Char's Counterattack!
After finishing ZZ, you know I had to watch the movie and finish off the original saga. I'm gonna start by saying that it's just really really good. I should solidify my thoughts after I have more time to ruminate on it, but coming right off of watching it, it feels like the best of the Universal Century that I've watched.
So, the movie starts right in it, with Char's Neo Zeon having already declared their plan to cause a new Ice Age by dropping asteroids on the earth, and succeeding with Fifth Luna (I don't like how it's not just called Luna Five. Why did they have to switch the naming conventions?) I feel like they do a good job of introducing everything despite the immediate start, and it helps that it was a little softened with the introduction to Quess beforehand.
While the movie places a heavy focus on the relationship between Amuro and Char, it also gives something new with Quess and Hathaway. I could have done with the sole dedication to the original relationship, but I think the fresh story was nice, and didn't get in the way. Plus, it served as a small parallel. I quite liked Quess, but she was fine with hopping in a mobile suit and killing for the sake of Char's goals real quick. Part of being a movie instead of a long series, I guess. But she does immediately get blasted with all of the emotions of people dying on the battlefield, so it sorta balances out. Kinda weird how she's a newtype despite being born and raised on earth, though. Hathaway got the short end of the stick, not getting as much screen time in the 2nd act and hardly piloting before he sees Quess die, and then kills Chan in retaliation. Well, he gets 2 movies of his own to sort that out.
There's probably quite a bit to say about the new mobile suits. I do see why people really like the Nu Gundam and the Sazabi. The Nu Gundam has that darker color and sleekness of the Mark II that I love, lots of hidden extra weapons on it, and the funels forming a wing/panel is really cool. The Sazabi, on the other hand, is just a beast. I find it neat that, while it has funnels, and Char occasionally uses them, she still doesn't seem like the best at using them. It fits with her not being as gifted of a newtype as others. The Alpha-whatever was weird in a way that I can expect. Detachable boosters instead of legs is neat. The Geara-Doga's and Jagen's are neat evolutions of the Zaku and GM lines. The Re-GZ was cool, a little less unique then the original Zeta Gundam, fitting of it being a Federation construction. It's also neat to see that the dummy systems have improved since ZZ, being able to replicate mobile suits, and even battleships. It's also a neat bit of worldbuildling how Zeon's dummies are more detailed than Londo Bell's, since they planned to use them for a more grand deception.
Okay, so, this movie has definitely reinforced my belief in transfem Char. During Zeta, when she's pushed to be the leader of the AEUG and out herself as "Char Aznable" and "Son of Zeon Daikun", she fully resigns herself to being a politician and pursuing her father's goals, at the cost of herself. This is continued in the movie, where she falls into the roll of savy politician and leader, beloved by the people, but it's all just another mask. It's just falling back onto who she was forced to be. In her moments with Nanai, she opens up a bit, but is still guarded, saying her rehearsed lines about her goals for getting rid of those whose souls are stuck in Earth's gravity, openly admitting that she's only seeing Nanai to keep up appearances of a good leader, a good politician, a good man. But you can feel the longing for before, for her connection to Lalah ("a woman who could have been like a mother to me", someone to give her a goal besides her father's, a more feminine connection), for Amuro.
God, the connection between Char and Amuro. I need to talk about this before I get to another point. The tragedy of their opposition is palpable. The spirit of Lalah still haunts the both of them, wanting them to be together. They both still believe in humanity becoming newtypes and coming to understand each other, but Amuro still hopes that the people of earth can change, while Char has had that hope beaten out of her. Char acknowledges how evil this plan is, and inwardly begs for Amuro to stop her. She gives the Psycho Frame to Amuro's mechanics so they can fight on even ground, just like they used to. The meeting in the fields of Londinion is reminiscent of when they first met face to face, along with Lalah. The fight outside of their mobile suits, in the halls of Axis, is reminiscent of their increadibly charged fencing duel in A Baoa Qu. Whether it be planned by Char or by coincidence, they're recreating their moments together, knowing that they have to fight, but maybe wishing that that could change. The scene that really gets me is when Char's talking with Nanai, 46 minutes in, and she accurately notes that this plan is, in part, to get back at Amuro, for their opposing but oh so close ideals. And she says "A woman may be able to forgive such a man. But Captain, you cannot forgive that about Amuro". And this is the part that made me start to cry. Because that's the core of it all. Char and Amuro have such a connection, share the same goals, but they can't resolve the differences between them because of Char's position, the mask that she's forced herself to wear. The mask of the Captain, the Politician, the Leader of Neo Zeon, the Son of Zeon Daikun, the Man. If she was allowed to be herself, she would be able to forgive Amuro, but she can't. She can't be the woman who forgives, like Lalah. She can't be the Quattro that held rapport with Amuro and pushed for them to escape Earth's gravity together. She has to be Char, the evil leader who shoulders all of the worst sins of humanity in the hope that maybe, in another age, there won't be another war that can crush an innocent and kind woman, like Lalah, like herself.
