Kidou Senshi Gundam: Gyakushuu no Char

The Mobile Suit Gundam franchise gets its first ever movie in the form of Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counterattck. Released back in 1988, it was directed by franchise creator, Yoshiyuki Tomino. The movie sees the return of One Year War veterans Char Aznable and Amuro Ray back in action. If you're interested in watching it, I recommend watching Mobile Suit Gundam and Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam-- even Gundam ZZ, if possible-- first to get a better understanding of the plot and characters. Anyway, let's get into the review. U.C. 093, six years after the events of Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam, Char Aznable emerges from hiding. This time, he wages war against the Earth Federation with his Neo-Zeon army. Of course, Earth Federation retaliates and rival pilot and One Year War veteran, Amuro Ray, is looking to settle the score with Char for good. The story is well-told and kept me interested. However, it doesn't really explain much about what happened to Char and Amuro after Zeta Gundam and how did they get the positions that they're in. Also, it would have been nice to see characters from Zeta and ZZ such as Kamille and Judau make some form of an appearance. Nevertheless, the story is engaging and kept me hooked. The two main leads Amuro and Char are back and it's great seeing them duke it out again. Captain Bright Noa takes a supporting role and it's great seeing him back. New characters include Chan, mechanic and Amuro's girlfriend; Nanai, Char's second in command; Hathaway Noa, Bright's son who's caught up in the action; last and least, Quess, a green-haired Zeon pilot. I felt that for some reason the movie wants us to focus on Hathaway and Quess for some reason. both came off as boring than interesting. Hathaway comes off as naive and irritating at times. As for Quess, she takes annoying to a whole new level. Constantly going on and on about how awesome Char is (he sure is!), she just felt unnecessary. Honestly, it would have been better if we got more Amuro and Char screen time than this. For a late 80's film, the production values hold-up well. The animation and designs are fits the style of the Gundam universe. Additionally, The show's main mobile suits, Amuro's Nu Gundam and Char's Sazabi are both well-detailed and are looking good. I've watched the dubbed version of the movie and I have to say, it was alright. If I recall correctly, Char's Counterattck was dubbed before Zeta Gundam, so it's natural if the voice cast sound different. The soundtrack is spot-on. A lot of the tracks fit the tension and action sequences and was a nice to listen to. I have been anticipating to watch Char's Counterattck for a while, and after watching it, it didn't disappoint. Despite some lack of backstory for some characters, I still found the story to be engaging. The fights were thrilling to watch and it was great seeing Amuro and Char back in action. The presentation is nice and still holds up well by today's standards. Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counterattack is a must-watch for fans of the U.C. Gundam timeline.

Char's Counterattack is a masterpiece. It's one of the best mecha anime movies ever made, up there with Ideon: Be Invoked and EoE. People who disagree with me on this do so because they were expecting an anime series - like an OVA or a show - instead of a MOVIE, which was always the intent of CCA. CCA was written as a FILM, and it shows. It tells the audience everything they need to know without exposition dumps, for example. It focuses on short, concise dialogue and showing instead of telling. I can't get into the characters or the story, since we're supposed to avoid writing spoilers in our reviews here on MAL, but I will say this. Second to wanting some kind of series instead of a movie, CCA detractors are often obsessed with the idea that Char's character is assassinated in this movie. They claim that his actions and motives make zero sense. Well, if you paid attention during the original Gundam and Zeta Gundam, it should be obvious once you watch CCA that they're wrong. People only say this about Char if they're in denial that at the core of his character is not a good person, but a rather misguided, petty one. This reality of Char's character - that he can be considerably petty - is what makes him so interesting throughout the Gundam franchise, especially during the climax at CCA.

The existence of this film saddens and infuriates me. It is an absolute waste of potential. Gundam CC should at least be a 24 episode anime instead of this ridiculously hurried movie that made me have headaches in its 1st act, while the rest upset me because of the lack of development that we, the viewers, had from the events. Gundam CC is the conclusion of everything we saw before and MORE, MUCH MORE that we didn't see, I was disappointed. As I need to write a little more to post the review, I say that this film is worthy of being called "Gundam Speedrun any%". That's all.

