That's sort of the problem -- if you just come into the thread and say "this sucks" and not much else, then it's not really conducive to discussion, you know? There's nothing to really talk about except saying "I disagree", so it comes off as you being less interested in discussing the show and more about you coming into the thread to tell everyone who's enjoying it that they're wrong.JDogindy wrote:To me, IBO is a pointless bloodbath with little character development. Whether or not it's because it's all flying over me, or that I don't like the concepts of child soldiers or harems or any of that stuff, I haven't really articulated it. But I can safely say it's one of my personal least favorite Gundam installments ever.
In any case, I'd actually agree with you that IBO is fairly light on character development. The only character with any significant growth is Orga, who's gone from a reckless gang leader with nothing to lose to an inexperienced commander who knows he's in over his head. Mika, Kudelia, Atra, Biscuit, etc have all been pretty static characters, which is to the show's detriment.
I'd disagree about it being a bloodbath, though. That's actually one of the things I like best about IBO -- unlike the vast majority of Gundam shows, it doesn't feature hordes of mooks showing up just to die. With the exception of the single large-scale battle in the first episode, every fight in IBO has been a fairly small skirmish involving no more than a half-dozen or so combatants on either side. This has allowed them to treat battles far more realistically than most Gundam shows do -- combatants actually show some measure of tactics, retreating as they find themselves in an untenable situation, rather than throwing themselves heedlessly forward until they inevitably explode when faced with the unstoppable might of a named character. Combat is still portrayed as dangerous -- mecha take damage, pilots are injured, and people die -- but it's not the sort of suicidal human wave tactics where a lone ace can massacre an entire enemy squad by himself without breaking a sweat.
The irony there is that because of the fact that combat is less lethal in IBO, it feels bloodier because we actually have a chance to get to know the characters on both sides of the battle a little bit. With the exception of the first episode, we know characters on both sides of every battle. The protagonists aren't just gunning down faceless enemy mooks by the dozen, they're fighting characters that we know their names and personalities, even if only a little bit. IBO has one of the lowest overall body counts in Gundam, but it doesn't feel that way, because virtually everyone who's died has been an actual character with a name and a face rather than an anonymous extra.
