Air Date: May 23, 1991

Genres: Action, Drama, Sci-Fi

Type: OVA

Studio: Sunrise

Age Rating: MA

Rating: 8/10

/Summary

Zeon reminants want revenge on the Earth Federation. The want to accomplish that by stealing a prototype gundam developed by a scientist name Purpleton. The Federation is like nuh uh you can't do that and sends our mc, Uraki into the unit 2 prototype suit to stop them.

/Review

Unlike most mecha, this one focuses on the characters (insert laughing track)

This was one of my first experiences with gundam, along with War in a Pocket and Wing. Yes I was once a Wing fag oh so long ago... Anyway, it's one of those gundam series that are always airing on Toonami Aftermath. I happen to catch the first couple of episodes before I started to miss the episodes. Eventually I just decided to binge it on the various anime piracy sites i know. It ended up being one of my favorites in the entire series.

The plot of the OVA is supposed to bridge the gap between og Gundam and Zeta. It's to give context to the state of the Federation and Zeon in Zeta. We don't see shit from the og cast so there's a bit of a gap for that aspect of things but overall they did a good job.

I've always enjoyed seeing post one year war things, it's interesting to see how certain group reacted to Solomon and the end of the war. Most Zeon joined the Federation and went into high positions or try to live peacfull lives. Which is cool to see but I've always wondered about the people who wouldn't be able to accept defeat. I mean in Zeta there's slight mention of leftover Zeon forces still fighting but nothing more than that. The idea of those Zeon reminants are expanded upon well in this show. I can totally beleive that a they would try and drop a colony on earth or split off as a Pirate.

I do think the characters are kinda generic on their own, at least of the Zeon side. Maybe it's because we don't go to into their POV of things that much. I interpret them as more of representations of the groups that they're part of. So a character like Cima or the guy who lost a arm aren't really supposed to be deep characters, they're supposed to represent Zeon soldiers fucked over at the end of the war. Whether that was the intention or not, that's how I saw it and I think they do a pretty good job with that.

Characters on the non Zeon side are good, but can be also taken as flat or bootlegs of older characters. Uraki feels like somewhat of attempt to rehash Amuro, at least with his attitude towards things. Purpleton is a bit like Sayla but I will say she's not THAT much of a copy. The characters are fun enough for me a serve their roles in the story fine. I will say my favorite character is Mora, Keith has great taste...

Onto the the mecha finally, they're absolutley beautiful. The feel more realistic than anything in the series prior, extremely detailed too. While I do think they're way to big to be as fast a the anime protrays them as, I'm willing to let it slide for the 'coolness factor.' My favorite design is either the GP024 and the AMX-002. I like how the AMX-002 kinda looks like a mantis, the head shape kinda reminds me of the suits they use for the fights in Pluto.

The mecha actually fighting are some of my favorite from the series. The animation of some of the earlier stuff are good, but a bit choppy. But in the later stuff it feels like action figure clacking into eachother sometimes. This anime is pretty much the earlier gundam if it had a higher budget and was made later. I love the fight coreography so much it's crazy, the music that accompanies it is grand and energetic to add even more hype.

I reccomend this anime for pre established gundam fans only as it relies too much of pre established things within the series. Specifically people who've watched the og series and the direct sequels, sorry new fags...