#mobile suit Gundam requiem for vengeance

[athena-gunpla]

Gunpla showcase update!!

Front shelves

WFM

UC

Finally have the whole White Base crew

[gremoria411]

*The following contains spoilers for Mobile Suit Gundam: Requiem for Vengeance*

This is a follow-up post to my earlier one covering the first two episodes of Mobile Suit Gundam: Requiem for Vengeance. I’ll link it here but I’ll probably be covering a lot of the same points

I’m also going to completely give the game away right now: I don’t find Requiem for Vengeance to be a good show. Probably the nicest thing I could say is that that the designs are nice. It has some good ideas, it just really mangles the execution.

A lot of these are notes I made as I was watching the episodes, and I specifically rewatched episodes 4 and 6, because I’ve got a lot to say about them relative to everything else.

Characters

Is the only reason they made Iria a mother so they could justify her empathy towards the enemy pilot!? Like motherhood isn’t a necessary component of caring about other humans. You can just do that.

Follow-up: Iria doesn’t really express much affection towards her actual flesh-and-blood child during the show. He’s presumably in Zeon somewhere, but he never appears except in photograph. But her actions at the end of the show….. really don’t help.

Major Ronnay’s odd. Because he kinda feels like the only sensible character/the only character who’s aware of the wider situation - the war’s starting to turn against Zeon, and shifting to shepherding his resources to compensate for disrupted supply lines feels like a good decision at this point, not picking fights with the Earth federation’s newest prototype. Ronnay also marshalls the group’s evacuation from Earth. Yeah, he’s mean to the protagonists, but he’s under a lot of stress and he’s in charge of a worsening was situation. It’s just quite odd to see the only character who indicates a wider understanding of the conflict presented so negatively. That said, it’s not like he’s really immune to the bad acting and dialogue. When talking about dead civilians in episode 4, he sounds more bothered that they died for something so measly, as opposed to the fact that they were innocent people caught up in a war that had nothing to do with them.

I really don’t like Captain Zydoss. He kinda just exists to verbally explain other characters backstories, or to tell other characters that they’re in the right. There’s no real character here. Man straight-up says: “Those soldiers? They were just doing their jobs.” That is not a line I’m really enthused about hearing in a show like this, because it makes me question what the fuck the writers were trying to say here.

I kinda already made a post about this, but I really don’t like Yuri Kellerne in this. The design’s awful, he only shows up to say to the viewers “Yeah, Iria was right, also she’s a cool dude who doesn’t afraid of anything”. He doesn’t really do anything, and it just feels like a “see 08th MS team fans, it’s that character you like!”.

To be honest, I didn’t really have strong opinions on the other characters. There just isn’t a lot there to care about honestly.

Story

Okay, so “War is Hell” just isn’t a theme here. That’s kinda the main problem. There’s no real attempt to humanise the Earth Federation or present them as anything other than largely faceless. I’ve noted before that “War is Hell” is kinda the main thing that makes Gundam work in my opinion, because it’s really noticeable if it isn’t there. It’s just a very by-the-numbers military series. There’s no real “hook” or idea that it’s putting forward. It might’ve helped if Iria’s squad mates had been better characterised, so there’d be a sense of them having actual plans beyond the war. But, ultimately, they die because of the federation’s new mobile suit - not because war is an ultimately horrifying and tragic thing. The presentation just doesn’t line up for me at all.

I do think the emphasis on the watch is good, because it emphasises that time is running out for Zeon. But it never really comes up again after the first two episodes.

The voice work really brings it down, because there’s just no way for the scenes to have any real gravitas or impact when the voices are this poor.

I think another problem is that the opening episode(s) with the Gundam sell it as a threat too well - it effortlessly wiped out Iria’s entire team, as well as numerous other Zaku’s that challenge it while Iria’s scrambling around in recovery. It shrugs off machineguns, bazooka’s, a fuel tanker…… so any attempts by Iria to bring the fight to it just feels utterly stupid, because there’s no real reason it shouldn’t just wipe out another two Zaku’s. The fight in episode 4 is particularly obvious - the Gundam just slowly approaches, it’s doesn’t exhibit any of its trademark speed and never presses the advantage. There’s never a sense that any damage dealt to it is “earned”, it just takes a hit because the plot demands it.

