Gundam Thunderbolt review: Gundam goes Grimdark

So, do you kids like Jazz? Do you like Grimdark? Let's do a Gundam Thunderbolt review then, since it has both of them in spades. Time to join the jazz band as we follow Io Fleming and Daryl Lorenz for this non-canon romp through the One Year War!
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[@2saisai]

I hope one day we get the rest of manga/series. It's genuinely my favourite gundam anime/movie.

[@DICEBOY22]

Seems like their still releasing and coming out... Vol. 19 is out on March 21'st 2023 occording to Amazon. Is thier some debacle where we're missing a whole other 20 volumes or something?

[@Jordanf777]

Same

[@nekomancer4641]

the rest of the manga honestly turned weird.

[@robmar1014]

With how off the rails it goes I think they are hesitant lol. I know Japan is less focused on "canon" than western nerds, but the Thunderbolt manga breaks it so thoroughly after where the anime ends it's hard to rectify. The manga is incredible though so I could care less.

[@LetMeFLY649]

"that the full armor gundam has the least fortunate acronym..." 'what do you mean by tha- oh, i see it now'

[@CassDaMan1138]

lmao I remember playing Gundam Battle Operation 2 and when they put this and the other variants of Full Armors in the game, the slang on the discord forums threw me for a loop at first

[@enriquecabrera2137]

"Bring out the Mobile Suit FAGs to the frontline!" Or "send the FAG to the rear" sounds a little different 😂😂😂

[@typeoddnamehere2362]

Could be worse. FA Gundam Ground Type says hello sheepishly.

[@clpfox470]

I think the manga did a few things better (like how Darrel lost his hand) but ultimately i think thunderbolts theme of the futility of war is well reflected in the anime. The sector that was contested didn't even play a part in aboa qu. The living dead was told to fight to the last for no good reason other than zeal. And many people were killed needlessly in a floating graveyard.

[@saturationstation1446]

if you think war is futile its because you cant accept the reason why they actually happen in the first place. which is to cull the working class before their numbers give them too much power over the ruling class. every single war in modern times and many in antiquity are done solely for this reason. to consolidate wealth. and the rich people from each side are always working together, no matter what you want to think. its always rich vs poor.

[@byakugan641]

i love how they visualize the battlefield plus the sfx of the lightning always give me goosebumps, tho that's just my opinion on the first anime only

[@Strife4Greatness]

One of my favorites actually. Not only for the quality but the JAZZ baby

[@talonryckert6084]

One thing I love about Thunderbolt is the contrast of both sides. Two different design philosophies for dealing with this sector of space. Both are scraping the barrel so to speak for pilots, Zeon using their wounded and maimed, while the Federation uses child soldiers. Pair that with the two contrasting protagonists, and their relationships, and music, I find it a simple yet very compelling story, one of the best we have gotten recently.

[@epikmanthe3rd]

Probably already mentioned, but Thunderbolt was supposed to, and still very well may, get a third season and so on. The story was heavily delayed due to the mangaka, Yasuo Ohtagaki devoloping tenosynovitis (inflammation around the tendons) making it very painful to draw. The studio has gone on to say they would like to continue Thunderbolt, but understandably have other Gundam series in the works at the moment.

[@Polymerata]

the worse timeline to ever exist, grim dark reality of gundam that has the same energy as the original.

[@henryfleischer404]

I see Gundam Thunderbolt the anime as Sunrise experimenting with animation techniques as they got ready for Iron Blooded Orphans, with a story on the side. I've got no idea if that's true.

[@leeellis784]

Thunderbolt is a series I've been meaning to get into.

[@awkwardempire9956]

I'm really enjoying these reviews. I'm currently watching Zeta Gundam but I'll definitely put Thunderbolt on my watch list

[@Templarzealot89]

Any suggestions on where to watch them?

[@seanbigay1042]

Gundam has always been somewhat grimdark, and IMHO "Iron-Blooded Orphans" is distinctly darker than "Thunderbolt." At least in "Thunderbolt" all the fighters are adults.

[@CMTechnica]

I love Thunderbolt. The first one that actually had me invested in the characters

[@plaingreekyogurt996]

This is the series that got me into gundam. The manga is also really good. Io fleming is my favorite pilot and just finished my custom mg full armor thunderbolt ver ka this month.

[@BigMicahC]

Dope. I'm hoping to get to do the MG Full Armor ver ka sometime in the near future. Just need to figure out the shelf space for it.

