The years are piling on but the battle never truly ends.
What They Say:
One man against the Earth…
Universal Century 0093. Thirteen years have passed since the events of the original Mobile Suit Gundam series. But the foundations of peace are once again threatened by a new Neo Zeon army led by the notorious Char Aznable! Their ultimate goal is to initiate a nuclear winter upon Earth ushering in a new age of mankind into space. Armed with the state of the art Nu Gundam mobile suit, Amuro Ray and the Federation forces are all that stand against Neo Zeon. Driven by vengeance, duty and love, the final battle between rivals Char Aznable and Amuro Ray is at hand.
The Review:
Audio:
The audio presentation for this release is definitely a very good one as we get both the Japanese and English language tracks presented in 5.1 and 2l0 format, all four of which are done using the uncompressed PCM design. The film certainly shows its age to some degree as even big Japanese films didn’t really start utilizing the 5.1 format well until the early 2000’s, but what we get here is definitely strong and solid. The 5.1 mix is what we stuck with as it goes bigger with some of the impact sequences with the bass and overall spatiality of the moment, making the space battles and mobile suit fights feel like they have a greater sense of reality about them. The dialogue side is a bit more standard with largely center channel oriented placement, though we get some good pieces here and there where it spreads itself more and works a little more with the material. It’s a solid sounding mix across the board that should make fans happy with what it offers and presenting the choices as we get them is a big plus as well. We didn’t have any issues with dropouts or distortions during regular playback.
Video:
Originally released in 1988, the transfer for this film is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1 in 1080p using the AVC codec. With the film being the primary piece here and clocking at two hours, it definitely has plenty of room to work with and the end results are very strong. Animated at Sunrise, the property shows some of its age as you’d expect with some background flecking and the like, but it’s very minimal in terms of dirt and scratches as you really have to look to find it compared to some films where there’s more of that than anything else. The grain has a really great and natural feeling about it that doesn’t devolve to noise which in turn leaves us with some solid and appealing colors from the traditionally animated feature. The transfer is one that shows the age of the materials but with the cleanup on the Japanese side prior to their release of the film, we end up with something that’s pretty pristine overall as we close in on the thirty year anniversary. Definitely a visual treat for the fans.
Packaging:
The packaging for this release works from the traditional image that we’ve had since forever with it as it ties together the core trio of characters and shows how the men have aged over the years since their first tussles back in 0078. The front cover has a strong look to it with the white background that puts all the focus on Char and Amuro and I like the way everything around Lalah looks with the clouds and seemingly stormy nature that the mobile suits themselves look like. The back cover is traditional with a lot of white space and a big black strip through the middle, which is where we get the summary of the premise and some solid mobile suit artwork. A few shots from the film are included as well as a breakdown of the extras for it. The technical grid is kept minimal and simple but effective as it covers what you want to know. No show related inserts are included nor is there a reversible cover.
Menu:
Not surprisingly, the menu design for this release essentially takes the cover artwork and places it slightly center right against a larger blank white background. This is fairly effective as the logo mixed into it along the left blends well and it provides a little more weight to it as it adds the navigation just below and to the left of the artwork. The artwork itself is definitely worthy and the overall layout is one that has a smoothness and simplicity about it yet comes across as looking fresh and engaging. Everything moves smoothly and without problem both as a main menu and as a pop-up menu during playback.
Extras:
There are a couple of extras here and while they may not be much they are what we’ve gotten before. We get a couple of the original Japanese trailers that highlighted its theatrical release and we also get a ten minute promotional video for the film that almost works as a summary of the basics of it.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
At the time that Bandai Entertainment originally released this back in 2002, nearly all the Gundam released into region 1 has been either alternate universe such as Gundam Wing, or shows that revolved around the One Year War without actually getting the full TV series. With Char’s Counterattack, we’re bumped up to Universal Century 0093 and a very different playing field and set of characters that have grown and changed over the course of time. It’s a bit different now since we’ve got shows like Unicorn out there that takes place a few years after that, but this film came out back in 1988 amid a very different fanbase and view of the property. Members from the original series are older and wiser, though not all of them are here. In the end, this is a battle between two men over how best to deal with humanity’s future.
