The Official Gundam 00 Anything Thread Mk VIII

[Amadi Akintunde]

I was actually surprised with the film's overall length. I don't think I've watched a mainstream anime film that touched past an hour in length. But this was a whopping two hours and somewhat minutes.

Hmm? With the exception of the Zeta compilations, all Gundam movies so far have been two hours in length. Actually it's more rare to find a Japanese movie that isn't longer than 1:45 - the only exceptions I can think of are the aforementioned Zeta movies, the Eva movies and the original GitS.

Really? I hadn't noticed. Huh.

[Strike Zero]

Was a pretty good movie overall. The action scenes were definitely the highlight of the picture.

The only disappointments to be found, I felt, were Setsuna and the 00 Quan[T]. Setsuna himself didn't really do anything really exciting throughout the entire film. He spent the first half of the movie brooding/ignoring Feldt, and the second half of the movie going "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGHHHH~!!!"

Meanwhile, the 00 Quan[T] ended up only being there to fire a big beam and use its Quantum Burst on the ELS core. As somebody who went into the movie expecting a sword-orgy the likes of which we'd never seen from Gundam before (which I feel wasn't too unjustified, given the trailer), this was a tremendous letdown. I mean, I get that the ultimate goal was to find a way to communicate with the ELS and not "stuff blowing up," but it was still pretty lame.

Oh, well. As I said above, it was still good. If the DVD/Blu-ray ever gets released over here, I'll be sure to go out and pick it up.

[NastyNate]

I for one was very confused by the

Spoiler

big flower thing in the end. Everything was blowing up, setsuna does a space fold and then happy ending. minus the happy part.

Even the ending after the credits was depressing.

Spoiler

Everything I wanted for setsuna was down the toilet. The last movie that made me feel this depressed was Nadesico Prince of Darkness.

[Amadi Akintunde]

Was a pretty good movie overall. The action scenes were definitely the highlight of the picture.

The only disappointments to be found, I felt, were Setsuna and the 00 Quan[T]. Setsuna himself didn't really do anything really exciting throughout the entire film. He spent the first half of the movie brooding/ignoring Feldt, and the second half of the movie going "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGHHHH~!!!"

Setsuna's role in this movie is equivalent to the role of Superman in the Justice League movies. Fights pretty well in the beginning, gets offed or doesn't do anything of importance somewhere in the middle, doesn't show up for the rest of everything else, then miraculously returns to settle everything once and for all.

[Battosai28]

Wow, I just finished watching the movie the other night, and I have to say that there was some good, but also a lot of not so good.

I'm admittedly biased towards the visuals, since I became acquainted with two of the animators while living in Japan, so I won't comment on that area.

As for the plot, this movie, at the very least, attempted to break a lot of cliches in a franchise that is known for them. However, if a certain plot is used often, sometimes it's because it's a good one. Attempting to do too many things differently in such a well established franchise may produce something completely alien to the viewer (pardon the pun). Speaking of the aliens, I thought that the action became redundant pretty quickly, even when they began to take the forms of mobile suits in ships. However, the final battle is definitely well directed, and makes up the best segment of the film.

I also felt that the movie could have done a better job managing its enormous cast. People may poke at Tomino for dropping characters, but at least he had the guts to do it at all. It can be argued that Kamile should have been in CCA, but his addition may have just taken away from the Amuro-Char conflict. Additionally, the true innovator (his name escapes me), came off as an important antagonistic character for the first half of the movie, and then did nothing all that important for the second half. However, I was very pleased to see how well Grahm was used, since he was often neglected in season 2.

To put it simply, there were much better ways to end what is still a great alternate universe. I won't go so far as to say that aliens don't belong in gundam, but their addition should not have taken away from the "human" element of the story. Overall, every 00 fan owes it to themselves to see the movie. Just don't expect something that stands up to the great series that precedes it.

[Wingnut]

Spoiler

ALL HAIL KING ARTHUR AND HIS FOLDING CHAIR EXCALIBUR!!!

[Jak Crow]

It reminds me of Char's Counterattack. Good action and even story up to the "magic" finale. I guess they had to continue the gundam history of "meh?" endings. Hell, the anime history of "meh?" endings.

[Kenji]

Actually, I felt that the opening, with the title appearing over the newly revealed, brand-spanking-new incomplete Gundam, was an homage to Char's Counterattack.

I found it a likable movie. Nothing too taxing on the brain, but that's okay. It wrapped up the important loose ends (i.e. not the shipping) of the TV series in a bombastic way and that's really all it needed to do.

The battles, on one hand, feel like the logical conclusion of every mobile suit in the ADverse being upgraded to Gundam-class. It also feels like the movie was single-handedly trying to justify the industry move to digital animation, as attempting these fight scenes with hand-drawn cels would've killed off staff members. They were sometimes hard to keep track of, but they were fun to watch.

Setsuna and the 00 Qan[T] didn't get much play, which is disappointing on one level... on the other hand, it also corrects the S2 balance by giving Lyle, Allelujah, and Graham a lot more time blowing crap up. So, to an extent, it feels justified, given that Setsuna and the 00 Gundam did everything significant in S2.

It was also interesting how many of the traditional Gundam themes didn't show up. Politics were virtually absent, communication actually works to solve conflicts, etc. It was a very different kind of Gundam production, which is something I definitely don't mind seeing. Optimism certainly isn't a bad thing to see, either.

