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「ラプラスの亡霊」 (Rapurasu no Bourei)
“The Ghost of Laplace”
I love Universal Century. As much as I enjoyed Gundam 00, Gundam Unicorn reminds me of everything that I loved in the older series and presents it in glorious high definition. The somewhat older yet more realistically proportioned character designs, the upgraded versions of the original mobile suits from the Jegans to the Delta Plus (i.e transformable Hyaku Shiki), and a storyline that expands on everything that’s happened before. The female characters in particular look absolutely gorgeous with their smaller eyes and simpler hairstyles, be it Audrey/Mineva, Marida, or Micott, whereas the plot itself touches upon various aspects of U.C.’s history, changing my very perception of the entire timeline. After watching this episode, I was left with a single resounding thought — this is Gundam.
I wouldn’t necessarily say the story between the Earth Federation and Neo-Zeon (a.k.a. Sleeves) is overly complex, but it does feel rather substantial with the equal portrayal of both sides and no clear indication who the good guys are. There’s also a lot of foreshadowing on what’s to come, from Full Frontal’s analysis of the Unicorn Gundam’s Newtype Destroyer (NT-D) System and Alberto’s contact with his aunt Martha Vist Carbine (Shiota Tomoko) at Augusta Labs. However, therein lie the beauty of Gundam’s depiction of war in space, where main characters like Banagher believe that war is never justified while good people like Daguza Mackle (Touchi Hiroki) and Gilboa Sant (Chou) have their own reasons for fighting. Even the second coming of Char is far too rational and cool-headed to be labeled outright as a villain, as I find myself receptive to both sides’ struggles and concerns for their comrades.
In U.C. series prior, I often felt that the Earth Federation is in the wrong with their oppressive stance towards spacenoids, and it usually wasn’t until the Zeon pulled off something extremely terrorist-like — such as Char dropping Axis on Earth to cause a nuclear winter — was it a lot easier to side with them. In Unicorn, I feel like I’m at a standstill so far, as the characters I currently perceive as the protagonists appear on either side. Mineva and Riddhe are two such characters, since they’re technically betraying their respective sides in hopes of putting a stop to the fighting once Mineva speaks with Riddhe’s father, Ronan. To that end, Micott had a character-defining moment when she decided to let them go, preventing her from becoming one of those adamant Gundam girls who simply can’t be reasoned with.
Then there’s Marida, the twelfth clone of Elpeo Ple — better known as Ple Twelve — who had served under her master Glemy Toto and narrowly escaped death when they rebelled against Haman Khan during the events in Gundam ZZ. What was only hinted at was the life of prostitution Marida was thrown into afterward, which led to her heavily-scarred body and constant abortions until she could no longer bear children. After learning how Suberoa saved her from that miserable life and how she views him as her new master, all I could see her as is a very unfortunate victim of war whom Full Frontal didn’t hesitate to use to draw out Unicorn’s NT-D System. She may be a Cyber-Newtype soldier, but that came off a bit too cold-hearted with Suberoa watching on as she was about to be killed by Banagher.
Luckily, Banagher is showing growth as a Newtype (presumably) by suppressing the NT-D system and reaching an understanding with Marida, much like the evolutionary telepathic ability that resulted from mankind’s migration to space is believed to be for. Whether or not he’ll truly be able to break free from the flames of war is another matter though. Daguza’s death had an unbelievable amount of sentimental impact after he acted like a fatherly figure to Banagher, encouraged him to pursue his heart, and entrusted all his hope in him. Gilboa’s inadvertent death was simply disheartening in comparison, since he had a family to return to and showed concern for Banagher just prior. Their deaths are probably going to weigh heavily on Banagher’s mind, so it’ll be interesting to see if he’ll be able to overcome the feelings of hatred and remorse that have consumed his heart. It’s almost as if the NT-D system thrives on those emotions too, which may bring about the disastrous result from opening Laplace’s Box.
