Forum - View topicREVIEW: Mobile Suit Gundam 00 the Movie: Awakening of the Trailblazer
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penguintruth
 Posts: 8461 Location: Penguinopolis |
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That's hilarious, because SEED was devoid of any emotion or theme, other than it's clusterfuck of "RACISM BAD, NEUTRALITY GOOD". It was no less simplistic in theme or execution than Gundam 00, and it had far less interesting characters and a stale, copycat narrative that smacked of no passion. Gundam 00, for all its failings, its ambition tripped up by too many subplots, its bad pacing and over reliance on its theme to solve the problems presented without reasoning, at least strived to be something, and had plenty of good characters and interesting combat. It's not some soulless husk of mediocrity by a staff that clearly didn't give a damn what they were doing, like CE era Gundam. I do hope the next Gundam series is better than 00, but it could be a whole lot worse. Just look at the garbage that came before it. I'm still fairly excited about this movie and will make my own judgments based on watching it. I also look forward to watching whatever Mizushima puts out next. |
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ZeroDemio
 Posts: 74 |
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Lol, thats funny |
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Otaking09
 Posts: 637 |
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Less interesting characters?! Are you friggin' kiddin'? D'you know how LONG it takes to find sympathy in the main Gundam pilots in 00??? Hell, the first one is Tieria, and that's ONLY when spoiler[he gives a damn about people!] Yeah, finally! But what a sour reason... SEED on the other hand, allowed viewers to understand the struggling of Kira and Athrun's friendship throughout, and STILL managed not to let that dominate the series. You say 00 "strived". Well... you pretty much said it right there! It "tried", but it didn't actually achieve ANYTHING! SEED managed to tell a rather convincing and harsh tale of genocide, explaining the whys, hows, and what ifs(again, something that 00 failed to do smoothly). Heck, the Coordinator gimmick sold better than the Innovator ever could! If there's one weakness I can think about SEED it was the combat. The later fights were a bit betterspoiler[especially Kira's climatic battle], but most of the fights seemed "recycled", to the point where one would assume it was either style or laziness.
?! What a way to describe something that's not so easy to resolve![/code] |
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penguintruth
Posts: 8461 Location: Penguinopolis |
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Don't make me laugh.
Gundam SEED's characters are so bland and devoid of personality, it's impossible to even care about what's going on in the narrative. They make Coordinators out to be this poor, tragic, put upon minority, but at the same time, Coordinators are designed to be superior to humans, genetic superiors, and rather than genuinely exploring the morality of genetic engineering, they make those opposed to it such amped up mustache-twirling villains that it's clear the writers just want you to agree that to oppose Coordinators is racism. They also do this because it is impossible to sympathize with such boring, bland, and undeveloped cardboard characters like Kira Yamato and Athrun Zala. And who ends up being the villain in the end? Some guy who just wants everybody to die because spoiler[he's butthurt that he's dying.] Wah wah wah. Instead of providing us with some intelligent debate over whether we should improve humanity via science to the degree that engineering Coordinators attempts to or not, they give us a convenient mad villain to place our animosity on and everything is resolved as a stupid, simple one-dimensional bad guy vs good guy battle, squandering any potential the show might have had. And it's so devoid of life, so devoid of character. The characters in the show appear and disappear without making the slightest impact on the viewer. There's no color to them. Meanwhile, Setsuna F. Seiei develops greatly. There are characters like Ali al Sarches which are wickedly fun to follow. And more importantly, characters don't just suddenly get political pull for no reason, like Lacus in SEED. 00 may have oversimplified its messages, but at least it let you think about them a little, instead of giving you all the easy outs. SEED is just a shiny cut-rate 0079 with sameface character designs and bland characters. |
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dtm42
Posts: 14084 Location: currently stalking my waifu |
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Otaking09, there's no point in debating with penguintruth on the merits of SEED. He has an irrational loathing of it, and refuses to consider all the good points it has. Probably swallowed a seed when he was a child or something, who knows. Maybe he had an ex-girlfriend who liked it. No, that's a mean thing for me to say.
