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- Comment on Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury -- Dare I say... not "woke" enough!? 1 week ago:
I really enjoyed Prospera as a character. And reviled her as a person while still retaining some forms of empathy. That’s a pretty big win IMO.
MAJOR ENDING SPOILERS (Mobile Suit Gundam: Witch from Mercury)
First half Prospera was super engaging as her motivation seemed to be to avenge her family and take down the corporations and power structure that lead to them being needlessly murdered during the prologue. She was undoubtedly manipulating Suletta (and in one of her best scenes Miorine calls her out for it, only for Prospera to point out the hypocrisy of that), but it felt like she was infiltrating the system and masterminding the demise of the Benerit Group. I really figured she would be like Char in the original MSG 0079, in the sense that she wasn’t going to be so much of a villain. Instead she ended up becoming something like Gendo Ikari from Neon Genesis Evagelion with the Data Storm as her Human Instrumentality Project, all of this at the expense of her relationship to Suletta. But then at the end we got something of a “happy ending” where all of the kids are CEOs (or rather, oligarchs), the people of Earth are still subjugated (but I guess at least being “listened to”…), and Prospera is now having a picnic with Suletta and her keychain sister, despite the fact that she just wiped out an entire fleet and almost had both her daughters kill each other. It’s didn’t really stick for me. The thing about being Gendo Ikari is that there’s really no way to repair the relationships that you’ve destroyed in order to achieve your selfish goals. Prospera went down that route, but somehow everything turned out OK in the end in her toxic relationship to Suletta.
Speaking of details, they are everywhere, and they build on one another. Things like using cinematography to mirror an earlier scene, then later doing the same but with a different perspective to highlight the changes in the characters. The symbolism is rampant, some obvious, some subtle. This wasn’t a Tomino story, but it builds on one of his tenets: show, don’t tell. Environmental storytelling. I have a friend that really only engages with Gundam as “second screen” material while she’s doing something else. Unsurprisingly, she’s ambivalent about most of it and actively hostile towards WfM.
Overall I loved the idea, got very immersed in the setting and characters, and was a little disappointed when the pacing fell off. Still an easy recommend.
For sure, the show really looked great and was effective at telling the story. The drama and symbolism were truly great at times. When it hit, it hit. Some of the more intimate scenes with Suletta dealing with shit on her own were really genuinely touching and beautiful.
I also recommend checking it out and think it’s a worthy series. :)
Btw, @wjs018@ani.social was kind enough to open up !gundam@ani.social for us. And @Endmaker@ani.social volunteered to mod. So feel free to hop on over there and join us! 👊
I’m in! Still pretty new to Gundam but I’m quickly getting up to speed in anticipation of Gquuuuuux, having just watched 0079, War in the Pocket, 08th MS Team and Witch from Mercury. About 10 episodes into Zeta right now and loving it so far.
- Comment on Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury -- Dare I say... not "woke" enough!? 1 week ago:
The other day I stumbled upon this 3 year old Tested video where they put together a “Perfect Grade” Gundam and they were really impressed by the intricate level of design and engineering that went into it, and I have to say I was too.
To see all of the moving parts underneath the outer armor/shell and the engineering involved to making it all work (not to mention have it stand up even under pretty extreme poses) was damn impressive. At this point I’m more worried about clutter than anything I think. lol
- Comment on Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury -- Dare I say... not "woke" enough!? 1 week ago:
Yeah, that’s exactly how I feel.
Suletta’s and Miorine’s likability was the only thing that kept me on board until the end, but ultimately it felt like a show that walked right up to the edge of saying something meaningful about modern society (be it corporate capitalism, LGBTQ issues, women’s issues, war, etc.) but then stepped back for no reason.
- Comment on Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury -- Dare I say... not "woke" enough!? 1 week ago:
Cool news about the Gunpla. I’ve never made a model but I’m getting dangerously close to getting into it after watching all of this Gundam stuff recently. I wonder how the GQuuuuuuuuuux models are going to be?
