ON GUNDAM: UC 0093 MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM CHAR'S COUNTERATTACK REVIEW/RETROSPECTIVE

[@gundam5281]

The sazabi is definately the spiritual successor to Char's Custom Gelgoog.

[@bertbargo7162]

I have to say, I really appreciate how the Nightingale is basically The O and Qubeley mashed together. Why reinvent the wheel?

[@gonzoengineering4894]

There's one detail you missed about Amuro from Char's pov: Amuro is Earthborn. His Newtype awakening is not something that his father's philosophy allows for. He is an aberration that Char cannot rationalize. And people like Char do not alter theory to fit the facts, they alter facts to fit the theory. Were he not so tunnel visioned with his rivalry, he'd realize this also applies to Lalah and Quess. But Char cannot reflect. To admit that he is defined by his past would destroy his driving motives.

[@argonbolt]

Yeah that is a good point. The larger thing really is that it contributes to Char's inferiority complex.

[@nicholasrolison926]

Wasn't Zeon Zum Deikun's theory that people would develop a sixth sense to communicate in space after leaving earth? Amuro _literally_ did that, so how does that fly in the face of his theory? Char was also a Newtype, so what exactly have to be jealous of? This seems like a massive reach.

[@DrForrester87]

No where does Newtype Theory say that someone born on Earth couldn't become a Newtype by living in space.

[@gonzoengineering4894]

@@DrForrester87 "next stage in human evolution" is the thesis. Evolution isn't like pokemon ffs

[@nicholasrolison926]

@@gonzoengineering4894 Wait, so our suspension of disbelief with Newtype magic in space with giant robots is broken with _"people who moved to space in childhood from earth developed them?"_ Really?

[@reimu3627]

It'll always feel great seeing Amuro at his absolute prime here. Seeing how much he grows from 0079 to CCA is something special, he's my favorite Gundam character next to Lohran, Aida, and Dianna.

[@ДаниилПриданов-ц2р]

It has always puzzled me a little how the Hathaway-Quess-Gyunei triangle sort of flies over people's heads considering how much Gundam is about the younger generations. It is always sort of difficult to let go of the characters you have history with, they're not just pictures on the screen anymore, but it's always sort of an issue to gain new love for the newer characters It is also why I really like Hathaway in the further UC, he does not really belong to that age where the world-scale "great things" happened, but he was irreversibly damaged by them, and just finding yourself in the world like that will always be a great struggle that will unfortunately remain mostly silent, made even worse by the lack of communication. Amazing video man, have my sub, keep em comin

[@fattiger6957]

It doesn't help that Quess is the most annoying character in Gundam and the movie never did anything to redeem her. She is just another victim of CCA's biggest issue, there wasn't enough time for everything stuffed into the movie. If it was a tv series or OVA, I could see Quess getting enough screen time to get the audience's sympathy.

[@wumbojet]

I mean, Quess quite literally appears, becomes buddies with Hathaway off screen, falls in love with Amuro for some reason and gets mad at his gf, falls in love with char at first sight and goes with him, becomes lalah but again and dies. That's practically all she does.

[@Celtic1020]

The problem is we don't want to focus on those characters because they suck. Hathaway is a little shit here and he only becomes Char jr eco-terrorist later.

[@mitchellalexander9162]

SRW on CCA Char Then: THIS is Your Fault!!! Char: You can believe what you want. I know what I Must do! SRW Now on CCA Char: Amuro Ray: You know. You could just not do this. Yes The Earth Federation is corrupt. But this is Not the Answer! Also we were able to 'Talk' Haman Karn onto our side. And if she can break the cycle why cant you? Char Aznable: .....Well sure, I'll meet you halfway but you still have to Stop Axis from falling. *The Iconic Super Robot Wars Sequence of All of your Units Pushing Back Axis ensues*

[@jxi8098]

Having watched your whole retrospective, kudos on your research and analysis of each early UC title's importance in anime history. As for the movie itself, the ending theme of Aurora and Beyond the Time are still some of my favorite pieces, not just in this movie, but in Gundam as a whole. Aurora being a great final use of CCA's more orchestral leitmotif while Beyond the Time's Saxaphone solo highlights the Jazz throughout UC's soundtrack. Furthermore, Beyond the Time's lyrics and later remixes refer to the concept of Mobius, a repeating cycle. I can't help but reflect on how that matches with Tomino's later Gundam stories and the UC timeline after cca. Hathaway, F91, and Victory show a world and Earth unable to change their violent ways in the UC 100s. Gaia Gear in UC 203 (at least the Radio Drama version) shows the world beginning to improve with its main character, Afranche, even performing a miracle that parallels Amuro's from 0079. G reco shows the world regressing to violence even when the Univeral Century has become the Regild Century. Finally, Turn A breaks the whole cycle of war as a finale to Gundam as a whole. Thanks again, Argonbolt. I am glad to have found this channel recently and having someone do a deeper analysis on Mecha/Scifi, a genre I have loved since my childhood. I wish you luck on whatever future videos you intend on publishing.

[@Jagecage]

When I was 21 I agreed with char. At 34 agree with Amuro and I truly believe we can overcome anything. Maybe I won’t see it but I hope my grandchildren will.

[@drfoust1294]

Yep I felt and feel the same way

[@yabuki2923]

apologies for the long comment incoming, i spent all of yesterday staring into the void thinking about how a modelo and cca could fix me. thank you for making these videos and getting into the mechanical design while also thinkin' hard about how the characters serve the themes. the historical background is so important to the film but i dont think many (western) fans understand how it informed the main conflict or what it says about the creators. My number 1 comprehension test I use for gundam fans is seeing whether or no they "get" Quess. She's annoying, she's loud, she's dumb, she's bratty, she only causes trouble... But Quess became a longtime favorite of mine for her position in the story. "Lala demystified", that's so perfect. But there is also an important aspect people forget: She's 13. Tomino makes stories about young people, he makes stories about how war exploits those most vulnerable and in these conflicts children will always be first in the fire. Quess is so young and easily strung along, believing every word from the mouth of a man who is hardly even a person. She's chased after by Gyunei (whom I'm also assuming to be an adult, I cant find anything stating his age but he's pretty damn obsessed about it). Her newtype abilities are unbearable and she's thrown onto the battlefield as a loose canon, unequipped for that reality... You can see the way the now grown 79 cast casually throws their children to the flames throughout the film too. Mirai, when told her son is up in space in the middle of a potentially deadly conflict, says "the battlefield is good for a boy" like it's nothing. I mean, she and her husband experienced the same thing-- never mind the trauma and sacrifice, that's just how the world works. It's such a small line, but it says everything. Later on Bright hands a paper to his son and tells him, with absolutely no fanfare, to write a will. There is nothing in these immediate situations you can do but the lack of worry for their own children the adults display broke my heart. I believe Bright and Mirai love their son, but I also believe they were born into cycles of violence and know only how to operate within it. The Hathaway novels further emphasize with Hathaway's intense focus of the gap between child and adult (him being a child denied of innocence thanks to the events of CCA while also abhorring adults and seeing himself separate from them). Gigi is an obvious Quess clone (and in turn, Lala conduit) and her role as an escort at age 15 is a slap in the face to those who didn't catch the themes beforehand (although I have issue with her portrayal, it kinda cycles back on her importance by writing about her so uhhh ahhaha) (anyhow people like gigi and not quess because they want to fuck gigi) (i need to end this sentence) I remember reading something about Tomino's reaction to his parent's funeral. He hates, hates, HATES his parents. I haven't found many sources detailing why (if you have any, i would love to read it) but his brazenness when describing the people who raised him echoes throughout his work. I can't help but laugh. Taking into account the student riots, it all comes together. The frustrations of the youth in the world that abandoned them... Gundam's worldview disparages both sides (both political factions that is, as both of these bodies are corrupted. i feel the need to divide politicians from the supposed politics theyre supposed to represent lol) without being centrist and instead rages against the entire system. This is a world where Amuro lost his selfhood as soon as he entered the mech, where children must write wills and where the adults see nothing wrong with it. I do have a far more depressing view of Amuro, I see him by CCA as a good young man turned into a puppet. It's hard to ignore his withdrawn behavior and how tame he's become under leadership. He's a good soldier and that makes me sad. But his heart and ideals, I understand it, he just doesn't have the methods to see them through anymore. I was worried that the video would end with sadness since you described the film as cynical so many times but thankfully it ended with hope and possibility. One night a little drunk I'd watched the film with friends and wrote up something about it, repeating the phrase: "TRUE LOVE IS POSSIBLE. ONLY IN THE NEXT WORLD -- FOR NEW PEOPLE. IT IS TOO LATE FOR US" That seems kinda sad. But Amuro and Char where born in a corrupted world and are unable to see outside of it. So in that final aurora, as Hathaway and a million other children stare into the sky, with that last act of true humanity, they reveal a peek into a world where people like them would've never had to do what they had done. Time keeps going, tragedies repeat, but seeds are planted and one day they will blossom. Okay I'm sorry for such spam I enjoyed the video and CCA is awesome 👍🏽 the research you do is great and I'm sending this to everyone i know FINAL NOTE: The mention of Yukio Mishima is so eye opening. In relation to Char and Amuro's twisted dance, I have to think of the time Mishima sent actor/singer Akihiro Miwa 400 roses... To which Miwa sent back a letter saying "please stop" 🤣

