Gundam Unicorn 0096

[mikeszekely]

That'll never happen. Even after nearly 20 years, the 6-episode OAV series Aim for the Top! Gunbuster as a Region 2 DVD box set costed about $150. The 2-disc Japanese release of Gundam 0080 still costs $130 total.

I suppose you could wait for a release by a US distributor. But it might not ever happen too.

The it isn't getting bought. Simple as that.

I really like Unicorn, and I want to support it... that is, I want it to become available domestically at a price that I find acceptable. And in a perfect world, we'd all be millionaires and I'd buy every show, movie, or anime that I've ever remotely wanted to watch, but the reality is that I don't have a lot of disposable income. I've got to prioritize what spending cash I've got, and between anime and video games the lion's share is going to video games... and even then I don't pay full price for many of those anymore.

[kung flu]

Does anyone know if the Hong Kong blu ray version is region free? I know the japan version is, but the HK version is a bit cheaper.

[Keith]

Sounds like fun. I think I'll watch the Divx copy of it that's on my PlayStation 3 until Bandai comes out with a reasonably priced blu-ray that has all six episodes.

Now see, regardless of whether you agree with the price plan or not, it's officially released and distributed in the U.S. Enjoy your bootleg!

And the anime gods have smiled upon me for supporting awesome releases like Unicorn, Dirty Pair TV has been licensed!!

Edited March 18, 2010 by Keith

[Beltane70]

I am quite happy about the announcing of the Dirty Pair TV series, as well!

[CrusherJ]

Now see, regardless of whether you agree with the price plan or not, it's officially released and distributed in the U.S. Enjoy your bootleg!

And the anime gods have smiled upon me for supporting awesome releases like Unicorn, Dirty Pair TV has been licensed!!

Really?! Who licensed it? This is wonderful news!!

[Keith]

Really?! Who licensed it? This is wonderful news!!

Bandai Entertainment, via Bandai Visual. It's currently an Amazon exclusive.

[CrusherJ]

Bandai Entertainment, via Bandai Visual. It's currently an Amazon exclusive.

Wait, are you talking about Gundam UC? I picked that up from Amazon already. I was asking about Dirty Pair.

[Keith]

Wait, are you talking about Gundam UC? I picked that up from Amazon already. I was asking about Dirty Pair.

Bah, sorry, Rightstuf/Nozomi

[shiroikaze]

Bandai Entertainment, via Bandai Visual. It's currently an Amazon exclusive.

Hmm, maybe once it hits other stores. I think it's safe to assume that maybe the price will drop a tad.

Edited March 19, 2010 by shiroikaze

[Sdf Prime]

I saw Gundam Unicorn the other day and It was amazing to watch. The animation is some of the best I have seen and I hope the same quality is put into the other releases.

Does anyone know if they are adapting all of the novels into animation and how close the first episode followed the novels?

[Gui]

The novels' author has been quoted saying the anime was faithfull to his own job; can't tell you more...

[Sdf Prime]

The novels' author has been quoted saying the anime was faithfull to his own job; can't tell you more...

Thank you very much for the info.

[CrusherJ]

Bah, sorry, Rightstuf/Nozomi

Awesome, that's definitely a release I want to support, LOVE the Dirty Pair!

I thought Unicorn was awesome. I don't know, but the way combat was presented was so different and in ways better than other recent Gundam offerings. Eventhough the Unicorn's appearance was brief I'm glad the episode didn't end with it still on the launch pad with it's eyes lit up. I was afraid it might of. I'm also glad that there aren't 10 gundams running around. "Audrey's" last word at the end impacted me more because of that.

[Keith]

I just love that ::MAJOR SPOILER FOR THOSE NOT PAYING ATTENTION::

the real Minerva Zabi has finally re-apppeared, since she disappeared after Zeta, and had an imposter in ZZ.

[Mercurial Morpheus]

Caught a screening at New People in SF after The Macross World meetup. Enjoyed it as much as I expected too, even having missed a scene. The dub was pretty good, like most Gundam dubs too (while I didn't want to see it dubbed the first time, the big screen aspect made up for it, despite the bad framerate). A little too much CG at times, but the rest of the animation was superb. The in colony battle in particular was just awesome. I loved the rich use of blues in the colony. Loved the new RGZ. The blue scheme worked well on them.