[@KillerOrca]

​@@BigMicahCIt's a hell of a kit

[@Torriotorres]

The original Gundam, got me into Gundam. Amuro

[@kamilazman2943]

I syphatize with daryl and I bought hg psycho zaku. ver ka cost 3x more where I am from

[@lostcosmonaut1000]

Just the usage of jazz, the art of finding rhythm in the chaos of noise, is the representative theme of an ace pilot who is shown numerous times flawlessly weaving through the heavy sniper fire and terrain of the thunderbolt zone, with an ace pilot themselves being people who have found, albeit temporary, rhythm in the chaos of war, just speaks volumes as to how peak of a miniseries/movie this was

[@niccolomiglio6996]

I have to say I appreciateyour vid: it made me look at the show with a different light and I really needed it. Thank you.

[@deleonfrancis60]

Why in the hell do people call this not Canon it’ set in the UC era. It uses the uniform factions the story. It’s a side story isn’t it?

[@austinreed7343]

There are instances of it contradicting the narratives of prior UC stuff.

[@halifaxsteppenwulf7980]

It’s more… dubiously canon. It had a bunch of contradictions with well established tech and events, but other parts fit into the existing canon just fine.

[@ronansorgdrager]

Gundam is full of contradictions and whatever, just chalk it up to in-universe propaganda or inaccuracies as if it was a retelling. Everything animated is "canon"

[@Balevolt]

Man I always thought of Darrel as the protagonist of Thunderbolt and Io as the antagonist.

[@brobandit2944]

Me too

[@walterdenny8143]

It's funny. Cause I'm very much the same. I always empathized more with Daryl Lorenz. He's the much nicer character vs Io who comes off as a brash jerk (I know he isn't but first impressions give this). Daryl shoots from a distance cold and calculated while listening to soft pop, versus Io Flemming who rushes the battlefield recklessly blaring his free Jazz.

[@crozraven]

Based on manga, it really goes deeper imo. I would say Thunderbolt really became style & substance. It really be asking you what does it mean to bring peace & how much are you willing to sacrifice for it. A lot people be saying that Hatheway is the best Gundam movie in recent years, while personally I would disagree with it & still pick MSG Thunderbolt December Sky or MSG Origin instead.

[@CMTechnica]

“In recent years” The latest Thunderbolt was animated was 2017.

[@Morning_Star_Productions]

I think if there’s a lesson/theme to be derived from Thunderbolt, it’s that there isn’t necessarily a good or bad side in war, and that despite their actions, soldiers on both sides of a war are human

[@Damitsall]

One thing I can't stand about this series (actually some other gundams do this too) is that even though the GM is a better suit than the Zaku, the GM gets mildly grazed by a machine gun bullet and blows up. The Zaku takes huge beam canons and beam sabers and it's still fine.

[@30dayofprogress10]

December Sky takes everything good about Gundam and condenses it in one hour

[@locdogg86]

I love how this show was produced. I wish more gundam shows were like it. I get tired of the whiny kids and pretentious rants and Ill timed rants.

[@VoltitanDev]

4:57 Yeah both sides are complete assholes if there's one thing I like about UC Gundam is that they don't put either side in a positive light most of the times.

[@KillerOrca]

Sweet music, war crimes, bullying the diabled and no newtypes in signt. Thunderbolt was and still is my favorite Gundam show

[@enrique6042]

idk if I would recommend the manga to you then 🥴😭

[@RyohuHajimeRX-0UnicornGundam]

Definitely want to see where they go with Requiem for Vengeance! Might give this anime a run for its money.

[@greatwhite3512]

I love diva pilots the more shit talking the better

[@whitemale2230]

I was pretty shocked when the Feds started using child soldiers who could barely pilot as meatshields.

[@Shadows_fall]

This was dark AF and I loved it. That Psycho Zaku was so awesome. It's because of the Zaku I got into Gundam. The first Gundam I liked was the Deathsythe Gundam and not another until Gundam Aerial but, the Zaku will always be my favorite mobile suit and the Psycho Zaku will always be my favorite of all Zaku.

[@impulse_media]

My wife and I just finished "December Sky" and it's near impossible to find "Bandit Flower"

[@jasond2333]

I somehow got the Blue rays for both. I believe I got them both on Amazon.