[@argonbolt]

Wow that's a fantastic comment, I am really glad you enjoyed it! Ironically I also had modelo yesterday.

[@relag4171]

Love this comment. Quess is a teen girl searching for ideology and the only thing remotely resembling one is the Neo Zeon movement. It's not a great framework for understanding the world, but for a lot of people it's better than nothing. Also agree with your take on Amuro. During Zeta the Federation was terrified of Newtypes and their potential to incite revolution. It's why they created artificial Newtype labs while denying the existence of Newtypes, and it's also why they kept Amuro in his gilded cage. Amuro may have left the mansion and entered a Mobile Suit, but he's no threat to the Federation. The potential for mankind was set loose and they became a space cop enforcing the status quo. It's incredibly sad watching first Gundam and knowing that the only place Amuro will ever feel at home, the only friends he will ever have, the only life he will ever know. boils down to being a soldier in the military.

[@nedmaster1000]

My favorite fact about the Sazabi is if you look closely you can still see bits of the OG Nagano design with the forarms and shoulders. Then its even funnier when you find out Nagano just recycled his Boowray from Five Star Stories for the Sazabi

[@carloRX78K2]

After reading and watching CCA and Hathaway's Flash, i always feel that CCA was the ultimate breaking point of thw UC timeline, not a conclusion but a breaking point, but i love it that way as it enlarges the scope of the newtype myth but also closes them completely, though Gundam unicorn would revisit the ideas this film had, i feel that the movie is just more powerful than the later works like Narrative or even F91 and Crossbone, UC was bigger than amuro and char alone and it laid a foundation but ofcourse 0079, Zeta up to this movie has some of the richest stories ever told in science fiction and im glad i grew up with gundam, i hope you cover hathaway's flash atleast the novels and the current movie of it.

[@mattmaddogwheaton4724]

Char's Counterattack is my favorite anime film of all times, especially since it's the grand finale to Gundam.....at least until Turn A Gundam.

[@GutsOfRivia]

I remember watching chars counter attack in the 1990s. It was poorly subbed and I was young so I only was awed by the visuals but coming back to it I relized it was more than just cool flashy robots.

[@gundam5281]

Thank you for making such a thought provoking video on a timeless classic!

[@Kaninjadog]

Was looking forward to this one and you delivered. Excellent analysis of CCA and everything I loved about it. The mechanical design is some of my favorite in the the entirety of UC and the franchise itself I really loved hearing Yutaka Izubuchi's design process the return to simplicity and Gainax's contributions resulted in a gorgeous aesthetic. And on the thematic side I feel like I had an understanding of Tomino's message but I appreciate having further historical context to go with it. The similarities to Char and Yukio Mishima were particularly striking. I say it a lot and I'll say it again, great work as usual.

[@argonbolt]

Very happy not to disappoint.

[@moralitiesaspook168]

If there’s one thing can say before watching this video I absolutely adore the look of beam sabers in CCA they look less like lightsabers and take on their own unique identity.

[@benk1026]

I like how when they're not being swung around the beam is barely noticeable almost like the beam saber is conserving power

[@MrWolf12000]

This was excellent. Thank you.

[@Scarface_1b]

Excuse me, I should've written my comment during my watch since the start so I could write a more comprehensive comment and probaly will edit and/or make a new comment if I rewatch this. Sorry if it's a bit messy since I'm rewatching this reeaaallly late. I did translate CCA to my native language as a side little project to help improve my english and because I really love this movie(also doing this with Yukikaze books as of now), and rewatched it many times before, during and after the process. I undestood many of the points you did bring up about the purpose of characters and the movie, while you really opened my mind with some of the more "obscure", at least for those down here in South America, movements and important context parts of Japanese history that I was not aware of and really helped propel my understanding even higher. Still, in the end. While understanding Quess/Gyunei/Hathaway, their purpose and commentary. Specially Quess, she's 13 for heavens sake, Char is basically her idol and it's to be expected she would believe without much doubt, and the reality of what she is doing doesn't get into her head until she's about to be killed. I'm still get angry with them, specially Hathaway because even if he is a repeat of Amuro arc, Amuro didn't >teamkill< the absolute best girl in 0079 as Hathaway did with Chan, otherwise I would be perfectly fine with him. And Gyunei I would chalk it up partly to his Cyber NT "enchantments", while he is young and ambitious , being around Quess makes him starts progressively behaving quite out of character(not the exactly what I mean but I can't find the right words) as the movie goes on. The mechanical designs are top notch, they all have returned to the basics, while feeling like an natural evolution of everything else that came before. The Jegan and the Re-GZ are my absolute favorites, the Re-GZ for being an "actual" service machine version of the Zeta, without all the expensive and overblown gimmicks, and the Jegan for being the sum of everything that came before, you can see just a bit of every past federation machine on the Jegan while still keeping it's simple design. The Ra-Cailum is also a beast for both being a cool AND a smarter design overall, with the radiators you mentioned and the battle bridge not being exposed and deep inside the ship. About Char and Amuro(and Bright) repeating their mistakes is indeed very tragic. But I can't really blame them for it, both Amuro and Bright never really had higher aspirations to change the world or anything, Amuro just wanted to live in peace thinkering with eletronics, while Bright as a enlisted military, he didn't have basically any ambition at all. Both of them did WAY more than expected for persons of their age, hell Bright was 19 and asked to perform a task which generally requires 20 years of experience, more than he had lived at that point. So after the war they just tried to live quietly somewhere, then you have the Titans and Haman, both of them eventually joined AEUG to help stop essentially a rogue military unit AND the return of the hardcore nationalists of Axis. When it was all over, again they understandably didn't had the drive to make ANOTHER war against the politicians that caused it all, Zeta/ZZ lasts around a year, they saw another colony drop and immensurable lives lost along with close friends, I don't think anyone would have the motivation to continue after that, and as they never had the ambition they just stopped there, which bring us to Char. After 0079 Char didn't had any real objective, specially after he completely mellowed out with Mineva and refused to kill her, even before if he was already conflicted about Garma since he had nothing to do with the death of his father being a kid just like himself and yet betrayed him without mercy. Going back to Earth in the interlude of 0079 and 0087, after seing what was becoming of Axis, he also joins the AEUG in hopes of making everything better and also goes through the same things more or less as Amuro and Bright as mentioned. But unlike both of them, the act that after everything they done, both Amuro/Bright and AEUG as a whole gave up and merged with the Federation peacefully and nothing really changed, I believe that was the turning point for him. Now he was set on both making a statement AND resolving his issues with Amuro, which on a more political side ends up repeating their cicle of being stuck between a rock and a hard place. Revolutionaries like Char force change that even with good intentions, are no better than their opposition, from the POV of "moderates" like Amuro, there's no choice when the options are the actual uncaring goverment and some flavor of fanatical ideology. Everyone knew the Federation was no good, but when the choices are some kind of Zeon, only the most dedicated followers of the cause will adhere to it's side. BUT still, in the end, CCA ending always makes me emotional. Because even after all the decades of constant in-universe wars and misery, both sides put their differences asides and every single soul wished for the better and it's simply beautiful and inspiring.

