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At least one piece was good this week. 
The Official Anime & Manga Thread Vol: 三
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At least one piece was good this week.
Bruh if that ability actually works on everybody and not just her kids I can see why she's one of the four emperors 
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Must agree, immediately pissed me off.
Made us wait a week and treated it like this huge thing just to have that **** get broken literally the next page
I kinda like it. I feel like Kubo was drawing/laying out his plans for the next 7-9 issues and then his editor was like "Yo..."Bleach
Why show us something awesome and then immediately take it away in the next panel?
The Fresh Prince
formerly airsakuragi
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Episode 25 and 26 of the series are actually an alternate ending to the series. The End of Evangelion (which is split up as episodes 25 and 26) is the true ending to the series. The End of Evangelion actually deals with the Human Instrumentality Project that Seele and Gendo (who wants to use it to be reunited with Yui) were working to achieve. Rei (Rei 3) is the key to the whole thing; she hands over control to Shinji instead of Gendo and Shinji "restarts" the world. I like the rebuild movies better than the series.
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I just want Bleach to end. Idc what happens. Idc about the story anymore. Idc about whose bankai we havent seen. Idgaf. I just want a final chapter. Preferably the next one. Just end it.
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Boku no Hero Academia
I hate when people start chopping up onions in my house... 
I feel like a time skip might be on the horizon...
I feel like a time skip might be on the horizon...
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Boku no Hero Academia
I hate when people start chopping up onions in my house...
I feel like a time skip might be on the horizon...
I was just thinking that I wouldnt mind seeing a time skip.
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I'm sure this has been asked before but I need a recommendation on an anime series. I'm not a hardcore anime head by any means but I loved:
Cowboy Bebop
Samurai Champloo
One Punch Man.
I washed the first ep of Hunter x Hunter and it seemed childish (but might continue bc it supposedly gets darker.) Also Death Note didn't appeal to me.
Attack on Titan seemed interesting and it's on Netflix. Other ones that caught my eye were Berserk (is it outdated?) and Hellsing Ultimate (seems to be all style no substance.)
Despite not liking DN, I typically do enjoy things that are dark, stylish, and intelligent with adult themes.
Cowboy Bebop
Samurai Champloo
One Punch Man.
I washed the first ep of Hunter x Hunter and it seemed childish (but might continue bc it supposedly gets darker.) Also Death Note didn't appeal to me.
Attack on Titan seemed interesting and it's on Netflix. Other ones that caught my eye were Berserk (is it outdated?) and Hellsing Ultimate (seems to be all style no substance.)
Despite not liking DN, I typically do enjoy things that are dark, stylish, and intelligent with adult themes.
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If you don't continue with Hunter X Hunter your doing yourself a disservice but have you tried durarara yet might be something you're into
shatterkneesinc
Banned
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HXH is the GOAT
The Fresh Prince
formerly airsakuragi
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Just finished Evangelion 3.33 (3.0) and it was pretty good.
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U guys made it seem like that bleach chap was terrible. It wasnt that bad at all. I thought it was actually really good
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Juha cut to the chase. No more DBZ dialogue.
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If you want to stick to the space/cyber-punk theme, why not try Outlaw Star? Its the not-too-distant cousin of Cowboy Bebop. Colorful cast. More fantasy elements and action oriented but still a mature series. Only 24-26 episodes.
If you want straight gangsta ****, guns, drugs, mercs, etc.. in modern times, go for Black Lagoon. Very episodic with a couple mini-arcs but a great collection of badassness.
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Escaflowne. Old, but still good.
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Trigun is a good choice too.
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Damn shame Mayoiga ended up being a flop, had so much potential until the last couple episodes.
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Dark Continent is going to be an absolute bloodbath on this big *** whale
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Jojo's Bizarre Adventure
Part 8 is finally over?
That spoiler towards the end though. Part 9 looks like its gonna be Stone Ocean again. So it might be the end of the series...
That spoiler towards the end though. Part 9 looks like its gonna be Stone Ocean again. So it might be the end of the series...
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I feel like the fact that we had reached the half-way point of the series and still didn't know exactly why damn near half of the cast was there or what their monsters looked like was a strong sign that this was bound to struggle its way to a conclusion
I agree that the premise was interesting and seemed like it could potentially make for a great anime though.
lazy
formerly lazy feet
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Jojo's Bizarre Adventure
Part 8 is finally over?
That spoiler towards the end though. Part 9 looks like its gonna be Stone Ocean again. So it might be the end of the series...
