MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM 00

If you loved watching Mobile Suit Gundam Wing on Toonami when you were a kid, then this Gundam series is made for you! Packed with an intricate story with post-9/11 overtones, one of the best group of Gundam pilots since Wing, awesome mech designs, brilliant HD visuals and cutting edge animation, Gundam 00 is a Gundam series that must be seen!

It's a shame Crunchyroll had to remove it since Bandai Entertainment went out of business. Here's to hoping that another company relicenses it so that Crunchy can pick it up again.

I was disappointed by pretty much the whole things, the story was very weak and at times it seemed too forced like that crappy song the princess and the kids make. The story was too transparent and repetitive, I mean everyone was in love with an enemy, that's just crazy. Gundam always seemed to me a bit more serious than most anime so I just couldn't get used to those talking robot balls and that chipmunk voiced bitch, they just didn't seem to fit in and it kind of cheapened the story by trying to add something cute to it. The whole Innovators thing was ridiculous, i always likes Gundam because it was up to a point very realistic, it's always been about human, adding half man-half god characters kinda ruined that. The most disappointing part of it all was the final battle, say what You will about Gundam Wing but the final battle was the best part of the series, that scene at the end where Zero is falling into earth while shooting at Libra was amazing, this series on the other hand lack that, it ends right when you think it's about to get better. The only positive thing i can say about this is at least the art work was good i didn't care for the music but for the most part the mobile suits and fighting scenes (except for the last battle) are the one thing that worked for me.

I only post reviews for shows I have watched completely to the last episode and I will never recommend an anime to every person because frankly, what I like may not be the same for another person. People who might enjoy this anime are Mecha fans.

Plot: Like its predecessors, Gundam 00's plot is tied to politics and warfare. What's unique about this series is that it addresses real-time issues (in a futuristic context) that we're facing today such as the energy crisis and Middle East conflicts and politics. Celestial Being is essentially an independent military force whose aims to end all wars (nothing new in Gundam). To be frank, the plot is simply bad, which I'm very disappointed in since I'm a HUGE Mecha fan. Too much of the series relies on the audience simply accepting facts without GOOD explanations. Yes, I'm talking about To make things even more radical, the creators decided to throw in aliens. Yes, there will be aliens in this series. Not monsters or creatures, but aliens. I'm not against the idea of aliens being in Gundam if it was given a good reason and a decent back-story, but there isn't one. They simply feed you some BS that you can smell from a mile away. I have also watched the Gundam 00 movie, which exacerbated the whole aliens theme to the point where I can say it was among the worst anime movies I've ever seen. Although I like the idea of a supernatural Gundam series, the lack of explanations and outright impossible or far-fetched ideas simply makes the plot a disappointment.

Character development: The protagonist, Setsuna, was a brainwashed child soldier, but that was prior to the beginning of the series. He hasn't changed much since he starts with an ambiguous view or role of God within the lives of humans and ends with a similar, but slightly more positive conclusion. Neil's personality didn't change from an easy-going Gundam Meister, neither did his brother. The two characters that had the most character development were Allelujah and Tieria. Allelujah's back-story and development was enjoyable but not original compared to other Gundam series characters who are super soldiers. I also liked Tieria's development up to a certain point.

Artwork: I'm going to split this into 2. One for character/set design and one for Gundam/technology design. The landscape of Gundam 00 is very nice and well planned. From the Krugis Republic to the orbital elevators to Celestial Being's base, the artwork is great. The characters are very colorful, literally (like all Gundam shows despite militaristic themes). The Gundams run on GN drives, which is a solar reactor, but the real backbone of these Gundams is the TB Blanket, which filters all harmful byproducts and essentially allow these Gundams to have a virtually infinite energy supply. The Trans-Am system is a really cool feature of Gundam 00 and like its name, the Gundam starts glowing and transforms. Overall, the technology introduced in Gundam 00 is very well thought out and very cool looking.

Music: Mostly J-pop which I enjoyed. However, the in-scene music isn't worth noting.

Originality: It has everything that makes it a Gundam series, but the supernatural theme will definitely make this an original work even though I think its plot is bad.

Score: 3.5/5 To be honest, the only thing saving this series from a 2/5 for me are the Gundam and technology designs and music. It is sad to say, but most Gundam series nowadays focus so much on Gundam and technology design that the plot simply suffers.

*In case this point was lost in this almost entirely negative review, I thought the American Char was awesome.

Review
Mobile Suit Gundam 00 is effectively a remake of Gundam wing, both in basic plot structure and in main characters. The main plot innovations are the centralization of power plants into three regions (making a very vulnerable world) and the inclusion of a Hari Seldon like figure who has seemingly planned out human history for hundreds of years. (If you don't know who Hari Seldon is, read Asimov's Foundation trilogy. He's a bald dead guy who found that he could predict the behaviors of large masses of people, much as one would use thermodynamics to predict the behavior of systems with many particles, and used this ability to try to lay the foundation for a Second Human Empire. The similarities are very transparent and not the first time sunrise has torn pages from Asimov.)

