Kidou Senshi Gundam: The Origin

'Gundam Origin' is the best thing that has yet happened to the Gundam franchise. The series is so different from all the other Gundams, and so successful at what it does that it appears to be more similar to 'Ghost in the Shell Stand Alone Complex' and 'Legend of the Galactic Heroes' than it is similar to other Gundams. This time around our story does NOT center around bunch of kids who fights against each others with super robots, and question their morality after falling in love with enemy kids. And when people lose their families, they do NOT get over it in mere 10 minuteslike they do in the alternative version, the original Mobile Suit Gundam. No. This time our story centers around politics and military tactics, and comes off exactly as mature and realistic as is possible in the animated medium. However, from its core 'Gundam Origin' is character biography. It aims to capture the life of Casval Rem Deiku in a way most similar to Sports series such as 'Major' and 'Hajime no Ippo', but also close to Career series such as 'Glass no Kamen' (actress) and 'Uchuu Kyoudai' (astronaut). I am mentioning these 4 series because they are the only other anime I have ever seen to go as deep into character-centric story telling as 'Gundam Origin'. I am a huge fan of this concept, and never in my life did I think I would see the 5th successful series to achieve this to be This anime. I have been blown away. The details put on art and animation are insane. These six episodes took three years to make. And while this is not uncommon for OVA series at all, the team didn't exactly spend their days loitering around. This is a work of such high caliber it mainly reminds me of 'Hellsing Ultimate'. Outside of few building scenes, there are practically no scenery that hasn't been animated. Even during debates, there are no scrolling backgrounds to make it create the illusion of animation and movement. During these scenes, almost every side character is in some way reacting to the conversations, be it in forms of expressions, habits or body gestures. It's crazy. The thing that impressed me the most is the character design, more specifically their faces. Approximately 93% of the 200something characters don't even look like anime characters. For the first time ever, I have been impressed by the animated faces of middle aged men. They have unreal amount of details, separately designed side/front profiles and realistic facial features. The faces have so much depth that it doesn't even stop there. Especially during close-ups, we can see shadows cast on their faces according to their facial features and room lighting. If this doesn't impress you then I have no idea what could. Also, for the first time since 'Gankutsuou' has a goddamn piece of clothing burned in my very soul. I am talking about the onepiece dress seen in episode 2 at Club Eden. Talk about pretty. For the sake of readable length, I won't go further into details, but practically everything has been polished and there isn't much CGI outside episode 6. But even in the finale the CGI is so well done that less experienced viewers won't even realize they are looking at CGI. The series is, by no means, perfect. One of the side characters, Zabi Garman, can be seen as a plot element who only exists to lead the story in preferred direction. Our main character can be criticized of being a Gary Stu level Jesus who is perfect at everything and anything. Personally, I didn't find any of these factors to be actual "problems" that could ruin the series for me. Rather, I thought they were done well. For example, the expectations others' and Garma himself put on him didn't match his personality, so it was easy for him to get played. Most of the time everything feels like it has been done with high level of self-awareness. The team behind Gundam Origin seems to be well aware of all its flaws and did their best on making it believable, acknowledging its imperfections and weaker sides. Since I haven't spoken anything about the sounds yet, I suggest you head to your closest youtube and copy-paste the following song title "Crowley Hamon - Don't Say Goodbye" and enjoy. I let this piece speak for itself. When it comes to enjoyment, I can't speak on the behalf of Gundam fandom for the reason that I am not a fan of Gundam series in generally. Thus far the only ones I have really enjoyed were Vietnam, Hamburger Meat and Nice Float (08th MS Team, 0080 War in the Pocket and Unicorn - in case you are not up to date with hottest Gundam memes). I can still speak as a fan of mature anime series, as a fan of character portray, and as a fan of anime in generally. The levels of mature and realistic are -ironically- almost unrealistic, the characters are far better than anyone could expect, and the art kept constantly impressing me. I will call Gundam Origin an obligatory view for all anime fans.

Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin/機動戦士ガンダムTHE ORIGIN Review Story (10/10) Masterpiece The main purpose of Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin is to setup the origin story to not just the Gundam but the entire Universal Century's story and all of the characters, protagonists and antagonist that play major roles in the 1979's original Gundam anime which kickstarts the whole Gundam franchise in the first place. With that being said this 6 episode OVA I felt did a wonderful job at introducing the whole of Universal Century to the viewer. But obviously coming from myself a person who is already quite knowledgeable to the universe damn near everycharacter that was introduced I already knew about and just getting more backstory on them is just a treat for someone and people like me. As far as it's pacing, explanation and plot I thought everything was perfectly executed considering this as an Origin Story to the lore of UC Gundam I felt nothing important was left unexplained your typical origin story. Art and Animation (10/10) Outstanding The artstyle approach taken in Mobile Suit Gundam Origin is one that is quite reminiscent to the old school artstyle of yesteryear. It definitely showcases that this art style definitely (at least to me) still has it's own charm to it in the modern day of today's frequent and quite similar art style we see across many popular anime series. The animation smooth and crisp across every scene and at first and definitely around episode 3 or 4 we get to see a decent amount of CG that is used on Mobile Suits, Space crafts and other machinery. At first I was not too fond to it but by the end of episode 6, I'm not going to lie this is some of the best CG I've seen to be put forth on a series that includes it on mechs especially basically every scene that has the Red Zaku in it, if CG is done it should be done like this. Sound (10/10) Superb The sound effects, background music and (english dubb) voice acting you and can definitely tell (especially if you are a fan of Gundam and English Dub voice acting) was treated with the utmost care. Keith Silverstein (who also voiced Full Frontal) can do the most ambitious, passionate and most charismatic Char Azanable voice you will hear amongst the many different english voice actors that have done him in the past, by far my favorite thus far and I hope he voices him from hear on out. Characters (10/10) Outstanding The amount of characterization and backstory care we are given to many key characters of the original Gundam series is outstanding especially Casval Rem Deikun. Characters I cared not for because to be honest they get introduced and killed in the original series so quick that you don't really have a chance to know who these people are, are given great backstories that should make a newcomer care a bit for them before they most likely bit the dust in the original series. Many of those characters you get to understand their ambitions and motives through these 6 episodes than you ever did in the original and I fairly enjoyed it and thought it was handled perfectly. Enjoyment (10/10) Superb As a Gundam fan I had a fucking blast with The Origin. As a newcomer I can see if one might think that this could be a bit too much of an info dump to the Universe since it may feel like this Origin story wants you to remember all of these many key characters that will definitely appear in the original Gundam series. That might be where a newcomer might be overwhelmed and turned off especially since there is no actual presence of the Gundam in this Origin story even though that is the name of the OVA. One could also say they were better off calling it Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin of Universal Century as that can be read as a more accurate representation to what is present in this OVA, this could easily hinder a newcomer's enjoyment and I completely understand if it did. Some might even say it might be better to watch the original series and then go back and watch this, but I feel if you are someone who can get ahold of majority of what this origin story brings to the table it will serve as a great introduction into a great space war story. Overall (10/10) Masterpiece Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin I feel accomplishes what I think it was trying to do and that is setting up the Universal Century's lore perfectly. I honestly hope they decide to make a remake of 0079 Gundam using this OVA's animation, artsytle and voice actors. But I'm not too sure seeing as though they seem to be working on another Unicorn Gundam Anime and then a Hathaway's Flash anime which are both welcomed but were not asked for as much as a 0079 remake (or hell Crossbone!). If you are a returning fan of Gundam you should be most pleased If you are a newcomer you better pay attention because their a lot this OVA demands you.

