At the start of this year, among other things and getting COVID, I experienced the original Mobile Suit Gundam for the first time. It was an experience I was unsure about at first, but one I came to recognize as a very ambitious series through the eyes of a child flung into conflict and a cycle perpetuated by adults all around him.

Afterwards, I jumped into its sequel series – Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam. The same Zeta Gundam that I always tell myself I’ll never mention again because of its assbackwards plot, characters and damn near everything, but can’t not mention it because it’s still a part of Tomino’s initial Gundam trilogy. I’ll try not to go on a Zeta rant for a third time in a consecutive review, but it’s definitely not an experience I like to revisit.

And last but not least came Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ, my favorite of Tomino’s initial Gundam trilogy and the one that I felt nailed the characters, themes and visceral nature that the original series held dear. Double Zeta picks up the ball for the franchise with surety and confidence, so much so that I was finally wondering if Tomino at this stage of his career was truly growing as a writer. So, with that in mind, I was fascinated on how the “man with the plan” would close out his tale of Amuro, Bright, Char and all of the characters he had created.

How well would Char’s Counterattack deliver? Would we get a story with bittersweet bravado like the Blue Team? Something as emotionally impactful as Amuro turning his back on his mother in favor of fighting a never-ending war? Something as hardcore as Ramba Ral’s final confrontation? The answer to all of these questions is a tired and sardonic look at the camera like a scene of the Office. To put it mildly – if Double Zeta picks the ball back up, Char’s Counterattack snatches and grabs the shit, tosses it furiously into the stands and watches with malicious glee as it manages to mash the faces of every man, woman and child in the near-vicinity. Welcome to Yoshiyuki Tomino’s “magnum opus” or “masterpiece” or “flaming sack”, as it’s called in the modern common tongue. Welcome, once again, to Char’s Counterattack!

But before we go and enter the sanctuary that is Char’s Counterattack, I first have to bring you to reminisce (or partly experience) the ever masterful and riveting “Star Wars – Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker!” Although the entire movie might as well be God’s gift to mankind and all cinephiles alike, there is just one certain scene that truly shows the viewer the state of affairs of that filme.
“Somehow, Palpatine returned!” was uttered on screen by an exasperated Oscar Isaac and suddenly millions of Star Wars fans and keyboard warriors of Filme Twitter raised their hands in jubilation and relief. Tears were shed that day, as the state of cinema, film direction and script writing were made anew and given a fresh start by this earth-shattering and magnanimous display of carefully crafted storytelling and nuanced approach to stake-setting! David Lynch, what? Michael Mann, who? Eat your f**king heart out, Clint Eastwood!

Now, the uninitiated might be asking themselves, “Why is he bringing up the greatest cinematic achievement of mankind since ‘Wall-E’ in a review about Gundam’s ‘Char’s Counterattack’?” But the esteemed and most regal of readers and cinephiles will know exactly where I’m going with this! To dumb it down for those out there that cannot grasp what is out of reach, it is very clear that JJ Abrams, Kathleen Kennedy and The Wt D**y Company graduated in unison from the School of Yoshiyuki Tomino Storytelling, his influence artfully making a bold appearance throughout all of the prolific “SWIXTROS” filme. Sudden plot points that feel like they needed one or two seasons’ movies to set up sturdily? It all makes sense! The severe lack of emotional connection and intensity besides two tandem characters in the cast? It all makes sense! The haphazard nature of story and how things happen and are resolved in such an uncaring and lackadaisical, practically childish way? It. All. Makes. SENSE! Suffice it to say, it wouldn’t be outside of the realm of comparison to equate the newest Star Wars (2019) filme to being this generation’s Char’s Counterattack (1988), cinematic beauty marks and all…

So, yeah. Char’s Counterattack is that bad. Bad enough for me to go on a sardonically-tinted rant about it and mention a movie I’d rather not. But don’t blame me – blame this awful movie! A film that had the audacity to basically say to the audience “Somehow, Palpa—I mean—Char returned” with completely unapologetic and out-of-nowhere, haphazard. Somehow, Neo Zeon is still a thing after Haman Karn fell at the end of Gundam ZZ. Somehow, Char survived his harrowing situation at the end of Zeta Gundam. Somehow, now Char is at the head of Neo Zeon, leading his forces to destroy humanity on Earth in a nuclear and Ice Aged genocide. And somehow, I am still able to find some good in the shitty lot that the story and Char have been dealt – which is, ironically, Char himself.

