Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn - 01
2010 is going to be a major year for OVAs, so you can expect me to blog a lot of ‘em. I’ve mostly been looking forward to Gundam Unicorn because of its director, Kazuhiro Furuhashi of Chevalier, Real Drive and Hunter X Hunter fame, among many others. Overall, I’m impressed: there are a number of cliches in this show, but there’s also a lot of promise. And in this episode, the impressive outweighed the unimpressive parts.
So yeah, I hoped that it wouldn’t be the case, but alas: the lead characters are a bunch of teenagers. But to be honest, teenagers have never been the deciding factor for whether a Gundam Series is going to be good or not. While Zeta Gundam’s latter half indeed derailed because of the constant focus on angsty teenagers, the original Mobile Suit Gundam also had a lot of them and yet I consider that one among the best Gundams I’ve seen. Same for Turn A Gundam, which also had a teenager piloting an overpowered mecha. Gundam 00’s second season on the other hand barely had any teenagers, and yet it did have plenty of emo characters and its plot never really went anywhere for me. I guess that it all depends on the execution, and that’s where Unicorn shined in this episode.
Even for Sunrise, the animation here is great. The motion is incredibly fluid and the soundtrack fits very well. I really liked the action in this episode: it was intense and yet didn’t drag on. On top of that, the dialogue also is detailed. If the creators can keep this up, then I’ll be satisfied.
The lead character is a newtype, but I’ve seen much less likable Gundam leads. This guy is impulsive, but he’s not so ridiculously trying to be cool. He reminds me of a less whiny Kamille. Right now, I do hope that the creators are not going to increase his angst as the episodes go on. In this episode, the teenaged angst was still at a healthy level: they lost a lot of loved ones, so it’s natural for them to freak out, and they didn’t get in the way of the plot as they did so. The “war is bad” messages are again back in full force, but it’s all going to depend on how the creators are going to use the rest of these episodes whether or not this show is going to be a success.
Rating: ** (Excellent)
You do know Unicorn was a light novel series right? just checking since you didnt mention it in the preview. Anyway only 6 eps so I think i’ll wait till its all out and watch it in one go.
Comment by Watcherzero — February 21, 2010 @ 14:24
Was a good episode, although I think the protagonist was so-so. I don’t remember the old UC series well enough to tell if Banagher is better or worse than the other teenage protagonists. Maybe he’ll get better as the series goes on.
Comment by TJ — February 22, 2010 @ 3:30
Considered that it’s 6 episode of 50 minutes, this is as good as 12 episodes of normal length.
Comment by BigFire — February 23, 2010 @ 4:13
Finally back to the original timeline. Mineva Lao Zabi appear ^^. I was wondering wat happen to her.
Comment by UnCoolz — February 23, 2010 @ 10:35
how offen will it be aired? once a month?
Comment by Askaer — February 23, 2010 @ 13:52
2 a year :(
Comment by coyo — February 23, 2010 @ 17:34
I hope this isn’t as cliche as it seems sure the animation and soundtrack was great but the characters where a bit bland and stereotypical. I guess this is just the first ep. :/
Comment by coyo — February 23, 2010 @ 19:29
@coyo
…. 2 a year? So it won’t be finished until like October 2012?
Comment by anonymous — February 23, 2010 @ 19:53
meh :/
http://myanimelist.net/forum/?topicid=161692
Comment by coyo — February 23, 2010 @ 23:38
Months long wait is how all OVAs were released back in the day… even currently airing ovas like Hellsing Ultimate and Denpa Teki na Kanojo take ages for an episode to come out.
OVAs like Isekai no Seikishi Monogatari and Katanagatari are the exception…
Wonder how the Black Lagoon OVAs will go…
Comment by Westlo — February 24, 2010 @ 10:59
when is the second episode coming out? its been foreverz!!!
Comment by Traffic Siphon — August 14, 2010 @ 3:12
Here’s my version of the RX-0
http://gundam.i.ph/blogs/gundam/2011/03/03/unicorn-gundam/
Comment by meg — March 3, 2011 @ 13:27