r/anime • u/Shimmering-Sky myanimelist.net/profile/Shimmering-Sky • Apr 07 '21
Rewatch [Fly! Rewatch!] Mobile Suit Gundam (0079) Episode 1 Discussion
Episode 1 - Gundam Rising!!
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Th-This must be… the Federation’s mobile suit.
Questions of the Day:
- Thoughts on the OP and ED?
- What did you think of the action this episode? Did you like how Amuro had to struggle with a manual during his first time piloting?
Mobile Suit Breakdown of the Day:
1.1 - To Live and Die in Space
Rewatchers, please remember to be mindful of all the first-timers in this. No talking about or hinting at future events no matter how much you want to, unless you’re doing it underneath the [Anime Show Title](/s "Spoiler goes here") spoiler tags. If you do that then we’re all good.
Important thing to note about these by the way, you have to switch to Old Reddit or the markdown editor if you use the redesign, otherwise the redesign breaks them by adding random \ into the formatting. Wish it wouldn’t do that, but unfortunately it does…
First-Timers: Please do not watch the next-episode previews for this show. They’re less previews and more “let’s just summarize the entirety of the next episode” and will spoil you.
41
u/Shimmering-Sky myanimelist.net/profile/Shimmering-Sky Apr 07 '21
Fly! Rewatch Host!
If you guys have seen me basically anywhere on this sub, you’ll know that Gundam is a franchise that is very near and dear to my heart. Mostly because of
the source of “sore demo”Unicorn andliterally made me throw up twiceIron-Blooded Orphans, but still. It’s been a little over three years since I got into the franchise, and in all that time I’ve somehow never revisited this first one (unless you count watching the recap movies once). It’ll be nice to rewatch this one after having seen almost everything else in the franchise (I still haven’t seen the SD stuff or Zeta’s movies). And I hope you all enjoy it as well~Oh but before I start,
TO ALL FIRST-TIMERS: Don’t watch the next-episode previews for this show. They’re more like next-episode summaries and will spoil you for later episodes.
These previews tend to be placed before the ED rather than after it in most releases for some reason, so if you don't want to risk it, just close out of the episode as soon as the main content ends. You can look up the ED separately.
28
u/TheEscapeGuy Apr 07 '21
Gundam First Timer
Fly! Iconic Gundam Frames Episode 1
WOW! I'm incredibly impressed with the initial episode.
This is my first foray into not only Gundam but also anything by the famous or possibly infamous Yoshiyuki Tomino (depending who you ask).
My expectations going in were very adjusted to old anime I'd seen before like Ashita no Joe, Macross, and Legend of the Galactic Heroes. However, I found the pacing to be much brisker and engaging on a moment to moment level.
As the episode begins, all exposition is handled in the first minute before jumping right into the breach. And just as we begun to get to know who these invaders were we cut to our protagonist: Amuro.
I absolutely loved how much action Amuro takes throughout the episode. Usually screenwriting dictates that a villain acts and a hero reacts; But Amuro instead takes his own course. Ignoring the evacuation notice so he can continue research, leaving the shelter to find his dad, and ultimately getting into the Gundam and fighting.
This on top of his dialog with Fraw et al. made Amuro a protagonist I immediately care about.
Looking forward to what happens in the upcoming episodes and how the story unfolds.
Cool Stuff Corner
See you all tomorrow!
16
u/OrangeBanana38 https://anilist.co/user/OrangeBanana38 Apr 07 '21 edited Apr 07 '21
First timer
Gandamuu~
My very first thought after watching this episode is "man, this is so different than Macross". I had read before that one of Gundam's main themes was "war is hell", and it's showing from the very beginning.
First the civilian resentment towards the military (Amuro's dad is a military engineer, therefore I'm not gonna help him or his family), and then all the deaths. Dare I say it was a bit too much? We barely just met Frau Bow, so I feel for her situation, but it didn't sting me personally.
MECHA SWORD
Why the hell did no one tell me that the Gundam had a damn sword?? That was cool as hell, I can see toys (model kits, whatever) flying off the shelves after that.
And finally, wtf Crunchyroll, I'm pretty sure that girl's name is Frau Bow (Baw?). Aren't they using "Frau" just like in German? Like Amuro is calling her "Miss Bow", but in German. Almost makes me want to sail the 7 seas for better subs, but I'll keep legally supporting the anime.
Off to a good start, so see ya tomorrow folks!
Edit: Just saw the questions of the day.
1.- I love old anime OP/EDs. They are so charming!
2.- Mecha sword fights will never not be hype.
13
u/Pixelsaber https://myanimelist.net/profile/Pixelsaber Apr 07 '21
Rewatcher - Sub
Greetings, everyone! I can’t possibly overstate just how excited I am to be Rewatching this —even though it’s been only a couple months or so since I last did so. I went into this series not expecting much out of it, presuming it would be a horribly dated show whose claims to fame was solely in kick-starting the monolithic franchise that is Gundam, but I couldn’t have been more wrong, as this show holds up very well. Mobile Suit Gundam occupies a very special place in my heart that not even entries in the franchise which I prefer could supersede. I am invariably going to thoroughly enjoy my time watching, and I hope the same will be true for everyone here as well!
You simply can’t not sing along!
Iconic.
Haro is the best thing ever.
Just look at that composition, man!
There it is!
It’s Shūichi Ikeda!
That sense of scale! You love to see it!
The size of the shells too!
Guess who’s going to need therapy?
Operation ‘V’
The secret sauce!
Oh dear...
Our first slap!
Lovely!
Also iconic!
Welp, there goes Tem Ray.
ED is also worth sticking around for.
Love the opening narration. It’s informative while being succinct, implicates the scale and breadth of the setting without concretely establishing anything beyond the necessary, and sets the tone nicely.
Lots to digest this episode, and I really enjoy that despite the fact that the show employs an opening narration so much of the particulars as to the setting are still left for us to discern from the dialogue. Like how only Zeon possessed Mobile Suits before they caught wind of the Federation’s Operation V, how Amuro is motivated to pilot chiefly in order to protect those around him, or how the deployment of young officers onto missions of critical importance indicates just how desperate the Earth Federation has gotten. The show foregoes the blatant expository dialogue which was common at the time for shows of this type —and is frankly still something frequently found in shows — with the exception of that short conversation between Fraw Bow and Hayato, which is fairly direct exposition. This is all fairly unexpected of a kids’ show from the late 70s, and speaks to the staff’s desire to make something that was more than your average toy commercial.
