There’s definitely many other Mecha anime out there, but the iconic look of gundam is something else. The original Gundam certainly shows its age but the same can be said for a series like lupin the third and its dub when it was on adult swim. Personally I’d take the original Gundam series over the more recent origins series, mainly cause I can’t get behind the art style for the characters and it goes ridiculously over the top for certain scenes like how char scares this one guy so bad he literally sends him flying with the flick of his finger. It’s really stupid.
One of the most successful failures of all time. It actually flopped in Japan because it was made to sell toys to little boys. Later Bandai looked at it and thought it though expanding their plastic models aimed at older boys to include mechs from the series might do well. Which then sparked interest in the reruns and made the franchise popular.
You’ll probably get a lot of recommendations from people about how and what to watch, but my honest opinion is to watch in the actual release order. You’ll avoid visual whiplash and get to see the art evolve through the years. I compare it to playing through franchises like Metal Gear Solid and Halo where stories aren’t told in the exact order. That way when you get to a newer series that goes back chronologically you feel the same nostalgia that the original viewers would have felt.
0:23 - Gundam **did** catch on in the USA. It was called Gundam Wing, and was a smash hit in the USA in the 1990s. Bandai just never made a follow up series to Gundam Wing. Instead of making more Gundam Wing shows or more anime that catered specifically to American tastes, Bandai Japan made the decision to recycle their older Gundam shows and give it to Americans. They were being cheap and saving money with this method. It didn't work and Gundam popularity in America eventually faded as the years went on. There are even stories online online where former staff who worked at Bandai's American branch (in the 1990s) kept trying to explain to the Bandai Japanese office that Americans love "Gundam Wing" specifically and Not all Gundam ever made. Bandai Japan wouldn't refused to accept it. They wanted to push other Gundam in America and recycle Gundam models. For various reasons this failed. It's a similar situation to the Big O anime. It was a failure in Japan, but Americans loved Big O when it aired in the USA. So much so that a Season 2 of Big O was made and Americans helped fund it. This confused Japan and they didn't understand American taste. In the end, cultural differences and corporate greed killed Gundam popularity in America. All Bandai needed to do was make more Gundam Wing, and more anime in the style of Gundam Wing. But they didnt do that and Gundam popularity faded away.
im hoping you watched, 8th ms, 0080 war in the pocket and 0083 stardust memory before you jumped to Zeta, it will give yuo so much more of a world understanding
I would love to see you do a zeta Gundam video when you are finished watching it. I just finished watching it for like the 10th time or something. zeta Gundam is amazing.
Legitimately some of the best sci-fi out there. Its less "badass robots fighting" and more "Series of brutal tragic world wars, political commentary and child soldiers". Since it was the first of its type (so called "Real robot" genre) the TV show can get a little "hasbero" at times, so i usually recomend people watch the 3 compilation movies instead which cut out a lot of the filler and make it a lot better.
Zeta Gundam is like the Star Trek Next Generation of Gundam. The first show set the stage but the second show has a bigger budget to flesh out the creator's vision.
There are 3 reasons why Gundam failed in America. 1. Airing the original anime immediately after Wing just underwhelmed every kid who wanted more Gundam. No offense to the og but it's just way too old for kids in the 2000s. Just remember that Gundam isn't the only mecha or anime in Toonami back then. It had competition and it often lost. 2. Toonami wanted Gundam X, they knew that it was a perfect fit for a successor. Sunrise scoffed and forced them to dub the original instead. 3. Recent events in America at the time made war focused animes hit too close. Which could've been avoided if they just aired Gundam X instead.
Always glad to see someone watch an old show. Yes, visually its dated and so are some of the humor but there's a reason these shows are classic. Z Gundam is pretty grim but I do like Kamille as a pilot, probably a tad more than Amuro. I don't suggest to watch every other series in the timeline. However, if you like more grounded stuff, then MS 08th Team and Iron Blood Orphans (Season one only) are a must.
