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Forum - View topicREVIEW: Mobile Suit Gundam UC BLURAY 2
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MIX303
 Posts: 66 Location: Alberta Canada |
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Gundam UC OVA is very well done I really admire te work done by the production team. I see why some anime fans imparticular may not like Gundam UC so much from watching the original series.
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dtm42
Posts: 14084 Location: currently stalking my waifu |
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The plot, characters and the feel of the three episodes released thus far harkens back to 0079 and traditional UC, which I don't really like. People falling in love with one another too quickly, stolen prototypes that are insanely overpowered, magical effects and pixie dust (partially borrowed from SEED Destiny and 00), yet another remnant of Zeon, psycho enemies, and of course another Char. They've either got to fill in the plot hole to explain why there is another Char, which will be hard, or else they've got to walk all over the end of Char's Counterattack because he's the original. Neither are palatable. As for the Mecha action, while it is wonderfully animated and immensely detailed, I believe that Macross Frontier had better battle scenes, at least in terms of excitement and choreography.
All that said, Gundam Unicorn is going pretty darn good thus far, and if it ends strongly it could well supplant SEED as my favourite entry in the franchise. |
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nightjuan
 Posts: 1473 |
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I would find it extremely hard to disagree with the gist of Mr. Toole's review here, considering I've both been enjoying and praising Gundam Unicorn myself. Well, aside from throwing a couple of jabs at the concept being a little too well-trodden from time to time, but those have been made in good faith and with more underlying appreciation for untapped potential than anything else in particular.
After all, this is still the best executed Gundam OVA in ages if not, quite possibly, overall. Too soon to tell? Perhaps, but it's certainly looking that way. And, yes, I say this as someone who generally doesn't have too much trouble dealing with some of the comparably lesser works born out of this property, let alone the mecha genre in its current state, as far as execution flaws go. I can still recognize unusually high quality when it hits me in the face. 
Maybe my only minor quibble, and it's fair to say that even this has more to do with finding at least one or two reasons to nitpick the review than disagreeing with something substantial, would be the issue of density. Most of the information provided has been both interesting and useful in my opinion. This kind of density is much more of a positive than a negative, considering Unicorn has done a very good job of both advancing its own plot and re-introducing, condensing or re-interpreting ideas that even Tomino himself didn't really have the chance -or the desire- to treat with an optimal amount of care back in the day. The entire Newtype concept is an obvious example but not the only one, since the political discussions tend to come across as a little bit clearer. Full Frontal, for someone who represents the "return" of Char Aznable and has such a ludicrous name, sounds a little more reasonable (though also quite dangerous and double-faced beneath his gentle mannerisms) in his demands than the Red Comet did just a couple of in-universe years earlier. The same thing goes for Marida's take on Zeonism, when compared to your standard "Sieg Zeon!" propaganda shout. I think new viewers may even be more confused if they do too much research, instead of just paying attention or re-watching the OVA episodes. The sheer amount of details and layers may seem a little confusing or intimidating, surely, but -and in saying this I curiously have to end up agreeing with Mr. Toole's position after all- they happen to be quite rewarding after a closer inspection or upon repeated viewings. The dialogue, in particular, is undeniably dense but usually very well written (or translated, giving some credit where it is also due) in this new production. Aside from that, I suppose the general lack of humor doesn't exactly bother me, to be honest, but then again I probably wouldn't be too concerned if there was more of it either. This is, however, the sort of thing that we would have seen by now -I'd think- if the overarching flow of events really intended to bring any significant amount of levity to the table. Speaking of All-Star Superman, I won't go too off-topic but I'm looking forward to that...yes, even after everyone and their sister has probably already seen it for themselves by now. |
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Charred Knight
 Posts: 3085 |
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I really wouldn't say that Gundam Unicorn has much potential for sales at least compared to something like Evangelion 2.22. Evangelion was one of the most succesful anime released in America and put ADV among the top level companies. Naussica was directed by Hayao Miyazaki the most popular director in anime history (in both Japan and America), All Star Superman was a critically acclaimed series written by Grant Morrison a very popular comic book writer. The height of Gundam's popularity in America was 10 years ago when Gundam Wing aired, the franchise has been going downhill ever since. Gundam Unicorn simply can't compete with Evangelion, All-Star Superman, and Miyazaki. I don't think it can compete with even something like Fullmetal Alchemist.
