I hardly know where to begin when describing my disappointment in the compilation movies of my favorite Gundam television series. You see, because the original movie trilogy took what was in the original series, polished it, and focused it like a laser beam into the viewer's mind. Unfortunately, Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam: A New Translation was a fucking disaster, despite it's finanical success. The original movies took a forty-three episode series, trimmed some of the fat, swapped out some of the more ridiculous toy advertising elements for more serious (and yet still advertising) designs, and transformed it from a "mecha of the week" show into a series of three movies running at over two and a half hours that represented a truly amazing rendition of the original Gundam story. The movies for the sequel series? They took fifty episodes of a series with far less filler and transformed it into three movies running at a little over an hour and a half each which were choppy and unsatisfying. To say the least, they removed most of the actual plot in favor of bare bones basics and destroyed all character development or complexity in favor of expedience and reanimated battle sequences. Not to mention that not all of it was reanimated, oh no. They took a cue from the original trilogy and only did a little reanimating. The problem, though, is that here the difference in the animation is twenty years, so it sticks out like a sore thumb. Don't even get me started on Tomino's newer, happier ending for the story. Give me a break. I don't hear a lot of complaining that these movies aren't available yet in Region 1. Still, there's something resembling the story of Zeta Gundam, which makes it better than the material in the lower tier, at least by a little. Next is the 1991 OVA, Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory. A less story-oriented Universal Century entry you will not find. The premise of this anime seems to be, ultimately, to explain what led to the situation in Zeta Gundam. However, it's easier to believe that this is a thinly veiled attempt to do a Top Gun-like Gundam story, with little regard to competent writing. I regard this OVA with the belief that it's little more than masturbation through combat action. There's little to say about the ridiculous plot and its unbearable characters, but the mechanical designs and fight sequences are top-notch, even somewhat surprassing some of my favorite Gundam entries in that field. It's just so excessive in its execution of its ideas, it's embarassing to watch anything but that action. The less said about the Kou Uraki-Nina Purpleton-Anaval Gato love triangle the better. What were they even thinking when that came out of left field towards the end? I feel like they just took things too far to get to a predetermined end scenario. It shows: Gundam 0083 is the weakest of the Gundam OVAs by far.
The first Gundam anime I ever watched is Mobile Suit Gundam Wing, back when it aired on Cartoon Network's Toonami programming block. I've been all over the board with this program. While it's not awful, I now feel that it's largely an exercise in futility. Its characters just argue in circles, beating you over the head constantly with their personal philosophies at the cost of a cohesive storyline. While there are some interesting characters and mobile suit designs, there lacks any consistancy with the strength of the mecha and moreover, the show feels padded towards the end. Likewise, the follow-up Endless Waltz seems pretty excessive, an unnecessary sequel with elements and revelations that could have easily been incorporated into the series proper. If you have to watch it, the movie version is at least more pleasant to look at. Rounding out our list is a program which, I must admit, I haven't finished. Honestly, I've only seen the first six episodes of Mobile Suit Victory Gundam, so I'm not very qualified to judge it. I previously stated that this chart is incomplete, and this is one of the reasons why. From what I've watched so far, it hasn't impressed me. The character designs are sort of childish and simple, almost as if they are an unfinished product, and there's a lot of problems with colors and shading in the show's art. The animation isn't all that great and the soundtrack is pretty unremarkable for a Gundam program. In addition, I've so far been unimpressed with the characters, though main character Uso Evins certainly is noteworthy for being such a young main protagonist. It makes it, then, strange that there's so much brutality in this show, so much so that Yoshiyuki Tomino himself advises you not to watch it. Still, it's got it's moments, and it certainly has the potential to improve over time. I'll get back to this show another day. My 2.0 tier chart will have a more complete consideration for this entry. TO BE CONTINUED - Penguin Truth