Mobile Suit Gundam 00 - <<Season 1>>

[John Focker]

00 version of G-Defenser?

More like 00 version of X's G-Falcon.

[Chief Guld Goa Bowman]

I don't know if you guys have seen the video with the preview of the dub version of Gundam 00, i can honestly say I'm dissapointed with the voice work, most of the voices don't fit the characters especially Graham( he sounds like a little girl, not literally). Maybe because I'm use to the japenese version, I also hope they don't take out the music.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mB59TUwwy0w

Edited October 3, 2008 by Chief Guld Goa Bowman

[grss1982]

I don't know if you guys have seen the video with the preview of the dub version of Gundam 00, i can honestly say I'm dissapointed with the voice work, most of the voices don't fit the characters especially Graham( he sounds like a little girl, not literally). Maybe because I'm use to the japenese version, I also hope they don't take out the music.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mB59TUwwy0w

Coincidentally, the VA for Graham also does the voice of Alto Saotome in MF.

[azrael]

Now we know how 0 Riser connects to 00 Gundam. And 00 Gundam the GN Sword II also subs for a large GN beam saber.

http://www.amiami.com/shop?vgForm=ProductI...ate=review.html

[Morpheus]

Now we know how 0 Riser connects to 00 Gundam. And 00 Gundam the GN Sword II also subs for a large GN beam saber.

http://www.amiami.com/shop?vgForm=ProductI...ate=review.html

Interesting, I wonder who will pilot it.

[Scream Man]

Dang, that looks awesome! Can't wait for the 1/100 of this!

[wolfx]

Now we know how 0 Riser connects to 00 Gundam. And 00 Gundam the GN Sword II also subs for a large GN beam saber.

http://www.amiami.com/shop?vgForm=ProductI...ate=review.html

Seeing how simple the design of the G-Riser is its no surprise on the connection points. I think it takes after the Exia Avalanche alot after they are combined. Interesting.

[grss1982]

Interesting, I wonder who will pilot it.

It could be Saji or maybe the guys who piloted the GN arms in Episode 25 of Season 1.

[azrael]

It could be Saji or maybe the guys who piloted the GN arms in Episode 25 of Season 1.

Dunno about that. Lasse is doing double duty as both Ptolmey 2's helmsman and gunner.

[azrael]

Split thread. Keep this to Season 1 (which by the way just started airing on SCI-FI).

[Mr March]

I just finished watching Gundam 00 and wanted to share my thoughts. Yeah, I know I'm way behind on this one, but I was so busy with all the Macross Frontier stuff I didn't really have time until now. But I have to say I'm glad I finally did get around to watching this show (thanks to ChiefGuldGoaBowman of the MW forums for pestering me into watching Gundam 00).

For me, Gundam 00 is a solid, entertaining Gundam anime. As a casual Gundam fan at best (my favorite Gundam show of all time is Gundam 0080), I have never been into the franchise the way I am with Cowboy Bebop, Ghost In The Shell, or Macross. The last Gundam television show I liked was Zeta Gundam and the last Gundam TV show I watched completely was Gundam Wing, which is largely responsible for turning me off Gundam, until now. Which is ironic, since Gundam 00 appears to share at least some stylistic and thematic similarities with Wing.

Thankfully Gundam 00 blazes its own trail and makes for an enjoyable action series and, more importantly, a coherent political drama. Even being spoiled by Frontier's wonderful CGI mecha, the hand drawn mecha animation in Gundam 00 is top notch. The action in Gundam 00 isn't overdone and most of the sequences are interesting and exciting. I also appreciate the frequent use of background CGI in the series and I really enjoy how well the animators have merged the vehicle CGI along side the drawn animation. Recent anime series have shown the Japanese have mastered CG in anime to the point where it's no longer jarring to see CG next to hand drawn animation. Celestial Being's ship, the Ptolemaios, is not only good CGI but also a very sharp design. It's an immediate favorite of mine.

Speaking of mechanical design, Gundam 00 does a great job with the new hero mecha. The Gundams are just the right combination of innovation merged with the traditional Gundam aesthetic; it's a welcome change for the franchise. I like the more linear and rounded style of the 00 Gundams, but they haven't lost that sharp edged detail either. The torso and head units in particular are a great move forward for the franchise style and it's nice to see the Gundams that aren't over designed with spires, wings, vanes, and other excess. The robots of Gundam 00 feel more real (keeping in mind that we're talking "real" in the context of anime robots).

