Turn A Gundam

When it comes to the Gundam franchise there are many problems that arise no matter what entry you're watching. They have a habitual issue of not being able to realise their full potential and usually the runtime is more a detriment than a strength as there are either clear portions of a show that is significantly better than the rest or episodes that feel like entirely pointless and, more importantly, dull. This even happens with shorter entries like 08th MS Team, an OVA that has a first half that's bombastic, a rich narrative, intense atmosphere unlike any other Gundam anime and an interesting underlying romance plot developing between two characters on opposite sides. In the second half, the high quality storytelling is lost and devolves into a messy albeit entertaining romance story missing the meticulous yet seamless narrative it once had (not entirely faulting it as the director famously passed away after episode 6 but it doesn't make it any less relevant of an example.) I've been watching Gundam for a little over a year now and while it's definitely taken hold of my tastes in that duration I feel that besides War in the Pocket and Encounters in Space there's always something that I have a problem with or the runtime feels unnecessary as it rarely gets to do anything meaningful with it. The one other exception I've managed to find is Turn A Gundam, which not only is my favourite Gundam anime it might be my favourite anime period. The thing about Turn A is that there is a hell of a lot going for it right off the bat. Between its setting meshing the mecha genre together with a victorian early industrial era, one of the most iconic video game character designers ever in Akira Yasuda who worked on Street Fighter III: Third Strike and Darkstalkers, Syd Mead's fantastic mecha designs famed for the art direction of Blade Runner and Yoko Kanno the composer of Cowboy Bebop, Macross Plus and Wolf's Rain to name a few of her highly impressive repertoire you have a show that's not only visually and auditorily enticing but carrying on its back 20 years worth of Gundam continuity while still providing itself as an accessible entry point or standalone series to the franchise. Turn A Gundam conceptually is highly ambitious as it attempts to intercorrelate all the preceding timelines into one taking place thousands of years after them all in an era that long since had giant mobile suits roaming the earth in bloody wars now replaced by the advent of automobiles, trams and jet fighter planes being the extent of technological innovation. That is, except for the Moonrace who have for thousands of years retained the advancements of humanity's darkest eras and ire to descend back down to earth to reclaim it as their birthright. This quickly turns into a battle between two sides of extreme technological differences akin to something like War of the Worlds. A battle of utter hopelessness and brimming with raw energy depicting something that we can only imagine in a fictional landscape. Everything seems doomed until the ceremonial White Doll crumbles--from the shaken earth or out of a solemn duty, it's hard to say--nevertheless revealing a strikingly unique mobile suit with a distinctive mustache shaped feature, or an upside-down A, if you will. Piloted by chauffeur Loran Cehack, a boy who descended upon earth during a moon-to-earth orientation, the fight between earth and moon of which history has long since left behind continues once more. Turn A's strength lies in many aspects narratively. As a stark departure from the Gundam franchise, in the first episode there's zero combat or mobile suits in sight and instead focuses on the lives of the aforementioned Loran Cehack as well as his two other colleagues and friends Keith and Fran Doll adapting to the unfamiliar earth landscape and establishing their places in the world as well Loran's relationships with key characters that shape the war to come. It sets an atmosphere that's dissimilar to other entries, presenting a world that's far separated from the very idea of war, let alone journeying into space. At least on the surface. While Gundam tends to focus on both sides to present that it's not always as simple as good vs evil, in this case it's far more distinctive as both sides are full of people with good intentions only acting out of the human instinct to fight to protect. It's the antithesis in many ways to Gundam and mecha anime alike, where at times battling is seen as an excuse or means to an end - Whereas in Turn A, battles often feel like a last resort or due to a misunderstanding. Until it eventually devolves into a larger scale war in which the primary goal is to stop it rather than fuel it as a select few seemingly dedicate themselves to repeating the tragedies of ancient history believing their means will elevate humanity. Turn A often gets the reputation of being light on action compared to other Gundam entries and upon my first watch that was the takeaway I had down the line. But after having watched it again I realised that this is a fairly overplayed narrative for seemingly no reason. Granted the action is less violent and there's more episodes without it altogether but all things considered there's quite a lot of it throughout the whole show. The difference is that the action is generally pretty disconnected from the scenes that come before it. Unlike 0079 this isn't a large scale war spanning across the earth and multiple space colonies where all actions are considered towards moving to the next goal that will inevitably lead them into battle. The battles that occur on screen are largely the extent of the war making for something far more intimate as we see what their actions end up causing for commoners and soldiers alike. While on the topic of battles it's worth speaking of the animation. Turn A's action is the series at its most expressive and detailed, in many ways but beginning with the titular Turn A Gundam itself. Loran Cehack as a main character is a departure from a few things, one of them being that he's a pacifist and it's reflected in how he fights. As such he relies on using the beam saber or projectile weapons much less and more on hand-to-hand combat to avoid killing his enemies. It makes Turn A's form a lot more robust and fluid, utilising grab techniques, hand chops and kicking which is pretty rare to see in other entries. The animation for the Turn A is consistently fantastic and intricate, with perfect articulation and shading to it as well as other mobile suits. Syd Mead's work on the mecha designs use sharper shapes and more considered shadows than usual which I imagine would've made for animation more difficult than usual to execute, yet somehow they nailed mecha movement perfectly. There's total sense of inertia and impact and the sound effects always do a great job at making everything sound and feel as weighty as they are. Taking place almost entirely on earth you get a real sense more than usual that they're massive machines of destruction towering over humans that can cause tremors just by punching the earth. The angles that the storyboardists frame the mobile suits make them appear massive and the high level of detail adds to that feeling of overbearing power. Tomino Yoshiyuki, the creator of this anime has stated before on the impracticality of giant mobile suits. While he is undeniably correct, it's nice that despite that he always has a desire to depict them with the realism he theorises they would be like were it conceivable. Animation isn't just the singular visual strength either. As mentioned earlier Turn A's setting is absolutely stunning. It takes place in a late Victorian era aesthetic well into the industrial revolution where airplanes and cars are starting to become reliable methods of transport and where architectural establishments remind you of the historical buildings of London or France. Earth society as a whole is still quite young in this era thou…