- Submitted 1 week ago to anime@ani.social | 14 comments
- Comment on "Guilty Gear Strive: Dual Rulers" New Key Visual, PV 1 week ago:
The story in the games is pretty convoluted, but I think it’s really cool to see them broadening out into a full-fledged anime with Guilty Gear. Hopefully it’s good!
- Comment on "Guilty Gear Strive: Dual Rulers" New Key Visual, PV 1 week ago:
What’s the other one?
- Comment on "Section 31" early review round-up 1 week ago:
Now that’s a headline!
- Comment on Mobile Suit Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket (OVA) - What do you think of this one? 3 weeks ago:
For me the age isn’t really a big deal, as I’ve been really digging into 80s and 70s anime recently, including the original 1979 Mobile Suit Gundam.
I think Gunbuster is probably my best point of reference for comparison since it came out just a year prior to War in the Pocket, and in my opinion it’s a better show in every way. But then again, Gunbuster is kind of a masterpiece to me. :)
- Submitted 3 weeks ago to anime@ani.social | 7 comments
- Comment on Getting up to speed with Gundam 3 weeks ago:
Not overwhelming at all, and I enjoyed the read. Thanks for taking the time!
Like many in the west, my first exposure was to Gundam Wing on Toonami, and while I remember thinking the character and mech designs were cool, it never really clicked for me. I never watched it from the beginning, however, so I don’t think I can fairly judge it.
Mobile Suit Gundam (1979) Vague Spoiler Talk
I really enjoyed the original Mobile Suit Gundam (0079), having just finished it. Despite being aware of Gundam for my entire life as an anime geek, it always felt to me like its own niche thing. For some reason I always had the [false] impression that it was really super dry, with a focus on the military/technology aspects over character drama and storytelling. Initially I wasn’t sure whether to watch the series version or the film retelling, but I wanted to try experiencing the whole thing in its original form and I’m glad I did. I did find it a bit slow at times, particularly towards the very beginning at around episode 3 when the focus was primarily on the battle dynamics between Amuro and Char. But once the story started to get into the human/psychological effects that the war was having on Amuro and others, I was able to really get into it and easily binge a few episodes per day. I wont say too much about the ending, other than that it was truly epic, ambitious, and very well done. I only wish some of the concepts that were important at the end would have been gradually worked into the show sooner, but obviously that’s hindsight that the creators didn’t have the benefit of. As a HUGE Evangelion (and Gainax in general) fan I always knew that Gundam was a big influence on it, but I was still really impressed and fascinated by the many parallels–not just in terms of the story and characters, but also in the direction (like the style and timing of the cuts), and even the soundtrack (there are a few Gundam OST cues that I wouldn’t be surprised were used as placeholders or references during Eva’s production) . To a lesser extent I also like the original Eureka Seven, and the parallels there are even more strikingly obvious in retrospect–from the Gekko State being kind of like White Base, to the 3 kids on the ship, and some story beats being very similar. These shows obviously do their own thing too, but I really enjoyed picking up on the various ways in which Gundam had influenced them.
So yeah, I really liked 0079… Both from an “important part of anime history” perspective, but also just as a very good and ambitious 70s anime in it’s own right. I come away from the experience as a budding Gundam fan, and I think I’ve really been sleeping on the show. I’m looking forward to checking out more of the series.
Because I don’t have a lot of time before Gquuuuuux (what a name Khara… lol) premieres, I won’t be able to hit all the best stuff in order. So my current plan is to get a sampling of different well-regarded stuff from different eras. I’m thinking about going straight for 0080 War in the Pocket next (Small Gainax connection there too), then 08th MS Team, and then maybe checking out a bit of Witch from Mercury if I have time. Basically I’m going for the Gundam sample platter. lol
Finally, anything I should know about watching the series vs the films? Are the 0079 films meaningfully different (in terms of story, animation quality, etc.) than the series to warrant checking them out too? Would you recommend speeding through the Zeta films or waiting until later when I have time to watch the full Zeta series? Also, are there any standout must-watch films in the Gundam series in general?