I don’t know if I’d agree that the sound design is outdated. A lot of it’s sounds are commonly reused across UC entries and still holdup today. Now the acting, sure, there’s likely an argument there.
On a similar note, just finished watching Space Battleship Yamato. It touches on some similar aspects of war and humanity. Honestly though, the original’s acting feels pretty stilted. The newer remakes (2199 and 2202) are my pick. About MSG 0079… the part where Amuro loses confidence in his father hits hard. Imagine people thinking all anime is just kid shows.
Would be interested in Zeta Gundam as well. I just got into the anime late 2023, so I am in the same boat. I have watch the o8th MS Team and found it very enjoyable.
You could skip it if you want to. Story is a mess. Zeta was made before stardust memories so they are more of an afterthought than legitimate gundam from tomino.
I would recommend you watching Votoms and maybe Dougram as well, those must be the top 3 of the "real robot" subgenre, a lot of people usually get wrong what a "mecha anime" is, It's just any kind of anime that has robots on the setting, on the world building, it doesn't mean "it's about the robots" like a megazord or something, anything can be a mecha anime, some of the first anime of each genre were also mechas, people miss 90% of existing references and homages in anime just by not knowing the main mecha franchises, just like if they never knew about star trek or star wars, and the same applies to Gurren lagann, it was basically an homage to Getter robo, it was created a year after Ken Ishikawa passed away, I find it weird that most people just love it but refuse to see from where it came from
I personally love the Zaku II because to 2 it is the Gundam version of an AK 47. Rugged, cheap, can take a beating, but at the end of the day functional till its last bolt
I recently found a secret upload of the VHS only copies of the English dub of the first 3 movies. Best way to take in the first season of the show with all the fat trimmed out.
I just recently watched this a few days ago myself for the first time and just. Wow. Had I been Amuro I would have turned against everybody and blasted them due to how they treated that boy the first few episodes of fighting. Calling him pathetic, not a true man, and other stuff just riding him non stop as he was dealing with how all the killing was making him feel and the pressure of being the only one fighting. I would have turned traitor so fast.
I dunno bout the Zaku explanation. There's just skmething about the Greek-like cyclops robot with a glaring red eye looks amazing and the sound it makes sounds so satisfying to hear
All we need is a Fromsoft Gundam game that's true to the series. Zeta is such a great show, even if the ending is a little disappointing. But Unicorn is such a great series and Turn A is such a neat timeline.
@@nopeyepp Glad the series left a good impression on you despite how outdated and rough some episodes can be. Usually that's a problem for people trying to get into Gundam despite how good it is. If you ever decide to rewatch in a few years then I'd recommend the Movies. Also since you're watching Zeta Gundam now (my favorite Gundam series) I hope you start with the original series as the newer OVA version is in an alternate timeline with changes that won't make sense with the later installments.
Yeah, there's a few quirks with the UC shows. Technically the original show is non cannon, with the compilation film trilogy being the 'true' version. This is mostly due to Tomino wanting to scrub off the Super Robot like elements from the show, like the utter insanity that is the G Armor combinations, or some of the more monster of the week suits Zeon had like the one that uses boomerangs.
Pokemon or Yugioh.....no this was written by someone who actually saw the horrors of World War 2 first hand. He had a real message to say about fascism and child soldiers. He wasn't trying to sell trading cards. No wonder good anime is dead if this is what the next generation thinks.
The whole character of Char just doesn't make sense to me. He fights for Zeon but actively betrays their commanders while massacring federation soldiers. Then becomes a "good" guy in zeta, then becomes a bad guy again in Chars Counterattack. Like he went from a soldier with extremely questionable loyalties, to a freedom fighter with extremely questionable loyalties, to a full blown psychopath with extremely questionable loyalties. To top it all, none of this stuff is ever justified in any of the original series. Don't tell me anything about Origins cause as far as I'm concerned, it's a retcon. It's like 6 different writers had a view of char and they tried their best to make it all work and it just becomes this really bizzare character that is ultimately unlikable and extremely unrelateable if you really sit down to think about it. But I think I'm putting more thought into this the any of the writers did... Whatever, imma keep building my GM models.
