Review of Mobile Suit Gundam 00
Quick Note: This review will occasionally mention references to other entries in the Gundam franchise for comparison's sake as well as quality of execution compared to other entries, while also making this review as friendly as possible to people who have no experience with the franchise. Please note that this review ONLY includes the first season. I am also more than willing to answer any questions if any part of this review is not instantly understood by the readers. Anyway, onto the review. The Gundam meta-series is a colossal franchise in Japan, not unlike the Star Wars or Star Trek franchises in the West. The franchise spawnsanime series, OVAs, movies, novels, manga adaptations and had received previously unrivaled popularity in Japan thanks to its compelling story-lines, simplistic but well-thought out dialogue, like-able and most importantly well-developed characters. The franchise hasn't, unfortunately, been as successful with the Western audience and thrown aside due to unpopular stereotypes people who dislike certain entries in the franchise keep ranting about, ranging from how the characters never die apparently, to how the mechs have plot armor when the pilots are inside them, to how naive and idealistic the main characters are to how forced the element of understanding is. While these stereotypes do apply to certain entries, they do not apply to all of them and are overly exaggerated by the inexperienced viewers of the franchise.
How well does the first season of Gundam 00 do then? Is it a return to the glory days of the Universal Century timeline (for those who don't know, the first Gundam timeline) or is it yet another pointless cash grab after the atrocity that was SEED Destiny and just another stain in the franchise's name?
To begin with, Gundam 00 has a very unique and interesting, if a bit idealistic at first, premise. An organization led by a man who died over 200 years ago has come with four overpowered machines to bring peace to the world and fight, as the series puts it, a "war to end all wars" and obliterate conflict.
Aside from the obvious reference to World War I, the first season is extremely morally gray and it becomes clear quickly that there are good people fighting on almost all sides. The show is obviously centered around the four Gundam pilots, but it is a genuinely pleasant surprise to see that the series focuses on letting us know how people from around the world feel about this conflict. All sorts of opinions about how people perceive the coming of the Gundam pilots and the advantages and disadvantages that such an organization brings with it helps make the viewer feel that they are part of the world these characters are living in. The other parties involved in this conflict and the soldiers who fight for them against the threat that was Celestial Being are also ambiguous, which helps us understand and sympathize with these characters rather than merely see them as one note villains (if they are villains at all in the eyes of the viewer).
Another aspect that is extremely well-done in 00 aside from how well the setting and viewpoints are fleshed out are the extreme resemblance certain events in the show have with actual political events (9/11 in particular, not unlike Gundam SEED), and this is made especially obvious with the Middle Eastern crisis where the power blocs in the show decide to toy around with that region of the world, to the point where the region is so divided that the power blocs continue exploiting it through both direct and indirect means. The aspect that deserves special praise is how it portrays religious extremism in an effective manner without making all people who believe in religion retards, but instead showing that there are good people (I'm emphasizing this a lot, I know) on every side fighting for what they believe in.
The plot is not perfect however, and Celestial Being have too much plot armor at the most convenient moments. The battles are still intense for most of the show and they are paced well enough within the main story without detracting from the value of the battles or the plot, but the flaw still stands and the season goes on for too long without answering important plot related questions where I felt it could have answered everything and ended here. Nevertheless, the show still gets a high score because at the end of the day, a flawed plot with well-explored themes sounds much better than a plot with no loopholes but hardly any substance or value.
Studio Sunrise have thankfully improved greatly in this aspect from their dismal performance in Gundam SEED Destiny. The animation is amazingly fluid with very few repeated frames during the battles and series in general, and special mention goes to the opening scene for looking absolutely gorgeous. The coloring fits the mood of the show while at the same time looking colorful and vibrant rather than dull and lifeless, which is an enhanced advantage that carries over from Gundam SEED (which, with all its flaws was still a very colorful show). The same cannot be said for the artwork, which while well above-average feels out of place for a show like this. Every girl has massive breasts (because lord forbid that women don't have giant breasts) and every man in the show looks... well, questionable? Tieria gets special mention here, considering I haven't seen a single person who I've introduced this show to mention him as a guy. As well as having purple hair. But anyway, the artwork is a far cry from bad, and the characters have very distinct facial expressions and features, which is better than them having the same face with different eye colors and hair colors like most anime series, so this show still looks great despite the fact that I personally feel that a more seinen like art-style would work better with it.
The soundtrack isn't particularly memorable (save for perhaps the battle music) though it does fit the mood of the show and I do not think that I can remember any moments where the sound effects felt wrongly placed or the wrong piece of music played at the wrong time.
The voice acting was well-done and all the voices fit the characters (special mention here goes to Setsuna's Mamoru Miyano and Smirnov's Unsho Ishizuka). The opening and ending songs are AMAZING, special mention goes to the second opening, Ash Like Snow and second ending, Friends. The English voice acting is decent and lacks the questionable Engrish of the sub, but I found the subbed version easier to emotionally invest in. The dub is still passable if you only watch dubs, but I personally recommend the subs more. The dub deserves a special mention for the AMAZING performance of Setsuna's Brad Swaile, who perfectly captures Setsuna's cold, distant yet tragic character.
Gundam 00 has a variety of interesting characters, which are all interesting in their own right.The Gundam pilots are the stars of this show and their interactions with each other and other characters as well as their backgrounds are the most interesting part of the show. There's the soldiers fighting on the other sides as well, most notable of which are Graham Aker who is Setsuna's main rival as well as Smirnov and Marie, who provide a more mature perspective to the show. The other characters are unfortunately not as interesting and tend to be used as plot points to drive the themes of the show forward, which while leads to some interesting character development for some of them (Saji and Louise deserve mention here) still feels forced and not as compelling as it should have.
The best character of this show is undeniably Setsuna, who a lot of people would consider a mash up of Sousuke from Full Metal Panic and Heero from Gundam Wing. I consider these comparisons superficial at best, since Setsuna feels more compelling due to his past and beliefs than either of them (though Sousuke is funnier and Heero has nostalgia behind him). Speaking about any character in this show would contain spoilers, unfortunately, so I'll merely state that all four Gundam pilots are compelling due to his past and beliefs than either of them (though Sousuke is funnier and Heero has nostalgia behind him). Speaking about any character in this show would contain spoilers, unfortunately, so I'll merely state that all four Gundam pilots are compelling characters which stand on their own from their respective archetypes despite having unnerving similarities to the characters from Wing (Setsuna being similar to Heero, Lockon to Duo, Allelujah to Trowa and Tieria to Wufei).
As a Middle Easterner, this show was a breath of fresh air in the sea of a lot of shows that attempt to be morally gray about religious conflicts but failed. The series is extremely entertaining and offers something for the viewer that wants something intelligent as well. There are flaws, but they are not enough for me to say that they stood in the way of me enjoying this show; I highly recommend this show and wholeheartedly recommend the franchise as a whole, as there is very little to regret and a lot to love.
Thank you very much for reading this review!