Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ

[VF-15 Banshee]

Because I'm going to start reviewing Gundam for my Podcast, I figured
I'd need to brush up on all the ones I've missed out. Currently the only
show I've never really seen a lick of is ZZ Gundam. I'm not looking
forward to this but it ain't worse than AGE or Destiny, I'm sure, and I
have Macross to dull the pain.

I skipped episode 1 because it's just a glorified clip show, so we move
straight into episode 2. This episode is actually fairly good what with
setting up Judau and the Junkyard Kids and the return of Yazan and the
death of poor Saegusa. There's the strange sort of passing-of-the-torch
moment between Judau and Kamille and the Endra
shows up... and then nothing. No, I'm being totally serious here. I'm
really trying not to let previous info and biases color things here but I
honestly think that episodes 3-6 are just plain boring. Not terrible or
insulting, just boring. Monster-of-the-week only works for G Gundam you know. And First Gundam.

As for Mashymre... Scirroco would eat this guy for breakfast. Bask Om
would rip off his arms and beat Mashymre to death with the wet ends. And
I can't see him surviving in the original Zeon military.... except maybe under M'Quve. Man, is this what happened to all the Zeon soldiers who were bumming around Axis?

And what can I say about Gemon the Trash-Man? I can't decide if he's a
worse character than some of the morons we ran into in AGE. He probably
is; at least the AGE characters attempted some competence and weren't as
dumb as this guy. If I was Mashymre, I would have been like, "Ok, why
don't you just take your weird MS and go fight the Zeta by yourself?
Your suit is obviously strong enough to take on the Zeta single-handed!" (Insert your own sarcasm here)

Also, am I a terrible person for wanting to toss Shinta and Qum out the nearest airlock?

All in all, not terribly impressed so far. By episode 6 of most of the rest
of the Gundam shows and OVAs, a whole ton of stuff had already happened
and ZZ is just kinda plodding along. How about that Neo Zeon War? When
do we get that?

There are some positives. I think I'm going to enjoy Judau as a protagonist. He's not annoying like MSG Amuro or angsty
like Kamille. He's just a simple Newtype trying to make his way in the Universe, man!
The rest of his friends are OK, especially fiesty Elle, but I can
already tell I'm not going to like Beecha and Mondo. Imma toss them out
the airlock too, ok?
The music from Zeta is back and that's always a big plus although I wish
they'd been able to spin out a few new tracks for ZZ and change things up a little.

Alrighty then, on to episodes 7-11!

Edited February 7, 2013 by VF-15 Banshee

[anime52k8]

aww, I like Mashymre... especially in the early episodes when he's fawning over Haman all the time and basically being a male version of Usagi Tsukino in a giant robot anime. I look forward to your first encounter with Chara Soon.

[VF5SS]

If you watch Tomino's previous work with L-Gaim you'll find it's basically more of the same goofiness. He tends to alternate between serious shows and more lighthearted fare. A lot of characters in both Zeta and ZZ have parallels in L-Gaim. Like Gablae is basically Mashymre right down to being the prettiest pretty boy.

[F-ZeroOne]

It gets better - seriously - but you have to wait until around the 20-episode mark or so. The really weird thing is that Tomino did wacky mecha hi-jinks really well in Xabungle, I guess they just don't work so good in the more serious Gundam Universal Century timeline...

[mecha2241]

I just finished ZZ not too long ago. Like said above it doesn't get good until over 20 episodes in. It's a shame because the first half of the series had been as good as the second it might have rivaled Zeta Gundam as one if the best Gundam series.

[Gubaba]

Because I'm going to start reviewing Gundam for my Podcast, I figured

I'd need to brush up on all the ones I've missed out. Currently the only

show I've never really seen a lick of is ZZ Gundam. I'm not looking

forward to this but it ain't worse than AGE or Destiny, I'm sure, and I

have Macross to dull the pain.