[@TheSouthernSegaGentleman]

My man, why can't the algorithm push your content?! Thess are the types of videos we need, that more people NEED to see and digest. Keep creating and directing my dude, you do a phenomenal job at it!

[@dustycadet1589]

49:43 Correction!!!!💢💢💢💢 Uuuuuuooooooohhhhhhh 😭😭😭😭

[@MRIlls]

This really highlights the big issue of todays western media being overly political. Tomino, didn't let the political themes derail the story. He used them as a key component that added depth and complexity the the cool robot movie. I think coming from a place of frustration is one of the reason Unicorn has done well too.

[@mitchellalexander9162]

Too Many creatives Ham Fist their messaging to the Forefront and its not Subtle.

[@obamabiden]

to be fair gundam isn't always particularly subtle, the old men of earth federation leadership just letting char get away with dropping Luna 5 after they're bribed with gold bars, while talking about how basically they can't be bothered fixing anything, after basically two whole previous series of them responding to the youthful protagonists' sacrifices for them with "you've all been very brave, that was great, we promise we'll move to space as soon as we can haha" never came off as too subtle to me, the environmental messages from the spacenoid side even less so (if hypocritical) also there's the absolute masterclass of political subtlety of Degwin and Gibren's "son you are literally Hitler" conversation in 0079 i think the reasons for more complaints about "politics" in fiction are 3, in rough ascending order: -more general media literacy (ability to recognise political messaging) -greater political polarisation (pre-conceived reactions to political messaging) -decreased average quality of media (ability to tolerate political messaging) if you don't even notice the message you won't get annoyed by it, if you've never been exposed to it before you're much less likely to recognise it as something to be annoyed about, and if a work is actually good you probably won't care as much if it is giving messages you disagree with, or you'll just pretend it isn't saying that

[@mercury_0080]

Great video, as usual! Was really looking forward to the one on CCA and boy did you deliver

[@BlakeElliott35]

IMO, this is some of your best work. You articulated what makes “Char’s Counterattack” unique incredibly well.

[@McLeod917]

Great video. Thoroughly enjoyed watching. Well edited, informative, flows well, and has fun visual effects.

[@bebopobama4686]

Incredible analysis, truly went all the way in offering thoughtful new insights into CCA.

[@SBaxterArt]

This was absolutely fantastic! Thank you so much for your hard work and research. This was very informative and you helped voice feelings I also experienced my first time watching it as well. From production of the film to the social and economic context it was written, I really look forward to rewatching this video as much as I rewatch the actual movie itself. Amazing work!

[@Megz_X4]

As someone who is a younger conservative, Gundam has never failed to make me think over and over about my own, and the world’s politics. That fifth part really was something amazing. While I myself am not a leftist, I find it truly interesting, and I really do need to thank you for all parts of part V. This truly was a Mobile Suit Gundam: Char’s Counterattack.

[@prb463]

Wow! Such a great video! This is exactly the kind of analysis I was looking for to really process the depth of what this movie is trying to say. The first time I watched it, I enjoyed the film, but I felt like I was missing something. Now, I finally feel like I can appreciate this beautiful story the way it was intended

[@bryanc7094]

Zeta Gundam was my favorite. Though I’m conflicted on Chars character in this movie. Good video.

[@tedhodge4830]

Holy shit, did you hit the nail on the head here. I just finished Hathaway's Flash. I have to say, those comments by Mamoru Oshii are scathing. Need to go finish Jin-Roh, and I might have to put Patlabor on the list. Thank you for the Japanese history lesson in this series, it really helps. This is refreshing content on KZbin.

[@HSE331]

I have to thank you for making this video which has drastically reshaped my political worldview and direction.

[@MoonAnime]

Jumping into the movie with much confusion as well. With missing characters I love and new characters taking their stands. Understandably they are spices for a featured film. But the ending did sent the message across with a punch. It's either hope or cynicism. And the 'essence' of both Amuro and Char, red and green, envelops Earth. It's up to us to choose how another cycle runs, brimming with both of them in us all. Maybe it's an age thing, maybe everyone grew cynical at some point in life after letting the horrid of the world grazed them a little bit. But hardly can I say someone is truly too deep in it to disregard everything. When they care, then there's already hope. Love the more sombre delivery this time around. The little animation at the background too. The explosions look so nice I wanna recreate them lol. With this series, my enjoyment with Gundam grew beyond the show. The historical context, production, and Tomino-ism I have yet to feel accustomed. An enriching experience. Congratulations on completing the entire saga. It'll be great if you will continue on making more, and the few entries afterwards are shorter too which should be fun! Well, as a viewer I mean. Thanks for the hardwork! Truly a series I'd recommend to all new and veteran fans 👍

[@justagundam]

Gundam is so much more than a toy commercial. Despite the AUs and the Build Fighters. Gundam has and will always try to say something to change the world. But the choice is yours to hear it.

[@stuckin1945]

This is high tier documentary work holy moly

[@jrokur551]

Wow. Life altering. Thanks for this great video 🙏

[@angelwingzero]

I've loved robots and mecha eveb since i could remember. It goes beyond the robots themselves, I love sci-fi and good stories. So, I'm always exploring why I love this genre and stories that use this trope. Your vid helped me along that journey. You earned that sub.

[@No14210]

Interesting observations about the bleak politics at play. I saw CCA for the first time a while ago, and some of these things resonated with me in a similar way. Although I like Amuro's portrayal in general, it always bothered me that he and Bright are working for a unit that is basically a political police in mobile suits. The successor of the Titans, just manned by good guys, so at least they don't commit atrocities that we know of. But it's still a unit whose job it is to root out dissenting ideologies, rather than solving the underlying problems. The film does show these problems, instead of just making the Feddies the good guys, but it casts a strange light on our heroes being in this unit at the start of the movie. There are counter-arguments to this of course. Whatever people may believe about how much extremism should be "allowed" in society, Neo-Zeon presents a clear and present danger in the movie. They are at the "commit genocide" stage now, so any other concerns are secondary. And Londo Bell are obviously aware that the Federation leadership is in no position to stop this threat, since they are so degenerate, they're simply bought off with suitcases with gold. So in this case, it's probably not a bad idea for decaying liberal oligarchy to have a "spear tip" that doesn't have to go through the politicians and bureaucrats. It's men (and women) of action doing what the spineless politicians can't or won't do, which is a fascistoid ideal in itself, but let's cast that aside for a second. About the frustration mentioned here, I did hear someone argue that the outcome of CCA (and thus all of mainline UC) is unsatisfying because the cycle of violence continues, the struggles between the Earth and colonies continue in later UC. And therefore Char and Neo-Zeon ideology are not exactly justified, but understandable at the very least, because their failure means that an ideal will never be tried. In Char's theory, making the Earth uninhabitable would force the Newtype awakening, awaken levels of empathy between people not seen before, and end the bloodshed. Of course we don't really know if this is true. It seems more likely that more awareness just brings more contradictions, and the more powerful people's minds get, the easier it is to just use them as weapons of war. And it's questionable whether Char really believes the crack he's selling. I mean obviously he doesn't really believe in the cause of Neo-Zeon and all the fancy uniforms, and he also has no problem telling multiple women in his life that he'll be with them when the war is over. But what about the Newtype awakening? Is this something he really believes in? Or are his actions more like a last punt, one final attempt to drag it over the line, the only way we can know for sure whether Zeon is right? The other part of it is this desire on Char's part to have this final fight with Amuro, which can feel incredibly petty compared to all the other stakes. What Char despises about Amuro is that Amuro has all this talent, but he "wastes" it protecting the status quo. And Amuro is not some long-lost royalty, but he's just a regular guy who happens to have this talent, but he chooses to be a workman, amplifying his powers by studying mechanics and honing his battle tactics, instead of doing something that could drive all of humanity forwards. In this he is like many talented people who achieve great things in their particular specialism, but don't have the moral ambition to try to change the system. But it's not like Amuro hasn't given thought to any of this, he just doesn't arrive at the same conclusions as Char. The movie does have an uplifting ending and it does show the victory of hope for humanity, even if it only arises because of a massive collective will to save our own skin. But it's hopeful because even the Zeon soldiers join in, because they are part of the same humanity regardless of whether they live on Earth or in space. It's a necessarily limited kind of hope: it's not an "end state" where everyone will evolve to some kind of next level, and now history is over and there'll be no more conflicts. It's just that people are capable of banding together and even exercising great self-sacrifice, but only at the point where everything already seems to be lost. So it's really hope for our collective self-preservation instinct, rather than hope for some kind of utopia.

