Mobile Suit Gundam is currently perhaps one of the most widely loved exports of Japanese animation in the west.
Because the franchise is continuously being expanded and turned into different directions is one of the reasons that there’s a multitude of fans out there both young and old. The original show however that kick started an animation legacy that has lasted for the last 30 years wasn’t successful at all. As a matter of fact, the original run of Mobile Suit Gundam in 1979 got cancelled after having received bad ratings. It wasn’t until Bandai attempted to salvage the license by selling merchandise in the form of plastic models that the show started to gain popularity at an alarming rate.

It’s been a long time since Mobile Suit Gundam had finished it’s main storyline in the so-called fictional “Universal Century” (UC) era over a decade ago, and Sunrise had taken the show trough many new, bold series and movie spin-offs into other fictional era’s each with their own distinct problems and style to appeal to a wider fanbase throughout the last two decades Some might argue that these spin-offs were merely a poor basic imitation of the original Gundam storyline with cheesy, half-baked action or downright going into a bishounen path with Gundam Wing. Others will argue that these new directions all were welcome attempts at keeping the original imagination of the series alive.

It is now 2010 and fans rejoice with the dawn of a new morning in an old and familiar era. Gundam Unicorn; the latest Gundam production by Sunrise studios has finally been released with fans of the original time-line (yours truly included) rejoiced of the fact that this new six part OVA is a continuation of the UC  era, the era the original series had kicked off so long ago.  This OVA is in actuality an adaptation of a series of highly well received novels written by well known Japanese author Harutoshi Fukui whom you may know from the excellent military thriller Bokoku no Aegis and Shusen no Lorelei. Complimenting the brilliant mind of Fukui are in the visual design area are two very well known names. The mechanical designs have been done by none other than veteran  Hajime Katoki (0083,V,Virtual-ON,Endless Waltz etc.)  along with the character designs of the equally impressive Yoshikazu Yasuhiko (Crusher Joe,Brave Reideen,Venus Wars,Z Gundam etc.)

After the opening credits, Unicorn boldly starts out in UC001, the ending of an old era, and the start of a new after mankind has finally expanded it’s reach into space. Having built several (small) initial habitats around the earth that will one day become the much needed support for mankinds problem of global instability caused by overpopulation.
History has shown us that a great change comes at a great price, and such the tragedy of the Laplace incident occurs; the first terrorist attack in space that wiped out an entire colony, starting not only an era of space; but a time of turmoil, conflict and eventually the war.

Without delving too much into the past; Unicorn fast forwards to the present. It is now UC096, three years after the events that had unfolded in “Char’s Counterattack”  We get to see a ship being pursued and engaged by Federation forces whom are quick to deploy their mobile suits. UC fans will instantly recoqnise these as the Jegan; which are the new equivelant of the GM as previously seen in the F-91 movie. The ship being persued isn’t as helpless as it first seemed and reacts by deploying a single, menacing mobile suit dubbed the NZ-666 Kshatriya which inherits the general looks of the Zaku, with the size of the Sazabi and a simular set of binders containing a plethora of funnels ala Quibeley.  It’s here that the viewer is treated to some intense action choreography. Sure we’ve all seen funnels tear apart a mobile suit before, but never in this brutally detailed manner. The effect of the beam saber clashes pleasantly reminded me of those seen previously in Gundam 00; albeit realised more tighter thanks to some great cinematography where we visually get to see the pilot and the trademark linear-cockpit seat working in tandem throughout the struggle giving that same sense of immersion and revelation when you first saw the transformation sequence of Fokker’s VF-0 in Macross zero.

I’ve heard comments from co SMR author Brett that he felt the action throughout Unicorn; whilst awesome, ultimatly felt soulless to him. I think I’ve got a good explanation of that seeing as the Kshatriya is the primary focus troughouth the episode’s combat segments. It’s female pilot clearly being visible in combat scenes whilst at most all we get to see of the federation pilots aside from their mobile suits obviously are shots of their hands on the controls of their respective suits, or a first person views looking out of their linear cockpits a the Kshatriya. It agreeably detaches a bit; seeing as the Federation pilots are nothing but seemingly faceless minions in this regards, but I for one love it in the same way I love the documentary style action cinematography the new Battlestar galactica show was famous for. It adds a sense of realism in the way that the Kshatriya’s pilot wouldn’t know the faces of those she fought against if this were a real engagement either.

