Mobile Suit Victory Gundam

theSentinel Feb 16, 2014

6

if you want to see my review of Gundam as a whole I will have a note for it.  Check it out if you want a look at some of the great things and largest flaws of Gundam. Another Gundam.  In general, I really like gundam. It has moments scenes and themes that make me get into it, but there are also things that I obviously dont like about it.  The funny things is that they are so much alike, so the things I do and dont like about them are pretty much the same.    Also, this anime was old, so unless you are, or want to become one of the battle hardened Gundam vets I dont reccomend watching this one.  Its hard to watch old animes, as I have learned the hard way.  Its nice watching nice animation, when the voice acting, music all work more smoothly. I could go on about the flaws of gundam or the things I love about them all day, but I dont want to bore you, so instead Ill talk about some of the things that stuck out to me and then do the regular breakdown. So they always talk about "new experimental models" and usually there is at least one per episode like a prob of the day kind of deal.  However this time there were some interesting themes in terms of the "experimental models" that were actually kind of cool.  Most of the time its some randomly generated robot that kinda looks like an already existing one, but more built.  However this time there was the wheel theme.  they were mobile suits in wheels and you see them used in interesting ways.  I was glad to see that.  They took the newtype bullsh*t to the extreme this time though.  This is one of the biggest flaws in all of gundam, but this time they blew it the hell up.  Needless to say that I didnt like it.  Also, most of the time I actually liked the masked man.  That is, all of the characters like char that wear a mask.  They often times play great rolls as an good guy or a bad guy.  This one, Chronicle, was just kind of a douche without a solid place in this anime.  I couldnt see him as a great character, there were other bad guys that played their parts much better. Story:  This one was ok, it was gundam.  This was done a long time ago, but in the UC timeline it was 60 years from the original story, so I kind of expected more.  I honestly though that double Zeta  pulled off a much more lovable story than this one. Animation:  Again meh, I accounted for the fact that it is old and im sure they did great for the time, but meh. Sound: agian meh.  I started noticing sounds that they used in other series as well.  Key sounds from gundam wing.  The ending and openings were ok.  Much better than the "THIS IS NOT AN ANIME, THIS IS REAL LIFE" opening.  If you are a gundam vet then you know what im talking about XD. Characters:  there were some characters that shifted too much, again Chronicle, as well as that chick were suddenly it was about her being a mother.  Feminism and motherhood were a huge part of this anime, but it was weird, I feel like that theme could be used well, but not here.  Some of the characters centered around this too much while others seemed completely oblivious to this theme.  So in general the characters were harder to follow in this anime. Overall:  like I said, its old.  I get it.  Maybe you dont want to spend your time here.  If you want to be a gundam vet then it is a must watch of course.  This one solidified some of the things I dont like about Gundam though, so that doesnt bode well for my opinion of it.  There are better ones, just look at my ratings and you will know.

calciumomo Dec 19, 2021

7

Honestly, I think this is the cheesiest Gundam i've ever watched. Corny solutions to corny problems.  To enjoy this one i think you need be not dead inside because if my mental state would've been at its "not that great", i would've drop it. Sure, its the same old war as any other Gundam, but the reasoning behind this one is corny as hell...to the point that it seems stupid! I know its an old show but, the way every girl was portrayed? Ew...Even Shakti (who was an angel btw) at the end it seemed like her entire character and her kindness was used as an excuse to end this shitshow. What would've the writer done if her name was literally any other name? Katejina, another victim, she went from a simple "traitor" to a plain detestable woman in, no joke, 10 minutes best. On the good side: Even if this belongs to the U.C. timeline you can get away with watching it even without prior knowledge. If you like the "found family" trope this is for you! In that aspect its heart warming. The scenes when Shakti, Karl, Suzy, Haro and the dog, Flanders were thogeter made things much more bearable since thet were... so cute. The Victory Gundam is really cool and those wings look awesome! That thing with modern animation?! Man... i can only dream. Even if i was rolling my eyes half of the time i don't regret watching it. I prefer this one over Unicorn any day, to be honest. 

Ebonyslayer Jun 5, 2020

3

Thank God I'm finished with the show. Well, what do I think of it? I think there were several problems to the point where Tomino has told Gundam fans not to watch Victory Gundam and for good reason. He was not in a healthy state of mind and was not given the freedom to do what he wanted to do. Its no surprise why he left Sunrise for the next six years. Just look at the problems: forced victimizing, incompetent characters, memory reset ending and a plethora of tension less death. They tried to be grim but it came across as juvenile. Unlike other Gundam series where deaths and the horrors of war were merely brushed aside while at the same time glorifying the main character Victory was up-front and in-your-face about it. I thought that it backfired because of Uso's continued idiocy, coupled with his uncanny ability to somehow shrug the stress off, the impact of those deaths ended up looking contrived. Everything had this motif of gender that I found to be extremely weird. Zanscare was fighting for motherly love? Then both Katejina and Lupe were trying to dominate men, there was the all-women shrike team, as well as that hilarious bikini attack-squad. Then there was all this talk about how women give birth and create life, lots of focusing on Marbet's pregnancy, but why? I was getting this weird sexist (matriarchy-phobia?) vibe throughout the show, but Tomino never explained half the shit he threw out there, so I can't really tell. There is an article that covered an interview between Hideaki Anno and Tomino when Victory Gundam was airing if people are curious about it. https://wavemotioncannon.com/2016/11/08/interview-hideaki-anno-vs-yoshiyuki-tomino-animage-071994/ Katejina randomly changed from good to the most evil character I've yet seen in the entire Gundam franchise for no apparent reason. I did not like her one bit at all, and how the ending wrapped up with her character. There was some good character design, music, and animation that were some of the better parts of the show. Some of the Mobile suits didn't look good in my opinion. Overall, the worst Gundam series Tomino made, and probably the worst one period. Overall, 1.5/5. I feel so tempted to reread the Evangelion manga now, anything to get this bad taste out of my mouth. I almost regret trying to watch all the Zero Century Gundam anime now, almost.