There are going to be some spoilers of the movie in this review, so be warned Gundam. The name barely requires any introduction, this monstrosity of a franchise, that has been kept itself relevant throughout almost 40 years, and in present times has, as far as I know 3 currently airing series. This film occupies a special place in this monomith, being an attempt to finally get the satisfying and conclusive resolution to elements from 3 previous seasons, especially the legendary rivalry between the franchise most popular and beloved characters, char aznable and amuro ray. The successes and failures of this movie is what I will be discussing at length in this review. Let me start with the aspects that definitely did not work. Its introduction of new characters and said character plotlines. I could put a lot of effort and talk about each new main character in detail, but it would make no difference, the truth is all new character sucked. Like really weak motivations that constantly change for no reason, barely any personality, completely irrational in their decision making process making they look dumb as fuck, no chemistry or interesting interactions those guys complete the checklist for bad character writing. That would not be that much of a problem, if the movie did not spend an insane amount of time trying and failing to stablish this characters, and how this character by the end of the story barely achieved anything meaningful mostly serving to die in anticlimactic ways. Talk about a complete waste of time. From its worst to its best aspect, the visual presentation in this movie is spectacular second best looking 80s tv show I have ever seen. And when the first place is akira be sure this not little praise. Past gundam series like zeta have this distinct high quality for its time animation, but the movie one ups all previous installements in the series in that regard. The battle sequences are in general breathtaking, from its memorable mech designs, its attention to detail, fluidity and dynamism of movement, it was all on point in this movie. I also really dig the character designs; such hyper realistic style really suits gundam the best. The clash between amuro and char is the most important and perhaps most divisive aspect being really a mixed bag in general. The direction they decided to take char in this movie is criticized by lots of fans a comprehensible perspective. A lot of things in regards to char’ character, especially in his ideals and the way of achieving his goals, none of the events and what lead him to change to his mind is ever openly shown to the audience. But there are several hints that explain what happened to him. The show heavily implies that the burden of finally assuming and taking his heritage as the leader of Zeon, after finally following the footsteps of his father he feels both obligated by his father memory and to his duty as a son, to prove and finally act upon his father’s ideals, such desire, is what finally makes him, abandons the passivity he showed at zeta and his general unwillingness to commit and be a major agent in the evolution of mankind. A believable and even understandable in my ways development for the character. This war is not only ideological for char though, he has a personal reason to be invested in this conflict, his other desire is to finally enact revenge towards amuro to the point he himself sometime questions if that is not the more important reason for whole thing. Although a little more showing would be better char’s character and final resolution completely works in this movie. I wish I could say the same for amuro. Not much about his character is actually revealed, his motivations besides his pacifism are fairly obscure, important topics like what char may mean to him are not even hinted. What we have here is a way more concrete and well realized character, fighting against one that is sadly lacking, but to be fair amuro at least intellectually challenges char, at least the clash between highly different and valid ideals about how to enact change in the world works, not only on paper but in practice. I am on purpose omitting the fact this movie was designed for failure. Look at how grandiose of a plot this has, with 5 main characters, 3 of which have never been established in this franchise, a complicated political backlog with several factions, and a large scale confrontation, regarding the future of mankind, and tell me was a movie length worth to do justice to all of that? No this has clear signs of being planned originally as a 13-episode series that was forcefully put as a single movie. More time could do wonders to improve the product that we got, like the aforementioned terrible characters closely reminded me of characters’ types I found in earlier entries of the franchise like zeta. And although in there the characters were also annoying the fact we got the time to know and understand those characters’ mentality, is what ultimately made those work, and the character in here to do not. I am not saying they could not have made this as a movie, it is not like there are not dozens of good ways to streamline this. SO would I recommend this movie? Eh…. Sure it mostly works only as a cool what if scenario regarding the insane amount of possibilities this could have, and I would be dared to call anything in this great outside of its animation quality, but heck just goes for it. Char and Amuro’s characters are a big part of what made the UC gundam so special their final moments and struggle gain importance by that alone and deserve to be seen by all gundam fans. As all good things come to an end so did that important aspect of gundam, a shame it was not the satisfying ending it could possibly had been.