The movie opens in a fairly dramatic way, with the forces of Zeon under the command of Char attacking Fifth Luna, a massive asteroid that they have started to push down towards the Earth’s surface after pushing away one faction of the Federation forces. We watch its journey as it barrels down on the planet towards Nepal, and its eventual impact and destruction. In this way, the movie truly shows its age. I can’t see something this huge having as small an impact as it did, but there’s been so many disaster movies since that have accurately portrayed what could happen, that this pales in comparison. But the dramatic side of it is still there if you look past this.
While the battle continues, Amuro and those aboard their warship try to figure out exactly what Char is up to. Char’s changed over the years, though his end goals always seem to relatively be the same. While he continues to be a feared mobile suit pilot, and seems to still retain his title of captain, he’s also playing the role of politician and leader of his people. Stepping out of his pilots suit, he glides effortlessly from military to political as he dons a well tailored suit to go and mix and mingle with the people. As we see him within the colonies, when he travels among the people without any (visible?) security, you see just how loved he is.
You also get the eerie moments, such as the child running up with flowers, the chanting of how he’ll save them and other things that just give it far darker overtones of a dictatorship, yet something of a benevolent one. After all, Char’s problems are with the people on Earth who are trying to control space.
To balance out the conflict between Char and Amuro, we get introduced to two younger characters whose lives become changed while Char plots. During the attack on Nepal, we follow a Federation Minister whose going into space to broker a deal with the Zeon. He’s going up with his daughter, the green haired spunky Quess. Her father has a mission to accomplish, but helps out a woman he meets in the airport by offering to keep an eye on her son, whom she manages to get on the same flight. Things out of Nepal are not going well, so she’s happy he’s getting out. It’s only when they reach the warship that Amuro is on that we learn he’s Noa’s son Hathaway, Noa being the commander of the ship.
Quess and Hathaway provide the youthful look at this continuing war machine. Hathaway is interested in things, but not all that skilled, as we see during a virtual simulator of a mobile suit. Quess on the other hand is a natural talent and has a real fascination for all of this, something that her father is surprised to learn while aboard the ship. Quess’ fascination with it all begins to shift slightly towards her fascination with Char, when she comes across him for the first time. A chance encounter inside a colony leads to an amusing fist fight between Char and Amuro, but when Char manages to get away, Quess willingly becomes his “hostage” and agrees to go with him.
While Quess goes forth to become a new ace pilot of sorts for the Zeon, Hathaway ends up avoiding combat in general, and just hoping for her to come back, not realizing that she never really cared for him or for anyone. Her lust is for power and strength, two things with Char exudes. Char is also a massive presence on screen, and his very forceful yet subtle way of speaking makes it easy to see why he’s become the leader he has over the years.
The movie, in the end, is an epic climax of the UC storylines, or more specifically, the climax between the ongoing battle between Char and Amuro. Tomino does a rather good job of making the movie more than just the grudge match to end all grudge matches, giving this something of the larger fairy tale feel. Each side has its own knights fighting for what they feel is right and best for their people, and there are many times you root for each side during the movie, even with Char’s plans. A part of you wants him to succeed, to see if one man can really change an entire species.
In Summary:
This really isn’t a film that you can just drop into and completely grasp everything, but it’s the kind of thing where it could completely tantalize you into becoming fully engaged in the franchise. Those who haven’t seen either the original TV series or the movie version of it may find themselves somewhat lost with this larger cast of characters, many who come and go, live and die. This will lessen the dramatic impact, but there is still a lot of good solid characters in here. A passing familiarity with the UC timeline will help, but by no means necessary I think. Many people started getting into the original Gundam by the OVA’s that were the only things we had for the long time and which are good side stories that flesh things out, but don’t deal heavily with the big things of the larger series.Revisiting this after quite a few years has been a lot of fun, especially after adding more TV material than I had the first time around, and that makes this is a great package and something fans of the UC timeline will be really pleased to finally own. Very highly recommended.
Features:
Japanese 5.1 PCM Language, Japanese 2.0 PCM Language, English 5.1 PCM Language, English 2.0 PCM Language, English Subtitles, Trailers, Special Promotional Video
Content Grade: A
Audio Grade: A
Video Grade: A-
Packaging Grade: B+
Menu Grade: B
Extras Grade: C+
Released By: Nozomi Entertainment
Release Date: September 6th, 2016
MSRP: $34.98
Running Time: 124 Minutes
Video Encoding: 1080p AVC
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 Widescreen
Review Equipment:
Sony KDL70R550A 70″ LED 1080P HDTV, Sony PlayStation3 Blu-ray player via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.