Forum - View topicREVIEW: Mobile Suit Gundam 00 the Movie: Awakening of the Trailblazer
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penguintruth
 Posts: 8459 Location: Penguinopolis |
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Psh. Destiny is only marginally worse. It's like saying you like to be kicked in the shin, not in the groin. Either way, pain. |
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Otaking09
 Posts: 637 |
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Yeah, well, obviously that element didn't make the show, because his "growth"(with robots I use the word "reprogram") is hardly ever expressed. You can thank Mamoru for voicing one of the most stoic, deadpan, characters ever. Heck, even Heero Yuy and Kiba from Wolf's Rain can make that kind of character work. Oh, and don't underestimate self-growth. Have you watched The Tatami Galaxy???
Look at Griffith from Berserk! That's what you seem to think of Ali. No. The man spoiler[trains kids, makes them kill of ALL ties... and for what?!] It'd been better to explore, maybe even "hint" as to the origin of his madness. Sadly, we just have a "bad" guy, for the sake of having a bad guy. LA-zy! Rau's perceptive charisma, and even Dirandel's was alarmingly effective(Dirandel even had me goin'!). I believe you're mistaking charisma with imposing intimidation. Bad or good, no one likes a bully. |
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Shenl742
Posts: 1524 |
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Well, guess I'll make a note never to discuss Gundam on this forum, ever.
Seriously guys, you all need to chill out. |
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penguintruth
Posts: 8459 Location: Penguinopolis |
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That you think of Setsuna as "stoic" invalidates pretty much anything you might say, but let me address it, anyway. Setsuna isn't like Heero Yuy. Heero Yuy has trouble feeling emotions. Setsuna feels one emotion very, very strongly: RAGE. Anytime you think he's being stoic? That's suppressing anger. He goes off in rages throughout most of the first season. But then he learns to channel his anger better and let people into his life, and Miyano plays it up perfectly.
Ali al Sarchaz has way more charisma than Rau or Durdandal combined. He's just oozing with devilish smirking and enjoys what he does thoroughly, and even calls out the hypocrisies of his enemies and allies alike. Sometimes there is complexity in simplicity, and Ali is the perfect example of that. Yeah, he's bad for the sake of being bad, but not in a one-dimensional manner. It's because he has so much fun and is willing to point out his place in the world that makes him an engaging figure. Rau makes these stupid, typical "All of humanity is corrupt, we should let them do away with each other" speeches and takes himself super-seriously, which makes him boring. It's never a developed philosophy, we just get it all at the end. And because he doesn't have the presence of a Char Aznable or even a Paptimus Scirocco, he comes off as a bit dull. |
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Charred Knight
 Posts: 3085 |
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I liked the first season hated the second, the first season basically setup a gray vs gray war where the radical Celestial Being takes on the three world superpowers. In the first season they treated both sides with sympathy and setup a lot of interesting ideas like Setsuna's abandoment of religion, who was in the right, and can Setsuna surpass Graham and Ali as pilots when they even the score. What I got was a complete abadonment of the things that made the first season work, the three superpowers combine into an evil world goverment that's willing to destroy entire countries to force the peace, the characters who where against Celestial Being in the first season either get severely reduced screen time (Sergei) or just become jokes (Ribbons, Ali, Graham). Instead of well rounded, developed enemy characters like we got in the first season we get the Innovators a group of 5 people who have a whopping total of two personalties (Regene, and everyone else). I think I already hashed everything else out (stupid themes, constant shots of Marina). GWOtaku once said that watching Gundam 00 was like having a steak, I will steal his idea and change it, Gundam 00 is like eating a steak, but halfway through the meal the chef finds out that his got fired so he comes out and craps on your meal. Here's a good thing to compare, watch any scene of Marina playing with children, and then watch a scene of the Elric brothers together, I mean I always rag on Aikawa, but seriously what the hell happened to Kuroda to turn in these scripts. Last edited by Charred Knight on Mon Oct 11, 2010 12:08 am; edited 1 time in total |
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dtm42
Posts: 14084 Location: currently stalking my waifu |
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What's sad is that we are chill right now. So far it has been a nice easygoing debate. You should see us when we get serious, and vicious. Waaay worse. |
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garfield15
 Posts: 1516 |
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It's Serious Business. 
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penguintruth
Posts: 8459 Location: Penguinopolis |
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Gundam is serious business, damn it. Just ask the Japanese Ministry of Agriculture.
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Charred Knight
Posts: 3085 |
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Oh come on this is just a bunch of people disagreeing with each other, if we didn't, we would just be drones and that would be boring. I consider Penguin Truth to be a good friend and visit his blog all the time. |
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hacksawlol
Posts: 15 |
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[quote]
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.[/quote] [quote] Ali al Sarchaz has way more charisma than Rau or Durdandal combined. He's just oozing with devilish smirking and enjoys what he does thoroughly, and even calls out the hypocrisies of his enemies and allies alike. Sometimes there is complexity in simplicity, and Ali is the perfect example of that. Yeah, he's bad for the sake of being bad, but not in a one-dimensional manner. It's because he has so much fun and is willing to point out his place in the world that makes him an engaging figure. [/quote] The way that you described Ali Al Sarchaz kind of reminds me of Ladd Russo from Baccano!, considering that they're played by the same seiyuu. |
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garfield15
Posts: 1516 |
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That's not stopping this from being any less serious business. |
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Otaking09
Posts: 637 |
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You just said it: Heero has "trouble" with feeling. With the idea of concluding without violent conflict. Sure, many things help/influence him, but it's HIM, not an actual event who makes the final decision.
