Kidou Senshi Zeta Gundam

If there is a Gundam series that is worth of scoring top notes and receiving every possible award out there for an anime it definitely has to be this series. Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam is a direct successor to memorable Gundam 0079. While most of the people are new, there are also some classic cameos here and there. Once again we get into a White Base type space fortress - Argama, to travel with our young (and some a little older) pilots across the universe to fight off evil - a bit cliche, no ? ;] In fact, Zeta Gundam is anything and everything BUT cliche. The plotline is very good. It tells the story of a young AEUG pilot - Kamille Bidan who, having lost his parents in quite arbitrary circumstances, decides to use his unique skills and pilot a newly built Gundam Mk.II to wage a war against the Titans - military organization under the hood of the Earth Sphere Committee. Although the story may seem quite simple (not simplistic!) it is in fact so vast in different smaller and bigger paths to follow, and focuses on so many different characters, that not once during the 50 25-minute-long episodes will you yawn. In fact, this vastness is one of the biggest advantages of Tomino's creation, and unrivalled so far in it's own category. Even now, after almost 25 years of it's premiere, Zeta is still considered to be the best G series in history. What makes it so special then? The number of characters alone? Not very much. Rather the quality of those characters. Tomino won't hesitate to spend entire episode or two to thoroughly explain why the given person has made the specific decision and show what influence it will have on other people. Here, the mistakes are unforgivable - when you make one, you pay for it. And sometimes, the fate is a darn prick, and will make your dearest ones pay for your flaws. It's the cruelty of the world in which Kamille and Fa are destined to live their lives and fight their battles. No one opposes it, everyone struggle to survive. As I mentioned before, the old cast partially returns. We get to see Amuro and Char (one of the most classy and touchy reunions ever in anime - simply SPLENDID), Bright Noah and some other more or less known people from White Base. All those characters serve as mentors for the new generation - they're not there to steal the youngsters' time - they're there to serve as an advisor, a lieutenant, or a parent if there is a need to. All those people, no matter if they're essentially good or bad, right or wrong, have their own stories to tell and believe me when I'm saying it - you will want to hear them out. The art is average if we look at it today. But back then i 1986 it was something uncanny. SUNRISE managed even to use CGI in some scenes and it still looks believable. All the battles are shown in a distinctive and classy way. There is no place for rush, re-used frames and chaos. Everything has it's place and moment in the series. The mecha design is one of the better in the history of animation, and I don't mean only the Mk. II and Zeta. All the mechas, mobile armours and ships are drawn and portrayed in such way, that even in 50 years you'll still recognise the Methiuss or The O. Despite their bulkiness and size you tend to believe they're real. The music is also quite good, it accompanies the series very well and fits with the action on screen. I cannot say much about the openings and endings since my release did not have those included. I had watched them on the youtube tho, and they seem bearable but not great. Overall, I wouldn't judge the book by it's cover. The opening and ending sequences are nothing compared to rich and enormous inside of the anime... Did I enjoy it? Or perhaps have I enjoyed it? Rather the latter. I still love the series, although I've seen much more than just Zeta. I still think, that it's one of the most rewatchable series in G history. Tomino did include a lot of death by the end of the series, and sometimes you may even think that there's something wrong with this guy (well, actually there was, but nvmd :> ) but in a series as serious as this one, some people losing their lives are a given. Overall, Zeta Gundam is an epic *love* story that will carry you across our universe, trash you, make you cry and then spill you out like a prune kernel. It is harsh, it is fairly realistic, it is not afraid to touch the themes so controversial that you would avoid them being aired in everyday news - and this is an anime - a cartoon! For G fans - it's almost a majestic resemblance of the past - for non-G fans - a very good series that deserves a chance to show off.

I use the following system to calculate the final score: In each of the five categories (Story, Art, Sound, Character(s), Enjoyment), a score can get 2, 4, 8 or 10. 2 for something I find truly bad, 4 for something that just isn't good enough, 8 for fairly good and 10 for outstanding. The sum of the score is divided by 5 and the score is rounded to the nearest integer (More than or equal to .5 rounds it up, less than .5 rounds it down). STORY (10): As with many Gundam series, it's about a young boy who becomes part of a small military force that opposes greater military forces. There are themes concerning authority, youth, war, death, romance and politics, though it seems that the main theme is "WAR IS BAD". I found it to be well executed, although slow from time to time. The story of AEUG isn't a complicated one, but somewhat captivating. Kamille's growth throughout the series is something worth watching, even if the ending can be a bit of a downer. ART (10): Zeta Gundam had some really good mecha designs, especially Gundam MkII and the titular mecha, Zeta Gundam, which ranks as my favourite Gundam of all. This series also introduces the beauty that is the Qubeley, so it's solid on the design front. Animation is mostly on a pretty average level, but every now and then they surprise you with some really detailed and beautifully animated scenes. SOUND (10): Disregarding the terrible, terrible j-pop openings Zeta Gundam had in its country of origin, the soundtrack is fit for an epic tale of space warfare. The voice actors do a great job and some of the speeches and yells during battle make them sound as if they were super robot pilots. CHARACTERS (8): An overall good cast, but some of the characters can be really annoying at times, especially Katz. If it hadn't been for him and a certain character doing something I feel was unsupported by the overall story, this might have scored a 10. Be prepared that you may dislike Kamille, the main character, quite a bit. Although I do not, a lot of people are disturbed by his constant whining and disrespect towards others. ENJOYMENT (10): As a mecha fan, there's a lot of fanservice with all the different suits and armors used in this series. The tale itself, the operations and some characters from the first series just add even more viewing pleasure. It really is quite a classic. FINAL SCORE: 48 * 0.2 = 9.6, rounded up to 10. RECOMMENDATION: It's 50 episodes long, so you better be prepared for some slower parts here and there. There's a lot of war and death, and the action is often there to say that war is bad, which sets a somewhat grim tone over everything. However, if you want a war drama set in space, this is a truly good one. Though if you want to watch this, I recommend watching the series that came before this first, Mobile Suit Gundam, or the Mobile Suit Gundam movie trilogy which summarizes the first series. This will help with background for both the setting and several characters.

Some lunatics decide it’s a good idea to go to war. One batch of lunatics is led by a man named Four Vagina. Four Vagina thinks it’s a good idea to employ a teenager to pilot a tank that can fly in the hopes that his flying tank skills are better than the other side who fly tanks. This goes very well until the story hits a brick wall by trying to juggle too many characters at once, and by introducing a series of increasingly unconvincing romantic subplots between the aforementioned teenage lunatic and the stand-ins for Tomino’s mistresses. Eventually, things devolve into a kind of trainwreck where everyone starts acting so out of character that you begin to wonder what their original characters were even supposed to be. There’s a scene where a robot impregnates another robot with a metal spike, so I guess it’s a masterpiece.

