Kidô senshi V Gundam

I will keep this brief. Victory Gundam is one of my favorite series. I watched it about a year and a half ago after returning to watching anime after a nearly decade long hiatus.

I was a huge fan of the series Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam (and some of the earlier alternate universe stories in my middle school years before that). I've finally gotten through almost the whole Universal Century series of Gundam, and Victory most definitely stands as one of the strongest Gundam series out there. It is certainly the darkest of the Gundam series (more grim than Zeta overall in terms of named character body count at the very least). Where it succeeds is the relationship between Uso and the rest of the cast. I feared disliking Uso based on his age of only 13, but he turns to be one of the most level headed and normal protagonists in series history.

He approaches things as they come and actually shows joy/excitement when its relevant, and fear/anger/sadness when you would expect. We experience less of the instability and angst present with many of the series early protagonists and get someone you can really root for in almost every situation. He also is unique in that while certainly the same wunderkind (newtype!) as the rest of the main series leads we get to see Uso struggle and learn to adapt to situations more than others.

From an action perspective the series is a bit of a mixed bag. While the latter action scenes with the V2 and many of the main antagonists custom suits are spectacular, the early scenes on earth are admittedly less exciting. Not bad in any regard, but I would say Mobile Suit Gundam, and Zeta Gundam both have a more exciting start over all. The animation is a bit of a mixed bag as well. While some scenes look very nice, the over all animation has somewhat classic almost American style with its characters and palette. I still can't definitively say it looks better than the premier 80s gundam series which is a bit disappointing.

All in all I very much enjoyed MS Victory Gundam, and would highly recommend it to any UC Gundam fan though I believe this a show that can be enjoyed by all.

Gundam animes tend more towards good than bad, but V Gundam is one of the better TV series--and arguably the best of the UC timeline. Although it is slightly confusing in the beginning, as the episodes go on, you get a better idea of what's going on and the characters really start to grow on you. Although there are a few obvious red-shirts, a lot of these characters are killed in a messy and upsetting fashion--just like in real war. There are lots of noble sacrifices, but perhaps even more pointless deaths, failed attempts at making a heroic sacrifice, and most of all, an overarching sense of dread throughout the entire series. This is one of the only Gundam stories where it was really hard to tell who was going to come out on top when the dust had cleared.

A true epic spanning over fifty episodes, V Gundam doesn't necessarily tie up all the loose ends, or explain everything perfectly. But that's part of the point; in a real war, so many people are involved, it's nearly impossible to fully understand what is truly going on. The gamut of characters here is staggering. Some fall into typical anime stereotypes, but most of them are refreshing and interesting in their own rights.

Quite a few of the scenes were shocking, and it isn't for the faint hearted. This is certainly the most downcast of all Gundam series, save perhaps Z Gundam. War crimes are the norm; the body count consistently rises; children, even younger than usual (the main character is 13) are thrown in as cannon fodder; and a general lack of ethics is displayed at pretty much every turn by all sides of the conflict. But this makes the series all the more compelling. It doesn't rely on cheap over-use of gore and violence, but instead real drama.

If you like any Gundam, and have a familiarity with the UC timeline, I highly suggest V Gundam.