Origins has been put into a separate, side timeline since it started because of things. But his entire thing with betraying some of the Zeon commanders is due to his backstory there and he has a LOT of reasons there, but he's also an asshole. During Zeta, if the Federation wasn't also led by jackasses thanks to their treatment of Amuro and others who should have been heroes and other things from Zeta, he'd have likely retired and done something else, but that pushed him over the edge into crazy land by the end. He's also someone who developed into a true believer of the Zeon philosophy of things.
@@AzraelThanatos at least I'm not alone thinking the guy is an asshole. He's objectively not a good or honorable person. He's gundams Homelander. As far as Zeons ideals go, I DON'T think he ever included genocide in his plans but I appreciate Chars lesson in taking an ideal to the absolute extreme. But it would have been good to set that up from the get go versus in CCA where Char just goes "you know what... FUCK the earth."
Not justified in OG Gundam? Sayla states everything in that episode where she has to talk to Bright about the suitcase of money Char sends over to the Whitebase. He and Sayla are Zeon Zum Deikun's children and the Zabis are their father's killer. He's screwing the Zabi's over in OG Gundam for revenge. In Zeta, his reason for being in AEUG is partially because of the Titans (because of the mistreatment of spacenoids) and partially because of Haman's Neo Zeon (who are Zabi centered). He's pushed to extremes because of what happens to Kamille at the end of Zeta. In CCA, Amuro has it pretty spot on regarding Char, saying that Char is deeply disappointed and deeply frustrated with how things are and with himself. It's why he's decided to do something so drastic as to throw Luna II at Earth both to force earthnoids into space and as an excuse to get Amuro to fight him one more time on a level playing field. It tracks that Char would be disappointed in himself insofar as being a newtype according to his father's teachings is concerned. Amuro managed to form that strong newtype bond with Lalah while he wasn't able to do so. Char has that "I'm my dad's son so I should be the one to prove his words true" mindset and is hurt that Amuro essentially stole his thunder (it's quite inconceivable for him).
So, Char's motivations are largely outwardly driven. We know he originally fights for Zeon as a sort of Racer X trope, where it's vague if he's a good guy or bad guy. In the end, he's neither, he's using whatever paths are available to him to achieve revenge against an evil family who killed his own. He SHOULD have been a good guy and the fact that he's not and he's clashing with Amuro, is the tragedy of it. When we introduce Lalah to the mix, she is something deeply important to both Amuro and Char, and losing her because both were forced to fight each other due to the war, permanently harms both of them. We eventually find out that Amuro is flat out afraid to return to space BECAUSE of Lalah's continued influence, and that she also is a driving force behind Char. She desires for the two of them to fight over her, for forever. Because she, too, cannot let either of them go. A lot of what happens is ultimately her guiding them to the point where they ascend in Char's Counter Attack and join her, where we find out she continues to guide both of them.. Though Char continues to manipulate the real world, while Amuro finds such a concept *mostly* pointless at first due to the cyclical nature of the Turn A always resetting everything. Char's desire to manipulate the real world seems to stem from a loyalty to his family. He continues to idolize his parents, and that involves adopting Contolism, or at least his idea of it, to an extreme degree. Contolism being the philosophy his father pushed, which you should look up if you're not familiar with it. This largely involves protecting the Earth and pushing for people to leave it as well, not just for Earth's own good but for their own good as well. This philosophy sees the potential of Newtypes as natural leaders and the next step humans will naturally take. Char tends to struggle with his goals because he is, ultimately, a sociopath. He doesn't want to be and I don't think he recognizes himself as one, but he is. Which means even people he probably meant well towards he ultimately treats like objects. This is because many of Gundam's characters suffer from mental disorders. Some are natural, such as Amuro and Kamille both being very, very autistic, and so well presented as such well before we really understood the concept that I wonder if Tomino is as well. Some are due to outside influences, such as Char having such a traumatic childhood. You can begin to see themes in these characters and understand (and predict) how they (will) act. We also see Char's clones struggle with this. Having no inward motivating force, both Full Frontal and Zoltan Akkanen struggle horribly to find a path which they feel fits them, and though Full Frontal adopted a similarly outward motivating force, Zoltan never did and his instability lead to his eventual mental break down and absolute insanity. Char's mind is a spear, directly by and at others. It functions best with purpose as a weapon in the hands of another, even if it believes it guides itself. Amuro's mind is a mirror sphere, reflecting inward and not outward. He is happiest by himself, focusing on his own self and interests, and trying to open that sphere risks cracking and damaging it. This is why when he feels the pressure he becomes so introverted. I hope this explanation and comparison helps you better understand Char. He really is a lot of fun.