Like everyone else on MAL, I also enjoyed Gundam: The Origin. The CG looks great. The action set pieces are amazing. It's a series made by Gundam fans, for Gundam fans. In other words, this is fanservice done right. At the same time, I do feel it's become a tad overrated. A lot people are calling this the best Gundam series and it's really not. I might not receive many helpfuls for doing this, but I feel like I HAVE to say some of this or else I'll go insane. First we need to go into a little background. Gundam is one of anime's most belovedand influential franchises. However, its sheer size and the number of different entries and alternate continuities make it a very daunting franchise to get into. Sort of like anime's Dr. Who in that regard. Where do I even start? First, we need to go back to 1979. The original Gundam started out as a glorified toy commercial for robot model kits, but was turned into a beloved classic by the sheer dedication of Yoshiyuki Tomino. Mr. Tomino is a WEIRD man whose autism power level exceeds even my own. However, he's also a creative genius. He introduced hard science fiction concepts like Lagrangian points, space colonies, and even added a layer of politics to make Gundam less of a super robot show and more of a Space Opera like the 1977 blockbuster, Star Wars. Tomino blurred the lines between Saturday morning cartoon and hard science fiction like Robert Heinlein's "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress". We get so absorbed into the world of Gundam that we forget that there's zero strategic reason why mobile suits would be humanoid in shape or why the Zakus score so many kills with their karate kicks and cute little axes. Everyone assumed that Gundam was made as an anti-war drama. However, Tomino said that the series is meant to be interpreted as a metaphor for growing up. A message especially intended for the otakus that collect Gundam models. The Earth forces represent the peaceful security of childhood and the space Nazis of Zeon represent the scary world of adulthood. The New Type mutants and their psychic powers were Tomino's way of saying that people don't listen to each other and need to start doing so. When you consider that this franchise was created to sell robot toys, Tomino's messages and ambition were incredibly bold and respectable. He could have just phoned it in, but he went WAY above the call of duty to make an all time classic! After the HUGE success of the original Gundam, we reach the 2nd phase of the Gundam franchise. At this point, it's more than just a toy commercial and expectations are higher. With Zeta Gundam, Tomino expanded the politics of the original Gundam and transformed Char from a revenge obsessed, cool villain to a beloved anti-hero. The OVAs like War in the Pocket and 8th MS Team decided to go all out with the anti-war themes and make Gundam more serious. These 3 entries are generally regarded as the pinnacle of the Gundam franchise. They basically stretched it to its limits. Now we have the 3rd phase of the Gundam franchise. Shit that looks cool and tries to recapture the lightning in the bottle. This is where we get G-Gundam, Gundam Wing, Thunderbolt, Seed, and yes, Gundam: The Origin. Some people might get mad that I just compared Origin to Wing and G-Gundam, but hear me out. Was Origin trying to teach an important lesson to depressed Otaku? Was it trying to expand the character psychology of beloved characters or take Gundam to new heights as a serious political drama? HELL NO! Origin is just a feel-good handjob for Gundam fanboys that wants to celebrate how fucking cool Char is. It is EXACTLY would you would expect if Star Wars fanboys were given 200 million dollars to make a Boba Fett movie in 1996. There is a scene in Origin where Char is playing basketball for no reason and dunking on fools like he's Lebron James. Because OF COURSE Char would be able to do that! He's fucking Char! When people hear about Origin, they hear that it's the prequel to the original 1979 Gundam. This is the place where most new fans start now. Well guess what? It's not actually a prequel! Origin makes SOO many retcons that Sunrise admitted that it takes place in its own timeline! This was after fans pointed out that Origin basically torpedoes the plot of the original. An extremely important plot point in the original Gundam is the Antarctic Treaty. The reason nuclear weapons aren't a factor in Gundam is because both sides agreed to stop using them after they were massively used to devastating effect in the battle of Loum. In Origin, nuclear weapons were never used at Loum. Instead, Zeon just used their cool toys to STOMP the Federation with extremely minimal casualties. Origin includes the famous "Zeon is exhausted" speech from the original, but in the context of The Origin it doesn't make any sense! Zeon WAS exhausted in the 1979 series because they won the battle of Loum at heavy cost, largely due to the use of nuclear weapons that offset Zeon's initial advantage in robotics. While Zeon won at Loum, they lost a ton of men and weren't able to keep up with the Federation's wartime production after that battle. Loum in the 1979 series was basically if the Japanese had won the battle of Midway while still losing 4 carriers. They needed it to end the war and once it didn't they were fighting a losing battle due to differences in population and manufacturing power. One bold decision that Origin made was to cover in greater detail Zeon's genocidal operation that killed half the human population. In the original series, it happened prior to the start of the series and the casualties are kind of vague. Origin leaves no doubt that Gihren Zabi is the most pants on head insane, evil bastard in human history. His own father calls him "a grotesque parody of Adolf Hitler". There's a dramatic scene where Ramba Rall quits the Zeon army after witnessing the sheer depravity of Zeon's plans. So I guess his fight with Amuro never happened in the Origin timeline, which creates its own string of issues. My point is that Origin directly draws attention to one of the biggest issues in Gundam. Zeon's leader is SO insane and unbelievably evil that it becomes a joke to portray any Zeon soldier sympathetically. Any person with any shred of human decency would defect or lay down arms after the unprovoked slaughter of 5 billion people! Most of the Zeon colonists still had relatives on Earth. There wasn't enough time for their society to see everyone outside of Zeon as completely sub-human and ingrain this ideology in every single one of them! Do you know what Origin REALLY wanted to focus on though? How cool Char is! We don't actually learn anything new about Char. He's a man who sold his soul for revenge against the Zabi family. He fights for evil in order to eventually claim revenge on the people that killed his father. Oh and then he fights for the independence of Space people...then he just cares about his pissing contest with Amuro...then he wants to kill the Zabis again. Simply put, Char has never been a perfect character even before Tomino ruined him with Char's Counter-Attack. So why do we like Char? Because he looks cool! He kills all his opponents with ease while making snarky remarks. He outsmarts his enemies, backstabs his allies, and scores with all the ladies. Char is a male power fantasy that embodies how we would like to see ourselves. He's confident. He's in charge. He's fucking BADASS! Even Tomino soon realized that he loved Char WAY more than the hero Amuro and started thinking about sexy new girlfriends for Char. According to Tomino, it's very important that we ALL know how often Char gets his dick wet. Origin takes this Char worship to the laughable degree you would expect. Char is Japanese Boba Fett meets James Bond meets Conan the Destroyer. Personally, I think Gundam is at its best when it's tackling themes or challenging us emotionally like War in the Pocket. I don't JUST want to jerk off to Char all the time! So where does this leave us? If you're a Gundam fan, I would still highly recommend that you watch Origin. It's very fun and it looks spectacular! I'll happily add this to my extended favorites, where it can hang out with Wing and G Gundam. I didn't write this review to say that I dislike Origin! However, I just read a review that Origin transcends the other Gundam series and is more like Galactic Heroes than a mere Gundam! This frankly just makes me laugh. Origin is not this 300 IQ masterpiece that just shits on all the other Gundam series. It's a very enjoyable, good Gundam series that has become a little too overrated IMO. Still recommended!

