Review of Mobile Suit Gundam 00

The Gundam franchise... to some people it seems like something that is more of an exclusive club for hardcore mecha fans. A sort of V.I.P only place, where everything is sort of connected to each other in some way. I can see how that is perceived... they have their own Wiki site that is rather extensive in the Gundam Lore. Here's the thing though, you don't have to know anything about Gundam to enjoy Mobile Suit Gundam 00. *Note- This review will only focus on the first season of Gundam 00 as their are two seasons, I have decided that I will not review themtogether as one entity due to reasons I'll explain later.

STORY:
Our story focus around Celestial Being, an organization with the mighty and noble goal of eliminating all war from the world. The plan to do this with the use of Gundams of which they have four of. They go around the world to areas of conflict, military bases, and other places to do armed interventions... which means they go blow stuff up. What I love about the story is that the issues that are going on in this part of the future are also very relevant to current event issues. It's also a not super advanced future that I just got lost in all the technology (for the most part) The thing about the story is that it's very hard to tell who exactly is in the right. Is Celestial Being doing the right thing? It's a question that is often asked by the characters in the story and speaking of....

CHARACTERS:
The characters are what really set this show apart. Our main protagonist is Setsuna F. Seiei, a young Gundam Meister who works for Celestial Being. He can very much be labeled as the stereotypical quiet, blunt and extremely talented character, but the way he evolves throughout season makes him so much more real. Setsuna is rather naive in his thinking in regards to his armed interventions, but he is one of the main people in the series that asks the tough questions. What makes that even better is the questions he asks are actually very realistic, they aren't extremely philosophical they're just meaningful. The other mains are the three remaining Gundam Meisters. Tieria Erde is by far the most intelligent of all of them and you can definitely tell. He speaks with major certainty and confidence, but that makes it hard for him to get along with some of the other Gundam meisters. Then there is Allelujah Haptism. Yes his name has some symbolic meaning but that's not important currently. What is important is he gets so major development as well, but it was done over short little bursts. He usually is calm and collective but his past affects many of his decisions, and he sometimes goes nuts during combat as it going on a rampage. Last of the mains is Lockon Stratos. He is the sort of older brother of the group. He is the unofficial leader of the Gundam meisters. He is always calm and in control, very rarely does he act up and get enraged. Lockon to me is also the only one that keeps the Gundam meisters from killing each other. The supporting cast is rather extensive so I'll only mention a few. First is the Ms. Sumeragi who is the tactical forecaster for Celestial Being. She takes charge of all the operation planning and making sure they run smoothly. There is also Felt, a young crew member of Celestial Beings main ship Ptolemaios. She's rather shy and she keeps track of the Gundam meisters during combat, most of her development comes in season two. Lastly Marinia Ismail, the first princess of Azadistan. Her country is being hurt by solar power making oil less valuable. Marinia seeks aid of foreign countries which leads to Celestial Beings interventions. Her and Setsuna have many things in common and they seem to share a common goal as both are from the middle east. As you can tell the characters are extensive and well thought out. The interactions between them, and how they all connect to the main story are what make this show so great

ANIMATION:
My lord this show looks amazing!! The animation quality for this show is outstanding. Never once did I see any hiccups in animation. It was silky smooth and super crisp. Never is this more prevalent than in the many action scenes this show has. The mobile suit battles are something to behold. The design of the Gundams are also very good I especially love the design of Exia (Setsuna's Gundam) The mobile suits of the varying alliances are also rather fitting for the area that they are in. Character designs are also very much to my liking.

SOUND:
The openings for Gundam 00 are very nice indeed. The soundtrack is very good at getting you engaged in the story and enveloped in the battles. The dub for this show is outstanding. I know I praise him a lot but he deserves it, Brad Swaile does an excellent job as Setsuna, giving him a very real feeling to me. Samuel Vincent does a perfect job as Tieria, Richard Ian Cox does great as Allelujah especially when he gets angry. Then there's Alex Zahara as Lockon.... his voice is like butter to my ears, just silky smooth, I could listen to him all day. His calm relaxing voice is just so great to hear. The supporting cast also was voice acted very well. On the Japanese side I notice that Mamoru Miyano is there so yea, go nuts he's good. I didn't watch it subbed because the dub is so excellent and I recommend watching this show dubbed.

ENDING (No spoilers):
I always talk about this and if you've read my reviews you know where this could be heading. This is the first season of a seasons (plus movie) show. What kinda odd is that this show probably could've ended after this one season. It may have left many questions for me and probably made me angry that there isn't more, it would also lose several points for leaving a few plot holes (which get filled in season 2) but it could've been moderately acceptable, lucky for us there are two seasons to this whole section could actually be disregarded.

I don't want to say that this show has something for everyone but it kinda does. If you love characters Gundam 00 has them. If you love action, it has it. If you love a great story, it has that. If you love romance.... well Gundam 00 doesn't actually have anything really major of that. Needless to say, Gundam 00 is an amazing show. I loved this show to death! If i ever buy a boat with jet skis, I'm naming them after some of the Gundams from this show. I named my fantasy football team Celestial Being... this show (season 1) is simply amazing. I give it my full recommendation to watch and enjoy. This has been one of my most extensive reviews and I was more than glad to do so, Gundam 00 is simmply a masterpiece to behold.