Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt: December Sky

This Gundam show was amazing. It's not done as a series so don't bother getting into it with an ending expected. The action and animation are beautiful and the story between Io and Darryl will make you grin. It is full of action and has a dark story. When this show is finished, it is bound to be an instant classic.

Mobile Suit Gundam: Thunderbolt is the best Gundam series to take place in the Universal Century timeline. What is probably the best thing in the show is the tone. The tone let's you know how the characters feel and it let's you know how the characters feel in the other Gundam series that didn't do a good job at doing that. And also the series let's you see both sides of the war and it made me feel that both sides are the good guys. Overall the series is easy to watch for it has 4 20 minute episodes and it is easier to watch with it's hour long compilation movies. 10/10 definitely recommend.

Let's get this straight: Cowboy Bebop was bad. Its success was due to a large promotion and distribution investment and not much else. Sure to watchers who are new to anime are easy to charm, but it had ugly character design and below average animation.

Why am I talking about Cowboy Bebop? Because the producers of Gundam Thunderbolt obviously thought it had some big merit, enough to take heavy inspiration and ruin the Gundam stage with obnoxious music that has nothing to do with space wars and mecha. They liked Cowboy Bebop too much to leave out characters with heinous personalities and haircuts who bring hate to themselves like black holes. So I found myself wishing Ghiren Zabi would just send in a Solar Ray to clean up that loathsome sector of space.

As for the synopsis, we don't have much because supposedly spectacular Mobile Suit fights take up most of the time and I couldn't care less of the outcome. We have a detachment of crippled soldiers from Zeon who are being subject to experiments by Evangelion fans who connect their stumps to Zakus vs Federation drug addicts with bad taste in music. And that's it, I'm not joking. Don't waste your time with this crap.

I grew up watching Gundam Wing as a kid, but I was never really a die-hard Gundam fan. This was my first time diving into the Gundam world in 15+ years, and I have to say, I was very impressed.

The futility of war is really driven home as a theme here, which isn't particularly original, but it's always good to be reminded of the horrors of war so we don't repeat our mistakes. That said, it does explore how bloodlust can infect even the most good-natured among us. How wars can be driven to an unfathomable scope in the loss of life, not only because of the virtues and hatred driving the violence, but how the once innocent people entangled in these wars start to enjoy the killing.

The animation is amazing, although it was hard to tell what was going on sometimes because the action was so fast, hence why I took off a star XD. I know Gundam is supposed to be fast-paced but I was lost quite a few times. It was the first time I've ever had to pause and rewind an action scene!

I appreciate that they pay homage to Cowboy Bebop without completely ripping off of it-the jazz only appears when one character enters the scene, making it all the more engaging. The soundtrack here is rich and encompasses a lot more than jazz, which really helped differentiate it from a typical cookie-cutter anime. If you're a Cowboy Bebop fan, or just looking for a dark, violent anime that will leave you with plenty to think about afterwards, check it out!