Okay, the dress turning to blood thing was ambitious, and if it had worked would’ve been really cool. But fabric and liquid are hard to animate at the best of times, so one to the other in a show like this was never going to pan out.

You can really tell this was made by former transformers alumni. Not that that’s necessarily a bad thing, just some of the shots are very transformers-esque.

Wait, doesn’t Iria’s comment about not shooting disembarking pilots directly contradict the actions of the federation forces earlier in the show? Also didn’t she just tell her squadmate to kill him? Oh, getting out of his mobile suit and trying to escape in order to come back in a fresh suit? Oh well, it just wouldn’t be sporting to kill him now, better let him go.

“I wasn’t aiming to take out the pilot! This is our best chance to take out the Gundam!” “At what price, lieutenant?” I dunno, two enemy combatants that were just trying to kill you? And have killed your allies? In a warzone? Seems like an odd time to develop a conscience, Iria. It’s not necessarily off-brand for Gundam, but it’s just so hackneyed. Iria recognises the Gm pilot and later the Gundam pilot as human exclusively, but the infantry and tank gunners were apparently fair game.

Follow-up: Iria also randomly spares a Guntank in episode 6. A Guntank that could very easily shoot down Zeon HLV’s that Iria is currently defending. I feel like that was unwise.

To be clear here, I’m not criticising the decision to have Iria spare characters, I’m criticising the decision to present it in this way - it causes Iria to come off as hypocritical and careless to ignore active threats, and the rationale of why she’s sparing them never comes up.

The URMC guy helps the cast attack the enemy (such as in episode 4). Doesn’t that kinda spit in the face of his neutrality?

Oh hey, I was so busy talking about the poor character writing that I almost forgot to mention the false flag operation. Y’know, that thing that is illegal under wartime law? That the characters commit when they dress up as Federation forces in order to steal the GMs? Yeah, that. Like, I know it’s par for the course in shows like this (like 0080), but it still feels odd to see it presented in such a heroic fashion. It just would’ve felt better if the characters had acknowledged that it was a sketchy/desperate thing to do (like 0080), rather than playing it completely straight.

It kinda feels like they came up with the title first, and then introduced elements to fit with it - Iria being a violinist just feels very vestigial, and vengeance…… either isn’t a theme or it’s badly executed enough that I didn’t notice it (characters talk about it a lot, but not to any real purpose).

Okay, the combination of character animation, voice work dialogue and the fact that Iria probably has a concussion makes the fact that Iria decides to pilot her Zaku in episode 6 (unintentionally) really funny. Because she’s giving this big dramatic speech with swelling music, but it genuinely just feels like this is the shock and concussion talking, so I just expect her to step on to the truck and fall flat on her face.

We can swear now, great, good for us. That isn’t an excuse for the dialogue to be as bad as it is.

Alright, I fully fell off on episode 6. I’m sorry, it crosses the line from plain old regular bad to hilariously bad for me. It’s like the hyper-realistic faces coupled with the absolutely terrible animation and voice acting just blends together into something completely farcical.

“Machineguns are not effective, aim for the treads” *continues firing*. Also, did they just forget that guntanks have missile launchers?

There’s kind of no real sense of flow to the fights either. Everything moves as fast as it needs to. Stopping stock-still in the middle of a combat zone is a death sentence, so it’s really noticeable how frequently Requiem for Vengeance stops fights so its characters can have dramatic conversations. This is very, very noticeable in episode 6.

Wait hang on. Iria: “The Earth Federation’s Won, We’re just trying to retreat, please let us go” Gundam Pilot: “Then surrender, if we let you terrorists go you’ll just attack us again later” Iria then proceeds to not surrender. Furthermore, Zeon is withdrawing military personnel and war material like mobile suits, which they will use against the Earth Federation in the last months of the war. Isn’t the Gundam pilot completely in the right here? But the presentation of the scene seems to be trying to put Iria in the right. But what the Gundam pilot’s saying is correct. Zeon did start the war, and will continue attacking the Earth. So it feels like the narrative is presenting the Gundam pilot as being in the wrong simply by their nature as a child soldier thrust into this war. They didn’t have a choice, they need Iria (who’s a mother, by the way) to tell them they have a choice. The narrative places the fact that they’re a mother and child over the fact that they share a common humanity. It’s such a stupid choice.