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Slacked off with After War Gundam X, but still managed to finish it within my timeframe
Opening
Characters
I have to lead off with this picture because I happened to find it online when looking for suitable gifs/pics and because it is so ****ig accurate Garrod Ran is, in my opinion, one of the best Gundam protagonists in the franchise. Not in terms of piloting ability, or special powers, but because of how all around competent he is in what he's doing. And halfway through the series I remembered why I liked him so much. It's because he reminds me of Judua Ashta (ZZ Gundam). Unlike Amuro, or Kira, or many other protagonists, he goes out of his way to become involved in the events that are going on. He doesn't Fall into the Cockpit so much as he jumps into it. The first episode features this kid fearlessly taking on a Mobile Suit and managing to overcome the pilot inside it with quick thinking and ingenuity. That is an excellent introduction to the character and really sets you up for everything that he's going to be doing down the line. This kid might not have the official training of a soldier, but he's got what it takes to be a soldier regardless.
His dad died when he was a baby/before he was born and his mom died when he was still young, so he grows up on his own. This, naturally, leaves him with difficulties when it comes to associating with people for long periods of time. Instead of brushing over this the series actually shows it, confronts it, and has him deal with it. This allows for real growth to take place in who he is, making it so that he can really be a different, healthier person by the end of the series than he was at the start of it all. Unlike Judua however, he isn't a Newtype. Unlike Heero, he has no military training. All the skills he has are skills he learned from living a hard life and that doesn't mean he's instantly a piloting expert. In fact, the kid kind of stinks at the start. I got into an argument with someone actually because they tried to tell me he was an expert by episode 2 or 3, when at that point he was still getting his butt handed to him and completely relied on the highly advanced weapon of his Gundam to get out of any scrapes he got into. Again though, he learns and becomes better. You really get to see his skills increase over time. You see him make mistakes in combat and then you see him not make them later. You see him studying his Mobile Suit, starting to personally invest time and effort into its care, and this makes his increased performance that much more logical. This is then added to the fact that he is still not a softie outside the cockpit. He'll charge in against guys that are bigger than him, he'll get into fire fights right alongside the rest of the crew, he can pick locks and come up with plans to escape from jail cells. The kid becomes learns new skills, but you never forget that he has his old ones either. Unlike some other protagonists, he has more to add than just being the kid that pilots the Gundam and I loved every second of it.
Also had to add this because it's funny as hell Tiffa is an interesting female protagonist to me. Unlike Relena and Kihel, she never gains any political authority. Like them, she still gets into damsel in distress situations, and I think that she honestly doesn't attempt to control her destiny as much as the other two did. However, she is a Newtype. In fact, I would say that she is THE Newtype for this series. That is to say that she is the most prominent Newtype to appear and i'm honestly tempted to call her the most powerful, with only like 1 or 2 others surpassing her, and that's honestly in areas that she simply doesn't specialize in. However, she's also not a Gundam/Mobile Suit pilot. This makes it so that the writers have to come up with a different way to make her relevant, to have her showcase her powers. The way they did this is kind of cleve in my opinion. They made the main purpose of the group being to 1)protect her and 2)to hunt down and protect other Newtypes from being exploited. This becomes important, as she has the ability to sense danger, see visions of the future, and to track down other Newtypes. This makes it so that you never really wonder why she's there. It's clear why she's there. If she wasn't there the crew would be out of luck She and Garrod are both 15 when this is taking place, so it's natural that they be allowed to develop somewhat. Garrod learns to interact with others and Tiffa also does the same. Both are socially awkward, due to their difficult backgrounds and this causes them to be drawn towards one another. It is then interesting to see how Tiffa slowly comes out of her shell over time and becomes an important part of the crew. She isn't as well written as Garrod, doesn't form relationships with the crew as unique and interesting as his, but she's still a solid character in my book. And I think her relationship with Garrod is one of the best in the franchise, really playing out as two teens, who rely on one another, moving from friends to lovers. In the shortest series in the franchise, nothing about their relationship is rushed and I love it.