“Kamille’s a man’s name! And I’m a MAN!!!” Well, that is a way to start a show. The Gundam Franchise has become a staple of Japanese Culture. It is the anime responsible for making giant robots fighting each other, a thing. By this point, the franchise is nearly 40 years old and today it is still culturally relevant with each new entry selling head and shoulders above its peers. My most recent foray into the past was with the original Mobile Suit Gundam released in 1979. It was a good show but was weighed down by pacing issues and the concept of ‘Newtypes’ that I did not feel was sufficiently explained. Going into Zeta Gundam, I have anticipated it being much darker than its predecessor as it is this series where Gundam creator, Yoshiyuki Tomino, gained the nickname ‘Kill’em All Tomino’. Zeta Gundam is dark but I have to say, it is probably one of the strangest anime I have seen thus far. It is the year 0087 UC, 8 years after the end of Earth Federation’s war the Principality of Zeon. The Earth Federation became corrupted due to their complacency during the aftermath of the war and founded a Group called the Titans, an elite task force whose sole purpose is the decimation of the remnants of the Zeon Empire. They are known for their cruelty and take advantage of their position to attain anything they desire. In response, a rebel group called the AEUG is formed with its sole purpose being the destruction of the Titans and to attain rights for the Spacenoids. The story follows a young man named Kamille Bidan, who is dragged into the AEUG and tries to discover what is principles truly are and his place in this galaxy of war. A major difference between Zeta Gundam and the original Gundam is its sense of scale. The original Gundam felt much more expensive due to the battles being held with battalions and large numbers of soldiers. Zeta Gundam’s story is told during skirmishes and covert ops which make the sense of scale smaller and allows a much more intimate story. The lack of a singular goal in the narrative may make the plot feel meandering but too much surprise, the story is well told to an extent. Time never feels wasted and nothing drags along like in the original Gundam. But my main issue with the story has to be its pacing. The show moves along so fast, scene transitions come off abrupt and may leave a bad taste in your mouth. The pacing also removes some of the impacts of the deaths of some important characters and how they impact other characters. It felt rather jarring. And there are moments where the execution of more series scenes made me laugh due to the poor visual execution of the scene or the sequence of events leading up to it. One of the strangest things about Zeta Gundam is, there are some heartfelt moments in here. I never thought Tomino was capable of that kind of sentimentality in his anime. There are at least one or two moments in this show where characters just ruminate on events and you can feel the pathos. These moments are some of the best in the show. And the ending is probably one of the most empty and borderline nihilistic and bleak outlooks I have seen in a show since texhnolyze. Hell, the last 10 episodes are such an insane whirlwind of emotions. The cast of Zeta Gundam is indeed the crux of the show, more specifically, the main character Kamille Bidan. I have never met a character more selfish, reckless, petty, brash and stupid as him. And yet, I have never been more enamored with a character like this. Although he is all these things, he always maintains a strong sense of self and principle throughout the main experiences he has in the story. He is probably one of the least likable characters in an anime that I had to watch, yet I like him nonetheless. The cast is just as vain as Kamille which will leave you grating your teeth in rage at any moment. During my first watch through of the show, I hated it. I did not understand why these characters were so selfish and illogical, until I decided to think it over. All the characters in this show are written in a specific way and every action, even illogical, is a byproduct of their own personality. The characters behave in selfish ways because that is who they are; it is not because the plot dictates them to behave that way. By understanding that, it made my appreciation of the show that much greater. Characters from the original Mobile Suit Gundam make their appearance as well. Char Aznable returns and we are able to get a deeper look into his character than ever before. Behind the man known as the infamous Red Comet, is someone who is strongly principled and wants to live life on his own terms and no one else. His longtime rival, Amuro Ray, makes a return and his character arc is perhaps my favorite in the show. He struggles with PTSD from the One Year War and makes him fearful to pilot a mobile suit. There was a particular scene where he begins trembling as he goes to pilot a mobile. Zeta is sprinkled with little moments like this that add to the depth of its cast. Zeta Gundam is a show that you need sit on for a while in order to appreciate. The more you think about the relationships, the characters, the relationships and the moments of silence, the more you gain a deeper appreciation for what the show is trying to accomplish as a whole. Yes, there are moments that are patently ridiculous and you will want to laugh out loud but it is offset by the brutally depressing moments that give the show its sense of equilibrium. I can’t guarantee you will like Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam on your first viewing, but if you give it a chance, maybe you will understand that Kamille’s a man’s name and Kamille is, indeed a man.

Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam is the sequel to the first Gundam series. Many Gundam fans think that this is the best Gundam series ever made, and I can see why. This series certainly lives up to the Gundam name, and much better than the first series. Story: 10 Zeta Gundam's plot is a bit different than the first Gundam. While in the first Gundam the main focus is Earth Federation vs Principality of Zeon, here the main focus is war between different factions inside the Earth Federation itself. The portrayal of war here is much better, with a good dose of politics, conspiracy, conflict etc. It's certainly got a heavier and darker plot than the first one so don't go expecting light plot with mecha battle everywhere. And the good part is that there's really no filler episodes. Each episodes builds to the story, or develops certain characters which will in turn affect the story itself. And it not to mention it goes on for 50 episodes. It's highly recommended to watch the first Gundam before this, so you can get a better comprehension on what's really going on throughout the series. Also, one thing to notice is the weakness of 'Plot Armor' here. There's a lot of character dying here and there throughout the series, which is a good thing, since it makes the portrayal of war much more realistic. Art: 8 Much better than the first Gundam, here the animation is quite good. Still bad when compared to the recent animes, but the animation is already flowing fluidly. No stiff movements whatsoever. This might have the best animation for it's time. And the drawings is also better than the first series. Mecha design is great, I really wonder how the designer designs all those transforming MSs that not only looks cool, the transformation sequences can be reproduced quite anime-accurate in the Gunplas. They must have put a lot of thought on the designs and the transformation sequences. Character design still good, as always. You can see many characters from the first series, only they got older. Sound: 7 Unlike the first Gundam, sadly, there's not really any soundtracks here that is remarkably good for me. Although they do fit the scene, but somehow I don't really like them. OP&ED, is different in the Japan release and US release, I prefer the JP release one. SFX is not that much different than the first Gundam, you can still recognize the same mecha sounds, or the beam rifle shots. Voice acting is pretty much no problem. But some said that the english dub is pretty bad, so consider getting the subtitled one. Character: 9 Zeta is one of the Gundam series that has the most character depth and development I've ever watched. Many characters undergo heavy development throughout the series. This is what makes it interesting, rather than seeing a static character that is pretty much the same from the start to the end. You can notice that the main character, Kamille, undergo so much development that he changed from a short-tempered emo boy to one of the best member aboard the Argama. Here you can also see the effect of character ideals. Many characters here will do anything to achieve their ideals, including switching sides etc. Even because of that, Char and Amuro can be friends here. Enjoyment: 10 With much better battles than the first series, and interesting characters, this series is really enjoyable. This series has a lot of transformable units, and that adds to the enjoyment. Battles become more interesting as Kamille transforms his Zeta again and again to conform to the situation he's in. Also, here the grunt units are pretty formidable, even more so than the first series. It's not rare to see Kamille and Quattro struggles against grunt units, sometiimes even almost got killed, which makes it pretty fun to watch. Overall: 10 I can't really say much here since I've pretty much said everything above. This is an excellent series, very enjoyable to watch. If you already watched the first Gundam and feels that it's good, then you should watch this ASAP.

Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam, often touted as Yoshiyuki Tomino's magnum opus, is an incomprehensible mess of a story that utterly pales in comparison to the already not-that-great original. The animation may look pretty and the sound design may be satisfying as always, but those things don't really mean anything when the story they're working in service of is utter nonsense and the characters aren't interesting. If you decide to watch this show because you've heard good things about it, I sincerely wish you the best of luck trying to comprehend what the Sam Hill is going on and who's attacking whom, because after spending about a month watching the whole show from start to finish, 2 episodes per night, I still don't really know what happened. Not helping is the abysmal dialogue which more often serves as a shameless mouthpiece for Yoshiyuki Tomino than a natural conversation between two humans. In other words, on the rare occasion that characters do actually stop to explain something, they're usually explaining whatever Tomino's pretentious speech of the day is instead of the plot or their own motivations. I'm now going to move on to a very specific complaint which isn't the show's biggest problem but it definitely pissed me off the most. I'm not normally the kind of person to play the "misogyny" card, but I have some serious beef with a particular character who must not be named because that would be a spoiler. Now, I'm a man and I certainly won't claim to be some sort of expert on women, but I can't help but feel that if I were a woman, I would find it incredibly insulting that when this character betrays her friends and comrades and participates in mass genocide just to impress the hot enemy commander, and both she and other characters state it's because she's "being too much of a woman". I'm sorry if I'm misinterpreting this, but what else am I supposed to take away from that other than there's some sort of connection between being a woman and becoming a treacherous mass murderer for the sake of getting laid? That aside, the show's actual biggest problem is that there are just too many moving parts in the narrative to possibly keep track of it all. You'll be scratching your head wondering who's attacking whom and why, and by the end of episode 50 you still won't really know. Also you'll be wishing Kamille could win his battles legitimately instead of randomly unlocking superpowers out of nowhere at the eleventh hour. EDIT: Oh my god how did I forget to mention the numerous forced romances in this show? Between Kamille and Four, Amuro and Beltorchika, Henken and Emma (granted this one is rather one-sided), Jerid and Mouar, there's almost too damn many to count and they're all boring at best and infuriating at worst to watch because none of them have any meaningful chemistry. Most of them share less than 10 minutes' worth of screentime before falling in love.

Mobile Suit Gundam proved to be a success in the early 1980's thanks to popularity of the Gunpla (plastic Gundam models). The original packed some neat robot vs. robot action and drama. Obviously, some kind of sequel would have been expected. In 1985, Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam, came to be. The sequel to the 1979 classic, has been regarded by many fans as the darkest and engaging entry in the franchise. After watching its 50 episodes, I can say that its may favorite Gundam in the franchise and is worth a watch. Story- U.C. 0087, seven years have passed since the Earth Federation's victory over the Principality of Zeon during the One Year War. However, several Zeon remnants still remain. To combat this, the Earth Federation have established the Titans, an elite force dedicated to the eradication of the Zeon remnants and those who stand in its way. Where MSG had you sympathizing for some Zeon members, you'll surely hate the Titans. Their vicious ways of killing and tyranny leads to the formation of a rebel group called the A.U.E.G. (Anti-Earth Union Group), dedicated to combat the Titans. A small A.U.E.G. team are sent to investigate Side 7, a residential colony, in suspicion of a possible Titan threat. The story follows Kamille Bidan, our main protagonist, whom gets mixed up in the conflict. Throughout the 50-episode run, we see Kamille's struggle as a pilot of the A.U.E.G. and how the war impacts him. The themes of loss and war are here and I found them to be enjoyable aspects of the story. Characters- Zeta Gundam features many interesting characters. The main lead, Kamille Bidan, is the hot-headed Newtype (an advanced subspecies of mankind) pilot of the Zeta Gundam. Like Amuro, he may take a while to get used to since he can be annoying at times. Nevertheless, he's a far more developed character as the show progresses. Quattro Bajeena, who's a lot like Char Aznable, is a lieutenant in the A.U.E.G. and serves as a mentor to Kamille. He receives a great deal of character development as the show progresses. Throughout the story, characters from both factions experience loss, betrayal, relationships, and more. Also, most White Base members such as Amuro Ray and Bright Noa make a return! Presentation- Zeta Gundam packed a neat presentation during its time. The visuals and models are eye-catching, as well as the mech designs, Zeta Gundam especially. Compared to the original Mobile Suit Gundam, Zeta has aged rather well. The voice acting is good, though campy at times. The soundtrack, one of the highlights of the presentation, has an awesome 80's kick to it. The opening and ending themes are catchy and memorable. Even during episodes, you'll be hearing some neat tracks. The composers surely outdid themselves. Overall- I had a lot of enjoyment watching Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam. The story and characters kept me hooked, as well as the fights, which were awesome. The presentation holds-up considerably well today. Fans looking for a mature and dark Gundam series should give Zeta a look.

