U.C. 0096...
The manufacturing colony Industrial 7, which is still under construction, floats at Lagrange point
1.
A youth named Banagher Links, who grew up without knowing his father, meets a mysterious girl who has
stowed away on a ship bound for Industrial 7. As the white mobile suit Unicorn undergoes repeated
tests and becomes the subject of diverse speculations, the hands of time begin to move.
Banagher does not yet know that he has been caught up in the conflict surrounding Laplace's
Box.
What is Laplace's Box?
What secret does it contain?
The hundred-year curse of the Universal Century is about to be resolved.
(Source: Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn Official Website)
My view on this series basically boils down to this: many rehashed elements, not much substance. If you want to watch this just for the mecha aspect, it's pretty enjoyable due to the very high production values. If you're looking for a good story and solid characters to go along with that action, well, you might be disappointed. Unicorn builds upon previous Gundam series set in the Universal Century (UC) Timeline, so you shouldn't watch this until you've watched the UC Timeline's core content (0079, Zeta, CCA). And because Unicorn came out after those other Gundam series, I'll use some comparisons to highlight the places I feel Unicorn went wrong. There shouldn't be any spoilers for any series in the main review, just comments on the general direction of things. However, there is a spoiler section at the end that covers some things specific to Unicorn that I felt I needed to address. Despite the issues I have with this series, I would still recommend Gundam fans to watch it, especially since my opinion seems to be of the minority. Anyway, on with the rest of the review... Story: The story of Unicorn starts off using a formula that has become very common for Gundam series. Basically, some event kicks off around the MC's home area, causing them to get pulled into a conflict. In 0079, Amuro was caught in a fight or flight situation within his home territory, and the same was true for Kira from Gundam Seed. Zeta Gundam was different in that Kamille put himself and others in harm's way due to his rebellious nature, rather than for some noble reason. I felt this was important to bring up, because it marks the difference in the MCs of the various series. Some start off just trying to survive or do the right thing, while others are displeased with the life they have. In Unicorn, things are a little weird. The main character, Banagher, starts off a bit like Kamille, in that he makes choices that pile up and result in him being pulled into a conflict. Although, unlike Kamille, it's almost as if Banagher's making an instinctual decision to be involved, since most of the time there's no reason for him to even care. It's like he realizes he's the main character of a show and is responsible for moving the plot forward. To make it even worse, he routinely blames other people for his continued involvement, even though he's given several chances to leave. That mentality gets old really fast. As for the actual story-line, it follows the mystery of Laplace’s Box, which rumors say holds some great power. I really do mean rumors, since each side has almost no idea what the box is or where it's located. Yet, apparently, this rumor is important enough to basically revitalize a war over. Most of the story involves the various factions traveling place to place and fighting as some clue about the box's mystery is revealed. When the mystery behind the box is finally revealed, well, it's pretty underwhelming. It's hard to explain why I felt this way without spoiling anything, but essentially its significance is overplayed. There's some major logical missteps the writers made in trying to make the box seem important (see the spoilers sections if you want to know the specifics of what I mean). In reality, the infrastructure of where the box is located is actually more useful than the box itself. So once the box's secrets are revealed, some pretty important monologuing occurs, but it's not clear whether that amounts to anything. There's basically zero conclusion to the initial premise of the story, which is, "War is bad, so stop killing each other all the time." Instead, the ending is essentially, "Alright, cool, we found it, the end." All in all, the story is a real mess that seems completely lost and ends up amounting to nothing. Characters: Overall, there's the same standard affair of characters as nearly every other entry in the UC timeline. I found this boring since the presence of some characters felt forced and only done to appeal to fans. Also, many characters have either no character development or very erratic changes in personality. I've already gone into a bit of detail about the MC and his actions in the beginning, but in terms of the entire series, he has almost no character development. As stated earlier, he likes to blame others for his problems. Kamille from Zeta did this, but it was a bit more reasonable since people were doing some pretty nasty things. Most importantly, Kamille's complaining decreases over time, and he becomes a person of action. Banagher, however, complains all the way from episode 1 to episode 7. In the end, he never seems to reach any real resolution with the actions he made, the actions of others, or why the whole mess started in the first place. Ultimately, he fulfills the strategic role of a Gundam pilot and not much else. As for side characters, many of them also exhibit no character development. Now, character development is not always needed to make for a good show (see Baccano!), but there's a disturbing amount of still characters in Unicorn. Although, there was one character that seemed like they were trying to make up for this void by flipping personalities every couple of episodes. These changes came across as extreme and unsubstantiated reactions whenever they occurred. It was kind of like, "Oh, I