I skipped episode 1 because it's just a glorified clip show, so we move

straight into episode 2. This episode is actually fairly good what with

setting up Judau and the Junkyard Kids and the return of Yazan and the

death of poor Saegusa. There's the strange sort of passing-of-the-torch

moment between Judau and Kamille and the Endra

shows up... and then nothing. No, I'm being totally serious here. I'm

really trying not to let previous info and biases color things here but I

honestly think that episodes 3-6 are just plain boring. Not terrible or

insulting, just boring. Monster-of-the-week only works for G Gundam you know. And First Gundam.

As for Mashymre... Scirroco would eat this guy for breakfast. Bask Om

would rip off his arms and beat Mashymre to death with the wet ends. And

I can't see him surviving in the original Zeon military.... except maybe under M'Quve. Man, is this what happened to all the Zeon soldiers who were bumming around Axis?

And what can I say about Gemon the Trash-Man? I can't decide if he's a

worse character than some of the morons we ran into in AGE. He probably

is; at least the AGE characters attempted some competence and weren't as

dumb as this guy. If I was Mashymre, I would have been like, "Ok, why

don't you just take your weird MS and go fight the Zeta by yourself?

Your suit is obviously strong enough to take on the Zeta single-handed!" (Insert your own sarcasm here)

Also, am I a terrible person for wanting to toss Shinta and Qum out the nearest airlock?

All in all, not terribly impressed so far. By episode 6 of most of the rest

of the Gundam shows and OVAs, a whole ton of stuff had already happened

and ZZ is just kinda plodding along. How about that Neo Zeon War? When

do we get that?

There are some positives. I think I'm going to enjoy Judau as a protagonist. He's not annoying like MSG Amuro or angsty

like Kamille. He's just a simple Newtype trying to make his way in the Universe, man!

The rest of his friends are OK, especially fiesty Elle, but I can

already tell I'm not going to like Beecha and Mondo. Imma toss them out

the airlock too, ok?

The music from Zeta is back and that's always a big plus although I wish

they'd been able to spin out a few new tracks for ZZ and change things up a little.

Alrighty then, on to episodes 7-11!

Psst... check my Facebook....

[Hoptimus]

Yeah what I remember about ZZ is it starts silly and gets pretty good in the early 20's episodes. Still not my favorite Gundam by a long shot though.

[Archer]

I'm pretty sure I ended up watching ZZ before watching either Zeta or the Original Gundam, so it has a special place in my heart

I agree that it can be silly at times, but it's nice and a bit of a breather for a Gundam series that doesn't take itself wayyyy too seriously, but can still maintain a fairly coherent and somewhat involved storyline.

And the ZZ gundam is pretty cool regardless

[VF-15 Banshee]

So... episodes 7-11.

Episode 7, more of the same crap, except this time we have some moron pilots who decide to spew smoke all over
the place and then... are utterly confused. What was the point? At least
they died for their stupidity.

The Argama finally gets the heck out of dodge in episode 8, but it takes too damn
long. That damn Gemon shows up again but at least he dies too, as does
Yazan. Man, that guy must have really lost it if he thought jumping out
of a mobile suit with his jacket as a parachute would actually work.
Man, I used to be intimidated by that guy.
Judau's antics are also a little grating but at least they make him grow into his skills.

So we're out in space now and off the damn colony but things really aren't
that much better. And, oi vey, here we go with Beecha and Mondo.
They've been out in space for a couple of hours and already they want to
betray the Argama and go back?
If they didn't really want to go then why did they even bother? And can
someone PLEASE toss Shinta and Qum out the airlock? Obviously their dead
parents and/or Char never told them to not talk to strangers or believe
what they say. Stupid war orphans, stupid, stupid orphans. It's no
wonder Bright skips out on the second half of this show.

The one bright glimmer in all this is the introduction of the ZZ Gundam itself.
I'm not sure if I like it more than the original Zeta but it's kinda
neat, although there is a bit of that "why didn't we shoot it during the
stock footage transformation and docking sequence?" going on. Guess I
now know where Shinn got the idea.

As for Chara, funnily enough I didn't mind her when she first appeared,
but the second she got into that R-Jarja.... whoo boy, this rates about a
9.0 on my weird crap-o-meter. Better buckle in for a long ride.

Let's see, I'm now on episode 13... when's Moon-Moon? Episode 14. Oh frak me....

[anime52k8]

Moon-Moon was awesome.