[@shinju112]

This video was great, but even more so i found myself feeling frustrated not seeing certain things, but otherwise as soon as you suggested certain things i caught on. Not always mind you. Mind you for me that frustration comes from not fully understanding or not being able to explain my feelings on Gundam. That is that I in the moment am more reactionary then pondering the questions it asks and sometimes vice versa. To get on topic with the movie, due to many influences I saw Gyunei as a character like Kamille, just not as grand. His death being unceremonious and insignificant. Quess I never understood her as an annoyance, same for Hathaway. Even if they were parallels of certain characters, i always see them as their own characters, their own people. Nevertheless, now ill think about the things you have given me to think about, but while curious part of me doesn't want to view your videos on Zeta, 0079 and ZZ if only because it will feel like the answers will just get spoon-fed to me for lack of a better sentence. I will watch them someday nonetheless.

[@KeonVioletWilkins]

This was actually my first actual Gundam Media I consumed after playing Dynasty Warriors Gundam 3... I was so very confused, but the reason I chose it was something really interested me about Char and the Sazabi in that game. He was on the game's "villain" team, but there was something that distinguished him apart from Full Frontal and Ribbons. There was a melancholy to him that even writing as seemingly surface level as a fricking Dynasty Warriors game portrayed. So when I went into CCA only really aware of their versions of Char and Amuro with barely a concept of what came before.... well, first of all, it was fairly confusing. But apart from confusion, I could see a character that wasn't just "red man bad" but also showed a bit more depth and history the video game alluded to. This was a man left behind by the geopolitocal landscape and at the end of his rope. Without the context of Zeta to see his attempt (albeit maybe it could have been a self serving and selfish attempt) to truly enact change as heroically as he possibly was capable of, or the youthfilled rage and the avenger he was in 0079; they managed to show a character that had those arcs but was simply missing the length of time to maybe explore his psychology without confusion from the audience. He is prideful. He is sociopathic, he can be sympathetic. Once an anti villain, once an anti-hero. He is a brother, a son, a forlorn lover of the unquestionably dead yet most certainly alive spiritual concepts he could never hope to reach out and grasp without accelerating his own and humanity's evolution. He can never catch up to Amuro's staggering circumstantial propelled evolution, and yet Amuro is rarely ever the initiator of change or the flash point to trigger actions that directly oppose the status quo. This must infuriate Char as he knows how (or at least thinks he does) with such potential that he could fulfill ideals that ar base seem pure and idealistic but as an umperfect man will always lead to conflict, hate and suffering. Char is the curse of the UC era. He is the pereptuity of change without being able to change himself. While the gravity of earth will drag down normal people he is completely untethered and free in the weightlessness of space but will always choose to go back down into the gravity well because he is incapable of being anything but the enactor of change... or else he should die. Which was the choice he probably saw before him as he went into Char's Counterattack. He would rather die than allow regressive evolution or a slow revolution. He is selfish and yet selfless in a way. Char is a contradiction. He will never graduate from the cycle of violence.

[@osakanone]

Got a little misty eyed at the end. Thank-you. This is peak youtube.

[@ZapWires]

Good video.

[@hermansun7807]

So glad someone made something so inspiring

[@hermansun7807]

Especially special for me because the Twilight axis novel is my favorite series

[@soggysod9397]

Beyond the Time at the end was the icing on the cake

[@nia1waifu107]

Dude your videos are fantastic keep it up!!!😇😇😇

[@JCDadalus]

Tomino and the gang gave us a sci fi that's ultimately about hope for mankind. The ending theme of CCA always makes me cry. I hope one day all of Humanity will be Newtypes.

[@Plasticroll]

I lOVE this video, the Japanese history part is really informing and help me understand some of Mamoru Oshi's animes. Keep up the good work! I would love you to watch some of the content from a Japanese KZbin channel called eyes-only. Their channel discussed a lot of interesting ideas such as the core concept of Tomino's Gundam seires is all about leaving the polluted, overpopulated earth( an outdated political system) to expand into space( a new and better political system), and the federal government is supposed to be the organisation to facilitate that change. I got a whole lot more out of looks at the UC series through this lens.

[@olivierrivard9782]

Thank you for making these videos on early UC, I've thoroughly enjoyed them. I appreciate the amount of care you took with the scripts and your research provides a ton a value. To me, you were successful in accomplishing what you set out to do with each video. You highlighted the significance of 0079 / expanded on what made Zeta so special. I was really impressed with the way you brought up factors surrounding ZZ's creation I never would've considered, which helped me understand why that series is the way it is (A+ skits, too). With this one, you've given me more degrees of perspective on CCA and I value it even more than I did before. I'm really looking forward to more content from you. I especially hope you end up tackling the beast that is LOGH, I could watch hours and hours of your analysis on that. Or more Gundam, that works too :) Cheers!

[@argonbolt]

You are exactly the kind of person who makes making this worthwhile

[@shockmethodx]

I don't know if we have to tear it down. It might be enough to just stop holding it up. We might be able to let it fall under its own weight.

[@eatsleepplayrepeat]

This video: Me: Wow! Cool robot!

[@shockmethodx]

I love you, Argonbolt.

[@Quanfalone]

me this while video: TALK ABOUT THE CHAR MOTHER LINE

[@prakharvats7503]

I would love an analysis of unicorn gundam by you. This video is one of the best on youtube

[@argonbolt]

Will get there one day. Gonna be a little while.

[@mitchellalexander9162]

SOON TM@@argonbolt

[@Tomtenthemech]

Nu Gundam and Sazabi might be the two greatest Mobile Suit designs of all time.

[@gundam5281]

Please do Gundam F91 retrospective next! please!

[@argonbolt]

Gonna take a break from Gundam for a bit, but for sure F91 will have its day.

[@adriandrost4823]

Wtf, how does this video only have 7000 views?

[@EastsideBodega_]

… How did I come across a channel so perfect for me?

[@Robint04]

I am completely new to gundham and I have been introduced by a close friend. We had a discussion because my brother used to build these when I was younger. But his main show was robotech in something called transr. Z. So your videos have been very educational. Thank you. I have a lot of Mobile suits that i'm building. Thank you so much, and I'll keep watching your videos.

[@greentokyo]

Great video!!