“Zeon forces were driven completely out of Europe and Asia” that’s a funny way of saying “we were driven off the entire Earth”.

Other stuff (mostly Setting and Visuals)

I do like the little Zaku ears, they’re nice.

So why is the character covered in highly identifiable Zeon tattoos considered for an infiltration? Just a note.

The mobile suits are pretty dang gorgeous.

The Gundam pilot has a Nintendo switch.

Sooooo…… no mention of why they’re going to Odessa? No reason that might be relevant to anything?

I will probably do a small post on Loum. Because this is gonna annoy me.

Can the Gouf’s fly in this? It’s really throwing me. Because they shouldn’t be able to, but it looks really cool? Maybe they just didn’t want to model Gouf flight types.

Yes, Requiem for Vengeance, I enjoyed the Gouf Custom in 08th MS team as well. Can I please have literally any other mobile suit. (Yeah, it’s cool, but it’s not cool enough to carry your entire show).

Follow-up: it feels like the writers wanted to emphasise that the Gouf Custom in 08th ms team could totally have beaten the Gundam if it had needed to. Like yeah, but that’s not important. The point of that scene (in 08th Ms Team) isn’t some kind of dick-measuring of mobile suits, it’s to emphasise Norris Packard’s character and skill, that he made those decisions in service to the wider objective (and to iterate on Ramba Ral and Amuro’s relationship from 0079). It’s not there to demonstrate how strong the Gouf is. I mean, yeah they want you to buy the models, but come on.

In case the ratio of criticism-to-praise above didn’t give it away, I really didn’t like Requiem for Vengeance. It just fails to engage with the theme I consider central to Gundam: “War is hell”. It also doesn’t really humanise any of the opposing side, which while not a deal-breaker, certainly doesn’t help its position. There just really isn’t a lot of character on display here, so there’s little to distract from the bad dialogue, stiff animation and near-comedically poor line deliveries. The human animation and writing really kill the series for me, since they just cripple the shows ability to deliver any kind of impact on its points. Then again, when its points are “The Earth Federation is just SO MEAN you guys”, it’s probably best the delivery’s as poor as it is. I don’t really know what the shows trying to say but it certainly doesn’t seem to be “War is bad”.

It feels like the writers were able to grasp gundam’s thesis of “child soldiers are bad”, but took that to be “people who use child soldiers are bad”, not “the circumstances that war creates will eventually cause children to take up arms for a cause they don’t fully understand, leaving them to have short miserable live of perpetuating the harm they have suffered upon others, as just one part of the horror that war visits upon its victims”. This is emphasised by the ending, which is pretty shit. Despite the opportunity to return home and retire, like multiple other Zeon aces did. Iria instead fucks off and joins the Zeon remnant in Africa, while stating that many of the other soldiers there “don’t have a home to return to, are consumed by hatred or yearning only for a glorious death on the battlefeild”. THEN WHY ARE YOU THERE. Why are you perpetuating the conflict by throwing in with remnant groups? How the hell is this supposed to prevent child soldiers from happening? Go home.

Plus, the way Zeon’s presented here seems kind of…… dishonest. Like it’s not incorrect or canon-breaking, it just seems to skirt around a lot of details in order to paint Zeon as, for want of a better term, “less evil”. So, we have characters mention The Battle of Loum, without mentioning what Loum was. We have characters note the worsening war situation, without engaging with why Zeon’s on the back foot. The characters retreat back up into space, but it isn’t stated what they’re retreating from. You’d expect someone to mention the actual wider war situation. I know they’re soldiers, and they’re likely fed a steady diet of Zeon propaganda - but then why not let us see that propaganda, note how the characters engage with it. Do they agree, disagree? Do they take it as gospel, accept that the principality is covering up some things or rage that it’s blatant lies? How does Zeon, the nation, its leaders and its governance affect these characters? The choice to completely ignore it seems wrongheaded and, as above, dishonest. There’s no hint of Zeon’s fractious command structure here, that the upper brass are too consumed by infighting to heed the wider war situation. There’s no mention of Garma Zabi, late commander of the Earth Attack Force, who presumably the characters would have a lot of opinions on. Requiem for Vengeance doesn’t exactly paper over Zeon’s failings, it just doesn’t mention them. I find it interesting that of the “big three” Zeon Earth Commanders (Garma Zabi, Yuri Kellerne, and M’Quve) we only see Yuri, who’s arguably the softest of the three. Like, M’Quve is right there, you guys. There’s even a Tony Takezaki illustration that could be used as a basis to adapt his design to the new style:

And M’Quve would have been the perfect opportunity to showcase Zeon’s fractious upper command. So his omission just feels glaring (much like the illustration). Major Ronnay’s perhaps the closest to being a member of Zeon High Command, but he’s essentially the stock “Commander whose orders the protagonist disregards” archetype. I *could* describe him as the most humanised out of the cast, but that feels like I’m reaching. There is Joshua Stein (the commander in the first episode, who originally calls the Red Wolves in), but he feels more genuinely incompetent, rather than saying anything meaningful about Zeon as a whole - his failings are more personal, rather than symptoms of a wider problem with Zeon Command (and in any case he’s only got around three scenes, so it’s difficult to glean anything from him).

Slight follow-up, but we’re also not told anything about the Battle of Odessa. I noted in my posts in the run-up to the release of Requiem for Vengeance that it takes place shortly before the Battle of Odessa, which was the big turnaround for Zeon’s fortunes on Earth, leading to a mass retreat back up into space. This is a *big thing* in the wider war, because it is where the Federation finally gets its momentum (and mobile suits) going and essentially forces Zeon into the back foot, a position they never really recover from. For all the series loves to bang on about Loum, it never mentions Odessa. Part of this is excusable - Zeon would likely downplay its loss as Odessa to keep morale high, and the characters may not have received accurate reports yet, but I’d just like someone to mention it - “seems Odessa didn’t go to plan” or just something like that. Because it’s the whole reason they’re retreating in the last few episodes and no-one says anything.

I’d ordinarily be pretty easy on the whole “Zeon’s War for Independence” thing, since it’s an example of how the populace of Zeon was motivated to fight, but it’s a lie. It’s a lie told to justify the One Year War (and subsequent acts of spacenoid aggression). Like, there’s no problem with the characters believing the lie, but presenting it completely straight feels off. Like, if there was just one instance where it was acknowledged that maybe we shouldn’t trust the motivation of the guys who declared war and dress like space nazi’s, then cool, but the series doubles down on this impression by Iria’s statement at the end that the war didn’t really end as far as she’s concerned. Again, no problem with Iria believing that, by all accounts that’s how a lot of Zeon Remnant Groups saw the situation but it just reads oddly when talking about the One Year War. It kinda makes the series feel like in-universe propaganda or revisionist history, because at no point does it acknowledge that maybe Iria isn’t that reliable of a narrator.

Iria: “and so, to prevent more children from becoming child soldiers, I became a deadbeat mom.”

So yeah, Mobile Suit Gundam: Requiem for Vengeance - the mechanical design and opening’s pretty nice, but they really can’t carry the rest of the show and over time the dull plot, uninteresting characters and awful voice acting really just sap away any initial goodwill I possessed. The fact that it seems utterly unwilling to engage with *why* the war happened and *why* Zeon lost is particularly irritating, since (by its nature as a Zeon-focused show) it’s in the perfect position to talk about those questions.

[rayz-gamma]

6 episodes of pure unadulterated mobile suit bliss. Simple in it's Gundam lore and yet complex in it's deep straight to the point story. This has me wanting to play Armored Core 6 when I get off work . Speaking of which I gotta order that new Gundam Breaker 4 game immediately. I'm feeling real inspired right now 😏 🤖

[average-transdalorian]

I know I just said last night that I wouldn’t be able to watch more Gundam for some weeks because I’d be separated from my laptop, but that separation isn’t happening until Wednesday, so I figured I might as well watch some of the shit my watch order didn’t catch while I waited, starting with

Mobile Suit Gundam: Requiem for Vengeance

It’s the lovechild of 08th MS Team and MS IGLOO, and, for better or for worse, doesn’t really try to be anything other than that

The good: it’s very pretty! Unreal Engine is a great tool to make things look good, and it was used as such! The OST was skillfully composed, even with that one moment where I felt like I’d like the piece better as its own piece rather than part of the show! The sound designer was off the SHITS save for. Not using the Newtype flash sound effect and instead just using. Tinnitus sound effect. Anyways, the ‘suits and other bits of technology moved very well too!