This is the direct sequel to Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ despite having nothing to do with that series. Instead the story focuses on (coolest of the cool) Char on a mission to remove humans off of Earth with his favorite frenemy Amuro Ray, who's trying to put an end to Char’s mission of eradicating life off of Earth. When watching this film, I watched it the day after I finished ZZ, so the change back into a more serious tone was just as jarring as when I started ZZ. And not just that, but we’re thrown back in the classic, tried and true rivalry between our nobel hero Amuro and dashing, and badass Char Aznable. No Judau, no Kamille, and no Saylla though we get Captain. Bright, his son Hathaway, his annoying friend Quess and even a bit of Mirai. In general, this a great cinematic Mobile Suit Gundam experience and I was thoroughly pleased with it, but had it removed certain elements and added others it’d be on a whole other level, but what exactly holds it back for me as a masterpiece and does this film beat out the 46 episode tv-series preceding it? Starting with the visuals, I was blown away by the fluidity of the animation of all the mobile suits and the combat. The suits and ships were moving and attacking so swiftly, their attacks and movements were like watching a knife cut through butter. The amount of detail that went into both the battles (the movements, the collisions, the explosions) and the mechs/ships (all the intricacies, the wear and tear throughout the battle) was phenomenal. Though I must admit that the human’s took a bit to get used to, looking rather blob-ishly might I add. But over time I grew to appreciate their designs, especially char’s new looks throughout. Though I still prefer the style of the TV series over this one, save for 0079. So even if the story leaves a bit to be desired, or left behind in some cases, then I still suggest that if you're a fan of gundam (especially 0079 or zeta) then you should watch this for the spectacle of these high magnitude battles alone. So with the visuals being this good, how does the story itself hold up? Well for a story called Char’s Counterattack, featuring thee Amuro Ray I was hoping for the majority of the film to be between those two. And while they do interact, it’s nowhere near the amount I was hoping it would be. It happens a bit at the beginning, a part in the middle, and ultimately peaks at their final confrontation. And I loved both Char and Amuro (though the latter deserved more screen time to better flesh him out, since the last we saw him was only briefly in Zeta) in their individual scenes, their screen time, and the scenes involving what’s going on in the battle’s logistics behind the scenes are forced to give their time to a forced love square between Nanai, Char, Gyunie, Quess. When the only type of love square I wanted to see was between Char, Amuro, Lalah, and the Earth. As I’ve mentioned earlier we’re introduced to Bright’s son Hathaway, a nice kid who’s made to go on board with father whose task is handling the biggest direct threat known to Earth since Paptimus Scirocco was still alive, for some reason. As well as his friend Quess, who’s father plays an important role in this war, and she’s a newtype who follows Char. Not sure if it was intentional or not, but for the little screen time that Hathaway got I enjoyed his character, can’t say the same for Quess. She’s annoying, narcissistic, and makes every scene she’s involved in quite unpleasant to watch. Despite Quess being a nuisance to the viewer, Hathaway doesn’t think so and spends his energy trying to get her back on the Fed’s side. I wish Quess and her daddy complex was removed from the film entirely, you could also argue that not much would change if you were to remove Hathaway, but even if he’s kind of dumb, he’s a good kid. Plus, Bright slapping him after some much needed correction was one of the most satisfying moments of the film. There’s other characters and relationships like Amuro’s with Chan or Astoniage with his girlfriend that just feels forced and uninteresting. Speaking of things that are just there for the sake of it, the music does its role in creating a suspenseful atmosphere when necessary, but nothing about it stands out in particular since the majority of the film relies on the ambiance of the environment to set the mood of the scene. I watched CCA the day after I finished ZZ, so the change back into a more serious tone was just as jarring as when I started ZZ. But unlike many I enjoyed ZZ, and I think ZZ is one of the most subjective entries in the franchise due to its heavy reliance on comedy. Unlike others that rely more on their unique brand of storytelling and general scope of the narrative they present. But is CCA a masterpiece and is it better than ZZ? Firstly, no it’s not, but it could’ve been had it focused on Char and Amuro more than Quess. That’s not to say this is a bad film, in fact this is a marvelous film on the visuals and climax alone. I’d say it’s worth at least two viewings. And lastly, even though I know it’s unfair to rate a two hour long movie to a 46 episode tv series, but I’d give the edge to ZZ since for every annoying or dislikable character it presents, it presents another character whose enjoyment I have for outweighs my dislike towards the characters I don’t care for. Also I prefer the visual aesthetic of the tv-series. But I’d give the edge to CCA in terms of being so epic, not only visually, but also in the story. Since it’s honestly the perfect cap off to the 14 year old rivalry between Char and Amuro. And that’s why I think this film is worth your time, even if it has some issues with the characters, the overall experience is an epic gundam tale of galaxian proportions, that I wouldn’t trade for the sake of Earth.