Inmeadetly after the initial short skirmish, our mystery ship docks at a yet unnamed colony which is still under construction, yet already populated; long-time Gundam fans can probably already figure out that this colony was used to secretly build and test a new mobile suit; a suspicion that the viewer quickly gets confirmed. Enter Banager Links, the apparent  young protagonist of the show. Judging by the lack of interest he’s having in his class at Anaheim Electronics we figure that he’s smart beyond his years. We’re shown a brief glimpse in his seemingly mundane life before Banager senses a plea for help; following his instincts he ends up rescuing a girl who identifies herself as Audrey (tough doesn’t she look like .. ?) Colony life in a Gundam show would never be this simple and this is hardly the end of the show when Audrey claims she’s come to stop a war from breaking out. Whether it was the fact that Banager is a sucker for a damsel in distress, Audrey being plain cute or a foreboding sense of danger ; he finds himself compelled to help and in the process of doing so; gets chased around the colony by a shady group of Zeon loyalists, all the while Londo Bell forces are closing in as well and with them the threat of war becoming more real by the minute. As you might’ve guessed already from my writing style; I’m trying to leave out as much of the details of the characters and circumstances as possible so that you may enjoy your first screening of Unicorn better.

During all this, Unicorn shines just as brightly as other OVA’s of the past decade in regards to showing more of the underlying technical details of the world. Macross Zero finally showed us just how the heck pilots could achieve the dizzying amount of lock-ons often required for the brilliant missile showers or how a transformation looked like from inside the cockpit. Unicorn shows us just how well the pilot works with the linear seat interface and the omni-directional displays (being able to completely obscure parts of a mobile suit from view using CG) and also how a colony is being constructed from the inside out; whilst residents are already populating the fully constructed areas. Whilst this might not be interesting to the casual viewer of Unicorn; it does however add a nice touch for long-time fans of the show because after all, the saying goes; it’s all in the details. It also has to be said, that the soundtrack received just as much attention as the mecha/chara designs and animation. The score composed by Hiroyuki Sawano absolutely fits the bill in every scene troughout the episode, and I couldn’t have imagined it better myself. It’s really up there with Kanno’s compositions; tough unlike Kanno’s work you wouldn’t be able to listen to the soundtrack as a seperate entity whilst passing time commuting to and from somewhere, it’s just that intertwined with the on-screen action. One might argue that such is the nature of Gundam soundtracks; being filled with bombastic compositions of large orchestra’s that they just do not lend to casual listening; but even with simularly themed sci-fi/mecha shows *cough* Macross plus *cough* Kanno does mention to compose her work in such a way that they for the most part do not sound out of place during a casual listening session.

In closing, Unicorn just blew me away. It absolutely felt like a lost anime from 1988.
The main protagonist looks and fights like Camille (Zeta Gundam) hell; even has his own haro.
Whilst the CG looks modern, the underlying tone and story was very oldskool with both Zeon and Londo bell forces portrayed in a dark light, making this feel like a Zeta/CCA era story. I will definitly be buying this at launch the 12th of March, seeing as for the first time ever Bandai has ensured a simultanious world-wide release on both Blu-Ray and DVD; which instantly negates the popular reason for downloading: “it takes to long to get to the West” Being a OVA, and thus directly making this incomparable to a TV episode, it’s offcourse going to be a single episode per volume; and do keep in mind a typical OVA has several months between episodes. The official Blu-ray release MRSP is set at $30, however I’ve never seen anime retail for the exact same MRSP price. You you will no doubt be able to get this for $20 to $25 tops trough retail. I have to say it’s very exciting initiative from Bandai.I sincerely hope that people won’t be making the mistake of waiting for a cheap box “somewhere” down the line, cause it will take a good year or two at least before Unicorn has finished it run, by then if _everybody_ had been waiting for a cheap box Bandai won’t see a reason anymore to do more of these simultanious releases, and nor would any other company looking up at Bandai’s every move.

