The Official Gundam Unicorn Re: 0096 Anime Thread Mk I

[Shinji_Shinigami]

Well i think it would be a real stretch for the Phenex to have a cameo out of the blue. And with no actualy Plot relevance so far that is. That goes for the Pilot as well. I don't think it is Marida, otherwise her role in the Story would change quiet drastically. And who would bring Rhidde back to his senses?

[Dark Duel]

Didn't the teaser for this series show the Phenex and the original Sinanju Stein? Specifically the Stein fighting the Unicorn and the Phenex, Banshee and Unicorn all teaming up against the Neo Zeong?

http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/gun ... 0430030056

I don't actually know where the footage that includes the Stein and Phenex came from - I've not seen it either, but I'd like to.
That being said, going from the precedent established by the series so far - at least based on the episodes I did see - it is going to be a straight recut of the OVA, with only marginal changes in terms of actual footage, if any, and no substantial changes to the narrative. So I fully expect that Marida's still gonna get the same crappy, pointless death she got in the OVA, the Neo Zeong is still gonna get ROFLpwned by Psycoframe Ex Machina, and the entire ordeal in the end is still going to be utterly pointless anyway.

Don't get me wrong, I liked and mostly enjoyed the Unicorn OVAs. But objectively, the entire narrative was utterly pointless in the end, and Ep7 IMHO was still the weakest episode overall in terms of story, even moreso than the incredibly compressed and rushed episode with the Shamblo(was that episode 4? It's been so long since I've seen Unicorn that I can't quite remember).

[bilbros]

Sorry to disappoitnt you, guys, but the Sinanju Stein / Phenex footage you're referring to is actually a short animation (basically devoid of a true plot) projected on the Wall-G at Gundam Front Tokyo, titled Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn: A Phantom World...

[Dark Duel]

Thanks for clarifying at least where that footage came from. I'm not surprised to hear that it was basically just an animated promo short rather than anything with actual substance. I'd still like to actually see it for myself, but I guess I can try to search for it online somewhere.

[Deathzealot]

Let me know when you do Dark Duel. I want to see it as well.

[Dustman]

There was an awkward cut this week, skipping back a few seconds on a transition. I'll presume for its sake that this meant was for the intermission. That kind of thing is hard to tell on a streaming service since there isn't an eyecatch for this series.

I'm nervous about the next episode. I hoped they would end an episode where OVA 6 does. How they're going to segue between the end of 6 and the beginning of 7 is beyond me. It's plenty obvious that they don't actually have the budget to rescore anything.

[pirx]

Guys, could you please enlighten me - how many new minutes are added to the show up to this moment?
Whole 1 minute?

[Dustman]

Short answer: Absolutely nothing.

Long answer: You could make technical exceptions like the OP/ED animations but if you're hoping that it would alter the story or fix any pet peeves you had, that's just not the point. Once again, the project started at the last minute to fill in for another Sunrise program that was cancelled and it's just the OVA reformatted to air in 20 minute increments. It seems like it's now two episodes away from completion (my early estimate of 22 was correct after all!) so this isn't about to change.

Here's my take on it: Considering what this was made for, it's actually fairly decent. It omits nothing and with the exception of episode 3, most of its decisions on where to leave and pick up are appropriate and it flows quite well since they reserve fluff for the recap segments. If you've never seen the English dub, this is a great opportunity for that since it's available in both languages and Kirk Thornton's narration is less distracting than Shuuichi Ikeda's since he doesn't voice any of the central characters.

[pirx]

Thanks Dustman!

In short - if one has seen the OVA, there is no point of watching TV?
If they did not add anything, just cut the OVAs, add OP and ED (obviously) and move pieces arround, there is no point of watching it rather than for the sake of completeness.

[Deathzealot]

Honestly. I think there are a few minor-blink-and-miss-it-changes but that is it. But it has been awhile since I watched the OVAs. So far at least.

[Dustman]

Thanks Dustman!

In short - if one has seen the OVA, there is no point of watching TV?
If they did not add anything, just cut the OVAs, add OP and ED (obviously) and move pieces arround, there is no point of watching it rather than for the sake of completeness.

Pretty much. It doesn't even change the order of events, it's just a straight playlist. That's why my recommendation suggests using RE:0096 for the dub, but only if you've never seen it before.

[latenlazy]

Yano, after watching a few episodes of RE, I think Unicorn as a whole works much better as a series than as an OVA.

[Dustman]

Yano, after watching a few episodes of RE, I think Unicorn as a whole works much better as a series than as an OVA.

It's interesting that you should mention that. I originally started watching this because I was curious about formatting. They haven't made any changes to the sequence of events or to the original story so do you think that's just because of how the OVA is paced?

