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Forum - View topicREVIEW: Gundam 00 DVD Season 1 Part 3
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Kalessin
 Posts: 931 |
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Gundam 00 is definitely good stuff. And it definitely heats up in the latter portion of the first season. However, having seen both seasons in their entirety, I have to say that in many ways, the first season is really only there to set up the second season. All the crazy stuff and tragedies happening in the first season put the show in a position to have a powerful second season - which it does. The first season is good, but it's nothing compared to the second.
And as for "missions of the week," they're about as gone as it gets. There's plenty of action here, and definitely plenty of action in the second season, but never again will it follow a "mission of the week" formula. In fact, the second season is laid out quite differently from the first. So, that's definitely something to look forward to. Personally, I look forward to getting it on DVD, so that I can watch the dub, though it would be even better if Bandai were to actually release it on BD (that and Code Geass). Well, I can all dream... In any case, there are some great twists and revelations in the latter portion of season 1, and that kind of coolness is just getting started. I particularly like how the villain for the second season is someone who pretty much no one could have seen coming until the last few episodes of the first. While not perfect, the plot for Gundam 00 is definitely not weak. |
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dtm42
Posts: 14084 Location: currently stalking my waifu |
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More like, the first season was only slightly successful, while the second season was mostly successful. Reasoning? Well, the first season tried to be great, but only just scraped into a Decent rating (on the back of these fairly good episodes). But the second season tried its darned best to be truly awful, and basically succeeded, getting a hard-earned and well-deserved rating of Bad. But seriously, I went into the second season having extremely low expectations. It aired right after the disaster of R2 (if I remember correctly), and I was not at all happy with Sunrise at the time. So like I said, I had low expectations. And yet, the season still managed to disappoint and infuriate me. It was completely and utterly bonkers, but not in a good way. It possessed so many plot holes I didn't bother to count, it shat all over the characters,* and the sheer stupidity was just, I don't know, gack.* * You know a cast is bad when spoiler[a Jesus-clone] is the best character in the season. * Yup, there don't exist words to properly describe it, so I went with "gack". |
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Kalessin
Posts: 931 |
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Well, I can see that our tastes differ considerably. I thought that Gundam 00 was quite good overall, with the second season being far better than the first. And I thought that Code Geass - and especially R2 - was absolutely fantastic. Of course, if folks are going to disagree over any recent show, it would probably be Code Geass. As tvtropes points out, it has one of the biggest broken fanbases of any show in recent history. I suppose that it all depends on what you're looking for in your anime. |
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belvadeer
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I think I liked this anime more than I intended. The English dub sat well with me (unlike some people) in both seasons and overall, it still managed to impress me. I especially liked the characters' names. They're a lot of fun to say.
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dtm42
Posts: 14084 Location: currently stalking my waifu |
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With all due respect, I don't know what you were looking for in R2, but I was looking for two things. The first being a show that was good on its own merits, the other was a season that was just more of the same from the first. What I got was an almost legendary fall in the quality of the writing, and a reliance for introducing flashy new robots to keep people from realising just how bad it all was. In the end, me rating R2 as Good and not Weak or Bad or Awful is a sign that I am a massive Code Geass fanboy. Looked at objectively it was a show with utterly crappy and plagiarised writing, and absolutely does not deserve any positive rating whatsoever. Anyway, back to Gundam 00, I was looking for exactly the same things as I was with R2, only I also wanted them to make use of the first season's setup and actually do something with those ideas and (especially) those characters. Did we get that? Hell no. Boy did they ever screw up. Last edited by dtm42 on Mon Dec 21, 2009 7:49 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Big Hed
 Posts: 1607 Location: Melbourne, Australia |
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I've got your back on both counts.
But let's not start a debate about 00S2's legendary (read: mythical) plot holes; we can save that for the appropriate DVD reviews. 