guess that happened." So, again, like the story, the characters are a mess. Combat: This might seems like a strange category, but due to the core of the Gundam franchise being about mechas blowing each other up (IMO), I figured it was important to discuss this in detail. While past Gundam series have always had a decent case of what I'll call Dragonball Z Syndrome (i.e. talking in the middle of a fight), Unicorn has a near terminal case. The flow of combat is constantly interrupted by impromptu conversations held between pilots, even when they are enemies with each other. Although I'd make the argument that past series would be better if the flow wasn't interrupted as much as it was, it never got to the point where I was actively groaning that I hope they start fighting again. In regards to combat strategy, this series basically has none. In past series, whatever factions the MCs belonged to would come up with strategies to win the battle. In other words, there was a good sense that these were somewhat realistic, strategic military battles. Unicorn's battles feel like poorly thought out skirmishes, where each side hopes that their fighters are stronger than the fighters on the other side. This is a little bit understandable since the scale of the conflict in Unicorn is smaller than the earlier series, but still, the faction leaders could at least put a little bit more effort into their combat plans. In regards to the individual battles throughout the series, very few people are shown using any basic strategies. Mostly they rely on magical shields and flying pod lasers to fight and defend. I think a character used an asteroid as cover once in the entire series. It's really disappointing to see this as Gundam has a history of pilots making the best use of their environment in order to win. Instead the pilots use their mobile suits as nothing more than amplifiers for their pre-existing special abilities. This is a problem I've had with other Gundam series as well, where it feels more like a super-robot show rather than a real-robot show, but Unicorn is one of the worst offenders yet. Expanding a bit more on the pilots' abilities, people like Amuro and Kamille were decent pilots when they started out, but they weren't great. They basically had to rely on their natural talent, their usually OP mobile suit, and the support of other characters to get them through a battle. As time went on, they became very good pilots, and combined with their other abilities, they became extremely effective in battle. In Unicorn, this isn't what happens. Banagher can immediately pilot his mobile suit extremely well and there's almost no development in his fighting ability. So not only did the writers forget to develop his actual character, but they forgot to develop his physical and mental attributes as well! Art/Sound: Generally speaking, it's all very good. The animation looks great, with the mobile suits being particularly well-done. The sound effects and BGM are also great. The art quality is basically the only thing that saved this series for me. So even though I found everything else sub-par, the battles are still fun to watch. Voice Acting: I watched the English dubbed version and the voice acting was quite good. Everyone's voices seemed to match up with their intended characters, and the performances themselves always matched up to what was happening on screen. In other words, no complaints here. Conclusion: As a whole, Unicorn really disappointed me. The visuals combined with it being set in the UC Timeline made me hope they would be doing something interesting. Instead, it was just a compilation of poorly re-imagined characters, the inclusion of elements that dragged past series down, and generally poor writing all-around. Spoiler Stuff : Seriously, don't read any of this unless you've seen the whole series. (***Spoilers***) New-Type Stuff: This connects to the disruption of combat mentioned above. While many other Gundam series have had the same out of body things occur during fights, none of them seemed to break up the action like Unicorn did for me. Also, very few people express shock when it happens. I know we’ve seen it before in past series, and that the universe is probably used to new-types by now. But, I still think communicating telepathically or spiritually with another person would freak most people out. Banagher’s First Kill: Banagher doesn’t know he has killed someone until he is told after the fact. He expresses shock, but then gets over it by the end of the scene. It seems kind of strange that it isn't ever brought up again in any detail given how much he complains about killing in general throughout the rest of the series. Laplace’s Box: The location where it is found is actually more useful than the box itself, since the location has infrastructure that allows Mineva to talk to all of humanity at once in an attempt to change their mind on how to govern space people. Yet, there's no indication of whether it worked. There isn't even a single scene of the general public watching her broadcast. The two ship captains are also seen clearly ignoring what she is saying as they discuss getting drinks together. It's strange that the whole series revolves around each faction arguing about what the future should look like, and then no one listens when someone lectures them about it. Also, the extra article in the founding principles only holds importance if people want it to. The current government can just say, "We didn’t sign that into law." Not to mention people have never operated under the belief something like that was ever true, so why should it hold so much weight all of a sudden? If something like that was important enough to the general public, they would have made it a law already. Clearly a large portion of people just flat out disagree that the space-noids should have more self-control, so it's not like some 100 year old slab is going to change their mind. The only truth is the one people choose to accept.