U.C Gundam has never been popular in America, and it's not like you can just ignore it, Audrey's character is steeped in U.C's history. The second main selling point, the fact that it's written by Harutoshi Fukui (an insanely popular writer in Japan) doesn't mean anything simply because no one's heard of him in America, if they had I think Gundam Unicorn would actually get a lot more negative press. |
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SecretJustin1130
Posts: 128 |
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Michael Sinterniklaas is doing an excellent job dubbing Gundam UC. He really cares about the dubbing of it & seems to understand the Universial Century here.
Unlike James Corrigall who directed Zeta Gundam's dub which is downright horrible. To make it worse James Corrigall admitted in an interview that he knows so very little about the Gundam timelines & admitted in the same interview that all he knew about Zeta Gundam was that it was animated in the 80s and that's it. |
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amagee
 Posts: 333 Location: Orlando, FL |
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I don't mean to like, rage at you or anything, but it's actually the other way around. Char's Counterattack (Unicorn's timeline direct prequel) set the precedent for seemingly random magical things and pixie dust with the exact same colorful system (called a psycho-frame) used all over the Unicorn Gundam being used to push an asteroid away from the earth. You are right, however. With them thoroughly embracing the weird glowing of the gundam and all, it will probably seem to most fans to be a harken back to more recent series.
This is a really cool observation and it made me think a little. For me, the thing is that Macross Frontier combat choreography and Gundam Unicorn combat choreography must be taken separately. The whole "fighter to robot" fluidity in combat that Macross has always embraced really works with Frontier's fast paced combat sequences. Gundam, on the other hand, tends towards making things a little slower paced for the audience while keeping the nitty-gritty aspects of combat. If I saw Gundam Unicorn animated like Macross, I'd probably freak right out in all honesty. |
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Otaking09
 Posts: 637 |
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Char's Counterattack is one of the most laziest, pathetic, pieces of crap I've ever seen. It insulted my intelligence too much, turned, once thoughtful characters, into caricatures. For what it's worth, I'm just happy that Furuhashi is using the timeline for the story instead of just worrying about continuity. That's where Char fell apart. That being said, from the first 30 minutes I've seen of the first ep, not only am I extremely impressed with the dub, but it makes me hopeful of future Gundam installments; let's not have another Gundam 00 please? |
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nightjuan
Posts: 1473 |
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While I can more or less agree with the first part of your statement, I still don't think knowing that history is even remotely necessary here. Particularly considering the importance of Audrey's background is something you can sum up in a couple of phrases or so and this is precisely what Gundam Unicorn has already done. As a young child, she was a figurehead with no actual power nor much of a personality. That's it. In Unicorn, Audrey almost counts as a completely different character when you're actually dealing with someone who is trying to be an active player instead of just a token spectator with no real role outside of vaguely representing a given faction of Zeon.
Either way, I'd argue it doesn't really affect the quality of the work. I think art and entertainment should be judged on their own merits, not based on the real or imagined moral and political implications and inclinations of their authors. I don't think the original creator's fame overrides the simple fact this has been a very well produced and executed project thus far. In the end, U.S. sales don't need to be quite as high as they've been in Japan in order to at least be relatively successful by current industry standards and maybe even turn out to be a little more appealing to the mainstream than, say, recent Gundam productions have been. It doesn't need to match or outsell Eva 2.22 in order to accomplish this much. |
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sainta
 Posts: 989 |
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Wait, so this OVA a sequel from the first Gundam series? First Mobile Suit Gundam, then Zeta Gundam, then ZZ Gundam, then Char's counterattack and then this UC ovas? Wow, so many sequels! I wish Gundam Wing also had a sequel
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Charred Knight
Posts: 3085 |
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And that's the thing, Bandai Ent is aiming this mainly at the people who have been anime fans for over 10 years ago, they're aiming this at the hardcore Gundam fans. The anime fan that got into anime through Code Geass isn't going to buy this product so why would you attempt to appeal to them? Gundam Unicorn was never going to sell numbers to justify putting it in Target, the Gundam fandom is simply to divided to actually support that type of release. What Bandai Ent/Bandai Visual did was the right choice, give the fans a high price, high quality product and don't expect this thing to reignite Gundam. |
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GWOtaku
 Posts: 678 |
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Toole's point had little to do with Gundam's relative popularity outside Japan, it was a statement about how Gundam Unicorn is so good that it stands among such stellar company. For my money, this is an absolutely accurate assertion.
