Ive never done this whole long ass text review as a post thing, but there is a subject I simply must talk about due to its having consumed my life of late. Recently I decided to go on a journey to re-discover the three Gundam shows (Gundam Wing, G Gundam and SD Gundam Force) that I watched back in my youth as they aired on Toonami. After I finish this mission, I intend to finally go back and get into the original Gundam series, which I have never watched before. I decided to begin my quest with the show of these three I remembered the most (do to its being more recent than the other two), SD Gundam Force. I just finished all 52 episodes and... wow, this show is... bizarre. For anyone whos more used to the serious tone of other Gundam series, this lighthearted and downright silly entry may take them by surprise. However this one is intended to be a goofy kids show and it is on that ground that it must ultimately be evaluated. And in that purpose it succeeds very well. Upon watching the first few episodes two major complaints stuck out to me, the oddness of the animation and the protagonist. This 3D animation hasnt aged particularly well, especially in those early episodes. And Shute, the main character, is unbearably annoying. However both of those complaints fade over time. Idk if ones eyes simply adjust to it or if the animators genuinely got better at their jobs, but the animation does get better imo. And Shute, while annoying, grows on you especially as he becomes more useful to the team rather than being a glorified cheerleader... which is what he is in the beginning. These improvements are especially apparent in the second half of the series, which never aired on television in the US and was only released via DVD after fans petitioned for it. In fact everything is better in that second half, though there were two new characters, Genkimaru and Princess Rele, who replaced Shute on my shit list. Genkimaru actually becomes likable in the final story arc when much more is revealed about his character, but I never really grew to like the Princess. And on the subject of the final story arc, it is undoubtedly the best part of the whole series to me. Not only is there a great finale, but the stuff leading up to it in those last 13 or so episodes is golden. Kibaomeru became my favorite villain of the whole show because he actually had dimensions, and was the kind of villain who believed what he was doing to be for the good of his homeland overall. This all comes out in episode 43 of the show, in which he and Shute play a game of shogi and his character motivations come to light. This became my favorite episode. So overall this was fun entertainment, if a bit mindless. Its a strange thing to recommend to people over the age of like 10, but I can recommend it to children, Gundam completionists (who will watch eventually anyway, if not already) and people like me who are interested in it due purely to good ole nostalgia. I could say a lot more about it but this post is long enough, perhaps this calls for a video?
Posted on: Thu, 22 Jan 2015 01:54:46 +0000
Trending Topics
© 2015