[@Jeagan2002]

The biggest difference between the Thunderbolt FA Gundam and the MSV FA Gundam is the MSV one was theoretical, they never actually managed to make one during the OYW. The arms/armament were way too heavy for them to provide enough propulsion to make it NOT a sitting duck xD

[@michaelsong3733]

"If your an anime fan" Me who has not see any of those other 3 anime: Guess I'll just die.

[@emmetfeely7760]

7:19-7:24 Full Armour Gundam, I see what you did there Micah😏

[@silverheart302]

12:39 fellow redhead addict here, I gotta gush about the red hair AND ponytail. Perfect combo and then she EVEN GOT TATS, she is perfect ❤

[@benlex5672]

Just a note that the thunderbolt sector doesn't have EFSF presence, rather Moore Brotherhood takes charge here. Think of it as the National Guard of side-4 that's hiring from side-4 refugees only. As seen early in a meeting scene (when gundam was delivered) Moore brotherhood is very rich to the point that they bought enough warbonds and donations to persuade EFSF to send them a Gundam, which at this point of the war is a strategic psychological weapon, and later guncannons. On the tech side, considering that the wave riders, G-liners, and EXAM units were developed during the OYW on the EFF side in the original timeline, Gundam Atlas really isn't that far off tech-wise. Not to mention all the Zeon experimental suits that were developed by the end of OYW and ended up in the hands of EFF.

[@UrbanS_69]

I still need to watch Thunderbolt, but have built a couple of the HG kits. Wish they would have put out some kits of those Acguys, though.

[@basteagui]

lol i gotta borrow that one. "if you remind me of a gundam it would but a Full.Armored.Gundam."

[@NeoGato2point0]

I’ve been trying to get my best friend into Gundam and this one was the first one he really got into. I was curious if he would root for Io or Daryl since they’re both kind of the main characters. I was interested that he actually rooted passionately for Daryl and against Io. They’re an interesting pair of dual protagonists.

[@Dinobot-k2x]

thunderbolt imo is the best gundam series

[@shreypaliwal9170]

Spoilers alert . . . . . . Gundam Thunderbolt version Perfect Zeong looks amazing

[@purpleperson5791]

Why isn’t thunderbolt canon?

[@Nimrod336]

They say it outright in the second movie "hes no hero he just a pilot who hid behind kids" I can't believe they are making a new gundam seed and not a 3rd movie. Seed destiny was crap. Thunderbolt is amazing

[@rmw9420]

this... THIS IS GUNDAM.

[@lockout6896]

lol I knew tank was coming 😂😂

[@jasoncombs3232]

By far the best gundam anime imo.

[@D3sertGh0st]

I mean gundam has always been grimdark especially UC. Its just that in msg 79 they never really panned too much into the cockpits of zakus that amuro sliced in half or shot up.

[@081Ghost]

Has there been any news of a part III?

[@jaromswenson7541]

i like thunderbolt up till a point. it had things i like and things i didnt. oftentimes it negated some of my least liked tropes - the trope of the overpowered gundam that trumps everything was negated by the high mobility zaku with cybernetic controls -there wasn't a single child soldier main character. all the main characters are adults and with previous military experience, and when they do add kids they are cannon fodder that die realy quick (just like how child soldiers actually perform in war) -the newtype stuff is almost nonexistant outside of the cult, but that was fine as it was less "super soldiers" and more "religious organization" (i dont know if this changes in the manga) -i normally get realy bored with gundams space combat (i much prefer ground combat), but the thunderbolt sector has so much debris that "cover" is actually a thing and much of the combat is about using cover. -the acguy stuff is just realy fun, realy wish there was more of it where the series fell off for me was when the introduced the atlas gundam. just seeing the hover skis realy triggered the "this is just made to sell a toy and not a serious war drama". i hated everything about it, it is nowhere as interesting as the full armor gundam and just overpowers everything it goes against, with no real challenge in the series. i dont know if this changes in the manga, but just seeing it made the manga less interesting to me (im still going to have to check it out sometime out of curiosity).

[@KillerOrca]

On one hand, hover skis. On the other, it's a Gundam armed with a FUCKING RAILGUN

[@grizz7271]

Thanks for the vid- check your local library, they may have the Manga there 😁. The manga is amazing, and worth the read

[@pauljordan0203]

this is an intersting series, though I'd wished they finished the manga and anime versions of the story, and not leave it indefinitely incomplete.

[@enrique6042]

The manga is ongoing…

[@pauljordan0203]

@@enrique6042 well that's good news, hopefully they'll continue the anime version once the manga version is done.