The bad: as with its progenitors, it tried the “there are decent people on both sides!” Thing, but never took care to show or tell us how those people rationalized the colony drop. The animations for the people was. Not good. The lips often felt desynced from the dialogue, there was a walk cycle in the first episode that just felt JANK, and it really just felt bad. On top of that, the beam saber didn’t have the swoosh visual effect most of the time, so it just felt plain WRONG. I didn’t really get all that invested in the characters (save for the Gundam pilot; he felt like he had some older woman manipulating him via mommy issues and “you’re the only one who can end this war” and I wanted to know more of what that kid’s deal was), and didn’t get invested at ALL in their relationships with one another. I’m VERY not sold on the thematic idea of “I will fight until we can ensure that there will be no more child soldiers,” particularly given that she almost certainly dies fighting against ANOTHER CHILD SOLDIER PILOTING A GUNDAM some years down the line. It does also have themes of “vengeance is bad and unhelpful” but frankly those themes have been pushed long enough that The Princess Bride going against them is interesting and refreshing. And that book is over half a century old

It really is just the lovechild of 08th and IGLOO; looks pretty, sounds pretty, has nice battles, and is RIFE with absolutely mid features pretty much everywhere else

[e1dritchqueer]

Okay kinda excited for Requiem for Vengeance

It's a cg film and Gundam's had a messy track record with that, but if it's done well I feel like it can really shine

[s3znl-gr3znl]

Armored Core: you're a cog in the death machine of capitalism and freedom lies in the hands of those strong enough jam the gears and break the apparatus. you should def use the Baby Flayer 9000 to achieve that goal btw

Gundam: war is fucked man, so much senselss death and killing all in the name of lofty ideals. anyway we'll be rolling out the orphan thresher as soon as next quarter

[bozemane]

[alphamecha-mkii]

Mobile Suit Gundam: Requiem for Vengeance (2024)

[gundamfight]

[ferhog]

My thoughts on that new Requiem for Vengeance clip:

[sanktpolypenbourg]

It may not be super deep but I really enjoyed that 'Gundam: Requiem for vengeance' show on Netflix.

I never watched any other Gundam narrative, picking up the premise only through pop culture, but that was enough to instantly pick up the twist: The Netflix show is told from the perspective of the "bad guys" and is essentially a military-horror story as they are getting hunted down by the "hero protagonist". Showing exactly what it would feel like to be at the receiving end of an overpowered rightous teenage wunderkind with a superweapon.

I may be a primitive creature but that is something I am immediately on board with.

I dunno, I am at most a part-time audience for military triumphalism. And for military-horror especially, I feel it really plays into the bleakness of it if your protagonists are on the wrong side of a conflict they are not only losing, but deserve to lose.

And also Yeah, "humanizing the wrong people" kicks ass, actually. "It's true (they ARE human) but you shouldn't SAY it" - You can lose me with THAT shit. That makes me wanna be contrarian, actually. Have the "good guys" be the faceless menace. Have the "bad guys" have complex relationships and families they love and desperately want to return to. I dunno I feel it helps reinforce the fundamental "war is bullshit" take. Or specifically, "military propaganda is bullshit". Anti-propaganda must be one of my favorite genres.

[Sidenote, I also appreciate that while the "on-the-wrong-side-of-History" protagonists are sympathetic and human, the show also doesn't shy away from making you understand that they ARE, indeed, "on the wrong side", and SUPER dumb. It's not argued that they are "misunderstood". No, no, they ARE space fascists, actually. They (with one or two exceptions) are trapped running in the hamster wheel of their military-propaganda machine and fail to see why those awful things are happening to them and their friends, why they find themselves running away as angry people try to shoot them in their backs on the way out. And that, too, serves the angle rather nicely.]