Charred Knight, maybe I'm mistaken but didn't you use to love Gundam 00? Anyway, as to the film under review, I expect my mouth will water at the Mecha action even at the same time my brain is melting from the stupidity of the plot and characters. Why do I subject myself to such bad works time and time again? I am a hopeless Mecha fanboy, that's why. |
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penguintruth
Posts: 8461 Location: Penguinopolis |
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Because I totally haven't supported my opinions, amirite? SEED has one positive aspect, and that's spaceship design.
No, he hates anything Seiji Mizushima touches. |
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crosswithyou
 Posts: 2892 Location: California |
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I watched the movie in theaters here in Japan, and my initial impression was similar to to others: "It could've been better." That's not to say I found it particularly bad, though.
I thought the animation, especially the battles scenes, music (anyone else wanna cry listening to UVERworld's Qualia?), and characters were great. However, the problem definitely lies in the story. I mentioned it before, but had ELS been some kind of terrorist organization, or at least human, I think the movie would have been more enjoyable. The movie definitely took a turn from where the series was going, and I don't particularly think it worked in its favor. It would've been nice if they mentioned what happened to the subcharacters in the end. Like, what ever happened to Saji and Louise? Still, putting the problems with the story aside, I still found the movie to be decent. It wasn't downright horrible, but I did have a somewhat higher expectations considering how awesome the series was. |
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dtm42
Posts: 14084 Location: currently stalking my waifu |
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Nope. A lot of criticisms that you've made against SEED are either just your personal opinion along the lines of "the show looks too shiny", or they are charges that could be laid against UC as well. And there are many things SEED did better than UC, like there was no silly NewType romances with characters madly falling in love (literally madly) with one another in the space of half an episode. SEED also featured fewer completely evil villainous people than UC, and it didn't treat the main character's reluctance as a negative (i.e. there was no Bright Slap "man up you wimp' attitude). The battles may have had loads of reused footage but they were still fun to watch thanks to awesome music and some good fight choreography. And funnily enough, SEED didn't wallow in angst as much as Zeta did; it's funny because the former is often accused of being too angst-ridden. Finally, no NewType magic and no Super Saiyan gundam (coughKamilleandZetacough). Hey, what am I doing arguing with you? I'm ignoring my own advice.
I never realised. Last edited by dtm42 on Sun Oct 10, 2010 11:32 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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WeirDiE_InC
 Posts: 414 Location: The GVRD |
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To be honest, when I first heard of plans for a movie, I didn't think much of it. As more information and images were released, I kept thinking "What are they trying to do with this?" In short, I didn't really have very high hopes for it.
Either way, I'll probably see it eventually, maybe even buy it. At least it's still the second [or third] best original Gundam movie ever made. That last statement got me thinking if it's possible at all that a good, original Gundam movie will ever be made. I mean, even CCA had problems. |
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Otaking09
Posts: 637 |
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Well, let's see.