Well, after months of watching UC gundam (im going through UC in chronologcal order), I finally reached this movie. And to say I was excited was an understatement. I was mostly going in blind but had some rough idea about what was about to happen. (i've marked the SPOILER sections in this review) This movie was truly an ethereal experience worth the wait, for someone who loves film and Gundam both. Production wise, its a late 80s Sunrise film, ofcourse it looks and sounds beautiful. The way different colors of the warships, mobile suits and their lasers/missiles contrast with the cold blue/black isolation of space leaves a striking image. The portrayal of colonies brought the same wonder to me when I first saw them in Origin / 0079. All of this looks even better in motion. During my first watch, honestly I was kind of lost with the plot as the last time I saw Char was at the end of Zeta when he was telling Kamille about how "the future generations" will be the ones to save humanity and progress them forwards. Now (4 years after that) he wants to drop the Axis on Earth so humanity can get a fresh start ? But as I continued watching the movie it all made sense to me. Witnessing how the Earth Federation (the older generations) had failed Kamille (humanity) at the end of Zeta and their lack of incentive towards providing any sort of solution / opposition to Haman during ZZ definitely impacted Char and his way of viewing the world. But more so than all this, at his mental lowest, in a childish desire (Lalah did say that Char was 'pure') he wanted to prove that he was better than Amuro. I believe that all of his actions post Zeta and in this movie were just a guise, under which he desired one last duel against Amuro, his fated rival who had rid Char of the first person who gave him hope for the future of humanity. He had finally decided to go out and wanted peace with his rival regarding what happened in 0079 with them and Lalah. The more I think of him in this light, the more his actions make sense. Amuro, on the other hand juxtaposes Char really well as I think he's the best he has ever been in this movie. Absolutely determined to stop the pending catastrophe along with Char no matter what. Seeing how he developed from an unsure child who had no idea what/who to fight for, to a PTSD-strucken soldier who did want to fight ever again because of his experiences, to finally becoming the best version of himself and accepting the responsbility he holds; this journey has made him one of my favourite characters. Char and Amuro were both deeply affected by the Lalah incident, but unlike Char, Amuro had other people he could turn to and hence the difference in how they turned out (ofcourse, in Zeta Char was at his 'best' and Amuro at his 'worst' but life is never constant). Also the Nu Gundam and the Sazabi are amazing, both expressing their pilots' conditions flawlessly. Nu is like a knight, with an assymtreical design symbolising the imperfection of the humanity its fighting for (heck even those funnels worked against Amuro's will when he first used them against Gyunei). The Sazabi is beastly looking (even more so in the manga ver: Nightingale) with an interesting thing to note being how this is the first mobile suit I've seen (so far) where the pilot sits in the head and not in the chest; further highlighting Char's lack of heart. The final battle between these two is more of a messy club brawl, with the desperation clearly exhibited in how pilots operate their mechs. I'll now gush about my favourite scene in the movie. // SPOILERS FOR THE ENDING // - Overview at the end -- spoiler tag again, thanks for reading till here but please go watch this movie first-- The final scene of this movie is one of my favourite scenes to ever exist. With no solution to slow down a portion of the Axis falling towards the Earth, Amuro straight up decides to push it away using the Nu. "I'm not as impatient as you are, I'm willing to wait for humanity to learn and grow." As he says this, all the forces which were figthing (including Neo-Zeon) try to help him push the threat away. However, the stress is too much for their mass production suits to handle and they start burning/breaking. There is also another scene here which deeply affected me where a Jegan (federation suit) holds a Neo Zeon suit's hand to try prevent it from drifting away. All of this really made me realize that when worst comes to worst. humanity can work (or atleast try to) together and accomplish some goddamn amazing things (which is applicable in real life as well!). This action paired with the dialogue between Char and Amuro, which finally makes Amuro realize the reasons behind Char's actions and how they were more personal than just spacenoid movement for indepenence allows him to finally understand him and unlock high psycho-frame resonance and push the Axis away. The entire final sequence is *chef's kiss*. // SPOILERS END // There are plenty of other moments in the movie which deserve praise but the ending really left its mark on me (and other people, seeing how widely discussed it is). Obviously the movie is not perfect, it starts like a "third act" and there are some scenes which still have me wondering their implications, but here's to hoping further rewatches change that. All things included, this movie is amazing and worth your time, even as a standalone if you've never experienced UC Gundam never before because it makes you feel things (regardless of good or bad) and thats the most important thing.

Overall I liked CCA quite a bit but there are some pretty big flaws with some of the characters and their impact on the story. PROS: The animation and fight scenes are incredible, and there are a lot of them. Sunrise knew what the fans wanted and the last 30 minutes were just god tier fight scenes with amazing animation, especially compared to the 3 series beforehand. In terms of story, you're thrown into the middle of things which I know some people did not like, but I actually really enjoyed. There's no wasting time on narrating in detail what happened. Instead you quickly find out through dialogue that feels natural. CONS: The biggest flaw for me are the new characters especially Gyunei, Quess and Hathaway. I thought pretty much all their scenes were dumb and the only time Quess felt relevant was in the conversation at the end between Amuro and Char. Also CCA is the finale to a pretty huge show with long character arcs. Rather than introduce new characters I don't care about, I think it would have been better if they just focused even more on Amuro vs Char and the final clash between them and their ideals. That's what everyone wanted. There are also some questionable decisions in terms of events of the story, but they're almost always related to these 3 characters.