[VF-15 Banshee]

Moon-Moon was awesome.

We must be talking about different things.

[VF-15 Banshee]

So, episodes 12-16.

You know what ZZ's prevailing sin right now is? Wasting time. There is almost nothing of worth going on here. I mean, the biggest fricken' plot points so far have been the kidnapping of Leina and the intro of the MSN-010 ZZ Gundam. I mean, for frak's sake, by episode 16 of Zeta, a whole ton of stuff had already happened, like the Jaburo invasion, Karaba, etc. Even by episode 16 of Destiny more had happened than has in ZZ. Let's summarize really quick: I gather that the overall plot of ZZ is supposed to be the First Neo Zeon War. But all that has happened in the show so far is farting around on Shangri-La with the idiots on the Endra, rendezvousing with La Vie En Rose, getting the ZZ Gundam and Moon-Moon. Haman herself has yet to make an appearance outside of Mashymre's flashbacks. Any actual development of what the Neo Zeons are supposed to be doing hasn't happened yet. When's the fricken' Earth invasion?
Now, yes, I get that they're trying to go for a lighter tone than Zeta, but they're not doing it right. Take Return of the Jedi for example. That's a great show of lightening things up while not sacrificing the overall plot. Frak, if you compare this to G Gundam, G Gundam is as goofy as all get out but by episode 16, again, a whole ton of stuff has already happened, we're in Shinjuku and the Devil Gundam just showed up! ZZ's premise presents a whole myriad of possibilities but they've all been squandered in this first third of the show.

Beecha and Mondo continue their antics to get off the Argama and continue to wear thin my patience. And why is Chara being guarded by freakin' Shinta and Qum? If they thought the kids would be able to keep her in line, guess what? They ain't. Ugh.

And then of course there's Moon Moon. Oh Moon Moon.
What can I say about this? It's right there alongside G-Saviour, Destiny and the latter two-thirds of AGE as the worst Gundam ever put to film. Why would people choose to live like this in the Universal Century? It's made pretty clear that they're aware that they're on a colony, yet there's all this Cult of Light nonsense. It's pretty much the ultimate representation of what I was talking about earlier about this show wasting time. Now, all that said, Moon Moon didn't insult my intelligence and piss me off like the last few episodes of AGE did or Destiny. It boggles me. I am thoroughly boggled that this tripe somehow made it on screen and somehow became part of Gundam.

Also, in episode 16 we have what could possibly be a call-back to an episode of the original Gundam when Gottn comes up with a plan to infiltrate the Argama. Unfortunately, since this is Neo Zeon, the plan fails rather miserably. I mean honestly, trying to take over an entire ship with your bare hands and Gottn's the only one smart enough to use a gun? Judau should have blasted the whole lot of 'em and ridden the universe of their stupidity.

Also, there was a scene in episode 16 that kind of amused me. Judau gets on the intercom and gives a bit of a morale speech to the crew, specifically calling out Beecha and Mondo as traitors. Elle gets pissed about it and I really don't know why. Judau is absolutely correct, they ARE traitors and if it were up to me and not Bright Noa (Tired Old Man ver.), they'd be tossed out the nearest airlock. I guess it's 'cause she has a thing for Beecha?

All in all, this show had better stop dragging its feet. We are not amused.

[F-ZeroOne]

Keep with it. Believe me, I felt much the same way about ZZ until I got a few episodes further in than you've reached. Its also worth noting that the first half of the series was made when Tomino was having one of his upswings in moods; before Turn-A Gundam, it was vitally important that if you wanted great Gundam, you had to have sad Tomino in the snow...

[anime52k8]

I like when happy Tomino makes Gundam. You get silliness and super robot shenanigans when he's happy. Sad Tomino just gets you pointless gratuitous character deaths until nobody's left and the whole show felt pointless to watch. (i.e. you get Victory Gundam).

[VF-15 Banshee]

Anyway, onto episodes 17-21.