Kira, a boy who's mostly lived the peaceful life. Or rather, had the option to live the peaceful life... and chose it. He's a Coordinator and they don't hide that fact from us or his allies for very long(HINT: Half of the story is about coming to terms with people because of WHO they are, and not what they can do). So, in an attempt to further live in peace, he haphazardly(i.e. that means "unwillingly") stumbles into a mecha. spoiler[He wants to stop fighting. Almost every opportunity to stop fighting he thinks about it. His devotion to his buds, and ever-growing knowledge of reasons to fight keep him from it.] True, his circumstances are seldom different from Amuro. But we're given more down time on his growth. Last time I checked, "monster-of-the-week" never progressed substance. Athrun, IMO, is explored a bit more darkly. spoiler[He chose to fight. And because of that, he has responsibilities. Yes he can think about things, and even change his approach to life but... he can't so easily back out of a life of servitude(all too true, all too true). Finally, their respective persistence comes to the point where they've done irreparable damage to each other(without knowing it), and they feel HATE for the first time. Now, BOTH, not just one, WANT TO KILL!] I think it was at that point where I realized that SEED, no matter where it got it's inspiration from, was a well thought out series. Oh... how is Lacus ANY different from Marina??? spoiler[They both sing songs, lol!] But seriously, Lacus had WAAAAY more conviction than Marina ever demonstrated. Not to mention, her manner of showing it affected both our heroes. Marina, in both seasons, was just... there. spoiler[Simply, reminding us that there's a girl who "might"(again, 00 never pulls a 100%), come to care for Setsuna.] Real character there. Setsuna doesn't realize almost anything on his own. No internal dispute, no complicated morals, and NO outward concern for the above mentioned. The guy is robot, who evolves into a man AFTER watching other people change first. There's nothing cool about someone not taking the initiative! Ali al??? Ha ha ha! You're serious? He's a crazed madman! He's living proof that the 00 writers focused all of their mental energy on the mecha. No further proof is necessary. Rau had far more attraction than Ali. I like my villains cunning, resourceful, and preemptive. spoiler[I mean, I was both happy and stunned to realize that he was a Natural!] He didn't do it because of spoiler[limited time], he did it because he's spoiler[living proof of how human desire demonizes everything]. Some exploration of genetic morality is hinted, but it's more rooted( or "seeded") at how humans, and their blind, reckless, denying nature alone signifies their demise. SEED's story is a thought provoking piece of craftsmanship. You say it's a 0079 cookie cutter, but at least they added a few more spices, minerals, and "substance" to transform it into a different sort of pastry. One without any needless "fluff". |
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penguintruth
Posts: 8461 Location: Penguinopolis |
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This should be good for a laugh.
Except Newtype connections aren't the same as romances, and it's pointed out several times. It's just that young people like Amuro and Kamille mistake them for that because they're young and aren't used to that connection.
Reluctance? More like lack of personality.
Boring beam spam combat.
I don't think SEED is angsty. You have to have emotion to be angsty. SEED is devoid of any and all emotion. It's robotic. I'll take angsty over that.
Oh boy, that's rich. Because SEED mode is totally way different than that, amirite? 
It's because of the type of person Setsuna is. Throughout most of the first season, he has tunnel vision, his mission and Gundam being the only important things to him. But people don't become developed in a vacuum. Things happen externally and they change internally. That's what happened to him. And at the end of the first season and throughout the second he makes strides into caring about the people around him, into showing he cares, that his mission means nothing if he isn't willing to be part of the lives of the people around him.
You seem to think being a good person makes a good character. Ali is a good character because he's so wickedly fun, because he's so honestly cruel, but has this sense of charisma that makes him compelling, rather than boring like so many CE villains. Last edited by penguintruth on Mon Oct 11, 2010 12:16 am; edited 3 times in total |
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DangerMouse
Posts: 3983 |
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I suspect I will really enjoy this movie if these type of complaints are really the biggest problems with the movie.
Unfortunately the review kind of doesn't help me all that much when there's lines like "Despite hours of research, I still haven't quite figured out who all of these people are, and I've actually watched the majority of Gundam 00." I mean we've followed most of the pilots and supporting characters he's talking about for almost 2 seasons, we know them pretty good and if he still doesn't I don't think he was ready for the movie since defined characters has definitely been one of 00's strong points. |
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garfield15
 Posts: 1517 |
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ShinnXLunamaria? That was literally half an episode. For the record, I kinda like SEED. Destiny, however, I think is really bad
No, it was just replaced with being able to lock on to like 100 units and shooting them with rainbows without killing them. Really, SFreedom is like....a Gundam I really just don't like cause there's overpowered and then there's.....that. |
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dtm42
Posts: 14084 Location: currently stalking my waifu |
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It shouldn't need to be said but I guess I'll have to say it anyway; SEED is not the same as SEED Destiny. I love the former, despise the latter. Do not lump all of Cosmic Era under one banner.
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garfield15
Posts: 1517 |
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Ooooh, we're talking about SEED. Okay. I was confused. Usually, when people talk about it, they mean both. That's kind of confusing sometimes. |
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