For the past 30 years, the narrative and thematic conclusion of the One Year War arc of the Universal Century was Char’s Counterattack. The film is wonderfully animated, with intense action sequences, but in my view it felt less like a thematic conclusion of the themes of the first 3 Gundam series, and more of a return to the narrative of the original Mobile Suit Gundam anime series. [[As I mentioned in my review of Gundam Z](https://countzeroor.wordpress.com/2017/09/23/anime-review-mobile-suit-gundam-zz/)Z](https://countzeroor.wordpress.com/2017/09/23/anime-review-mobile-suit-gundam-zz/) – that worked for me when what I knew of the Universal Century was just the original series, but it became less and less resonant as I made my way through the story. Gundam Unicorn, on the other hand, feels much more resonant, and fits as a conclusion to this part of the Universal Century. The show is set 3 years after the events of Char’s Counterattack, and follows Banagher Links, a young man who is going to school at Anaheim Electronics Industrial College, when he runs into a girl literally falling from a repair passage in the colony, who he saves. She tells him her name is Audrey Burne, but she later turns out to be Minerva Zabi, the heir to the throne of the Duchy of Zeon. She, and a separate group from Zeon, have come to this colony seeking something called “Laplace’s Box” – material from the Laplace Orbiting Habitat, which had been originally been intended to be the seat of government for the Earth Federation, before it was destroyed in a terrorist attack at the dawn of the Universal Century. Supposedly, the contents of this box are something that could completely upturn the current political order. The key to this box lies within the Unicorn Gundam, a special mobile suit created by the Vist family, who are the majority shareholders of Anaheim Electronics. When the colony where Links and his classmates are studying ends up caught in the middle of a battle between the forces of Neo Zeon who have come to claim the Gundam, and the Federation ship Nahel Argama (sadly not commanded by Beecha, which would have been a nice touch), which is pursuing the Zeon vessel, much like Amuro, Kamille, and Judeau before him, Banagher ends up falling into the cockpit of a Gundam and must fight to protect his friends. Gundam Unicorn is very much clearly meant to be a thematic conclusion to the original One Year War saga. The story features a few survivors of the One Year War – with Bright Noa in particular featuring a prominent role, but the main leads of the series are very much children of the One Year War – with Minerva being the daughter of Dozle Zabi, and Banagher having grown up during the war. While they are caught up in the events of this perpetuating conflict, it’s the adults of Zeon who seek the most to continue the war, and who are holding on to the grudges and hatreds of the past, while our protagonists, most of whom are Newtypes want to take the steps to move on into a new world. Minerva in particular is actively looking to find a way to end this incredibly destructive conflict (seriously, Earth has been hit with at least 4 colony drops by this point, and barely missed an Extinction Level event with the dropping of Axis) – in a way that allows Spacenoids a strong say in their own destiny. This also comes up with how the antagonists work. While Neo-Zeon, lead by a literal Char-clone in the form of Full Frontal, continues to serve an antagonistic role – they share antagonist duties with the Vist Foundation. Full Frontal refuses to just let the war end, now trying to start a “Spacenoid Co-Prosperity Sphere” (yes, they use those exact words), to economically shut Earth out from space until they accept Zeon hegemony. The Neo-Zeon veterans of the One Year war just want to punish Earth and perpetuate their old grudges (while saying how superior they are to those whose “souls are weighed down by gravity”). Additionally, the Vist Foundation has been profiteering from this conflict through Anaheim Electronics and their political connections, so if the wrong people get ahold of Laplace’s Box, their power and prestige would be destroyed. The characterization of the series is very good. Banagher Links is something of a happy medium between Amuro Rey and Judeau Ashita. He has Amuro’s sense of empathy, and Judeau’s desire to avoid bloodshed. Further, he has great chemistry with Minerva. Minerva on her own is probably the best written female character in the Universal Century, just surpassing the Gundam: the Origin version of Sayla Mass. She has a tremendous amount of agency, and