[@kamenrideraquarius]

Humanity can overcome anything given time, but it cant be forced.

[@santiagocamacho1077]

I appreciate your critical optimism because I cried a little.

[@fatcatofalltime7484]

To be fair you have to have a pretty high IQ to understand Char's Counterattack...

[@forickgrimaldus8301]

- Char Aznable

[@LongTran-kp3kz]

...Not to be that guy, but weren't the parallels between Hathaway, Gyunei, and Quess like... super obvious though? I remember watching the film like, decades ago and spotting it. I mean, tbf, I would've preferred Beltorchika's inclusion bc a forceful girl like her is honestly the kinda persona Amuro needs to keep him trying to move on even if he can't... At least, in a way that I felt Chan just failed to do on so many levels. I liked the mature nuance of her trying to, but she just felt so sudden and slapdash that I was never really happy with her character's inclusion. But, I digress Point is... Yeah. it was pretty obvious what they were going for with those 3 characters. Especially if you considering that Gyunei is a cyber newtype too... oof. And, as past experiences have shown, that tends to NEVER end well for the poor bastards. And yes. I do completely agree with your take on Quess. She really was an accurate depiction of a teenaged brat piloting a mobile suuit in the middle oa a war as she tried to figure shit out

[@Brenticus]

"My problem is that The Expanse doesn't think Humanity can change" Me: Oh this dude is never gonna get into Battletech...

[@argonbolt]

@@Brenticus battletech got them big stompy robots

[@magtegi2]

well everyone else hasn't really brought anything to the table just plot summaries and a synopsis anyone could gleam from actually paying attention to the material. so the on fundamental series has been an oasis in the desert that is KZbin

[@undefinedhuman7404]

new argonbolt video? more Gundam? we are BACK

[@junrosamura2720]

I really dislike this movie, plain and simple. Good animation, great music, and some memorable scenes. However, it is so fast paced and ruined by Quess and Hataway's constant child tantrums. I understand that they were added to keep the story grim but the execution wasn't there. I absolutely hate quess and her role of tearing everything apart. Lastly, the ending was not satisfying. It left me wondering if Amuro and Char lived or not?

[@Aanderan]

Something interesting you're missing from Beltorchika's children is it's comment on Kamille - Amuro confronts Char about him and his condition (the story states he's still "insane" probably to keep some continuity between the Zeta novelisation's incredibly bleak end) Char responds calling him weak and he was destroyed by the souls weighed down by gravity. With the context of the Sanrizuka Struggle alongside this blunt opinion is what cements both Char and Tomino's cynical outlook after the "death" of the young political vigilante. oh and Hathaway accidentally kills Quess :~)

[@marvinvanegas3192]

Love you for this

[@enomiellanidrac9137]

Since I began watching your video on gundam I thought you would probably love Legend of the galactic heroes, well seems I was right and I would certainly love to watch your video on it if it comes around.

[@argonbolt]

One day it's video will come...

[@qashmonie]

@@argonboltyes please legend of galactic heroes we are patiently waiting 🙏🏽 love your videos..

[@jl8060]

I think my problem with CCA is that I understood it to be what it was: a brutal, bleak look at the failing systems, and the creation of more men who will unwittingly perpetuate those very same systems in the new age because of the said system's failings. CCA's end is hopeful, but knowing the course of UC's future, ultimately has it ring hollow. Much like Unicorn's message (and everything past CCA UC), it is a false hope of believing in better systems, where the people of UC fail to grasp at the core of the struggles fought between the two of the most important men of their time, who themselves are selfishly waging an unfinished battle. An endless cycle that keeps on going. This, to me is why I can never love UC, a continuously bleak timeline where it subsequently gets worse. For Tomino's part, he succeeds...but our ultimate conclusions vary, (even he seems to go back on this as the corporate mandates pile up) as the UC cycle will keep churning on, until Victory. I don't believe in the naive idealism of Seed, but damn, is it tough to watch UC go progressively worse, literally and metaphorically. The end of an era. Taking things outside of this future context though, there is a glimmer of hope, over the rainbow. And for those that can see it, I can understand why it works.

[@argonbolt]

Yeah in totality its kinda bleak, but on a case by case basis each work was initially a lot more optimistic, kinda a victim of the franchise thing really sadly.

[@drkmtr9090]

Where are you getting these concept stills?? I want em so baddd 😫

[@tahirahmad9645]

I think i did understand a little. But that hooe we can do bettee disnt cone right away. Sadly we had the cosmo babylonian war, jupiter empire, and bespa zanscare, and beyond to gubdam reguild and gundam turn A. But there was one time hooe could have happened - gundam unicorn. That was the closest that the good guys (aeug as londo bell and nahel argama with captain zinnerman) to getting rid of the status quo, overcoming the past, and showing they could be better.

[@asyrafasri9824]

Argonbolt, your videos are superb, it's like watching a documentary I watched the 0079, zeta, ZZ and now CCA in one seating You're madlad and I love it Your presentation, editing and joke that you sprinkled in all the video I truly missed that Nu/V pun hahaha Thanks to you, I had new appreciation for older gundam show

[@xnflg3074]

oh wow, i've kinda always wondered why the kits for the elmeth just say "newtype's mobile armor"... now i know. legal shit.

[@danielramsey6141]

I’m sorry. But I never liked Char’s Counter Attack. It’s deeply flawed. I get it’s meant to be a Tragic Film. But A lot of Motivations Don’t make a lot of Sense. I can understand if the video is and Opinion on Tomino’s work. But it’s clear that CCA is mostly influenced by Tomino’s mental state. And It basically ruins the rest of Gundam because of his bias nature.

[@gios4ma]

i actually love the heel turn of Char in context with Z and ZZ. From the very beginning, Char has always rejected his political existence because he’s simply never been good at it. After assassinating the Zabi’s in 0079, Char could have easily revealed his identity and coupled with his battle record as “Char” he could easily gain everyone’s support in restoring the Republic of Zeon. But Char doesn’t know how to do that. He understands his father’s philosophy…. but he doesn’t fully agree with it because it failed/is failing in Char’s eyes. He instead changed his identity yet again and threw himself into battle with whatever faction was closest to his father’s ideals. He did this because throwing himself into battle is all he feels comfortable doing. due to Char’s lack of conviction, Haman won the Gryps Conflict and domination over the Earth Sphere, but she had been so corrupted by cynicism and vengeance that she became just as much of an oblivious elite as those she spent her early life fighting against. Char saw this all unfold and realized that liberation through Zeon was simply impossible because the biggest players in Zeon demanded facism above all. So he allowed himself to be used by those players in order to throw himself into battle one last time. He chose to gamble with his life and use the will of Zeon as collateral.

[@kutless45]

What are you talking about that the Expanse doesn’t believe in change? The status quo changes in literally every book!

[@argonbolt]

Big events happen yes. But the underlying human spirit doesn't really advance much. Most factions are kinda be selfish assholes just like how the authors see modern day no doubt. This likely added to the realism people championed but under it all it's incredibly cynical.

[@kutless45]

@@argonbolt but that’s the entire point of Cibola Burn and Babylon’s Ashes though. Or at least it is in the books. A lot of the stuff about changing how the factions view one another is cut from the Babylon’s Ashes adaptation because the showrunners were forced to condense the longest book in the series into the shortest season of the show.

[@argonbolt]

@@kutless45 ah I only watched the show

[@kutless45]

@@argonbolt I highly recommend it. A lot is changed to the point where though they share many plot points, they are almost two completely different stories.

[@argonbolt]

@@kutless45Yeah I have heard good things about the books.

[@cameochris]

Came here for Gundam and learnt about Japanese Farmers fair one lol subbed keep it up 👍

[@Kazrel]

As much as you tried to sell me on Quess, nothing will change how insufferable she is.

