Tony DiChiara
As you may or may not know, the first episode of the Gundam Unicorn OVA comes out next month (although you may be able to find it around ye olde internet now, hint, hint). It’s set in the same universe as the original Gundam, as well as Zeta Gundam and a few other things and it’s set to have 6 50-minute episodes.
Now I realize that you may want to watch it, when it comes out next month of course, but that you may be a little lost if you haven’t seen all the other stuff that comes chronologically beforehand so I thought I’d put down a little primer here so you don’t have to sift through Wikipedia. Which doesn’t really have a good synopsis of Gundam plot-lines anyway.
I guess it makes the most sense to start with the first series. It takes place during the year Universal Century (UC) 0079, which by the way is why you hear this universe called the “Universal Century” time-line. During the course of the war the Earth Federation is fighting the Principality of Zeon, which had recently declared a war for its independence, which would later be called the One Year War. Despite the noble intentions, the war was really started by the head of the Zabi family, who killed the previous leader of the Republic of Zeon, for the purpose of furthering his own ambitions. Early battles resulted in the complete destruction of numerous space colonies (named “sides”, depending on where they were located).
Flash forward a little bit to where the series protagonist Amuro Ray finds himself a Gundam after an attack on Side 7. Amuro manages to save a good portion of the population of the colony even though the colony itself gets destroyed. Amuro and the rest of the civilians board the prototype battleship “White Base”, commanded by officer Bright Noa. The ship and its ragtag crew somehow manage to survive despite the best efforts of Zeon and one of its ace pilots Char Aznable, “The Red Comet”. Over the course of the story, it is revealed that Amuro (and possibly a large portion of the crew aboard the White Base and Char) are “newtypes”. A newtype is the supposed next stage in human evolution and is brought about by an adaptation to life in space. Therefore, Spacenoids can be newtypes but Earthnoids cannot. Newtypes exhibit some amount of psychic power, which changes from newtype to newtype.
We can safely skim over the rest of the story until the end where Amuro, Bright, and the White Base are instrumental in the war effort, ending in the final battle of the war at A Baoa Qu. It is during this battle that Char’s plans are revealed, the revenge against the Zabi family for killing his father, the previous head of Zeon.
So the war ends and the Zabi’s are all killed and there’s peace for a while until UC0083 where remnants from Zeon try to crash a satellite into the Earth. The plan is successful but the only result is the Earth Federation decides to create an elite force called the Titans in UC 0084.
Zeta Gundam chronicles the fight of previous Earth Federation troops, who are aided by Char, as they fight against the oppressive and un-regulated Titans. Eventually, most of the main characters from the first series, including Amuro and Bright, team up to take down the Titans.
Long story short, they are successful and a new elite group is formed called Londo Bell. This time however it is a just group and is led by Bright Noa, and whose ranks include Amuro Ray. Char disappears during the final battle.
In 0093 Char returns and wants to crash a giant asteroid into the Earth, rendering it uninhabitable so that people will be forced into space to evolve. Char in his Sazabi fights against the Londo Bell units, and specifically Amuro. Amuro defeats Char by using his Nu-Gundam built by Anaheim Electronics, which is a “psychoframe”, meaning it has a system in place (”psycommu” system) that allows the pilot to control the Mobile Suit telepathically, or rather, in the same way they would move their own body. Since this requires some telepathy, only newtypes can use this system.
Even though Amuro wins, he is seemingly too late to stop the crashing asteroid. That is until he uses his newtype power, amplified by the psychoframe to telepathically push back the asteroid. Both Amuro and Char possibly died at this point.
Which leads us to Unicorn Gundam in UC 0096, and which you should hopefully now understand provided I made this clear enough. I leave you with the trailer and the unrelated statement that animetake.com is really cool.
-Tony
So now you’re going to get the inarticulate meld of them all. Enjoy.
One post was going to be about how I really want us to have a header image. This place just feels so sterile without one, don’t you think? I might have a temp one up at some point today, but if anyone has a good idea then feel free to mention it.
And then one time I was going to talk about intros to anime/video games. This was mostly spurred on by my intense liking of the borderlands intro:
There’s nothing awe-inspiring about it, I admit, but it’s cool and gives you an absolute perfect feeling about the game you’re about to play. I suppose they were helped by finding a song that so perfectly captures the game.
And I also really like the Durarara! opening.
