Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam

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

Synopsis

The year is Universal Century 0087. After the tragic One-Year War, humanity has once again settled into an unstable sense of peace. In order to maintain this status quo, the Earth Federation has given a special military division, the Titans, the authority to monitor the colonies. This division uses any means necessary to force compliance, whether it is propaganda, forceful censorship, or genocide. In order to combat the Titans’ tyranny, the Anti-Earth Union Group (AEUG) has assembled a group a dissidents and amassed the funds and weapons to wage another war. The AEUG’s ranks are significantly bolstered when a Newtype named Kamille Bidan joins the fray in a Gundam.



Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam uses a similar plot structure as the original Mobile Suit Gundam, but the story is written by the hands of experience and maturity. Gone are the loose ends and redundant plot devices. The show has a tight script helmed by a dynamic cast. The characters are both calculating and political, but they are hindered by emotions. They know what they want and how to get it, but they never are truly satisfied. As circumstances change, people die, moral stigmas emerge and characters lose sight of their initial goals and unwittingly become pawns of other, more ambitious individuals. The continuous, almost episodic, string of fights set the stage for the all this drama to play out.



The story of Zeta Gundam centers around the life of a civilian teenager named Kamille Bidan, a successor to the previous and all time favorite pilot Amuro Ray (well all time fave for me anyways). Kamille's parents are engineers working for the Earth Federation and Titans. While traveling to the colony Green Noa to meet his parents, Kamille met with an altercation with a Titans officer, Jerid Messa, who said his name is very feminine, subsequently punching the officer in the face. The Titans by now are an opressive group initially established in order to quell the remaining Zeon remnants around the colonies, and dissatisfaction for the elite taskforce was steadily growing. A group called AEUG (Anti-Earth Union Group) then secretly emerges from the Earth Federation and Zeon remnants including Char Aznable (he's back!), now disguised as Quattro Bajeena, led by the Earth Federation Forces Brigadier General Blex Forer, is determined to fight against the Titans. An AEUG task force led by Quattro launched an attack on Green Noa in the hopes of capturing the newly developed Gundam Mk-II, which was undergoing military testing in said colony. Kamille, with his skills and knowledge from winning the champion Junior Mobile Suit competition took the initiative and piloted the Mk-II, which was initially prepared for Jerid, the Titan officer he punched earlier, and fought against the attack. As the battle escalates, Kamille managed to push the AEUG forces back, and was in pursuit of Quattro back to the Argama, the mothership of the AEUG. The Titans then proceeded to use Kamille's parents as hostages, demanding the return of the Gundam Mk-IIs, but Jerid shot and destroyed the capsules, oblivious to the contents inside, which led Kamille to join the AEUG in their fight against the Titans.



With the plot following Kamille's experiences in the war, he meets many different people from all sides, including brainwashed artificial Newtypes working for the Titans to the giant corporate leaders of Anaheim Electronics, who were secretly funding the AEUG. Several battles between AEUG and Titans ensued , and quickly escalates into a civil war after the AEUG commenced an all out attack on the Earth Federation's assembly at Dakar, with Quattro revealing his true identity as Char Aznable and went on to present evidence of the Titans' tyranny including using a nerve gas called G3 on a defenseless colony. Earth Federation court soon ruled the Titans to be terrorists and backed AEUG to hunt down Titans' leader Jamitov Hymem.



Following the loss of support from the Earth Federation, the Titans turned to its original enemy, the Zeon remnants, now called Axis Zeon, seeking an alliance with them to regain control of the Earth sphere. Axis Zeon's leader Haman Karn had a different plan, who also contacted AEUG, using the civil war of the Earth Federation at hand as a means to demand control of Side 3, the former Zeon colony, known as the Principality of Zeon during the One-Year War.



The involvement of the Axis Zeon and Jamitov's assassination by the Jupiter fleet's leader Paptimus Scirocco soon led to a battle to gain control of the Gryps colony, the Titans' home base. The Titans' base in the Gryps colony was modified to be a colony laser, weapon of mass destruction first seen in the original Gundam anime, where a full sized O'Neil Cylinder is turned into a laser. This leads to the final battle between the AEUG and the Jupiter fleet, resulting in a cliffhanger ending in order to set up the plot for Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ, the successor of the anime.