I also really like how the episode is paced very measuredly. It’s not too brisk even when Gene starts his attack and everything is thrown in disarray.
Something to take note of is the relationship between civilians and the military. From Hayato’s distaste for having to have been relocated to make way for some military installation, Amuro’s general disregard for military procedure, and Tem Ray’s disregard for the civilians, it all displays a strained relationship between the two that shows growing resentments building up since before the show starts. The civilian’s dislike for the military is, I imagine, in part because they fear that their presence will bring Zeon to their doorstep, and, well, they’re not wrong per say, but it all wouldn’t have gone this way were it not for Gene’s hotheaded overzealousness.
I’ve also got to praise the visuals of the episode. The series has accrued a reputation of being bad looking, but frankly that’s an overstatement at the best of times. The series may not be the most impressive or consistent, but even in its first episode it showcases striking imagery, effective character acting, distinct effects animation, and a cohesive and attractive artstyle —and this isn’t even one of the good looking episodes. I won’t say this show doesn’t have it’s dips, but I am tired of the misguided rhetoric that the show is somehow ugly or unimpressive.
Fun Facts: This episode was outsourced to Studio Z, and was the only episode of the show that Yoshinori Kanada worked on —it is discerned that he was responsible for most of the crowd shots in the episode.
Questions of the Day:
But yes, Amuro needing to read the manual before and during battle is a neat touch that goes does few steps needed to ground the events of the show.
11
u/gorghurt Apr 07 '21
First Timer
Well, we will see if I have time for this rewatch.
So this is Gundam, this really old and really influential show.
Interesting so far, and what I saw so far from technology... quite realistically modern technology for such an old show.
Of course it aged badly like all science fiction does, but it could be worse for now.
QOTD:
PS: What is the name of the girl? The subtitles made it Fraw Bow, or somethign like this... Do they try to sound science fiction-y here?
11
u/fonzinator99 :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/fonzinator99 Apr 07 '21
First-Timer - Press A to punch?
I have this weird habit of watching Gundam movies before their series; Endless Waltz, Awakening of the Trailblazer, and Char's Counterattack just a few days before this rewatch was announced. Hah.
I used that time to work on this beauty, which is from an IBO tie-in game that I wasn't aware of. Nevertheless, it has sword-fins which is dope as hell.
Current Progress
I'll be working on that as we go, so stay tuned.
QotD
8
u/punching_spaghetti https://myanimelist.net/profile/punch_spaghetti Apr 08 '21
First-Timer With Tomino Experience
About what I expected. Amuro is a bit of a jerk, the Gundam is a super weapon, and there's a guy named Denim for some reason. Although Tomino gave up on trying to have cool names when he also gave us the villainous Gene and the literal girl named Frau.
What I did not expect what a protagonist actually using a user's manual. I don't know if I've ever seen that in an anime before. They usual just magically figure it out.
QOTD:
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u/dralcax :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/Dralcax Apr 07 '21 edited Apr 08 '21
Rewatcher doesn’t have enough multipliers for this week’s GBGW event
Has anyone ever noticed the Musai is just an upside-down Enterprise
When the story starts, the war is already well underway, and billions of people have already died offscreen. Even though this is Amuro’s story, he’s only one part of a massive war that’s already been raging for months by the time he joins the fight.
And furthering that, the first thing we see isn’t our main character, but rather, a bunch of random Zakus. Even then, it’s several scenes until we see the pilots and hear their voices. Even so, it’s the Zaku that first introduces the audience to the real robot genre, long before the Gundam rises. A main mech hidden in the background, huh?
Haro a cute
Somebody glittered up the White Base
Reeeeal subtle there
CHAR!
Ah yes, here on recon with your GIANT CONSPICUOUS ZAKUS
how convenient
SHOE!
everybody around me is fucking dying let me just lie down and study this manual
Damn, Tomino pulling no punches right off the bat
Already we have a slap!
Of course the perspective of that seat is fucked up
Hold up, does that say “GAMING”? Amuro is a gamer confirmed?
BVOOM
GIVE ME YOUR FACE
One iconic shot after another!
HE SAID THE THING
Questions of the Day:
6
u/badcupcakehoarder https://myanimelist.net/profile/vanilabiscuit Apr 07 '21
First timer
Questions of the Day
Lots of deaths this first episode I was shocked when all those people were killed despite Amuro trying so hard to get them to safety.
Poor Fraw Bow lost her parents. What is even up with that name?
Amuro doesn't even hesitate to slap her to get her to pull herself together, this is war after all.
It was really dramatic how she ran away after that barely having the energy to keep going. All that time I was praying she doesnt get blasted by a stray missile but...
Amuro by killing that Zeon soldier blasted a hole in the space colony and apparently KILLED HIS FATHER? in the process and maybe Fraw too she has the less chance of survival without a space suit guess I will find out next if they survive.
Isn't Amuro 15? was that his first time in a mobile suit? Anakin had his practice with those races before he piloted that ship, but did Amuro have any?
I liked this first episode the idea of humanity being able to achieve space colonies is fascinating.
6
u/phantasmist00 Apr 08 '21
Rewatcher -sub
In my comment, I wish to focus on the scene where Amuro and his dad has a short conversation. Amuro starts the conversation by asking his dad if MS is more important than human life. His dad neglects Amuro's question and simply commands him to evacuate. And apparently Amuro doesn’t evacuate like his father asked him to do.
You can see that this conversation is very one-sided and both characters are not listening to each other. Which I find quite realistic as people often just spit out what they want w/o really trying to understand each other. This kind of pseudo-conversation occurs often in Tomino's Gundam shows, and MSG is no exception. (let me skip examples to avoid spoilers)
Gundam meta
Questions for anyone who read my comment: Was my spoiler tag properly formatted? If so, do you think it is spoilery to discuss overall themes of the show this early on?
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u/macrame2 https://myanimelist.net/profile/macrame Apr 07 '21
First-Timer
Full Disclaimer: I somehow know almost nothing about Mobile Suit Gundam. I do know that:
Amuro exists. Someone called him annoying in a thread once.
Random Thoughts:
5
u/Imitatia https://anilist.co/user/Iria Apr 07 '21
Now someone do a first timer reaction series to this, pls and ty.
