Customer Reviews

Mobile Suit Gundam Trilogy Anime Legends

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

First: in case it was not clear to anybody, these movies are a 'compilation' of the original Mobile Suit Gundam anime series. Basically, they just trimmed up the tv show and turned it into 3 two-hour episodes. I only noticed one or two things that didnt make sense (when he meets Lalah at the house in the middle of nowhere...) but I watched these when I was already familiar with the story. If you dont know much about MSG, it may be more confusing...
Another note: it is only subtitled, there is no English dub.
Despite all that, I highly recommend this. It's an awesome story with interesting characters (Char!), lots of action, and a 'happy' ending (unlike a lot of the Gundam Shows).
If you watch this and enjoy it, I highly recommend it's sequel series(Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam) and the movie Char's Counterattack.

i watched all 3 of these movies with a friend, and we both came to the same conclusion: they're good, but in the back of your head you know that the actual series is much better and deeper. these three movies are about the same as reading a summery of the plot. they take the 42 or 43 episode series and compresses it into 6 hours and i would have to say that they did a fantastic job of it. even though i was confused and had to look some things up to get a better understanding of what was going on a few times (that being a good definition of a newtype and amuro and lala's relationship), i was still attached to the characters and was excited every time they showed up in Zeta gundam. my biggest complaint is that lala is a very important character to the series and she only gets maybe 15 minutes of screen time in these films. so, if you want to get the general story of the one year war and the main characters of the UC timeline so you can watch Zeta Gundam (the more popular series) then this is a good place to start, but i would recomend to any fan also see the entire original MSG series.

For those who wrote reviews saying that this trilogy of films is a condensed compilation of the TV series, yes that is true.

For those who say the original TV series is better, not necessarily.

A little anime history lesson. The original MS Gundam TV series came out in 1979 and was one of the first japanese anime robot series to break from the 'Super Robot' mold of shows like Mazinger Z, Zambot, Brave Raideen and others. You know, the typical 'little kid' or team of hot blooded pilots controlling a giant super robot with near magical like abilities. MSG was one of the first shows to depict giant robots as a mass produced weapon of war subject to the laws of reality, with the real stars being the characters themselves. However being one of the first of the 'Real Robot' style of shows, it still had a lot of 'Super Robot' type elements, including a very colorful looking hero suit, and pretty ridiculous 'evil monster of the week' enemy Mobile Armors. Face it, the original MSG was still pretty cheesy at times despite the otherwise realistic setting of civil war in space. There were quite a few crappy 'monster mobile armor of the week' filler eps and cheesy gimmicks like the G-Armor and Gundam Hammer weapon that smacked too much of the Super Robot shows.

In 1981, series creator and director Yoshiyuki Tomino took the best elements of the original TV series, cut out much of the super robot kiddie elements, plot filler, to develop a more harsh and realstic depiction of the One Year War and original saga into three movies. And FYI, Tomino states that the events depicted in the film are the official canon to the UC Gundam saga, not the TV series.

If you want to be a completist, watch the TV series for all the good and bad, but if you had to choose between the TV series and Movie compilations, just know that the films are all you need to watch to get a firm foundation in the 'original' aka Universal Century timeline of the Mobile Suit Gundam saga.

This film compilation is subbed only, which is not such a bad thing as there was an infamous dub that featured a horrible british sounding Bright Noa and everyone pronouncing the gundam as 'gunDAMN!' I heard a clip of the dub and it's hilarious painful.


To hear a great fan review on these films, check out the Gundamn! @ MAHQ podcast.

The original audio version that came out in 1981-1982 is not available and still has yet to be released in any form outside of the circa-1998 VHS tapes. Those tapes are impossible to find at a decent price and Bandai has access to the 2007 DVD re-release in Japan that was an HD remaster with the original audio and video.

While it's a step in the right direction to keep the classic Gundam series alive, the original versions of these movies are long overdue for a release on DVD. While I believe that Bandai should focus on releasing ZZ, Victory, X, and Turn A and at the very least finish the anime Gundam series before re-releasing something that we already have, if you really want to watch this great movie trilogy then this is your best bet.

3/5

This is the best animated version of the original series. Whatever the series does wrong the movies do right. It has some new animation but its mostly the same as the series so it doesn't look good by todays standards, but that is the only thing wrong with these three movies. if you are a fan of Gundam or if you have a slight intrest in Gundam this is the perfect thing to buy and for 442 minutes 30 dollars is not a bad price.

short but very good classic anime worth every penny if you don't mind reading personally i like my anime to be in English the way its showed in the states on TV but if you don't mind original anime then amazing series and show definitely recommend

Ok, to start this review I'm going to be honest, I purchased this not realizing I was only getting the 3 TV movies. I thought it was the entire series.

Pros:
For what its worth... This is a good buy. If you hate how gundam series involve alot of politics, buy this, it skips the jibber jabber and cuts to the heart of the story, and more importantly, the action. I watched all 3 movies on a 42" plasma tv, the resolution is crisp and the audio is perfect, even when im annoying my neighbors with the high volume! (Watch all your gundam series LOUD trust me its awesome.)

Cons:
I do not like the shortened format. I'm a fan of the full length version as ive watched it at a friend's house. Im also VERY critical of this version because they cut out the Amuro and Gundam's battle with M'Quve and the Gyan in New Texas colony. They focus more on Amuro VS Char, and cut out alot of the sequences of shooting down multiple Zaku's and blah blah blah.

