The Official Gundam Thunderbolt Anime Thread Mk I

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Kuruni
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Re: The Official Gundam Thunderbolt Anime Thread Mk I

Amion wrote:I'm 99.99% sure you're wrong, excalibur. From what I know, Zeon didn't lose the war. They never officially surrendered.
So...if Zeon as whole is amalgram of WWII Axis, Republic of Zeon would be WWII Thailand?
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Erisie
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Re: The Official Gundam Thunderbolt Anime Thread Mk I

Swithin wrote:He's basically a sociopath (at the very least, he's a nihilist.) Without spoiling anything you won't find early in the first volume, he sees the lie that is civilized society. Not only can you get away with killing, you can be applauded and awarded for it - humanity hasn't evolved past violence, and Io embraces his.
I see Io as more of the kind of person who likes to pilot (basically a fighter jockey: a lot of them are just like that) and embraces war as a way to keep his sanity after the destruction of his homeland. If you want to see a real sociopath, look at Casval Deikun's portrayal in The Origin. He checks out on almost every point off the list.

My main issue with Thunderbolt thus far is how balanced everything is in the plot, almost to the point it feels forced. In combat, both sides lose equally,. It's like the author won't (or can't) give any advantage to one side, as if he was terrified to not alienate either the Zeon or Federation fanbases.
excalibur2008
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Re: The Official Gundam Thunderbolt Anime Thread Mk I

Erisie wrote:
Swithin wrote: If you want to see a real sociopath, look at Casval Deikun's portrayal in The Origin. He checks out on almost every point off the list.
Plus the time he planed to cause a nuclear winter there by potentially killing billions.
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Re: The Official Gundam Thunderbolt Anime Thread Mk I

Erisie wrote:
Swithin wrote:He's basically a sociopath (at the very least, he's a nihilist.) Without spoiling anything you won't find early in the first volume, he sees the lie that is civilized society. Not only can you get away with killing, you can be applauded and awarded for it - humanity hasn't evolved past violence, and Io embraces his.
I see Io as more of the kind of person who likes to pilot (basically a fighter jockey: a lot of them are just like that) and embraces war as a way to keep his sanity after the destruction of his homeland. If you want to see a real sociopath, look at Casval Deikun's portrayal in The Origin. He checks out on almost every point off the list.
I pretty much agree with you. I'll hide my thoughts behind the spoiler tag:
Spoiler
The way I read it, Io's coping mechanism is to shut down every part of himself that's sad, or confused, or even furious that the war is still going on, and to force himself to be happy with what's left (his skill at piloting, his competitiveness, and jazz.) He has become so inured to killing, however, so habituated with either being either aloof or manic, that he has lost the ability to express basic human emotions. In his downtime he's almost robotic (even his sex-life has become free of affection or tenderness,) and the only time he can be emotionally present is in the isolation of his cockpit, his music drowning out the radio chatter (hell, he even broadcasts it over open comms to drag everyone else into his world,) shooting down enemy MS. Killing people has become his outlet. I don't think he started off as a soulless murderbot (although young Io was already a bit creepy,) but his coping strategy has turned him into one, and I think that's kind of the point. It's the war's fault, but the consequences on his soul (if you want to call it that,) are just as real and his to bear. By the time we meet him, he's barely fazed by the <redacted> GM pilots. He's come to a point where he'll accept anything, believing he can work through it by just killing more Zeeks.

Darryl is treated much more sympathetically. He hates the war, he knows what it's turned everyone into, but he does as he's asked at first out of a sense of duty, then because of his inability to decline, and finally because he's just lost any fight he had in him and is totally pliable. There's no place in it all for him to be himself, so he just... isn't. Emotionally he's totally shut down - but! - we know that the hopeful and tender personality he had before is still buried somewhere in there. The fact that he hasn't been corrupted is infectious, it gives Kara hope for a world after a world war (compare with Io's relationship.) She in turn kindles those memories of how he used to feel. He's kept something precious that Io seems to have totally lost, and real human connection can bring back out.

I think one of the major themes of TB is that as a soldier in an all-out war, coming out the other end with your humanity intact is an almost impossible proposition, but that it's still possible and it's morally imperative to try. Darryl does; Io races in the other direction. I think this is why their rivalry works so well, even though they barely communicate with each other: on an ideological level Io needs to destroy Darryl because he represents a better way. If Darryl survives the war without compromising, then it disproves Io's assumption that you have to be the alpha-killer just to stay alive. He'd lose his justification for the callous persona he's adopted. He'd be compromised, and therefore partially complicit in the whole horror of it all.
Erisie wrote:My main issue with Thunderbolt thus far is how balanced everything is in the plot, almost to the point it feels forced. In combat, both sides lose equally,. It's like the author won't (or can't) give any advantage to one side, as if he was terrified to not alienate either the Zeon or Federation fanbases.
It's definitely heavy-handed, but in my mind the point the author is making is to condemn both sides equally - there's really not much hoo-rah here for the fanboys at all. The individuals on both sides actually seem like normal people in my opinion (with their respective war-time loyalties and biases,) almost all of the mustache-twirling is reserved for the brass and the politicians. Time honored Gundam tradition?

