So, a friend of mine, the only Gundam anime he'd ever seen was G Gundam, and he tells me this, after I torment another friend with the absurdity of the mecha from G Gundam (more on this, later). So, this friend asks for advice on watching the other serieses of Gundam. I gave him the chronology of Universal Century, as well as suggestions about the one-off stories like Gundam 00, and so on. I gave him a long, long list of warnings about Universal Century. I told him of Yoshiyuke Tomino, the man's struggles with manic depression and his hatred of writing sequels. Remember, as you read the following, that I. WARNED. HIM. The trigger warnings. ALL the trigger warnings. Select-fire, belt-fed trigger warnings. And that that aspect is what makes Tomino so damned GOOD. His reactions, by series, are as follows: - Mobile Suit Gundam "Well, Amuro, now that you've connected to me on a personal level, time for me to ram into something and save you. Does the EFSF just...farm, PTSD, or something?" - 08th MS Team "A little short, but good" - 0080: War in the Pocket "Dear god, it's Adventures in Babysitting, the anime." "Oh, don't worry, all these characters are Zeons. Got the beer ready for the death drinking game." "It occurs to me, this whole series is about men manipulating a child to commit treason." - 0083: Stardust Memory "Finished that one in a weekend. Loved the Metal Gear Gundam" - Zeta "Wow. Jerid. Just...wow. You tell the kid he has no idea what it's like to lose people, when you watched his mom get spaced in front of him, before he was forced to kill his own father. This is the single most brilliant and effective way to make me hate the antagonist." "Okay, at least the Zeons were vaguely sympathetic, the Titans are outright mustache-twirling sociopaths, who laugh as they spray neurotoxin into space colonies." "If this is the Federation, then Zeon did nothing wrong. They didn't make Four or Rosamy, and kill them both the same exact way." "Impaled by the nose of a Gundam. Best way for a human roofie to die." - ZZ "Is...is this a different writer? I'm scared. I know Tomino won't be gone forever." "I like these antagonists, they fail more out of their chivalry and honor, as opposed to real incompetence and pure evil." "Wow...Puru...has problems." "You have NO IDEA." "What?" "[Maniacal laughter]" "They...they made clones of Puru. So she can die all over again." "I expect many, many Puru deaths. And now we're headed to Dublin, so the Trigunnning is imminent." All of the above, occasionally interspersed with everything from commentary on character arcs, to "....WHYYYYY?!". Such is Tomino. He hasn't even gotten to where the Puru clones become one guy's version of Gaddafi's supermodel bodyguard harem squad. Only, hideously underaged, and their very existence is an impossibly massive war crime. The best part of this whole exercise: he now agrees with me that George R.R. Martin is a hack, who has nothing on a guy who wrote character deaths to have actual impact and meaning, versus "Uhh, I forget...am I on an incest phase, or a murder phase? Eh, screw it. Murder-cest!"