Then there are the Frost Brothers, Shagia and Olba. Honestly, these guys are *****. Annoying, petty ***** At the same time, they really are the closest thing to a Big Bad that this series has. Unlike Turn-A or Wing, there aren't multiple sides making good arguments here. No, the New Federation is portrayed as in the wrong and so is the Space Rebellion. The good guys are then the third option, the crew of the Freeden. Shagia and Olba are a part of the New Federation, but clearly have their own goals throughout (Which is honestly obvious, since every other appearance has them mentioning this). I enjoyed how more and more of their backstory was revealed over time and as far as Big Bads go i'll say that they break the trend of Gundam. They don't wish for peace, they don't believe in the power of Newtypes, they're not after any type of unity or to create their own superpower. Instead, they're pissed off at the world and just want to tear it all down. They want to destroy the New Federation, the Space Rebellion, and the terrible Newtypes, all because they themselves were rejected as Category-F Newtypes. As I said, they're petty and this is a double edged sword for me. I like how they break the mold, but by the end of the series found them to be terribly annoying and just wanted them to die. Part of this however is because they appear so damn often, yet are, again, basically the Big Bad(s) of this series. The good guys fight them again, and again, and again, and it really just devolves into a formula. Even the way they fight becomes repetetive long before the finale. They're great, because they manage to manipulate almost every single character they come across at some point, but they're horrible because their reasoning is just so damn petty Like I cannot express that enough. I read somewhere that apparently these guys were hated in Japan when the series released, because of how much they differed from previous villains, which I get. And I read that they were better received in other countries because of the same reason, which I also get. For the most part though, they don't work for me. I think it actually might have been better had they appeared less overall, or just pulled more strings from the background. As it is, I reached a point where I started rolling my eyes every time they appeared. Just couldn't handle the smug pettiness I guess
Plot
Designs
Conclusion
So I watched Coboy Bebop this week along with After War. I really haven't had much time to think about what i'll watch next week (And next week starts in less than 20 minutes now ), but I think i'll go with Samurai Champloo for the first show. 26 episodes, from the same guy that did Bebop, and another series i've been meaning to go back and watch anyways. For the first time this month i'm then going to step away from Gundam and instead will watch Accel World. That's been on my list for the longest time actually and i'm interested to see how it compares to Sword Art Online. It's 25 episodes so both together balance out to being around the length of a Gundam series anyways. Assuming I finish both by June 25 that'll leave me 5 days left in this month, during which i'll probably go back to watching a Gundam series. Currently thinking on doing 00. Never felt that I gave that entry my full attention. And that'll lead me into July, which I want to spend watching just one really long series. I've been thinking about what to watch during that month throughout June and still haven't come up with anything though. If anyone has any suggestions feel free to throw them out. Only thing I have as an idea right now is Yu Yu Hakusho, since it is also a series that I really love, but have actually only seen once when it was originally airing on Toonami.
Opening
So going in, this was a Turn-A Gundam experience for me. Meaning that I had never seen this series before, had no personal experience with it, and had really only read a few reviews that spoiled different pieces of info for me. Hell, unlike Turn-A, I hadn't even seen any clips of this series on YouTube before. Therefore, I was going in blind for the most part. The big things I knew about this series were 1)it was the shortest Gundam series in the franchise and 2)the main villain(s) for this series is different from numerous other series in terms of demeanor and presence. I was honestly really interested in this series, not as much as I was in Turn-A, because a big thing I kept coming across in reviews is that it's pretty underrated. Having seen it, I understand both why many people might dislike it and why many might consider it to be underrated. So, lets get into it shall we?
Characters
I have to lead off with this picture because I happened to find it online when looking for suitable gifs/pics and because it is so ****ig accurate
Garrod Ran is, in my opinion, one of the best Gundam protagonists in the franchise. Not in terms of piloting ability, or special powers, but because of how all around competent he is in what he's doing. And halfway through the series I remembered why I liked him so much. It's because he reminds me of Judua Ashta (ZZ Gundam). Unlike Amuro, or Kira, or many other protagonists, he goes out of his way to become involved in the events that are going on. He doesn't Fall into the Cockpit so much as he jumps into it. The first episode features this kid fearlessly taking on a Mobile Suit and managing to overcome the pilot inside it with quick thinking and ingenuity. That is an excellent introduction to the character and really sets you up for everything that he's going to be doing down the line. This kid might not have the official training of a soldier, but he's got what it takes to be a soldier regardless. His dad died when he was a baby/before he was born and his mom died when he was still young, so he grows up on his own. This, naturally, leaves him with difficulties when it comes to associating with people for long periods of time. Instead of brushing over this the series actually shows it, confronts it, and has him deal with it. This allows for real growth to take place in who he is, making it so that he can really be a different, healthier person by the end of the series than he was at the start of it all. Unlike Judua however, he isn't a Newtype. Unlike Heero, he has no military training. All the skills he has are skills he learned from living a hard life and that doesn't mean he's instantly a piloting expert. In fact, the kid kind of stinks at the start. I got into an argument with someone actually because they tried to tell me he was an expert by episode 2 or 3, when at that point he was still getting his butt handed to him and completely relied on the highly advanced weapon of his Gundam to get out of any scrapes he got into. Again though, he learns and becomes better. You really get to see his skills increase over time. You see him make mistakes in combat and then you see him not make them later. You see him studying his Mobile Suit, starting to personally invest time and effort into its care, and this makes his increased performance that much more logical. This is then added to the fact that he is still not a softie outside the cockpit. He'll charge in against guys that are bigger than him, he'll get into fire fights right alongside the rest of the crew, he can pick locks and come up with plans to escape from jail cells. The kid becomes learns new skills, but you never forget that he has his old ones either. Unlike some other protagonists, he has more to add than just being the kid that pilots the Gundam and I loved every second of it.
