Kidô senshi Gundam F91

I was lucky enough to check out the Gundam F91 premiere at the Otakon convention over the summertime and boy was I impressed. Yoshiyuki Tomino is one of my favorite directors and I grew up watching his

original Gundam series/movies as well as some of his other works.

Gundam F91 on the surface looks like your typical Gundam story of war, young boy, impending doom to the colonies, and of course...the Gundam itself. However, the great part about the film is the fact that Tomino is able to weave together a very compact and comprehensive story within a 120 minute film. The animation look pretty good considering the film was released in Japan around 1991.

The movie is set about a hundred years in the future within the Gundam time line. You do not need to have any pre-knowledge of Gundam, the other movies/shows...its a self contained story. Young Arno Seabrook is the son of Mobile Suit researcher caught up in a new conflict against an enemy known as the Crossbone Vanguard. Armed with a prototype Mobile Suit, Arno is an accidental hero in the struggle against the Vanguard.

All in all, its definitely not the latest and greatest in Japanese animation especially with shows like Gundam SEED and Ghost in the Shell 2 out there, but its definitely an entertaining movie with plenty of giant robots and action.

This Gundam almost copies the original Gundam story. The hero Arno Seabrook a civilian becomes the Gundam pilot to stop the enemy, only he didn't steal the Gundam this time he was drafted to pilot it more or less. This story takes place 30 years after the events in Gundam Char's Counter Attack, so no Charux Zabine is not Char Aznable's son even if the resemblance might be there.

The Villain is a Masked(Darth Vader type baddie)mad man with plans of his own empire Cosmo Babylon, Korozo Ronah aka. Iron Mask. He is also the father of the lead female Cecily Fairchild.

It has some impressive battle scenes climaxing with Arno in the Gundam verses Iron Mask in his giant mobile armor (about 4 times the size of the Gundam)the Rafflesia?

This has become my #1 of the Gundam series, even after 15 years the animation of this holds up. Just wish they had made it the series it was mean to be. There's always the Crossbones Gundam manga that takes place 10 years after Gundam F91.

Through my course of anime obsession, I've grown to love anything and everything Gundam. Though, there have been a series or two I've strayed away from (SEED and TurnA). Gundam F91 was once in the category. Being a whole series condensed into just one movie did not fancy my interests, not to mention it looked cheesy compared to the rest of the UC era. Finally after picking up the first few volumes of Crossbone Gundam manga, I knew I'd have to see the movie. It turns out, it was pretty good for what it is.

Story(***): Out of 5 because it is fairly intriguing, but nothing new. One does tire of the same old plot of a civilian getting into a Gundam, showing Newtype abilities, and being thrown into the chaos that's happening around them. Nonetheless, it does get the extra push because it is slightly different, and the original scenario does set a great backbone for the rest of the movie. Also, the character's individual stories were fast moving (due to time limits), but you do begin to feel for them.

Animation(*****): If Neon Genesis came out in 1996, and this predates it by 5 years, it looks spectacular. The mobile suits look great and the characters hold true to the gundam style. What I truly enjoyed are all the minor details: The F91's fins opening as it launches, minute strafe thrusts as mobiles suits dock, snow and rain, debris of everything you can imagine pouring out of a space colony breach... it's all there.

Sound(*****): I do not believe, in a single Gundam series--past and present--have I heard such details of battle. Again, it's small things like bullets ricocheting off of armor, individual rocks moving, small scrapes from mobile suits landing on metal carrier decks, etc. Also, the music is second only to Char's Counter Attack. You gotta love "Eternal Wind", and the "Imperial March"-esquire background score.

My biggest gripe is how short it is. This is perfect material for a 6 OVA series. Had it been a little longer, we'd see more of the villain's background, and some nicer fights with Seabook facing off against Crossbone aces.

There's a lot of drama, a lot of good flashiness, some amazing sound, and a good deal of light hearted humor from the would-be-heroes. So, I suggest definitely giving this movie a try. As always with Gundam anime, you're going to want to start from the beginning and not here.

It seems that the producer of this anime movie intended to make a full franchise of this series. However we never got to see the second episode of this. The movie appears like a abstract of a full season of Gundam anime, like Zeta Gundam or Gundam ZZ. Nevertheless, it turns out to be too challenging to express the idea that presented in a full 50 episodes anime series in a sole 2 hours film. Nether the story nor the characters, even not the Mech design, is distinct and outstanding enough to make this movie remarkable.

For those unfamiliar with the sad story BEHIND Gundam F91, here it is. Originally intended as a new 50+ episode Gundam series, bad economy and staff disputes threw the production into chaos. In the end, only 13 episodes worth of "bare-as-bones" story outline was produced. This story outline was then condensed into a 115 minute movie.

This condensation shows very jarringly throughout the entire film. The plot is truncated, and things literally jump from place to place. There is really no sense of time to the events that are happening on screen. One minute the characters are fleeing the battle at Frontier 4 colony, then they are in frontier 3. Soon before you know it, they are in Frontier 1 colony teaming up with a bunch of freedom fighters, and then the main character is suddenly back in Frontier 4.

New characters like a Federation vessel full of trainees, a team of commandos, a bunch of refugees and even enemy defectors just seem to appear from out of no where. There is even no attempt at introducing them other than by mention of their names through dialog. On screen, characters could have just met for only a minute and in the next scene they act like they have been working together for weeks.

Despite the condensed nature of the show and the terrible pacing, Yoshiyuki Tomino manages to weave an engaging story with highly likable characters that capture the spirit of his previous Gundam productions.

For starters, more attention is given to the civilian reactions to what is going on. Instead of focusing solely on the main characters or the mobile suit battles, Tomino chooses to focus on the chaos and confusion as seen through they eyes of the common colony folk who at one moment were just enjoying themselves at the county fair, and the next moment, thrust into the nightmare of an invasion.

Any viewer would have no difficulty in relating to the main characters. Their reactions to their situation are very realistically played out without over-doing the angst or the sorrow. Character development may seem rushed, especially for the side-characters as most of them are presented already in "full view" with hardly any form of subsequent character arc advancement. However, all their actions and decisions are carried out in a logical manner that leaves no room for suspension of disbelief. In fact I can go so far as to say that Seabook Anno, our main character and Gundam pilot, has a far more emotionally engaging and logically advanced character development within 115 minutes than Kira Yamato ever did in Gundam Seed's 50 episodes. Seabook's character arc advancement does not feel draggy in anyway, making him a thoroughly well rounded character by the time the movie reaches its climax. It is a pity that the other characters could not have been as thoroughly fleshed out as Seabook was. Thankfully, some very professional performances by the voice actors, for both Japanese and English voice tracks, saves the characters from falling into the domain of "dull". (I personally recommend watching this in English as many of the characters are either Caucasian or non-Japanese)

Besides this, Gundam F91 also excels in its animation. Few anime have been able to show large scale battles without falling back on animation "short cuts" like repeated stock footage and this show is one of those few. Gundam F91's animation during Combat scenes are tight and fluid, while the art manages to maintain a consistently high level of detail. If it were not for its dated color scheme and sound effects, Gundam F91's animation could in fact hold its own against today's anime feature film productions.

This is a stand alone production with no prior knowledge of Gundam required. A short and sweet little teaser for any new fan wanting to jump into the greater Gundam universe. For the older fans, Gundam F91 would be like a "best of..." compilation album. Everything that made the various universal century Gundam series the international hits they are, packaged into 115 minutes. A real pity about the rushed story though.