Mobile Suit Gundam: Char’s Counterattack is the final epic of the story between Char and Amuro, it is also the final battleground for the long running Zeon and Earth space force war, and what an ending this is!
Animation:
The animation is superb! The quality of the animation is extremely high, after watched it recently, I simply will not believe that this movie was made in the late 80’s. The overall pace of the animation is very dynamic, and it never really slows down even when there are no fighting scenes. Gundam is not Gundam if there is no mobile suits battle. In Char’s counterattack, the battle scenes has been nothing but excitement, and the climax just keep on building up and up, from the very beginning til the final explosive ending. Also, the mobile suits combat are extremely smooth and fast, this has created a very special and realistic feel to the entire movie and keep up with the non-stop exciting plot development.
Moving to the mobile suit design and general graphic design, the work here is simply superb. But this should be expected as Yutaka Izubuchi is the chef designer in this anime. He and his design team must have spent so many long and painful hours to detail all the battleships, mobile suits and background as all the part lines, technical components and details are clearly visible even during the battle scene.
Sound:
The soundtrack in this movie is again excellent. The music is very dynamic, and the background music for the battle scenes suited the movie extremely well. The ending theme is very well done as well, the dynamic ED seems to tell the audience that there are more to come, and Char’s battle is not yet finish even though the movie has ended. Overall, the music is good enough that I have nothing to complain about.
Story & Character:
Well, when come to the story and characters, there might be a few problems for people who watch gundam for the first time. This movie will require previous knowledge from the original gundam and Z gundam, without watching them first, you may find the plot and character development extremely confusing as this movie does not give any background information into Char and Amuro’s relationship development, or why Zeon need to drop Asteroids to Earth. However, if you did seen the previous series, you will be fully drawn into the movie, as the final development is quite bitter, and the fact that Char decided to lead Zeon and betray Amuro and Bright Noa is a rather surprise development too. Also, the speed for the story development is at very fast pace, and it can get a bit confusing even for gundam veterans, but this add to Char’s character as he is becoming impatient on Earth’s arrogance, which add to the fact why he decided to drop asteroids on earth as quick as possible (Sorry, I cannot give you a better story description as the story is quite simple, so if I give too much, there is no point of watching the movie).
Other than Char and Amuro (or to some extend Quess Paraya), there are little or no developments in supporting casts. This might be a problem, as background information on many supporting characters is not known, so it adds to the confusion of the storyline. However, this story is about Char and Amuro, so I guess they can get away with it. Also, I found Quess’s character to be quite annoying, and due to little development, the sadness within her character cannot be fully appreciated and her relationship between Char and Amuro cannot be justified.
Value & Enjoyment:
I thoroughly enjoyed this movie. The animation is superb and very fast pace. The mobile suits are well designed and story development is although simple, but extremely effective for a final battle between the gundam main characters, and also serve as an ending to the original gundam era. I wish the ending of the movie is more complete without leaving any ambiguity, but then again, it give audience a chance to imagine, which create much re-watch value. With all these good points, I believe this movie to be the best gundam movie available to this date, and the animation quality can rival even the later series such as gundam seed.