@@AzraelThanatos welp... the looks definitely were odd here n there . . . but aided a bit by loving gundam in general and it aside from the looks not being to bad, it is actually ratehr enjoyable still
@@fallen-qn1fr Yep, it's a good story, the only issues it really has are more of due to limitations of when it was produced. It's something that I know several people have trouble watching because the animation drags them out of the rest. There's a lot of other series that have the same type of issue, but it seems that the more "realistic" style for designs also tends to be something that makes it stand out more compared to the more "cartoony" style of some other things. I know a lot of people who refuse to watch much of it and comment about suffering through the compilation movies because of it...same thing some friends of mine did when I was watching through Robotech and similar things I'd gotten on DvD. And with Gundam, unfortunately, I think that the Origin stuff just makes those issues stand out more and it's not clear to a lot of people that Origin isn't a replacement there
@@AzraelThanatos Most of the shows that aired around Gundam didn't have the really shaky inbetweening Gundam suffers from, the choreography and designs were likely too hard for the animation team that was available, lots of the shots in the mecha battles are more complicated than what you get from most mecha anime from all time periods in terms of perspective requirements and the like. Yas's characters and style in general has some difficult subtle quirks as well. And the schedule wasn't great AFAIK. It was just a rough and overambitious production, not an issue of being "dated".
I thought Zeta was an annoying snoozefest with unlikable, bipolar characters whose motivations were either vague, or uninteresting, at least until Paptimus Scirocco joined the cast of characters. Instantly became better, just as I was about to drop it. The mecha designs in Zeta are top tier, though.
Char "I've never betrayed anyone in my life" Aznable.
Welcome to the club, you have plenty of material to keep you busy for a while.
Good shit. I just recently rewatched the movie compilations with a friend. Good review, I look forward to your Zeta gundam review!
There’s definitely many other Mecha anime out there, but the iconic look of gundam is something else. The original Gundam certainly shows its age but the same can be said for a series like lupin the third and its dub when it was on adult swim. Personally I’d take the original Gundam series over the more recent origins series, mainly cause I can’t get behind the art style for the characters and it goes ridiculously over the top for certain scenes like how char scares this one guy so bad he literally sends him flying with the flick of his finger. It’s really stupid.
Gundam is a goated franchise
One of the most successful failures of all time. It actually flopped in Japan because it was made to sell toys to little boys. Later Bandai looked at it and thought it though expanding their plastic models aimed at older boys to include mechs from the series might do well. Which then sparked interest in the reruns and made the franchise popular.
You’ll probably get a lot of recommendations from people about how and what to watch, but my honest opinion is to watch in the actual release order. You’ll avoid visual whiplash and get to see the art evolve through the years. I compare it to playing through franchises like Metal Gear Solid and Halo where stories aren’t told in the exact order. That way when you get to a newer series that goes back chronologically you feel the same nostalgia that the original viewers would have felt.