While the original Gundam did revolutionize the mecha genre shifting from superhero robots to more real robots that are used as a tool for war, it wasn’t without a few snags. Anyone who has read a little into the history of Gundam will know that the original series was almost cut short due to its low ratings, but was able to complete its run albeit with less episodes than intended. What could have been the franchises end was miraculously saved with the help of bandai creating a toy brand, as well as reruns and theatrical releases that would garner a larger audience and later spur a sequel known as zeta. Zeta takes place several years after the one year war that took place in the original Gundam. While the war may have ended conflict still occurs out in space in the form of the Titan and the Anti-Earth Union Group or the A.E.U.G. the titan a group sprouted from the earth federation forces with the task of hunting down zeon remnants, but they overstep their bounds and eliminate anyone who they deem a threat such as the gassing of 3 million people because they protested against earth. It’s because of these actions that the A.E.U.G was formed to fight back against the titans and stop further atrocities. While this is all happening the main focus of the show is on Kamille a young boy living in one of the space colonies where some of the titan pilots were doing some of their training. through a series of contrived circumstance Kamille gets in a confrontation with the titans which in the end leads him to stealing the new mk-ll gundam, and joining the A.E.U.G. Most of the episodes that follow are Battles that the A.E.U.G has with the titans. Because of his zeta also falls into many of the trappings of the original gundam. With so many fights one after another it starts to feel tedious with no down time to have something to juxtapose the fighting and make it much more rich and rewarding. Even with some of the downtime it does have it’s usually minimal and quickly overshadowed with more action. Take this as either positive or negative about the show, but I felt that the scale of the conflict had gone down compared to the original gundam. Zeta felt like a small skirmish between two groups as there was no explicit or implied size of both forces leading me to believe that the battle was mostly between a few ships on both sides. It’s true that most of the original gundam was focused on just the white base and crew making the scale also small. However it was for the purpose that they would be a decoy while the earth federation builds up their main forces which gave the sense of scale that payed off in the end. Instead we have an ending that leaves more to be needed as not much closure was done. This is more of a personal thought, but i honestly liked the gundams when they transformed into space crafts rather than the actual mech itself. While yes, the mechs are the main draw of the show and offer more versatility in combat. Most of the fighting happened in space and while on earth they were still most of the time flying about which have off the feeling that if they were switched it wouldn’t make much of a difference. I think the real thing that broke the camel's back for me were the characters. Just like with the story it was mostly action with little bit in the way of developing and fleshing out characters. What also hurt the show was that almost all of the characters never had this presence to them that i should care about. It was rather striking when one of the pilots died, and the show made a scene about it with music and everything even though i had no idea who it was, and to only realize it was apolly, a character who was practically there from the beginning but never given any screen time to even be a support character. The enemy side is actually given more screen time for more specific characters, but even with that they still come across as 2-dimensional villains with little to sympathize with, which at least the original gundam got kind of right. But not all the characters are bad. Kamille is a mixed bag of doing things with no reason, but also a person with emotions making him a tad better than amuro. Cha- I mean Quattro is a very cool dude who serves as a decent mentor to kamille and some other new pilots. Some of the characters from the original show come back with some suffering from character rewrite for better or worse and with the benefit of being the former cast already have some presence. Finally my favorite character from the show being emma who was the most developed character from the show. As she switches sides for very obvious reasons that also serve as her motivation to fight while at the same time continues to be an interesting and dynamic character throughout the rest of the show. Production wise Zeta is far more superior than the original show. The mechanical designs for the mechas and space ships look more machine like rather than plastic toys in the original show. The character models look more well defined and are animated a bit more well. It’s just an over all more well defined and polished work. The soundtrack for the show is more orchestral than before but it loses that zany pop that the orginal show had before. The voice acting is a little less jarring mostly due to the fact of better equipment that the studio was able to use. It’s odd that people consider this angsty or grim when i personally found the entire show to be rather dry. I still have more criticism for this show, but as of now this is getting rather lengthy. It was a show that had a lot of potential, but fell short of what it could have been

The original Mobile Suit Gundam 0079 was my favorite in the Gundam series, however, Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam is a very close second. This series was very easy to get into and each episode kept me wanting to watch more. The development of the characters as the story progressed kept the interest facto high. I hate watching shows where the characters have no change or development for 26+ episodes. The writers did an excellent job of allowing both the A.E.U.G. and Titans to explain their position on the entire war and why they felt they had to take the actions that they did. This was a nice change from the original 0079 where we knew that the EFSF was good and Zeon was bad so to speak. There was no clear distinction of who was "right" and "wrong" in terms of sides. I also loved the soundtrack to the series. The music score was very well put together and fit very nicely with the scenes in the show. If would recommend this to anyone who is a Gundam fan or a fan of mecha based anime in general. There are a lot of elements touched upon in this series besides war and fighting.

Yoshiyuki Tomino's real robot, space opera, tour de force expresses the harsh and cold reality of war in juxtaposition to the ethereal nature of human life. Despite Tomino's somewhat sporadic qualtiy of work, after completing Zeta Gundam, I now have a newfound respect for him. Not only does Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam touch upon greatness, dare I say greatness was the benchmark for all 50 eps of the series. I always skirt the line of trying to be informative and analytical, on the other coin I want to express the various merits of the series. If you want my pure analytical take, skip to the next paragraph, but if you want my personal opinion on Zeta(as evidenced by the score) this show is just... greatness. The sheer power in the dialouge and writing really enraptured me. All the way from the first episode to the very last second. This dialouge is very mature, and maybe too mature for its own good. Anime is primarily an escape for most people, they inhabit worlds that they want to live in. Which is why people tend to gravitate torwards shows that allow them to do so. Zeta Gundam does not allow you to do that. Zeta Gundam is one of the few shows that fleeting mortality and ethereal human nature is a real tangible element. A huge part of the secret sauce in Zeta is a result of Tomino's eccentricities. He has a particular way where he likes to construct his plot and characters. The themes and characters and their motivations are very rough and not easy to make out, partially due to Tomino having an inability to express his ideas in a concrete way. The character motivations, character traits, ideologies are rarely outright stated and are meant to be intuited. Kamille is on the spectrum, Scirroco is power hungry, Sarah is a pawn, Jerid is deluded. There is a degree of layering here that is not necessarily mindblowing, but in combination with the mixed bag that is Zeta, really sets it over the top. A huge strength of Tomino's directorial style is that because he is horrible at explaining himself, he has to fall back on showing and not telling. You get a sense of who these characters are and what defines them through the actions they take, and I really loved Zeta for that. Tomino is a bad director. I don't think there is much debate for that, but he is a great idea man. I think there a pretty valid parallels, between Tomino and George Lucas. Both of their series are very beloved by geeks, but the franchises they built are probably better in the hands of younger, more competent directors. The concepts and lore of Gundam in-and-of-itself is fascinating. You have newtypes, cyber newtypes, phrases like "souls tied down by gravity", mobile armors/mobile suits, minovsky particles. All of these elements bogged down '0079 for me personally because it was too much to take in and it did not really make sense in the context of the story. After a lot of contextualizing I think I have figured out the huge distinction for me between '0079 and Zeta. '0079 represents in it's truest essence what Gundam is. There are military politics, ideological battles, and cool Gundam skirmishes to boot. Zeta is a sequel only by title. In terms of the essence of what Zeta is, it is a fundamentally different series. The original Zeta Gundam had characters engaging in an ideological battle against Zeon, where Zeta feels more nihilistic. Neither Tomino or the cast of characters try to make value/ideological judgements, but rather all of the conflict is personal, different from character to character. Kamille becomes engaged in the conflict because he is impulsive, Char has a personal vendetta, Fa is loyal to Kamillle. All of these moving pieces make up the A.E.U.G, and all these moving pieces make Zeta all the more compelling. Zeta has flaws. 50 episodes is too long, Tomino is not that great at writing female characters, the direction is not good, and it relies heavily on the plot from the original series. However, I can noy look at this series and think it could not have been executed that much better. This is the way humanities military conflict in space should be depicted, and now I understand when people say this series is Gundam at its absolute best.

