Review of Mobile Suit Gundam 00

Do you know this feeling when you're about to get something new? You become hyped, anxious, sometimes a bit nervous. I personally love this feeling. But the worst part comes when you finally get what you wanted - the hype, the anxiety, nervousness, everything disappears. Sometimes, you're even disappointed... I felt very similar to this when I first watched Mobile Suit Gundam 00. I was expecting something huge, flourishing, spectacular and unforgettable. What I got instead hardly reached my expectations and left me with this slight feeling of unfulfilled dream of a 10-year-old boy. No matter that I'm 23. The thing about G00 is... that everything seems fine.We have a understandable and catchy story to tell, with memorable characters, some tough decisions and political aspect in the background. We also have some really great dialogues (although second season seems to really suffer from lack of those) and a message to pass on.
The art is nice, smooth and up-to-date. The music is fitting, well, maybe not epic, but still does it's job splendid, the seiyuu work is also worth mentioning. So all in all, you get a decent piece of Gundam anime. Errr, no.

If it was a series existing on its own (i.e. no Gundam series in the past) then I would be staggered by all those things mentioned. But unfortunately, it is not. There has been tens of other Gundam shows past these 30 years and I dare to say that most of them did their job much better than 00 does. I will not compare the series to any of its predecessors, I will not spoil anything here. It's not my job. My job, is to tell all of you Gundam fans that this is not what you had in mind and had expected when you first saw a pic of Exia and Setsuna.

First and foremost - we have seen it all somewhere else, the characters, the mecha design, the motifs, heck even the music is a re-do of some epic volumes I had heard some years ago. Plus, the story, although well thought of gets cliche in the second season which wastes tremendous potential it had during the first instalment.

You'll enjoy it, that's for sure. But you won't remember the lines from it.
Likewise with Gundam SEED - which is a mediocre G series, but has this something that makes me remember Lacus saying 'What're you fighting for, your father's orders? Or maybe the medals you receive?' or Athrun saying to Shinn 'Try and remember Shinn! What was it that you really wanted? This kind of world? This war?'. And let me tell you this, SEED has more of it. 00 doesn't.

And that's basically it. 00 is a good series, a well descendant of it's well-know predecessors, but for a fan - it has almost nothing. A person who's new in the franchise will love it. I.... liked it? Kinda...?