Anime The Majesty of that Distant Moon
After watching the show I can say that I fully understand why many rank this show so highly on their Gundam lists and i'll personally say that I consider it to be one of the best that Tomino ever produced. It is similar to many of his other works. The pacing feels a little slow at times, the finale feels slightly rushed, and the characters for the most part are exactly the same at the end of the story as they were at the start and it's that last point i'd like to touch on, because Tomino uses this habit of his to good effect here. For one thing, while most of the characters remain the same not all of them do and no character's overall situation is left unchanged. Guin Rhineford for example starts the series off as a very important man, the heir to an entire country, organizer of the local militia, and the main person who has been in contact with the Moonrace before the story begins. By the end of it however, he's been severely humbled. He's lost every single thing he owned, has no authority, and actually has to hide his identity because of some of the actions he took during the war with the Moonrace. There are legitimate consequences for his actions.
I mentioned that the finale felt somewhat rushed and that's because around that point the episodes begin having skips in time of various lengths between them, whereas most of the early episodes really just continue one after the other, from event to event. And when skips in time happen they are clear. By the end of the series there is a massive war happening, you can tell that it's happening, but you don't see all of it happening. This can leave you feeling almost as if you missed a scene somewhere, because characters will just be shown in one place and you'll have no idea how they got there. The writing and dialogue always inform you of why they are there however.
What makes the war work is that, though there is an extreme amount of prejudice between the two groups, they are almost identical. Both have leaders who are attempting to achieve peace. Both have civilian populations that are just trying to live their lives, but feel threatened by the other side. And so on. Neither side is ever really presented as being evil during this series. That label only really applies to a few characters. Even, there is a point where some of Dianna's soldiers stage a coup against her. Given what we know of Dianna it is easy to get angry at them and say that they're in the wrong, but from their point of view they have a Queen that isn't listening to them, her people, who forced them to come to Earth in the first place. Though they don't know it, she herself is also somewhat irresponsible, in that she lets some random girl that looks like her take her place. Good and bad decisions are everywhere and people suffer for it.
Anime Like a butterfly in moonlight
Ɐ Gundam is not only the best work by Yoshiyuki Tomino I know, but also his most personal in the good and the bad. It bears his usual writing-as-you-go problems: the pacing languishes for the middle series then in the end a hurried flurry of politicking sets up the finale, the characters are quite static, and given its many sub-plots, vast world, the crossover backstory, or the stated power of its machines, it feels in the end rather small and restricted. The final fight was particularly disappointing: I expected the heroes to use all they had learned to settle the fight and prevent the threatened cataclysm, but instead it just kind of happens. Though I can add the big bad had made himself a threat by then.
But against this are major strengths, ones rarely found in the genre. Mechanical designs are elegant and unique, breaking away from suits of armour for an art-deco look. Everyone in the cast has their own role and motivation. Where others have once-an-episode fights that rarely affect the plot before the finale, Ɐ starts with a tense stand-off where the focus is not on winning each battle but on not letting it escalate. Each encounter matters, and the protagonist's disabling techniques, with no recycling of animation, visualise his pacifism perfectly. It also illustrates well some causes of wars, as a mix of loyalty, political myopia and irreconcilable interests draw leaders towards a conflagration few of them wanted. SEED by comparison has a better backstory, greater scope and danger, and more character drama, but Ɐ made me care more, however small the stakes. Crucial to the atmosphere is that the world feels big beyond the plot, whilst that of SEED seems to exist only insofar as it affects the war.
Yet the biggest draw is a core theme, working on several levels, something that Zeta and Victory badly lacked. The narrative is self-contained but is also a look back on the twenty years of the franchise that preceded it, parodying its tropes while playing them out very differently, such as showing mobile suits being used for civilian purposes. And finally it is Tomino's victory celebration over depression, which gives a deeply personal weight to its theme of accepting the past in all its troubles and learning from it. And in doing so he has shown himself best able to break out of the very conventions he created years before.
Anime Perhaps one of Tomino's best.
I have made it no secret that I have no fondness of much of what Tomino puts out, but Turn A might be one of his most successful ventures in my eyes.
One thing that immediately stands out is it's rather unique setting, creating an incredibly laid back feel and tone, almost reminiscent of some of Studio Ghibli's work. Another standout are the rather interesting mobile suit designs by the late Syd Mead creating some instantly recognizable faces. The show also some some strengths in world building, and while it stumbles with it in some aspects, the world in general is excellent. The characters vary quite a bit in terms of success, with some like the two female leads, Dianna and Kihel being an interesting pair while Loran ends up being somewhat uninteresting, mostly being along for the ride more than anything else. It's a similar story with the supporting cast with some greats and some that are meh. But at the very least they help to reinforce the series tone with some exceptions such as Poe and parts of the Militia. The one character that really got the shaft however was Gym who ended up rather one note and flat.
Also, the art and animation has to be among the best the series has ever put out with no Stock Footage in sight. The music doesn't really stand out, but it does it's job in providing for the atmosphere of the show.
Another thing is that Tomino have a habit on relying on the Deus ex Machina way too often to solve situations and to some ridiculous extremes, something that is also present here. At the very least the show deals with a lot of unknowns so it comes across as less glaring when it happens apart from a few instances.
This all is not to say I don't have some serious issues with it. First is the shows rather awkward pacing. It starts blazing fast only to then grind to a halt and hold a rather slow pace for most of the shows run only to then accelerate again at the end, seemingly rushing to bring things to a close. Second is a recurring Tomino issue, his obsession with strangeness for strangeness sake, most notably by trying to include various cultures and beliefs. Most of the time they just become annoying and obnoxious rather than adding to the world. They are jarring to say the least. And lastly, the characters being practically dead set on playing hot potato with the Idiot Ball and Conflict Ball. A lot of conflict in the series just comes across as forced and detracts from the shows strong suits, namely it's atmosphere and tone.
All in all, if nothing else it is an interesting watch even if some things aren't as good as the could be, it is still one of the most unique Gundam experiences out there and should be watched at least once.