I didnt really type out a full review for the first Mobile Suit Gundam compilation movie because my thoughts on it were pretty clearcut. Its a condensed version of the first part of the TV series nonessential scenes and episodes are cut the whole thing feels like its playing at a faster speed than normal its fine whatever. The second movie has left me with a lot more thoughts but that isnt necessarily a good thing. This movie is paced way worse than the first one. Like WAY worse. Its like ten minutes shorter than the first one and the first few minutes are a recap of the first movie. While the first movie only has to cover the first thirteen episodes of the series and nearly entirely omits at least two of those episodes this movie is left with the unenviable task of covering fifteen episodes specifically episodes 16 through 30 pretty much none of which having unnecessary fat that can be trimmed. The result is a movie whose meager twohour runtime buckles under the heft of the sheer amount of ground it has to cover. My issues with the first movie are only compounded here. The Odessa Operation got the worst of it. Most of it got cut down to a simple narration given describing the battle. The episodes in this arc are also reordered in a weird way that doesnt really make sense. Ryus death is robbed of any impact it had in the TV series. Once they leave Odessa the pacing kinda gets better and most other big emotional moments get adequate enough coverage but its still too fast for my liking. Now what makes this movie different from the first is that there are much more substantial additions and changes made to the plot. Some are good some are... eh. By far the biggest one is the added discussion and depiction of Newtype powers which are not even mentioned by name in the show until the final arc. It does kind of come abruptly in the show and to some may feel out of place in the realistic wartime setting of Gundam but this movie feels like its wayyyy overcompensating. The first movie already mentioned Newtypes once near the end but this movie cant go two lines of dialogue without mentioning them which is kinda really annoying. Newtype powers in the show have this mystique to them and are eventually presented in a very showdonttell way that I quite enjoyed and I cant help but feel that is ruined here in the movies. I will give it credit where credit is due though as the Federation already being aware of Newtypes at all levels this early on makes the way they treat the White Base and its crew WAY more crueler and adds an extra dimension to the both sides suck motif that Gundam wears so well. The other big change is the replacement of the GFighter and accompanying GArmor upgrade for the Gundam with the new Core Booster. The first movie already began the trend of changing/removing aspects of the worlds technology that were too superroboty according to Tomino by doing away with the GHammer weapon which is just a giant mace lol. This movie makes a much more substantial change by replacing the GFighter a segmented fighter craft that could mix and match parts with the Gundam with the Core Booster which is just a souped up Core Fighter. This is a change that I welcome because while I absolutely adore the goofy mechanical designs of First Gundam I kinda just thought the GFighter and GArmor were eyesores and frankly incoherent as a concept for weapons technology inuniverse. So yeah all in all Gundam II takes everything I took issue with in Gundam I and makes it worse. But it also has more meaningful and interesting changes than the first movie even if Im not a fan of them all. I still wouldnt say I enjoyed this one though.
55 /100
3 out of 10 users liked this review