Moving on to the story, I appreciate that Gundam 00 is taking it's audience more seriously. Sure it's still a children's show like nearly all anime, but it's not talking down to the audience. Celestial Being's declaration "to end war through war" is initially mocked by several characters for the outrageous statement that it is. Also of utmost importance is the fact that the Gundams don't just disappear from in front of the enemy because the plot demands it, but the Gundams actually used an altered version of the Minovsky radar interference concept from the original series to give a credible reason why the Gundams are very hard to track. I also enjoyed the political game played in the series. The creators have spent even more time on the politics of the Gundam 00 world than they did on action and when they did have action, it was linked to the plot and not just mindless action for the sake of mindless action.

The characters were largely interesting and there were only a few I didn't like. I like most of the Gundam pilots (with the exception of Setsunna) and appreciate that most are a little older. I particularly enjoyed Allelujah Haptism and his delightfully messed up personality. His character and actions are very interesting to watch, particularly in the context of the provocative moral questions raised in the series. Another point in Gundam 00's favor is the daring stories and some of the tragic events that happen to the characters. The political powers in the show can be a bit hard to follow, but they react in believable ways. The introduction of Celestial Being impacts these nations in very fundamental ways and they react much like a real nation would under the circumstances. The world of Gundam 00 feels fully fleshed out and realized, with many characters acting in intelligent ways rather than just as cliched caricatures.

Which brings me to my last point of praise for Gundam 00; the fictional construct itself. I really like how they took many of the themes of Gundam and re-interpreted them in Gundam 00. Space is no longer about colonies but rather the solar generators and the space elevators. They took the concept of the original MSG (a realistic construct in space, such as an O'Neil Colony) and transposed it with another interesting realistic construct (the space elevator and solar power generator). It's Gundam like Gundam hasn't been done before and yet it's familiar all the same. Even newtypes have been re-interpreted as a genetic super soldier program. All the original Gundam is there, just done in a different way and that makes for a much more interesting show.

The final episode of the series was fantastic and ended with both closure and some open ended plot threads. I'm very much looking forward to season 2, but even if it doesn't turn out to be as much fun, Gundam 00 season 1 will remain a favorite of mine.

There are some things that did bother me about the series. The Gundams are still a bit too much super-robot for my tastes, but this has always been a problem I've had with much of Gundam. The Trans-Am system was far too over-the-top, but at least it was fun to watch. For most of the series, it lacked a really notable villain mecha, like the Zaku, Kaempher or Sazabi. The Enacts, Flags, Hellions, and Teirens never came across as inspired mechanical designs and the only one I really liked was the MSER-04 Anf (which is sadly shown not doing much aside from exploding). The Gundam Thrones made good enemy mecha and the GN-X series looked great as well, but not much else in the villain roster was any good, IMO.

Story-wise, the only problems I had were how long it took to finally get the story arc with Louise, Caji and his sister into gear. They wasted way too much time setting up these characters just to get to the plot thread about Lagna going. The characters could have been introduced around episode 10 and it would have worked much better. Caji in particular has very little to do with the show overall, except to likely set up something for season 2. I also felt the reveal of the three Gundam Thrones was telegraphed/cliched. You just knew that with the imminent defeat of the Meisters, either a heretofore unseen super-ability would be surface or or another Gundam would show up to save the day. I was rather disappointed with the Thrones, though their introduction did make for some fun action. The Gundam Throne Zwei in particular served as another fun homage to the Gundam staple of the fin funnel with it's use of the GN fangs.

Overall, I'd give Gundam 00, Season 1 an 8 out of 10. I haven't had this much fun with Gundam in years and I'd recommend this series to anime fans that don't ordinarily enjoy Gundam. Gundam 00 had just the right balance of action, political drama, character development and visual style to make for an engaging and entertaining piece of animated entertainment.

[promethuem5]

So, I caught three of the four episodes of 00 that were on Sci-Fi tonight... seems like a pretty fun series, and the dub is good. I assume it was all Season 1 stuff, but alot of people with names seemed to die that I assume were a bigger deal if you've seen everything up to then (one was obviously big, but I don't know about the others). Is the complete dub (of S1 at least) available somewhere yet?

[Ghost Train]

To my knowledge what's been broadcasting on SciFi is S1, I watched a few when they started broadcasting it late last year. The dub voice acting is ok... I feel that Sumeragi's voice is a bit off though, doesn't fit her personality... makes her sound a lot older.

[promethuem5]

Don't worry, I'm a fairly shallow anime viewer... they all sounded fine to mee