Also had to add this because it's funny as hell
Tiffa is an interesting female protagonist to me. Unlike Relena and Kihel, she never gains any political authority. Like them, she still gets into damsel in distress situations, and I think that she honestly doesn't attempt to control her destiny as much as the other two did. However, she is a Newtype. In fact, I would say that she is THE Newtype for this series. That is to say that she is the most prominent Newtype to appear and i'm honestly tempted to call her the most powerful, with only like 1 or 2 others surpassing her, and that's honestly in areas that she simply doesn't specialize in. However, she's also not a Gundam/Mobile Suit pilot. This makes it so that the writers have to come up with a different way to make her relevant, to have her showcase her powers. The way they did this is kind of cleve in my opinion. They made the main purpose of the group being to 1)protect her and 2)to hunt down and protect other Newtypes from being exploited. This becomes important, as she has the ability to sense danger, see visions of the future, and to track down other Newtypes. This makes it so that you never really wonder why she's there. It's clear why she's there. If she wasn't there the crew would be out of luck She and Garrod are both 15 when this is taking place, so it's natural that they be allowed to develop somewhat. Garrod learns to interact with others and Tiffa also does the same. Both are socially awkward, due to their difficult backgrounds and this causes them to be drawn towards one another. It is then interesting to see how Tiffa slowly comes out of her shell over time and becomes an important part of the crew. She isn't as well written as Garrod, doesn't form relationships with the crew as unique and interesting as his, but she's still a solid character in my book. And I think her relationship with Garrod is one of the best in the franchise, really playing out as two teens, who rely on one another, moving from friends to lovers. In the shortest series in the franchise, nothing about their relationship is rushed and I love it.Then there are the Frost Brothers, Shagia and Olba. Honestly, these guys are *****. Annoying, petty *****
At the same time, they really are the closest thing to a Big Bad that this series has. Unlike Turn-A or Wing, there aren't multiple sides making good arguments here. No, the New Federation is portrayed as in the wrong and so is the Space Rebellion. The good guys are then the third option, the crew of the Freeden. Shagia and Olba are a part of the New Federation, but clearly have their own goals throughout (Which is honestly obvious, since every other appearance has them mentioning this). I enjoyed how more and more of their backstory was revealed over time and as far as Big Bads go i'll say that they break the trend of Gundam. They don't wish for peace, they don't believe in the power of Newtypes, they're not after any type of unity or to create their own superpower. Instead, they're pissed off at the world and just want to tear it all down. They want to destroy the New Federation, the Space Rebellion, and the terrible Newtypes, all because they themselves were rejected as Category-F Newtypes. As I said, they're petty and this is a double edged sword for me. I like how they break the mold, but by the end of the series found them to be terribly annoying and just wanted them to die. Part of this however is because they appear so damn often, yet are, again, basically the Big Bad(s) of this series. The good guys fight them again, and again, and again, and it really just devolves into a formula. Even the way they fight becomes repetetive long before the finale. They're great, because they manage to manipulate almost every single character they come across at some point, but they're horrible because their reasoning is just so damn petty Like I cannot express that enough. I read somewhere that apparently these guys were hated in Japan when the series released, because of how much they differed from previous villains, which I get. And I read that they were better received in other countries because of the same reason, which I also get. For the most part though, they don't work for me. I think it actually might have been better had they appeared less overall, or just pulled more strings from the background. As it is, I reached a point where I started rolling my eyes every time they appeared. Just couldn't handle the smug pettiness I guess Plot
After War Gundam X is basically "What would have happened had Char succeeded in Char's Counterattack or if Zechs had succeded at the end of Gundam Wing. 15 years prior to the series there was a 7th Space War and it ended with countless colonies falling onto the planet Earth, killing 10 billion people and, obviously lol, completely devastating the climate. In the modern day people are just really starting to recover and part of the main plot is then seeing the way that the world has changed. To me, this is a really interesting premise on its own. I'd be lying if I said i'd never wondered about this exact kind of thing and how the people of the Gundam world would then react to it. The series is similar to Turn-A, which also suffered its own disaster, in that the world and technology has a kind of run-down well-worn look to it in a lot of places, and this makes perfect sense. A good chunk of the people in this world don't have a lot of contact with one another and are really just struggling to get by in their own ways. At the same time, different forces have already arisen to try to remake some form of society. This leads us to the New Federation eventually becoming the main opposition to our heroes on Earth.