"There is a responsibility for us creators to create practical logical common-sense material to upload that’s socially responsible. If I could add one more thing, when I say 'common-sense' it could be taken to mean the opposite stance to populism." -- Tomino Yoshiyuki in an NYC convention If I could summarize the message of ZETA and ZZ especially, it would be Tomino's plea to the kids watching his show that's something of the lines of "Adults convince each other to do evil things like destroy our planet and massacare each other. You, the new generation, counter this with thinking with your heart" (which I personally both don't believe is antithetical to populism, and is a deeply flawed message for Tomino to give and encourages ignoring the times when mass violence as a means to an end has radically changed societies for the better, but I digress). Char's Counterattack stays close to that line of viewing things. Populism, as Tomino would have defined in the above quote, is seen in Char riding off the coattails of the decades of resentment sprung up by earthlings' blatant disregard for the people who left for space and just how much they have outpaced those whose souls still chained by the gravitational pull of earth. If I can think of the closest contemporary equivalent to this mindset, I would say sometime around 2020 when the belief that covid would radically wake up society in its path of destruction was at its peak. Positive environmental impacts were happening the first time for so long due to how seriously everyone was taking the lockdowns, and boomers, those whose souls are most chained by the gravitational pull of the past, were the ones dying at the fastest pace. This was also at the detriment of the poor and disabled, but just like in Neo-Zeon's collective consciousness, this was collateral to the naive and misguided optimism for how impactful this wake up call was. Amuro's response to char is a post ideological "all revolutions end in mediocrity and leave only a path of destruction in their wake" framing of things. Both the naive hope for destruction as an end in itself being the wake up call the future needs and the "common sense" resistance against any radical political ideal given by Tomino's voice of reason (not to say the federation government Amuro fights for isn't obviously corrupt or even that adult Amuro is portrayed as always in the right, just that the way Tomino typically presents morals in the Gundam universe and the fact that this is a recurring theme makes me reasonably certain that this is what he believes) are harmful in their own ways, but no side being completely morally correct is what makes gundam fun. Forgot to talk about the robot fights: they were pretty.

After the original, Zeta, and ZZ, Char's Counterattack concludes Amuro and Char's stories. It's not so much as a proper conclusion to this timeline in Gundam history as it is just a movie about Char and Amuro. I didn't know that and thus feel biased because the story just seems to end here for everyone with this film, at least until the fan fiction that is Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn. This was a missed opportunity to wrap up the story for nearly the entire cast. I wasn't sure how to feel in the end. Maybe I made my expectations too high, as I was waiting for a conclusion for at least most of the characters. Instead, the end is unknown. Story wise, Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ might as well never had existed except in Bright's mind. Char left his character development back in Zeta and forgot about it. Nothing from ZZ is here, but it is still a watch for those who like Kamille's character and who want closure at least. The only thing ZZ does to help the viewers understand this movie is to show the cowardice of the Earth Federation. Still, that was already established and made clear in Zeta. For an entire Gundam series, it gives 0 context behind what is happening at the start of this movie. Char is suddenly back to how he was in Mobile Suit Gundam. It feels as if Quattro was a completely different person. Why did this film try to do so many new things and add lots of new characters? There's already a wide cast that deserved a conclusion. Where is Kai? Why did Sayla get reduced to Leina's shadow? Was Judau a figment of Bright's imagination? All that cast built up in ZZ, and just abandoned like that. There are loose ends everywhere. At least they gave Mirai a more appealing character design here. I can't deny this looks beautifully animated. At the same time, that doesn't write a good story. Char is now genocidal? He wants to destroy the earth and the people there because of the corrupt leadership? Why does he have to involve innocent people? Has he just given up on humanity? He has mommy issues? Why didn't he just make a plan to take out the leadership and install one that is worthy or start a departure of everyone there into space completely? Maybe a movement to clean up the planet from not just corruption but pollution? I understand he doesn't want to be a leader, or even a person that can change the world, ironically, but there were better ways to do things. He's like an enraged environmentalist turned genocidal. Why didn't he and Amuro ever try to really understand each other? The soundtrack to this is excellent, and I had already been listening to it for months before watching this. A shame they wasted good songs that bring feelings of tension with a horse scene. They do touch upon it just a little, but I would have liked to see more of Amuro's engineer side. In this he's just a soldier that's good at what he does. After being completely absent in ZZ, his character didn't really go anywhere. I have a lot of questions about what happened between ZZ and Char's Counterattack and it's a tragedy Tomino didn't try to use ZZ to properly set this movie up. Of the new characters, I cared for none of them. Quess is basically Puru, and Hathaway seemed like another obnoxious Katz type character who already has blood on his hands. Even if I was to just look at this as a Char and Amuro movie, it's not really as conclusive and resolved as I imagined it could be. It has always been clear that Amuro is a better pilot than Char. He never seemed to properly fix his constant mistake of using a more inferior mobile suit than Amuro. In Amuro's defense, his skills as an engineer will always put his Gundam technologically ahead. If I were Char, I'd try to do some intelligence gathering and acquire the Nu Gundam's specs to make something at least at the same level. It's clear he wouldn't want an advantage over a worthy opponent such as Amuro, but at least play on an even level. For a rivalry, it's pretty biased on Amuro's side. The final scene just dragged on too long for me before everything turns to lights and rainbows. It feels sour that the story ends here, for the anime and Tomino, at least. Lastly, Astonaige didn't deserve it.