After the success and popularity of the original "Mobile Suit Gundam", it was going to be a tall task to deliver a follow up that stood up to it's predecessor. I tell you not only did they create something that was as good as the original, but better in many ways. "Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam" is the second installment in the franchise but stands alone as a more gritty, dark, and emotional experience that is rarely seen in the often shiny and bright mech genre. The gut-wrenching and horrifying realities of war was something only touched on occasionally in the original series, here it is something that dominates the landscape from start to finish. It really causes pain to watch new and old characters go through the ordeals they do in these 50 episodes. The show is, in a word, depressing. The quality and depth of characters in this installment rivals any other Anime series while the artwork is dated, it still holds up well. The mechs featured are all pretty awesome and make up some of the best battles of the franchise, giving the viewer plenty of that sweet, sweet, 'splosion porn. The storyline is the best the franchise has offered and the voice acting is top-notch as well. Sub vs. Dub is a win/win, while the English cast is good- the Japanese cast is great with many, if not all, the previous actors reprising their roles from the first series. The one downside of this show is it might actually be TOO dark at times. The amount of loss and pain experienced might be too much for the average mech fan. There were moments in this show that actually made me tear up. I own this entire series on DVD, but it grows dusty on my shelf because it's 50 miles of bad road and not something I am eager to experience again. This is a must-watch for all Gundam fans, not so much for the plot points, but for the experience and ordeal you go through. If nothing else, you respect this franchise a lot more after watching Zeta. Cheers!

Disclaimer: To be fair to Zeta, I took several hiatuses during it because work was picking up during the summer. I’m talking 4.5 months to get from start to finish. While I think that doesn’t affect my overall sentiments, I have no doubt in my mind that it made Zeta Gundam feel less tight than it should’ve. Perhaps case in point, I just couldn't get into it because it felt like things just Happened. While there’s the overarching plot of Titans vs. AEUG, it never felt like any progress was being made to me. In 0079, everything is in service of The Little Ship That Could surviving, even after being officially recognized. Zeta didn’t feel like it had anything like that to latch onto. I did like the mini-plot of the last handful of episodes though. They were very tight with no flaffing about, but still not paced too quickly. I was wishing the rest of Zeta was like it. To put it into perspective, I wanted to actively make time out of my busy schedule to see what happened next in these last episode, but I never once had that feeling for the episodes before it (which is probably why the hiatuses were so egregious). Not many of the characters grabbed me, and the ones that did had at least some writing that I really didn’t like. Pretty much all of the character interactions and relationships were awkward, unconvincing, and sometimes outright asinine. So, considering how much of Zeta Gundam is about its relationships… Maybe this is more of a personal thing that I'm giving too much weight, but I also miss when the Gundam itself was cool. I started Gundam with GWitch, and the Gundam itself is one of the stars of the show in that for obvious reasons. In 0079, they put an emphasis on that Gundam being really bulky and having a computer that learns its foes. I was starting to understand why Gundam figures were so popular — these things are awesome! But in Zeta, I don't even remember what makes the Zeta itself special (even compared to the Gundam Mk.II). The show is so focused on Newtypes that it left the Gundams behind. The Psycho Gundam is more of the main Gundam to me than the Zeta because the mech itself is actually doing something special. To skip ahead a bit, the main mech in GQux often takes the reigns and has its own special psychic-based system. I think it would’ve been nice if Zeta did something like that so the mech could stand alongside the Newtype focus this time around. The soundtrack definitely deserves a mention because it’s just so weird. Don’t get me wrong, it’s very funny and therefore iconic in its own right. But a lot of the time it never really fit and actively took me out of the moment because I was laughing. To skip ahead again, this kind of music fits more with the much goofier ZZ Gundam. But in Zeta, which is trying to be serious, it’s such an odd choice. It's not that I think Zeta is done BADLY, just that it didn’t do anything too well either. Its biggest credit is that it’s such a visual upgrade from 0079 that a lot of the first few episodes were me wondering how technology “has come this far”. And of course that extends to the fights and Newtype visuals. Zeta still has iconic and memorable moments, too. It's more that it never kept me interested, so I was just sitting there along for the (very long) ride.