So the comedy seems to be very slowly giving way to an actual balance in these episodes. It seems like the Argama is actually fighting a war now, what with all the hubub over its new Hyper Mega Whizbang Pocket Death Star. We also see the infamous Elpeo Puru (or Ple or Pull or whatever it is; I like Puru) and another Qubeley, Batman-style. The Qubeley was a monster in Zeta and here it proves it's no slouch by stymieing the Gundam Team. I'm not sure what to make of Puru yet. She's seems to be a little schizo at the very least. Plus Puru hitting on Judau is kinda weird. Speaking of weird, does anyone else find it creepy with what Glemy is doing with Leina? I do.

Beecha and Mondo prove how petty and small-minded they are; is anyone surprised?

We also have Judau's first meeting with Haman, and I gotta say, I like it when we see her with different hairstyles. Where's Mineva though?

There's several good points here, surprisngly enough. Judau, like Amuro and Kamille before him finds that its harder to shoot at his enemies when they're not hidden in a mobile suit. And when Bright is about to fire the Hyper Mega Whizbang at Axis's engines, he and Judau have a good moment. Judau has a good point about the civilians (although that could be a whole other argument about culpability) and Bright's tactics are sound from a pure strategic standpoint. Plus, since he was aiming at the engines, there's a chance that the Moussa block might not have been catastophically damaged. It's a good example of the hard choices of war.
We then have some development for one of the Argama Bridge Dudes, Torres, which of course is an immediate death flag for his old friend Cecilia. Saw that coming from a mile away; instead of pineapple salad, it's pineapple pizza!! I'm evil.
It's also interesting seeing the original Gundam Team in action, especially when reviewing the records of subsequent Gundam mashups, like in Wing, SEED or 00.

So far I'd say that ZZ is the opposite of AGE. Whereas AGE fell apart in its latter two-thirds, ZZ has a first third that is just footling drivel and now seems to be getting good. Hopefully it'll stay that way.

Oh and I noticed that Chara was in the brig when Bright threw Judau, Mondo and Beecha in there. WHY WASN'T SHE IN THERE BEFORE, INSTEAD OF BEING GUARDED BY A PAIR OF KIDS?!! Damn, Bright, Brightslap™ your own self and then Brightslap™ Beecha and Mondo into MEN OF DESTINY.

[Keith]

ZZ gets downright awesome.

[dizman]

Yup ZZ is going to get a whole lot better and make you feel like torture that was the first third of the series was worth it..... almost. Oh and a few people get thrown (or was it blown) out of an airlock, keep an eye out.

[plutoniumhunter]

ZZ was pure bizarreness in the first 3rd (Moon Moon, Bright chasing chickens), but definitely much darker and back to a Zeta-esque style towards the end... if most people tolerate it that far.

[D.D. Ivanov]

as does Yazan. Man, that guy must have really lost it if he thought jumping out

of a mobile suit with his jacket as a parachute would actually work.

Man, I used to be intimidated by that guy.

Yazan isn't dead.

[VF-15 Banshee]

Yeah, I know. I recently saw the episode that shows he is alive although how he survived is a bit beyond me.

[plutoniumhunter]

A bit off-topic, but IIRC he (re)appeared in the Johnny Ridden Manga piloting a GM III.

Yeah, I know. I recently saw the episode that shows he is alive although how he survived is a bit beyond me.

Well... it's probably one of those "Don't try these at home" things...

[VF-15 Banshee]

Anyway, episodes 22-26.

Hmm, things are actually getting pleasantly good. Judau's still reckless in trying to save Leina but lots of good drama comes from it. He meets Haman again and thus begins what i assume are many attempts on her part to seduce our hero. We also get introduced to Rakhan Dakharan. Now this is a Neo Zeon villain I can get behind! We also have another nice atmosphere batle, very reminiscient of the Jaburo Drop in Zeta. The Argama and the Gundam Team are on Earth now and because the Argama doesn't have a Minovsky Craft system, they send the Gundam team on ahead. At the same time, Neo Zeon has invaded the Federal capital of Dakar.
I gotta say, this happened all a little too neatly, smacking of Star Trek Syndrome. You know, Earth is the most important planet in the Federation, yet it's constantly defended and saved by just one ship, usually the Enterprise? Where was the Federation defense fleet? The Garrison? Are they really so incompetent by UC0088 that Neo Zeon, with just a few ships and their mobile suit complements can roflstomp them?