Incidentally, there are still no real indications as to what exactly Laplace’s Box is even as the La+ Program continues to guide Banagher. All I got was an eerie feeling when Unicorn Gundam’s at the Laplace colony’s remains triggered the speech given by Prime Minister Ricardo Marcenas at the beginning of the Universal Century calendar (U.C. 0001), as shown in episode one from Siam Vist’s recollection. Thus far, the series has done an impeccable job building up the mysterious surrounding the box and making me both eager yet apprehensive about learning what it is. After all, it’s a hundred-year-old artifact that no one really understands but the Vist Foundation, yet everyone is unanimously fearful of opening since it can supposedly lead to the destruction of the world. It may as well be called Pandora’s Box if it weren’t for the belief that it can change the world in a positive way.
Due to Martha’s desire to maintain it for the prosperity of the Foundation and her interest in Marida, she could very well be perceived as an antagonist to the story. She’s proven to be a lot more cunning than her nephew Alberto, so much that I found it agreeable for Marida to save him. I’ll reserve further judgement of her character until the black Unicorn Gundam, a.k.a. Banshee, makes its appearance though. I sometimes forget that Banagher and Alberto are half-brothers, meaning that Martha is also his aunt.
ED3 Sequence
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ED3: 「merry-go-round」 by CHEMISTRY
Watch the 3rd ED!: Download, Streaming ▼
The ending theme by CHEMISTRY was like the perfect outro to this episode, which showed a shuttle departing Nahel Argama with Alberto and Marida aboard, and the Garancieres making an atmospheric re-entry going after Full Frontal and Banagher. It also gave a sense of helplessness, alluding to how everyone’s getting swept up in the flow of things.
Classic appearance in better animation, Gundam is a classic.
its really hard to keep track on whats happening in this OVA. Damn those long intervals!
I agree, had to watch episode 2 again to recap what happened 😛
I’m more lost than you. I was getting ready to just watch this as soon as I could. I gotta find out what needs to be seen before this so I don’t mess up the movie. D:
–doesn’t follow Gundam but thinks it’s cool anyway–
Fortunately for me I rewatch the previous episodes almost once every 2 weeks >P!
God I can’t wait for the remaining 3!!!!11one
I still need to episode 2 D:
I agree with you Divine on how they have fuzzed out who is good and who is evil. No one here is actually an antagonist or protagonist as the goal is the box and both sides had to resort to dangerous means to attain it. From this, I feel that the box is the antagonist of the series as it’s driving everyone to fight over it through fear, unknown and personal greed.
definitely, from his non dialog introduction in episode 1, i thought the captain was going to be an evil character. there’s such a stark contrast when he appears to take on the more stereotypical grand/fatherly type old man captain archetype when he explains daguza to banagher. my opinion of alberto is slightly changing as well the due to his change in character when it was revealed he’s more of a lackey than the annoying leader type that azrael was in Seed.
Actually this captain is not stereotypical as he himself undergo the transformation from an average officer trying to “idle off” his career in the military during peace time (according to the book, he was promoted far slower than his colleagues at military academy. His initial cowardice also caused his subordinate to respect the vice more than they do him, which was show cased superbly in episode 2) into someone who has determination and takes responsibility. Whilst, the weakness of Alberto also made him more loveable.
Strangely, it’s all the weakness within characters that made them interesting.
P.S. I think they overdone a little bit when they had the Captain blush red after act like a real captain in front of his vice.
Full Frontal on the other hand comes as more evil here. He pretty much tossed Marida to the wolves.
As a pro-Feddie person (…what? xP ), I’ve always wondered about Full Frontal. It was very harsh to see Marida get trashed like that, and her tone of voice when her funnels turned on her was very disheartening to hear. And all he does there is watch, the cruel bastard. It’s slowly turning in my head that he’s being the villain. It could be from old tendancies, but as another commenter has said, the box may be the main antagonist, as is those willing to go and open it, and the woman (Martha Vist Carbine) isn’t far off from being landed on the list.