Anyway, sorry for the second long-ish post. I love this series, I hope the animation does it justice!
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Deacon Blues
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Re: The Official Gundam Thunderbolt Anime Thread Mk I

Looks like a terrible photoshop job on that image... so rough around the edges. Makes me wonder if they're rushing the production...
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Re: The Official Gundam Thunderbolt Anime Thread Mk I

LOL at the character lineart

http://ww3.sinaimg.cn/large/a081fa4egw1 ... 1jk1ky.jpg

More info at Gunpla Expo on the 20th

Teaser: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZME_HbF0VI

Mid to late 2016 release?
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Re: The Official Gundam Thunderbolt Anime Thread Mk I

Erm... Io looks a little effeminate there... and Claudia looks rather butch. Wow. Who did these again? :/

Not a fan of that annoying horn in the trailer. Then again, given the style music he listened to it's only natural... though I think that soundtrack would tank the series!

Edit: The latest chapter rolls out with the "mobile fortress Zock". Can't say I saw that coming. Looks like he's running out of ideas now :/
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Re: The Official Gundam Thunderbolt Anime Thread Mk I

hahaha, sounds like Mobile Suit Gundam: Baccano! or something
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Re: The Official Gundam Thunderbolt Anime Thread Mk I

I'm looking forward to this. Really wished we had a release date
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Re: The Official Gundam Thunderbolt Anime Thread Mk I

ShadowCell wrote:hahaha, sounds like Mobile Suit Gundam: Baccano! or something
Yeah same thought crossed my mind. :mrgreen:
Having read the manga I know for sure Jazz music will surely play a huge role on the soundtrack side of things.
Super-psyched and hyped for this.
Turn-A Binker wrote:I'm looking forward to this. Really wished we had a release date
Speaking of which, I wonder if they will release this AFTER the Build Fighter OVAs or before.
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Re: The Official Gundam Thunderbolt Anime Thread Mk I

Is this show confirmed TV series or is it going to be the next OVA after Origin? It would make sense as an OVA, seeing as it was announced during the second episode of The Origin, and seeing as Iron Blooded Orphans literally just started.
Amion wrote:How many of these things did those Feddies build?
If I recall correctly there were at least three RX-78-2 Units on Side 7 alone (probably more in The Origin) and then there was at least one RX-78-1 unit. Did G3 officially get built?

In any case, the Federation are fighting a war, it makes sense that they manufactured a sizeable number of Gundams. In animated canon I think Thunderbolt makes three units actually in use, plus the mass produced RX-79. So not too many.
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Re: The Official Gundam Thunderbolt Anime Thread Mk I

IIRC, The Origin conclusively showed two RX-78 units at Side 7: The RX-78-01 that was destroyed, and the 02 that Amuro ended up piloting
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balofo
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Re: The Official Gundam Thunderbolt Anime Thread Mk I

There will be a ep 1 preview at gunpla expo on the 23th
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Re: The Official Gundam Thunderbolt Anime Thread Mk I

Epic SA-X Guy wrote:Is this show confirmed TV series or is it going to be the next OVA after Origin? It would make sense as an OVA, seeing as it was announced during the second episode of The Origin, and seeing as Iron Blooded Orphans literally just started.
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/20 ... led/.95550

Four episode net anime. Basically a UC version of Stargazer.
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Turn-A Binker
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Re: The Official Gundam Thunderbolt Anime Thread Mk I

Episode 1 this Christmas. Yes!
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balofo
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Re: The Official Gundam Thunderbolt Anime Thread Mk I

Katoki doing the redesigns again...
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Re: The Official Gundam Thunderbolt Anime Thread Mk I

Destiny_Gundam wrote:
Epic SA-X Guy wrote:Is this show confirmed TV series or is it going to be the next OVA after Origin? It would make sense as an OVA, seeing as it was announced during the second episode of The Origin, and seeing as Iron Blooded Orphans literally just started.
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/20 ... led/.95550

Four episode net anime. Basically a UC version of Stargazer.
I was thinking the exact same thing.

Assuming the other 3 episodes will be around 20 minutes, I wonder if 80 minutes will be enough to cover the manga or at least do a decent adaptation.
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balofo
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Re: The Official Gundam Thunderbolt Anime Thread Mk I

Official website open: http://gundam-tb.net/index.html

It seems ep 1 will go up to chapter 4 or 5
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Re: The Official Gundam Thunderbolt Anime Thread Mk I

Damn, I can't believe Thunderbolt is getting animated!
I have already read the first three volumes and its quite addictive. I just hope Bandai doesn't botch it like they tend to usually do for the sake of profit. So far they've done alright with 00 and Build Fighters and Iron Blooded Orphans is on a good start.
ZEON SHALL RISE AGAIN!!!
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