Mobile Suit Gundam MS IGLOO: The Hidden One Year War

"What's that? You can't catch up to the worlds largest fool?" There was so much that could have gone right with this series. If I was to sum up MS IGLOO, the words that would be best used to describe it are "It was a complete disaster". The concept sounded promising, a re-telling of the One Year War from the Zeon's perspective. Sounds great, I mean, finally we get to hear what the One Year War was like from the Zeon's point of view. Already you have me hooked, I mean we've seen what it was like from Amuro's point of view in the original Mobile Suit Gundam,8th MS Team showed us how the One Year War was for a group of conventional Mobile Suit pilots and 0080 effectively shows us how the war is for a little child. So when I found out about this series, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to hear what the Zeon's thought of it. Oh what a bad move that was. If there is one positive from this OVA's story, it's that we at least get some backstory on Operation British and the Battle of Loum (aka Char's big moment when he destroyed 5 Magellan Class battleships, and when Mobile Suits where first used in actual combat) but aside from that? Nothing. The story is a complete and total shambles, in fact I'd be hard pressed to call weapons testing a story when placed in a meta-series that is thick with mythology. Its not that MS IGLOO's story is bad; it's terrible. An episodic series about weapons testing does not work in a series that has become well known for its large scale mech battles; and to be honest its not like the story would be able to stand on its own two feet as a completely stand-alone series either, the reason? It doesn't have its own two feet to stand on, it constantly tries to place itself in the Gundam continuity and fails. Another problem that the series has is its evident lack of character development, even if it is an episodic series, a lack of character development is inexcusable. If I wanted a show where the characters are worse than wafer-thin cardboard cut outs I'd just go off and re-watch the entirety of the crap half of Tsubasa Chronicle. But I'll get onto the characters later. Now the interesting thing about MS IGLOO, is its decision to put the entire series in CG, if done right, this could have worked so well for Sunrise and Gundam in general. I mean, can you imagine? CG Gundam eh? Now THAT sounds like something special, definitely would have put an interesting spin on things. But no, Sunrise managed to completely squander that opportunity as well. The character models in CG look awkward and flat, here's an example, they look like a bunch of rejects from Final Fantasy The Spirits Within and even that film had the decency to opt for photo-realism. As for the Mobile Suits? Hah, don't make me laugh. Try imagining a bad looking game from the PS2, imagining it? Now think about how bland and flat the textures in that game looked and then compare that to the Mobile Suits in MS IGLOO, done that? That bad looking game from the PS2 era doesn't look so bad now does it? I suppose that when they're actually in motion they at least look the part, the one benefit about those bland Mobile Suit models is that they at least animate smoothly, the same can't be said for the characters though, I mean we have a salute here and there and odd bit of walking now and then, but most of the time they stay in one place at one time, Sunrise can't even create the illusion that these CG models look even remotely good. Talk about a wasted opportunity. The voice acting in MS IGLOO is appalling. There is no other word that I can use for it without going into obscenities and its never a good idea to use too many of them in one place. Hideo Ishikawa may have managed to impress people as Itachi Uchiha and Juushirou Ukitake, but in MS IGLOO, he sucks. Voice acting tends to make a character more convincing, of all the characters, Oliver May manages to at least make some sort of impact but that doesn't mean he's good. However the real cretin of the voice cast is Miki Nagasawa, I've heard bad voices and I've heard annoying voices, very rarely though do I ever see a cross between the two. Nagasawa is unforgivably bad, her Monique being one of the most annoying female characters I've ever had the displeasure of viewing on my computer monitor, I actually felt bad for the poor thing; no not Nagasawa's character, the computer monitor, there were a few occasions that I swear it was going to start breaking down on me because of how bad she is. If I was able to say anything about the characters, it would be...they certainly know how to leave an impression, and no that isn't a good thing. They are hard to watch, a lot of the time I felt like giving up on MS IGLOO because of how bad it was, and the characters are the main cause for it - at no point do you ever feel a connection with them, they're just there, on your screen, wasting your valuable time, I could have accomplished so much in the time it took me to watch an episode of MS IGLOO, something that would have actually been productive rather than wasting goodness knows how many minutes/hours on this travesty that I know I will never get back. At the end of the day, it's easy to say that MS IGLOO is one of the worst Gundam side stories available, it fails at being a re-telling from Zeon's perspective, it fails at being a stand-alone series, it fails at making you connect with the characters and it fails at showing weapon testing, its original aim. If this was the first Gundam series you watched, I feel sorry for you. You wasted time, and probably got a sour taste in your mouth of what is usually an excellent mecha show, you're better off forgetting this disaster and going off watching something that's actually good in the Universal Century like 8th MS Team or indeed the original Mobile Suit Gundam. I'm pretty sure most long time Gundam fans will agree that this is definitely ranking up there as one of the worst Gundam series out there. And to those who have actually watched and enjoyed this series, I have to ask: Are you mental?