And also mainly because I think I was enamored by Marida since ep 1 and I hated her being trashed after I noticed “wait…where’s here backup?” I wanted to go and smack the man in the face with an armored gauntlet, but eh. I guess it’s what anyone with the ambition would do. It’s a thin line and some people’s moral justifications are different. Full Frontal might be thinking one life for the opening of the box for Zeon’s cause is enough. Ditto for the woman, although it’s less pro-Federation, but pro-Vist/AE. The Federation want it open too for their own survival.
I’m pro-feddie too. UC fans are way to lenient to Zeon. Feds may be corrupt, but at least they didn’t resort to extremes, not since the Titans at least. The one person in Zeon I did have sympathy for was Char. Sadly any sympathy I had for him evaporated after CCA where he completely destroyed his credibility.
Bah, Zeon has the cooler looking MS. I mean, the Gaza + its smoke tactics as seen in ZZ, what could possibly go wrong with having those your side? 😉
the epicness continues..
Wew ._.
I fully agree, Divine. THIS IS GUNDAM! =)
Ending was really EPIC. Dropped a tear…
Gundam continues to impress!
Gundam Unicorn gives Mizushima&failblazer the golden middle finger.
I love how you are ignoring the fact the Destiny was inherently one of the worst Gundam series to have been created.
Aye to that.
Gundam Seed The Pale Blue Dot 2011 newrebbot animation gundam seed anime with new animation,,no rewind animation like old gundam seed ..different directors…
At last year’s Comicon/NYAF, this was being aired. But I didn’t get to see it because I was bedazzled by Yoko and company. <3 Anywho, my buddies who came out said it was amazing. I can't wait to see this.
I love watching GUC when it comes out simply because I always forget about it. I wish it didnt take so long between dvds. Only gundam shows I really know a fraction about is Wing and after war X, both dont take place in the UC timeline. So to say I get confused sometimes is a understatement but I love watching gundam uc when it comes out. It just goes to show how good the story is even if I dont get all of it. If I could watch Gundam from the start to finish I would if I could finish before I was 50. Thank You God for wikipedia.
Well this was definitely the best episode so far. I’m still don’t get why people exaggerate that its the best entry so far. The fights are well made, and the music is still epic but the story is pretty standard. The characters themselves are all stock, I’ve seen their personalties a dozen times over. And I still can’t stand Banagher, but he is a little better here, since they downplayed his “Audrey-stalking”.
I flipping love UC!
UC-timeline Gundam > Gundam 00. Hands down. The timeline that started that started it all will always hold a special place in my heart. Unicorn goes to show that conviction in my opinion, and upholds the standard from which I’ve always based Gundam shows on. The original, and 08th MS Team.
The mecha design enthusiast side of me wishes you could have added a few more screenshots of the hodgepodge of grunt mobile suits used by the Sleeves in the Palau battle (besides this shot of a Rick Dom derivative). IIRC, besides the Geara Dogas and Geara Zulus there, there were also a bunch of Gaza-types (whether they are Gaza-C or Gaza-D, I’m not sure) in green Axis Zeon colors. Other than that, I’m pleased with the screenies.
(Guessing by the slow load time of their site as of this post, the guys at MAHQ must be updating to add new stuff into the Unicorn mecha section. I hope.)
Story-wise though, I’m glad to see more solid flashbacks to Gundam ZZ. A good lot of Gundam fans either “love it or hate it,” but after today’s episode of Unicorn, I’m sure there is no more doubt to ZZ‘s canonicity. And being set in the UC timeline, “Anyone Can Die”/”Kill Em All” is in full effect with Daguza and Gilboa biting the dust and giving some character development for Banagher in the process.
And look! A couple of call backs to the first Gundam’s re-entry to Earth, being chased by
a masked antagonistA CHAR!Top form as usual, Divine. Keep it up!
Now comes the long wait for episode 4 (made longer no thanks to that awful earthquake/tsunami).
What no love for the Loto? (Divine didn’t give them any shots) They pretty much stood out for me here, since they are Land units that are half-the size of standard MS. Yet they performed admirably here as as support. Until the Sinanju cut them up anyway.