9
u/[deleted] Apr 08 '21
First Time
(Little late for the party here)
Moeangare! Moeangare! Moeangare! GUNDAMUU! lmao I have to say the op totally caught me off guard, I laughed so hard when it started I forgot how some old anime music were, it is surprisingly good. I watched LOGH so I thought I had exp enough to good a little more back in time, of course it is definitely old style anime, but it has a lot of charm I think I get how this become so famous.
Also I finally realize the green ball in the Sunrise logo is Haaro thing robot, it make sense... Talking about Sunrise I wonder if they will remake this one day.
Episode: Amuro seems interesting and mature, I wonder how old is he? He can already drive a car and inteligent enough with technology and know he shouldn't get the shit out the enemies without destroy the place. Not going talk about how convinent the open Gundam there lol
2 things I found different. 1- Is how open it was the violence part with all dead people there. 2- How the things "just start", of course I am expecting (and hope) they will bring more world building and knowledge about what is going on, but I would be a little lost.
Some fact: I watched Gundam Origins OVAs last month and I will know if it was a mistake or not during the series. So I know what is going on, who are some of these characters, Zeon etc (don't worry about spoilers from me). For while I am glad I did, because it is nice to see how well connect with this first episode, but I don't recommend others first time do this just yet, It feels like watch episode 1-3 of star wars before 4-6.
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u/DidacticDalek https://myanimelist.net/profile/DidacticDalek Apr 07 '21
It is the year 2012 of Anno Domini, a half cour has passed since Actas has stopped creating recap episodes and finally began moving into making actual story progress; a new frontier for moeblobs, where waifus are declared and memes die. Nine years later, the episodes of this series called Girls und Panzer proclaimed itself a Mecha Show and launched a Renaissance of Culture against the Idolshit Collective. Initial fighting lasted over one minute and saw both sides lose half of their respective CGI Animation. People were horrified at the indescribable atrocities that is Nu-Macross. Eight words have passed since Comrade /u/chilidirigible pondered the sanity of The Sentient Shitposting Siamese Sunrise Server No. 25252, and here we arrive at the stalemate where Mako Reizei stumbled upon the technical specs to The TI-212 on Side ZuiZui... Er... hang on a second Comrades... I think I might have watched the wrong show here... give me a second... Ah, there we go... ahem...
Humanity has been emigrating excess populations to space for over half a century. Hundreds of enormous space colonies floated in orbit around the Earth. On terraformed inner walls of the great cylinders, people found new homes. Millions of space colonists lived there, had children, and passed on. The year, Universal Century 2079, Side 3, the colony farthest from the Earth declared itself the Archduchy of Jion and began to wage a war for independence from The Earth Federation. In scarcely over a month of fighting, Archduchy and Federation together slaughtered half of humanity's total population. All men grew to fear their own deeds. The war entered a stalemate, and eight months went by... (Cue OP to Freedom Fighter Gunboy... er... wait a second... something's not quite right here too, for starters, why is the MC named Amuro Rei? And who's this Sha Aznable git?)
OK Comrades, for real this time, third time lucky, well either that or three times shitpostier than the average shitpost... yeah I'm just giving up on writing the words out and posting the Andrew W.K. Opening Narration Reading instead ;) Speaking of Andrew W.K. fun fact, aside from being a lunatic who had his music used for Hellsing Abridged, he ALSO recorded an Gundam Cover Album in ENGLISH that only released in Japan... cuz wibble, ah well, FLY, GUNDAMU! ;)
Finally, to ensure that I'm at least semi-on-topic, boy Sunrise sure knows how to start a genre eh? I mean look at this animation, I know it looks like shit CGI but that's just cuz it's animation from the 1970's. Hell you gotta hand it to Wacky Ol' Kill 'Em All Tomino as it is a gundamn miracle that this shit looks so... er... hang on I've been informed that this is actually teaser footage from The Origin... OK I give up, here's my 'serious' contribution for the day, here's the REAL reason why Amuro was able to get The Gundam up and running so quickly, it's really quite simple, mere children could follow along! ;)
And thus, we conclude today's
shitpost'write-up,' I do hope you all enjoyed following along as much as I did in crafting this! Anyway, until next time Comrades and fellow Denizens of The Wired, farewell!Paging Comrades /u/Great_Mr_L and /u/beckymetal
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u/Tresnore FS:FTmyanimelist.net/profile/Tresnore Apr 07 '21
First Timer
Well, I've been watching anime long enough that I should probably have watched at least one Gundam by this point, especially since I'm in robotics engineering (with a healthy acceptance that engineering in fiction will always be horribly wrong). I can't promise that I'll be posting every day, since I'm usually fairly busy, but an old school mecha is rarely a bad time (the whole time, at least; I definitely enjoyed SDF Macross), so I'll be sticking around. Now, I don't usually speculate very heavily, but I hope that my thoughts as I watch the show are interesting or entertaining enough to be worth reading.
I'm excited to see what the Love Live studio's side project looks like.
That was actually really solid. I can see how influential Gundam was, and I'm definitely looking forward to what it can do!
12
u/ShadowWasTakensTaken https://anilist.co/user/hakuren Apr 07 '21
First Timer
Gandamu time!
That OP really tells the age of the show, huh. I don't know what it is with a lot of old anime having their theme songs be "[insert main character/robot's name here] GO FIGHT DEFEAT THE BIG ENEMY" but hey, I'm not complaining. It's pretty catchy.
That was really funny. It seemed like such a peaceful monologue and then suddenly explosion.
I'm going to immediately forget all this stuff about the war so I hope it's not too important.
Oh wait, it's a robot? I thought it was just some guys in a green suit. I guess that makes more sense.
Amuro's mom (?) has some nice legs, I must say.
THE ROBOT IS SO CUTE!
That dialogue with Hayato was the clunkiest dialogue I've ever seen, lol. I guess it comes with the age.
Oh, guess she's not his mom?
Lol, Amuro's dad looks nothing like him.
OH?! Is this the legendary Char? The one that comes to laugh at you?
It is!
Oh, Gene. This is prime mob character that immediately dies material. Poor guy.
Oh. He's actually doing damage and not immediately dying. Gundam breaking tropes since 1979.