basically her actions and choices dramatically drive the plot of the series, with Banagher’s actions helping her achieve her goals more than his own personal agenda. Indeed, in the first episode of the series Banagher straight up says that all he wants to do is help Minerva, and if she feels that she needs him, then he’ll be happy. The way the sentiment is localized in the subtitles is that he wants her to want him, but the sentiment could just as easily be interpreted as simply that he wants to her to feel that he’s a help to her. It’s still not a healthy view – as he’s dependant on someone else for his sense of well-being, but it’s less objectifying, and neither perspective takes away from what Minerva accomplishes in this show. In a lot of ways, Gundam Unicorn takes all the thematic elements of the stories set within the saga of the One Year War and its aftermath, from the original Mobile Suit Gundam through Char’s Counterattack, and wraps them up and lays a path forward – capturing the idea that Gundam ZZ laid out that the generation that will move the solar system past this destruction would not be the one that started the One Year War, but the one which came after, and that it’s important for the older generations, as represented by Bright, Otto Midas, and Suberoa Zinnerman, to help them achieve their goals instead of serving as an obstacle.
Gundam Unicorn is, to me, the absolute peak of what Gundam has to offer as a franchise. It is an entry that serves as not only an expansion on but also a culmination of everything that his been presented thus far, whether it be UC Gundam or any of the various AU series. Unicorn has all the markings of a passion project; it's a series where it feels as if the staff decded to challenge themselves to do the best they could. The succeeded; they stepped up to bat, and they delivered a product that ended up catching me off guard. Gundam Unicorn shattered my expectations, which comes as a shock given how high they'd already been going into it. But why? The first, and simplest, thing to talk about would be the combat. A lot of Gundam series throughout the years have had absolutely fantastic fights, but one thing that's been inevitable for the most part is that they'll occasionally feel cheesy. Unicorn has none of that, with fights that feel grounded and heavy. The emphasis placed on the visuals and sound effects makes each hit feel like it has weight behind it. The beams in this series have such a distinctly powerful sound, giving the impression of overwhelming power even if one were to look away from the screen. When a mobile suit is struck, it'll have impact marks, the viewer can easily see what's going on and what effect each and every action taken by the pilots has in the grand scheme of the fight. One particularly memorable moment is when one of the characters plunges their beam saber into a random goon's cockpit. It was a moment that was beautifully visceral and brutal, such that I found myself reeling back at the kind of weight even a simple, inconsequential thing like that could have. This, of course, is backed by some absolutely phenomenal mobile suits. The titular Unicorn Gundam is one that I found somewhat uninspired in the beginning; despite this, the way that it is used and presented throughout the series resulted in me developing something of a fondness for it. Its basic design ends up complimenting it, rather than being visually detrimental as I'd first thought. Everything else looks good as well, with there being evident effort put in to making even the nameless mooks have good-looking, charming mobile suits. Kshatriya, one of the other featured suits, finds a number of ways to make up with badassery what it lacks in beauty. Realistically, there are as many ways to talk about all the great suits and their uses as there are to talk about the characters who pilot them. Which, of course, opens the door to talk about the incredibly amazing cast of characters. I fully expected myself to end up disliking Banagher Links, Unicorn's protagonist, but was caught way off guard. He ended up being a highly relatable character, and one who embodied all of the ideals that I've come to appreciate the most throughout my experience with Gundam as a franchise. His interaction with the other characters all felt genuine, written in such a way that they came across as natural progression for each participant rather than just something shoehorned in because it was necessary. Banagher leaves an impression on every character that he interacts with, and the way that all of these impressions eventually come together