Taking place before the original Mobile Suit Gundam, MS IGLOO: The Hidden One Year War, is told from the prospective of Zeon, more specifically Oliver May. He is a member of the 603rd Technical Evaluation Unit and stationed on the Jotunheim. Over the course of the three part OVA, Oliver and the rest of the main crew of the Jotunheim are joined by one new character each episode and a new weapon to accompany them. Each weapon is tested and evaluated by the crew of the Jotunheim with often tragic endings. The CG animation is fairly good, but when compared to recent animated features it doesn'tshine as much as it could have. It was released as a part of the Gundam 25th anniversary. The characters look fairly realistic, but this certainly isn't the cream of the crop in regards to CG animation. Overall it is fairly well done. The Opening song is decent, nothing spectacular, but you can hardly judge a show on it's opening song. The rest of the music is produced by an orchestra, and does a decent job of heightening the mood or tension of the moment. Some of the music is repeated over the course of the OVA, but as it is short there is no cause for concern. The voice acting is generally well done with the exception of one character. The only Asian character on the show, his crying scene is painful and he fails to show any emotion realistically. The characters of the show are very nicely fleshed out over the course of the show. Although short, this OVA does a very nice job of developing the characters and nobody comes off as particularly flat. The character models are fairly realistic and their motions are very realistic. No complaints about the characters. I enjoyed this OVA and as the first Gundam that I have completed I was pleasantly surprised by the direction the story took. It was nice to see the story told from Zeon's side and I look forward to the sequel: Apocalypse 0079. As a prequel to the original Gundam it does a nice job of introducing the development of the Mobile Suits, as well as the propaganda, and conflicts that will be featured in the Universal Century storyline.

(LAZAROTH REVIEW - MEDIUM LENGTH - MINOR SPOILER SECTION) "MSG: MS Igloo" is a series of fully CGI OVAs that takes place during the one year war, following a Zeon Technical Engineer in the first and second set, and a variety of Federation ground troops in the third. This is a review for the first set, which is the first half of the main character, Oliver May's story. ***PSA: You can watch the entire "MS Igloo" series English subbed for free and 720p (better than 480p release) on INTERNET ARCHIVE, though there's a watermark in the corner, but you'll forget it's there after a bit. Due tothe obscurity of finding this series online or IRL, I hope this helps people who are looking for this mostly forgotten 25th anniversary piece of Gundam history.*** Animation/Art/Music: I'd say that the CGI is outdated, but it isn't fair to judge a 20 year old show by today's standards, although with how bad CGI has been shown to be in recent years, such as "Berserk 2016", I really don't think that calling it outdated is warranted. It looks good, not as good as the CGI trailers of "Assassin's creed", but for a full CGI show, it's perfectly just good. The CGI has a very early 2000's "realistic" CGI look to it, so it has some immense charm. (Yes it was literally made in the early 2000's, so that makes sense...). It's a very expressive CGI, perhaps a little too expressive, and sometimes lip syncing is off. But it is appropriately weighty, and the sense of force and speed are sold usually wonderfully well. It's actually quite good CGI, and a novel way to watch Gundam. The cinematography of this OVA really surprised me. It is full of dynamic and creative shots and angles, fully utilising the CGI medium to its fullest. Music is really good, albeit quite limited. The battle theme "Shisyu-seyo!" is incredibly fitting as it provokes themes of intense patriotism and it's just fun to listen to. I added it to my song list. The mobile suit's designs really stand out in the full CGI format, and still manage to look appropriately menacing, something that was lost in the CGI Mobile suits over 10 years later with the Origin anime adaptation. More on this in the last set. Story/Action/Characters: Despite the plot's lack of drama, I still really love the fact that this show revolves