Char's Counterattack is a pretty alright movie only saved by its pretty good animation and sound design. The movie in itself feels like a parody of itself; Char's back as an antagonist again, bringing Zeon with him again, Amuro is once again our protagonist in a barely relevant new Gundam, and everyone experiences bad and not developed romances while 80% of the runtime is nothing but action scenes. The movie really didn't need to be two hours long either, as not much of substance happens. If you enjoy Gundam for its characters this is not the place for you, as it introduces many new characters, proceed to develop none of them, only to kill half of those for shock value. It could've gotten the point across in half the runtime without much loss Char's Counterattack is also completely disconnected from the bigger UC storyline. If you wondered how Kamille, Fa, Fraw Bow, Kai, Sayla, Judau and his friends, or whoever else than Amuro and Char really, were doing, you'll exit this movie with the same questions as before. It even makes Gundam ZZ look like it didn't even happen, and while I didn't like this series this is still proof of how terribly mismanaged the UC storyline was at this point. This movie is pretty disappointing. Not a rage-inducing disappointment, but more of an empty one.

A noticeable improvement over the TV series in terms of Mech and combat animations, but a significant step down in clarity of character motivation, and overall dialogue. The recurring characters all feel slightly 'off' from their original versions, and the new added characters (Quess) border on possibly the worst/most annoying I've seen. Awesome to see all that mech action in this "vintage" style though. ------- Animation = good mech combat, some subpar moments outside of the mechs such as the horse/jeep chase Style = classic old Gundam, looks great. I appreciate that they managed to keep a mostly consistent style to the old TV series. Music = good, but I wish they reused more of the best tracks from the TV shows Characters = strange and bad, as mentioned above the newly added characters are mostly quite bad Story = good enough for Gundam, even though the exact reasons for the antagonists' actions remain strangely unconvincing.

Char's Counterattack offers a unique experience that can't be fully appreciated upon just the first viewing. I'm not saying it's bad, but it's far too overwhelming for a first-time viewer to follow. When I first saw the film, my main problem was with its lack of context on events combined with its breakneck pace. Upon my most recent viewing I didn't have to worry about the lack of context because I already knew what happens, this made the it not too overwhelming and actually quite enjoyable. It's never boring, almost the entire film feels like a climax to an entire Gundam series which is an awesome feeling to nail down over the course of an entire film. It's hard to talk about any aspect of this film without also mentioning how fast everything is, the action is one of those aspects, and the speed upgrade is great. There is an excitement and intensity this film offers that neither the original Gundam, Zeta, or ZZ can compare with. But this speed also means the viewer has to keep up, on my first viewing I actually didn't like the action because I couldn't keep up, but now I think it's great. I'd like to point out that the duel at the end between Amuro and Char in particular is one of my favourite action scenes in all of Gundam. I don't want to spoil anything but I'll say I found the ending to be very satisfying and emotional. Overall, Char's Counterattack is a good film, but it's hard to get into. I think many of the same aspects that made me not care for it initially changed on my second viewing to be aspects that I found very unique and noteworthy when compared to other films. It could've still used a longer runtime to further develop it's new additions, but what we've got here is more than enough to leave me satisfied.

Very good movie, very entertaining at all times. And we see the closing of several characters, I like the small differences and nods to the other movies, gundam series. The animation is very good as always, it has that engaging dialogue. Where life itself poses you and above all you always see because the character thinks that way. I like it because in this film they clarify things from the first seasons, it's like very good and things changed, there are incredible revelations. We can see again the character of char in action pulling the political and military strings to enter another war but the characters are very well developed. The importance it has for the Char saga is incredible and seeing it from so close is epic. I highly recommend this movie if you like Mechas. En español: Muy buena película, muy entretenida en todo momento. Y vemos el cierre de varios personajes, me gusta las pequeñas diferencias y guiños a las demás películas, series de gundam. La animación es muy buena como siempre, tiene eso diálogos atrapante. Donde te plantea la vida misma y encima siempre vez porque el personaje piensa así. Me gusto porque encima en esta película aclaran cosas de las primeras temporadas es como muy bueno y cambiaron cosas, hay revelaciones increíbles. Podemos ver de nuevo el personaje de char en acccion moviendo los hilos politicos y militares para entrar en otra guerra pero muy bien desarrollado los personajes. La importancia que tiene para la saga Char es incrible y verlo desde tan cerca es epico.