It really got me thinking though. How many good games have you played and animes have you seen that have terrible beginnings? You’d think that these segments would have the MOST work put into them since the first impression is so important. And I don’t just mean opening as in an opening cinematic. I think Bioshock had a wonderful opening, but here I consider the “opening” to be pretty much the entire “Welcome to Rapture” level.
So what do you guys think? Have and great or terrible intros that you remember well?
Wonderfest was a few days ago so there are a lot of pictures of new figures and whatnot floating around. I think the best (english) coverage was done by wcloudxkumo.I think my favorite figure that came out of it is Momohime from Muramasa, which I still haven’t played. There were rumors of this going to Xbox 360 and PS3 so I was waiting for that, but I may have to cave in and get it for the Wii.
-Tony
I’m thinking of starting a new feature. And here it is. My quick(ish) reviews of all the new animes this season. What should you watch? What should you run from screaming? Keep reading to find out.
Just to preface things a little bit, I tried to watch two episodes of each series so that I’d be able to get a feel for the series. There are some exceptions to this, but it mostly holds true. For a small summary of all of these you can go here.
Durarara!!
I have no idea what this show is about. Really, I don’t. And I’ve seen three episodes of it. It starts off being about a kid who moved to a section of Tokyo from the country in order to go to a new school. But that’s a really bad description, even though it did happen. There’s a story looming here, and you can tell that when it emerges it’ll be pretty interesting, but right now it’s a very interesting look at some very interesting characters. We’ve got a headless motorcyclist, some people with superhuman strength/powers, and some perfectly normal seeming kids who just want some excitement. It’s dark, it’s intriguing, and I really want to see more.
Beyond the characters though, it’s really all about the atmosphere. The city itself is really the main character, and it’s an amazing one. It’s made by the same people who made Baccano, so that should give you a good idea of what it’s like. I wish I could describe this in more detail but I really can’t. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything that so escaped description. I will tell you though, if you don’t like the first one you probably won’t like the next two episodes.
You should definitely watch it.
Dance in the Vampire Bund
I’m going to introduce a common theme for this anime season here. This seems pretty good, but there’s just really awkward fanservice that makes you feel weird watching it. It starts out tame enough. There’s some weird Japanese panel show where people are discussing the existence of vampires, brought on by a string of murders that have been seemingly perpetrated by a vampire. And of course, vampires show up and start fighting. Skip forward, the queen of vampires paid Japan a shit ton of money for a piece of land so that they can have their own little vampire kingdom. And what’s with this mysterious boy who had two seconds of screen time in the first episode, but the vampire queen has a interest in?
Long story short, vampires fight and shit.
At least their not pretty boys right? And at least it’s dark and violent like a vampire story should be. And the action is pretty cool with vampires and other mythical beasts in a battle royale. And the art is cool, and the story is interesting enough to carry the show until the next scene. And then the little girl takes her clothes off.
. . .
What. The. Fuck.
It’s completely not necessary and it makes you feel like a pervert watching the damn show. Admittedly, she’s a vampire and probably hundreds of years old or something but that’s just a cop-out. And true, it was only for a few minutes in the second episode but still, it was there. Why? It wasn’t necessary. The show would have been better without it.
Meh, it wasn’t bad enough that I’m not going to watch it anymore. More than likely I’ll stop watching it because the plot seems pretty bland, but I’ll give it a few episodes to win me over. Again, the action is good enough so far.
Give it a try
So Ra No Wo To
This show is so very pretty. And so very boring.
Seriously, nothing happens.
A bunch of girls that are copy-pasted from K-on, minus the parts that make them engaging characters mind you, and put into a future army after the world has regressed to the 1800’s. Replace a guitar with a trumpet and change school to a army base that the army doesn’t give a fuck about and you’ve got your anime. Thats it. But it can’t even claim that it’s a slice of life show because it isn’t. It has a plot, it’s just not fleshed out at all and at this point I don’t care. It wasn’t funny, it wasn’t really even cute.
But it was so pretty.
Watch it for 2 minutes to enjoy the pretty, and then turn it off.
Hanamaru Kindergarten
The definition of cute. That’s really about it. Just look at those kids and tell me they aren’t adorable. If that isn’t your thing then stay away. You won’t find anything to like here. The best description I can give you here is, what if Keitaro from Love Hina were a new kindergarten teacher instead of a dorm manager? Thats about it really, and what can I say? I liked it. It’s not going to wow you but it was cute and funny and pretty great.