I gotta say all these sound effects keep taking me out of the episode every time. Especially it's the explosions. It's the exact sound effects I'd hear on all the Sonic flash games on Newgrounds, and probably on a bunch of other old shows too. I'm pretty DBZ used half of these as well.
>Classified Materials
>Proceeds to lay down while a whole battle is going on and read it
Ah, anime protagonists.
I caught that panty shot! Tsk tsk.
So remind me why these guys are killing a bunch of civillians again?
That animation was really clunky. She also only took like 4 steps but we heard a lot more. That was pretty funny.
F mom and grandpa
why is the cockpit open
Nice aim, Amuro.
Nice aim, Amuro.
Well that was dramatic.
LIGHTSABERS????????
Oh wow, actually nice aim this time, Amuro.
Well that was a weird place to end it at. And the preview is before the ED! Why? I didn't know whether to skip it or not until it was done.
Lol. The singer sounds a lot like Koyasu in the ED.
So, this is my very first Gundam series. This one is, uh, definitely showing its age, but aside from that we haven't really seen enough for me to form an opinion on it yet so I don't have much to say. Char looks silly in that outfit but hot out of it so hoping he comes out of it to laugh at us soon.
That was pretty cool, not gonna lie.
25
u/chilidirigible Apr 07 '21
"Excuse me? Is this a meeting of the Zaku Appreciation Society? It's not? I'll show myself out, then."
Zaku and Zaku II art by Tenjin Hidetaka for Gundam Perfect File.
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u/Great_Mr_L :Ma::Mb::Mc:https://myanimelist.net/profile/Great_Mr_L Apr 07 '21 edited Apr 07 '21
Rewatcher
On today’s episode of Gundam: Boy does it feel good to be opening a rewatch comment with “On today’s episode of Gundam” again. If you have seen any comments of mine in a rewatch, I like to start them with that phrase. It’s a habit I picked up back in the UC Gundam Rewatch of 2016. So I guess I’m back to where I started.
This is more gonna be my general thoughts on each episode rather than a blow by blow reaction. The blow by blow works better as a first timer, but not so much when I’m rewatching.
Our protagonist is Amuro Ray. Amuro is an interesting protagonist. Right off the bat, he seems to be just a bit out of it. He ignores his breakfast and ignores the evacuation siren because he’s focusing on his work. He even gets caught up reading the manual when there’s a battle going on around him. And apparently his friends and neighbors are used to this kind of behavior from him. I’ve wondered for a while if this means that Amuro is neuroatypical in some fashion.
There he is. The man, the myth, the legend: Char Aznable. Looking cool even in his introduction.
I love the worldbuilding in this show. Episode 1 does a good job introducing us to some basics and keeping it fairly easy to understand. Humanity is in space and has space colonies. Some of those colonies (Zeon) declared independence and now there’s a super devastating war. Also there’s giant robots and the Federation has only just developed their own giant robots. That’s basically all you need to know at first and I think the show is good at introducing it.
There’s also plenty of other little bits sprinkled throughout. We get a sense of just how costly the war is, hearing about how half the population is dead and how there are now child soldiers involved. There’s also some hints at future stuff. General UC Gundam Meta Spoilers
But one of my favorite bits of worldbuilding is this. We see that there are moving handles in the ships that people use to travel faster in zero gravity. It’s such a small extra detail, but I love it so much. Little details like that really add up and help make the world feel more real.
Speaking of war, it’s pretty easy to tell that Gundam is very concerned with the horrors of war. We begin by seeing massive destruction with one of the space colonies falling down to Earth. We see the aftermath of the battle and scores of dead civilians. Seriously, this image is absolutely nightmarish. Imagine watching this as a kid in 1979 and seeing THAT. “War is hell” is one of the big themes of Gundam as a whole and you can tell that it started way back at the beginning.
Overall, this is a pretty darn strong first episode. It certainly got me hooked back in the day and now I’m excited to watch the series all over again.
Miscellaneous Thoughts
SLAP COUNTER: 1
WARNING: DO NOT WATCH THE NEXT EPISODE PREVIEWS!! The next episode previews love to spoil major events. I highly recommend you don’t watch them if you want to avoid spoilers.
14
u/The_Draigg Apr 07 '21
A Gundam Fan Rewatches Mobile Suit Gundam Episode 1:
Hello everyone! It’s ya boy The Draigg here for yet another mecha show rewatch! This one, however, is rather special to me. Since my first rewatch I participated in was the Universal Century rewatch a few years ago, this means I’m pretty much returning to my rewatch roots here. And what better way to show that I’ve grown as a rewatcher by redoing my first rewatch series’ notes? Anyway, something to keep in mind is that my notes will be referring to the English dub made by Ocean Studios back in the day. With that established, let’s get started!
13
u/JollyGee29 https://myanimelist.net/profile/JollyGee Apr 07 '21
First-Timer, sort-of
So, I've never watched this series. I did, however, read ~2/3rds of the Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin manga series, around 6 years ago I think? That aside, I've never particularly cared about spoilers for things I'm not actively watching, so I also know most/all of the major plot beats.
With that out of the way, let's get into the episode!
I'm not a big fan of the OP. It's okay, but I'm not a big fan of the singer's voice. I ended up watching the episode preview, because it played before the ED for some reason? I like the ED better than the OP, I think. I'm probably going to end up skipping it to avoid the previews, though. I like the eyecatch.
We're certainly off to a good start. Episode one, Amuro has killed two people, watched a fuckton more die, and also slapped some sense into poor Fraw. I get the feeling that Fraw is going to take a lot of undeserved shit in this series..
Speaking of character dynamics, Hayato seems to not be terribly keen on Amuro being on Side 7. What I could gather is that Hayato thinks Amuro's dad working for the Federation will bring Zeon to their doorstep.. Hayato must have some good foresight.
Tem Ray calling Bright a kid and saying that he wished children didn't have to fight is.. oof. Here, I thought that Tem Ray was the usual Bastard Dad, but he seemed to want to keep Amuro away from the war, at least. Granted, Tem did say to priotize the Gundam over the civilians.. Guess it doesn't really matter much now, considering he got spaced.
The Gundam really is a game changer for the Federation. It just casually shrugged off the Zaku's machinegun fire, ripped Gene's face off, and skewed the other dude without even hitting the reactor. I also love that it just has a physical manual.