(Minor spoilers for Zeta, CCA, Unicorn and Hathaway) Deranged Lolicon Loses Everything and Gets Lost in Space for Five Years, Radicalizes Some Refugees, Gets Funding from a Corporation Playing Both Sides for Profit, and Attempts GENOCIDE: The Movie. Welcome to Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counterattack, the big finale to the Universal Century saga that is a much better version of The Rise of Skywalker, but then got its legacy shat on 30 years later through the combined efforts of Unicorn and Hathaway. Almost everything about CCA is a masterpiece. The political intrigue; the epic and satisfying conclusion to Amuro and Char's rivalry; Char embracing his demons after losing everything, including all hope for the people of Earth, at the end of Zeta; the sound design; the animation; the action; and the soundtrack, oh God the soundtrack, it legitimately makes me tear up every time I listen to it. I say CCA is almost a masterpiece because the arc between Quess and Bright Noa's son, Hathaway, is not as good as the rest of the movie...at least upon the first viewing. After rewatching it twice, I definitely do see their perspectives a lot better. Quess is fed up with watching her dad and all of the Federation's politicians being shady bastards, and Hathaway is a scared little kid going through puberty and being sent up to space for the first time in his life. But in the first viewing, Quess is a massive bitch and Hathaway is a giant moron, and even after rewatching it the arc is still a bit rough. Everything else is really, REALLY FUCKING GOOD THOUGH. Too bad Unicorn shat all over Amuro's sacrifice and brought back Char in a clone body. Also I wasn't a fan of Hathaway suddenly being the leader of a Zeon terrorist movement in Hathaway, considering in CCA he didn't even agree with Char's motivations or ideals at all. However, those are two topics for two future reviews. All in all, despite a flawed subplot, Char's Counterattack is a fantastic movie, and as long as you ignore the fact that ZZ, Unicorn, and Hathaway exist, it's a satisfying conclusion to the saga that began in 1979.

I was hyped for Char's Counterattack after being disappointed with ZZ, but sadly, it fell flat. Now there is some good stuff about this flick, the animation is bloody superb, leading to some great Gundam fights in the process, especially towards the end. The use of CGI in terms of the colonies in a few scenes really haven't aged well, they just look distracting. The music is fantastic, one of my favourite soundtracks in anything Gundam so far, with Beyond the Time being a favourite ED. It's just that everything else in this movie absolutely sucks. What did they do to Char? Why the 180? They try to explain it but it's as if Tomino forgot Zeta Gundam was a thing for most of it and Char isn't as likeable or as understandable as he was in the previous series, he's basically Scirocco from Zeta, manipulating the battlefield and some of the characters as well, it really doesn't fit him. Amuro at least was done right but he's the good guy so him changing character in a drastic manner would be weird too. In terms of other characters, Quess Paraya is annoying, useless and is another Elpeo Ple but I tolerate Quess because it's a movie, I didn't have to spend an entire series with her. Hathaway was OK, didn't do much until the end and then he does something really stupid and my likeability towards him heavily dropped. Other than Captain Bright, who I'm always happy to see, as well as his pimp hand, every other character is forgettable, even with some characters that you were supposed to care are just 'meh'. But other than Mirai, where are the original characters from 0079? I find the plot to be a mess overall, Char's reasoning for wanting to screw over Earth was ridiculous and out of character, which almost ruins the rivalry between Amuro and Char since the brilliant grey morals of both in the original has become one-sided. Char's Counterattack could have been so much better but it ends up being yet another disappointing tale. Whilst the final battle between Amuro and Char ends up being satisfying in the end, how we got to it with this film is quite disappointing. If you do check it out, do so for the gorgeous animation and music.