Turn A Gundam (along with Mobile Fighter G Gundam) may stand out as the oddballs of the Gundam universe. Set in a time period resembling the industrial revolution, Turn A pits mobile suits VS fighter planes. Weird, huh? Another oddity is the lead suit, Turn A or "White Doll" as it is often called. Instead of having a V-fin, it has a mustache. It may turn you down at first, but soon you'll grow to love it. The Turn X, the enemy counterpart of Turn A, is pretty nice as well. The characters are memorable too. There's Loran Cehack, the pilot of the White Doll; Lieutenant Harry, this series' Char Clone; and Gym Ghinginham, this series' main antagonist who only appears in the end of the series. The story is more on the political side-negotiations between the two sides, the Earth and the Dianna Counter or the Moon faction. You see, the moon faction wants to return to earth, but of course the Earth won't let that happen easily. Aiding the Earth is Loran Cehack, who joins Earth against the moon, despite being a moonrace himself. Aside from the Turn A and Turn X, mentioned above, we see the SUMO,used by the royal guard of the Moon; the WaDom, a 2-legged weapons platform; and the FLAT, a mobile suit as well as a transport unit. There's more of course, but I'm not telling. The uniqueness of the designs make them stand out. Of course there's also Zakus (from the original gundam) and Kapools (gundam zz). What are they doing there? Watch to find out. At first I was bored when I was watching the initial 10 episodes or so. I even muttered to myself, "is this gundam?" but I stuck with it through the end, and I got a real treat as the series progressed.