in the film's climax felt incredible. There was a tangibly charming element to the fact that these relationships felt so natural and that, accordingly, the way they all came together in the end felt natural as well. The greatest highlight of Unicorn is the way in which it presents its themes. A large part of the appeal of the Gundam franchise is that its portrayal of war feels accurate; most of the time, there isn't really a good or a bad, a right or a wrong. It's, more often than not, a clash of ideals, with two sides trading losses until one has had enough. People on either side lose loved ones, vow revenge, fight harder for the people they've lost, creating a vicious circle. Nothing ever changes, and eventually, the purpose that they even fought for in the first place is lost amidst that. These aspects all come into play in Unicorn and are even at the forefront of some characters' presentation. However, that's not the central theme of Unicorn. Far from it, in fact. Unicorn's central theme is hope; the idea that we need to believe in the potential - the possibility - of humankind and entrust ourselves and our futures to that. Unicorn is a series that disparages the conflicts so defining of the franchise for something more concrete and more worthwhile, for something that should resonate strongly with anyone. These things all come together in order to create nothing short of a masterpiece. Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn is by any and all means a culmination and a near-perfected form of everything that Gundam has been trying to build upon and put on display since the late 70s. If there is ever any one Gundam show that someone should watch, if they were to watch only one in their entire life, I could not recommend anything other than Unicorn. Good luck keeping away from the rest afterwards.
____ This review of Gundam Unicorn will contain spoilers for this OVA and titles across UC Gundam. A general familiarity with the events of the Universal Century is recommended for full enjoyment. ____ img(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/837791532987187277/905934404621320252/vlcsnap-2021-11-04-17h33m44s648.png) Among all the entries in the long running Mobile Suit Gundam franchise, there are few that are more misunderstood than the 2010 OVA Mobile Suit Gundam: Unicorn. Lauded at its release for its *exceptional* visuals, Unicorn enjoyed a brief time in the spotlight before fading from the conversation at large, now existing only in passing remarks, or with some casual derision directed towards "that one flashy OVA." But after rewatching Unicorn for the first time since it was completed, I feel that a grave injustice has been done to it. Not only is Unicorn a prime example of the kind of grand narratives that the Gundam franchise is capable of, it is also a fantastic eulogy for the Universal Century. Unicorn shows a better understanding of Gundam's themes than any previous story in the franchise's history, I'd argue even more so than those written by the franchise's creator, Yoshiyuki Tomino. But Unicorn does not come to bury the Universal Century, no, it is here to lay it to rest. It takes into its breast the raging fires of hatred and vengeance burning across the Earth sphere, and with a gentle voice, it says *even so, I understand.* Cycles, or the Things That Have Come Before Us img(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/837791532987187277/905934400204730419/vlcsnap-2021-11-04-17h32m26s850.png) The story of the Universal Century is one of tragedy. Four times now has war raged across the Earth Sphere, and four times the future has refused to change. The general atmosphere of the time is now fatigue. People are tired. Tired of endless bloodshed, tired of being scared, tired of losing loved ones. Though the cycle has repeated itself in the past, the question of Laplace's box seems to point towards a final answer to the question of spacenoid independence. The Federation, uneasy in its grip on power after so many brushes with destruction, is eager to crush the box before it can be opened in order to cement the status quo forever, and maintain their false peace. The remnants of Char's Neo Zeon forces, now calling themselves the Sleeves under the command of the enigmatic Full Frontal, see the box as a final hope for freedom- one final chance to establish a nation where the spacenoids can live free from Earthling oppression. And so it appears that the wheel of history has once again begun to spin, but are those cracks along the wheel? Indeed, this time events will not play out as they had in the past. Though