Look at that picture, you know if you’re going to like it or not.
Seikon no Quasar
There’s two versions of this going around. Censored and Uncensored. Uncensored is almost porn and censored it cut so much that you can’t tell what’s going on. It’s about “alchemists” who each have power over a certain element (iron, aluminum, etc). And the fights are really cool. The only problem these alchemists have is that they have to recharge their powers. How do they do that you ask? By drinking breast milk.
yeah. . .
consequently the girls are running around pretty much naked through the entire battle. And in the censored version, and shot like this gets replaced by the sky or something. So the entire epic fight is reduced to a static picture of the sky where you hear cool things going on. Intermingled with girls sounding like they’re being raped. So, censored or not, it’s unwatchable. And it’s a shame to, because it would have been pretty cool.
If you’re in to that kind of thing then watch the uncensored version, otherwise don’t bother.
Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu
I love this show. Probably too much. It takes place in a school where students are ranked completely by their test grades. From A to F. The A rank students have class in luxury, each with their own couches and a private library in the room. Not to mention a snack bar. F ranked students have wooden desks that are broken and sit on cushions with no stuffing. Guess what group the show stars. Yup. The crux of the show is that different classes can battle other classes for their rooms (or whatever other purpose they have) by summoning creatures that have states proportional to their last test grade.
The show follows Yoshii who is an idiot but a nice guy and his friends who consist of the following. The class rep who seems far more competent then he is. Voyeur, who is a voyeur and will literally dive with his camera to get an upskirt shot. Despite his perversion he is generally accepted, and no one really seems to mind him. A bishōnen who is always mistaken for a girl. And in fact gets treated and dressed like one more often then not. The violent girl who likes Yoshii, and is willing to beat him until he takes her out. And finally the smart girl who got into the F class after getting sick in the placement test. Who of course also likes Yoshii, but she’s not as willing to admit it.
I love how zany this show is, and how it likes to switch moods at the drop of the hat. And of course it’s always fun to watch them all fail. I’m not kidding, I love this show.
It you’re going to watch one show, make it this one.
Okami Kakushi
This has a really cool plot lurking. I can feel it. Too bad the first two episodes were boring as hell.
In short, boy moves with his family to new town. Town is weird. People disappear but no one cares. There’s a myth about some wolves. It randomly cuts to masked girls with scythes kicking ass. That’s about all I’ve been able to gleen really.
The result is that I’m interested to learn more about this town and what’s going on, but if it takes too much longer to find out I’m going to stop caring and drop it. They really could have come up with a better way to string the viewer along while they got through the setup. It’s odd. This show really reminds me of another show. But I can’t place which one.
Give it a try, hopefully it will get better.
Omamori Himari
This show is pretty bad. It’s the most generic anime you can possibly think of. Boy has some sort of powers in him, but can’t use them yet so he has some magical protector cat girl.
I really don’t want to say much about it since I care so little for it. Suffice to say, you’ve seen everything here before, only better.
Bland and uninspired, so don’t bother.
Ladies Vs. Butlers
I really like this show even though it gets awkwardly fanservicey at times. The main character is at butler/maid school. Where he has to kiss the asses of the rich kids in the same school who instead get taught how to be rich snobs. To bad everyone thinks he’s a pervert because of some improbable accidents when he first transfers in.
I really can’t tell you why I like this one. It’s just really funny, and I like the main character a lot. It’s fun to watch, and I guess in the end that’s all that matters.
Try it, you’ll like it (probably).
Chu-Bra!!
Worst show of the season methinks. The main girl starts an underwear club because she loves underwear so much. She even test wears new underwear so some older guy she lives with can get data and desgin underwear. Obviously a lot of people think she’s wierd. And I agree with them. But she’s also uninspiring. She has the worst cause ever and she’s annoying as hell. It’s trying to hard to be funny, and it fails so totally. I couldn’t even get through the second episode. It was that bad.
I’d think less of you if you liked this.
-Tony
I’m going to tell you right now, that title’s a little misleading.
I wanted to review Assassins’s Creed II and tell you what a great game it was, but after thinking about it I don’t really see the point. I mean, if you think about it. You could go onto Metacritic right now and get no fewer than 76 reviews. Maybe if the game just came out I could ride the hype, but not now.
You should really play the game though. It was really good.
While I’m at it. Batman: Arkham Asylum was really good too. Go play that as well.