One very real problem with this however is that the New Federation isn't named until like episode 20 and they don't show up until a few episodes after that. You see some of the operatives of them beforehand, but the New Federation itself isn't actually mentioned. You only learn about the Frost Brothers, who show up pretty early on, being a part of the New Federation long after their first appearance. In a series that is 39 episodes long I feel that this is a very real problem. Granted, it was originally intended to be like another 12 episodes or so and I think this shows. I didn't realize it until around episode 15, but a good number of the early episodes are unnecessary filler. They really don't add anything of consequence or move the plot along at all. They should or could have been condensed into like 2 or 3 episodes. You could basically take the first 3 episodes and jump to maybe 10 or 12 episodes ahead and the heroes would just then really be starting to get involved in events that have some type of consequence in the grand scheme of things. This is my biggest issue with this entry and something I don't think i've seen in many other Gundam series. I'll admit, the filler here is better than a lot of the filler you see in other anime (Naruto is the first that comes to mind, but if we're being honest about actual content then Pokemon might be the biggest culprit of this in history. Hell, filler is what killed the Johto Arc at the end of the day). To be clear, the filler here is very obvious, standing apart from the main events from the series, featuring events that really won't be referenced again for the most part, but it tends to actually include some real character development. And that character development will stick around for later episodes. A few notable Gundam upgrades also take place during it, also sticking around. The writers probably wanted to split the series into various arcs and I get it, but the first few just aren't that important and I think it hurts the plot. The intro of the New Federation, officially, is when things really get going and the characters themselves mention many times that since the New Federation showed up things haven't been the same. To me, that implies a partial awareness of this on the part of the writers, but who knows. All I can say is that when you bother to give a dolphin Newtype powers you've taken a wrong turn.
That being said though, I still continued through it all and i'm glad I did. This series is the one universe outside the Universal Century to feature Newtypes by name. A few others have Newtype variants, such as X-Rounders and Coordinators, but the guys here are straight up acknowledged as Newtypes. And the questions of "What is a Newtype" and "What should Newtypes be used for" really pushes the plot from start to finish. The series puts an interesting spin on the argument that separates it from the UC, while also harkening back to it. In the end, I didn't really agree with the conclusion that was made. At least, I think that the conclusion that was being made didn't actually line up with the arguments or answer the questions concerning Newtypes. But I still enjoyed it. The series continues the UC trend of having Newtypes being exploited for their abilities and the Big Good of the series, Jamil Neate, is actually a former Newtype who lost his powers due to events that took place at the end of the last war. Being a Newtype and knowing what it's like to be used and abused he therefore decides to try finding other Newtypes in order to help them. It's a good, noble cause to give the leader of the series good guys, makes him sympathetic, makes us root for his team, and still allows him to kick his own share of *** here and there. So, instead of the argument boiling down to how to achieve peace as it did in Wing, the argument becomes centered around what to do with Newtypes. Somewhat shocking, depending on how you take the last episode, is that no one making an argument was actually right, though Jamil at least came the closest. The leader of the New Federation proves to be just as bad as the leader of the Space Rebellion and i'd say this is done on purpose. The idea of the Newtype is the focus here, so the writers didn't try to give you a series where you might want to support multiple sides. In that way I would say it was influenced by the Universal Century and all the crap different Newtypes have had to go through over there. It also throws in the idea that neither the people of Earth or the Space Colonies are actually that different at the end of the day, and I think it works overall.