Regardless of all the cuts, The series still makes sense. If you've never seen Mobile Suit Gundam, at least you'll get the summary of it. them leaving out the M'Quve fight really burns me, the Gyan is a super cool Zeon unit.

Verdict: I'd buy it again, but i wish i'd found the complete series first.. the complete series is now in my wishlist.. its about $150.00 and has a glorious load of extras from the original run. Either way they will both soon take up a place on my shelf for my sons to someday enjoy.

It was a surprise to find the original series of the Gundam's as I had thought never to see it, be it in its original form or other format, so finding the three movies it had become who could resist grabbing it while the grabbing was good? Politics, adventure and the odd romantic moment all rolled up into a grand adventure.

I'll admit I had a ball picking amidst the movies and finding the forerunners of the Wing Seed and 00 Universes. And they are there, easy enough to find if you look and believe me, I looked and I enjoyed. If there is one thing the Gundam genre has kept continuity with its a decent story line with characters that have some depth to them. You get the shallower characters but then you get the gems and for me its usually the grey characters that I enjoy the most.

If you watch a Gundam series you should expect to see more than giant mecha running around shooting each other... and I for one am damn glad it is so much more than that.

The movies are long, incorporating so much of the original series that I have to wonder what they might have left out. You think movie and you think editing and missing half the series, but in this case, I don't think so. Its detailed, complex and more than just enjoyable.

If this wasn't the original series, I wouldn't have given it 5 stars. That being said, I will expand: the original series (42 episodes) is truly the one to watch, as it expands the series and fully rounds out the characters without losing focus. The movie trilogy advertised here is the summation of the series major plot points between three 3-hour long films. I think it doesn't give the series proper respect, as it felt very rushed watching it (I showed it to two of my friends who were interested in watching it, they were pleased but they too felt it went a little quick). Three hours doesn't give proper justice to a series based around a One Year War (with 8 months since the start of it already passed).

In summary, this is a must have for anyone interested in the Gundam series, as it helps to highlight what happened so that other Gundam series can be seen and enjoyed without the watcher being lost. I would recommend watching the full 42 episodes to get the proper experience, but this will suffice for the soft core fan. NOTE: This is entirely in Japanese with English subtitles. There is NO English dub for these movies. The original show IS dubbed in English. Just to forewarn potential buyers.

A New Mobile Suit

When Cartoon Network announced that they would be airing the original Mobile Suit Gundam TV series, I was excited. The show that started it all, the great giant robot epic, the STAR WARS OF JAPAN. And then I watched it. I couldn't believe it. I was actually BORED. The animation was mediocre, the plot, slow, the characters, largely annoying. And don't get me started on the English voice-acting.

So you can imagine with what reluctance I purchased the Gundam Movie Trilogy on DVD. And what a surprise it was. Pretty much every complaint I had with the TV show was completely obliterated. The animation, even in the first Gundam movie, looked MUCH nicer. Maybe it was the DVD format, maybe the picture was cleaned up and restored...I don't know. All I know is, the animation looked WAY better. And remember all those redundant scenes (like the Gundam parts switching in mid-air) that were beginning to drive you mad? Gone. Remember those spread-out action scenes that happened just barely often enough to keep you watching? Now they're all part of the same battle, the action escalating and escalating until you're practically hyperventilating. And glory be, the characters seem more fully fleshed out too. And the plot improvements? A bit like replacing "What are midichloreans?" (hope I spelled that right) with "The force is what gives a Jedi his power." The sound effects, speech, and music were redone for the dvds as well. No words can describe the difference. What was cheesy or fake now sounds awesome. I kid you not.

Zeon Strikes Back

These DVDs do have one or two downsides. First, they're not exactly cheap. Secondly, there's almost no extras at all. No trailers, no making of documentary, no commentary. Nothing. And third, there's no English version of the speech. Now I can deal with that, but I really wish they had gone through the trouble to record a good English version of these movies. It really would have been the icing on the cake.

Then of course there is a bit of a boring lag in between the first and third Gundam movies. I know, I know, we get more insight into the characters and their motivations in the second movie. But compared to the gripping drama of the first and third movies (not to mention the awesome rivalry between Char and Amuro) the second movie is a bit slow-moving. For the movie with Char and Amuro on the cover, you'd think there would be more of the cool Amuro vs. Char action. Oh, well.

Return of the Newtype

Let's face it, great animation doesn't hurt. Great music and sound effects enhance everything. Good voice-acting helps a lot too. But what really makes for an engaging Mecha Saga is plot, action, and characterization. It's awful hard to get hooked when you don't care about the characters, the plot is boring and the action is comatose. Foretunately, the third Gundam movie delivers in these all-important ways, and features the best animation of the three movies as well.

In the third Gundam movie, everything comes to a head. Sayla confronts Char. Char and Amuro have a showdown. Mirai tries to decide who she loves. Complications of war and emotional turmoil tears at everyone. And every time you think the last battle is over, the action gets even more intense. It quite literally blew me away. In short, the Gundam movies succeed in every way.

If you loved the show, buy the movies. If you hated the show, buy the movies. If you love anything Gundam, buy the movies. These movies have a priviledged place on my shelf, ahead of Gundam Wing, Martian Successor Nadesico, and even the awesome Macross Saga. I can give no higher recommendation.