[@johnsouto5221]

Michael Bay and Gundam!! How Dare You even think about that concept!! Keep that Spoiler out!!

[@Hazzymane56]

I was saying the music sounded similar to something fr...

[@mechamaniac1567]

I must say that my feelings over Thunderbolt are really split. It's both OVERRATED and UNDERRATED. The OVA is definitely tremendously overrated because of one thing: Bandit Flower. It's just not an enjoyable watch. No, it's not because of the brutal fights and pretty terrifying fates of some of the characters. It's because it ends on a cliffhanger. Bandit Flower is just a 90 minute manga ad that's better off skipped. Now December Sky, that's a recommended watch. It's self-contained, ends conclusively and it has most of the same strengths Bandit Flower has. The MANGA, on the other hand, is incredibly underrated. Mecha is the one genre where anime absolutely trumps manga in terms of availability and approachability, so seeing it get licenced was amazing. And it's got so much more goodness the anime version simply never covered. Definitely worth the money.

[@striker7469]

Fucking lit.

[@tommyg4842]

I do want to watch season 2. I didnt like this one, (Im watching this series in order I actually much prefer the war in a pocket show). Its too over the top for me. And I watched the iron blooded ophans. that also had a lot of super powered crazy moments, but I cared about those characters more so went ehy went crazy I was there! I think the characters in this are too weak and underdeveloped at least in season 1 from what I saw. I liked the losing limbs stuff, it was sad and touching but the main guy didn't seem care too much. The character from ophrans was like that too just using his body for war and losing himself but it was WAYY more felt to me. I guess the whole 4 ep mini show didn't feel good enough for me maybe with a longer streach would help me care about these people.

[@benparker1822]

It's not canon, huh? That's too bad.

[@giyoza1825]

The narration is great but the actual video is so hard to watch because of the ultra low framerate

[@TheIntratec9]

@Micah Curtis I hope you cover Destiny one day.

[@williamcase426]

Gundam is the best

[@AzraelThanatos]

Honestly, with Katoki, I've been getting more annoyed with him and constant tinkering with things. Glory of Losers is the big thing that kind of soured me on anything beyond his art, and he starts dumping retcons into things...with complexity only to make things convoluted. But I like his designs, just not the application of them with some things

[@redpillforreal3053]

Its on no streaming apps

[@chrisadams1814]

I would be really into this anime/ manga if they didn't feel the constant need to stick so much worthless extra stuff to the backs of the best mobile suit designs of all time. They dont need that shit, just let the Zaku speck for itself. Also the extra shields just irk me. Then their is the sher number of completely incompetent pilots.

[@bkh3218]

impressive video!! yes they hired a guy who worked with Yoko Kanno on CowBoy Bebop. but i felt the music in December Sky was not as good as Bandit Flower. i'm praying that they adapt the remainder of the Thunderbolt Manga as they have barely scratched the surface with the 1st 2 movies compilation films. I want 2 see the 'perfect' gundam in animation. i didn't like thunderbolt at first but once i sat down and watched it - it grew on me. now that i understand it, i love it. if they adapt the remainder of the manga to animation it will be the BEST 0079 side story series ever. even surpassing 0083 stardust memory which i feel is the best side story series.

[@marcosdheleno]

"gundam thunderbolt is gundam grimdark" original release 0079: thats so cute...

[@louishavens7849]

Yo dude are you seriously trying to hurt yourself right now? You're about to buy the deluxe edition of berserk holy f****** s*** meant get ready for some new levels psychological scars you think you're messed up now get ready, because the s*** is about to get darker than you've ever seen dark get

[@nagiaoe2434]

Guts got buck broken KWAB

[@azrael1045]

i hate the Atlas Gundam so very much

[@Pokey_Puni_]

Who hurt you?

[@thomasistheman1]

Must be a Zeon fanatic. Death to the cowardly Zeon. Love live Side 4 Moore

[@kindlingking]

I sorta agree. Seeing and entirely company of GMs getting slaughtered in seconds so this thing (or Full Armor for that matter) can they swoop in and solo all enemies with ease is boring as hell. Atlas feels like a solidified walking power fantasy for people obsessed with gundams.

[@BLARG313]

Imagine being ignorant enough to say December Sky isn’t deep

[@BigMicahC]

Compared to a lot of other Gundam shows and stories? No, it isn't.

[@BLARG313]

@@BigMicahC false information sir. The film is a masterpiece

[@Torriotorres]

It's 4 books. Not a movie so much