Just wait till Zeta and Char's Counterattack.
Amuro really grew as a character.
I did a video on Zeta if you're interested, love what they did with Amuro. I'm on ZZ right now so I'm looking forward to CC.
the greatest part about 0079 is Char and the best gundam is Z. Kamille best boy and Judau is goated.
0:23 - Gundam **did** catch on in the USA. It was called Gundam Wing, and was a smash hit in the USA in the 1990s.
Bandai just never made a follow up series to Gundam Wing. Instead of making more Gundam Wing shows or more anime that catered specifically to American tastes, Bandai Japan made the decision to recycle their older Gundam shows and give it to Americans. They were being cheap and saving money with this method. It didn't work and Gundam popularity in America eventually faded as the years went on.
There are even stories online online where former staff who worked at Bandai's American branch (in the 1990s) kept trying to explain to the Bandai Japanese office that Americans love "Gundam Wing" specifically and Not all Gundam ever made. Bandai Japan wouldn't refused to accept it. They wanted to push other Gundam in America and recycle Gundam models. For various reasons this failed.
It's a similar situation to the Big O anime. It was a failure in Japan, but Americans loved Big O when it aired in the USA. So much so that a Season 2 of Big O was made and Americans helped fund it. This confused Japan and they didn't understand American taste.
In the end, cultural differences and corporate greed killed Gundam popularity in America. All Bandai needed to do was make more Gundam Wing, and more anime in the style of Gundam Wing. But they didnt do that and Gundam popularity faded away.
Holy crap! i started watching it at around the same time as you. I'm on ep 3 of zz now
im hoping you watched, 8th ms, 0080 war in the pocket and 0083 stardust memory before you jumped to Zeta, it will give yuo so much more of a world understanding
My favorite part of the series was the "oh shit" moment when I realized it was taking its sci-fi concepts very seriously.
I would love to see you do a zeta Gundam video when you are finished watching it. I just finished watching it for like the 10th time or something. zeta Gundam is amazing.
I have watched almost every single Gundam Series and Zeta Gundam is still my favorite.
It has some big plot holes though.
YES!!! this is why tallgeese is so freaking amazing. treize took a LEO and was like "upgrade"
Legitimately some of the best sci-fi out there. Its less "badass robots fighting" and more "Series of brutal tragic world wars, political commentary and child soldiers".
Since it was the first of its type (so called "Real robot" genre) the TV show can get a little "hasbero" at times, so i usually recomend people watch the 3 compilation movies instead which cut out a lot of the filler and make it a lot better.
Zeta Gundam is like the Star Trek Next Generation of Gundam. The first show set the stage but the second show has a bigger budget to flesh out the creator's vision.
There are 3 reasons why Gundam failed in America.
1. Airing the original anime immediately after Wing just underwhelmed every kid who wanted more Gundam. No offense to the og but it's just way too old for kids in the 2000s. Just remember that Gundam isn't the only mecha or anime in Toonami back then. It had competition and it often lost.
2. Toonami wanted Gundam X, they knew that it was a perfect fit for a successor. Sunrise scoffed and forced them to dub the original instead.
3. Recent events in America at the time made war focused animes hit too close. Which could've been avoided if they just aired Gundam X instead.
Always glad to see someone watch an old show. Yes, visually its dated and so are some of the humor but there's a reason these shows are classic. Z Gundam is pretty grim but I do like Kamille as a pilot, probably a tad more than Amuro. I don't suggest to watch every other series in the timeline. However, if you like more grounded stuff, then MS 08th Team and Iron Blood Orphans (Season one only) are a must.
I don’t know if I’d agree that the sound design is outdated. A lot of it’s sounds are commonly reused across UC entries and still holdup today. Now the acting, sure, there’s likely an argument there.
