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Gosplan14_the_Third [none/use name] @hexbear.net

Gundam 00 was Interesting

The show offers you a disapproving commentary on the War on Terror, liberal technocratic fantasies, and even accidentally recognizes that the bourgeois state itself is one of the biggest obstacles in the liberal one world fantasies that were popular at the time this show aired.

And predictably retreats into hope and despair that this is all caused by a lack of good morals on the part of the rulers. Because if you did that, you'd get something oddly similar to the backstory of Star Trek... and now, but nicer. Literally nothing changes, but it feels good!

Light of the world, shine on me! Love is the Answer! - as always.

And good lord there is a lot of love. This show goes really overboard on the romance melodrama in season 2. Without giving one to the MC, despite the obvious candidate of Princess Marina Ismail. Guess he can't be the man, the legend, Colasour the Indestructible.

Season 1 was the strongest, when it was about geopolitical blocs trying to crush an insurgency that happened to be the main characters of the show. Season 2 retreated hard into totally not newtype mysticism - as can be expected from Gundam really... I need to rewatch After War Gundam X.

What this show was really strong in were the visuals, especially in Season 1, and the music. The soundtrack is composed by Kenji Kawai, and featuring excellent OP and ED themes. Such as the OP2, sung by Tomoko Kawase - one of the Japanese artists I consistently get impressed by - plus Pulse by the Back Horn (containing ED1) is a really good album.

As close as this show was to jumping the shark, it never really did (in the movie? I haven't watched it yet, but thanks to Super Robot Wars I know what it's about lol). The show is just very, very competently made. At the very end of Mecha's presence as a TV anime staple.

Is this show good? Yeah.

Does it have good politics? They're very lib lol, though much more interesting than I expected.

What is this show really? Full Metal Panic, but without the comedy + Gundam Wing

Bonus: A random comment I found on r/gundam

6 comments

  • I really liked it back in my lib days. Like I understood the battles they were interrupting were lopsided and all, but the metaphor of God's Flaming sword coming down from the heavens to smite people who disturbed the peace was incredibly appealing to someone with their head up their butt and who had yet to read Zinn or

  • I need to rewatch After War Gundam X.

    Yes, you do! It's so good (even if some of it is mid lol). It's also one of the few non-Tomino shows directly referenced in Turn A, if I remember right.

    I'm not sure if you're following GQuuuuuuX, but I feel like AWGX is a good companion piece to it (both being post-"what if Zeon won OYW" AUs).

    Gundam 00 feels like a second shot at Gundam Wing (I haven't seen or read FMP, so I don't know about that part of your comparison), but with a slightly more consistent production.

    I think the absence of materialism makes season 2 fall apart. They're going for a Zeta Gundam type thing, but it didn't quite work for me. We all know Furuya is a big piece of shit now, but it was kinda fun having him return as a villain in the not-grandpa Gundam.

    • I've been catching up on G-Spam Gundam since finishing 00 actually. It had a pretty slow start, but it's starting to get good (I'm still a couple episodes behind) - and it definitely goes hard on the newtype mysticism stuff.

      Full Metal Panic is a show featuring a middle eastern, former child guerrilla main character who's comically serious, fighting for a PMC organization whose goals are to preserve the status quo by punishing bad state actors. Sounds familiar?

      The main difference is that Gundam 00 takes itself seriously, while FMP has that Yakuza 0 style balance of a serious main plot and wacky (rom-) com hijinks. I highly recommend it.

      • Plus the FMP anime was made in 2002! Gonzo beat Sunrise on that one lol.

        while FMP has that Yakuza 0 style balance of a serious main plot and wacky (rom-) com hijinks

        I liked Macross Frontier quite a bit, so I'll probably enjoy it. FMP's definitely been on my to-watch list for a minute

6 comments