the roles may be the same, the actors have changed, and that will be the deciding factor in this play. Banagher Links, the protagonist of our story, is in many ways a ghost of his Gundam protagonist predecessor Amuro Ray. The key difference however, lies in their goals. Amuro fought to protect his home and his family from harm, a noble goal but one that ultimately had him play into the hands of those who would wish to continue the cycle of bloodshed. Banagher is different. His search for Laplace's Box sets him on a journey that will cross paths with people on both sides of the conflict, meeting friend and foe alike on both sides. This is a perspective not granted to Gundam pilots past, who only come to know the weight of their actions once it is too late to change anything. That empathy is key to the core of Gundam Unicorn, as Banagher comes to understand that true peace will not come from victory from either side, but instead by laying to rest the ghosts of the past. Gravity, or the Things That Hold Us Back img(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/811111596146950145/905615243068203018/Koten_Gars_Mobile_Suit_Gundam_Unicorn_-_OVA_5_JP.BDHi101080pTrueHD_2C62A8AB.mkv_snapshot_43.46_2021.11.03_16.19.48.png) Gundam seems to have a fascination with the concept of gravity. The leaders of the many forms of the Principality of Zeon referred to those who dwelled on Earth as "souls weighed down by gravity." Though it may have just been some pretty words for Zeon propaganda, to me gravity has a deeper meaning. Gravity is all the things that keep us from moving ahead, a set of invisible shackles tying us to the past. All across Unicorn characters are shackled by their own personal gravities. The Vist Foundation is bound by its ancient sin, continually perpetrating the war machine to keep eyes off the great lie they have spun across the decades of the Universal Century. The Federation and Zeon alike are forced into the bondage of endless warfare by a self-perpetuating cycle of vengeance. Even the Gundam itself, the symbol of the franchise, is itself bound in chains. It is possessed by the bloody history of its namesake, a symbol of righteous power perverted as a tool of oppression and violence. Everywhere you look across the span of Unicorn are people and things haunted by the ghosts of the past that should have long since moved on. Even these grudges themselves are held back by gravity, as the people who host these spirits desperately cling to them to give their lives any form of purpose, no matter how pitiable it may be. Full Frontal, called by many as the ghost of Char is himself possessed by the specter of the Red Comet, unable to let go of what he left behind even after his passing at the Axis Shock. Gravity is not inescapable however. Just as mankind learned to breach the atmosphere and kiss the stars, so too must the people of the UC break their chains and face the new frontier. Possibility, or the Chance for a Better Tomorrow img(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/811111596146950145/905924257647849572/Koten_Gars_Mobile_Suit_Gundam_Unicorn_-_OVA_7_JP.BDHi101080pTrueHD_93D72E21.mkv_snapshot_01.06.52_2021.11.04_13.36.15.png) As I said in the intro to this piece, Unicorn's primary concern is not valor or vengeance, but empathy. Zeon Deikun saw the Newtypes as the next step in human evolution, capable of communication without misunderstandings. UC Gundam , as well as Tomino himself, has a very pessimistic view of this notion- that even if the age of the Newtypes came to pass, humanity would be too concerned with its own self-destruction to realize the miracle in its midst. Unicorn rejects that pessimism, opting instead to believe in the good of the human spirit. After all, the Unicorn is the beast of possibility. Possibility for a better future, for humans to finally understand one another. Banagher is the perfect conduit for that possibility. His experiences have granted him empathy for humanity, he sees through the violence to the wounds beneath, old scars that still ache and urge those who bear them to lash out at the world. In the end, the day is won not by a clenched fist holding a sword, but by open arms offering comfort and healing. Even in the face of despair, Banagher soldiers on. Even when Full Frontal faces him with the futility of his actions, Banagher fights for a better tomorrow. *Even so...* he says, head held high, facing the future. Gundam Unicorn marks a final resting place for the Universal Century, sending off decades of warfare with gentleness instead of bombast, and that is the way it should be.
