Mobile Suit Gundam returns, in its epic conclusion for the first time in high definition on Blu-ray, only from All the Anime. Part one left us with a sense of awe over the visual mastery of traditional hand-drawn animation from the late ’70s, and how well it translates to high definition; part two is no different. The series returns to space, with its unusual crew now official soldiers of the Earth Federation Forces, who will survive?
“The White Base is the target of constant attacks by Zeon, and Amuro and the others have officially become soldiers of the Earth Federation Forces. They return to space to fight in the final campaign, and here Amuro meets the mysterious and beautiful Lalah Sune.
As the war builds to its conclusion, the final battle pits Federation against Zeon, brother against sister, and Newtype against Newtype. The Federation is weakened! Zeon is in turmoil! Will the Zeon fortress of A Baoa Qu stand or fall? It all ends here!” – All the Anime
Amuro learns of his Newtype abilities as he faces new opponents who have also awakened to this mysterious power. Char, sensing the rise of a new superior ability begins to gather some of these so-called “Newtype”s to fight against the Gundam. Lalah, a mysterious girl, befriends Amuro only later to be used by Char for her Newtype abilities, much to Amuro’s sorrow. How many more people need to die and suffer before this war is finally over? We once again travel through the depths of space before this series’ finale, and the use of colonies and space fortresses become an increasing part of the war effort. All the while, White Base continues on with Amuro and the Gundam their protector and guardian.
Part two, for me, is all about Amuro and Char – when has there been anything else, right? Well, now we’re really getting down to the personal relationship they have, and the others around them. Both of them have their reasons for fighting and this war is just a means to an end. Some of the ideas set in place here become focal points in the wider Universal Century timeline that Mobile Suit Gundam creates in its wake. If you’re a newcomer to this series or Gundam in general, then you’re in for a treat; if you’re a Gundam fan already then you probably know what to expect, but that doesn’t make it any less great!
Mobile Suit Gundam is the pinnacle of classic traditional animation; how a series of this visual calibre could be created by hand boggles the mind. It puts a lot of current anime series to shame in my eyes. There’s just no substitute for this level of beauty in animation techniques. For a series that contains a lot of battles, action sequences look amazing and the vibrant colours of the beam sabres and explosions are fantastic. I could continue to praise Gundam forever and some may disagree, but I feel that traditional animation and what is on display here in Mobile Suit Gundam is just perfection.
Both audio tracks continue to impress through the series and I recommend going back and revisiting the series once you have completed and choosing the opposite audio track next time around. I feel that both audio tracks bring something different and unique to the table and you’d be doing yourself a disservice by not sampling both.
In my review of part one, I expressed my disappointment in the lack of extras available and, sadly, part two continues that train of disappointment. Disc one of the release does include a very interesting subtitled interview with staff members of Mobile Suit Gundam titled 30th Anniversary Staff Interview. This is, unfortunately, all as far as extras go; now don’t get me wrong I’m over the moon to be able to own this fantastic series but I think more effort could have been made to include any extras. That said, as with part one, part two does come with a physical extra in the form of a 48-page art book which is very good quality and a nice addition. Like the previous Limited box that came with part one this art book is also limited to 1000 copies so if you had pre-ordered then you should be ok but if you still want to the art book then make sure you order your copy soon.