You're right, I oversimplified the overall production quality
On a similar note, just finished watching Space Battleship Yamato. It touches on some similar aspects of war and humanity. Honestly though, the original’s acting feels pretty stilted. The newer remakes (2199 and 2202) are my pick.
About MSG 0079… the part where Amuro loses confidence in his father hits hard. Imagine people thinking all anime is just kid shows.
I thought the beginning was kind of boring but it got better later on. Also later in a series is pretty brutal for a 70s anime.
Would be interested in Zeta Gundam as well. I just got into the anime late 2023, so I am in the same boat. I have watch the o8th MS Team and found it very enjoyable.
You should finish the side stories before Zeta. 0083 Stardust Memory is relevant to the main story.
Will for sure come back for it
You could skip it if you want to. Story is a mess. Zeta was made before stardust memories so they are more of an afterthought than legitimate gundam from tomino.
Also include the 8th mobile suit team and the best christmas mini-series: War in the Pocket.
@@nopeyeppand don’t forget about 08th ms team and 0080. 08th ms has one of the best fights in any gundam series
I would recommend you watching Votoms and maybe Dougram as well, those must be the top 3 of the "real robot" subgenre,
a lot of people usually get wrong what a "mecha anime" is, It's just any kind of anime that has robots on the setting, on the world building, it doesn't mean "it's about the robots" like a megazord or something, anything can be a mecha anime, some of the first anime of each genre were also mechas, people miss 90% of existing references and homages in anime just by not knowing the main mecha franchises, just like if they never knew about star trek or star wars,
and the same applies to Gurren lagann, it was basically an homage to Getter robo, it was created a year after Ken Ishikawa passed away, I find it weird that most people just love it but refuse to see from where it came from
I personally love the Zaku II because to 2 it is the Gundam version of an AK 47.
Rugged, cheap, can take a beating, but at the end of the day functional till its last bolt
I recently found a secret upload of the VHS only copies of the English dub of the first 3 movies. Best way to take in the first season of the show with all the fat trimmed out.
Are those dubs watchable?
Hell yeah dude!
I love Gundam it's one of my favorite franchise.
Late uc gets kind of different and I'm looking forward to seeing what your opinion will be.
I just recently watched this a few days ago myself for the first time and just. Wow. Had I been Amuro I would have turned against everybody and blasted them due to how they treated that boy the first few episodes of fighting. Calling him pathetic, not a true man, and other stuff just riding him non stop as he was dealing with how all the killing was making him feel and the pressure of being the only one fighting. I would have turned traitor so fast.
I dunno bout the Zaku explanation. There's just skmething about the Greek-like cyclops robot with a glaring red eye looks amazing and the sound it makes sounds so satisfying to hear
All we need is a Fromsoft Gundam game that's true to the series. Zeta is such a great show, even if the ending is a little disappointing. But Unicorn is such a great series and Turn A is such a neat timeline.
They do have a Unicorn game...but Fromsoft is focusing on their own properties more than licensed work
What game is that in the background?
SD Gundam Battle Alliance
You gotta watch the Movies.
the show was good tho
@@nopeyepp Glad the series left a good impression on you despite how outdated and rough some episodes can be. Usually that's a problem for people trying to get into Gundam despite how good it is. If you ever decide to rewatch in a few years then I'd recommend the Movies.
Also since you're watching Zeta Gundam now (my favorite Gundam series) I hope you start with the original series as the newer OVA version is in an alternate timeline with changes that won't make sense with the later installments.
Yeah I've been watching the original Zeta Gundam, thanks for the advice tho it means a lot@@floofy_wolfe383
Yeah, there's a few quirks with the UC shows. Technically the original show is non cannon, with the compilation film trilogy being the 'true' version. This is mostly due to Tomino wanting to scrub off the Super Robot like elements from the show, like the utter insanity that is the G Armor combinations, or some of the more monster of the week suits Zeon had like the one that uses boomerangs.