If there was one weakness to 00 I definitely would have to say it's the at-times rank dialogue (such as "I am Gundam!", yes). There's just moments when I'd be watching it and I'd have to go... ugh. Oh, and I'm looking forward to those Japanese audio commentaries. If they're anything like the ones for Code Geass were, they should be enjoyable indeed. |
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dtm42
Posts: 14084 Location: currently stalking my waifu |
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Alright then. Not sure if you are male or female, but if it is the latter then it's a date. Either way, I'll make sure I bring my A-Game, not that I'll need it. I wasn't kidding when I said the plot holes were numerous. And I'll prove it, just you see. |
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Etrien
 Posts: 525 Location: Tokyo, Japan |
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00 was a slow sell on me, but I was pretty hooked by the end of S1.
...And then they ruined everything with S2.  I'm actually not sure I've been more let down by a second season of something I enjoyed.
For the record, I actually liked Code Geass R2, but I still hated 00 S2. I guess that makes me weird or something.
But it won't!  Oh snap.
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Animehermit
 Posts: 964 Location: The Argama |
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i completely 100% agree. I really enjoyed Code Geass R1, and was really looking forward to R2, boy was i disappointed, then after that again i was really excited for Gundam 00 season 2, and again i was disappointed. Is there some kind of mythical force preventing bandai from making a successful 2nd season? |
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maaya
Posts: 976 |
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I thought Gundam 00 was good at first, then became average and ended below average = disappointing. But I banned it from my memory already ^^
So, what I loved about Gundam 00 was its' self parody that came out as a kind of trailer for the second season (and another for the movie). Sunrise should just do comedy anime, at least that they do well. They actually themselves made fun of the catch phrase "I am Gundam" etc. Maybe it's included in the US DVD release? |
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dtm42
Posts: 14084 Location: currently stalking my waifu |
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Bandai is just the English-language distributor. Sunrise is the company that needs its headquarters firebombed. I don't know what it is about Sunrise that means they are so uneven. Witch Hunter Robin, Vision of Escaflowne, PlanetES, Outlaw Star, first season of Code Geass, Cowboy Bebop, Gasaraki, and Crest/Banner of the Stars. Sunrise either made or part-produced all of these wonderful shows. But they have made some pretty bad Anime as well, and it annoys me. At least if they were predictable I'd know whether to avoid them or not. Gah. |
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maaya
Posts: 976 |
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Isn't Bandai is also a sponsor of the series, and selling the action figures based on it? Actually Bandai owns Sunrise / Sunrise is a subsidiary of Bandai Namco.
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dtm42
Posts: 14084 Location: currently stalking my waifu |
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Possibly. The Encyclopedia doesn't mention that, but I won't deny it is true.
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maaya
Posts: 976 |
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Japanese wikipedia does mention it. It says Bandai Namco Holdings is the majority shareholder of Sunrise at 99,1% and for sure the official homepage of Sunrise links to Bandai Namco and in the company history section they mention that Sunrise became part of the Bandai group in 1994.
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nightjuan
 Posts: 1473 |
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I was also disappointed by both R2 and 00 S2, comparatively speaking, but probably not to the same extent as dtm42. Why? Both shows had sloppy writing and plenty of unnecessary elements with little to no purpose outside of marketing concerns, which made them lose points in my eyes, but I still found enough interesting developments and at least a couple of outcomes that, while they might be accused of lacking originality and realism, were still appropriate for the material. In other words, I don't think everything in them is flawed and without any redeeming qualities at all, just as I won't even try to argue the opposite. Either position would be dishonest, IMHO, at least on my end.
In short, you could say I'm not a fan of extreme praise or hatred. I'm aware of the flaws, neither show met my original expectations, but that doesn't mean I can't possibly adapt nor that I can't appreciate at least some of what actually happened. Of course, I'm not going to deny that entertainment value, which is entirely subjective, is also a mitigating (or aggravating, where applicable) factor. Did I have fun, more often than not? Yes. If I hadn't, I imagine that it could be very easy for me to be less forgiving and more cynical about either series. Your mileage may vary. I don't think there's much more I can say without dragging this into spoiler territory, which isn't really necessary. Now that all this is out of the way, I'd like to comment on the actual review. Generally speaking, I agree with the main arguments presented. All in all, these were probably some of the better 00 episodes. It's true that there is a certain lack of closure but I felt that the ending did adequately set up the next season by including a preview of sorts. The English cast grew into their roles towards the end but, to be honest, I never liked the 00 dub that much and wouldn't buy a dub-only BD (you hear that, Bandai?). |
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