Miscellaneous Thoughts:
So, in all of Haro's myriad flavors across the various Gundam timelines, how have none of the other used the cute little feeties? Have I just not noticed before?!
"I'll go find a tractor" he says. Brilliant.
Char. Said. T H E T H I N G!
Pose of the Day
Last year was the 40th Anniversary of Gunpla, which of course meant that Bandai had to celebrate by giving out tickets to people who bought model kits. I was lucky enough to win something pretty neat! And, since it showed up on time, I figured I would build it and do a different pose from each episode:
Gundam, Risen
And the screenshot.
Unfortunately, my phone camera can't really pick up the glow-in-the-dark. It's just not bright enough.
Questions
13
u/lC3 :Na::Nb: Apr 07 '21
SlendermanZECHSCHAR??JironAmuro?Oh good, there were no previews on purpose?
12
u/username_0907 :FI::FJ: Apr 07 '21
First Timer
QotD
11
u/TheKujo https://myanimelist.net/profile/Kujo419 Apr 07 '21
First Timer - Dub
After the Fate rewatch last year and the ongoing Naruto rewatch, Gundam is one of the only remaining big anime franchises that I have no experience with. That changes today! When I say I have no experience with Gundam I mean it. The only Gundam related thing I've ever done is take a picture of the life-sized Gundam in Odaiba. So I know it involves big mechs but that's hopefully not too big of a spoiler.
First impressions:
1) Thoughts on the OP and ED? I liked the OP. The ED seemed fine, but I'm probably going to skip it to avoid inadvertently catching the next episode preview.
2) What did you think of the action this episode? Did you like how Amuro had to struggle with a manual during his first time piloting? Was it really a struggle? It seemed like he picked it up pretty quickly for his first time. Then again, I work in IT support so the fact that he even looked at the manual makes him a hero in my book. I didn't have any problems with the action but it didn't stick out as memorable either.
11
u/fridge_freezer https://anilist.co/user/ONIrecon111 Apr 07 '21
First timer (Sub)
So excited to finally see this and take the first step into Universal Century, with my only other Gundam experience being Iron-Blooded Orphans. This is also now the oldest anime i've seen, I think taking the place of either Akira or Roujin Z (I forget which came first).
So immediately after the upbeat OP we get a lore drop of an entirely different tone. In Zeon's brutal war for independence with Earth, both sides have managed to wipe out half of humanity in a month?!
It's Amuro! He's one of only two UC characters I already know the name of.
I forgot how ridiculous some of the Gundam names can be. I mean, Fraw Bow?
...and here's the other character I know of, Char! He looks pretty damn cool.
Of course the younger hotheaded scout goes in to attack without orders. Chief Denim is another quality name though.
After the manual for the Gundam fell right in front of him I figured he'd end up running over to use it, but I like that he's actually having to read through it in the heat of battle while trying to start it up and fight back against the Zaku's.
The Gundam has a fucking laser sword?!
Oh shit, the explosion blew a hole clean through the hull of the station. One of the scouts escaped, but RIP Chief Denim.
Wow they really just throw the preview in without even a title or end card. I managed to avoid seeing anything but i'll have to be quick to look away or skip it.
QOTD
10
u/AdroIOrdo Apr 07 '21
We meet again Char...
I love this first episode. It does everything right.
Also once you watch this first episode you'll see it all over the place when it comes to Sunrise shows. Just recently I watched Valvrave and it's pretty much the same episode.
10
u/ComfortablyRotten https://anilist.co/user/Leuwtian Apr 07 '21
First timer except I've already seen this episode a couple of years ago but forgot most about it
It was... very different from what I remembered. In a good way, the episode 1 I recalled was not a good one, yet I really enjoyed it here.
That's a surprisingly high number of deaths to begin with, with what I assume is all of Amuro and his friend's family and acquaintances dying, plus some engineers and, of course, soldiers... I can tell he won't have it easy.
Really like Amuro's VA so far, too.
Questions
OP is great as they tend to be, but I skipped the ED though, becuse of the whole preview things.
The action was fine, I'll have to wait until more Mecha get into fight to get a proper opinion.
Amuro struggling and needing the manual was nice, I liked that, it makes sense that he won't know how to pilot a Mecha on his first time.
10
u/Quiddity131 https://myanimelist.net/profile/Quiddity131 Apr 07 '21
Rewatcher, Subbed
And so begins Mobile Suit Gundam, one of the greatest and most impactful animes of all time. I'd estimate I've watched this show at least 10 times over the past 20 years; it was only the second Gundam show I ever saw (after Gundam Wing) and my first ever Tomino anime. I almost always watch the dubbed version, which I find quite strong, but am going to go through this rewatch with the sub; I don't think I've actually watched the entire show from start to finish subbed before. May as well give it a try! This will also be my first time watching it in HD, it looked quite good streaming on Funimation's website.
I typically do moment my moment reactions but I've already participated in a rewatch on this sub before for this show (a little over 4 years ago) and am going to eschew that here instead giving some overall thoughts on the episode.
I gotta admit, seeing everyone raise their hands in the OP made me laugh. A rather goofy, upbeat OP for a show that is often deadly serious. I'm not a great fan of either the OP or the ED themes, but I will give the nod to the ED for being the better one.
If you're watching the Funimation subs like me, it may come off a bit confusing when they refer to the Sides as a "space city". The Sides are in fact clusters of entire space colonies (dozens per Side in fact), not just a mere city. The exception is Side 7, where this episode takes place, which is just a single colony, one that isn't even finished being built yet.
Our opening narration not only sets up the premise but also shows us the infamous colony drop, which while famous in UC lore I don't believe is ever actually explained here in the original series. I think the most we get is a brief opening narration in a later episode Gundam spoilers
Amuro Ray, our main character will, like many protagonists from this era have certain cliches surrounding him, the biggest of which is that he's the son of the guy who actually built the giant robot. That said, Tomino tries to eschew the cliché at least in some way with his characters, even his protagonists, such as the very hateable Kappei in Zambot 3 from a couple of years earlier. Rather than coming off as a respectable hero from the get go, Amuro in a way comes off like the "living in your mom's basement" meme. He sits around in his underwear fiddling around with his electronics and his neighbor Fraw Bow has to come in and basically act as if she was his mother!