So yeah, it's far from a great movie, but I was satisfied with what I got. I think I like it more than S2, for what it's worth.

[CarbonStereoxide]

Spoiler

I think the Gundam 00 parody movie scene in the beginning as a jab of the creators towards to the masses that expects the movie to be like that and it reminds me of some CE battles.

Anyway the movie surpasses my expectations and everything went better than expected

now back to /m/

peace

[Dark Duel]

It reminds me of Char's Counterattack. Good action and even story up to the "magic" finale.

Yep! Same here - only no Quess Paraya or equivalent character, which can only be a good thing.

[TetraVaal]

I've had Awakening of the Trailblazer in my possession for a few days now, but I've yet to watch it. I don't know, the scenes I watched were a bit off putting, the animation looked great and all, but the action itself seems a bit over-the-top for a Gundam series.

[Wingnut]

I've had Awakening of the Trailblazer in my possession for a few days now, but I've yet to watch it. I don't know, the scenes I watched were a bit off putting, the animation looked great and all, but the action itself seems a bit over-the-top for a Gundam series.

Considering the scale of what Earth's forces are up against and the stakes involved it's no surprise. The speed of the battle scenes are owing more to modern technology and animation that even Seed/Destiny's CG couldn't come close to matching. There's a lot of detail and it goes quickly, so it's easy to miss things. That's were having your own copy comes in handy.

[TetraVaal]

I've had Awakening of the Trailblazer in my possession for a few days now, but I've yet to watch it. I don't know, the scenes I watched were a bit off putting, the animation looked great and all, but the action itself seems a bit over-the-top for a Gundam series.

Considering the scale of what Earth's forces are up against and the stakes involved it's no surprise. The speed of the battle scenes are owing more to modern technology and animation that even Seed/Destiny's CG couldn't come close to matching. There's a lot of detail and it goes quickly, so it's easy to miss things. That's were having your own copy comes in handy.

I think you may have misunderstood my post, heh.

The action itself and the weaponry inolved seems to be geared more towards super-robot than real-robot, which is a bit of a disappointment, IMO.

[SonicSP]

I guess that's what they were aiming at from the start especially considering the ELS were designed to be like they are. May be a bit harder for them to potray the dangerousness of the ELS and the hopelessness of the battle without going into that territory.

[Chris]

The action itself and the weaponry inolved seems to be geared more towards super-robot than real-robot, which is a bit of a disappointment, IMO.

Given that you've seen only bits, you don't really know for sure, do you? I think people get too hung up sometimes on the distinction between "super" and "real" robots, or what they think the distinction should be. Aside from the fact that they're fighting aliens on a large scale, the combat is pretty much the same as the TV series. What about it makes it seem "super" to you?

[Thundermuffin]

Aside from some creative license here and there (Harute apparently having limitless missiles in that tiny container), I thought they stuck pretty well to the "rules of technology" as according to that universe.

[ydawg314]

One thing i wish the movie had was more of was mobile suit on mobile battles. While the ELS eventually became mobile suits, the fight scenes just kind of felt like extreme tag where when u get tagged you die. I feel like this made the movie less entertaining than it could be. The series had a lot of focus on mobile suit battles and they seem to have been left out for this movie.

This might also be a reason why the movie felt more "super". There was no time to show off the ms in actually combat

[TetraVaal]

The action itself and the weaponry inolved seems to be geared more towards super-robot than real-robot, which is a bit of a disappointment, IMO.

Given that you've seen only bits, you don't really know for sure, do you? I think people get too hung up sometimes on the distinction between "super" and "real" robots, or what they think the distinction should be. Aside from the fact that they're fighting aliens on a large scale, the combat is pretty much the same as the TV series. What about it makes it seem "super" to you?

I suppose you're right that I haven't watched the film in its entirety, but given the extreme measures of the weaponry in season 2 of 00, as well as the constant upgrades to the Gundams and the scale of the action, I just feel like it's lost its realism, for Gundam standards, anyway. But hey, I'm still new to the Gundam universe, so I don't know, I could be entirely wrong, but considering the first season of 00 wasn't this over-the-top, I just don't think I am.

[Chris]

I suppose you're right that I haven't watched the film in its entirety, but given the extreme measures of the weaponry in season 2 of 00, as well as the constant upgrades to the Gundams and the scale of the action, I just feel like it's lost its realism, for Gundam standards, anyway. But hey, I'm still new to the Gundam universe, so I don't know, I could be entirely wrong, but considering the first season of 00 wasn't this over-the-top, I just don't think I am.

The point is you should watch the movie in its entirety before you start expressing disappointments about the direction you THINK it's going. Two hours is not a huge investment of time to see it and be able to judge it properly.

[TetraVaal]

I suppose you're right that I haven't watched the film in its entirety, but given the extreme measures of the weaponry in season 2 of 00, as well as the constant upgrades to the Gundams and the scale of the action, I just feel like it's lost its realism, for Gundam standards, anyway. But hey, I'm still new to the Gundam universe, so I don't know, I could be entirely wrong, but considering the first season of 00 wasn't this over-the-top, I just don't think I am.

The point is you should watch the movie in its entirety before you start expressing disappointments about the direction you THINK it's going. Two hours is not a huge investment of time to see it and be able to judge it properly.

I understand that, which is why I acknowledged I could be wrong, but I also acknowledged how overboard the second season of 00 was.

I'm not saying the movie itself will be a disappointment, I'm actually still really looking forward to watching it and til' I do, I won't make any more generalizations.