I heard that the DVD version of SEED Destiny includes a sort-of 51st episode that wraps up (as much as possible) what was left hanging at the end of the series. Is it true?

[quote=Shogun,Nov 14 2005, 12:24 PM]
Oh. My. God.

Has anybody here ever watched Turn A Gundam? I've just finished watching it, and personally I think it's the best Gundam series I've ever seen.


Yes, Shogun. I too have watched Turn A Gundam in its entirety and I absolutely agree with your opinions, it's is one of the best Gundam stories ever. Period.

I have watched, seen and read about almost every Gundam story to date (series, OVAs, movies, specials, mangas, novels, etc) with the current exception of Gundam Wing (just started watching it, wanted to find out what all the fuss has been about) and strangely enough, the Zeta Gundam series. And I believe all of the greatest Gundam stories comes from Tomino or from the Universal Century timeline. And I damn enjoyed G Gundam and Gundam X as well.

Oh, that doesn't really mean that I hate the SEED series, I find the first SEED series okay , especially for newbies who could not afford to watch the entire UC Gundam saga to get to know a semblance of the original phenomenon that is Gundam. But IMHO, the SEED Destiny series blows . Blows really bad .

Well, as long as we get to see what happens to Kira, Athrun, Shinn and the rest of the destined gang.

Wonder what will happen to Shinn(blechh) after all that has happened? Hope Lunamaria dumps him and goes after her sister and joins up with the blessed ArchAngel group. Ahtrun would then have to really choose who he wants to be with; Cagalli, Meyrin or Lunamaria (why I mentioned these three possibilities is because in the latter half of SEED Destiny, there were no further development between Athrun and Cagalli, even though if they were really caught up in the thick of things at that time. So these three girls are free game ). And will the two disparate sides that is the Earth Alliance and ZAFT finally learn to live by themselves and mind their own business? Maybe not.

Holy Hell....
What scale is that? 1/2 scale I reckon.

Got it from Gunota:



More Gundam SEED? AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA....(popt!)

No more Mitsuo "Recycle 'Em All' Fukuda horrors, fer cryin' out loud!

Yay! 'Tis my last post here for the year 2005, since LYN is going offline tonight until I-don't-know-when, I would like to wish in advance;

Happy New Year! All of you!

May the year 2006 bring more (and better) Gundams stories for all of us to enjoy and indulge.

This post has been edited by Fodder Soldier: Dec 30 2005, 08:58 PM

Yes, it's true that 0080's ending isn't what everyone expects from a story that portrays children as the main focus of the plot, but this kind of ending very much showcases the starkness of real warfare and its effects to anyone who are involved personally or emotionally to it.

I think 0080 is one great example of what the Gundam saga is trully about
Not like that SEED junk that in my opinion, makes warfare look as flashy and cool as a videogame. Well it is not. That's the problem with the majority of the new Gundam series, their stories and execution are handled by people who have no real understanding of what real war is really like. Unlike Tomino-sama, who lived through one, and thus is able to make the First Gundam that was trully revolutionary in its realistic views about war and humanity.

If you're looking for a Gundam series to enjoy without worrying about story continuation issues, then I recommend After War Gundam X and Mobile Fighter G Gundam. Gundam X is one Alternate Timeline series that showcases an alternate turn of events post-original Gundam series, and thus the only AT series that continues to explores Tomino's UC Newtype theory. G Gundam might be hard to stomach at first, but look past the nod-to-super-robot-era-nostalgia, and you get a really interesting character story behind it.

In fact, both Gundam X and G Gundam each have one of the best love stories in the entire Gundam saga, and they're definitely happy endings.

Oh, and how could I ever forget:- Turn A Gundam

I did, and boy was I relieved that there was another fansub group doing this special OVA. First one I watched was from Cellphone^2, and they just did the first episode, AFAIK.

Now there is hope that I'll get to see all 6 episodes (hopefully ) of this one of a kind UC Gundam story, told from the perspective of the Zeon's regular personnels.

Kudos, gg! Bring on MS igLoo to us fans!

This post has been edited by Fodder Soldier: Jan 25 2006, 11:11 PM

In a way, yes. Though Gundam ZZ had an albeit comical approach, it was only during the first half of the series. Upon getting approval for production of the Char's CounterAttack movie, Tomino-sama rewrote the second half of the storyline to allow the later events of ZZ to bridge into the events of CCA. As such, his rewrites of the ZZ storyline significantly brought the series back to the dark tone almost similar to that of Gundam Zeta.