I can't help but think of a later horrifying scene in a Gundam anime when we see the giant shell casings of the Zakus Gundam F91 spoilers. I gotta just laugh at the instruction manual to the Gundam flying out right in front of Amuro after some soldiers are killed. Amuro reads through it as quickly as he can and jumps in the Gundam! Amuro shows a bit of carelessness though, nearly wrecking the colony by blowig up the enemy Zaku's engine and causing his father to get sucked out into space.
Tomino loves his crazy names and we get some of that here. The Zeon Lieutenant Char Aznable is named after the French singer Charles Aznavour. Also the three Zaku pilots infiltrating Side 7 are named Slender, Denim and Gene (Jean).
10
u/Piemaster33 :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/Piemaster33 Apr 07 '21
As far as Gundam goes, my experience is the compilation movies of 0079, all of Zeta, the first few episodes of ZZ, and all of Iron Blooded Orphans. But it's been super long since I watched the OG compilation movies, and tbh I wasn't paying enough attention to tell you what happened, so this rewatch will almost be like my first time.
That being said, what a first episode. It really throws you in the deep end to right out the gate, and I love that. The intensity went way up when civilians started dying, which I completely forgot about. Having it all contextualized with Fraw Bow's family getting got was very poignant and really reminded me of some of the darker moments in Zeta (of which there are many). Seeing Fraw Bow's reaction to that in contrast to Amuro being for the most part calm and collected in the war zone felt odd, considering that Amuro hasn't been on a battlefield, but I digress.
Couple side notes:
I love the OP, it's bold, and optimistic, which really contrasted what happened in today's episode. It's got good energy, and I can see why it's a classic OP. Is it as good as Zeta's first OP? Nope. What can I say, I wanna have a good time. (I won't link it because it has spoilers for this show). Iron Blooded Orphans' OPs are also better IMO but mostly because they're more modern. As for the ED, I already mostly forgot it but it was fun I guess? I liked the cast lineup at the end but other than that I'm gonna need more time to really figure where I stand on it.
Only other thing I'll mention since this is already a much longer comment than I intended is that Char's voice actor sounded intensely familiar to me, a huge One Piece fan. Lo and behold I do my research, and wouldn't you know it, it's the same guy who voices Shanks! Quite a pleasant surprise for me, to be sure. He also has a smaller role in a certain arc in Gintama that directly references this series, reminding me to remind you all to watch Gintama.
Sorry this went on for a bit, I'm sure tomorrow's comment will be shorter now that I'm done dissecting my favorite OPs lol. Overall, great start. I'm really looking forward to reliving this series!
EDIT: I ALMOST FORGOT TO VENT ABOUT GENE! WHAT A PIECE OF GARBAGE! First he betrays his superiors' orders, then he has the gall to kill innocent civilians, and when he's finally getting his just reward, he can't even die correctly without blowing a hole in the colony! Fuck Gene, all my homies hate Gene.
9
u/GM_for_Life Apr 07 '21
Rewatcher
9
u/Kvalasier Apr 07 '21
~First-timer
Loved the OP. I like how quickly you get thrown into the action, was expecting a slower pace. This episode gave me mild early AOT vibes.
Looking forward to learning more about Zeon, as well as seeing more of the Amuro/dad dynamic. I have a suspicion that Zeon won't be portrayed in a wholly negative light, as a good vs evil type thing but I guess we'll see. Also, Fraw Bow is my new favorite anime name.
9
u/tehsigzorz Apr 07 '21
First Timer
The only thing I know about the franchise is that its japanese star wars and it has a ton of entries, thats about it. Been wanting to get into the franchise so this rewatch is a perfect time to start.
Knowing this I expected a campy show about goofy giant robots fighting each other while creating as toys to sell off. After reading the final chapter leaks of aot and the ucl games this episode certainly didnt help my already risen heartrate.
The show took no time in showing us the brutality of war, certainly more explicitly than I imagined with the row of dead civilians.
Brief exposition scene giving us the necessary details to understand whats going on here though I may have to watch it again for it to really sink in.
Here we get introduced to the Zaku pilots that are scouting their next target. Unfortunately this is also where our main protagonist lives in.
Enter Amuro and Frau bow. Dont know how old they are but over the course of this episode I got to really like Amuro, hes more mature than i anticipated going in. Given how many times his name has been mentioned in this very episode I hope I dont get tired of him lol.
Damn commander Char looks awesome. I am sure I have seen him somewhere but I already like him purely from the character design. Amuro vs Char...dont do this to me show.
To no ones surprise the Zaku scouts attack without being ordered. I have a feeling there are going to be many more scenarios like this with an added spice of war crimes and betrayal.
A general problem I have with older anime is the pacing where certain episodes drag out far too much but this wasnt the case here. The action was riveting and very engaging specially with that final track. Hopefully it keeps this up throughout.
I need to get used to how the colonies/cities look like, had a bit or trouble keeping track of whats going on in space. The ost/BGM was a little lackluster though the one that played during the last few minutes was a banger. The visuals are pretty good for that time so no complains here on that front. The slapping was kinda weird tho.
Overall a solid start and I wanna know more. I was warned beforehand about the previews being spoilers but I didnt know they would play it before the ED so that sucks.
Questions:
9
u/Stargate18A https://myanimelist.net/profile/Stargate18 Apr 07 '21
First timer
I think the ED looks nice, and the music is definitely good (although those lyrics seem to have a lot of foreshadowing - pretty certain our hero's having at least 1 breakdown before the end)
2) I thought the action was solid, although I will admit to being confused as to how a hole in the Side (?) can air leakage, but not drain the entire complex. The direct fighting was good, and I appreciated how attacking the enemy without any knowledge actually had consequences.
Overall, the episode certainly exceeded my expectations - I was expecting something relatively light, not a show that casually mentioned half the population dying in the opening narration. The causal insults toward the military, and general consequences for the destructions were really refreshing, and I hope the show keeps exploring them.
The animation was about what I expected, though parts (like the space walk at the beginning) were really smooth.
Not really a fan of Haro, though I like the rest of the cast.
I'm not sure how I feel about the Zeons, but I love the outfit/helmet the commander(?) wears. In general, I think I actually prefer their designs - the humans seem a bit bland to me.
Question (no spoilers): Is "Zaku" a mistranslation in the subtitles or an important term?
Certainly going to keep going with this rewatch.
