Customer Reviews

Mobile Suit Gundam: The Movie Box Set

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Mobile Suit Gundam is the series that started the wildly popular Gundam series as well as the realistic robot anime genre. It was originally planned as a 50-episode TV series, but it was canceled due to low ratings and its creator, Tomino, was forced to create an ending for the series after 43 episodes. However, the show became very popular after reruns and in large part due to the movie compilations released a couple years after the original series. This movie trilogy condensed the story of Mobile Suit Gundam into three roughly two-and-a-half hour movies, with somewhat improved animation and a few edits to eliminate the more hokey, unrealistic aspects of the series. These movies were among the first Gundam merchandise released in America, and I must say, they are still impressive despite their age.

The first thing that struck me about the trilogy is the exceptional packaging. Everything about this set screams quality. The movies come in a blue box, with a cover showing the main characters of the series, as well as the Gundam's head. This image, which is on both sides of the box, has a very nice foil finish, so it shines and glows, a nice touch. The movies themselves have very well-drawn covers, and they too have the wonderful foil finish on both the front and back. All in all, the box set looks classy and will make your other anime DVDs hide in shame.

The movies themselves outshine the spectacular packaging. These movies are truly anime classics. The animation is a bit dated, but if you can get over that, you'll find yourself engrossed in the world of Gundam. The first two movies are a bit slow, as they develop the characters and show how they mature from being young, everyday people to soldiers who fight to survive. The third movie is easily the best of the three, as it is incredibly fast-paced, more than making up for the slow nature of the other two movies. The final movie is a breathtaking work rivaling even the best war stories.

But what really make the movie trilogy, as well as the original series, great are the characters. Gundam has probably the most realistic characters in all of anime. With the exception of (most) Newtypes, the characters are all very vernerable and in no way superhuman. They all react very realistically to war and the horrors it brings. The characters also behave realistically in that the soldiers on the "bad" side (the Principality of Zeon) do not act evil. Instead, they are just regular, everyday people who fight because they have to.

One of the biggest joys I got out of this set was the music. The original Gundam series did not have very impressive music or sound. However, the movie trilogy includes updated music from the original series as well as brand new sound effects that sound far better than their TV series counterparts. But the music is what really impressed me. It still sounds very much like the music from the original series, yet the quality is far higher, and the result is a very pleasing musical score, though not quite up to par with the likes of Char's Counterattack.

As well as having new music, there is also new animation. The original series did not age too well, and the animation is pretty crude. However, much of the series has been overhauled, with new animation for the Guntank and Guncannon in the first movie, as well as 30% of the animation being new in Movie II and 70% in Movie III. The new animation remains faithful to the original series, and does not look grossly out of place.

Some plot points have been changed in the movies, for better or worse. One of the great changes was the replacement of the rediculous G-Armor with the sleak and smart Core Booster, a machine resembling a fighter with large laser cannons. However, by watching the movies, you will not be getting the full story of the One Year War, as some of the finer points of the plot had to be cut to keep the movie at a reasonable length. One of my major gripes is that White Base fails to fight in Operation Odessa in the movies, whereas it was instrumental in the Federation's victory in the original series. For the most part, the plot works and still retains the essense of Gundam without some of the more rediculous plot arcs, but it also leaves out some important events.

There are no extras to speak of, other than an informational booklet that talks about changes made to the original series for the movie compilations. The book is pretty informative, but it contains massive spoilers, so I recommend watching the movies before checking out the booklet.

The Mobile Suit Gundam trilogy is truly a masterpiece. It is an incredible story of war, but moreso it focuses on the very human aspects of war, and that is one of the reasons it is such a timeless series. The Gundam Movie Trilogy truly deserves a place among more well-known trilogies, such as Star Wars and Lord of the Rings. It delivers a mix of plot and action that you will be hard-pressed to find in any other films.

please realize there is NO ENGLISH besides subtitles along with the japanese audio...it really doesn't disrupt the movies though.

but if you just cant buy a dvd with no english then this isnt for you

These movies are required viewing if you are interested in the Gundam canon. It's where the series began and is what revolutionized the big robot anime genre. I never watch dubs, they just can't seem to get the right emotions or tone of the original japanese. Also, about 90 percent of dubs are from Canadian studios, so you get an all Canadian cast accents and all. My biggest gripe of this set is the original sound fx have been replaced with generic explosions and other nondescript sounds. This may sound trivial at first, but imagine if the Star Wars DVD set came out and the TIE fighters sounded like f-16 as they flew by. Or all the laser blasts sounded like electric arcs rather than that familiar ping sound. This is what the all important "5.1" remix did for this set. As someone who watched the movies on tape with the original sound effects before DVD, the whole experience is ruined by this new mix. The studio should have included an alternate audio track with the old mix on it. There is a stereo mix, but it's just the new 5.1 mixed down to 2.0. The same thing happened with Robotech Remastered by the way. If you don't care about the sound effects being different then go ahead and pick it up. I'll be selling my set cheap.