Gundam CCA is a classic, ground-breaking, medium-defining film that changed the entire anime industry after its original release, inspiring an insane amount of anime spanning a variety of differing genres. It can NOT be fully grasped or understood with one simple viewing, and "MUST" be watched more than twice (nay 5 at bare minimum). I only thought it was good the first time until I re-watched it. (That ending seemed anti-climatic during the first viewing but after the 2nd or 3rd watch it felt invigorating & thought provoking.) This classic film is one of the densest, fastest paced anime movies ever made. But in general cca moves too fast or feels too rushed because of this most viewers tend to have a very hard time keeping up with it's pacing. Not to mention the strong lack of any form of exposition or explanations to character motivations, relationships, psychology, plot, symbolism, spread insanely dense through out its run. Requiring the viewer to pick on all the subtle nuances on their own. And boy there's a lot. (I've yet to understand half of them lalah & her spiritistic symbolic relationship with swans is one example but also i'm bit too lazy to research more on the meaning of swans in buddhist & hindu cultures anyway). Gundam CCA's themes are about lot of things newtypes being a very ambitious subject. Google describes newtypes as: "What can Newtypes do? Newtypes display some of the general abilities of Jedi and Sith from Star Wars using the Force, such as precognition, faster reflexes, better awareness, and telepathy." while gunwiki: "is a person who has reached a new stage of human evolution in the Gundam universe. The theory behind this minor but groundbreaking metamorphosis is: in order to adapt to life in space, the human body evolved with heightened mental awareness" But to me one of which is the possibilities of humanity elevating, cultivating itself into a higher collective to attain universal understanding ridding of war & our cornel Instincts for violence within our collative souls. Or Basic & enlightened empathic If i were to humbly simplify newtypes as a concept in my own words. One of the biggest elephants in the room is Quess para & char's character. A very divisive character that's typically referred to as annoying. To me she acts her age & portrays her role within the themes of UC gundam overall. To explain i think her purpose with this movie is to represent the reckless innocence of youth who are warped by conflict orchestrated by apathetic uncaring manipulative adults. Char, Some fans thinks he acts out of character ("i thought char was a good guy")but he was always a disingenuous sociopath since 0079, tomino just purposefully obfuscated this aspect of his character even tho if you payed close attention to his lines of diologue throughout 0079 & zeta you'll see his frustrations with the world in his philosophical discussions with emma & kamille discussing his discontent with humanunity as a whole & how humans must naturally evolve out into space. I'll tell you with full hyperbole that cca has more depth & development than 26 episodes worth of content. It's genius, bizarre & incredible. A lot of mecha fans & even famous creatives in the japanese industry (most notably hideo kojima, hideaki anno, mamoru oshii, etc) regard CCA as the best gundam title ever made (my words not theirs but I'm pretty sure they would agree) Nothing in the franchise & quite frankly very few anime movies, let alone in the mech/sci-fi genre, come close to this movie's magic. A remake would never be able to replicate it because it's tomino at his very essence, completely unfiltered & unhinged. CCA is a prime example of a creative mind gone "mad". This is one of the greats of jap anime cinema. CCA is too far ahead of its time. Yoshiyuki tomino is far too good lol. When he's gone decades from now the entire anime zeitgeist/fandom will re-evaluate him & his works on the same tier as miyazaki just like in the eastern anime fandom. CCA is an essential viewing experience for all anime fans who value themselves as connoisseurs of the medium, even if one can't comprehend its ambition or themes. Thank you for reading my review.

In light of the RUSSIAN INVASION of Ukraine, I have found renewed appreciation for this work. Story: The policy of appeasement the Feds took against Char is disturbingly similar to Chamberlain’s appeasement of Hitler, and Macron/Merkel/every other western leader’s policy of appeasement against Putin. They were completely deceived by a genocidal dictator when they shouldn’t have been: Char: “I will lay down my arms peacefully and be your friends if you sell me this giant asteroid and give me this patch of giant land” Feds: “Okay sure thing! Now we can have peace, friendly fascist dictator!” Char: “Yes! We will have peace my friends! (who I will totally not screw over)” 2 seconds later… Feds: “Oh no! That genocidal dictator is gonna use that big asteroid to kill us all!” Me: “Huh… Now where have I seen this before…” This has happened so many times throughout history when it shouldn’t have. And people who warn the world about the danger of Putin/Char/Hitler, are called “War-hawks” or “war-mongerors” or “hysteric”. #Ukraine #WW2 Apart from the real world parallels, the story of CCA is good. Though they could have done better with the 2 kid’s character development. They really messed that part up (more on that later). The ending of CCA has been controversial since it does not wrap anything up. It just suddenly ends without any explanation or epilogue. However, if you see CCA as a prequel or setup to Hathaway’ Flash, it’s an acceptable ending (though not an ideal one). Art: Great for its time Sound: Great for its time Character: Now here is where there is heated argument (and rightly so). The new characters are really unlikable. Hathaway murders a defenseless woman, Quess is an annoying bitch, and Chain is a kid-killer. Tomino really messed these character-arcs up. However, if you see the whole arc with Hathaway and Quess as a set up to Hathaway’s Flash (Tomino’s true masterpiece), then it is bearable. Also, we have all seen worse characters in the Gundam Universe (SEED, Kira Yamato, Kagari I’m talking to you guys!). Enjoyment: Very enjoyable if you like UC. Minus the annoying kid characters and a child-killer female love interest. These are CCA’s biggest problems and what prevents it from being a masterpiece. Overall: Like the End of EVA, CCA is a flawed work, but the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the release of Hathaway has given me a renewed appreciation for this movie. I really didn’t like this movie when I saw it in 3rd grade (I remember being “What the F*CK did I just watch!?”). But with recent events changing the course of the world, and the release of CCA’s sequel, I have come to view CCA differently. CCA is a solid 9/10 movie, though it is not on par with 0079, Z, and Hathaway’s Flash which are Tomino’s true Gundam masterpieces. Edit: I take back most of what I said. This movie is still a mess. 7/10 at its best. The action scenes are too quick to comprehend what’s going on unless you rewind multiple times. This movie is super flawed. Even Tomino says this movie is a 55/100. So I change this movie’s rating back to a 7/10