Anyway, the greatest difference in terms of storyline is that G gundam revolves around some sort of street fighter style tournament where each country will send one representative for the fight. The gundams were also called mobile fighters instead of mobile suits. Main protagonist is Domon Kasshu and the first episode starts with him fighting some bullies he met in a bar.
A rather cheesy start for a gundam anime, and the cheesiness and ridiculousness level rose throughout the series.
A simple story walkthrough with minor spoilers*
Shining Gundam vs Bolt Gundam
First few epidsodes, we follow Domon ( who represents neo japan) around with his girlfriend Rain around, as Domon gets in on gundam fight per episode. Then we learn gradually about some threat regarding a certain Devil Gundam (aka Dark Gundam) which has supposedly regenerative abilities among many ungundam-like ridiculous powers. The story got into full blown mode when Domon got to Neo Tokyo and met one of the greatest character of all time in Gundam history.
Master Asia, spinning his master cloth as he jumps to get into Master Gundam,
Domon meets his master Master Asia. ( Domon's master is called Master Asia) Master Asia calls himself the Undefeated of the East, and he proves it by taking down a single mobile suit single-handedly equipped with a pink cloth. Domon soon realises, with the help of his friends, that Master Asia is up to no good and is in fact trying to revive the Devil gundam. This leads to a fight, of course.
Master Gundam vs Shining Gundam.
The original Shuffle Alliance
It turns out that neither domon or his gang of weirdos are any match to the great Undefeated of the East. Just when they were about to be defeated, 4 gundams descent upon them to grant assistance. The 4 were the legendary members of the Shuffle Alliance, which was practically unheard of till they came. Anyway, Master Asia is revealed to be part of the Alliance as well before he went astray and now his former team mates must stop him. And the 4 jokers did their part by promptly sacrificing themselves and passing their Shuffle Alliance crests to Domon and his buddies. This part sounds the most ridiculous but that is exactly how that episode happened.
Anyway, continuing the story, the domon gang escaped and later decided to confront Master Asia again in some kind of mountain hill top. Along the way, Domon receives some training from a mysterious German ninja guy Schwarz Bruder who had appeared in neo Tokyo to help Domon against Master Asia.
Spiegel Gundam
Schwarz Bruder, who may or may not be Domon's long lost brother trying to aid Domon in secret.
The new shuffle alliance
In the ensuing fight, Domon lost his Shining Gundam but God Gundam is sent in from space just in time to help! It seems that Master Gundam is defeated until the official Gundam Fight starts in Neo Hong Kong...
( End of Spoilers!)
Here are a few more ridiculous moments about the anime:
In the last quarter of the anime, there were several cameos of Gundams from other shows. Eg. Zeta Gundam, Wing gundam, etc. But this one takes the cake. Rx78-2 goes into space hugging a shuttle in space, with the operator looks mockingly at the audience.
Each pilot, or mobile fighter in this case, will put on the tight-fit spandex suit in their gundams before the fight. The spandex is supposed to mimic the fighter's movements and the gundam moves accordingly. Each fighter will also make several grunting sounds when the spandex is being put on, so when Domon's girlfriend hops in the Gundam. ( Look up youtube for more information)
Like all good kung fu shows, Domon the protagonist must shout the name of his ultimate move when executing it.
The exact phrase: This hand of mine glows with an awesome power! Its burning grip tells me to defeat you! Here I go, Shining Finger!
Once in a while the opponent will find it irresistible to just shout along with Domon.
Master Asia's Master Gundam rides on a horse. Accurately captured by the high grade future century model kit.
God Gundam, looking a little disproportionate
Despite the overall cheesiness of the show, G gundam is actually really good in its animation and battle scenes. Other than the shining finger or Domon clicking his fingers, there is not much reused footage throughout the show like Gundam Wing.
The story line is rather well thought-out and it definitely makes infinitely more sense than Gundam Wing. Plenty of twists in the second half of the anime, which i will not spoil.
The characters are also quite lovable, and most of the main characters' gundams are quite decently designed. The same cannot be said of the rest of the gundams, especially in the second half where many countries' gundams show up in the fight.
That is Mermaid Gundam at the back front, fighting some kind of bull Gundam.
All in all, i actually found the anime to be a very good one, and i for one love the hot blooded nature of the fights. This is probably the only gundam series which i find very funny, in between the fights and craziness. On a sidenote, i do find ZZ Gundam funny at all. That series is just pathetic, but it is another story for another day.
Conclusion:
Golden Shuffle Alliance!
I will not have a laundry list of the goods and bads for this anime because i feel that most of them are purely subjective. For example, i may list its cheesiness and humor as a pro but many will find it as a con. So instead, here is a list of things which i find to be unique for the series and you can decide for yourself if this is a gundam series that you want to check out.
1. Plenty of insane and stereotypical Gundam designs.
2. Cheesy dialouge.
3. Very hot-blooded fights. Complete with Cantonese songs for the dramatic experience.
4. Shining Finger!
5. The Gundam tournament setting.
I myself love this series, certainly more than Gundam Wing i say. But G Gundam is probably one of those love-it-or-hate-it series so i guess each to his own. I sure hope for Mg 2.0 versions of the G gundam kits.
My score: 8.0/10
No comments:
Post a Comment