Review of Mobile Suit Gundam I

This is my second full exposure to a Gundam series--the first being Gundam Build Fighters--though I'd consider this to be my first 'main' Gundam series as, after all, this is a condensed version of the series that started it all. For true Gundam fans, the original series is a must-watch. But I'm not sure if these movies warrant such praise. In fact, this film felt like a horrible way to introduce yourself to Gundam's core story. The first hour is pretty confusing: yes, you clearly understand that this is a war between the forces of good and evil. Yet, characters aren't fleshed out enough for theaudience. I found myself confused as to why the protagonist was piloting a Gundam outside of it being an absolute necessity the first time around, not to mention why he struggled emotionally before and after piloting the Gundam. This, I feel, is thanks to the pacing of this film being all over the place.

It's clear this movie is made up of a bunch of episodes that have been Frankensteined into a coherent film, which makes story/character comprehension and immersion equally difficult. The pacing is absolutely shot. At first, it feels like nothing is happening, and then you're inundated with action scenes and character development which gives you no time to process what's going on. Complete focus isn't enough as there's too much and too little information to properly understand what's going on. Keeping up was impossible; I kept getting lost in the previous 5 minutes, where I then fully absorbed what happened, only to realize even more important things happened while I finished processing the previous scene.

I'm sure Gundam fans, especially ones who are somewhat familiar with or have seen the original Mobile Suit Gundam series, will enjoy this to some extent. But this feels like a significant downgrade from the original show, as there is just so much happening in a little amount of time. I didn't identify with any characters, nor did I empathize with any tragic events, because I didn't have a full understanding of what was going on. And, worse of all, when I did finally understand, the frantic pacing meant I was left in the dust as a new dramatic scene passed me by.