6.5/10 ~ Peak Gundam with some major flaws This Gundam is truly Peak Gundam in terms of the story they are trying to tell, Animation, design, art direction and some character writing. And Making all Gundam Timelines diverge into this is something I can get behind. The fact that there are actual scenes of Industrial Age vs Space Age/ Mobile Suites and everything in between is wild, and you generally don't know what will actually happen which is a huge plus. I am a bit torn by this rating, I really really enjoyed this one... but my god was most of the viewing exsperiance for me jankey. - Only available in Sub - extremely hard to find online anywhere legally and you have to purchase expensive DVD's or Bluerays - streams of this are hard to find - no reliable torrents are available - horrible pacing - bad ending - main character is flat and bland, but kinda cute lmfao - almost every romance just happens and makes no sense - what show/time line is Corrin from, this will haunt me - I still dont understand the inclusion of the turn x, atleast they said the name was dumb in the show lol - BBEG is just a guy... why does every Gundam end in a sword fight out of mech lol That being said this has to be the worst Gundam as far as Pacing, things just happen left and write for no explanation, The very beginning and end truly suffer from this. The ending which is about the last 2-3 episodes has a season worth of content of event that happen. The final battle just kinda ends with no real explanation, and the final sequence of where all the charecters end up are just random scenes, many of which don't feel like they really belong to anything in particular. This one really could have used a better story board director, I would assume that they ran out of time at the end or planned poorly to fit the story into a neat 50 box, which is crazy when you realize there are recap episodes in there as well. Unlike other Gundam Series that preach over and over again that kids shouldn't go to war, and morality. But rather how idiotic the government, Military and low key men can be. Especially when the military thinks it knows best, how that can be ironic and hypocritical to their motives and actions, and how power can corrupt. Like Every other Gundam series that was smooshed down into a recap movie series, I couldn't imagine this or any of the others a good watch especially for a first time, so I would skip those and just commit to the whole series. I left this one as one of the last Gundam's to watch as I thought I would want to understand all the foreseeable references to the past series I knew this was chockfull of. Past all the Zakus and the fact there is a ZZ Mobile suite, in the form of the Kapool (AMX-109 Capule), and some random flash back scenes that honestly do not impact a single thing in the story if you do not understand them... nothing here is even really that enhanced other then that you know that the Kapool should be pained Blue lol So dont feel like you have to watch 100's of hours of Gundam to watch this... hell this one is so stand alone it could be the only Gundam you ever watch.

Watching this right after "The 08th MS Team" which finally got the balance of lighthearted and comedic elements with war drama and showing the consequences of said war right. This one feels like a regression in every single way comparatively. And while saying this is most similar to the 1979 og Gundam Anime might sound like praise to some. Having recently suffered through the three compilation movies of that show and finding two of them to be bad already It's actually the opposite. At first I wanted to write something along the lines of "this is a whole new definition of a slow burn Anime". But honestly reading the Manga right afterwards and seeing most of the plot elements, all of the meaningless meandering around. Side characters wasting screentime with no meaningful progression or character arcs to speak of. Laughably bad villains and glacial pacing getting fixed. The themes and character motivations competently executed in that Manga I changed my mind about the Anime. This Anime to put it bluntly is terrible. It consists mostly of filler with barely any plot progression for most of the show, turns characters into brain dead morons for the sake of it instead of killing them off. (Literally exactly that in case of "Corin Nander" it makes him a joke character for most of the show until finally remembering who he even is supposed to be in the last few episodes to "redeem" him.) Takes ages to retell the same basic ass story elements (twice even) Episode 32 and 33 which tell the story of the Turn A with a religious mythological spin and later on in the show we get the exact same thing again from a character which is supposed to be the main bad guy of the whole show on the Moon. And who talks like he might as well be one of these ass backwards Tribesmen on earth himself with the way he spouts utter bullshit, just in a manner that sounds more "sophisticated". And then we have the ridiculous cheesy Ending to the story here which fails to portray any consequences to the pointless, meaningless skirmishes happening between Earth and Moon and which feel like they happen every other episode throughout the show and later on every episode. I never saw a show having so much action and so little stakes of battle happening at the same time. Every character who dies in this story is some insignificant side character which barely even gets time to have any development and so you have little to no reason to care when they kill them off. This whole Anime is a waste of time which is so badly planned out, executed and confused with what it even wants to tell you it's honestly impressive. The single best Episode this had is Ep 27 and that one episode being as effective as it is, is still wasted on this mess of a show. It should never ever have been a 50 Episode Anime! You could easily cut it down to half of it maybe even a third. But even if they did this the way it is now is simply not thought out enough to be worth it as an Anime. If you want to see how much better this could have been I implore you to read the manga!