Considering that I am actually a fan of Asimov, I should be happy that his work has influenced Sunrise, but the implementation falls short. Poorly thought out morality, unreasonable cause and effect, and very corny characters (basically, they remove the Gundam Wing characters that were likeable and replaced them with idiots) ruin the idea.

Sure, there are bright spots (the American incarnation of Char is great), but that doesn't salvage this series. This is one of the lesser Gundams.

Pros: Characters- American Char, plot-Foundation Trilogy
Cons: Characters- Everyone else, plot-implementation

I've consider myself a Gundam fan since the original Toonami, but as of late i'm beginning to question why. After re-experiencing some of the older series (Mobile Suit Gundam, Gundam Wing, 8th Team, War In The Pocket, Zeta...etc.) I feel like all the stories are overly dramatic. They seem to rely too heavily on emotional and visual ques that attempt to tug on the heart strings rather than deliver a thought provoking plot. 00 does clean up the act a bit better than in past installments. It introduced factors into the story which made the setting seem a bit more authentic (or as authentic as a world with giant humanoid biped weapons could be); such as geopolitical issues which reflect to a degree current and predicted topics. A lot of the antagonist mecha-designs draw from current modern weapons platforms. Along with the 'science' behind the gundam's, 00 sets up to be a good series. Not to mention the design of the Gundam's looks to be the slickest I've seen yet. Sadly some of the classic formula's which made me sigh in frustration at earlier installments are still here. Each of the pilots are all really young, really girly, looking men. What is it about Gundams that only young boys seem to be able to pilot them? There are a lot of tactical blunders, mixed in with plain outrageous situations. Even if it is just a TV show, it just bothers me to no end. I wish I could say that the animation is a redeeming quality here, but honestly its just decent; It really could of been better. There isn't much variety between character design, they all feel very forgetful and some are just plain lazy in my opinion. (Such as the return of Lock-On through the convenient use of a twin brother who just happens to be 'qualified' to pilot these incredible world ending machines.)

All in all I can't really bring myself to say I enjoyed this series. I really want to, but I just can't. It was just, ok.

Season 1:
Great introduction into Gundam 00.
Fantastic animation from this series: clear animations, vibrant color schemes, great use of anime and CGI.
Awesome antagonists in this season.
Great ending to the first season!

Season 2:
Great as always! Had some doubts through the first couple of episodes
Antagonists are good with a hint ( I mean a small hint) of disappointment.
Fantastic animations, dialogue, and plot twists.
Nice ending to the season and series, some factors that i wish didnt happen to the Meisters (people that watched the series know)

Overall: There's action, sabotage, revenge, twists, and a hint of romance... all needed for a great anime, and Gundam 00 touched on each category.

It's been years since I've last watched a Gundam series, Gundam SEED Destiny being the most recent. Destiny unfortunately left a bad taste in my mouth, so despite all the hype I had heard about Gundam 00, I was cautiously optimistic going in.

By reading the plot synopsis on the main page, you'll get the general idea of what's going on in the world of Gundam 00, but as the story moves along, there's so much more to it than that. The story takes place hundreds of years in the future with flying robots, laser beams and SPAAACE, but the issues it draws upon can be seen in our time, simply by turning on the news. Religion and politics. Two things that if implemented poorly can ruin a series. But in the case of Gundam 00 it was executed superbly. There's also a bit of romance floating around, not nearly as much as SEED or Destiny, but enough to satisfy the hopeless romantic in ya. (well sorta... Setsuna x Feldt!!!)

What seems to be the standard in every Gundam series that I've watched (The 08th MS Team, Wing, SEED, and SEED Destiny) is that the animation is top notch. Gundam 00 meets and exceeds that standard. Most of the characters were drawn beautifully and the animation flowed in such a way that felt very real to me. I was also impressed with how well the CGI was used. I normally find that the use of CGI animation in an anime is forced, like whatever objects that are being shown, don't belong. Gundam 00 does an amazing job of making it look natural.

Concerning the characters, I honestly wasn't too impressed with the main cast, specifically the Gundam pilots. At least for the first half of season 1. I just couldn't connect with them. That of course changes as the series goes on with... wait for it... Character development! Great character development at that! Something that I find rare nowadays. Towards the end of season 1 through season 2 I found myself truly caring for the cast, minor cast members included.

Finally, what's a good Gundam series without some kick ass openings??? The animation and music selection for the 4 different openings that I would be treated to were simply amazing! And for the most part, while not the best that I've heard in anime, let alone a Gundam series, the musical scores did a decent job of assisting the scenes that they were accompanied with.

Overall, Gundam 00 is a wonderful series that I recommend not only to fans of mecha, but anime and a must see for fans of the Gundam franchise!