Wanting more after Char's Counterattack leads to it's sequel: Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn. This can be difficult to accept as Tomino was not involved with it. It's not so much as an ending to this timeline. Rather, it is a new beginning that leads to a new new beginning, considering what is the Laplace's Box. This could go on as a passion for those that want to carry the torch after Tomino, or who might just want to exploit this for money. Unicorn was made by a large amount of staff. One can get lost in the amount of animators that were hired here. Consequently, the animation for this series is extraordinary. As someone who has been disappointed by CGI time and time again, at least this series can make good use of it the few times it utilizes it. The battles are brutal and the detail is one that can leave you in awe. To add to that, Hiroyuki Sawano added a soundtrack that considerably elevates those critical moments. From the slow, digital, and powerful "Into The Sky" to the emotional and optimistic "EGO," it is clearly shown here, and with the rest of his catalog that I know of, that he is one the leading modern composers. Even though I did not like much of the other music, It is still powerful enough to compliment when it is used. Considering this, I wouldn't say this is all animation. There is a story here and lots of messages for the audience. The tragedy of this series is that many watched it without watching anything before it. Watching Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn without watching what came before it is like walking into a movie theater an hour late into the movie. The politics of the Federation, of the so called Newtypes, the Zeon, of the "Second Coming Of Char," and the strong will and ideology of princess Minerva-these cannot be properly grasped without the context of the original, Zeta, and ZZ. That is what surprised me about this; that even ZZ gets called back here. I won't say, though there are a few surprises here for those who did their homework and who bothered to take the time to learn their Gundam history by watching what came before. This is an OVA series meant for them, not those who shamelessly came in with impatience and no context. At the same time, the returning characters won't have as big a role as this focuses more on the new characters and Princes Minerva above the rest. Others appear as quick cameos. Seeing as though mankind is doomed to be at war with itself for as long as it exists, the next conflict comes as the Federation is once again at war with the Zeon. The Zeon are lead by a man who is called "The Second Coming Of Char." The two are after the Laplace's Box; an item who's contents could dramatically cause a revolution for either side. At this point, "Char Aznable" is beyond just a character. Shrouded in mystery, Full Frontal gets accused of actually being Char. Regardless of who it may be, Char is no longer a person but a symbol behind the mask, as Frontal implies. His desire is to take down the Federation by exploiting the Laplace's box as his way of saving humanity. His hopelessness and negative outlook on humanity reminds the viewers of Char's Counterattack. Would raising the Zeon to prosperity and rule cause peace, or merely switch the roll of the oppressor and the oppressed? The two other protagonists are Princess Zabi; the child born at the end of Mobile Suit Gundam, and Banagher, the next "Coming Of Amuro." Banagher is much more philosophical then his previous series protagonists. He is closer to Amuro, as they both, in contrast to Frontal, optimistically believe in the possibility of humanity to be better. This may be a better way to see mankind, yet war will eventually be necessary, as he gets pulled into it and struggles with the Gundam Unicorn. People who believe war can be eliminated for good are naïve. As much as he does not want to accept it, Banagher learns about the necessity of war, and that there are ultimately two types of violence; that which oppresses, and that which resists it. They are not the same as one is reactionary and the other is self-defense. It may be good for him to think about trying to appeal to the morals and values of an enemy, though could kindness alone rid space of the wicked and properly administer justice? Maybe, there will be endless amounts of "Banaghers" and "Chars" for as long as humans are alive. An eternal struggle of mankind fighting itself because people think too differently to ever come to a proper understanding. The only way for war to end is for humans to completely destroy themselves. Maybe humans have constantly peaked and eventually blown themselves back to the stone age countless times. Just as Char's Counterattack, the Newtypes once again continue to evolve. The difference to that is that technology is being made to specifically counter them. That won't stop this series from turning into lights and rainbows as the Newtypes continue to transcend. As one can expect from this, gruesome deaths will be shown. Hopelessness, sadness, and desperate frustration. Banagher is the embodiment of the hope mankind tries to have for itself. How much can he put up with, and how will he react to having to kill? Though he is one of my least favorite Gundam protagonists, at least he is interesting enough to spark discussion with his ideology. Ultimately, I would place this last alongside all other Gundam series that came before it. Still, it's a great series that doesn't just take advantage of nostalgia and great animation. It really tries to say something meaningful.