Tomino's Biggest Miss-Step and UC Gundam's Weakest Link(LR); 1985's seminal Gundam Zeta has gone done as one of the greats, with Gundam fans often siting it as on par with it's predecessor and actively out performing it's descendants but is it all it's cracked up to be? Is it really the "Empire Strikes Back" of anime? Let's quickly pass through the spoiler free segment which on this occasion will be fairly short as it should go without saying that one needs to have seen either the original MSG '79 or the trio of recap films before starting this 50 episode sequel. Music and Animation - Without doubt the strongest elements of this show are it's production values. Starting with the music, it's the 80's at it's finest. Massive orchestral pieces prevail through the entire soundtrack which itself is large and versatile. The intro song is maybe the odd one out, it's great fun but a complete tone killer even if it is still a bop to this day, the Dub uses an insert track (Z-Gundam) due to copyright issues which I think may actually be the more appropriate introduction choice to many of the 'darker' episodes (The dub itself is plenty good and well worth a listen if that's your preference). A quick expression of the soundtrack at it's best is the piece "Track 10 - Giant Battle", which listening to alone encapsulates this entire soundtrack wonderfully. The visuals still hold stock by today's standards, episode 12 has got some of my favourite stills to look at from the whole of Gundam and the animation moves fluidly and with impressive technical prowess. I should caveat that however by mentioning that I feel some do over-exaggerate the animation a little. With a raised budget, the battles certainly do move better then in 79' but due to the way the plot and worldbuilding functions many battles are boiled down to repetitive sword clashing and vague beam shooting which can give the fighting a rather boring repetitive feel to it. Furthermore while I praise episode 12's visuals much of the series doesn't hold a candle to how 79' presented still imagery, while it's time and budgetary constraints lead to often simplistic fights, they would be supplemented by a constant slue of interesting and memorable iconography, this isn't as much so the case in Zeta. Finally for all the impressive scenes, there are an equal number of excessively cheap talking head scenes aboard the relatively mundane Argama (Where even the bridge is less visually interesting or dynamic as the original WhiteBase), which makes it clear where they were more economic. So while it definitely gets top marks for a highly fitting and varied Ost, the animation department could be a little more solid with less superfluous explosions and pointless one off mech designs ( The pinnacle of which is the glorious-green-giant-crab-claw-man), but all told this is all still a very strong showing. Story, Character and World-Building - This is where Gundam Zeta outright fails in comparison to almost every other Gundam in the UC continuum. Without spoilers we have quite possibly the most boringly black and white conflict of the whole timeline. The Titans are the bad guys, the AEUG are the good guys. There is no nuance, no message about how there are good people on both sides of a conflict. Even the motivations of these factions are exceedingly simplistic - The Titans desire literally nothing more then power, I wouldn't even say they're necessarily racist or money hungry, they just want vague space power and that's it. In contrast the AEUG fair little better, they exist almost solely to oppose the Titans and lobby against climate change. This goes further into the worldbuilding where initially the Titan's are explained as a small speical forces group and the AEUG as a sort of rebel force, yet before the show's end these descriptions get progressively more confusing, the AUEG by all accounts have a seemingly endless supply of ships, mobile suit, pilots and other resources to an absurd degree, same with the Titans. They sometimes seem to be an army from the moon or just Anaheim Electric's personal vanguard, there's even vague illusions to them being a faction of the Earth Federation Forces which makes even less established sense. Before I run off the rails into a mindless rant, it should suffice to say that the plot of Zeta, in spite of what many may say, is actually pretty simple, while extra factions do get introduced they're poorly fleshed out and it's hard to tell who's who, not in a 'War is messy' sense, just in a 'the world building is f*cked' kind of way. The story is borderline 30 episode of filler in the middle where the Argama will go from place to place with seemingly no over-arching goals, doing odd jobs for their sponsors or stopping devilishly evil, maniacal laughing, Titan plots and schemes. Many people will acknowledge this middle segment's transgression as the anime's weakest area but then abruptly move on, insinuating that somehow the rest makes up for it but in reality it really doesn't. I strongly believe you could cut half the episodes from this show's run time and you would get the same end results and that isn't a good thing. So then if not story focused is this a character based story? Well sort of, the characters are definitely there and there's plenty a moment where this new cast could shine through in their own right or the old cast could be used to deliver interesting messages but it just doesn't really happen. Kamille Bidan (Our protagonist) has exceedingly weak driving forces and spends most of the anime being called immature one episode and then mature the next, then repeat cycle. He struggles with killing in some episodes but in others seems fairly unaffected and never shows much concern for the dozens of Nemo pilots and other AUEG unnamed ships that get destroyed in the background of battles. He definitely has a strong character when you look at the series as a whole, an interesting one at that but it's only through that prism of observing the whole series as one unit. If one looks at any given 10 episodes his characterisation is all over the place, wavy and ultimately pointless. non of the side cast fair any better, they all have that Gundam endearing-ness, Command Henken shi*ing his pants at the sight of a single enemy mobile suit makes me immediately love the guy but only in a 'memey' way. Conversely you have small background interactions like Chief Astonaige with Kamille or Lt.Apolly which are genuinely quite nice and can make you smile in a Gundam 79' kind of way but never given any real time to shine. The characters don't really have arcs so much as we get told they do. The best example of this is Captain Bright who {(very minor spoiler) has a temporary issue of wondering if he's a good father figure for Kamille, which he mentions a few times, until finally 'Quattro' just tells him that Kamille probably doesn't need a Dad-stand-in anymore (Which in itself is absurd) and after that Bright never brings it up again}, that to me is not a good character arc in the slightest. The villains of Zeta are to me almost unmatched as the weakest in the whole franchise, they're undefined, all corrupt, quintessentially evil, shallow and ultimately bland. I can't spoil much about Captain Bask, Commander Jamaicon, Admiral Jamitov or LT.Commander Yazan because I know nothing about them, not if they have families, political beliefs or a grudge against spacenoids. Actually for all I know they are all spacenoids, I can tell you they're laughably dull and incompetent leaders but you'll have worked that out for two of them by the end of episode 2. Let me be clear, not all Gundam villains need deep motives, not at all but there's a problem when the ones we follow closest for the bulk of the show are all this bad. The rather famous Paptimus Scirocco, and Haman Karn are a little better but nowhere near as much so as some people have claimed and then there's poor old Jerid Messa. Jerid is one of the most…

Tomino, the director of the original Mobile Suit Gundam, and Bandai return for the sequel of the original series in a 50 episode improvement. By improvement, it means that the sequel not only lives up to its predecessor, but also creates a more mature environment with its characters and the war itself. Seven years have passed since the end of the one year war (MSG), and the Earth Federation has become tyrannical dictator-like people and even adopting a new section called “Titans.” With suppression, arises a rebel group called the Anti-Earth Union Group (AEUG) to fight against them, while remnants of Zeon still wait somewhere in the galaxy. The main difference in Zeta is its maturity compared to MSG 0079. Meaning, there is more political arguments and battles with plenty of buildup leading to a major fight. Also, the character developments are more focused on the hardships of war, such as psychological impact upon the people, making needed alliances, deeper backgrounds on particular characters, and actual relationships made along the way. Some similarities to MSG and Zeta do exist. There is still the young pilot “new-type” (Kamille Bidan) who commands the new mobile suit. He is a bit whiny and naiieve, but unlike Armuro (MSG main character), it is explained by what happens to him, and why he acts the way he does. Good news for the series, like the first, uses the highest available animation and orchestra music to define the battles creating some of the best space-mech battles ever seen. Even the trademark split-screen sequences return (pilot to mech split). In conclusion, it is outstanding how well Zeta Gundam holds up and improves after such high standards the original Mobile Suit Gundam set. Please, if the first wasn’t high on the watch list, definitely add this one to the top and get sucked into the entire Universal Century.

Zeta gundam is overrated. This series have potential, but failed to be great. First, about the technical aspect, this series look great despite its age, and the sound is good. However, the pacing is too slow. There are so many mecha battle that look similar to each other that you stop caring about them after 20 episode. Not to mention that most battle end with almost no damage for the good guys. The politics is surprisingly basic for a series like this. There are some moments of plot induced stupidity and a bullshit magical power- up-by-dead-friend's spirit moment at the end of the series. the series have some interesting character, but it spent too much time on uninteresting ones like Jerid and Kamille and not enough on better ones like Scirocco or Haman Karn. Not recommended.