[@thedoctor0000]

When you think you are the smartest guy in the room you make a video like this. I'm pretty sure this whole video was because no one else liked his gundam girlfriend.

[@argonbolt]

If you think that then you are wrong.

[@Celtic1020]

After watching the whole video I just want to say that I enjoyed it and appreciate the effort you went through to show the comtext, history, and depth of this film. However, while it is my favorite Gundam movie, it having political and philosophical themes does not excuse it from its flaws. 1. It doesn't give context for the political themes it's trying to convey, therefore it isn't really the audience's fault for not knowing it. 2. The new trio characters are just not great. There are self-absorbed, abnoxious pricks and Hathaway goes full insane eco-terrorist in his own movie and I can't stand him. He isn't a good person even if he is the protagonist. 3. I understand that Char was never going to end up a good guy, but his return to Zeon being off-screen is unforgivably lazy, rushed, and throws away his character development from Zeta, only to replace it with womanizing, manipulative, groomer Char.

[@krimzonstriker7534]

Sooo, Unicorn on the way? 😅

[@midnightlumina7]

I know that it Unicorn does not really connect. But is there a video that would contrast CCA to it?

[@argonbolt]

There will be one when I make it at some point 100%.

[@Celtic1020]

1:22:55 These parallels are not lost on me. They are just rushed and annoying repeats of the characters that are already established. They don't actually have enough time to develope or be interesting, so they end up as annoying is episode 1-11 Kamille.

[@comradegunpla]

Wow, great video. You don’t see political analysis videos on Gundam every day, despite it being one of the most politics heavy series. Speaking of people not understanding the politics in CCA, I think it’s more so a willful neglect. We live in mostly a western liberal world, people tend to comply with the status quo, and when the critiques of neoliberalism is so apparent, people will choose to not think about it and treat it purely as big robots fighting in space. A lot of people simply ignore politics they don’t like. That’s how we got that guy last year that got mad because “they made witch from mercury political”, or the anti woke gundam fans that say “zieg zeon” all the time.

[@benk1026]

True sometimes it feels like people only agree with the themes and morals in Gundam if they align with their own

[@surprisedchar2458]

The people who got mad about WFM were this double edged sword of tourists and people who maybe half watched the compilation films of 0079. They’re not people worth engaging with because they’re not going to stick around for very long, or will just be annoying if they do. In my opinion, WFM was the most “meh” entry we’ve had in a while, which is why I dropped it around the third episode. It didn’t hook me in like other series did. Fun fact: every time I have said this outside of groups that are really dedicated fan groups, someone has called me a homophobe. Without fail. Because Lord forbid someone not like a show with lesbians in it, even when that ship was not what caused them to stop watching.

[@benk1026]

@@surprisedchar2458 I swear discourse about witch from Mercury can go either way some people call the show "woke" and completely write it off as trash and then other people will call you a homophobe for not liking it but what I mainly notice though is that people who make either of these arguments usually aren't big into Gundam In my personal opinion I agree the show's very "meh" I did enjoy the mobile suit designs and the fights but the plot was really weird and I feel like concepts that were introduced to the story never really had a satisfying conclusion

[@comradegunpla]

@@surprisedchar2458 Yeah, I thought WfM was just ok too, it had so much potential but just never fully realized. The anti-woke incels did make criticizing this really difficult though, because people understandably will start grouping you into them as soon as you criticize the show since they are so visibly stupid.

[@jeremyfields9009]

I know a lot of people love Zeta Gundam but the truth is this franchise at the time peaked with the 0079 film trilogy and the two zeta series put fatigue on the franchise. CCA box office was significantly lower than Encounters in Space and F91 was even worst. They dug up the Char/Amaro feud to get 0079 film trilogy fans invested and it still didn’t work. There’s a reason why the One Year War era has so many spin-offs. Iconography from when Gundam exploded in popularity.

[@argonbolt]

@@jeremyfields9009 yes any work avoids the issues of being a franchise by never becoming a franchise, but that line of reasoning is entirely moot by the same logic. More interesting to look at how they dealt with the challenge than make obvious flat statements.

[@vulcanmemes9770]

It has spin-offs because it's a literal war with thousands of battlefields going at the same time. the amount of perspectives for authors to write there is just way more free than any other point in the series. That's literally it lol

[@argonbolt]

@@vulcanmemes9770 Yeah many later series are very admittedly smaller in scope by design.

[@magpie7908]

Q: Is your discord server down? If not did I get band?

[@sugargay7168]

Christopher Nkunku 🇫🇷 Julián Álvarez 🇦🇷 Michael Olise 🇫🇷 Cole Palmer 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Enzo Fernández 🇦🇷 Moisés Caicedo 🇪🇨 Marc Cucurella 🇪🇸 Benôit Badiashile 🇫🇷 Wesley Fofana 🇫🇷 Malo Gusto 🇫🇷 Marcin Bułka 🇵🇱 Mykhailo Mudryk 🇺🇦 Crysencio Summerville 🇳🇱 Nicolas Jackson 🇸🇳 Noni Madueke 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Danilo 🇧🇷 Lesley Ugochukwu 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Romeo Lavia 🇧🇪 Reece James 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Thiago Silva 🇧🇷 Levi Colwill 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Dorde Petrović 🇷🇸 Marcus Bettinelli 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

[@EksaStelmere]

I didn't know I needed this video. Thanks KZbin recommendations, you finally did something right. Anywho, time for a needless babble on the subtext. On the matter of the collapse of the Japanese economy, it sadly wasn't something as simple as Lost Cause Communism and Hyper-Capitalism going head-to-head so much as it was the lucrative merger of state and business. This was not capitalism in the sense that there were corporations acting as, for lack of a better word, agents of the government so corrupt bureaucrats could get things done in a way that bypasses government regulation-in fact, the Japanese legislative system was (and still sort of is) painfully slow to the point that any big actions require multiple terms of office to fulfill. Obvious as it is in hindsight, the Leftist opposition meanwhile failed to see the man behind the curtain, and so instead of tackling the problem where it actually lied, they attacked their fellow man. Their fellow man who was likewise unwittingly being manipulated by anti-competitive, subversive practices that were rampant at the time. If there is any good news, it's that the system was unsustainable and shattered. The fallout sucks, but I doubt anyone would want to live in the alternative where this continued into the present day.

[@argonbolt]

I am glad you enjoyed it! As a reply about the political economic stuff, I don't fully disagree, Japan's capitalism-with-Japanese-traits by all means has a plethora of cases of laughably slow economic implosion which could have been prevented many times. Prominent ones especially being the Japanese railways going something like half a billion in debt by the early 80's down to absurd policy(build expensive shinkansen, keep fares cheap) combined with unsustainable growth. The Japanese public-private transfer of the postal service being a good example of another. But I would also say that the point was more so that yes, neither Japanese student leftism nor post-war hypercapitalism were defeated by one another but were ultimately undone from their internal failures. Obviously CCA is a head-to-head fight so it may have been a bit blurred by that. But the ultimate point was more so that because of these internal failures, we(Tomino) ended up in the late 80's with the situation as it seemed then, which is the context which inspired CCA's more head-to-head failure if that makes sense hopefully.

[@EksaStelmere]

@@argonbolt No worries, I got you loud and clear. I was just kinda waxing a bit. A proper head-to-head fight with mecha is a far, far more entertaining way to bring the allegory home. There's only so much you can do to explain to the audience "Leftists and anti-corporate capitalists are misguided and don't know how to fight the real problem."

[@sarahjames6257]

Where do you lean now?

[@daeamiralis]

CCA best grunt suits by far.

[@daeamiralis]

The Geara Doga really does it for me. It's a fantastic successor to the Zaku, where ZZ'S Zaku III completely misses the mark.

