Thanks for the memories!

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

(This is my first anime review bare with me)I always secretly admired Mobile Suit Gundam. A lot more than other children did who where just into Optimus Prime and Transformers. (Armada wasn't cool with the 2000's kids) Gundam's first introduction in the US was a rough one and started at the worst time. When DBZ was around ranking up the scores everyone saw G- Wing and weren't interested in it. I wasn't interested in it. But the robots always got me into it besides the frequent melodrama and stupid characters. But however Mobile Suit Gundam though different is much more genuine even though it has aged so badly. But it has a charm. Which I'm going to get into.-PLOT/STORY- The main plot about Mobile Suit Gundam is about a young boy who has lives in space colony but must evacuate. One day there was anti Earth colony who wanted independence from the Earth federation called Zeon. So they send 3 mobile suits to attack side 7. Once the colony is attacked Amuro Ray has no choice other than to fly the Gundam and destroy the mobile suits and go on a journey to stop Zeon from destroying Earth colonies. The dreaded Zeon's are helped by no other than the Charming Char Aznable. This is not a fun kiddy monster of the week super robo anime. This is serious. It's a drama that will leave sadness and disappointment in your heart. You will feel loss but triumph. There are episodes where characters must survive and look for salt for food. 49 episodes and have tense moments. -CHARACTERS- Gundam has many characters. Amuro Ray is an every man character. He is not like all the other shounen anime protagonists. He is just a kid that wants to contribute to his school work and society. He starts out as careless but when he is thrusted into battle he becomes caring. But he doesn't want to fight. He wants peace. And peace now. Sooner or later he Bright Noa is the captain of the team. Who is stern but kind. Doesn't take **** from Amuro or anyone and will slap him if he doesn't listen. The rest of White Base group are sensitive but smart. The antagonists of Gundam are space Nazis. They want true superiority of Spacenoids (humans who live in space AKA NewTypes) and independence. The big antagonist is the charming Char Aznable doesn't like the Zabi's though so he sets to kill all of them. Char is the most interesting character in the series. He has a better reason to be here than anyone. He instructs Lalah Sune. She is a young Indian girl with a heart of gold. There is little comic relief other than cute little robot Haaro, Kikka, Katz, Letz, and the snide Kai Shidan. The main characters won't be too memorable. I mean, this is a mecha anime selling toys. But a lot better than most of what American's market. But still you will care about them. -ART AND ANIMATION- Like I said MSG 0079 has not aged well. Will not impress many people especially new anime kids who are spoiled by sakuga moments and shiney digitized graphics with intense shading and highlighting. It especially won't impress your mom. However I couldn't help but be impressed. There is a degree of realism in every frame. All this is helped by the cinematography that isn't too straining compared to most Anime of today which has an overdose of camera pans, shakey cam with motion blur, and cringeworthy zooms. Rather cropped in frames of mechanical and tall proportioned characters. The realistic mech designs of the shogun Gundam RX-79, and the Zeon Zakus are just wonderful . Detailed mechanical designs to plains, tanks, and other robots. The cloths are nice. Life like suits There are tons of special effects like flashes that make traumatic moments feel real to them. The blocky 70's backdrops reminiscent of Star Wars, the clean backdrops that look like the cover of a 60's science fiction novel by Brad Raybury or some generic hard scifi novel with lavish covers, makes it feel very real. Gundam 0079 may have jerky animation (as most TV anime is), dated Miyazaki quality character designs, hilarious tons of animation errors, lack of shading, but it has stains a sort of realism. It's very retro and rough but charming. Kind of like watching an old Hannah Barbera (Johnny Quest) animation. But more cinematic. It's a mixed bag. So if you can appriciate it compared to I don't know Mazinger Z (not saying that's bad). This is no kid show. It's violent and has scenes of blood and violence. -SOUND AND MUSIC- I really enjoyed the dub of Gundam. Brad Swaile did a good job with Amuro. All the cast sound very good. It has a very old school quality to it despite it being made in Canada and sometimes talking like Canadians. For example Fraw Baw (Kristie Marsden) when she say's "sorry" it sounds more like "Sourey". It's cheesy. But I like this dub better than the original. Sorry guys, but I prefer better sound effects than the synthesized noises. I like that metal actually sounds like Metal. The Music is 70's funky disco military goodness. It's very good. I can't help dance to military Funk. But it's all so good. I think it's uniqueOverall 8/10 MSG is not for everyone and takes a long time to get into. It is for people who love Star Trek and Metal Gear Solid Saga. Overall, a Mecha classic for all ages to enjoy. If you don't like it. Watch the OVA's or some of the other Gundams (anything before the 2000's really)

I was quite surprised after watching this cartoon. This is not a usual 20 minutes long toy commercial. In fact, the gundam itself doesn't appear too much in every episode. The plot is more focused on the characters. It's not repetitive, there are no reused animations for battle scenes or any scenes and the place actions are constantly changing from space to Earth, from air to water, and of course, orbital stations. Hell, it even has a side-story! In other words, this anime is way before its time.It's a story about war and how cruel and pointless one can get. People are dying all the time. Every now and then we get to know some new characters and at the exactly same point we start to like them they get killed. This anime is not for kids. It's for all ages. Its influence on some other cartoons is huge (Transformers, Macross, Neon Genesis Evangellion,...). You should definitely check this one out.