Nah the show is way better. The movies (with the exception of third one) feel too abridged@@floofy_wolfe383
Zeta Gundam is much darker and Double Zeta Gundam is just silly
Pokemon or Yugioh.....no this was written by someone who actually saw the horrors of World War 2 first hand. He had a real message to say about fascism and child soldiers. He wasn't trying to sell trading cards. No wonder good anime is dead if this is what the next generation thinks.
It was just my initial impression because of how popular the discussion around the figures is, rather than the show
The whole character of Char just doesn't make sense to me. He fights for Zeon but actively betrays their commanders while massacring federation soldiers. Then becomes a "good" guy in zeta, then becomes a bad guy again in Chars Counterattack. Like he went from a soldier with extremely questionable loyalties, to a freedom fighter with extremely questionable loyalties, to a full blown psychopath with extremely questionable loyalties. To top it all, none of this stuff is ever justified in any of the original series.
Don't tell me anything about Origins cause as far as I'm concerned, it's a retcon.
It's like 6 different writers had a view of char and they tried their best to make it all work and it just becomes this really bizzare character that is ultimately unlikable and extremely unrelateable if you really sit down to think about it. But I think I'm putting more thought into this the any of the writers did... Whatever, imma keep building my GM models.
You might need to put a little more thought to it than you ever think (Or read some related manga and do some rewatch if you will)
Origins has been put into a separate, side timeline since it started because of things.
But his entire thing with betraying some of the Zeon commanders is due to his backstory there and he has a LOT of reasons there, but he's also an asshole.
During Zeta, if the Federation wasn't also led by jackasses thanks to their treatment of Amuro and others who should have been heroes and other things from Zeta, he'd have likely retired and done something else, but that pushed him over the edge into crazy land by the end.
He's also someone who developed into a true believer of the Zeon philosophy of things.
@@AzraelThanatos at least I'm not alone thinking the guy is an asshole. He's objectively not a good or honorable person. He's gundams Homelander.
As far as Zeons ideals go, I DON'T think he ever included genocide in his plans but I appreciate Chars lesson in taking an ideal to the absolute extreme. But it would have been good to set that up from the get go versus in CCA where Char just goes "you know what... FUCK the earth."
Not justified in OG Gundam? Sayla states everything in that episode where she has to talk to Bright about the suitcase of money Char sends over to the Whitebase. He and Sayla are Zeon Zum Deikun's children and the Zabis are their father's killer. He's screwing the Zabi's over in OG Gundam for revenge.
In Zeta, his reason for being in AEUG is partially because of the Titans (because of the mistreatment of spacenoids) and partially because of Haman's Neo Zeon (who are Zabi centered). He's pushed to extremes because of what happens to Kamille at the end of Zeta.
In CCA, Amuro has it pretty spot on regarding Char, saying that Char is deeply disappointed and deeply frustrated with how things are and with himself. It's why he's decided to do something so drastic as to throw Luna II at Earth both to force earthnoids into space and as an excuse to get Amuro to fight him one more time on a level playing field.
It tracks that Char would be disappointed in himself insofar as being a newtype according to his father's teachings is concerned. Amuro managed to form that strong newtype bond with Lalah while he wasn't able to do so. Char has that "I'm my dad's son so I should be the one to prove his words true" mindset and is hurt that Amuro essentially stole his thunder (it's quite inconceivable for him).
So, Char's motivations are largely outwardly driven. We know he originally fights for Zeon as a sort of Racer X trope, where it's vague if he's a good guy or bad guy. In the end, he's neither, he's using whatever paths are available to him to achieve revenge against an evil family who killed his own. He SHOULD have been a good guy and the fact that he's not and he's clashing with Amuro, is the tragedy of it.
When we introduce Lalah to the mix, she is something deeply important to both Amuro and Char, and losing her because both were forced to fight each other due to the war, permanently harms both of them.