Life is kind of funny like that, right? While being the worst Gundam I’ve watched of Tomino’s brand (so far), it also has the best and most intriguing characterization of Char Aznable. In the original Gundam, he takes the role of a schemer and yet, although there were human elements to his character (especially through interactions with Amuro, Sayla and Lalah), he still didn’t reach the top of my character’s list. In Zeta, he was a notable bright spot, with great character moments and interactions with both Amuro and Kamille (hell, even his speech is pretty damn good too!) But unfortunately, it still didn’t hit a moment that felt visceral, relatable or raw in a real sense.

It wasn’t until his arc within this movie that it really started to hit home. Char is a man with many powerful principles and desires, so much so that they contradict each other at every turn. He seeks a world without pollution and conflict yet is using genocide to fulfill that. He mourns and blames Amuro for the death of Lalah, someone he considers like a mother to him, yet sent that same “mother” out into the very battlefield and put her at risk.

He wants to be around and near Amuro Ray. He wants to love him and be loved by him, but his very actions and schemes keep him further and further away from him. It reminds me a lot of one Eren Yeager, caught in between the constant impasse of selfish and selfless and being a walking, talking contradiction of morality. It’s an impressive understanding of character and takes Char to levels that he just wasn’t at previously. Like…a missing puzzle piece that fits so, so perfectly.

The rest of the character work in this movie, save for maybe Amuro, is definitely not nearly as well written and well considered as Char here. And maybe if it was, just maybe, the movie would be better as a result. But in a sh*tshow this messy, it pays to take the clean spots where you get them, and Char is a spot bright enough to gush about.

Now that we’ve shown a sparkling bright spot, let’s get more to some more of those…messy bits, shall we? One of those bits happen to be how flawed Tomino’s writing when it comes to character creation, development and interaction is. If ZZ was an example of what good can come out of Tomino’s character writing ability and Zeta was an example of the worst, CCA is an entry that takes the worst of the latter, trashes what works in the former and bestows upon us some of the worst cast in mecha anime that I’ve seen.

In fact, I’d go as far to say that outside of Amuro Ray and Char Aznable, every other character is a complete miss and an even worse mess. Either they’re one note or incredibly insufferable or a derelict hodgepodge of both. And on that sundae of disastrous making is the cherry to top it all off: through looking at this movie, one can make the definitive claim that Tomino (or, at least, early in his mecha-making career) was a complete failure when it comes to crafting compelling characters and dynamics.
While the original series and ZZ have genuinely good character interactions that lead to the betterment of the narrative (the crew of the White Base pushing a PTSD-ridden Amuro into fighting much), Tomino constantly drops the ball in Zeta and at an even worse rate in CCA, given the limited time he had to tell this story.

The cast in Zeta was incredibly one-note and full of tropey characters that didn’t develop or devolve past those one note traits, but in CCA…oh boy. One such instance is with the character of Quess Paraya, one of the newest female characters to join Gundam’s already stacked track record of well written women. And by well written, you should know by now that I mean scribbled hastily on a sh--ty piece of parchment paper in black Crayola crayon. She checks off every single box for a Tomino character and a female character in his arsenal to this point: surface level, a theme standing in for a character and being boy-crazy/intrinsically tied to male characters. But, unlike Reccoa, she wants to f--k older men and father figure instead, while also killing her father! Get it?! She’s the Oedipus Complex personified! Isn’t that…crazy?!

And this…this is what the characterization of this cast basically amounts to. These sad chump sacks are nothing more than themes that Tomino wants to explore, while simultaneously not being in the business of…actually developing believable or, at the very least, interesting characters. And the audacity of it all is that it feels like an extended cut of Groundhog’s Day, ergo: you’ve seen it all before! The young woman/girl who’s so hungry for d**k that she defects to the side of fascists? That’s literally Reccoa, but worse! Hathaway is an annoying brat who causes trouble for all involved, while also facing zero consequences? Why, that sure reminds me of Katz! What’s that? Chan’s only role in the story is to empower Amuro through building his Nu Gundam and also be his out-of-nowhere love interest throughout the runtime of the movie? Sounds a lot like Beltorchika to me!