And yes those are Gaza-C and D’s. According to the backstory the Sleeves lacked funding and manpower, so they pretty much scrounged up whatever MS they could no matter how old.
Re-checked MAHQ, and it turns out that Rick Dom derivative is actually the AMX-009 Dreissen. Been a while since I last saw ZZ. ^^;
I don’t mind the Loto actually. (Mobile suit/APC, anyone?) Heck, the heavy artillery versions (a-la Guntank) they debuted this episode were a nice touch.
Don’t forget the Dra-C’s!
Frankly I don’t see how they can survive even 5 seconds in combat, seeing as how they are like 13 years old by that point…
If it helps any other big mecha enthusiasts, the first time you see two Gaza models together on screen at the same time, the one in MS mode is a C and the one in MA mode is a D. The trick is looking at the shoulder binders 😀
Also, the Loto is a phenomenal suit. SNRI’s first mobile suit (that we know of) which basically starts the trend for smaller mobile suits we see post – 100 U.C. Oh, they also are like 15m tall so about 1/5th shorter than regular MS of the show.
As many here said before, this is an epic “Bright Slap” to Gundam 00’s staff (especially the overvalued Mizushima) alongside a huge humble pie on how a Gundam series must be done. Wheras 00 didn’t explain anything, Unicorn manages to came up with a logical explanation of things, even the short amount of time. Character (Micott, Zinneman and Daguza takes all the glory) and technology development (lots and lots of MS) is in plain sight, and the fact that Banagher has managed to become (literally) a Gundam in only 3 eps puts certain “I’m Gundam” twerp to shame.
Divine said it at the beggining, but I’ll put some spartan will to it…
THIS-IS-GUNDAM!!
If you are complaining that Gundam 00 didn’t explain “anything” then you haven’t watched the series or paid attention at all.
banagher and Alberto were related? interesting.
One of the things I find interesting in this OVA series so far is that there is at least one manly death per episode…and they’re all grunt deaths.
Ep 1: Stark Jegan pilot (that fight is also my favorite battle scene in this series so far)
Ep 2: ReZel pilot
Ep 3: Daguza / Gilboa
If there’s one thing that disappoints me, it’s the Jesta not making an appearance. That MS is by far my favorite grunt suit in the whole Gundam series.
One question though: they say the Unicorn Gundam is overpowered. That is definitely highlighted in this episode. However, does it even get more overpowered later on?
Concerning the Unicorn Show Spoiler ▼
I hope the Master Grade model is still transformable…if not, I’ll be getting the Banshee next.
How about Psychoframe capability?
Holy shiz! that thing is a complete overkill! It has more weapons than the SRX…
Gundam at its finest.
Truly Awesome !!!
!!! GUNDAM !!!
when will Ep 4 be released ?
Might be awhile. It’s on a 6 month per ep release schedule. With the earthquake, it might be much longer for next ep.
It’s the conversation script in the older series that I am madly in love with. It’s not filled with the “What the …” … “Oh I see …”, “That’s how it …” half finished sentenced, or weakly-done expository conversation 00 was filled with.
I tried to watch this but I couldn’t remeber what happened previusly. I’m gonna have to watch episode 1 and 2 again. LOL.
Definitely a 10/10 episode for me. I can’t put into words how beautiful and awesome everything was put into the 3/6 episodes so far and I can’t wait to see the remaining half of the series. I definitely loved how the Unicorn is able to steal Kshatriya’s funnels and use it against Marida and totally just beating the living hell out of her. At that moment I had to pause and go, “Damn that is freaking awesome!” To be honest I did not expect Daguza to die nor Gilboa to either and I agree with Divine how their deaths may have a heavy impact on Banagher in future episodes. It was nice to see if it wasn’t obvious already, usually in a Federation type special forces in Gundam, they would usually be portrayed as an uber dickhead or a asshole but it wasn’t so with the ECOAS task force as seen with Daguza’s character. The ending song by CHEMISTRY was definitely how their song should be used given how in Gundam entirely, they only had 2 and Wing of Words was just terrible along with the horrible opening sequence it had.