One very real problem with this however is that the New Federation isn't named until like episode 20 and they don't show up until a few episodes after that. You see some of the operatives of them beforehand, but the New Federation itself isn't actually mentioned. You only learn about the Frost Brothers, who show up pretty early on, being a part of the New Federation long after their first appearance. In a series that is 39 episodes long I feel that this is a very real problem. Granted, it was originally intended to be like another 12 episodes or so and I think this shows. I didn't realize it until around episode 15, but a good number of the early episodes are unnecessary filler. They really don't add anything of consequence or move the plot along at all. They should or could have been condensed into like 2 or 3 episodes. You could basically take the first 3 episodes and jump to maybe 10 or 12 episodes ahead and the heroes would just then really be starting to get involved in events that have some type of consequence in the grand scheme of things. This is my biggest issue with this entry and something I don't think i've seen in many other Gundam series. I'll admit, the filler here is better than a lot of the filler you see in other anime (Naruto is the first that comes to mind, but if we're being honest about actual content then Pokemon might be the biggest culprit of this in history. Hell, filler is what killed the Johto Arc at the end of the day). To be clear, the filler here is very obvious, standing apart from the main events from the series, featuring events that really won't be referenced again for the most part, but it tends to actually include some real character development. And that character development will stick around for later episodes. A few notable Gundam upgrades also take place during it, also sticking around. The writers probably wanted to split the series into various arcs and I get it, but the first few just aren't that important and I think it hurts the plot. The intro of the New Federation, officially, is when things really get going and the characters themselves mention many times that since the New Federation showed up things haven't been the same. To me, that implies a partial awareness of this on the part of the writers, but who knows. All I can say is that when you bother to give a dolphin Newtype powers you've taken a wrong turn.
That being said though, I still continued through it all and i'm glad I did. This series is the one universe outside the Universal Century to feature Newtypes by name. A few others have Newtype variants, such as X-Rounders and Coordinators, but the guys here are straight up acknowledged as Newtypes. And the questions of "What is a Newtype" and "What should Newtypes be used for" really pushes the plot from start to finish. The series puts an interesting spin on the argument that separates it from the UC, while also harkening back to it. In the end, I didn't really agree with the conclusion that was made. At least, I think that the conclusion that was being made didn't actually line up with the arguments or answer the questions concerning Newtypes. But I still enjoyed it. The series continues the UC trend of having Newtypes being exploited for their abilities and the Big Good of the series, Jamil Neate, is actually a former Newtype who lost his powers due to events that took place at the end of the last war. Being a Newtype and knowing what it's like to be used and abused he therefore decides to try finding other Newtypes in order to help them. It's a good, noble cause to give the leader of the series good guys, makes him sympathetic, makes us root for his team, and still allows him to kick his own share of *** here and there. So, instead of the argument boiling down to how to achieve peace as it did in Wing, the argument becomes centered around what to do with Newtypes. Somewhat shocking, depending on how you take the last episode, is that no one making an argument was actually right, though Jamil at least came the closest. The leader of the New Federation proves to be just as bad as the leader of the Space Rebellion and i'd say this is done on purpose. The idea of the Newtype is the focus here, so the writers didn't try to give you a series where you might want to support multiple sides. In that way I would say it was influenced by the Universal Century and all the crap different Newtypes have had to go through over there. It also throws in the idea that neither the people of Earth or the Space Colonies are actually that different at the end of the day, and I think it works overall.
Designs
And now we get to my favorite part, the designs of the Gundams I noted in my review of Gundam Wing that Wing is a series where you get multiple Gundam pilots and that you don't see that in many other places. Surprise, surprise, you get that here The New Federation has 2 Gundam pilots in the Frost Brothers, while the Freeden has 3 at first, which is then boosted to 4 when Jemil gets his own Gundam. I think the writers were more creative with some than with others. The Air Master and the Leopard are clearly inspired by the Wing Zero and the Heavy Arms, though still unique in their own ways. And, perhaps playing to the well-worn feel of this world, aren't nearly as powerful. That lack of power kind of goes for Gundams in general in this series though. In other installments Gundams are the super special custom, whether they're from centuries in the past or brand new they're the top of the line models on the market. I feel like in this series they're closer in ability to regular mobile suits. This can also work when you take into account that the majority of tech on Earth was hindered by the devastation caused by multiple colony drops. So there hasn't really been much room to advance. Those are the side Gundams however, the main Gundam(s) however are pretty damn solid
This weapon right here is called the "Divider" or the "Beam Harmonica" and is easily one of my favorite weapons in not just this series, but the entire Gundam franchise It functions as a shield, booster, and a beam weapon. It's one of the upgrades that the titular Gundam X (Otherwise known as the GX) gets when it's transformed into the Gundam X Divider (The transformed version is the one seen in the above gifs). One thing i'll say is that the series does a good job portraying the need for consistent upgrades. Even if the good guys didn't mention issues with their Gundams the way fights play out makes the issues clear. The Gundam X is really the only upgraded Gundam however that is shown to be drastically improved after the upgrade. The Air Master and the Leopard basically just get new paint jobs and thats it, with no one really going into detail about how they've been imrproved. Not a big deal, but it kind of sucked regardless. Then there's the Double X Gundam:
Similar to Heero, Garrod actually uses 2 main Mobile Suits, with the Double X not being an upgrade, but a completely new Gundam altogether. Above it's using the power Satellite Canon (Which the GX could also use, but not as effectively). The look of it using the canon actually reminded me of G Gundam, with the God/Burning Gundam. Unlike the Burning Finger however, the Satellite Canon is used for the first few fights and then disappears for the longest time after the GX is upgraded and gets the Divider, since the Canon was destroyed. It's naturally similar to Heero's Beam Rifle, but limited in that it relies on the moon to be used at all. However, this is actually one case where I think the original upgrade is better than the later model. The GX with the Divider is better than the Double X in my opinion, but i'm obviously biased towards the Divider
I think for the main Gundam though they did a great job and the same goes for its successor, but for the other models I think they just dropped the ball. They're not necessarily terrible, but also aren't handled as well as the 5 main Gundams we got over in Wing.