Gundam Unicorn: HIGHLY RECOMMENDED ! Not only to the existing fans of UC or Gundam in general, but everybody anime lover with an interest for sci-fi will definitly get their kicks out of this despite not having followed any of the previous shows.

Whilst my description doesn’t do them justice let me tell you that the results are quite impressive. Don’t believe me ? see for yourself !

If you’ve enjoyed that, than go onwards to Youtube as Duane and Brando have done “Remixes” of various other videogames including Double Dragon.

I have to admit, that the task for reviewing or mentioning things regardingthe undead is one reserved for Brett. However this time around he`s missed some animated zombie action by playing one too many games, so it`s with great pleasure that I introduce to you a review of Gainax`s latest animation: Shikabane hime:Aka (Corpse princess: Red) based on the manga by the same name that`s written and illustrated by Yoshiichi Akahito since 2005. Since this show is relativly new with season 1 (13 episode run) just having been ended in Japan I wont include spoilers, so its safe to read on.

When somebody dies, yet remains to hold an incredible attachment to the world, he or she`ll walk the earth as a living corpse that`ll before long lose what shreds of humanity it had left to consume the living as vengefull beings. The show puts on a nice twist on the tried concept about zombies and the undead in general, they`re still around yes, less plentyfull but all the more powerfull and are apperantly a well kept secret from the human race as modern people refuse to believe such nonsense. Working in the shadows is a cult who`s priests battle these corpses by utilising their own; forming contracts with other corpses with the promise of allowing passage to heaven when a 108 corpses have been slain. Whether or not these priests actually allow their slave warriors dubbed; shikabane hime to pass on to heaven is an interesting question, seeing as the cult think of their tools as nothing more
but an ugly, unwanted existance as low as the corpses they themselves are forced to fight. The writers use this fact to create several interesting sidestories to fleshen out the characters and it isn`t uncommon to see a priest loathing the fact that he lusts for a vile existance such as his own hime.

The storyline itself is centered around not the priests of the kougon cult but a boy named Ori. Ori is adopted into a family of priests after having been found homeless on the streets, but is offcourse kept out of the loop of what goes around untill one night a rather bizarre talking cat out of all things, beckons him to the shrine where he finds the body of a dead girl. Before panic sets in, he hears people approaching and rushes to find shelter behind a Buddha statue before a pair of priests including his brother enter the shrine and what appears to be reviving the dead girl. The story slowly unfolds from that point on as Ori is encouraged to follow the living dead girl, getting in way above his head. Carnage and great action sequences ensue in what appears to be one of the most surprising anime for me this year around (2008 that is) Yet the more you watch the show, the more you realise that it`s not about Ori it`s the questions being raised about the Shikabane hime that is the focus. They are for all intents and purposes humans, granted with super-human strengths and regeneration but there`s only so much shit they can put up for having a human mind; is it just the promise of heaven that drives them and what compells them to hunt what is essentially their brethren ?

Being a Gainax production, the animation of the show is a step up from typical anime, but really shines during the plentiful combat sequences with Shikabane hime`s unloading their weapon of choice into the undead in a stylish, yet not overly over the top way. I really dig the OP and ED song, both done by Angela who you may know from shows like Soukyuu no Fafner and Heroic Age, the rest of the soundtrack doesn`t really excell to pieces of music that I`d listen to on my MP3 player, but it`s fitting and non-intrusive.

A second 13 episode season Shikabane Hime:Kuro , is sheduled to air this January in Japan, and Funimation has already licensed Aka, and are now in the process of digitally distrubuting it for free, or as a high quality download for a slight fee so by
all means, go watch it and do support Funimation if you enjoy this show, cause it`s innovations that they make that`ll make anime more feasable to the Western fan.