There’s nothing new here. Nothing that feels like a fresh take. Rather, the implication is extremely clear that Tomino creatively stumbled upon a lucky rabbit’s foot in the making of the original and ZZ. Insofar as characters and making them have character, settling more for tired and disastrous tropes than anything else.

But enough about Totally-Not-Reccoa, Absolutely-Not-Katz and the other third one – there’s still some genuine fun to be had in this landfill of a two hour flick! While Char’s Counterattack isn’t stronger than Double Zeta at expressing themes organically through the characters bound to the story, it still feels like you know that Tomino has that part of the series mapped out, at least. In Gundam ZZ, the themes revolved around humanity being caught and stuck when it comes to actual progress that…benefited it. Instead, new and more “impressive” machines of war are made while the normal people live in dilapidated structures and struggle to survive. This is made most viscerally apparent through the Mirai “subplot” in the movie, as we come face to face with overcrowded cities of people and buildings that have seen better days, for lack of a better expression.

Call him what you want (and believe me, I will) but Tomino’s strengths here and throughout his tetralogy of Gundam works reflect a clear understanding of human behavior, faults and degradation on a broad and wide scale. Which is why it’s such a shame that those strengths don’t carry over when examining the film from a closer, more personal look at those themes between the characters.

Don’t get me wrong – it totally works for Amuro and Char, two men who haven’t been able to carry the grief they share in healthy or productive ways. It’s a confrontation that tries its very hardest to breathe soul and life itself into the film. Through every sneer about Amuro robbing Char of Lalah or of Char not carrying about the people around him in an earnest or real fashion, you can see that it’s trying.

But with every other blockage that comes along with that conflict, it becomes clear that the breath of life needed to make Char’s Counterattack into a well done, coherent piece of art becomes trapped in its lungs with no successful means of escape. With every time Char and Amuro clash, it is undercut by a confrontation Quess or Hathaway or (for some weird f**king reason) Chan. None of this is as coherent or, even coherent at all. Instead of focusing on Char’s rage in full measure, we get a cringe and groan inducing faceoff with Quess and Hathaway, along with some weirdo pedophile loser of a man who thinks he’s competing with Char for her affections. Instead of the narrative staying still and homing in on the bitter rivalry and feelings Amuro may have for Char and the foolish actions he takes, we have Hathaway killing Chan for protecting him in the line of battle against Quess.

It’s stupid enough to give any idiot watching it a headache and dumb-d**k enough to give any mentally competent person watching it a goddamn brain aneurysm. For all of my complaints about how the Char and Amuro conflict ultimately ends in the movie, I could emotionally invest in the clash between the two and both of them possibly dying if the leg work in the movie to get us there wasn’t riddled with things that actively amputated and grazed along the way.

In my private circles and my Gundam ZZ review, my conclusion about Yoshiyuki Tomino was that he stands as a bold artist that should be, at the very least, appreciated for tackling the topics he did, in the era that he did. That is a badge of honor that no one can take away from the man. Despite this…my Good God in Nazareth, the man is a horrible writer for even a small cast of characters. When nearly 90% of your lineup is either underutilized or frustratingly static or bereft of no real substance despite being clear vehicles for the themes of the narrative and literally nothing more…it’s an indicator that the recipe doesn’t result in anything of notable flavor.

Hell, let’s just go ahead and say that this is easily one of the worst ends to a series I’ve seen, alongside being one of the laziest attempts at both cinema and entertaining anime I’ve seen. When a 2 hour cesspool is able to make even Zeta Gundam look like a clean drink of water…well, you know its worth. Which brings us to one final ponderation: are Tomino’s first four works in the Gundam franchise worth the juice and squeeze? Are they all truly the masterworks that your average Gundam stan would yell and exclaim about from the top of Kilimanjaro’s highest peak?

If we are talking the original Mobile Suit Gundam, absolutely. Gundam ZZ? A true, clear work of passion and imaginative storytelling. Even Zeta, for all its faults, is still entertaining in bits and spurts and whether you’ll like it or not tends to depend on whether you appreciate broad theme over character. But CCA? Char’s Counterattack? The same Char’s Counterattack that offered up bulls**t and bagpipes to its audience after the goodwill laid down by everything from previous? I wouldn’t subject this movie to my worst enemy in life, whether past, present or future. The only warning I can give is to avoid this travesty as much as humanely possible and to pray to whatever deity you worship that you never look back.