I noted in my review of Gundam Wing that Wing is a series where you get multiple Gundam pilots and that you don't see that in many other places. Surprise, surprise, you get that here The New Federation has 2 Gundam pilots in the Frost Brothers, while the Freeden has 3 at first, which is then boosted to 4 when Jemil gets his own Gundam. I think the writers were more creative with some than with others. The Air Master and the Leopard are clearly inspired by the Wing Zero and the Heavy Arms, though still unique in their own ways. And, perhaps playing to the well-worn feel of this world, aren't nearly as powerful. That lack of power kind of goes for Gundams in general in this series though. In other installments Gundams are the super special custom, whether they're from centuries in the past or brand new they're the top of the line models on the market. I feel like in this series they're closer in ability to regular mobile suits. This can also work when you take into account that the majority of tech on Earth was hindered by the devastation caused by multiple colony drops. So there hasn't really been much room to advance. Those are the side Gundams however, the main Gundam(s) however are pretty damn solid
This weapon right here is called the "Divider" or the "Beam Harmonica" and is easily one of my favorite weapons in not just this series, but the entire Gundam franchise It functions as a shield, booster, and a beam weapon. It's one of the upgrades that the titular Gundam X (Otherwise known as the GX) gets when it's transformed into the Gundam X Divider (The transformed version is the one seen in the above gifs). One thing i'll say is that the series does a good job portraying the need for consistent upgrades. Even if the good guys didn't mention issues with their Gundams the way fights play out makes the issues clear. The Gundam X is really the only upgraded Gundam however that is shown to be drastically improved after the upgrade. The Air Master and the Leopard basically just get new paint jobs and thats it, with no one really going into detail about how they've been imrproved. Not a big deal, but it kind of sucked regardless. Then there's the Double X Gundam:
Similar to Heero, Garrod actually uses 2 main Mobile Suits, with the Double X not being an upgrade, but a completely new Gundam altogether. Above it's using the power Satellite Canon (Which the GX could also use, but not as effectively). The look of it using the canon actually reminded me of G Gundam, with the God/Burning Gundam. Unlike the Burning Finger however, the Satellite Canon is used for the first few fights and then disappears for the longest time after the GX is upgraded and gets the Divider, since the Canon was destroyed. It's naturally similar to Heero's Beam Rifle, but limited in that it relies on the moon to be used at all. However, this is actually one case where I think the original upgrade is better than the later model. The GX with the Divider is better than the Double X in my opinion, but i'm obviously biased towards the Divider
I think for the main Gundam though they did a great job and the same goes for its successor, but for the other models I think they just dropped the ball. They're not necessarily terrible, but also aren't handled as well as the 5 main Gundams we got over in Wing.Conclusion
So, all said and done how does the series stack up? It's good. You're not going to be wasting your time if you watch this. The main character is interesting, the crew you're following all have unique personalities and relationships with one another, and most of them get some real, important focus during the course of the series. I think it takes the Newtype idea and does something different with it, while also avoiding some of the larger examples of Newtype power from the UC and in general it doesn't really treat on UC territory outside of using Newtypes, though I guess the colony drops might count. The villains weren't my favorite, but they do stand apart from others in the franchise, so for that reason alone you might find them interesting. As with many other series you've got strong anti-war messages throughout and people shaking their heads at others repeating the mistakes of the past, but it doesn't feel tired, as if i've heard it all before. I'm never annoyed by any of it and I really get what the characters are saying. The villains, to me, are never sympathetic at any point in the story, but they're not dumb either. It's not as good as either Turn-A or Wing, but it is a far cry from being as bad as Seed (Obviously if you liked Seed that doesn't apply, but then if you liked Seed I really just don't know what to tell you at this point and we probably can't be friends ). I think what probably stopped this series from going the distance is the lack of those final 12 episodes due to being screwed over by executives. The ending still comes together nicely all things considered, but the final arc is like 3 or 4 episodes long. You can easily imagine that another 12 episodes of development would've been better. And just because you have to look at the final product as it is, those earlier episodes with random adventures just don't seem like they needed to be included. It's not the fault of the team per se, because they expected to have more time, but as a viewer it just hurts the show.