I have seen just another gundam series aside of this one (Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans which was pretty nice actually), and i have to say that i expected more of this one, even throught i could enjoy and really like some things of it overall some of the points more important (under my opinion) that has to have an series its an certain grade of coherence in the story as well as the chararacters in his actions, but i gonna to expand about thhis in more detail below. This series its not necesary to watch it after have been watch the ones of the universal century (even throught could be useful because there are some metions that even if doesnt perjudice the overal experiecen i think could be ncie to those who are really big fans of the series). Now i gonna start with the things i like it and after that put the ones that i didnt, to those who are die-hard fans of those cclasics animes of late 90 and beginning of the 2000 with that palette of colors a little gritty and no so flashy (which i love) and beautiful scenaries in which the story unfold leaving us mesmerazed how nice looks althought it might not have the same production values of an movie looks very good. The desinng of the characters resembles a little to that ghibli looks at least in my opinion and its pretty refreshing (i know this ones are the good points but i need to aclare that there are some desings that feel out of place in comparision to the rest, that might seems like take out from another series and dont match very well).The reactions of the characters (at least in the beggining) felt outstandingly natural to my surprise, i mean based in the situation they feel so much natural and not forced or exageratted like many other series they are more *human* per say in a way, this amount of care to attention that has been put in the functionality not just of the mecha but also all kind of machines as well as the cotidiany things of life that gives it more realism to the series ,that usually you dont see in another series putting so much effort like this one has done, that makes you feel in a world so much human and in this aspect i think the series doesnt disappoints in the whole series. The sound and music overall had one or two really remarkably tracks that were outanding over the other ones, but even then i feel that there wasnt a single one that really was really nice, and maked me fall in love with. The bad points and gonna start with the worse ones that you are gonna have to deal with along all the series and just gets worse and worse, to the point that the emphaty that you *might* felt in the beginning for the characters and the interest in the story overall starts to dissipate as we move foward in the series, i dont know who its the director of this series and im not really sure to have watched another series of him but this guy made an shitty (sorry for the expression) job in narrate and direct the story. The anime itselft propose us an interesting story that even if its try to deliver it from time to time in a pretty realist way (with just the correct use of action without overuse it which i appreciate, because its not the focus of the series) fell down SO many times, firts there are so many abrups cuts of secuence (that happened from the episode one) that take us out of context and feel really bad edited connecting with another moment in a really poor way (that really feel like roughtly done), at firts i just didnt give it so much importance but that start to happen gradully more often that just started to ruin the experience. The characters contradict themselft with his actions or even sometimes just react from a second to another so shockingly without sense really, even the appeareance of some characters in the series are lacking of any kind of ambitions or their role in the series makes you cuestion if have some to begin with. Now exist the word subtle and then is this series, i mean i lost the amount of times that actually the series for lack of development (or poor actually) make you lost in releationships in between the characters (that are so ambiguous that became unexistings) using really poor moments that you could call *subtle * which i mean you couldnt even guess, because even throught there were a couple o them they just dont even explain or even insunuate anything and are so fleeting that you just cant undertand how actually ended like that by just one or two poorly displayed moments. CONCLUSION It narrated and secuenced in such way together with really a poor development of the characters that at the end of the series or in the moments of revealing something really important you really dont care or are not invested into it to actually feel some type of wonder, sadness or excitment, i mean i could appreciate certain moments counted with one hand that where decent but i mean in 50 episodes the series did not a good job telling an compelling story not just for the fans of gundam but for the common audience also. I was thinking in giving to this series at least an 7, but after of a little of thought i just couldnt (i mean i wanted because before to actually start watching it i hoped to be something really amazing), i mean its not a completly bad anime ,but didnt hold to my expectations , it might be something that really true fans of gundam could appreciate but for me it wasnt the case.

I have seen this gundam anime before during the many years that I have been a member of my anime list since early march of 2015. This anime literakly shocked me, as it took place around two thousand years after the original mobile suit gundam. After the universal century. But, so much information was released. So, that means access to this information is only limited to those that have been around it. This anime the main protagonist is quickly tying to get rid of all it's stuff so she/he can make room for the complete dictation of the e tire situation.