[latenlazy]

Yano, after watching a few episodes of RE, I think Unicorn as a whole works much better as a series than as an OVA.

It's interesting that you should mention that. I originally started watching this because I was curious about formatting. They haven't made any changes to the sequence of events or to the original story so do you think that's just because of how the OVA is paced?

I think pacing is definitely a big reason why. Longer formats tend to demand deeper, more economical, and more adept development of story elements. While Unicorn did an excellent job on some components of the story, it fell short on others as the series went on. I think, given the number of acts within the original novelization, it was probably a challenge trying to maintain cohesion of the story within 7 one hour long segments in a way that didn't feel disjointed. A more episodic format seems to have resolved those issues with organization and pacing while alleviating the more demanding aspects of story development in the longer format, and as a result the series presents much better.

That said, I think the format change does a lot more to help the later episodes than the earlier episodes. If anything, the format change seems to have hurt earlier episodes for much the same reason it helps later ones, because the earlier episodes seemed, in my opinion, to more successfully meet the demands of the chosen format for the OVA.

EDIT: Another thing that watching Unicorn in a series format helped me realize is that they really should not have kept the actual contents of Laplace's box secret till near the end. It would have been far more effective story, theme, and character development wise to reveal the contents of the box when Ronan told Riddhe what the box was, and then spent the rest of the series developing the implications of having its secrets exposed to the rest of the world. The dramatic tension of the series would have shifted away from the mystery of the reveal to the struggle between the factions acquiring the box. This would have been far more effective and impactful for the message and themes of the story, and would have made Riddhe's behavior and, especially, his turn seem much more understandable and consistent.

[zetatype]

Yano, after watching a few episodes of RE, I think Unicorn as a whole works much better as a series than as an OVA.

It's interesting that you should mention that. I originally started watching this because I was curious about formatting. They haven't made any changes to the sequence of events or to the original story so do you think that's just because of how the OVA is paced?

I think pacing is definitely a big reason why. Longer formats tend to demand deeper, more economical, and more adept development of story elements. While Unicorn did an excellent job on some components of the story, it fell short on others as the series went on. I think, given the number of acts within the original novelization, it was probably a challenge trying to maintain cohesion of the story within 7 one hour long segments in a way that didn't feel disjointed. A more episodic format seems to have resolved those issues with organization and pacing while alleviating the more demanding aspects of story development in the longer format, and as a result the series presents much better.

That said, I think the format change does a lot more to help the later episodes than the earlier episodes. If anything, the format change seems to have hurt earlier episodes for much the same reason it helps later ones, because the earlier episodes seemed, in my opinion, to more successfully meet the demands of the chosen format for the OVA.

While the cuts in episodes did seem to get less awkward once the show got to the Earth arc I still think for the most part the OVA version works better than TV version. The only episode I think was actually improved by the TV series was episode 7 (18-22) especailly the latter half of the episode.

[latenlazy]

While the cuts in episodes did seem to get less awkward once the show got to the Earth arc I still think for the most part the OVA version works better than TV version. The only episode I think was actually improved by the TV series was episode 7 (18-22) especailly the latter half of the episode.

No matter how much better paced Unicorn would have been as a series the way they chose to adapt the series into a new format means the scene transitions are going to be rough. If they had put a smidgen more work into recutting scenes though I think those could be smoothed out (but of course, they didn't do that).

[Admiral Larsen]

Y'know, I've had doubts about this anime since it was first announced.
Mostly, it was about why they even bothered with this idea in the first place.

Anyone else kinda getting that vibe from this?

I also got this as well and its sad (as one of the supporters of this series) as it squandered any potential possibility of an overhaul of Unicorn like what MSG got when it made the transition from TV to the movies.

[Dark Duel]

I refer you back to Dustman's post above. This isn't a true "remake" like what happened with, for example, MSG or Macross Frontier where they got the opportunity to do movies and took the time to reanimate and change some stuff.
This was literally a cobbled-together-at-the-last-second project to fill a timeslot vacated by another Sunrise show that got cancelled.
I was hoping for improvements too, but very, very quickly realized that wasn't gonna happen. Any changes that might have been made were minimal at best, and ultimately irrelevant in the long run.

[BrentD15]

Well, Unicorn started airing on Toonami last night. (Yay! )
I just wanted to know: is it the RE version we're getting aired?

[PowerdGNFlag]

Well, Unicorn started airing on Toonami last night. (Yay! )
I just wanted to know: is it the RE version we're getting aired?

Yes. The episode was not an hour long, and had a proper OP/ED, right? Content wise there's very little that changed from the OVA version, though we've already gone through that when it originally aired, and I assume that the dub would be the same as that used in the OVA (recut as well), so that discussion doesn't really need to be repeated now.