Well, here goes nothing. This is the first time I have felt inspired to write a review of any series even though I've seen my fair share of anime I have both hated and loved. So bear with me. Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam: the successor to the canceled prematurely and smash hit later on "Mobile Suit Gundam". Honestly... there are a ton, and a mean a TON, of good and bad things to say about this series. I will try my best to be succinct and highlight the highs/lows I felt the series contained. Story: Honestly I thought the story was very good. I felt like it was different enough from the Gundams first installment to keep me interested. I appreciated being able to see neo-Zeon in the form of Axis, the newly formed and borderline terrorist Titans, and the Federation. The original series made the point to show that war isn't black and white: both sides can be justified in what they seek to gain from warfare. This could be independence like Zeon or squashing rebellions like the Feddies. Zeta Gundam does no such thing. It is apparent from at least episode 10 that the Feddies are a bunch of suckers, the Titans are smut, and the A.E.U.G/Karaba are the true heroes. Whether yo like this type of storytelling is up to you to decide. However, this is my review and I thoroughly being able to watch the fall out of the one year war. I will say that the whole newtype/cyber-newtype part of the story was harshly overused and turned me off. That is the reason that I can't give the story a 10 or even a 9. I will settle for an 8/10 (very good). Art: Wow. Just wow. There isn't much to say. From shows out of the 80's, Zeta definitely sits up there with the best of them. The show has amazing moments, awesome transformations, and an even better usage of colors to complement the universe and mobile suits. I came to Zeta after watching 0079 and MS IGLOO and I was not disappointed. Sure... they reuse clips. Sure, sometimes facial expressions can be a little wonky or not as crisp as we would like in todays landscape of anime (mostly a cash grab but we can rant about that somewhere else). I loved every single episode of Zeta for its are and it gets a 10 from me (masterpiece/outstanding). Sound: the music and SFX for this series were on point. And I mean ON POINT. Just wow. Sadayoshi did an amazing job with the sound in this series. Both of the openings are a complete bop. Also shout out to the vocalists for the openings Hiroko and Mami. The ending is very carefree and fun. Sound will get a 10 (masterpiece/outstanding). Characters: Oh boy... here is where it gets rocky. Zeta Gundam has fared extremely well thus far in my review. It won't fair quite as well in this section. I can very succinctly say there are only two handfuls of characters I actually care about in this series, which honestly isn't bad, but not what I wanted. Lets start with Kamille. God I love this kid. I truly do. I love when he rages and kills Titans. I love the raw emotion that emits from the screen and makes me feel like I feel what Kamille is going through. I loved him from the very beginning (i'm all for rebellion and jacking a mobile suit). I just wish he pulled the trigger a bit more. Also, damn he's a veggie now... sad. Cha... sorry Quattro Bajeena... is also an interesting character in Zeta. All throughout the series his feelings seem to be clouding what he really wants out of life. We know he has a disdain for people who's souls are being dragged by Earth's gravity. But where does that leave us with what he wants in his own personal life. What are his goals? His ambitions? I guess we will have to keep watching the UC to find out!! I love seeing him war torn, distressed, and having to kneel before Haman. Yazan was fun because he was just such an ass. I loved seeing Haro again, such a great little guy. Haman was very menacing, and holy cow I am so interested to see more of Mineva and Neo-Zeon. Her and Quattro Bajeena's interactions were so great! Seeing Bright, Amuro, Fraw Bow, and the kids again was pretty cool and I am glad that only a select few of them played center stage. I've only been positive up to this point... so why am I not frothing at the most of the characters in Zeta you ask? Well to name a few: Jerid, Rosammy or Rosamia whatever, Reccoa, Paptimus... that little handful was enough to bring this series characters to the score it receives. Jerid had no damn skill whatsoever and should have died so much earlier. Rosammy was literally Four 2.o and held NO purpose. Reccoa and her whole "I'm a woman" shtick was garbage and annoying. Paptimus was absolute wasted potential. I mean a rouge Titan operative from the outside could have major implications but honestly he just formed a love triangle and caused people to die. Like c'mon writers. Fa pissed me off so much in the first half of the series but I found that she redeemed herself. Sarah was also dumb and bland. I will end off this section by naming the GOATS of this series though: Shinta and Qum!! I loved them, and they were definitely better than 0079 kids. I give Zeta a 6 on characters (fair/fine). Enjoyment: I enjoyed the beginning of the series. The middle of the series was kind of a lull. The end was pretty good given what occurred to some characters (no spoilers ;) for you). However, fifty episodes was way too long for this series. It was accomplishable in thirty for sure. I did enjoy this series and it was worth the watch. I would most likely never watch it again and just opt to watch the movies instead. For anyone getting into Gundam though, I believe the series is a must watch over the movies to start. I give this section a 7 (good). Overall I was impressed by many of the things this installment in the UC did. There were minor things that left a bad taste on my tongue, but nothing bad enough to wreck the whole series. Final Score: A solid 8 (very good).

War is hell on earth. Any legit reason to start a war will pale in comparison with the amount of human lives that will be lost in the war. There will be no true winners, only pain and tragedy. If there is an anime that was able to perfectly represent the cruelty of war is Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam. Before watching this series you MUST watch the first Gundam ( I highly recommed to watch the movie trilogy instead of the series). This anime is a masterpeace, the greatest work of Yoshiyuki Tomino and probably the greatest anime I have ever seen. This was also a great source of inspiration for many more famous works ( like Code Geass and Evangelion). A. The Characters and Story Between the many types of great anime protagonist there are those young, naive but gutsy protagonist that have to learn everything from the beginning that will slowly develop to achive their dream or objective. Some great examples are Okabe Rintarou, Edward Elric, Monkey D. Luffy and many many more. Kamile Bidan fall into this category but with a brilliant twist, he is not only very inmature, clueless and naive at the beginning, but he is also a very annoying and hateful character. Seriously, you will wish to see this kid dead as soon as he appears for tye first time . But the brilliances of this protagonist is how the events of Zeta Gundam force him to slowly change as the war goes on. Kamille sees his family, his friend and other people that he knows die, he is also force to kill many human beings himself. War changes him, but for the better. He become more intelligent, more tolerant, he starts thinking more about other people and the future of humakind after the end of the war, instead of feeding his own ego like he was doing at the beginning of the series. Until we get to the end of the series were I am sure that you will really like Kamile Bidan as a protagonist. He has one of the greatest character developments of any anime protagonist in history. Another fantastic character is Chars Aznable (or should a I call him Quattro Bajeena in this series?), in the first Gundam he became the greatest anime antagonist I have ever seen, but in Zeta Gundam he has a completly different role, been the mentor of the protagonist and becoming a true leader that can change the future for the better. The mentor - protege relationship between Chars and Kamille has to been one of the greatest in anime history. Chars was incredible in 0079 Gundam but in Zeta is were he solidifies his position as the greatest character of the entire franchise. A great pilot and warrior but an even better politician, leader, mentor, philosopher and friend. There are many other great characters like Scirocco, Bright Noa and Haman Karn, but I rather stop here and let you guys discover this incredible cast of characters by yourself. I am not going to say much about the plot of Zeta Gundam cause it will spoil the end of the original Gundam, so I will just say that it is a story about the cruelty of war, how corrupted a militar or political faction can become, and how people are able to understand each other even in the worst possible situation. Is a true war drama. 2. Animation, art and soundtrack If we compare it with today’s animation, then of course it sucks. But, for it’s time Zeta Gundam had a very good animation and art. After the success of the first Gundam series, Sunrise had more money to spend on this proyect and I think they did a great job. The design of the mobile suits (mechas) are some of my favorites. The soundtrack is nothing special (except for an ost called riders in the sky which is amazing), but I think it was alright for this series. 3. Enjoyment and score For me to give a series a perfect score is not enough for it to be perfect, in needs to have something that makes it especial. Zeta Gundam is a perfect and especial series with a fantastic story, incredible character development and progression and it is simple the best war drama in anime history. I enjoyed every second of it. It deserves the perfect score.