[athena-gunpla]

HGUC 1/144 E.F.G.F. Prototype Close-Combat Mobile Suit RX-78[G]E "Gundam Ex"

Gundam Ex is here!! I had a lot of trouble pre-ordering this one, but luckily found it in-person at a Black Friday sale so picked it up and cancelled the pending order. Ever since the trailer dropped I've wanted to add this to my collection, alongside the 08th MS Team suits.

This kit has some of the best features of modern HG gunpla. There's excellent colour separation, with some cool part shapes on the arms and head to create the two-toned dark and light grey paneling, as well as some of the red accents on the chin and torso. There's almost no colour-correcting stickers, apart from a yellow one to colour the raised E.F.F. insignia on the shield and another to depict the targeting sensor on the beam rifle, and two red strips for the side skirts.

There were some details that needed to be painted, including the a whitish section on the bottom of the shield (which unfortunately turned out a little bluer than I intended due to the paints I had on hand), and the grey vent details on the face. I also ended up painting all the yellow sections by myself, to avoid them looking too shiny from the foil stickers.

The foil stickers also detail the eyes and front camera in a reflective red. There are 3 eye options for each of the compound eye camera activation styles, but I ended up using the option with all three cameras activated, as the eyes are rather small as it is, so this helps the eyes be more visible.

I also ended up painting the blue flame effect on the beam saber effects. Unfortunately, while in the show they're depicted with a prominent blue glow to their base, the included effect parts are a single transparent pink. I think they look a lot better with the transparent blue though.

As usual, I detailed this kit with my Tamiya weathering sets D and C, and some drybrushing in gunmetal and silver. I also had a new chrome silver marker which I used to pick out some of the rivets and piping.

There are also a set of nice clear stickers for the decal details, which are mostly a series of red lines and the "78 Ex" and "E.F.G.F." badges. These are well designed to fit flush over panels, although unfortunately the sheet doesn't have any spares.

The kit comes with two open fist parts, which have a unique peg connection rather than the typical ball joint, as well as a trigger hand for the right arm. The lack of a ball joint limits articulation a little, but the wrist can swivel independently, so posing is still doable, including of course the menacing approaching pose from the promotional materials and box art.

In terms of accessories, there's a large shield, which has a simple handle similar to the The Origin RX-78-02 and MSV GM, although there's no additional 3mm peg connection. The back has a gatling gun, with an ammo drum on the backpack and a flexible rubber ammo chain that can flex as you pose the gun.

On the left shoulder, there's a rack of three beam sabers, which swivels forward to dispense them into the suit's hand. There's also the beam rifle, which has a very stripped down design, appearing as just a few tube details attached to a small boxy body and large dish-shaped sensor reminiscent of the sensor from the original RX-78-2 design.

The kit has really impressive articulation. There are no polycaps, so everything is super stiff and secure. The hip joints can rotate downwards to allow the thighs to swing almost all the way forward and back. There's great range of movement at the shoulders as well, and there's a decent amount of waist rotation as well as a cool ab-crunch that reveals hidden mechanical detail under the armor. The skirt armor is designed from the start the move independently, so there's no extra cutting necessary to unlock movement.

Overall I had a great deal of fun with this kit. Panel lining took a really long time as it the kit is saturated with detail, but after completion, the detail really stands out. While I didn't end up enjoying Requiem for Vengeance very much, I'm glad I managed to get this model.

[gremoria411]

The following post contains spoilers for the first two episodes of Mobile Suit Gundam: Requiem for Vengeance

Alright, I figured I’d give Gundam: Requiem for Vengeance a shot, and if I had any opinions after the first two episodes, I’d do a small post as a first impressions sorta thing.

Ah, just before I get into it, I should note that I’ve been somewhat looking forward to Requiem for Vengeance for a while now.

I’m gonna be using bullet points, mostly because I really don’t want to spend a whole lotta time on this, but in a nutshell; Consider me unimpressed.

