Kidou Senshi Gundam: Fukushuu no Requiem

6.25/10 - IGLOO Part 3

This is essentially Netflix's attempt at Gundam IGLOO, however CGI animation has finally come far enough where this kinda stuff is actually palatable. I enjoyed this enough, and as a UC Fan Girl I will always take more content especially about the OYW.

You could also look at this show as a 'Band of Brothers' but make it Gundam. This show also embodies the whole Real Robots not Super robot thing from back in the 70's, as each mobile suite really feels like a machine. You also really understand the scale of the suits that happens seldomly in all the series ... regardless of sub franchise, outside of rare moments like in War in the Pocket (0080).

This show has not the best characters, nor development for them. the pacing is good enough, and the story feels complete. Feels weird to say that this is better then most Gundam content out there, by only a little. If this show does well enough I imagine there will be more.

Honestly this show felt like anyone could appreciate it, which is some huge selling points. I wouldn't be surprised if this is many first Gundam, its short, sweet, not to political and easily digestible. I think this does get better if you watch it after at least the original series (0079), but by no means is that a requirement to watch this.

Gundam: Requiem for a Vengeance is a very interesting entry to say the least. By no means is it "bad" but there is a lot that holds it back.

Firstly, the most important aspect to address is the animation, a key part of its appeal and marketing. The entire show was animated in the game engine of Unreal Engine 5 and it really shows (in a bad way). While objectively the show looks good from a pure visual fidelity standpoint, it in turn makes the aesthetics feel bland and uninteresting, it's just "realistic". A problem that plagues a lot of modern games as well.

I actually ... really enjoy the mechanical designs, they look quite good the titular Gundam especially, it manages to come off as scary and menacing really well and it's design definitely feels like a "prototype". The rest of the designs for the Zaku, Goufs and GMs are what you expect but all look good nonetheless. My main gripe with the animation is the human characters, they what really remind you that this was created in a game engine, there's many occasions where it looks like I'm about to transition into gameplay. A lot of dialogue sequences look like automated cutscenes in an open-world game and everyone has these lifeless eyes that always seem like they're looking past the person they're talking to. The movements at times look like they tweened between multiple pre-set animations they found in a library as they at times have these weird and noticeable start-ups and stiff and sudden ends. Some other small aspects such as hair clipping throw hats and hair not blowing in the wind while other fabrics are, all add up and take you out the experience.

The dialogue is pretty weak as well, character interactions just feel awkward and that especially the case when the intonation of speech doesn't match up with how the character is animated. There's quite a few occasions where character alignment isn't consistent. In the last episode Alfee comforts Iria by saying that her squad's death wasn't her fault and they're just soldiers doing their job, then when Iria decides to stay and fight the EFF (aka doing "her job") Alfee (and everyone for that matter) is against it. This show always love doing fake suspense, where it looks like a character is going to die but then someone comes just at the right moment to save them. That cliche occurs like three times in one episode.

This entry can't also decides whether it's for newcomers or veterans, because for newcomers it doesn't give a good depiction of either side of the war and makes reference to other key events, locations and people for the U.C but then it also stops to explains the concept of Newtypes (which I know makes sense in the context of the scene but still). The EFF are essentially faceless nobodies just there to be obstacles, no one is even given the attempt to have sympathy, aside from the Gundam's pilot, who felt kind of shoehorned into the latter half of the show. It's like they wanted to have the Gundam as a threatening presence but also as a thing to feel bad for, and due to the shortness of the series it couldn't be explored that in depth, but I could see where they wanted to go with it and I think the fact that they left the pilot as a nameless child adds to the horror they were trying to depict.

Most of the Zeon forces have little to no personality, they're all just there to "do their job" and "kill the enemy so they can go home", which is true for war but none of them display anything that makes them "Zeon", they act the same as the Earth Federation Forces in terms of motivation and ideals, they're almost interchangeable. This is especially jarring when you remember the existence of 'Operation British' and how much destruction the Principality of Zeon caused because of it, but no one even has an opinion on it, nor is it ever mentioned despite being such a major event. Iria is the only character to stand out with having an actual motivation but it's presented as if she's the only person who lost family in the war and/or has a child who's waiting for them.

When the Mobile Suit battles actually happened they do look quite good and cool, the effects work on the explosions, sparks and beams are really well done and I did find myself becoming more invested in the story as it unfolded (I wasn't very impressed with the first episode) but for every step it took forward a bunch of little things would accumulate into it taking two steps back. The concept isn't bad but it's not the first time we've seen a prototype Gundam and the existence of this specific model doesn't really make sense nor is ever explained (I can only guess that in-universe it aided in the development of the Ground Gundam from The 08th MS Team? Supported by the cameo from Yuri that they want that connection, but that still feels like a bit of a stretch).

There's a lot more I could mention but I don't want this to be too long.

Basically... Watch it if you want I guess, you're not gonna gain much but you're not gonna lose anything either.

...Who is this Netflix Gundam series about Zeon soldiers FOR, exactly?

So much of the tension of the One Year War story comes from the fact that Zeon's position is literally correct—the Federation is their oppressor. The spacenoids deserve freedom despite being organized by clear villains, the Zabi family who have betrayed everything Zeon the man stood for by being dynastic Nazis.

So you're doing a story about spacenoids fighting a war for independence on Earth (probably on-planet for the first time). Also, their leaders recently committed genocide by dropping a colony on Australia, killing billions of people including the people who lived in the colony—people like ... them.

What is your main character's position on this? They do not have one? NOBODY has one? How? Literally, HOW is that possible?

It's a story that could go in so many directions, and it has done so in the past. Truly, the ONLY unacceptable response is that the Zeon soldier is a noble warrior who merely goes where she is ordered.

Like, going all in on them being an unapologetic Nazi and trying to humanize them would be (awful but) better than this.

This is just people walking around and screaming about being soldiers. It has nothing to say about war or the human condition, and that's only driven home stronger by the introduction of the child solider theme at the 11th hour. Absolute waste.