The thought didn't
hit me until episode 9. Up until then, I'd thought of Gundam:
Reconguista in G to be just another bad anime. The
beginning was different enough from most other Gundam to
interest me in the plot, before I discovered the plot was a tangled
mess of aborted ideas. I continued watching only through obligation,
since I rarely drop shows after starting them. Eventually episode 9
staggers through its final part, and I'm listening in irritation to
the characters talk about Gondwan, the Rose of Hermes Blueprints,
SU-Cordism, and the Nick Space. Have these things been mentioned
before, or are we being informed of them for the first time? Will
Tomino choose to focus on any of these at any point, or will they
just be thrown into conversations to make the show sound political?
Then, like a key turning in a lock, it finally clicked for me:
Gundam: Reconguista in G is
one very special dub away from being Garzey's Wing.
I
mean, of course there would be similarities between the two since
Yoshiyuki Tomino directed both, and his many shortcomings have been
brought up by plenty of reviewers in the past. But Garzey's
Wing was such an infamous turd
that Tomino himself reportedly doesn't want to talk about it. And
this particular Gundam incarnation
comes not only right on the heels of the wildly successful Gundam
Unicorn, but is set in
the same timeline, presumably
retconning other works like Gundam F91 and
Victory Gundam (no
great loss, according to many). One would think the man would avoid
tainting his flagship franchise with literally all the same mistakes
again, but I'll be damned if I can watch each new episode without
hearing a ghostly voice instructing me in the art of gun-making.
Let's take a few minutes to review this brand new trainwreck, shall
we?
Now, I didn't
start this show with a checklist of what MUST be included for it to
TRULY be considered a REAL GUNDAM SHOW; honestly, fans that hardcore
tend to irritate me. So when plot elements like the space elevator
and strange religion centered around said elevator were introduced
right alongside military cheerleaders, I was curious about how these
would be developed instead of raging about their inclusion. If the
creators wanted to go lighthearted with the material, that was their
right. No, my misgivings first took root a bit later as I realized
that none of these things mattered. And that almost everything else
introduced in the series would share the same fate.
Take
antagonist Captain Mask, the Char Aznable look-alike no doubt
included to appease old-school Gundam fans. He shares none of the
moral complexity that made his predecessor interesting to watch.
Though apparently he fights to honor his race which currently faces
prejudice, we never really see much evidence of this prejudice, never
mind the effect his actions have to dispel this informed hatred. The
character himself acts more like an attack dog than a human being,
charging his enemies without a thought for who they are or why either
of them are fighting, only certain that this
time he'll shoot those guys down right up until he needs to retreat
in disgrace yet again. Again, this isn't me hating one series
because it isn't another; this is just an example of what you expect
to be important, of what is presented
as important, but isn't. Hey, the protagonist's mother is one of the
planet's most influential politicians! That'll sure influence
events, right? No? How about the Earth military's internal conflict
between those pushing for a more aggressive, borderline dictatorship
and those that oppose them? No? Well, shit, what are
we supposed to care about?
Let me first say
that it sure as hell isn't the characters. They suffer from exactly
the same bizarrely disjointed feeling, sometimes even appearing to
suffer from mental disorders. Exposed to the most massive loads of
bullshit the plot can offer, hardly an eye is batted. At other
times, a character will go from laughing in joy to crying in mental
anguish over the span of seconds, often at the prompting of dialogue
that would leave any normal person cocking their head in confusion
instead. The show becomes a sort of game, one where you watch each
scene and try to figure out what Tomino wanted you to feel in it,
rather than grasping the intention instinctively as you could with
any halfway-competent piece of art. The one shining star of
brightness in the entire cast is Raraiya Monday. She takes the
normally boring archetype of mysterious eccentric girl to such
extremes that she can more accurately be described as pants-on-head
retarded. Her antics are a completely stupid yet enjoyable reprieve
from . . . everything else, at least until her temporary
space-induced mental disorder cures itself one episode, and she
becomes just like everyone else. The other characters take this
development in stride, of course.
No relief is found
in the fight sequences, despite being technically well-animated.
There's enough shouting to make anyone's ears go numb, be it
long-winded exposition or your standard mecha staples of “I'll show
you!” and “Take this!”. Enough factions are introduced that
half the time you're not sure why any given characters are fighting.
The other half the reasons are completely inane. For example, on
different occasions, at least two different girls will attack someone
simply because they want Captain Mask to like them. They are far
from the only ones to act so stupidly; particularly eye-rolling is
one female captain who exists solely to love a certain man who soon
dies in battle. Rather than relieve her from duty for her obvious
insanity following this, the crew keeps her in charge and they all
get blown up shortly after. Dear God, this show kinda paints most
women as pretty irrational things, doesn't it?
Honestly, there's
only so much I can write about what a soul-sucking chore this show is
and still remain coherent. In direct mockery of its bright colors
and rounded, friendly designs, Gundam: Reconguista in G
feels like the proverbial abyss that gazes back into me. I'd
recommended this to no one, not even those who, like me, consider
Garzey's Wing so bad it's good. First, there's no
terribly-performed English dub of this (yet) to mock; all the
terrible dialogue you'll have to read for yourself. Second, it craps
on a franchise that is loved by many and at least respected by most.
Finally, whereas Garzey's Wing drags even at three episodes,
this is twenty-six episodes of hell. Do yourselves a solid and stay
far, far away, because honestly this is a show that can't even
be laughed at. Only pitied, and feared.
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