The character animation and voice work is really bad. The lip-synch is terrible (likely for ease of dubbing into other languages), and so many of the characters just move so stiffly. It’s not like, all-over bad - there’s some really good scenes (like where three characters are chatting in the Zaku Tank) where they either managed to make it work or were able to put the effort in. I’d guess that they put most of the budget into the mobile suits and didn’t care too much about the human characters (or they didn’t have anyone on staff that could animate humans convincingly).

The battle scene that takes up the second half of episode 1 just kinda feels bad. Iria survives because she is the protagonist, there’s no moment that made me feel like she was in genuine danger, since every time something has a bead on her there’s always this dramatic pause, then something distracts them. This happens something like five times.

The actual models for the characters and mobile suits are genuinely gorgeous, they’re just dripping with personality. Unfortunately, this only throws the bad voice work into even sharper relief.

Reid “chubs” Ghela dies about seven minutes in, to show off the power of the gundam’s new beam weapon. Now, I wouldn’t mind, if he wasn’t the only character with any semblance of a personality. He’s also the sole exception to the bad voice work, so it’s really annoying that he gets killed off so soon.

Relatedly, there’s so many odd pronunciations here. It really takes you out of things, because it would’ve been so easy to check this stuff.

I complained previously about the “my girlfriend, in space” line, but it’s weird, because there’s a scene later that actually stresses how odd it is for the Zeon Mobile Suit Pilots to find themselves on earth. It’s really quite well-done and it’s a nice character moment.

The opening’s absolutely gorgeous, it’s really good.

Some of the music choices make me think of studio ghibli. Fairly neutral on that.

I have two really petty complaints that I’m only mentioning because they’re fresh in my mind - the Gundam’s beam saber seems really stiff here, it should have at least a little bend and, JUST USE THE NEWTYPE CHIME SOUND. WE ALL KNOW WHAT A NEWTYPE SOUNDS LIKE JUST USE THAT. It’s really irritating me for some reason.

My main issue is that it feels like they made a Gundam series, without watching any other Gundam series first. They had the designs, they had the themes, they had cliff notes, they just didn’t watch any other show first. There’s the shape of good ideas here, the execution’s just bad.

It feels like that line that always gets trotted out when someone tries to launch a new mecha property - “unlike those other shows, this one’s actually about the mecha”. Gundam: Requiem for Vengeance feels like an example of why actually doing that is a bad idea, because it’s so obvious that’s where the budget went, but the show can’t be mech fights 24/7, so we just don’t really spend any time with the characters.

I will follow this up later.

[rayz-gamma]

I'm on episode 2 and so far I'm fucking impressed. They literally made the whole thing using unreal engine 5 damn.

[abduloki]

Republic of Zeon declared independence. Principality of Zeon is formed. Zeon declared war on Earth Federation. Zeon deployed G3 Gas on civilians. Zeon used nuclear weapon. Earth Federation devastated. Zeon pressed on the attack on Earth. Earth Federation developed Gundam. Gundam turn the tide of the war.

And you wonder why the Gundam is ruthless. "The white devil." "The cold blooded killer at the controls." As if people forget of Zeon's war crimes on civilians. The Gundam kill combatants in the show, not civilians. You don't expect Gundam to show mercy on combatants do you? Zeon's LeSean said it himself, "The battlefield is no place to debate mercy." Look at what happen to the Gundam in the end when he showed mercy.

As much as I appreciate the show trying to convey the "there are good and bad people on both sides", Zeon had it coming.

The only tragedy is the "good ones" in Zeon have to die for their masters grand ambition to subjugate Earth.

It's like you try to sympathize with NAZI Germany and Imperial Japan for their soldiers dying in combat when they killed many civilians.

Seems like trying to humanize the villains are becoming a new trend in Hollywood now while making the heroes the villains.

[theballmighty]

You know, Gundam Requiem for Vengeance is clumsy in a lot of ways but more less sticks the landing on the series' main themes of "war bad" for the most part... But Solari deciding basically on a whim to join up with a Zeon remnant in Africa after spending the final episode repeatedly stating her desire to go home to her son is insanely hilarious considering that remnant either goes on to attack and destroy a few cities in ZZ and then get wiped out, or is the one that attacks Dakar and Torrington in Unicorn. And then get wiped out.