And while I’m at that (”that”, being distinct from “it”) I think my reviews are going to be a bit different from now on. You’ll see was I mean soonish.
-Tony
First, I don’t really know why Volks calls this kit “The Bang” when in the manga there’s more than one and they’re called “bang dolls”. Maybe that sounds too sexual.
Second, I’m apologizing right now about the quality of these pictures. As I’m about the describe, I was just overjoyed that it was in one piece and had to snap a few pictures to share. I didn’t even have my nicer camera with me at the time, so I had to settle with the one on hand. Just FYI, the last picture accurately shows the colors on him since that’s how I arranged the lighting the best. The other pictures are just to show you other angles.
I could go into the specifications on the machine, but you might as well just go to this page if you’re interested. He’s from the manga “Five Star Stories”, which you should all read. Suffice to say that it’s one of the most powerful machines in the series, and the pilot of the one seen in the series is pretty bad ass as well.
This was an early Christmas present from Jen and I want to point out first that I do love the kit and the mech itself because I’m about to complain for a while.
Now to the details of the kit. It was a pain in the ass! Seriously, I haven’t done a PG Gundam model yet, but I assume they are for the most part easier than this. First, it doesn’t snap together like a Bandai kit. Every piece is held together by a generous amount of plastic cement. This wouldn’t be such a problem, but he does end up seeming fairly fragile. At any one point it seems like he could fall apart. I know he won’t but still. The main problem with this is that sometimes the pieces don’t even feel like they fit together properly. So, you have in your hand a fragile piece, and then you’re jamming another piece into it. Something is bound to brake.
I actually lost a incredibly small piece on the underside of the headdress that holds those “floating” pieces in. I was jamming the metal piece in and the really small hole piece flew off somewhere. Why couldn’t they have just build the hole into the main piece? Why did you have to cement a piece that small onto a larger piece?
But the worst part, by far, is the fact that they wanted to make the piece movable. But it didn’t work, they joints that are supposed to be movable just fall apart when you’re trying to move them even a little bit. It actually took me like an hour and a half to put the arms on and attach the shield/sword. This really should have taken like 5 minutes.
Then there’s the fact that he won’t stand. Hence the box he’s leaning on. What I’m going to do is try my hand at making a diorama for him. I had him standing for a minute but then a small bump into the table made him face-plant.
But again, don’t take all this as meaning that I don’t like it. Quite the opposite. It’s a great kit and I had a lot of fun putting it together. I just think Volks could have done some things better.
And, as you can see, he still isn’t “finished” I need to do some lining and touch-ups, and then of course the decals and the diorama. But I really like him, so I wanted to share :)
-Tony
As posted on Tomopop.
Now Gather round children while we hear,
Tales that make famous this time of year.
Tonights star is the greatest the Pricipality of Zeon ever knew,
Yes, thats right, it’s the story of Santa Claus’ Custom Zaku II.
He’d bring gifts to all of the faithful who’d come,
and swift painful death to those Earth Federation scum.
What kind of gifts you ask? What did he bring?
Well child it really could be most anything.
GN short and long blades to Exia he did leave
“Sweet, with these think of all the heads I could cleave!”
To one hell of a butler, one hell of a cat,
And the promise of a certain soul on top of that.
On his way back through the factory he stoped and took note
This place could use an air compressor since air cans are too damned expensive to keep buying when you decide that you want to be more sophisticated and use your airbrush instead of just buying cans of spray paint, which you just can’t get the same effects with. And now that I think of it, I need to find a place that sells thinner in bulk since that stuff is expensive too. . .-ote.
I million such stories I’d gladly tell you
but I ran out of figures so you’ll have to make due.
What’s that? There’s no such thing you say?
Well I’ll prove it to you, I know a way.
If you just stop to listen, through the distance you might hear him say.
I’ll destroy that trojan horse! I’ll destroy them some day!
Merry Christmas everyone! (or whatever you celebrate, have a good one!)
-Tony
Apparently the Automatic Mario skill level has increased since I last checked.
This is awesome:
But this BLEW MY MIND:
People have gotten way to good at this.
-Tony
I pass to you what NIS America passed on to me:
The world is better with prinnies. You know what else the world is better with? Chocobos. So if you have an XBOX Live account follow this link to go sign up to get a free chocobo avatar item download token. Redeemable sometime in December.
-Tony