I don't really think a huge review of Turn A Gundam would be good, it's such a dense show that I think many people can find enjoyment from in different ways. From the plot, themes, characters, setting and art there are a lot of interesting ideas in this show that make it unique not only within the mecha genre, but also within anime. Instead, I just want to say that most of the reviews that don't recommend this show, fundementally misunderstand it. The slice of life episodes are not "random" nor are they "pleasantries" in the same way you'd expect from say, Frieren. They aren't formulaic or used to slow down pace, but rather build up immersion throughout the story and create a world that exceeds its plot. Tomino has always been great at doing this, but with this show he (and other writers) are more confident about indulging in certain small elements of society. Laura's Cow (Episode 8) is a famous episode known for the cow, and its an endless joke about the show. But it also shows the different ideologies within the Moonrace, and how that's reflected on the citizens. We see a citizen who wants to help Earth, which contradicts our expectations since we see them initially as an imperial force declaring land as theirs. It also establishes Loran straddling his identity as a Moonrace and an Earthrace publicly. It adds a deeper understanding and a new perspective on the plot, and many episodes are like this which is why I cannot understand people telling you to skip episodes or watch adaptations that omit such details. The characters are great, Loran is really interesting in that he's a pacifist but he's also not afraid to fight when it's required. So many characters in Gundam preach a pacifism that is bred out of pure privilege (KIRA BANAGHER KIRA BANAGHER KIRA BANAGHER) which is a really dense application of pacifism in war. Whilst the Turn A is a strong Gundam, Loran puts himself at risk when trying to prevent people from killing him and themselves, which is something thats often neglected, even in Tomino's past portrayals of pacifism in Gundam ZZ. Kihel-Dianna is one of the most interesting dynamics, in that they are two people that end up becoming each other, and also one. With each other, they find their own ambition and their own identity. Sochie is also really fun and a great companion to Loran. She's more brash and emotional, which makes her a great foil for Loran to interact with. Guin Rhineford is one of the most underrated characters, his sexuality is somewhat lost in the show, but its apparent that Tomino intended for his homosexuality to be more present. His unrequited attraction for Loran, and his effemination of Loran as a form of internalised homophobia is a really interesting depiction that I rarely see in shows like this that aren't BL/GL. At some point in the show Turn A just becomes talking about human behaviour and each character outlines their philosophy, which makes their interactions all really interesting. The setting lends itself to a lot of ideas, and they're all executed wonderfully. We get Earth and Moon myths and folktales, traditions and taboos. Both sides feel like real societies rather than the factions of Universal Century Gundam. The idea of past history being unearthed is really interesting, and sometimes these historical records are in the form of folk-songs or prophecies told by Corin Nander or the Adescans. The character design also has a lot of variety which fits wonderfully with the show. Overall I'd recommend this to everyone. It's a great show. I only have a few nagging issues but they are not really about writing and moreso about how Tomino presents certain ideas.

The soundtrack and general sound design are great probably the best thing the show has going for it. the story seemed to working in a cycle of 5 good episodes and 5 bad ones; I watched this witch a friend and one week we were on the end of our seats and the next we were bored out our mind by unnecessary dialogue and fights that didn't advance the plot. the fights seemed to have a similar contrast between the amazing fights like the first fight with ensign poe which then got repeated a few too many times for me; or the fight between turn a and corin nander and of course the final fight that was really epic. This was only my second gundam series after iron blooded orphans; so maybe if i had watched the entire universal century before hand then maybe that context would changed my overall experience with the show but overall the show was good and defiantly worth watching but it might be better to start with a better start point in the gundam franchise

In look, tone, and setting it's a radical departure from Tomino's earlier entries in the franchise, and yet it feels authentically Gundam. There's a sense of endless imagination to it. In many Gundam series, most aspects of the setting are established early and can wear thin by the end of 50 episodes, but Turn A is always throwing something new and interesting at the viewer, whether that be an unusual culture, surprising everyday uses for giant robots, ever-shifting allegiances, new locations, or striking new mecha and costume designs. All of this takes place in a show that feels like Tomino was more comfortable in his own skin than with his earlier works. While tragedy can still strike, there's less of the casual brutality, and a greater sense of hope and humanity. It's packed with interesting characters faced with varied challenges, and while most of them don't really change over the course of the show, they're always engaging to watch. The only real flaw in Turn A is the group of villains who show up in the final dozen episodes, since they're more cartoony than the other, more convincing characters, and never become compelling enemies. Overall, I'd place this alongside Zeta as one of Tomino's best shows, and one of the best in the Gundam franchise.