Victory Gundam

[jabman025]

Hey everyone

I have recently finished Victory Gundam (which completes my master degree in gundam as I have finished all of the series) and I must say I really didn't like this show.

It wasn't really all the death this series is known for as much as the weird transitions that the show attempted to make. One minute we are mourning the loss of yet another member of the shrike team the next we are watching Uso escape a weird pedobear woman buck naked. It just didn't work.

The other problem I had with this series was that no one in this series seemed to make any damn sense. Uso can't figure out that Katajina is a psycho bitch. Shakti can't figure out that no one in the Zanscare empire gives a rat's ass what she thinks. Oliver kills himself for no real reason,....... so on and so on. I mean the only ones I can think of in this series who are acutally rational in the actions are Karlmon the baby, Flanders the dog, and Haro.

I really liked the mecha desgins in this series, and the final 3 episodes were great but in the end it was too little to late. Outside fo the dreaded G-Savior this is probably my least favorite gundam incarnation to date.

[AceWhatever]

I can agree with you on those points. But at most I find them minor annoyances that don't detract from the show overall. And how long did you want them to mourn the many dead characters when they're smack dab in the middle of a conflict? It's not a sudden change in tone so much as just the show moving on with its events. The original MSG still had some moments of silliness even after a character died.

I can't speak much for Shakti's thick headed-ness, but Uso had a crush on Katajina for a long time since they were pen pals, and they're both still kids anyway.

[Genocide]

Like AceWhatever said, both Shakti and Uso are kids, which explains their naiveté. Kids also tend to have a hard time controlling their emotions or accepting changes, which is particularly true for Uso's infatuation with Katejina. Shakti falls into the same category as characters like Relena, Lacus, and Marina in her blind ideals towards stopping conflict, although as a young child I'm less critical of her. The ultimate difference is that these ideals were proven pointless time and again, in fact only causing more misery and sorrow as Shakti worked towards them.

Regarding the sudden changes in tone, that is one thing I would agree with. The series jumped from dramatic death scenes and mourning to slap stick humour that's more representative of ZZ than anything else. It's an interesting blend in my opinion, but it turns out worse than piss-yellow font on a white background. Some of the deaths were also pointless, including several of the Shrikes and Oliver (who, to his credit, did at least manage to stall the Zanscare ships - albeit ramming the bridge would have done even more). Of course, there are some heroic death scenes as well, including the Shrike pilot who sacrificed herself to hold up the mass driver, the old fogies' sucide run, and one of the only scenes I can remember where "cutting the red wire" wasn't successful.

Overall, I think one of the best aspects of the series was that it kept you on edge. Not just for the action, but because you never knew when someone's going to bite the dust. Early portions did have some character-centric episodes that were predictable, but later on it was as if Tomino literally pulled names out of an unlucky hat. The mecha designs and combat itself were also strong points, and I think all things considered, Victory was the first series in the franchise to take "Gundam" in a new direction. Despite being set in UC, it's so differentiated from previous shows - even more than F91 - that it really comes off as the first authentic 'Alternate Universe' experience.

[Ceallach]

I love V Gundam, it's so raw. So good.

[Shinji103]

Some of the deaths were also pointless, including several of the Shrikes and Oliver (who, to his credit, did at least manage to stall the Zanscare ships - albeit ramming the bridge would have done even more).

Although being pointless was clearly the.....point. ^^b If they (the staff) had wanted those deaths to be meaningful, they could have easily done so.

[Genocide]

Some of the deaths were also pointless, including several of the Shrikes and Oliver (who, to his credit, did at least manage to stall the Zanscare ships - albeit ramming the bridge would have done even more).

Although being pointless was clearly the.....point. ^^b If they (the staff) had wanted those deaths to be meaningful, they could have easily done so.

Perhaps "pointless" was the wrong term to use. In Oliver's case, it was just illogical to not take the bigger opportunity. But I agree, to an extent a lot of the meaningless deaths were used to send us (the audience) the message that war isn't always an ideal thing where people die for good reasons. Quite the opposite of course, but it does make things less interesting and more miserable.

[Deus257]

I actually liked Victory gundam, it rates in my top 5 of gundam shows. I liked the feeling of desperation the world was during the series with the growing stagnation of the Federation and the colonies constantly at war with each other with the Zanscare Empire being one of the most brutal factions in the UC timeline. I also liked seeing Uso mature and like other gundam protagonists witness the horror of war. Granted it had death galore, keep in mind that Tomino at that time was suffering through depression and the series was affected because of this.

[Red Comet90]

Victory Gundam is one of the few Gundam shows that I strongly dislike. It wasn't because it was so depressing or the fact that many characters died off its just that most of the characters were annoying or they died off too quickly for you to even understand who the character was. It was almost like introduce this character in one episode and he or she is dead in the next.

At the same time though I think the death count and how it portrays war to be a good thing, but its so apathetic in everything it does. The battle scenes were horrible. They weren't enjoyable at all. The show made random jumps like going from one battleship to another one and no explanation except for one person talking.

Unlike most people Odello's death did nothing for me. I actually thought he was incredibly annoying along with most of the cast. I'm pretty sure I enjoyed Destiny more than this just because Destiny had characters I had liked before hand.

[jabman025]

Unlike most people Odello's death did nothing for me. I actually thought he was incredibly annoying along with most of the cast.

That was one thing about the ending that did bug me. It was like Tomino decided to stab us in the heart one last time before the ending. Odello was another one of those charcters whose actions made no sense (I'm gonna protect my younger sister and brother buy taking them to a warzone!) but to make it that far, to finnally get a girl, and to have Uso's back the whole time only to be cut down right near the finalie! Not cool Tomino, not cool

[Deus257]

That was one thing about the ending that did bug me. It was like Tomino decided to stab us in the heart one last time before the ending. Odello was another one of those charcters whose actions made no sense (I'm gonna protect my younger sister and brother buy taking them to a warzone!) but to make it that far, to finnally get a girl, and to have Uso's back the whole time only to be cut down right near the finalie! Not cool Tomino, not cool

Dude what did you expect, as I said earlier the man was in a depression and he was unpredictable as a result the series suffered. For example the series had its hit or miss episodes and most of those miss episodes involved a sudden unexpected death. My bet is when those untimely deaths came about his depression must have been really bad when he was writing and directing those scenes and thought what the heck i'll take my anger and frustration out on this series my new bosses from bandai (which I loathe) (btw it was also rumored sunrise sale to bandai made it worse) want to make quick money off of. So yeah I guess you can say the series got the short end of the stick.