Bandai's obviously not just aiming this at the hardest of the hardcore given the imminent DVD release that will be very, very good value for the money. This is obviously smart because the Blu-Ray price is high even for an established anime fan over here, and because this title really is an ideal introduction & reintroduction to what Gundam and truly good mecha anime are and can be all about. Last edited by GWOtaku on Tue May 17, 2011 1:00 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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nightjuan
Posts: 1473 |
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Oh, this is an issue we can definitely debate further. Personally, I agree with both Mr. Toole and other reviewers or forum members who have stated or suggested that Gundam Unicorn isn't just a product aimed exclusively at hardcore fans. I believe that it can also work for a slightly more mainstream audience or, quite simply, for those who want to find a good introduction to an intimidating property. Why? Well, because it's good enough to stand on its own for all the previously mentioned reasons. Essentially, you don't need to know everything there is to know about the Universal Century to watch this. You'll get more out of it with that background, sure, but the production isn't inherently dragged down by any such requirements when it's clear the writing actually tries to explain anything remotely relevant to the story. That makes for good anime, period, if not necessarily the most popular. You won't get all the little kids or teens interested in something like this, most likely not, but I'd turn the question around: Do you really think most of them buy the anime they watch to begin with? No, not very often. But you know, there are many more categories of people in the world of entertainment consumption than just a bunch of hardcore mecha fans on one side and young otaku on the other. Likewise, the space between absolute failure and complete success is still a lot larger than what your argument suggests. Again, Unicorn doesn't need to literally set the U.S. market on fire to have a positive effect, by potentially bringing in a few more people who usually wouldn't be interested in the likes of old Gundam shows nor something akin to Code Geass, for example (leaving aside the obvious fact I happen to like both of those and Unicorn myself). |
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Charred Knight
Posts: 3085 |
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If that was Mike Toole's point than he should have made that clearer. Given the sales I have seen out of Gundam I don't know if you can really claim that Gundam Unicorn's sales would have been massive if it was given a normal release. It's not like Gundam has had some poor series out there, even the bad ones like Gundam 00 Season two, and Gundam Seed Destiny are enjoyable. It's just that the franchise hasn't been really popular in 10 years since Gundam's infamous fandom keeps scaring everyone away. |
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CG-LOVER
 Posts: 355 Location: East Lansing, MI |
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I completely agree with this review, this OVA series has just been great thus far. And as far as what is being discussed about the sales of this OVA, I'm pretty sure GWOtaku hit the nail on the head as far as what Toole was trying to say there.
Anyway, I am just a huge fan of this and I do think that this is quickly becoming the best Gundam OVA ever. Personally, I'm willing to pay the steep price no matter what but I can definitely see how some people are turned away by it. The dub is also great, and I'm enjoying everyone's performances. I will say though that it was hard for me to get used to the way they pronounced a few of the words, like "Argama" (the name of the Fed ship). I'm not saying it's wrong cause I really don't know, but I do know it's not the way I remember it being pronounced in the previous Gundam series. Also, I know how Toole mentioned that the fact they didn't get Michael Kospa to voice Full Frontal, but holy crap Keith Silverstein is an amazing replacement! Honestly, he just makes Frontal sound godlike. Of course this is also related to the question of whether or not Full Frontal really is Char Aznable. There were some clear signs in the OVA which seemed to indicate that spoiler[he really is Char (among many things, that obvious scar says a lot). However I remain unconvinced. While the second volume heavily suggests that he may be the real Char, the third volume throws in some curveballs that have him acting in ways that...well, ways that make him seem a little cruel compared to the Char I remember (but what do I know? I could be way off.).]. Anyway, if he is the real Char then I guess there is definitely a continuity discrepancy as far as the English dub goes (regardless of how good I think Keith Silverstein is). But of course if he's not then perhaps the VA change doesn't really matter that much does it? |
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DangerMouse
Posts: 3994 |
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I totally agree with this, I wouldn't have minded Kopsa back as Char as I think he would have been great but since he's not they did make a great choice for who would play the role in Keith Silverstein, he's been really fantastic from his talk with Banagher about politics to his action scenes he's been a great listen. I'm really glad he's working out so well as I had a lot of hope after hearing him for, I think the first time, in Monster doing an equally awesome job as Johann. |
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