PSA: This is a prequel; please watch AFTER you watch the original series As far as how it adapts the story, it does a very good job adapting the prequel story-pieces of the manga adaptation, "The Origin," and I definitely recommend it to anyone who has seen the original series, especially if they're about to re-watch it. If you consider the early-UC timeline to be "The Story of Amuro Ray and Char Aznable," then this sets the stage perfectly: It takes you from "before their time," through their childhood and adolescence, and finishes you off perfectly with all of the main players taking their placesfor the beginning of the first episode of the original series. It definitely focuses more on Char than it does on Amuro, but, looking at the early-UC timeline, Char IS the character whose story affects the world the most while his past is the one least explained. I'll put it bluntly: the animation flips back and forth between "cheap horseshit" and "a little bit more than above average," and that definitely detracted from it. If none of the CGI had been used (or if any actual effort had been put into the CGI), then this would not have been anywhere near as big of an issue. It's embarrassing that something that was supposed to be this huge production ended up with scenes that looked as bad as this did. The sound design, on the other hand, is absolute perfection -- It's everything I could've wanted. The Japanese voice acting was what it was, to be expected, and the English dub was pretty good, though I would've liked it more if more of the original series cast had been brought back (especially for Amuro, Char, and Bright). Like I said: If you've seen the original series, watch this, especially if you're about to re-watch it. But do NOT watch this before watching the original series.

Merchandise

Links may contain affiliate references

Studio

Producers

Themes