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...the films do an excellent job of retelling the entire Gundam story without leaving any gaps or seeming poorly paced.

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Mobile Suit Gundam Movie Box Set

Review by Crimson Andy

3 Compilation Movies

Company: Bandai

Running Time: 439 minutes (3 Movies)

Region: 1

Rated: PG (Violence and adult situations)

EXTERNAL EXAM

The year is Universal Century 0079. In order to escape the overpopulation of Earth, mankind has fled to the stars where millions of humans now live aboard gigantic space colonies, or Sides. One year ago, the colony of Side 3 declared it’s independence from the Earth and proclaimed itself the Principality of Zeon. A devastating war erupted between the Earth Federation and the Principality of Zeon, but Zeon quickly took the advantage thanks in no small part to it’s highly advanced technology and new invention, the mobile suit.

In order to counter Zeon’s mobile suits, the Federation developed one of its own: the Mobile Suit Gundam. However, while being tested on the neutral colony of Side 7 along with the prototype battleship White Base, Zeon attacks, and amidst the ensuing chaos young civilian Amuro Rei helms Gundam and fights off the Zeon army. From this point on, Amuro finds his fate inextricably twined with that of Gundam’s and the war between the Federation and Zeon, for better or for worse.

DVD VISION TEST

VIDEO: : For the release of the Gundam Movie Trilogy on DVD, the video has been newly remastered. As a result all three movies look exceptionally sharp, especially when one considers their age.

AUDIO: Surprisingly, none of the movies include an English audio track. The movies are all presented in a new Dolby Digital 5.1 Japanese audio soundtrack, specifically created for these DVDs, as well as the original Japanese Stereo Audio.

EDITS: No edits were noted.

EXTRAS: There are no extras on the DVDs per say, but the trilogy box set includes a neat little booklet filled with interesting information regarding the Gundam movies.

WIDESCREEN REVIEW

STORY: These three movies are actually a condensed version of the original 43 episode Mobile Suit Gundam anime. As such, one might expect the movies to feel rushed and disorderly. However, the films do an excellent job of retelling the entire Gundam story without leaving any gaps or seeming poorly paced. Some people may find Gundam’s story to be too unoriginal or conventional by today’s standards, but it’s important to remember that Gundam inspired many of today’s anime.

ACTING: What with there not being an English dub on this release, the viewer is left with no choice but to watch the Gundam movies in their original language. As long as the viewer doesn’t absolutely abhor having to read subtitles while watching anime, then there shouldn’t be a problem as the Japanese voice actors do an excellent job and hit their roles dead on. The redone audio track in Digital 5.1 is done by the same vocal cast, and surprisingly, despite the new track being 20 years newer (thereby making the VA’s 20 years older), the characters still sound as they did 20 years ago.

FAN SERVICE: For those fans out there who can’t get their fill of ‘70s style anime chicks, there are two shower scenes, one in the first movie and the other in the second movie. As for other kinds of fan service, Gundam makes no obvious references to other anime, mainly because many other anime make reference to Gundam. Of course, there are those diehard fanboys who will say Gundam’s beam saber is a rip off of the lightsabers in Star Wars, but that’s another story…

FINAL EXAM

Gundam. This should be a word familiar to any self-proclaimed anime fan. The original Mobile Suit Gundam anime is a timeless classic, one that the aforementioned self-proclaimed anime fan should have seen at least once from beginning to end. Sadly, this is not the case. Many of today’s new generation of anime fans simply glance at the original Gundam and scoff; look at the horrible animation and craptastic character designs, they’ll ignorantly shut it out. Their minds polluted by commercialism and the basic principles of marketing that state newer is better, they’ll go on to say something like, “Evangelion is the only giant robot show worth watching” or “Gundam Wing/SEED is sooo much better”. Don’t get me wrong, I love Evangelion, Gundam Wing and Gundam SEED (Gundam Wing is actually what got me into Gundam in the first place). But I love original Gundam even more, and when I hear anime fans, young or old, disregard Mobile Suit Gundam based solely on it’s production values or age, it brings a tear to my eye.

What can I say about Gundam that hasn’t been said before? The creation of Yoshiyuki Tomino and one of the most influential anime ever produced, when Gundam was originally aired on Japanese television back in 1979, it received abysmal ratings and was cancelled before it could finish it’s initial run. However, during subsequent reruns Gundam began to increase in popularity and attract a substantial fanbase until it was finally decided that Mobile Suit Gundam would be released in theaters. The Mobile Suit Gundam anime was thus remade into three movies that combined the story and animation of the original TV show with new animation and a somewhat different direction. This three DVD box set could be considered the special edition of the Gundam movie trilogy, as the video has been remastered and a new audio track was recorded for it, providing the viewer with the highest quality versions of these three movies available on the market.

I’m no expert anime analyst. I’d only be kidding myself if I started going on about the tremendous impact Gundam has had on anime in general or the various philosophical ideas presented throughout the movies regarding the role of humanity and it’s further evolution. However, I can at least state that Gundam’s staying power isn’t because of nostalgia or its multi-million dollar model franchise. Gundam is by all accounts an epic masterpiece that’s earned its place in the annals of sci-fi classics, let alone anime. Once the viewer can stop caring about the dated animation and the relatively poor production values, he or she’ll find a gripping and entertaining story that almost anyone can enjoy. Focusing on the characters and their struggles as they desperately fight to survive the war that surrounds them, Mobile Suit Gundam fleshes out war as a horrific endeavor made by those too ignorant to understand the pain and suffering it inflicts upon those involved. Gundam also strives to humanize it’s villains, not portraying them as heartless monsters but instead as people who are simply fighting for what they believe in, and on a more primal level, their very lives. And of course there are the robots. No matter how retro they may look, the mech designs by Kunio Okawara are still awesome.

I recommend Mobile Suit Gundam to everyone I meet, from friends to family to teachers to anime virgins who need a kick in the right direction. I won’t lie; despite how much I praise it, not everyone is going to like original Gundam. Many people just won’t be able to get over the dated animation, and some viewers probably may not even like the story or find Gundam all that interesting. Nonetheless, if you want yourself to be taken seriously as an anime fan, you should at least now what Gundam is. And while you’re at it, be sure to check out these movies! Perfect for the consumer or already established fan with a tight budget, you get the entire Gundam story without having to pay hundreds of dollars on countless DVDs that contain only three to four episodes each. Besides, even if you end up not liking Gundam that much, think of how impressed those anime fangirls will be when you bring them into your room and they see the original Gundam movie trilogy sitting on your shelf! So really, what have you got to lose?

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