As for the reason why Gundam ZZ started off with a much lighter and comedic mood, Tomino-sama of course had a good reason for it.

On the question of whether there is continuance from the end of Gundam Zeta, there is. About half of the major characters and factions that were involved in the Gryps War is carried on into the subsequent ZZ storyline.

This post has been edited by Fodder Soldier: Feb 10 2006, 04:11 AM

Yep, that is the last one of the three MS igLoo OVAs under the 'Hidden One Year War' arc. There are three more OVA episodes for MS igLoo that is the 'Apocalypse 0079' arc.

It's said that 'Apocalypse 0079' continues the story of the Jotunheim gang and their involvement in The One Year War's key events.

Can't wait for those

This post has been edited by Fodder Soldier: Feb 15 2006, 02:55 PM

Hopefully. MS igLoo was initially a 3D CGI feature that was shown at the Bandai Museum. Because of positive response from fans, it was decided that the 3 episode feature be rereleased as an OVA series as MS igLoo: The Hidden One Year War, and another 3 OVA episodes be made as a sequel to the first arc, hence MS igLoo: Apocalypse 0079.

Because of the significant time gap between the productions of the two arcs (the DVD for the Hidden One Year War 3rd episode was released on 28th October 2005, and the Apocalypse 0079 1st episode DVD has yet to be released, said to be 26th April this year), it will be some time for a fansub version to be available for all of us to experience. But the promise is there, and hopefully fansub group gg would continue their good work for the second half of this unique Gundam series. They did great on the first half; kudos, gg!

Something new for GS Destiny: Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny Special Edition: The Broken World.

The GS Destiny Special Editions seems to be a 4-part thing that's being currently worked on by "Flashback 'Em All" Fukuda and his fellow partners, will be released along with an OVA tentatively titled 'Gundam SEED C.E. 73 Stargazer'. Not sure if it's set after the Final Plus episode (or often refered to as episode 50.9, jkjk)

That's quite true. Bandai should at least try to make more Universal century-based series/movies (since the UC timeline is the one that least stinks..) and not try to continue milking their phailed cash cow... . I think it'll be really nice if some of UC-based sidestories gets adapted into anime, e.g. Blue Destiny, Gundam Sentinel, Hathaway's Flash, F90, Silhouette Formula 91, Ecole Du Ciel, etc... these are good UC Gundam stories, IMHO.

But of course, Bandai puts more importance on the ability to churn out their GunPla than a decently-made storyline... profit-based production, see....

BTW, Haro^2​_Tori^2's version of GS Destiny Final Plus has finally been released. Ah, Final Plus... the one episode that underscores the hideousness that is GSD. Finally, I can burn out onto DVDs the entire 'complete' GSD series so I can erase it from my harddrive and reclaim back my precious HD space for better anime...

This post has been edited by Fodder Soldier: Feb 26 2006, 10:36 AM

Funny thing is, I wonder why Fukuda didn't make the Final Plus episode as the 50th episode in the first place? Make the 50th episode into a 1-hour special finale, rather than releasing the actual 50th TV episode and later go through the trouble of making Final Plus that turned out to be the anime equivalent of a software patch? Did the production team suffer from impending deadlines? Or did Fukuda get swamped with improperly-edited storyboards and scripts from his multitude of varied script contributors? Or did the team just lost their heads in the end? One can just imagine the possibilities...

BTW, here's a clearer detail of their new OVA project, courtesy of Gunota:


Now the real funny thing is, this summarized version actually might work . Usually, fans don't recommend watching compressed versions of Gundam TV series, as important and definitive details might get cut out in the compression. But for GS Destiny, with the loads of recycled animation and events used throughout the series that fundamentally jeopardized the story pacing, this summarized version might actually make this series much more comprehensible, and less broken... .

This post has been edited by Fodder Soldier: Feb 27 2006, 07:48 PM

Was that what those 'ears' are for? Damn... the truth is, from a mecha designer point of view, I really like the designs of the Astray series; they're at least original and unique, compared to the TV series' where it seems obvious Kunio Okawara recycled some of the MS designs from his previous works (e.g. Freedom looks a bit too much like the Double X, which is less flashy and actually much more functional...). The rest are quite redundant-looking.