This is a nice Movie set, and a must have for Gundam Fans, but it is old Anime, late 70's or early 80's.

The thing that I don't like about the DVD, is it does not have English dubbing, Just Japanese with English sub.

Some may look at this rating of four stars and think, "What? He doesn't think that the Gundam Trilogy is well-nigh perfect? What in Zeon's name is WRONG with him?" But don't worry, I'm not giving the MOVIES four stars (for the record I love these movies - to me they make a better space movie trilogy than Star Wars - let the flaming commence!) Let me clarify:
I'm not going to review the actual movies here (at least, not that much) seeing as how they have already been reviewed in depth by better writers than myself. Rather, I will review this movie set as a *product*. Meaning I am going to review the DVDs themselves.
And the DVDs are perfectly adequate. The video and audio are good (especially for almost-thirty year old films that have been made from a 1979 TV show). Unlike other reviewers I am not completely incensed by the new Dolby 5.1 remix of the movies' soundtracks (apparently these discs have the same audio as the previous collectors edition box set). Except...
That is all that is available. And if that is what was promised (as per the previous release of these titles) I would feel alright. But on the back of the handy-dandy-less-shelf-space-taking case the Features & Extras listed include (and I quote) "Original Japanese Mono Track (Movie II & Movie III)" as well as "Japanese Stereo Audio" for Movie I (Which I'm guessing is different from the 5.1 which is listed separately). Bandai, why do you lie to me? Not to mention the blurb in the box at the bottom which says "English and Japanese Audio." There is no English dub track. Lies, lies, lies (Lies, I tell you!).
The other reason I am docking this one star is a lack of real extras. Come on, not even the original theatrical trailers? Boo, Bandai, boo.

In conclusion, I give the Mobile Suit Gundam trilogy box set four stars because, while it has great actual content (a space war that is a real space WAR - with real people dying real deaths, with real drama and tragedy - and not a video game with cookie-cutter-black&white characters, fantasy physics and faceless minions being slaughtered by the truckload with no feeling whatsoever), it does not include the features that it claimed it would have. For which Bandai should have a space colony dropped on them.

gundam first started in 1979. this is a mixing of all the episodes, every 42 of them. in the time frame where the series is set, there are over 9,000,000,000 people living on the earth, in an attempt to avoid to much population, scientist create these giant cylinders where people can live,and house a percentage of the population.these cylinders are referred to as 'colonies'.these colonies orbit around the earth and the moon.the earth-wide government known as the 'earth federation' rules over the colonies. a group of colonies called 'side 3' declare independance, and at the same time war, on the earth. they use advanced technology, and these giant 50 ft. tall robots known as 'Mobile Suits' to wage war.youd think that theyd jsut shoot nuclear missles, but no,nuclear missles are useless in this setting(due to interfearance with radar). After seeing these machines in action, the earth realizes they need some too, after both sides, lose half of their population, they sign an agreeement not to use poison gas, biologiacal weapons, etc. The earth finally gets its own set of mobile suits that are much more then a match for those of side 3, aka Zeon. this series is one of my favorites. there are unbelievable fighting scenes, as well as an interesting plot line. you can notice how each character changes as well. seeing the mechanical designs is amazing, this is worth the money

"Mobile Suit Gundam" first came out in 1979, in lasted 42 episodes but was canceled, but it became ultra popular in reruns and the first compilation film came out, followed by two other compiliation movies, this was the begining of the first realistic robot shows.

The set is in general the three compiliaton films, each about 2 and a half hours the three compile the entire series into three movies (excluding some filler episodes) the animation, while I never rate a show by the animation, the animation here is great for the time, how ever the robots seem blocky at some times (Which explains why the old model kits look odd.) but who cares? The sound effects are standard also, but I LOVE THE SHIP EXPLODING SOUND FROM MOVIE 3, that large giant blast when ever a Musai or something takes it like a good girl. The characters are amazing and have great chemistry and effect each other profoundly, Amuro Rei, Angsty Whiny Teenage Protaginist Extrodinare, pilot of the RX-78-2 Gundam, the FIRST Gundam, Frau Bow, the standard Girl next door type girl, Char Aznable, one of anime's most famous villians and many, many, many other characters highlight the show, the entire franchise, not just this show, showcases the humman side of war, its not a game, and you can see it clearly in this show. Most of the Mech desings are amazing, some that really stand out are the Gundam, Gouf, Zaku II, Zgok, Zock, Zeong, GM, and many others.

This show was the first Real Robot show, meaning the robots were more like the future of tanks, rather then super heros. Overall, if you find this and do not have it, buy it, it is an anime masterpice, it started a revolution in robot anime, and anime in general, buy this ASAP, it is amazing and if you are open to it, you will not regret it.

Love the box set -however the special edition set with the foil art work was available in 2004 and is now a collectors item - this set still is good but not as fancy as the collectors set from 2004. You may get lucky and find one. Still it's the inside that counts!

This is a great anime. Its not really about superhuman pilots and mechs, its more about the sadness of war, very dark but very entertaining.