For doing something different with the zombie-theme, having some great character interaction going hand to hand with top-notch action scenes makes this a recommended show to watch !

RECOMMENDED
—
Gwenster

I recently had the opportunity of finishing the original Captain Harlock TV series, which first aired back in 1978. I was already familiar with Leiji Matsumoto`s work, the most famous character to have spawned from his creative mind indubitably being Captain Harlock, so it was only a matter of time before I came around to watching this classic in it`s entirety. 1978 is a long way back, especially with how fast animation techniques are updated and more money being put in a single production, so how does this show stand the test of time? The short awnser: incredibly well!

The story around Captain Harlock takes us into the far future. The human race has conquered the stars, and due to many advances in science and technology everyone lives a peaceful life of comfort and luxury. The people of earth have become collectively lazy, as everyday tasks are handled by robots and machines leaving the
humans with nothing but leisure time. One day, a large black sphere lands in Tokyo, with it came the warning that the earth originally belonged to the Mazone, an ancient race that will finally return to reclaim their rightful planet. The threat from the Mazone had been foreseen by Professor Daiba, who tries to warn the Earth`s government but nobody believes him stating that aliens do not exist and
is ridiculed. His words are heard by renegade Captain Harlock who leads his outlaw crew aboard the Arcadia as pirates through the galaxy. It`s all too late, with the Mazone infiltrating from the shadows, and their massive fleets underway to take Earth when the time is ripe. Despite already being exiled from Earth, Harlock continues to sail with a banner of skull and crossbones to vanquish the
Mazone in a lone and long war to protect the Earth and in his own words “Fights for no one`s sake, only for something deep in his heart”

The show was aired in 1978, and like most anime of the period, it is riddled with tragedy, violence and opression. The cruelties and tragedy`s of two civilisations at war have been played out very well and even a man with solid dedication like Harlock can fret about his existence with a seemingly never ending bloody war on his hands.Unlike most shows nowadays, careful attention is giving to each character despite the large and colorful cast. Who could forget Mime ? the alcoholic alien woman who`s dedicated her life to Harlock,or the equally alcoholic ship doctor that uses his cat in order to steal bottles of sake and the vengeful Daiba who takes all the effort he can in exterminating the Mazone. You`ll even feel for that extra character that you just know`ll die in the next episode or two.

The animation is well, what you would expect from a show from 1978. You can compare it to Uchuu senkaan Yamato, though Harlock is better animated in my opinion.Truly tough, the late 70`s animation didn`t distract at all watching Leiji matsumoto`s masterpiece. More often than not, I am annoyed by cheap animation shortcuts or weird CG placements in modern anime than be hindered by old animation in general.

Soundtrack wise, it`s all very epic and mostly symphonic and vocal in nature like the pirate songs that echo trough the darkness of space as the Arcadia sails by is a very nice touch.

Something of note, there are actually many variations made on Captain Harlock by his creator Leiji Matsumoto. They all are different, and don`t follow the same universe or timeline, but they all feature the same characters in slightly
different settings which all entail Harlock stoically fighting against totalitarian regimes be it alien or earthborn in origin. I have seem a few of these ” other ” Harlock shows, despite being manly none of them have managed to capture my heart in such a way that the original 70`s show does and this show comes from
me as an anime essential classic ! Go see it the moment you get the chance, and you won`t be disappointed.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED (for sheer manliness)
—
Gwenster

The animation in Bolt is very good, and there are a lot of really funny bits most of which involve a hyperactive fanboy hamster named Rhino. The titular character can be summed up this way, what if Buzz Lightyear in toy story 1 was a dog voiced by John Travolta. The story is predictable and shmultzy as is to be expected from Disney, but a million times better than the terrible Chicken Little.

I didn’t get to see the movie in 3d, but didn’t feel I was missing out on anything, in fact only one shot in the movie jumped out at me as having been designed for 3d viewing.

I recommend this movie to anyone with kids, or who is a big fan of 3d animation. It’s a very solid picture. Everyone else just wait for the DVD.

PRETTY GOOD