Before anymore people starts hating on 00 for stupid reasons while at the same time hailing Unicorn as the best shit ever, quit making complaints that don’t make sense. And just so you know, UC Gundam is the era where the Gundam franchise started so of course the production staff is going to put their very best into this. To finish this off, for any of those who still say 00 is the suck, remember Destiny?
@Bushido; I am sorry if I gave you the impression that (I think) Gundam 00 sucks and I certainly agree with you on GSD!
I am just utterly dissapointed in the way s2 headed and ended considering the greatness/build up of s1 and excellent/epic start of s2.
(how) Gundam 00 (ended) just leaves me with (bitter) dissapointment in how good the show was and could have ended and how mediocre things developed and were wrapped up…(just a few examples of some “facepalm”/subpar developments: trashing Allelujah’s character and piloting skills whilst his vocabulary got reduced to the single word “Marie”, turning Somarie into a emo/whining **** instead of teaming her up earlier on with Alle and give us some epic fights/kick ass with theit unit and what about the “shoujo mahou” ending Mizushima pulls at the beginning of s2 ep25 etc etc..)
“Failblazer” was just facepalm to the max if this was ment to be any sorts of closure to g00, for me g00 ends at s2 ep25…
It’s up to you whether you like 00 or not because it’s your opinion and I respect that. However I cannot stand people just go running about just shouting out 00 is the suck over and over without any reason for not liking it. And not to get too much into 00 but I do agree with you on Allelujah’s small vocabulary. And concerning about the ending of S2 and the movie, I will point you to MAHQ’s podcast episode 70. Seems to me you don’t understand where the movie was trying to do.
I agree, I never thought 00 was bad, far from it. Like you, my issues has to do with the direction of season two and the way they handled their characters like Allejuha who stops being a main character after ep 7. And Lyle who felt like a cheap replacement than anything ( he hates being compared to Neil and yet he had almost no problem taking over his identity.) Setsuna was not bad character but he became less interesting as time went on. Teiria was suprissingly the most interesting out of the four due to his struggle between his alliance to celestrail beings excuse my spelling and being an inovader.
The Side characters also suffered such as Saji and Luise who felt more like a distraction. Marina appears frequently but contribute almost nothing other than to abuse the “mutual understanding” theme. Mr. Bushido and his little screentime and development was almost embarrasing to watch. Wang/HongLong/Nena/Ali were just scapegoats, the staff clearly had no idea what to do with them. And Ribbons Almark and his Inovaders was as intimadating as a bad Halloween costume.
Traiblazer was not a bad movie but it wasn’t a good one either. On one hand it was unique though I’d prefered that they don’t do the whole alien thing again, leave that for Macross. On the other hand however th plot was sloppy, convoluted, and incredicbly idealistic. The Characters were cardboard cut out of their season 2 counter part. The two new characters Decactes and Meena served little to no purpose. The beam-spamming battles was one big light show. The Message they’ve been trying to push ended up being presented in the most horrible fashion. Overall I kinda find it hard to imaging any veteran gundam fans to be completely satisfied with this movie(if you are that’s fine)…then again I can’t imaging Gundam Seed Destiny to be one of the best selling gundam series of all time, and yet it is.
And As for Unicorn, well to qoute King Leonidas,
THIS IS GUNDAM!!!!!!!!
Agree with you at all points, except Wings of Words. It was inappropriate, but I liked the song. It was the only GS OP I didn’t skip in fact (of course, I was doing other stuff at the same time, like browsing the internet).
Best part about the Funnel-stealing thing was how they were locking-on Marida one at the time, and the Unicorn doing hand-gestures, as if saying, “My turn.”
Wing of Words might be an alright song but definitely does not work as a Gundam opening. Regardless I can’t stand that song and the way the opening sequence was didn’t help either.