[@mpo48]

i know you probably wont reply to me but i have to know since you keep speaking fondly about communism in this video if your actually a communist or not? i know its probably something not related any way to this video but i get really scared when i see so many people speaking fondly about communism when its well known how much bad things have happened because of it. i live in Finland so yeah soviet union has always been very threatening to me considering what the Russians have done and what they keep doing now. the idea that people can speak so fondly about communism just really scares me since i know me and most of my friends will be killed if communist ever get any sort of power, communist hate disabled or autistic people like me. I'm sorry I'm saying this but I'm really scared it seems like every single youtuber is speaking like this.

[@argonbolt]

I understand your concerns and I can try to explain somewhat even though youtube comments are a bit awkward of a place to do that. In the simplest sense it can broken down as two main things. #1 Is that in the west especially after 1990 but even before, there's an enduring sense that we are "stuck" with capitalism as our default societal economic structure. Now in many places of the world people idealize that as great because it is seen as raising the standard of living and offering many opportunities. Of course the reality is less ideal. The wealth of much of the west is built on a lot of suffering worldwide. But even domestically the system has many "victims". The number of examples of this is quite plentiful, a great example is the Perdue Pharma company basically selling opioids to people and ruining their lives for profit. When people grow up in these places, it is not uncommon to feel that even with the great standards of living, this cost is kinda grossly too much. When people look for alternatives, unsurprisingly Marxism and leftism pop up because they attack essentially the whole system. In comparison liberalism posits that it is just social restrictions and bias "ruining things" and the system is "mostly good", conservatism basically doesn't care and is founded on there being "losers" who pay the price so the "winners" can succeed there is no problem with the system. So being told "You live in the perfect system" but then seeing how imperfect it is is a big drive of searching for alternatives. This is also why many westerners are very aware of how much death and suffering communism caused for certain. We are told it quite repeatedly as it being why the bad guys are bad. But we live under capitalism, our problems are capitalist problems so it sounds like its "Just be happy for what you have" again. Which isn't a "solution" its just "Tolerate that thousands are homeless, or healthcare is not free, or you will go into life long debt for education"etc. Added to this is the fact that many of the "advancements" championed as caused by capitalism may have just been inevitable technological and industrial progress. The USSR's rapid advancement proved as much, likewise China's current dominance shows you don't even need a liberal democracy to succeed in capitalism or industry. This leads to: #2 Which is the historical one. Yes the Chinese and Russian revolutions were certainly bloody affairs. There isn't much use in denying that. Marxism which began as an international movement was used by specific countries(like Russia as I am sure you are aware) as nationalist justification for expansion and influence. The problem with the "But it killed many people" argument is unsurprisingly every government has done that. The transition from medieval states to modern ones had many bloody revolutions like the French, it also had many horrific wars like the Napoleonic and WW1 where millions died. There has been relatively few "bloodless" transitions of government. America fought for its change, and even Canada was built on bloody expansion and dominance of French Canada for example. With this in mind you should also recall that in the middle ages, people regarded Democracy itself as a semi-failed concept. Rome had become an autocracy and Athens was seen as an oddity. Individual people voting for their leader was laughable. There was essentially a roughly a 2100 year gap between Athens transition to Democracy and the French and American revolutions. For most of our ancestors lives the systems we enjoy now were regarded as impossible. What makes this worse is the industrial revolution. The advancements available massively ballooned populations in Europe and worldwide. This helped cause WW1's insane death toll, but it also meant the bloody Russian and Chinese revolutions simply had more people to kill. You add that to the fact they were huge countries and it only gets worse. So you combine the two facts of a large increase in population and the fact changing governments is very hard and usually gets many people killed and you get the large numbers killed. It helps the west in saying this was explicitly communism's fault, but as a counter point you can look at something like the US Civil War. While not a revolution per say, it was a contest of "how to run things" and once again the industrial revolution helped the Northern Union win, but also explains the massive 500,000 fatalities. Mass production of weapons and food especially. Which is still the worst war for the US in terms of deathtoll. So the full historical context shows us it isn't as simple as first appears. Being told "your system is perfect don't complain" feels hollow because we still have many people who suffer from the system. And people who say "This system of government is impossible" is about as crazy as our ancestors saying "Democracy is impossible". Even the death toll is the result of many complex factors. But the deathtoll of the French revolution was likewise not reason enough to say "Democracy is worthless" so arguments from suffering often ignore any bad times the west had and highlight the Communist deaths instead. I understand its a hard thing to admit because many people have had to suffer and deal with the consequences. Hopefully that answers some stuff. Also I think you guys should probably get Karelia back at some point for what it is worth.

[@mpo48]

@@argonbolt i don't know but no matter what you say i do see communism always as an extremist movement. That thing wont change. It just feels like everything is turning in to an extremist movement. I can't support left leaning people because they seem to all want communism and that will lead to death and starvation and probably me being killed for not being usefull as a worker since i have autism and I can't support right leaning people since they also want me dead for the same reason. Is everyone really an extremist? Or am i just paranoid? I like gundam too that's why I'm here but can i even enjoy that if i know some of its creators were all extremist? These kinds of things make me feel physically sick and unsafe

[@mpo48]

@@argonbolt also did my first comment to this dissapear since i cannot see it anymore after i posted it?

[@argonbolt]

@@mpo48 I can sti see it

[@mpo48]

@@argonbolt anyway I'm sorry for not understanding almost anything you said in that big post you wrote even though i tried very hard to understand it. I still hope you could respond to my first reply to it in someway.

[@masturas621]

Only thing being that the greek ν is pronunced ni, not nu. Kinda weird how it has remained that way

[@argonbolt]

They really wanted the word pun to work is my guess.

[@masturas621]

@@argonbolt well ν is the first letter for saying new sooooo maybe that, i dunno....beats me

[@RoyalKnightVIII]

59:00 Curious use of the word tankie. I wonder about. If youre interested in such things I recommend Michael Parenti and Thomas Pynchon, for different but related reasons. Now if only we could get a Pynchon Mecha Story ;) I do wonder about the existence of the ussr and socialism in these scifi futures. Gundam and Macross for ex both posit a world where only capitalism exists and socialism is just a distant idea if its even mentioned. Ironically the Usonian reworking of Robotech added socialism back into the world of these scifi futures, albeit just to be antagonists As for Gundam being able to be this way is mostly due to how the productions work in japan vs us. In the US theyre all owned by companies, no truly independent works can reslly exist. You cant talk about communism in amy positive light under capitalism and so it can't be an option in Gundam, that I believe is why Tomino was able to make this movie the way he did. I somtimes feel that Miyazaki didnt do enough to quell the reactionary streak in Anno... Lol anyways I wonder how Roger Ebert would've reacted to this movie in juxtaposition woth Transformers The Movie starring Orson Welles 😂

[@argonbolt]

Roger would love the craft of animation on display. Siskel would complain it was too violent for an animated film which kids may watch.

[@NOIDEDU]

now do gasaraki and rice

[@argonbolt]

One day

[@nicholasrolison926]

So, I'm not too fond of Char's counter-attack. I find its themes not really a capstone on the message of the original series, but just redundant _(I feel like WeHeartGIantRobots summarized this best as "Space Waterloo, where Zeon tries to pull the original play of "Dropping a garbage from space")_ . I hate that it backtracks on Char's character development from Zeta (and that every rationalization FOR that leap between it and CCA is just the fans filling in the blanks). I feel like it drops the positive point of ZZ for the sake of time (which thankfully gets picked back up in Unicorn/Narrative), and _some how_ Char convinced people he wasn't going to drop an asteroid for the 2nd time...in the same movie. As far as the video, while it was cool to see some of the lore behind the production, the video _really_ comes off as sanctimonious to the legitimate problems people have with this movie, only to end with, "yea, so I like it cause I watched it later and better understood some of the themes."