Serving as sequel to Mobile Suit Gundam, Zeta Gundam is set seven years later as teenager Kamille Bidan joins with a resistance movement called the Anti-Earth Union Group (AEUG) to combat the influence of the Titans, a corrupt faction of the Earth Federation seeking to suppress resistance to Federation influence on space colonies. The AEUG are led by the glasses-wearing Quattro Bajeena, in reality a reformed Char Aznable seeking to halt the corrupt Titan influence after he is able to wipe out the Zabi family in the original Gundam series. Our new male lead, Kamille, is a bit of a mixed bag compared to Amuro from the original series. On the one hand, we are shown the emotional trauma he goes through from trying to comprehend the scope of the war he is fighting in as he loses loved ones or those he grows to care for get exploited by the Titans for their personal gain in the ongoing conflict. This makes his character more relatable than Amuro in certain facets as he struggles with and tries coming to terms with the scale of the conflict he is entangled in whereas Amuro did not have as much personal baggage to deal with in comparison. On the other hand, his more idealist bent and impulsiveness did grate on my nerves at points as his rushing into action and angsting usually made connecting with him difficult. Besides Kamille, many of the major characters do get a good deal of fleshing out to explore their personal beliefs and how they are impacted by the AEUG/ Titans conflict. A good number of the major players from Mobile Suit Gundam return to take on supporting roles and each are affected from their experiences from the One-Year War in varying capacities such as Quattro/ Char feeling the weight of pressure from fulfilling a leadership role in the AEUG, Amuro still recuperating from years-long combat fatigue, and Katz (one of the war orphans watched by Frau in the original series) struggling to comprehend the reality of war as a teenage pilot. The series also explores some of the victims of the corruption of the Titans as they employ brainwashing and genetic manipulation to manipulate some characters in fighting on their behalf and the psychological effects of these tactics are shown with their use on the artificially-created Cyber Newtypes. The characterization is not all deep as there are some relevant characters that exist mainly to be irredeemably evil among the Titans and to eventually be killed off. In terms of plot, Zeta Gundam explores the struggles of the AEUG aboard the Argama as they fight the Titans within space and on Earth. The conflict between the two continually escalates with the Titans making new mobile suits, exploiting enemy weaknesses to get an upper hand, committing worst atrocities to the civilian populace than the Zeons, and defying Federation authority to do whatever they like. The series offers some surprise twists in its storytelling that help shake the show's plot and character development up, including the return of a major enemy faction from the original Gundam series. Otherwise, it does follow a number of the typical storytelling tropes we would expect of many later Gundam titles that include a high death count, Newtype gimmicks being milked, a mid-series Gundam upgrade, and clash between normal and enhanced humans. While the series finale offers a shocking twist ending after the Titans are dealt with, Zeta Gundam had ended inconclusively due to an enemy threat still being at large and would continue on in the critically panned Gundam ZZ. While the visuals to Zeta Gundam are quite outdated compared to modern anime titles, the animation is improved from the original series with not too many animation errors and less rough details with scenery and character designs. Still though, the series does resort to animation shortcuts with still shots and reused animated frames being an occasional sight within the show. While having some hiccups in its storytelling and character exploration, Zeta Gundam is still one of the better quality offerings of the Gundam franchise as it offered more darker story developments and introduced new story elements and concepts that would be reused for later Gundam titles. It is a worthwhile watch if you are a fan of the Gundam franchise or mecha anime in general.

" Probably the best sequel in enitre anime history " Gundam zeta is the 2nd main installment of uc timeline which describe the struggle of humans or newtypes in a never ending conflict to seize power . Zeta Gundam introduces a more political and morally gray world, where allegiances shift, and the true cost of war becomes painfully clear. It's a war story that feels genuinely consequential, with each decision and action weighed with emotional and political motivated . I think there isn't much need to describe too much details because everyone knows what gundam is truly means or what it tries to convey all time . You will find similar synopsis or plot throughout the gundam universe but the way of execution of story along with character development and mecha designs make every gundam unique and enjoyable in his own way . The series' darker tone and mature themes might make it a challenging watch for younger audiences and people who wanna experience mecha genre . The exploration of war, idealism versus realism, and the psychological toll on its characters are handled with remarkable subtlety, making it not just a great mecha series, but a profound narrative on the human condition. The whole gundam universe is a landmark in anime world with his impactful plot , action , philosphy , themes , ost or soundtracks . I pay my respect to legendary kenji kawai for producing some great music and soundtracks .

Zeta has a lot of high highs and a lot of low lows. The writing peaks and dips dramatically based on if there's a woman in a scene or not. The writing isn't bad per say, it's actually extremely good, it's just that I don't think Tomino knew how women worked when he was writing this. Free my girl Reccoa she didnt do anything wrong. Great action, animation. Suits look cool. Kamille is a very good protagonist, and watching his journey is harrowing. Four Vaginas is also like so fucking cool, like unreasonably fucking cool, but he's still an asshole dipshit and I appreciate that. Haman was fantastically menacing, even if she didnt show up a lot. The cast overall is fine. I wish I got to see them interact more as a team, but I'm fairly happy with what we got. They're not beating the charm of WB though. Speaking of charm, the returning white base cast got very good sendoffs, Kai and Amuro especially. Poor Bel. She deserved better, but I didn't hate her arc. While I have mixed feelings because of the misogny, I do recommend zeta as a whole, because it's a great show, just didnt hit all the buttons for me in particular. Oh, and Fa Yuiry best girl.