As for Unicorn stealing the funnels, I thought he was like pulling a Darth Vader lol.
histrionic…tsk..
Hmmm…I’m surprised there’s no Ple/Puru storm going on here.
My one gripe with this EP is that Gilboa’s death was altogether random. Sure it serves to further develop Banagher’s character, but seriously? Randomly sliding perfectly into the shot’s path?
I don’t think that was random. He was protecting Full Frontal.
Hmmm…rewatched that bit a few times. If you believe that he was protecting Full Frontal, then it’s very easy to make that case. However, there was no “lead up” to that; no “Full Frontal, you must live!”, nor “Banagher, don’t shoot!” It was only after rewatching that I even realized he actually got in the way of the shot instead of Banagher just missing outright. So even if Gilboa was protecting Full Frontal, I think that was poor execution of the scene.
Show Spoiler ▼
Well very simply, he was “protecting him” by being around. Banagher simply missed and Gilboa got a very unwelcome, battleship-level mega-particle cannon to the torso.
it was a rather unfortunate gundam cliche – that i had not been looking forward to since the point where he made an encouraging ‘see you later!’ to his son….
– hell though, thank god for some battle scenes without the gundam spam bubble of laser death strike!!
yay! – good effort taking on a ms with a rocket launcher tho. serious xp points if he hadn’t died 🙁
Crossing my fingers for greatness from episodes 4-6, cause as of 1-3 this has to be my favorite Gundam series.
The Gundam unicorn rifle is cool. it can switch from very fast rapid fire to insanely powerful laser :3
You mean the Beam Magnum? It doesn’t have a rapid fire setting. It just shoots really powerful beams, but can only fire 6 shots per clip. The gatling gun it had from the beginning was just stolen.
While I’ll admit that this OVA rekindles my interest to Gundam (being Gundam Wing the only Gundam I’ve watched prior to this and it was a long time ago, probably 2000 then rewatched it in 2006), I would like to ask some UC veteran here, was UC always presented like this, I mean I’m pretty sure that Banagher was pointing the wrong finger when back in episode 2, he accused Full frontal for the damage done to his colony while I believe that it was London Bell who did a lot of damage there and killed a lot of civilians in the process of trying to invade the colony, I believe Kshatriya was trying its best not to hit civilians, or their is no clear cut good or evil here, the series simple presents the different points of view between the warring factions. I’m not even sure what I’m trying to point out, but I just thought it was odd, is someone actually in the series misunderstanding things or I was the one understanding things wrong?
The only UC timeline I’ve watched so far is Char’s Counterattack and this Unicorn. While it’s true that this UC OVA rekindles my interest in Gundam, it was Gundam 00 who cemented me to liking the entire Gundam franchise and mecha genre in general, since then I’ve watched SEED/SEED Destiny, CE73, Code Geass/R2, MS Igloo 1,2, Gunbuster/Diebuster and finally Macross Frontier and Zero, and Broken Blade. I may say I’m a late entrants to Mecha, ignoring it for years lol. I haven’t watched ep3 yet, still waiting for subs from more well known groups.
Banagher wasn’t accusing Zeon for the attack on his colony (that was partly it). He was accusing Zeon for resorting to extremes and borderline terrorism. The Earth has already been subjected to FOUR colony drops at this point and the only one that was prevented was in CCA. I actually think he’s right here, it gets very difficult to support an organization guilty of several mass murders and war crimes.
As for the attack in Industrial 7, Marida drew the Federation in and forced them into combat. Yes Marida tried to prevent any casualties, but she still accidentally detonated the nuclear reactor in one of the ReZels and did kill alot of people and punched a hole in the colony. Zeon is not completely faultless here.
You should watch 0080 and 08th team. By far the best of the original UC OVAs in terms of story and characters IMHO. The line between good and evil/right and wrong is really blurred in UC Gundam. It’s not particularly the sides as much individuals and the circumstances involved.
