Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam Rocks Hardcore

We’ve been blasting our way through Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam like the DVDs are going to disappear at the end of the week. This is pretty unheard of, because Shapiro Keats and I are about the slowest anime-watchers in the entire world. But it’s really good. And since we watched the original MS Gundam, we can do all the elite little, “Look, it’s Bright, it’s Haro, it’s that guy who piloted the GunTank…” (Zeta takes place between the end of the first series and Char’s Counterattack).

Watching this, I’ve found that there are some really weird things that apparently connect all Gundam shows, no matter what chronology it’s in. Here’s the list:

1)      Most importantly, people are constantly getting the shit slapped out of them. Bright is still wielding the Hand of Slappage That Turns Whiny Bitches into Awesome Pilots (too bad he hasn’t slapped the whiny bitch main character yet, but I think it’s coming), but others are getting in on it too. The first slap, a well-execute backhanded pimp slap, occurred 7 minutes into the first episode. We’re on episode 15, and I’ve been keeping count: 13 slaps. There’ve been plenty of punches too but I haven’t kept track of those.

2)      Main characters who are some kind of Asperger’s case: teen boys who are incapable of understanding social cues or the emotions and thought processes of others. Even though they’re Newtypes and are pretty much psychic. These kids need therapists and coping strategies, not giant killer robots.

3)      Very few of the characters are able to have an entire conversation without throwing a tantrum, storming off, or pouting. The exceptions are the ‘old’ characters; i.e. anyone over 25.

A few notes on Zeta:

1. Char as a good guy. It takes some getting used to, but it helps that at some point in the 8-10 years between the end of the original and Zeta, he got totally hot. Somehow very few people seem to suspect his true identity, even though he always wears red, starts out with a red mech, and wears giant face-devouring sunglasses.
2. The reunion between Amuro and Char isn’t just dramatic, it’s fucking romantic. They’re all murmuring each other’s names and staring into each other’s eyes and shit. And the background music is soft and sweet. Later, Amuro tells someone else that Char is really a ‘gentle person’ inside. I think there is some strongly repressed manlove going on here. It must be really, really deep because the last time they saw each other Char was either trying to gut Amuro with a sword or drop a space colony on his head, I don’t recall which (it’s been a few years since I watched the movies).
3. There are no interesting female characters in this show. None. One chick looked like she had the potential to be awesome, but got her ass killed a few episodes in. There was another woman who seemed pretty badass, but turned out to be a whiny bitch with the added bonus of being batshit crazy.
4. Haro is still annoying.
5. Luckily no one has yet tried to hide their 30-foot, brightly-colored robot in a forest by throwing a few branches over it. I never got that and I never will.