And yeah, as I explained to someone afterwards, the real treats are the nods to the previous series surrounding Audrey and Marida. I got a kick out of how she came up with the name too.

Definitely looking forward to more, and I really need to pick up the BD and some kits. Wonder if anyone'll translate the novels fully.

Edited March 21, 2010 by Mercurial Morpheus

[Sdf Prime]

Definitely looking forward to more, and I really need to pick up the BD and some kits. Wonder if anyone'll translate the novels fully.

Maybe if the Blu-Ray does well someone will pick up the rights to the novels. Doesn't Bandai entertainment publish books in English maybe they will do it.

I know the original Gundam trilogy was published in English and if I remember correctly there were some Gundam Seed novels in English at one time I think.

I have the blu-ray but not BD-live For those that have BD-Live what kind of content was there for that?

Edited March 21, 2010 by Sdf Prime

[Beltane70]

I just love that ::MAJOR SPOILER FOR THOSE NOT PAYING ATTENTION::

the real Minerva Zabi has finally re-apppeared, since she disappeared after Zeta, and had an imposter in ZZ.

You don't know how happy that made me feel. Anyone that's seen Zeta should have recognized who that was!

[Hikuro]

Ya, as much as I'd really like to buy the movie.....40 dollars is just to much : / I want it out in stores dammit.

[Keith]

Ya, as much as I'd really like to buy the movie.....40 dollars is just to much : / I want it out in stores dammit.

Being in stores won't make it any cheaper. MSRP is MSRP.

[shiroikaze]

Being in stores won't make it any cheaper. MSRP is MSRP.

But they don't always price at MSRP (also, there's the occasional sale).

I think someone already answered this, but how many episodes will there be? Six episodes total?

[Hikuro]

6 every 6 months I think it was stated. So this fall should be Episode 2.

[Gubaba]

Finally watched the entire episode. Good stuff. Makes me wish I could read the novels... (I tried. The Japanese is REALLY difficult.)

[Dangard Ace]

Finally got around to getting a copy and watching it. Haven't been this excited about a Gundam series since CCA. As others have said, finally a Gundam that captures the Gundam feel! Maybe SEED/Wing boys will finally understand the awesomeness of U.C.

This is U.C. Gundam, if he cry's, someone will beat the crap out of him. No, seriously.

Damn right! Wussies! and if you're Brite you'll beat them up for the sure hell of it!

[anime52k8]

As someone who's never watched zeta, double zeta, or char's counter-attack; is it possible to watch unicorn and get what's going on, or will I just be totally lost?

Edited April 7, 2010 by anime52k8

[Gubaba]

As someone who's never watched zeta, double zeta, or char's counter-attack; is it possible to watch unicorn and get what's going on, or will I just be totally lost?

To be frank, ANYONE watching it is going to feel a little lost...unless they've read spoilers for the novels. It kinda throws you into the story without much explanation. I'm sure all will come clear as the series progresses, so it's kind of an entertaining bewilderment...but still, it's pretty unclear at this point what's going on.

Without having seen Zeta or Double Zeta, though, you will lose a little more grounding than those who have seen them, but rest assured that anyone watching it without the aid of Wikipedia is in pretty much the same boat you are.

[mpchi]

As someone who's never watched zeta, double zeta, or char's counter-attack; is it possible to watch unicorn and get what's going on, or will I just be totally lost?

Not watching CCA is a bigger handicap. Zeta to an extend, ZZ, not so much. But if you have watched just the original Gundam (the first one), then the concept of Newtype vs. Old type, Federation vs. Zeon, Earth vs. Spacenoids....etc. will help you a lot. Unicorn didn't dig too deep into the story in Ep.1, and they even try to 'educate' the viewer in some dialogues with a little history. So while a little lost, you'll be ok.

[Seto Kaiba]

Finally got around to getting a copy and watching it. Haven't been this excited about a Gundam series since CCA. As others have said, finally a Gundam that captures the Gundam feel! Maybe SEED/Wing boys will finally understand the awesomeness of U.C.