I’m surprised you didn’t have Eva or Gurren Lagann on your mecha list. Eva basically re-invented what the mecha genre is today and GL kicked it to the curb and the new Eva movies are just pure eye candy. You might want to give RahXephon, Eureka 7, Fafner in the Azure and FMP! a try. Old school FTW.
Actually I’ve like Evangelion for a long time now and I’ve already watched the Death and Rebirth, End of Evangelion, and the newest Rebuild 1.0, 2.0, while it’s true I’ve like the series, I’m not interested in mecha in general prior to that and the only Mecha I’ve watched completely is Gundam Wing. I’ve come to watched Unicorn expecting nothing because it generate quite a buzz in the anime community and was impressed by the quality of production include the depth its portraying and I was convinced to try watching other Gundam series by that. When I finally wacthed Gundam 00, it struck me Gold, I never realize Gundam series where actually that good and then the marathon of watching other Gundam series and mecha shows started.
PS: I was actually confused back when I’m trying to sort what Gundam series I will watched after watching ep1 of UC because of the somewhat changing timelines of Gundam and after reading a lot of resources e.g. Wiki, I’ve come to a realization each series is actually an alternate universe and completely unrelated to each other. So Gundam veterans out their lol
Less than half of the Gundam series out there are Alternate Universes (AU), and the other half are straight Universal Century. By timeline (and animated only), it goes:
– 0079 (original), 0080 War in the Pocket and 08 MS Team all happen during the One Year War. Note that 0079 has 3 compilation movies as well.
– 0083 Stardust Memory happens between OYW and Zeta.
– 0086, and Zeta happens. Note that A New Translation is the movie compilation, but the ending is non-canon.
– Double Zeta happens almost immediately after Zeta ends (0087…right?).
– Fast forward to 0093 and it’s Char’s Counterattack.
– 0096 is Unicorn.
– 0123 is F91. Of note is that Crossbone happens after, but it’s not animated…
– Victory happens waaaaayyyyy after; so long after that even though it’s technically in the UC timeline, it might as well not be.
– Turn A is even further than further into the future, such that it too isn’t really UC. Black History technically makes all AU series prior canon, but nobody really buys that and there’s no ordering for that anyways.
– G Gundam is the first produced AU.
– Wing is the second produced AU.
– Gundam X is the last produced AU before Turn A was made.
– SEED is the 0079 clone AU, and everybody bashes Destiny for its epic fail last 1/3.
– 00 is the most recent AU.
Thanks for the info. Actually I plan to watch Zeta (or was it ZZ?) once I freed myself from the current series I’ve been watching (a lot of new and old series).
I don’t consider SEED Destiny a fail, it has many good points but probably have more bad than good points, I enjoy Destiny though despite the ‘Deja vu’ feel of it, at some point it really feels like SEED all over again with some new characters and lots of role switch. Of course one of its famous act is the switch of main protagonist midway of the series 😀
Eh, SEED Destiny is usually fail (for me) because…
1.) They completely ditch the idea of Shinn being the new main protagonist pretty early on with only like…1-2 moments. Otherwise, he’s just turned into a whiny lapdog.
2.) It essentially becomes SEED 2.0, especially after Kira and co. get back in the picture and during the last leg of the series. (Starting with the “Strike”/Impulse, “Freedom” vs. “Providence”/Kira vs. “Rau”, Archangel vs. “Dominion”/Minvera, Neo-GENESIS, Mwu blocking a positron cannon and living, METEOR spamming, “Kira”/Shinn and “Flay”/Stellar spirit moment after death, etc.)
3.) Outright “stealing” Universal Century MS for their own use; ZAKU Warrior, GOUF Ignited, DOM Trooper, the Hyaku Shiki (Akatsuki), Destroy Gundam (Big Zam + Psyco Gundam), and such right down to MUCH of their armaments or abilities. I didn’t mind the GINN and other original SEED stuff since they’re merely based on them, but taking the looks, names, and/or abilities almost right to the core…just shows a very big lack of originality.