Ah... a Turn X wannabe... and it PHAILS... (P.S.: The Turn X can not only absorb the target mobile suit's energy, but it's pilot's energy as well. wow...)
Well of course, not a lot of MS can really rival the Turn X, which was purposely designed to be the ultimate antihero mobile suit.

Yes, let's leave the CE universe and return to the glorious world that is UC Gundam. No matter how many SEED series are made, as long as "Recycle 'Em All" Fukuda is at the helm, SEED will phail...


Oh well, on to better Gundam, here's a preview look at the second, and last, installment of the unique MS igLoo OVA series: Mobile Suit Gundam MS igLoo - Apocalypse 0079



The DVD release of the first episode should be released soon, so hopefully fansubbers gg can continue their good work and fansub these last three episodes of MS igLoo as well.

This post has been edited by Fodder Soldier: Feb 28 2006, 03:42 PM

Can anyone show the images (or at least, the link) of the Otakuzone article? I would like to see it too, thanks.

BTW, No one has made masked women characters for Gundam yet, right? It'll really be a fresh take...

I too got that Astray Blue Frame promo clip, it's about 77mB, fansubbed by Anime-Kingdom. The thing is, the video and audio are a bit rough, but this is the only copy I'm able to find so far...

Well, it'll be interesting if we can consider Lacus' serene optimism as an exterior 'mask' to her inner feelings? Is she really not much different than Meer, who has her own personal wants and selfish wishes? Or is she more akin to V Gundam's Queen Maria Pia, a saintly figure who rules over a ruthlessly powerful and misguided army?

If this is the secret truth, then Gundam SEED will be one step closer of being worthy of the Gundam name (real character dramas, intrigue, conflict of relations, and not just mecha battles; Gundam is fundamentally a character-driven story).


On a side note, FYI StarGhazzer, I found one still-active torrent so far:
Gundam SEED Astray Red & Blue - --> http://www.mininova.org/tor/78348 <--
Hope that helps.

This post has been edited by Fodder Soldier: Mar 1 2006, 03:58 PM

Ah, more reactions for the certainly-controversial Mobile Fighter G Gundam series. First of all, I'm not that surprise to see the ever-similar comments made to this series. When I first saw it, I really didn't quite like it and thought it was a disgrace to the Gundam name. And boy, was I stupid of thinking so.



Over time, the series proved its worth and showed me that it is truly worthy of the Gundam name. Despite all appearances and goofy mecha designs, this is a Gundam series at its core. As the first of the Gundam alternate universe, I think this series perfectly fulfilled its task and did a much better job than the series that immediately followed it *cough cough Gundam Wing cough cough*...

Under the direction of Yasuhiro Imagawa who was the director of the cult anime Giant Robo, this series showcases a level of grandioseness not found in other Gundam series. And under the talented hand of famed mecha designer Hajime Katoki, the series' main aggressor, the monstrous Devil Gundam, is one of the most majestic and powerful villians ever created in any of the Gundam universes.

Granted, the excursion into the super robot premise might be non-traditional of Gundam, but it is this fact that made it an original concept, and not like it's borrowed or recycled *cough cough Gundam SEED cough cough*

An interesting story setting, memorable characters, unique mobile suits, grand battles, engaging storyline, and an ending of epic proportions, what else can you ask for in a Gundam story?

I'm not forcing others to watch series' like this, but to make judgement before watching any series from the beginning to the end is really a bad habit. Because there are also Gundam series that has a promising start but fails miserably at the end *cough cough GS Destiny cough cough*. You can opt not to watch this series and give it a wide berth from your list of must-see Gundam, but that's your own loss...

Aye, but a weird Gundam series doesn't mean the worst Gundam series, as proven quite recently...

This post has been edited by Fodder Soldier: Mar 8 2006, 12:30 AM

Gundam News! courtesy of Gunota HeadLines:


...
Stargazer's not directed by Fukuda... and no more Hisashi Hirai character designs, so this 'side story' should be good... . Might turn out to be similar to the Astray promo videos, in terms of visualizations.

As for GSD Special Edition, well...


P.S.: I though it was "GSX-401FW StarGhazzer Project"...

This post has been edited by Fodder Soldier: Mar 8 2006, 12:37 AM