her to be insufferably annoying and Char to be amazingly contradictory and irrational back then). Then when I went and watched it again a few years ago, suddenly I could relate to Quess acting out on account of the stuff going on in her life (as an adult, it's easy to look back and notice when you were a shitty teen) and Char having lost his faith in humanity, thus wanting to just wipe everything clean and start over to get rid of the pain.
To be able to watch one single film at two extremely different times in my life and walk away with a completely different & renewed understanding/respect for it's story was rather inspiring. I've always heard CCA was likely supposed to be its own series - but in spite of whatever problems the movie was subject to behind the scenes, the story of Char having grown up to be disgusted by everything happening around him.....even though I totally didn't get it the first time around, it really drives home the point of "adulthood" and what it means to grow up.
Quess is tragic because she has great potential and yet never gets the opportunity to truly shine as the adults around her either dismiss her or take advantage of her because of her age/lack of experience - that's like an insult of the highest variety to an up-and-coming smartypants teen, thus Char's approval supplements as her own father's.
By the CCA movie, Char has already grown up - we saw him ending his teen years with a rebellious passion in MS Gundam, then watched his starry-eyed ideological plea in Dakar during Zeta.......and then Haman completely beats him and crushes his ideology with her's and her power. By the time CCA starts, Char is older, in his 30's, even someone as strong as Haman has lost, the nation his father loved is in ruins, and the Earth is in bad shape. The world sucks as an adult, especially such a world wrecked by war - while Amuro is able to push forward in spite of all that's happened to him and keep fighting for hope, Char can only look backwards and see the assassination of his family, the death of his love, and the death of his nation and the Earth. I think internally, being that his thoughts by this point were so jaded and stuck in the past, outwardly, he could only put on the facade of "Casval Rem Deikun", thus he confides in Nanai logically and physically as an adult, yet emotionally and internally, he can only relate to Quess and see her as similar to Lalah. A part of him yearns for the hope and vitality he had in his youth, but it's been taken away from him many times, again & again. Keeping Quess around seems to at least keep that part of him alive, while his adult ambitions see her as useful and easy to bend to his agenda.
As someone who's been through a lot over the years - family BS, medical problems, loss of friends, etc, I think Char in Char's Counterattack embodies how much despair the transition from the innocence of youth to the responsibilities of adulthood can entail. Studio politics and production issues aside, I think that interplay of children and adults in a world saturated in war (keep in mind, the giant robot shows sort of popped up along with Godzilla in response to Japan's own real-life relationship with recent wars), has always been one of the main driving narrative force behind the series. CCA marks a pretty solid finale to Amuro and Char's stories, and I think it's hard - particularly for younger, less-worldly viewers - to dive as deep into the personality and dysfunction that left Char scarred and in enough pain to want to end it all in such a contradictory fashion.
Gundam Unicorn at least gives Char some form of rest and redemption after what I could possibly go so far to label as him being "suicidal" in CCA.
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I think
the most memorable scene from Char's Counterattack is with him on the train:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXSkaSkVBYA
As the Zeon citizens are singing an anthem for Char, the camera zooms in. Quess is smiling at such a (joyful?) celebration, Gyunei looks to be in awe of all the civilians support for their cause & love of Char. Char though.....his face is expressionless.....his glasses hide his thoughts - a stark contrast to Quess' smiling face. In the scene following his salute and departure from the train, Char looks pensive as ever and definitely not happy or hopeful. Though, Quess obviously isn't picking up on any of that.
I'd be interested in hearing what everyone all thinks now that I've probably ran the subject into the ground!
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