Just got around to watching it myself, and I agree wholeheartedly... Gundam Unicorn is looking like some pretty good stuff already and we've only had the first episode. I'm hoping against hope that Banager (or however you spell it) is going to be less whiny than Camille, Judau, and Hathaway... but even if he is I suppose it works towards UC Gundam's big thing about "war is hell". This is definitely the same old-school UC feel that I've grown to miss... the last time I was this excited about a Gundam show I was waiting eagerly for the last couple episodes of MS Igloo.

[Keith]

Not watching CCA is a bigger handicap. Zeta to an extend, ZZ, not so much. But if you have watched just the original Gundam (the first one), then the concept of Newtype vs. Old type, Federation vs. Zeon, Earth vs. Spacenoids....etc. will help you a lot. Unicorn didn't dig too deep into the story in Ep.1, and they even try to 'educate' the viewer in some dialogues with a little history. So while a little lost, you'll be ok.

I don't know, a couple big plot points are already tied in with ZZ.

[Hikuro]

I'd have to say you'd need to somehow much at least the 3 Zeta movies, and the last half of ZZ as that's what makes the difference, followed by CCA.

[azrael]

As someone who's never watched zeta, double zeta, or char's counter-attack; is it possible to watch unicorn and get what's going on, or will I just be totally lost?

You don't really need to see those to get the jist of things. It would help with some backstory but it's not a necessity.

[Snail00]

Finally watched the entire episode. Good stuff. Makes me wish I could read the novels... (I tried. The Japanese is REALLY difficult.)

Its not that Japanese is difficult, its the chinese parts. Japanese Calligraphy is fairly simple and easy to learn along with the language. But mix in the chinese characters and its a whole new ball game. That and mandarin has four tones and cantonese has 9 while Japanese has only 2. So the spoken form is also easy to learn. When I was attending my Japanese language class, the younger students also found it difficult to learn the chinese characters but sine they have more thats why they need to use them. As for Unicorn...a new episode every 6 months...sigh, i wish they could release them a bit more together. By the time the second rolls out your on to your next gundam series.

[Mr March]

At the behest of Talos I watched the first episode of the Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn OVA series and figured I'd share a few thoughts about it. Definitely an enjoyable first episode and a Gundam story I'm finding interesting. The animation is very good and I like that they are taking some chances with the framing and composition of the scenes. This is definitely not a by-the-numbers animation and it really shows in the wider variety of shots. The use of CGI seems to be less than one would expect for a current anime and it's all integrated in a more relaxed fashion. This is not necessarily a bad thing but is a somewhat unusual choice given the many wonderful recent examples of well integrated CGI in anime. The pacing in Gundam Unicorn appears quite deliberate and disciplined, a welcome departure from most common editing styles in anime. No doubt the original source novels had a major impact on the editing of the anime adaptation and that's just fine with me. The characters are interesting although I found the setup of the cast somewhat conventional. Nonetheless I'm invested in the characters and curious to see where the story goes. The action was thrilling and the battles were definitely designed with more thought and effort. The mechanical design is a definite winner for me. No garish, brightly colored or excessively stylized mecha appear here and instead we have some familiar yet welcome new mobile suit motifs with plenty of muted colors to help sell the realism.

About the only thing I strongly dislike about Gundam Unicorn is the release date gaps between OVA episodes

I'm really optimistic for Gundam Unicorn and I can definitely see myself enjoying more of this OVA. Much to my surprise I had a lot of fun with 2007's Mobile Suit Gundam 00 which was the first Gundam television series I've liked in a long time. If Gundam Unicorn is as good as it's first episode, this will be the best one-two punch from the Gundam franchise that I've enjoyed since Gundam Zeta and Gundam 0080. Episode 2 can't arrive soon enough

Edited April 7, 2010 by Mr March

[mpchi]

I don't know, a couple big plot points are already tied in with ZZ.

I haven't watched any ZZ myself, and I understand the events in Unicorn very well. Thats why.

[mikeszekely]

I haven't watched any ZZ myself, and I understand the events in Unicorn very well. Thats why.

Watch it, if you can. ZZ does start off pretty corny, but it eventually gains traction and works up to near Z Gundam levels by the end.

[Gubaba]

Watch it, if you can. ZZ does start off pretty corny, but it eventually gains traction and works up to near Z Gundam levels by the end.

I wouldn't go that far...but it does get pretty good.