As for Setsuna, he IS stoic. Or to be precise, he's the real definition of the word: berserker.(Think of that one guy from Lodoss War) Except, like you said, he NEVER lets go of it. I'm sorry, but choosing anger management as a way to mature oneself, instead of an... I dunno "ordinary, rational, open-minded", manner just isn't... convincing. And it doesn't fit in at all with the intelligent tone that 00 pulls off. Rau may be firm with his judgement to the point where possible reasoning is negative 1, but at least he had all the proof he needed. He wasn't a brainless guy, and he wasn't a "madman". I hear you on complexity in simplicity, but that's an insulting. Using that as a way to describe Ali's rabid nature. He wasn't stupid, but you can never think straight, when you're only thinking of your next quarry. And Rau's only similarity to Char is the damn mask, and... in case you're wondering almost every Gundam has one character with a concealed face. Rau deserves more credit than that.
I love Destiny too. But.... no arguing on this here please?
Another way of deciding a good "bad" guy is Ladd vs. Claire. Claire represents almost everything I love about villains. I don't hate the archetype that Ladd is, but... it's not what I'd pick for a 1st choice.[/quote] Last edited by Otaking09 on Mon Oct 11, 2010 12:45 am; edited 1 time in total |
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penguintruth
Posts: 8459 Location: Penguinopolis |
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That's exactly the type of person Ali is. Ali and Ladd are very similar. And wow, yeah, same Japanese voice actor. |
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DangerMouse
Posts: 3982 |
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While true of his arc in season 1, to me he'd matured beyond just the anger management you say by the beginning of season 2 and even taking his first small steps into somewhat of a leadership role no matter how small that would have been a complete vaccuum even moreso after Lockon I's death, which never would have happened in S1 and for a guy who started out as a child soldier he'd become pretty rational and open-minded even if not all emotional, outside of a few occasions like when he reasons with Sumeragi several times to help rescue Al even with some new charisma when he says they won't blame her if they get hurt following a good strategy in the future they know just like before what they are getting into which I thought was a pretty key line for him and his understanding of her feelings and for getting her back, especially to his comrades on the ship and certainly quite a bit moreso than where he started from, especially during the first two thirds until he ends up in more solo combat than during most of the series. While he may not let go of all of his rage, some of it's gone and some of it is new from the events of S1, it's certainly different than before, I think it would be unconvincing if he just lost all of it. Except Ali was usually thinking straight even when he was like that, except on a few occasions he was rarely without thought even using his combat experience against Setsuna to his advantage or Lockon's weakness, he was a ruthless mercenary who knew that that was exactly what he wanted to be and we knew that from watching him with virtually nothing hidden about him, rarely mindless which made him even more dangerous in the story.
Agreed, I think you mirrored my thoughts. And also let's not forget that he got that "rainbow-flavored beam spam" at the perfect time just after he decides his resolve to not kill his enemies, talk about timing...at least he had to wrestle with the realities of combat earlier. SEED was decent and I enjoyed parts of it but even without Destiny it wasn't really one of my favorites, especially IMO it's, to me, too convenient and too conveniently placed flimsy "romances," that basically doubled as almost all of the show's character development and the sheer number of odd thinly integrated events and coincidences that served no other purpose but to get certain couples together that indeed ended up as couples with few naturally flowing encounters, like Cagali's way too poorly foreshadowed sudden fighter piloting flop that kicked off her romance with Athrun or Kira getting his "God" Gundam from his conveniently placed girlfriend at "just the right time coinciding with his decision not to kill" or the Shinn x Lunamaria thing, I think I can count on one hand the amount of character growth that wasn't linked to romance drama as well as the tiny amount of friendships/respect/comrades-in-arms relationships that barely existed they were so squeezed out by the soap opera all-or-nothing tears and romance outside of Kira and Athrun being friends. Most of the other Gundam series have managed to do both. I think I would have enjoyed it more with a larger variety of development, but it was still decent and I know a lot of people didn't find some of the events quite as "setup" for the romances as I did so it may be more of a nitpick on my part but it weakened my enjoyment of the characters at times along with certain timings of at a least a few events surrounding Kira and the Strike Freedom even though the suit itself is quite cool. And while they didn't treat the main character's reluctance as a negative which could have been interesting, they also went too far, Muu (and I even liked him for a while) was sadly an utter failure in his role, which perhaps also effected the series for me since he was so disappointing unlike Sergei who was fantastic. Last edited by DangerMouse on Mon Oct 11, 2010 2:55 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Charred Knight
Posts: 3085 |
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Your talking about overpowered and don't mention Setsuna and his various Gundams? When the only way to have a threat is to basically make the opponent invincible that's a problem. I mean by the end of the series Setsuna has gone beyond Jesus Christ he is spoiler[MECHA CHRIST!] Do you honestly believe that Kira could overcome his specialty in fighting long range being made useless by the Akatsuki especially when spoiler[Mu's] piloting? Kira would have to basically dodge the Akatsuki's dragoons while getting close enough to use his beam saber. |
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