- Comment on Getting up to speed with Gundam 3 weeks ago:
Based on Tsurumaki’s past work on Diebuster and the Evangelion Rebuilds, I’m guessing it’ll feel very separate but also be connected in interesting ways.
- Submitted 3 weeks ago to anime@ani.social | 17 comments
- Comment on Which is better: F-Zero or Super Mario Kart (SNES)? 2 months ago:
I prefer F-Zero as it’s super fast, unique and fun, but Super Mario Kart is also pretty good and has multiplayer. Both have classic music and a very memorable look.
- Comment on Bluesky Social surpasses 19 million users as more celebrities leave X 2 months ago:
There’s a lot you aren’t taking into consideration, for example where those users are coming from.
- Threads is just Instagram, it’s essentially the same account, so its users were baked in from the start. How many of those Threads users are just people who already used Instagram?
- BlueSky really isn’t pulling users from Mastodon, it’s pulling them from “X.com”, which if nothing else represents a breaking up of old Twitter, which is good for decentralization in general. Any fracturing of social media is good for the fediverse.
- Both Threads and BlueSky are, to some degree, copies of Mastodon in terms of their relationship with federation. Threads uses ActivityPub itself (a win for the fediverse, depending on how you look at it), and BlueSky has their own AT federation protocol, which shows that the ideas behind the fediverse are already winning out. It’s entirely possible that, at some point in the future, BlueSky and Mastodon learn to speak to each other using one of those protocols (or a new one), and then the fediverse wins by default.
- Fediverse apps like Misskey are apparently doing great in Japan, which is great for the existence of Japanese artists and the international side of things.
The fact that we’re here, right now, discussing this on the fediverse, shows that ActivityPub has come a long way. Bluesky is nothing more than a shallow copy of Mastodon with far less federation and far fewer features.
- Comment on For me, Cyberpunk 2077 was uninteractive and has low replayablility value. 2 months ago:
I haven’t played Cyberpunk, but I already felt that way about The Witcher 3, to some extent. CDPR makes nice looking games with seemingly vibrant and populated worlds, but I feel like interaction with the world and NPCs is pretty thin and boring.
- Comment on Bluesky Social surpasses 19 million users as more celebrities leave X 2 months ago:
BlueSky is really just Twitter pretending to be Mastodon, but that’s a minor issue compared to the problems associated with platforms like “X” and TikTok today.
What matters most right now is killing off Twitter and breaking up the dominance of any one platform on social media. I really don’t care where people go as long as they get the fuck off of Twitter and TikTok. Mastodon and open platforms will eventually win out in a divided social media ecosystem anyway, in my opinion. Divide and conquer.
- Comment on Petition calls to ban Elon Musk's X in Europe 2 months ago:
Corporate nationalist social media like “X” (American oligarchy) and TikTok (Chinese oligarchy) are a danger to the sovereignty and stability of the Western world.
- Comment on Comcast, Disney, and IBM Are Among Advertisers Returning to X After Ad Freeze 2 months ago:
Oligarchs get cozy with oligarchs, what a shocker.
- Comment on Why are people preferring Blue Sky over Mastodon? 2 months ago:
They aren’t really the same answer.
People suggest that Mastodon is too complicated for the average knuckle-dragging moron to use (and it might be, but frankly I consider that a pro, not a con) because it has “servers”, as if the entire point of the internet wasn’t to have a global network of communication across a multitude of clients and servers. Do these same people think the concept of websites and email are also too complex for the regular person? Maybe… But again, if the regular person is that fucking dumb do we really want have them in our community at all?
What’s more, BlueSky is supposedly federated (or "will be"™), and as such it’ll have to deal with all of the same challenges around federation that Mastodon deals with, and people are kidding themselves if they think otherwise.
Otherwise I agree with your last sentence. Social media is about money and fame, first and foremost. The average person will always go where the most money and fame are concentrated.
- Comment on Why are people preferring Blue Sky over Mastodon? 2 months ago:
You want the bullshit “Mastodon is too complicated and hard to use!” answer or the real answer?
BlueSky has rich people behind it.