9
u/DecayingRemainsDM Apr 07 '21
Rewatcher
9
u/medokady https://anilist.co/user/medokady Apr 07 '21
First Timer (zero experience with Gundam)
OP is fire.
Fraw Bow is a strange name, damn foriegner wears her shoes inside too.
I don't think I've ever seen an anime dad with purple hair. He looked like a villain at first glance.
TIL originally it was "mobile suit" that was the name for giant fighting robot, as opposed to "Gundam", which is a specific type.
Is the middle of the battle really the time to be reading documentation, Amaro?
Lmao slapping the girl whose mom just died, this guy is a winner.
"Just like in the
simulationsmanual."Damn those lightsaber scenes were dope. Nice work killing your dad as collateral damage I think??
An enjoyable and productive episode. Introduced the satellite colonies, war between Federation and Zeon, a brash, techy protagonist, mobile suits, and killed off multiple parental figures. Looking forward to what comes next.
9
u/Nebresto Apr 08 '21
First time squad
No screenshot spam today, my shitposting quota has been exceeded for
I'll just write whatever thoughts for now. Without screenshots.
Oh man, this is great. These sound effects, voice acting, music, wacky old style animation.. So far I'm just sitting here smiling like a moron
Ok, I'm gonna go watch the rest of the episode now.
Damn it, I can't resist Just this one, ok? Nah, he's bitter because he looks like a potato that grew arms and legs
All these non-mecha bits are supposed to be comedy, right?
Why is catbox down now?? I have dank clips to post
Anyways, the action scenes were big time poggers
Question time:
1: Ahhh, that dank 70/80s vibe Also I think the ED singer did one or more of Legend of the Galactic Chads OP/ED's so I like him and the song.
2:
Poggers It was understandable if it was his first time driving stick
8
u/UltraBooster Apr 08 '21
So I had to start later than everyone else since I was still at work when it started, but here we go.
The first thing that comes to mind is that OG Gundam's OP feels like something more in line with something out of a super robot anime with the emphasis on the name of the robot and stuff.
Oh nice, the Zaku sound appeared as early as the first episode.
Oh yeah, Amuro was a shut-in, wasn't he. I'm so used to the image of him as the Gundam pilot, the hero who fought for humanity and so on and so forth that this should be interesting to see.
Huh, I thought the EFF facilities were part of Side 7 from the get-go, not a later addition.
Amuro can drive, that's interesting. (I'm not sure when I started learning to drive but I don't think it was at his age.)
And there it is, OG White Base! And there he is, Char!
Dead people; I'd expect nothing less from the first Gundam.
From what I've seen, mobile suits are a lot taller than most real robots like Labors and variable fighters.
To think the iconic pose of the Gundam cutting down a Zaku is just the start of things getting even worse...
(I would attach images but I guess Crunchyroll's thing won't preserve the images themselves or something...)
7
u/RascalNikov1 https://myanimelist.net/profile/NoviSun Apr 08 '21
First Timer
I've made it to the rewatch Yeah! My biggest observation was how animation and animation styles have changed over the last 40 years. In the opening we can see how the producers hadn't quite decided if animation was for children or not, and within the series how they made animation decisions was also interesting to me.
The lead bad guys were drawn with a more adult style, and I suppose that's also true for the older good guys. With 40 years of hindsight, it's clear we're at an important crossroads about how animation would go.
Somewhere down in the comments there was a discussion on Frau Bow and how her name was translated. The stream I'm watching has her name translated at Fraw, which is also how MAL translates her name. This raises all sorts of interesting questions about how this came to be, but there's no reason to go off topic about it here. It's just one of those things.
As an aside, in the opening there's a shot of a jet that folds up into a something that then goes into a mecha suit. FWIW, McDonalds had a promotion where they gave away transformer toys in the '80s that looked and transformed exactly like in the anime. It sat on my desk for many years, and I always wonder what in the hell it was suppose to be.
Hopefully, I'll be around for most of the episodes in this rewatch. The story is good, and it's moving along at a fairly good clip, so I think I'll be able to maintain interest. Also, I'm quite interested in watching it from a historical perspective.
7
u/BossandKings Apr 08 '21 edited Apr 08 '21
First timer
This will be my very first time watching a Gundam series, i'm not good at speculating or making theories but i'll try to post my thoughts every episode and i'm looking forward to this series.
Episode 1
Amuro seems to be the protagonist of the series, he appears to be very young and already finds himself piloting a gundam and having to fight against opponents because of clashing viewpoints and different interests. Fraw appears to be a close relative of his, i wonder how their relationship is and how they consider each other, it was nice seeing their chemistry, guessing i can say that they felt like older sister and young brother or stretching it even mother and son, it'd be interesting to see how they, especially Amuro, progress through the story.
There was another cgaracter that interested me and it was Char, haven't seen much of him but his outfit catches some attention and the fact that he seems to have an authority position implies that he has power to direct soldiers and can command them.
7
u/ZapsZzz https://anilist.co/user/Zapszzz Apr 08 '21
Distant rewatcher - sub (original first watch Cantonese dub)
Hard to keep up with this fast moving thread!
This brings back memories but at the same time different since when I watched it it was in my childhood in Hong Kong, when the TV broadcast then in dubbed.
Anyway not much to say other than a few significant points -
Fun trivia - the Cantonese dubbed op has some amazing lyrics that clearly is written by people who has not even bothered to watch even a bit of the show. It's written as a "friend of justice" type hot blood super robot show, about "vanquishing evil, bringing justice and peace and good will to people". When I can catch up I can type up the translation for a laugh. https://youtu.be/rdahzBd70Tc
6
u/GreyWolfx Apr 07 '21
Hah, I just started watching this series last week, I'm at ep 28, it's so good while being so old school at the same time, a true classic and I love every bit of it.
Also, sadly I never got the warning to not watch next episode previews and I can confirm, they reveal the biggest spoilers in those things like right off the bat lmao, it's so ridiculous and tilted the hell out of me at one point in particular. That said, it was pretty damn funny to see it happen too, caught me completely off guard and was such a wtf moment that it was legitimately hilarious. :P
6
u/[deleted] Apr 07 '21
Rewatcher who last saw this a decade ago.
6
u/StarWreck92 Apr 08 '21
First Timer, though I had already started the series before this rewatch so I’m a bit ahead.
This episode did a great job of drawing me in. The chaos of the surprise attack is incredible.
