arning that this review may contain spoilers
First impressions, so stardust memory’s aka the prequel to zeta gundam which is one of my favourite in the uc time line so far.
In till I watch thunderbolt or origins because I have heard there really good
So I kind of went into this except something that’s somewhat decent,
It was going to explain some of the details that we didn’t see between the first gundam and zeta.
Which I was very happy to find out about,
Because zeta didn’t really go into that much depth of how the titans came into power. It was very vaguely explained. So hoping to get some questions I had answered.
Sadly it didn’t really deliver on it.
Story, 5/10
3 years after the one year between the earth and Zeon forces had ended and peace has been maintained.
A darkness from the past is starting to come forth, as a rouge Zeon group named delaz fleet has risen from the shadows in order to finish an old score with the earth forces and to have Zeon rise again.
Meanwhile In a military base in Australia a top secret project is under way.
The creation of two new prototype gundam units, The zephyranthes and the physalis are under way.
The delaz fleet finds out about this and plans a attack in order to get the new gundam units.
But during their attack they only mange to take the physalis gundam which is now being piloted by the a man known as the nightmare of Solomon.
The only man standing in his way is main character kou who is a training pilot. who while in the attack manged to keep the zephyranthes gundam out of Zeon hands. But to make matters worse the physalis gundam contains nukes.
So join kou and his crew as there race ageist the clock begins to stop major war from braking out.
So the basic story line or plot is pretty much main character and crew mates involved in a game of cat and mouse between military factions. Trying to get this gundam unit back.
Which as a standalone story for a gundam show is all right, Because it takes itself serious enough and it’s still sticks to the theme of war is hell, And the other themes that gundam is well known for. And they have the main charter getting used to active military service and all the things that come with it.
There also a nice little romance as well, Between the main character this engineer chick That I felt was alright handed alright.
So its above average.
(Even though I still question the logic behind putting top secret project and nukes in all honesty Isn’t exactly the most well defended base they could have picked, and of course it was the Australians the dropped the ball)
So any way as a standalone story it all good but sadly that also where its biggest weakness is and my biggest gripe with this show is.
Because this is supposed to be a bridge between the first gundam and zeta gundam. A prequel / sequel and in that context this show is horrible at that aspects if one looks at it through the lens of this is a prequel / sequel.
Because let’s just say that continuity isn’t exactly this show strong suit. In fact the events that take place in this show don’t really have much to connection to what happens in zeta or any relationship to first gundam wants so ever. Most of the things that happen in this show don’t even come into play.
In fact the only thing connecting this to zeta is that though the events of the story at the end.
we find out what trigged the titans forming and we see a few characters from zeta showing up for a quick scene or two. It’s almost like the story came alive and a punched you in the face just for watching and completing it
So while I on the negative train I might as well mention that this story is kind of forgettable and isn’t bringing anything new to the table.
What I mean by that is that this story as a whole is like a copy and paste of ever theme that the uc time line gundam has ever had.
Like the war is hell, freedom for the spacenoids and etc.
Which on the basic level is ok,
but when I think about it isn’t doing much with those ideas and themes. It mostly being used as basic favouring because.
These ideas aren’t really being explored or a new point of view being brought to the table.
Which is sad because they could have come up with something new or fresh but they didn’t.
Now you can argue and say that because this is a prequel / sequel they didn’t exactly have to do anything with those ideas or that those themes and ideas are not the main focus of the show and at the end of the day This is side story. Which just takes place in the same universe.
But this was made quite a few years after zeta came out.
I would think that they could come up with better ideas with the time they had or even a better plot for that matter
But they just gave us the same shit in different rapper.
Characters 5/10
The main character kou was ok.
He this kind of chill dude who has a thing for tech.
who thought out the course of the series becomes more hardened the more he experiences real combat.
Which I thought was nice because it added some depth to his character.
Because in the beginning of the series I really couldn’t put heads or tails on what his personality is . He felt very hollow to me.
Which is a problem for me, Because most gundam main characters usually have a more notable personality or some sort of back story.
Like for example Domon kasshu or kamille bidan,
Who have a more memorable personality.
Side characters are all right,
They did the roles they had well.
They had nice banter I guess that I enjoyed watching
It’s just personality wise, But aren’t really memorable.
They just feel like carboard cut-outs to me.
Which is a thing I am sick of saying but it’s very true.
The only thing that stood out for me character wise was the romance between kyo and Nina.
Which far as anime romances wasn’t bad because I have a bit of chemistry together
Which was nice, but I guess my only nick pick is that there relationship feels a little dry and forced to me.
Because there relationship together progress at quite the fast rate. Like one ep she slightly has the desire to see what type of person kyo is and then the next ep talking about feeling and shit.
Its feels unnatural to me.
Although it could just be that this series only had a 13 ep so they didn’t have time to pad out there relationship.
Art 6/10
The animation looked alright. It could have been better though.
Because there are a few parts where the animation takes a bit of a dip down wards in quality.
The backgrounds look all right and add a bit of grit to it.
The battles are alright in animation wise because I have a very naturel flow about them.
But on the bad side there not exactly the most fun to watch.
Art style is fine was well.
The charter designs are fine.
Just the standard shit that we have all seen before
I really do like the more up dated mech designs for the older models,
Because they don’t feel that clunky anymore and feel more like well-oiled war machines.
Sound 6/10
I really like the first opening song and the other opening song and there ending themes are very boring to me and don’t really stand out that much. I would have gotten more enjoyment if I listened to paint dry.
But at the same time I see why people might like these,
But for me there just crap.
Ost was quite nice,
Better than I thought it would be.
Some very good tracks in there.
They fitted very well and was on point
But nothing I would gone out of my way to listen to by its self.
The ost was done by Urakami, Yasuo,
Who has worked on shows like,
Project arms and gundam seed.
The dub was alright and so was the sub.
I liked both.
Enjoyment 5/10
As far was enjoyment goes.
I enjoyed this show for what it was,
But my enjoyment doesn’t go beyond that point.
For me was one of those one timer experiences. Because this is something I would not watch again.
Overall 5/10
If you like gundam or basic Mecha shows and just want a quick one timer then check this out.
Because its aright as a whole, But it doesn’t really go beyond that point.
But at the same You could just was easily skip this series because it doesn’t really add much to gundam as a whole.
if you want something that stands out more or in fact isn’t so basic and done to death.
Watch something else.
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