We eventually find out that Amuro is flat out afraid to return to space BECAUSE of Lalah's continued influence, and that she also is a driving force behind Char. She desires for the two of them to fight over her, for forever. Because she, too, cannot let either of them go. A lot of what happens is ultimately her guiding them to the point where they ascend in Char's Counter Attack and join her, where we find out she continues to guide both of them.. Though Char continues to manipulate the real world, while Amuro finds such a concept *mostly* pointless at first due to the cyclical nature of the Turn A always resetting everything.
Char's desire to manipulate the real world seems to stem from a loyalty to his family. He continues to idolize his parents, and that involves adopting Contolism, or at least his idea of it, to an extreme degree. Contolism being the philosophy his father pushed, which you should look up if you're not familiar with it. This largely involves protecting the Earth and pushing for people to leave it as well, not just for Earth's own good but for their own good as well. This philosophy sees the potential of Newtypes as natural leaders and the next step humans will naturally take. Char tends to struggle with his goals because he is, ultimately, a sociopath. He doesn't want to be and I don't think he recognizes himself as one, but he is. Which means even people he probably meant well towards he ultimately treats like objects.
This is because many of Gundam's characters suffer from mental disorders. Some are natural, such as Amuro and Kamille both being very, very autistic, and so well presented as such well before we really understood the concept that I wonder if Tomino is as well. Some are due to outside influences, such as Char having such a traumatic childhood. You can begin to see themes in these characters and understand (and predict) how they (will) act.
We also see Char's clones struggle with this. Having no inward motivating force, both Full Frontal and Zoltan Akkanen struggle horribly to find a path which they feel fits them, and though Full Frontal adopted a similarly outward motivating force, Zoltan never did and his instability lead to his eventual mental break down and absolute insanity. Char's mind is a spear, directly by and at others. It functions best with purpose as a weapon in the hands of another, even if it believes it guides itself. Amuro's mind is a mirror sphere, reflecting inward and not outward. He is happiest by himself, focusing on his own self and interests, and trying to open that sphere risks cracking and damaging it. This is why when he feels the pressure he becomes so introverted.
I hope this explanation and comparison helps you better understand Char. He really is a lot of fun.
*LMAO* the very first series was kinda acceptable... but DAMN did I hate the opening XO ^^; so... weird?
It also, unfortunately, feels very dated with the animation for it, but is an awesome story for it.
@@AzraelThanatos welp... the looks definitely were odd here n there . . . but aided a bit by loving gundam in general and it aside from the looks not being to bad, it is actually ratehr enjoyable still
@@fallen-qn1fr Yep, it's a good story, the only issues it really has are more of due to limitations of when it was produced. It's something that I know several people have trouble watching because the animation drags them out of the rest.
There's a lot of other series that have the same type of issue, but it seems that the more "realistic" style for designs also tends to be something that makes it stand out more compared to the more "cartoony" style of some other things.
I know a lot of people who refuse to watch much of it and comment about suffering through the compilation movies because of it...same thing some friends of mine did when I was watching through Robotech and similar things I'd gotten on DvD.
And with Gundam, unfortunately, I think that the Origin stuff just makes those issues stand out more and it's not clear to a lot of people that Origin isn't a replacement there
@@AzraelThanatos Most of the shows that aired around Gundam didn't have the really shaky inbetweening Gundam suffers from, the choreography and designs were likely too hard for the animation team that was available, lots of the shots in the mecha battles are more complicated than what you get from most mecha anime from all time periods in terms of perspective requirements and the like. Yas's characters and style in general has some difficult subtle quirks as well. And the schedule wasn't great AFAIK. It was just a rough and overambitious production, not an issue of being "dated".
I thought Zeta was an annoying snoozefest with unlikable, bipolar characters whose motivations were either vague, or uninteresting, at least until Paptimus Scirocco joined the cast of characters. Instantly became better, just as I was about to drop it. The mecha designs in Zeta are top tier, though.