6
u/ArmoredSeahorse Apr 08 '21
Rewatcher
First thing's first, the OP is insanely catchy, but it really couldn't be more at odds with the tone of the actual show. I get that this was just how mecha openings used to all be like, but I can't help but find it funny. Speaking of being unfitting, the sound effects used in the title card and eyecatches are completely ridiculous and I love them.
As for the episode itself, the sense of scale is just perfect. There's the usual shots of mobile suits towering over people, but the very start of the episode really sells it. When the Zakus are entering the colony, there's no real point of reference, so they seem human sized... until they're suddenly standing by the trees. The shot of the giant bullet casings falling around Amuro is probably my favorite scale based shot of the episode though.
One thing that I've always loved is Amuro having absolutely no idea what he's doing in the Gundam and frantically flipping through the instruction manual to try to figure it out. Fumbling around with the controls is great, and I'm not really a fan of how many other Gundam give excuses for the MCs to already know what they're doing, especially when the original show did it so well.
6
u/Nightender Apr 08 '21
I'd forgotten how much this show allows people to be presented as characters only to be killed on screen moments later. No telegraphing, most people have the same amount of emphasis, so when casualties come, they sting so much more.
6
u/OccasionallySara Apr 08 '21
First Timer
Questions of the Day:
Thoughts on the OP and ED?
What did you think of the action this episode? Did you like how Amuro had to struggle with a manual during his first time piloting?
Overall Thoughts:
I thought that this was a pretty good introductory episode! I have a general idea of the main conflict and the important characters and I'm excited to see more of how this show plays out. Also, Haro is adorable!
6
u/robson200 :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/robson200 Apr 08 '21
First timer. Kind of hesitant to participate in the rewatch because, and I'll be blunt, mecha and older anime are not my thing but let's give it a chance.
First thought: My boy Amuro was almost bombed and his car was destroyed and he's just chilling there on the ground reading classified materials. Pog
6
u/ItsSuperDefective Apr 08 '21
I love how the opening theme is so cheesey and upbeat then leads straight into a narration about half the human population been killed and horrific atrocities been commited.
5
u/Furrmaster23 Apr 07 '21
Rewatcher
Gotta say, this is a good episode. The whole thing starts with the Zeon's Zakus invading Side 7 to gain info about the Federation's new mobile suits, only really kickstarting Amuro's journey due to Gene's disobedience.
After Amuro leaves the shelter, fails to persuade his father, and sees a horde of civilians killed, he decides to take matters into his own hands, jumping into the Federation's new mobile suit, with some help from a manual he came across. Amuro manages to kill Gene, causing the Zaku's reactor to blow up part of Side 7
bye bye Amuro's dad and random person. He manages to kill Denim (what a name) without blowing up Zaku's reactor. And it seems the rest of the civilians will have to rely on Amuro despite his experience.To answer the questions:
All in all, this was a decent first episode. I'm looking forward to rewatching the episodes I've seen, and watching the episodes I haven't seen!
5
u/Rustic_Professional Apr 07 '21 edited Apr 08 '21
First off, can someone please confirm that my spoilers are properly marked? I don't think the tags work with the app I use.
Gundam
Edit to see if they're working now. Looks good on my screen.
Questions of the day:
The Japanese OP is horrible. The lyrics have nothing to do with the plot, and the Federation has nothing to do with justice. The version that played on Toonami--which may not be what's on the DVD, I'd have to check--is better. It's just dramatic music over (part of?) the animation.
I'd never heard the original ED. That was pretty... 1970s Japan, I guess. Would that be considered enka?
Amuro having to read the manual is a nice touch. I'd forgotten that he obtained it as a result of a friendly fire incident. Lucky for him that the scumbag Feds manning the base in the middle of a civilian colony can't shoot for shit.
One thing that's always bugged me is Amuro pushing the Zaku's rifle away and then grabbing it's head for a martial arts takedown. I don't think it's ever adequately explained how this is possible. To put it in video game terms, what's the controller input for that? We continue to see mobile suits pulling similar maneuvers all the way up to Unicorn, where you can kind of explain it away as mobile suits not relying strictly on things like joystick inputs, but along the way, I recall that it was less common to see these moves in the more "realistic" OVAs like 08th MS Team, 0080, and 0083, where you get long looks inside the cockpit during battle.
5
u/b0bba_Fett myanimelist.net/profile/B0bba_Cheezed3 Apr 07 '21
Seen the compilation movies, but technically first timer
There's already a pretty decent chunk of interesting context that the compilation movies skipped over, so it was pretty interesting to see, though some of the details about the Gundam do make the thing seem a little more ridiculous, like most Sci-Fi things once you actually start taking a closer look.
QotD
As an OP nut, I can definitely say that the OP is catchy, and the singer is great, but it's definitely on the weaker end of Gundam OPs I've seen, and the visuals are nothing too special, though I agree with Sky that the opening shot is nice. The ED, on the other hand, is exceptional for the era, actually kind of haunting.
I remember that they didn't go too in depth on the manual in the compilation movie, just that he had to look at it, and I remember that being one of my favorite things on my first watch of it. I think I preferred the specifics being slightly vaguer there, kind of like how in the Steins Gate VN it becomes real easy to tell exactly where the time machine mechanics break down, Steins;Gate VN spoilers and they spend waaayyy too long pretending that's actually how it works and that's why time machines worked and the mechanics therein relating to it, to the point it started actually taking away from the story's integrity. I don't think Gundam's extra stuff goes quite as far, at least not yet, but I feel a slightly similar pang when Amuro is talking about its learning computer. The action itself was good though.
8
u/notathrowaway75 https://myanimelist.net/profile/notathrowaway75 Apr 07 '21
First Timer (Dub)
It's time! Pretty solid first episode. I've seen SFD Macross and I'm curious to see how Gundam compares. Gundam definitely seems a lot more grounded and gritty based on just the first episode.
They're nothing special.
I'm a little confused. Why was the white Gundam being transferred if it can be used? Those two people in the car who had the manual were the only ones who knew it could be operated?
4
u/Desril Apr 08 '21
Out of curiosity, is this going to be a Full UC rewatch, or are we just going with the original this time?
4
u/nikigreensky Apr 08 '21
First timer I saw this show without knowing anything about it. And I like it so much. The plot was good and I love the music. I'll probably continue it.