Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ

Writer: Yoshiyuki Tomino
Director: Yoshiyuki Tomino
Production House: Sunrise
Review Type: Anime
Status: Completed
Genre: Mecha

Synopsis

The year is Universal Century 0088. Directly after the end of the Gryps War, Haman Karn and her army of Zeon remnants on the asteroid Axis begin their quest of reviving the lost empire of the Zabi's, and proclaim themselves as the Neo-Zeon. With the Earth Federation as hapless as ever, only the Anti-Earth Union Group (AEUG) is able oppose the plans of Neo-Zeon. In need of all the help it can get after being decimated in the previous war and losing many of its key members, the AEUG ship Argama enlists the aid of a young junk collector from the Side 1 colony of Shangri-La named Judau Ashta to pilot its newest mobile suit, the Double Zeta Gundam.



Set in UC 0088, this Gundam ZZ (pronounced 'Double Zeta') is part of the Universal Century timeline, taking place immediately after the events in Zeta Gundam. The Titans have been defeated, but the Zeon descendants of Axis are still around and with a seemingly full strength military force whose numbers were relatively unaffected during the Gryps War. With the AEUG and Federation forces suffering heavy losses during the war, Haman Karn moves towards the destruction of the entire Earth sphere in the name of the Zabi family.

The Argama, which had taken heavy damage, carrying seriously injured pilot Camille Bidan, docks at Shangri-la, a backwoods and almost ghetto like colony. Initially one of the first of the colonies constructed, Shangri-la is now largely unmaintained and abandoned, and had become the domain of poverty stricken space junk salvagers like Judau Ashta and his friends. Judau originally planned on stealing the Zeta Gundam and selling it for scrap, but ended up joining Captain Bright Noa in their futile fight to stop Neo-Zeon's plans on annexing the Earth.


Chibi's critique

After Zeta Gundam's heavy wartime drama filled with hardship and tragedy, Double Zeta's 'for kids' character design and storyline is just unbelievably... irksome. The entire first half of the anime just trudges along with the 'Neo-Zeon attacks, Judau comes to save the day' template with no story or character development whatsoever. Everything that made Zeta Gundam such a well recieved anime with its incredibly gritty and dramatic plot gets subverted into a play world for Judau and co, and even incredibly serious characters, like Captain Bright Noa and the ruthless Yazan Gable, are reduced to little more than a couple of gullible bufoons for Judau's hijinks. It pissed me off to no end, which was why the sudden shift in tone halfway through the series as Tomino-sensei got the approval for the Char's Counterattack movie and rewrote Double Zeta to accommodate the movie's mood was a Godsend.

As always, first impressions go a long way, and this anime makes a very poor one. The first quarter insults the viewer's intelligence by giving us a cast of incompetent teenage morons. It is irksome to see a bunch of buffoons eating food whilst being shot at, and it is even more annoying to watch certain characters give 'prophetic' sermons on honor when they are out to kill people. The misplaced comedy might be more suited to other mecha shows such as FLCL or Gurenn Lagann, but in no way whatsoever does this franchise need comic relief, which in turn creates grave situations undermined by misplaced comedy. Due to the poor introduction, it is hard to take the characters seriously for the first half of the series.



The show slowly starts pulling itself out of the fire during the second quarter of the series, but unfortunately the characters do not take definitive roles until the second half. One is still subject to the annoying humor before it finally starts to take itself seriously (which happens only from episode 20 onwards, when i was at the end of my rope trying to comprehend Tomino-sensei's motive in this installment). The anime manages to regain face after the 'comedic' antics are dropped, the characters become easier to relate to, and the drama (a prerequisite to any Gundam saga) picks up. The second half of the show is where it gets a little more interesting, where we finally see the futility of AEUG's fight to resist Haman's Axis forces. A civil war then breaks out between Haman and another Neo-Zeon faction led by Glemy Toto, which was the only thing preventing from Neo-Zeon having absolute power over the entire Earth sphere. Unfortunately, as a result of the anime's dire first half, the development of Glemy Toto from useless lovestruck rookie pilot to ruthless power-hungry warlord happens too fast, and the huge personality changes of characters like Mashima Sero and Chara Soon had to be justified using seriously idiotic brainwashing theories. The action in the second half of the series also becomes more exciting as certain characters begin to love, fight, and die. There's also considerable change in the animation, looking like something from the mid 90s rather than the late 80s, and the aesthetics compliment the fight scenes. To put it simply, the show transforms into a gritty Gundam series during the second half, but after 20 episodes of making a mockery of the franchise, the damage is done.



The mecha designs in Double Zeta are incredibly super-robot like, with the exception of the previous Zeta Gundam designs and the Neo-Zeon ones. The transforming Double Zeta is incredibly block-ish and ugly (honestly, it's an abomination to make the Double Zeta the feature mobile suit of the series) and the control system is absolutely idiotic, with the double beam cannon cockpit actually able to take over control of the entire Gundam (golden rule : all mobile suit cockpits are located in the torso and should be the only place to pilot them). It's a great relief that the Double Zeta is the only new Gundam of the series. The design of the Double Zeta is later borrowed for the blueprint of Gundam Seed Destiny's Shin Asuka's Impulse Gundam, which in my opinion is still visually unappealing.



Tomino-sensei approached Zeta Gundam attempting to create an epic drama, and he succeeded. He then approached Double Zeta Gundam attempting to make people laugh… and he succeeded. This entire idea is heavily overshadowed by the tiny little fact that comedy and war do not mix well. Gundam ZZ had the potential to achieve the greatness of its predecessor, but it fails because it never generates the momentum it needs to become something truly special.

Gundam ZZ is technically the third installment in the Universal Century timeline (or as I'd like to call it the Char-Amuro rivalry series), and this is the only reason to watch it. Neither Char nor Amuro appear in the series (Char was scheduled to make an appearance in Double Zeta in the second half of the series, but Tomino-sensei decided against it after he got the go ahead for Char's Counterattack) so missing it will have absolutely no impact on how well you understand Char's Counterattack.

Do not watch this anime expecting another Zeta Gundam, as the series will never be as engaging as its predecessor. Also, I recommend not watching it without first seeing the original Gundam and Zeta Gundam, while the show boasts a new cast, the historical references and the cameo appearances would be lost on you without prior knowledge. If you could survive the abominable start of the series, you will find that Gundam ZZ is another above par anime that deserves its place in the Gundam universe, although not quite as high as the stars.



Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ was written and directed by Yoshiyuki Tomino and produced by Sunrise. It ran from March 1986 to March 1987, spanning a total of 47 episodes.

Chibi's Review


Storyline: 3/5
Character Development: 3/5
Art: 4/5
Structure: 3/5
Originality: 3/5