Absolutely unbelievable. I cannot begin to even fathom the epic nature of this show, sure you can harp on animation,voice acting and the overall campy nature of the show...But in the end this is a tale of Human nature.The author and creator has developed a passion for telling the tale of humans nature of war and conflict. Whether or not is personal conflict,love and the progression of age they have every single aspect of humans true nature built into the fibers of this show.Amuro is a protagonist who losses everything including himself and does not just chose to fight for his freedom but is chosen to do so by the web of fate. Char the antagonist is a being in himself who represents the same feelings as all of us,he desires pleasure for the ones he loves and the development of humanity over the feelings of himself.The White base and Amuro are constantly put in a position in which they will fail and all hope will be lost although Amuro and his weapon the Gundam are designed to be the last light of humanity and represents the hope and power of the human spirit...I'm biased when I say Gundam is the greatest Anime ever created. One piece has its content, Eva its desire to make you contemplate life,Death note its sheer awesome nature,Inuyasha and its love story.Gundam is the connection of Humans and its struggle with themselves and the technology that evolves and creates and hinders are ability to love and destroy one another.You cannot, Cannot watch Gundam and leave. You have to watch Zeta then ZZ...Then Wing, Seed,Destiny,Unicorn, 00 and then all the minor shows then all the mangas and short stories in between. You cry when the characters you love all die and you cringe when the villains show dominance over the populace. Gundam is Gundam...its not just light shows and love stores it represents every single viewer and makes them think of what it is to be human and what the future may hold...Although I think I might pass on a future where we all pilot mobile suits as the life expectancy is rather short...In the end I'm in love with every single Gundam. They are the perfect representation of humanity and its desires. A MUST WATCH X1000

I am not what people might call a "long time fan". My first Gundam show was "Gundam Seed" for crying out loud. I have heard the outcry of many fans as to the unoriginality of Gundam Seed, hence i decided to "go back to the source" and check out the original 1979 Gundam series: The legend that started it all. My chance came when it was shown on local TV for a while(too bad it never completed its run and was replaced by the 3rd rerun of Gundam seed again) "Oh the horror!". My thoughts exactly as i sat through the painfully campy opening theme song. As i shook my head in disgust over the horrendously childish lyrics that sounded like some rejected theme song from Tetsuwan Atom(Astro Boy to you guys in the west), i prepared myself for the worse disappointment in my life.And i was so proved wrong.Gundam's story was anything BUT childish or campy. I presented a very real and very engaging war story about a gifted youngster and his friends thrown into the heat of combat by circumstance. The story goes that "The Principality of Zeon" wages war with the Earth Federation over authority in the outlying space colonies. The war soon spreads to the colony "side 7" where our main character, Amuro Ray, resides. Following an unprovoked attack on the colony, Amuro and his friends stumble across the prototype Federation mobile suit called "Gundam". A series of events lead up to our unlikely heroes landing on board and becoming drafted as the crew of "White Base", a powerful Federation space carrier commanded by the then ensign Bright Noa. This motley gang soon learn to work together and in due time, they and Gundam come to play a pivotal role in the war.I was at first impressed by how The drama and inter character relationships and interactions play out as good as some live action TV shows and they manage to engage you on an emotional level that many anime fail to. You get a sense that the characters really grow and evolve as the story moves along, never falling too far into the usual stock character stereotypes. Aside from some well developed characters, I like how the story manages to weave in some underlying philosophies and thought provoking points of view on war. It lends an edge to the show that makes it a whole lot "smarter" than your average shonen adventure or super robot series.I actually found myself more interested in the ZEON side of the conflict. There was a subplot of political backstabbing and "power-play" among the ruling party of ZEON. Very intriguing. What was more intriguing was the mysterious Char Aznable. Aside from being a highly skilled mobile suit pilot and "rival" to Amuro Ray, bits and pieces of his past and ulterior motives are revealed little by little in such a way that makes you want to know more about him. He is easily my favorite character among all the characters from various gundam series.True to the hype, the numerous battles in Gundam are done so much more realistically than the more recent Gundam Seed and Gundam 00. Also, there is a greater emphasis on teamwork between Amuro in the Gundam, the weapons and support team on White Base and the other pilots in the other mobile suits. The inexperience of the crew and the vulnerability of the Gundam make each battle a true nail-biter with a greater sense of true peril than battles in the recent Gundam series. Admittedly, this is not an easy series to get into, mainly due to its age. Already mediocre compared to other anime series that came out in the late 70s and 80s, the animation style is painfully dated compared to today's fare. But I urge all you people who are hungry for some well thought out war drama to look past the superficial aspects and embrace the essence of what Gundam is.Look past the dated animation, skip the opening theme song if you must, and you will find out why MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM is such a well respected and influential anime classic.PS: Why is Gundam Seed's picture there? This is supposed to be the original Gundam, not Gundam Seed.