Hard to really think of where i'd rank this overall, because I still haven't seen every Gundam series and take a long time to make Top lists lol but besides Seed i'd also place it as being better than AGE, though that might not be saying much because while I enjoyed AGE (To be clear, Season 1 was decent, Season 2 was an even better improvement, and Season 3 was trash when focusing on Kio) it was apparently the least successful Gundam series at the time of its release. To mention another recent entry, I want to say it's better than Build Fighters, but also haven't fully watched Build Fighters (Dropped it around episode 7 or 10 when I became busy with other things) or Build Fighters Try. I can say that it at least hooked me within the first episode unlike Build Fighters. If you don't like the super robot feel of G Gundam then you should find this to be the better series. I would be...somewhat surprised if you liked this better than many of the UC entries, but that'll also depend on how you rank those in particular. To me, it wasn't better than Zeta, or ZZ, or Unicorn, but I did enjoy it over Victory (Which is honestly another series I should watch again now that I think about it ).
). I think what probably stopped this series from going the distance is the lack of those final 12 episodes due to being screwed over by executives. The ending still comes together nicely all things considered, but the final arc is like 3 or 4 episodes long. You can easily imagine that another 12 episodes of development would've been better. And just because you have to look at the final product as it is, those earlier episodes with random adventures just don't seem like they needed to be included. It's not the fault of the team per se, because they expected to have more time, but as a viewer it just hurts the show.Hard to really think of where i'd rank this overall, because I still haven't seen every Gundam series and take a long time to make Top lists lol but besides Seed i'd also place it as being better than AGE, though that might not be saying much because while I enjoyed AGE (To be clear, Season 1 was decent, Season 2 was an even better improvement, and Season 3 was trash when focusing on Kio) it was apparently the least successful Gundam series at the time of its release. To mention another recent entry, I want to say it's better than Build Fighters, but also haven't fully watched Build Fighters (Dropped it around episode 7 or 10 when I became busy with other things) or Build Fighters Try. I can say that it at least hooked me within the first episode unlike Build Fighters. If you don't like the super robot feel of G Gundam then you should find this to be the better series. I would be...somewhat surprised if you liked this better than many of the UC entries, but that'll also depend on how you rank those in particular. To me, it wasn't better than Zeta, or ZZ, or Unicorn, but I did enjoy it over Victory (Which is honestly another series I should watch again now that I think about it
).So I watched Coboy Bebop this week along with After War. I really haven't had much time to think about what i'll watch next week (And next week starts in less than 20 minutes now
), but I think i'll go with Samurai Champloo for the first show. 26 episodes, from the same guy that did Bebop, and another series i've been meaning to go back and watch anyways. For the first time this month i'm then going to step away from Gundam and instead will watch Accel World. That's been on my list for the longest time actually and i'm interested to see how it compares to Sword Art Online. It's 25 episodes so both together balance out to being around the length of a Gundam series anyways. Assuming I finish both by June 25 that'll leave me 5 days left in this month, during which i'll probably go back to watching a Gundam series. Currently thinking on doing 00. Never felt that I gave that entry my full attention. And that'll lead me into July, which I want to spend watching just one really long series. I've been thinking about what to watch during that month throughout June and still haven't come up with anything though. If anyone has any suggestions feel free to throw them out. Only thing I have as an idea right now is Yu Yu Hakusho, since it is also a series that I really love, but have actually only seen once when it was originally airing on Toonami.
The Fresh Prince
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[h1]Ghost Sweeper Mikami[/h1]