Also, Beecha and Mondo need to die, seriously. They are too easily forgiven especially after that stunt with the bombs. At least Shinta and Qum have faded into the background.

So the Gundam team treks across Africa and like we've seen in other shows such as 0083 and Unicorn, the scars of the OYW still linger. We got poor fool Rommel, who tries to take on modern (at the time) Gundams with Zakus. Bad idea dude. Somehow I don't think the real Desert Fox would have been so foolish. We also get this Masai woman who makes the same mistake. Even though her Gelgoog is still old, I bet if she had more training she might have been able to take out one or two of the Gundam team. But her obsession proves her downfall. Yet another casualty of the OYW. Also, in an earlier episode, we have a kid try to take on the Argama and its Gundams with a Kapool. Silly kid, don't you know that Kapool/Capule's only work in Turn A Gundam?

I'm given to understand that we'll get to Dakar in episode 25 and a certain chain of events will proceed with Leina. Dum-dum-duuuuuummmmmm.

[Keith]

Actually, I totally buy that the EFSF is in too much of a shambles to send other ships in. Remember, the Solar Ray took out a crap-ton of the fleet in 0079. And while the Titans were taking over/rebuilding, a lot of that got taken out in the last days of Zeta. Neo Zeon has the benefit of being abscent during most of what happened in Zeta, and by the looks of it, aren't exactly fully up to snuff either. Flash ahead a bit to CCA, and both the Earth & Zeon fleets still seem to be composed of a handful of ships. Hell, Unicorn would seem to back this up too.

[Gubaba]

Say what you will. I love Bright Noa chasing chickens.

[VF-15 Banshee]

Anyway, i got ahead of myself and now i have to do episodes 27-36.

This chunk begins with the excellent two-parter, Leina's Blood. The Neo Zeon have invaded Dakar and its up to our intrepid heroes to crash the party, rescue Leina and free the city. Of course it's not as easy as all that when Puru childishly starts the attack early by firing the canons on the Mega Rider too soon. She is a rather mercurial one isn't she?
Judau does his best James Bond impression, complete with a showdown with a femme fatale. I like this bit of dialogue between them as the party more than shows the corruption of the Federation officials but Haman's methods probably won't help any either. Then she makes her mistake: shooting Leina. Oh and is Judau ever pissed. I wouldn't be surprised if at that moment he could have pulled a Darth Vader on her. It really does go to show how strong Judau's Newtype potential is when he Haman runs away from him almost screaming in terror. Even when Kamille started poking into her memories she didn't get this upset.

Oh and random cameo by Yazan. How in the name of Tomino did he survive that fall and end up back on Earth, invited to a swanky party of all things?

Anyway, the drama builds to a climax as the Gundam team battle the Neo Zeon through Dakar along with Karaba's GM III's. Hullo Hayato, haven't seen you since Zeta! Glemy engages in several duels with the Gundams and I really have to wonder why he is so attached to Leina. Is she the little sister he never had or something? Puru sneaks Leina off and tells her that she needs to leave Judau alone so she can fight. Leina interprets that as wanting to hurt Judau and CATFIGHT! I goes to show how screwed up Puru's upbringing was that she wants to have a big brother in Judau and thinks the onyl way to do that is to kill Leina and take her place. Fortunately, Judau arrives and calms everything down. It's not to last as Leina supposedly goes the way of Yuna Roma Seiran and has a MS fall on top of her. It's a great death scene with lots of powerful emotion, right down to Judau coldly refusing Puru's misguided kindness. There is one thing that's a little weird about it: Roux is strangely pretty tactless about the whole affair. Hmmm.

Of course I know that Leina isn't actually dead, which really sucks. Total cop-out. Why even bother with the scene and the subsequent fallout if she's not dead. So let's break this down. In order to believe that Leina's not dead, we have to accept that Sayla Mass, of all people, just happened to be wandering around in the jungles around Dakar, in the middle of a battle, and just so happened to arrive at the cabin Leina was in, decided to investigate the cabin out of the blue, found Leina and took her away, without telling anyone. IIRC, Leina was still conscious; did she really just go along with Sayla and not say, "Hey, not just yet, I need to tell the others."
It really doesn't make one ounce of sense when you think about it and once she was better.... why wouldn't she have contacted her brother and told him she's alright? Doesn't. Make. Sense.