I just don’t really see the hype in it besides it being one of the first series (along with SEED and Gundam Wing) many people have seen in terms of “Gundam”. It felt like all they cared about is flashiness and how pretty things are over story and characters a lot of the time.
Ummm…you’re waiting for EP3 subs when one of the most popular circulating copies is using official subs?
As far as I can remember, just about every Universal Century Gundam displays both the Federation and Zeon as both sympathetic and antagonistic. That is to say, those within the organizations are just doing what they believe, but those in charge of the system are universally corrupt.
By the way, if you want to watch some more Universal Century, I’d probably suggest Zeta: A New Translation. IMO it cuts a lot of the crap out of Zeta while still maintaining most of the original story (except the end).
New translation’s end was so much better … loved it when the comm officers were repeating everything Kamille was telling Fa.
I’m quite aware of that, and I also knew that the groups I’m waiting for uses the same official subs, just call me an idiot for being loyal to them. hahaha! 😀
Is the shot of the sun appearing from the right side of the Earth and forming a ring of light around it during the ED3 sequence (not shown in Divine’s pics) a reference to the very first scene of the original Mobile Suit Gundam? It’s heavily reminiscent of it.
To be clear, I meant the very first scene of the OP of the original Mobile Suit Gundam, not the episode proper.
Also, as a note, Crossbone Gundam’s story is supposed to take place in UC 0133 and Victory takes place in UC 0153. And yeah, Zeta is 0087-0088 and ZZ is 0088-0089.
I do love the appearances of various Zeon/Neo Zeon MS from as far back as 0083; the Dra-C (0083), Dreissen (ZZ), Gaza-C or D (Zeta/ZZ), the “Eye-Zack” (ZZ), and such and even foreshadow future MS like the Loto with the R-44 Guntank R-44 from F91 (from which the R-44 is based on; the Loto).
We even got the Delta Plus which is a fully successful Hyaku Shiki; originally the failed “Delta Gundam” because of being unable to implement the transformation into its frame, which lead to scrapping it and simply becoming the Hyaku Shiki, a non-transforming Delta Gundam, and lead to the successful development of the Zeta Gundam afterward.
Also loved seeing the hyper mega particle cannon used again on the Nahel Argama and the flashbacks through the genetic memory of Marida all the way back to Pie and Pie Two in ZZ with the silhouette of Glemy Toto and mentioning how she’s a surviving clone from the end of ZZ, piloting one of the black mass production Qubeleys.
And even bringing back Dr. Hasan, the physician of the Argama during Zeta and the one who examined Rosamia Badam (who was also a Cyber-Newtype). Calling the Nahel Argama a “mock Trojan Horse” in connection the White Base. And bringing up the old Augusta Newtype Research Lab, which was originally used by the Titans for Cyber-Newtype research in Zeta.
I love this series so much. The writing is fantastic. At first, even as an avid UC fan I found myself apprehensive about getting too excited over this series because I was afraid it would just be riding nostalgia but it isn’t. It’s more of a culmination of things.. A bringing together and pressing all of what has made the previous series in the UC timeline great while distilling the messages that always get lost in the complicated, drawn-out and melodramatic 50-ish episode series.
And, man, the characters.. All of the main cast has been so wonderfully developed so far that they aren’t just archetypes. The ideologies they express mean something and they themselves aren’t just vessels used to express those points of view – the writers actually manage to turn them all into interesting entities that you actually grow to like and care about.
Man, I can’t wait to see where this series is going.
sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo good!
They told Marida’s history in a 15 second flashback and got me to care about Alberto, that is just one instance of great direction/story telling.
The pacing was too fast, the voice work was strained some times and the back music was lacking the splendor of the first 2 episodes. I loved the ED though, and the last scenes. For the most part it felt as if they put too much stuff in one OVA. If this keeps up it will be another Destiny.
One revelation in this episode has been bugging me… Is Banagher a Newtype or Cyber-Newtype? When Full Frontal gave an explanation on the abilities of the NTD system he mentioned that only a Cyber-Newtype could operate the system. Is that right? Or did I misread that part?