Chibi's Zeonic Comments

For a production of the 1980s, the animation is remarkable. The colors may lack the distinct clarity of modern productions, but the motions are fluid and almost never redundant. The music also gives the show a boost with its forward, bombastic nature. In the end, the only 'flaws' the show has is its heavy reliance on the back story of its prequel, Mobile Suit Gundam, and its cliffhanger ending that feeds into is sequel, Mobile Suit Double Zeta Gundam.

A couple of old faces are also featured in this installment, you get to see Amuro Ray and how the war has affected him, Char Aznable as the awesome Quattro Bajeena, who now is on the same side as the Earth Federation (watch his new mobile suit Hyaku Shikki in action), casting a new light on him and also cementing his status as one of the franchise's most loved characters, even the old crew of the White Base get a little screen time as a few of them were drafted on the Argama. We also get to see the introduction of Axis Zeon's charismatic leader Haman Karn and her mobile suit the Quebeley, which in my opinion remains as one of the best designed mobile suits ever in the franchise's history. However Haman's role is pretty minimal after only appearing towards the end of this series, but plays a huge role in Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ.


Chibi's Zeonic Review

Now for the hard part. Getting an accurate read on a show like Zeta can be hard due to all the hype that surrounds it. It has been alternately called the best Gundam series ever and the best anime series ever. I went into this with extremely high expectations due to all the things I had heard and ended up being a little underwhelmed. After sitting through the entire 50 episodes, I came to a few conclusions. This is not a series that packs in a lot of visual effects, and, unlike some of the more recent Gundam entries (Wing, Seed and Seed Destiny, and most recently 00) , it doesn't fall back on the awesomeness of numerous Gundams to make up for poorly choreographed battle sequences. It's not a show that blows you away from the get-go or will quench your thirst for action. It is, however, a deep, quality piece of work, a stand out in an already stand out crowd.



Zeta's much hyped characters are kind of a hit and miss, in my opinion. Depending on what you're looking for, they could be the franchise's best or its worst. Zeta's characters are, for the most part, complex, subtle people, often with conflicting desires and aspirations. These are not the typical slew of characters who so often reside in stories like this. They are unique individuals with their own eccentricities and strange idiosyncrasies, like any real people would have. They are probably some of the franchise's deepest characters, and one could easily spend hours exploring the many facets to their actions and motives. I think that this is where Zeta is at its most artistic, displaying a level of thought and planning one doesn't normally find in this type of story. However, I also found them to be possibly the franchise's least likable cast. Most of them come across as cold and unapproachable for much of the series, which I found to be rather odd (with the exception of Amuro and Quattro, who are in their sophomore roles this time round). I found that Quattro really carried the show for me in terms of engaging characterization. However, these complaints of mine are pretty superficial, as the characters really are some of the franchise's best once you get to know them better. It also has two very memorable villains (two of Gundam's best, in my opinion), in Paptimus Scirocco and Haman Karn. It's almost worth buying the DVD just to see the normally composed Quattro yelling, 'Haman Karn!' and flying into a wild rage.



Tomino-sensei's really outdid himself with this one. With the sheer complexity of the plot and the deep character development, his work demands a high level of attention and critical analysis on the part of his audience, more than one might normally devote to mecha animes before this, to my absolute surprise and joy. I find it to be a breath of fresh air from the 'connect-the-dots' style of some other directors, who seem to think their fans are either retarded, or themselves paying so little attention to detail that every little plot point and implication needs to be explained many times over in order for the point to get across (a feature i so painfully recalled in both Gundams Seed and Seed Destiny).



Those complaints, however, do little to affect the overall quality of the anime. Zeta Gundam is an intelligent, thought provoking series, and one of the better Gundam sagas out there. Like any good classic, it isn't a story to be watched and forgotten, but one to be experienced again and again and thought about for a good long time. Even if you don't like the franchise in general, this classic will convert (or at least confuse) even the biggest detractor. A must see for any mecha fan.

Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam was written and directed by Yoshiyuki Tomino and produced by Sunrise. It was initially released from March 1985 to February 1986, spanning a total of 50 episodes. A movie trilogy of the series had also been released from may 2005 to March 2006, and is planned for a Blu-Ray disc release in early 2010.


Chibi's Review


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