[@argonbolt]

Well I did watch it later and understood it better sooo.... yeah. As to "legitimate problems" I really don't get that as I haven't seen much if any myself. People generally really like CCA. A lot of Gundam fans like CCA. A lot of the younger anime people or Japanese creators really really like CCA. I don't really listen/watch to Weheartgiantrobots so I don't see the Waterloo parallels very much here. At least not from a historical perspective as far as what I know of France and Napoleon, the Char comparison feels wrong and incorrect. Not really enough in common. And ironically I would say yeah I agree with it not picking up stuff, but then you praise ZZ which is ultimately like, THE thing which dropped the ball over all. ZZ was the time for Tomino and Sunrise to expand and do that but as laid out in this series Gunpla/profit motives torpedoed that. Really each work in UC and Gundam broadly is a response to the previous work but not really a "continuity" in terms of over all connective narrative tissue. So laying the blame on CCA feels odd when its a reaction to ZZ, itself a reaction to Z, itself a response to 0079. As for the second asteroid thing, listen, the West and NATO gave Vladimir Putin 5-6 outs where he did something bad(invasion of Georgia, annexation of Crimea etc) and they let him get away with it basically on the "ok be nice now pls?" principle, which didn't impede or stop him and only emboldened him. Real life has many examples (unfortunately) just like that, especially from western democratic liberal states which prefer not to go to war if possible with peer threats.

[@nicholasrolison926]

​@@argonbolt OK, great, but _did you make this video because many people like CCA?_ Or did you make it because you found people didn't understand its themes and ultimately settled on "it's a pretty movie with plot points that don't make sense"? I may be misreading the intention, but it is a response to the latter. I don't like handwaving the transparent connective tissues built up to now in the series and CCA ignoring them with "each UC is a response to the prior," especially when Unicorn/Narrative actually _did_ try to fix it. I understand ZZ had massive repercussions on the series that changed the course of Gundam, but that does nothing to change how jarring it is just watching CCA for the first time without all that background on Gundam/Sunrise/Tomino, and how drastically it changes characters. Out of curiosity, have you read Hi-Streamer or Beltorchika's Children? I'd be curious what you think of those version of the story as contrast to CCA.

[@argonbolt]

@@nicholasrolison926 I mean well mostly in that people did enjoy it, but few got it really, because well, of all that stuff I said in the video. A lot ignore the subtext or just are missing out on a kinda specific time and place, but not outright dismissing or disliking the work really. I also would not use the term "handwave" because fundamentally its just the fact of the matter. UC was made adhoc and case by case. Our modern expectations of nice neat well structured cannons and lore are kinda incompatible with older big stuff like Gundam because ultimately the creative freedom of each work could take or leave whatever it liked about the preceding work. There was no "master UC plan" in place. Point in case, you bring up Unicorn/Narrative, but I think that is very ironic. Seeing as both are some of the most laughably revisionist works in Gundam. The reason they make UC feel more concise is by just radically redefining UC's central thesis points to fit their pathetically neo-liberal agenda. I look forward to tearing into both at some point in the future and would say they exist as perhaps some of the most outright bad series in gundam, maybe the worst if SEED didn't exist. Its very easy to say "It all makes sense" if you just retcon or reinterpret everything. I am not really interested in that, I try to take each show on a case by case within its context and evaluate it on how much it managed to do what it could with what it had. As to Hi-Streamer and BC, I haven't read the first and only read a chunk of the second. Personally I feel it is really a lateral move in so far as CCA goes, it maybe improves on some stuff but there is other elements I find weaker and its nature is less concise over all. So I really can't say it feels like the DEFINITIVE CCA version anymore than the book version of 0079 for example, a pretty much equal work which is an alternative but not superior. Also the nightingale kinda sucks for a final Char suit tbh, feels way too bloated and mobile armour-y.

[@nicholasrolison926]

@@argonbolt • Gotcha, I'm not trying to paint the movies as widely hated if that's how I'm coming across. I understand it holds a special place in people's hearts and is a success overall, but I have seen pushback against it, and people who gloss over the themes as their primary enjoyment of the movie is the massive battle itself and find the plot contrived or uninteresting. That being said, I'm not opposed to hearing what others _think_ about it, which is why myself and a buddy watched your vid. The summary of the movie to me, which you seemed to agree with, is that you go into it _thinking the movie_ is about Char fulfilling his father's ideals, but then realize that the conflict is not "Char attacking Earth" but "Char provoking Amuro" _(which I admit)_ does open the film up & help it come into focus. Even the counterattack in the title is not about Char avenging Zeon but about Char "counterattacking" Amuro for beating him and killing Lalah. That said, Char seemed over her in Zeta, and the movie does a disservice to the canon by radically changing characters out of the blue. Zeta Char sparsely mentions Lalah. CCA still works as a film, but the common criticism that the film doesn't make much sense in continuity is 100% correct. In the six years between Zeta and CCA, SOMETHING had to happen to bring Lalah back into his mind. Maybe he met her ghost. Maybe Haman's death at the hands of the AEUG was the tipping point. Maybe he just plain went crazy. Until the details get written, Char is the only one that can say for sure. I also find the _relevance_ of the political themes is hurt by the plot being a massive revenge boner. • Wait, hold up; it feels like you're not giving Unicorn/Narrative the same shake you just gave to CCA. If each story isn't as focused on cohesive storytelling but on contemporary relevance and we should look at them as more self-contained responses to prior work, why is Unicorn/Narrative in the wrong for making changes? I'm sure you'll address it in your video, but I'd love to know for context when I watch it. • Well, I _feel like_ you referenced the original series and Zeta enough in the video and the background of the movie to at least mention the stories that were early drafts of the film. I'm not a fan of the Sazabi _(I prefer the Nightingale or Sinanju)_ , so I'll have to disagree with you on preference. Actually, this is an interesting question: do you prefer Tomino's writing style, or Yoshikazu Yasuhiko's?

[@Tomtenthemech]

OK...I absolutely LOVE Char's Counterattack. I bought the special edition DVD way back in like 2004 or 2005 and I fell in love. It started my love for anime and gunpla, well, Gundam in general did. BUT...Char's Counterattack is objectively NOT a good film lol. It would have been MUCH better as a 4-5 episode OVA that would have allowed the story to be much more fleshed out. I just feel like it's really held back by the time constraints.

[@argonbolt]

Nah I feel if anything the time constraint worked. Its very fast paced but its all beef. More time would have added not that much I think. F91 is the one dying for more breathing room.

[@Tomtenthemech]

@@argonbolt yeah it's a shame they had to completely switch gears on the production of F91

[@fattiger6957]

For the amount of plot and characters crammed into 2 hours, CCA really should have either been a tv series or a long OVA (like Stardust Memory) Just like F91, there is just too much stuff stuffed into a short amount of time. I didn't feel anything but annoyance for most of the new characters (especially Quess) The new characters I kinda liked (like Chan and Nanai) didn't get enough screen time to develop their characters. I feel like the movie didn't do a good job explaining Char's change of motivation and goals since Zeta. It also didn't do a great job explaining the new psycho technology. Of all the UC stuff, I think CCA needs an expanded remake the most. The art and animation is absolutely beautiful. It is one of the best looking 80s anime. But the story and characters should be re-presented in a manner that lets the audience get to know them more.

[@argonbolt]

One thing I can say for certain, no remake is likely gonnah capture the animation techniques on display. I also feel more time, while giving characters more room, wouldn't solve that much and would probably expose the fact that there is not much more Char and Amuro could really do.

[@Anon44480]

Half-good, half hot-air.

[@hagbardceline7118]

Dude, just say you're a liberal.

[@argonbolt]

Lmao no, for that to even make sense I would have to enjoy how things are a lot more than I do.

[@LSFfilms]

not celebrating capitalism ? lol making youtube is the purest form of capitalism ever

[@argonbolt]

Lol it really isn't

[@surprisedchar2458]

Not really. It’s more like working with an unpredictable vampire.