around the "Research and development" and subsequent "Testing" of the Zeon empire's new military weapons and vehicles such as canons and mobile suits. It's an aspect of the war we hadn't really seen, so I really like that it once again feels like a fresh perspective of the Gundam Franchise. And once again, we get to see the war from the perspective of the Zeon empire. I still really love how heavily the Gundam franchise has us in the shoes of the conventional "bad guys". Though the characters here are basically conduits for the plot to run through, and don't really make an impact themselves. There is a fairly big theme of Propaganda in this show. Even with Zeon's initial dominance with the Mobile suits, Zeon brass still manipulate the facts once they begin to be pushed back by the Federation's advancing tech by pretending to the entire Zeon forces that the war is still going in their favour, deliberately misrepresenting the facts in order to further push moral and Zeon patriotism. It's quite an interesting theme that we haven't really seen in Gundam (Keep in mind I'm watching via chronological order, not release order, so if this theme is prevalent in Gundam media that released prior to 2004, then I am wrong here, but it's new to me!). I think it's brilliant that the show dives into how Mobile suits became the jack of all trades of the war and made certain aspects of Military weapons and groups almost obsolete. You can feel the frustration of some people as their entire training and specialism have gone to waste as they are upended by superior machines of war that aren't even specialised for one niche. Some of the action scenes are actually very epic and captivating, I particularly like the scene where a fleet battle happens, but with each side rotating their cannons sideways, like old pirate ships would be pointing their cannons. It's a unique way to show the sometimes boring space battles in Gundam. I like how the end of each episode make it out as if the episode was just an personal report of the operation by the Main character, who witnessed the events unfold. It's a unique way to look at things. ***MINOR SPOILER SECTION*** Seeing the Federation brutally gun down thousands of defenceless, fleeing Zeon soldiers after the Odessa battle while our characters frantically try to save them is horrifying to witness, another way this franchise shows the horrors of war. ***MINOR SPOILER SECTION END*** Overall: I didn't think I'd like this going into it at first, but wow, I was wrong. The CGI offers a novel way to experience Gundam, and dare I say that it fits the Gundam universe amazingly well, I actually wish we had more shows like this. The plot delves into yet another unexplored aspect of war that is overlooked, but essential in winning the arms race, that of "Research and development". It was really interesting seeing all the different scenarios, even if the actual plot was very thin and even pretentious at times, it thinks it has something to say, but it doesn't really. There's some decent themes it plays with though. Still, the spectacle and uniqueness of this show makes it worth a watch, so I recommend it! I'll be reviewing the other sets, though they'll be shorter since most of my overall critique of the Igloo series is found here. Animation: 7.9/10 Plot: 6.2/10 Characters: 6.2/10 Action: 8.4/10 Music: 8.0/10 Ending: (since this is half of an on-going story, there's no ranking here...) Overall: 7.6/10

TL;DR: I can only imagine die hard Gundam fans watching this and enjoying it ironically. Oh man. This was a complete mess. From every standpoint. The CGI doesn't hold up at all. Everything looks like a bad PS2 cutscene. The facial expressions where so exaggerated at times I bursted out laughing. The story is non existent. Because this is supposed to show us the OYW thru Zeon's eyes I thought we would get to know the principalty and it's people better. Nah. Just a couple of battles only from Zeon's POV. The episodes are so boring when it's not being funny by accident because of how incompetentit is. The only good thing about this is the Mobile Suits in action, they're the only part where the animation is actually pretty cool and ejoyable. Sadly this only happens in the last couple of minutes of every episode. In a brighter side, it's only 3 episodes long, so it won't be too insuferable like the 47 episodes from ZZ.