We get a few more episodes of desert wandering. Roux is strangely very cold to Judau about Leina's "death" and it's really not endearing her to me. She even leaves the ship, which is doubly perplexing, going so far as to steal a Core Fighter. Man, if I were Bright, the second she set foot back on the ship, it'd be Correction Time.

We also get the first reveal of Glemy's Puru clones. This guy has to be some kind of Pedobear with his naked lolis on display in cold sleep.

The Argama then arrives in Ireland and the drama gets ratcheted up again. Bright meets with some Federation officials and things quickly go south. Any respect i had for the Feds is gone, AEUG/Londo Bell FTW. They try to keep Bright and Judau locked up but it's randomly Fa to the rescue. Which means... Kamille's back! He's not very coherent, but he's back!

Haman drops a colony at this point so it's up to our heroes in the AEUG to fix the Federation's mess. Lots of great battles here with the Gundam team going all out but you know what i would have preferred? Amuro to have shown up with Hayato and Kamille to be lucid so that Amuro could go out in the Mk. II, Kamille in the Zeta and Judau in the ZZ. Now that would have been EPIC.
We also have the death of Puru here against Puru Two in the Psyco Gundam Mk. II. and that was actually pretty sad. I was beginning to really like Puru.
I forgot to mention a great scene where Bright shows Hayato the room that Katz stayed in. Now I hated Katz as much as anyone else, but this was still a powerful, moving scene. Oh wait.... is that pineapple salad I smell? And a steak as well? Why yes, it is! :twisted: Yes, because of this, Hayato is doomed to die, but at least he goes out in a manner worthy of a First Gundam character. RIP buddy, you dun good.
Episode 36 ends with a memorial service, a fitting why to end this cluster of episodes. Judau and the Junkyard Kids are heading back to space next time....... wait a minute.... wasn't there something about Tigerbaum....? Ah fudge-sticks.....

[F-ZeroOne]

Tomino broke one of his own Gundam Club rules with Leina...

First Rule: Everybody dies.

Second Rule: No-one comes back.

Thrid Rule: No-one comes back.

IIRC, Sayla bumped into Kei in a jungle in Zeta, so maybe she just likes jungles. (I maybe getting mixed up and thinking of ZZ after all, though... )

Edited February 11, 2013 by F-ZeroOne

[plutoniumhunter]

Tomino broke one of his own Gundam Club rules with Leina...

First Rule: Everybody dies.

Second Rule: No-one comes back.

Thrid Rule: No-one comes back.

IIRC, Sayla bumped into Kei in a jungle in Zeta, so maybe she just likes jungles. (I maybe getting mixed up and thinking of ZZ after all, though... )

IIRC, that was Reccoa Londe.

[mecha2241]

Yeah, that was Reccoa, not Sayla.

[kanedaestes]

All this talk makes me want to rewatch but more importantly makes me wish for a 2.0 MG ZZ. I have the HGUC version but I want one to display with my other UC Era MGs. I do like the design a lot of the ZZ

[Keith]

I still attribute Judou's Newtype powers to Kamille.

[F-ZeroOne]

Thanks for the the recoorection r.e. Reccoa/Sayla. Think I was probably getting the events in the two series confused. Of course, Sayla could just like jungles anyway...

[plutoniumhunter]

IIRC, I think Sayla reappeared with Leina near the end... Sayla meeting Kai is in the New Translation movie series IIRC, where she's sunbathing on a beach.

[DuelGundam2099]

So, Banshee-man, did you finish Double Zeta? If so did you enjoy the ending or thought it went out sour?

[Gubaba]

So, Banshee-man, did you finish Double Zeta? If so did you enjoy the ending or thought it went out sour?

Haman should've TRIUMPHED!!!

[DuelGundam2099]

Eh, she was one of my least favorite anime characters, so I didn't mind it. There have been worse endings.