Gundam ZZ

I’ve read alot of people finding it quite tough to get through Gundam ZZ and giving up a few episodes in. I can’t blame them. The first 20 or so episodes are absolute guff depicting a gang of irritatingly smug delinquents getting into all sorts of slapstick scrapes and japes, yawn.

However, if you persevere, the second half of the series is surprisingly decent. There’s an incredibly abrupt change of tone roughly about half way as the series gets a lot darker and a proper conflict ensues.

After the bizarre ending to Zeta this takes up where it left off in regards expanding the newtype’s psychic abilities. They seem to be getting closer and closer to becoming Jedi clones with many an uttering of “I can sense his/her presence”, etc. Unfortunately this is about all the development the characters undergo. In previous series (0079 and Zeta) there is a gradual maturing of the characters as events unfold but in ZZ the supporting characters seem to acquire ESP and the ability to pilot a mobile suit overnight.

The Neo Zeon characters really steal the show especially the completely bonkers Chara Soon who adds a new dimension to the typical unstable newtype.

The action is fairly decent with the introduction of several tasty new mobile suits(as you would probably expect). There are a couple of standout moments (most notably the [spoiler=]colony drop[/spoiler] on Dublin of all places!) that are typical of Gundam at its best. The final battle isn’t as expansive as the previous two but still acts as a reasonable closer to the series.

Overall this is probably only for Gundam completists. Anyone else would be best off checking out Zeta or Stardust Memories if they’re looking for something to complement the original series/movies.

On a personal note - I was disappointed that [spoiler=] Char didn’t make an appearance [/spoiler] :(