Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn RE:0096

Gundam Unicorn was still in progress when I first began to delve into the franchise. I told myself that I would watch the whole series when it was complete, yet here I was 3 years out from its finale without having seen it. Seeking out and purchasing the entire OVA series was a rather unappealing option, and as a franchise I care about I try my best not to pirate Gundam anime. Lo and behold, I discovered that the entirety of the TV version was available (Officially!) for free on Youtube. RE: 0096 is a marketing masterpiece chock full of stunning visuals and Gundam fanfulfillment, but with a story that left me somewhat underwhelmed and which may be inaccessible for newcomers to the franchise. Having been cut from a series of OVA movies, RE: 0096 has stellar animation for a TV anime. There are (almost) no dips in the budget, as we're presented with consistently solid line art. Spaceships and the lead Mobile Suits are done up in conspicuous CG, and I honestly wouldn't have it any other way. The intermittent hand-drawn instances of the Unicorn and Banshee Gundams are gorgeous, but being animated with 3D models lends them a welcome sense of consistency, especially during their transformations. The character designs are pretty standard fare for Gundam, with none of them too outlandish and many that are just bland. However, the real reason to watch this (Or any series, if you ask me) is ultimately the robot designs. Gundam Unicorn is absolute Universal Century PORN. Remember that Mobile Suit you liked from Zeta Gundam? That one's here. So are the ones from 0079 all the way to Char's Counterattack, as well as many never-before-animated Mobile Suit Variations. The original designs of the Unicorn, Banshee, Sinanju, and Kshatriya are all impeccable, and look simply amazing in action. The grunt suits are nothing to sneeze at, either. I've listened to Unicorn's soundtrack on and off ever since 2012, because it's just a damn good soundtrack. The lush orchestral pieces range from sweeping and powerful to moody and atmospheric, with varyingly pounding and eclectic electronic percussion. The opening song gives me a heavy Kingdom Hearts "Sanctuary" vibe, and both ending songs are pretty forgettable, but neither are really bad enough to be bothersome. From the beginning, Gundam has been host to a vast array of normal folk characters to larger than life egos. Unicorn is chock full of the latter, with a few of the every-man sprinkled in here and there. I find the main character Banagher to be particularly weak as a leading role, seeing as he is honestly a static character, and passive in the plot. His direct opposite can be found in antagonist Full Frontal, an unstoppable, pragmatic, and menacing force. Other prominent characters include inconsistently characterized Mineva, white bread Riddhe, hardass Zinnerman, and--my favorite--tragically powerful Marida. Being known for it's lengthy plot lines, I was somewhat afraid that Unicorn would try to cram 50 episodes of story into its run time. Instead I was pleasantly surprised to find a plot appropriately paced for its original format, covering just a few key story beats. If I had to describe that plot as succinctly as possible, I could only call it a massive game of hostage hot potato, wherein our protagonists attempt to prevent a war by waging war themselves. I did find the conclusion a bit dissatisfying, perhaps because I'm accustomed to all out, large scale battles capping off Gundam stories. Every episode seems to have characters on opposing sides brought together for calm chit chat, and while this does facilitate ample characterizing dialogue, it also somewhat deflates the tension that should be tangible in the presence of a mortal enemy. I remained mostly satisfied with the robot-fight-to-episode ratio of .91, being subjected to only a couple of episodes completely devoid of combat. I will admit that the political drama kept me engaged during these episodes such that I scarcely noticed the absence of action until the credits rolled. Speaking of political drama, I hope you're ready for the plethora of ideological speeches our characters love to blurt out at every opportunity. All of those monologues can be a bit tedious, but they do get to the very heart of the Gundam Universal Century's lore. Being contained within the UC timeline is both one of Unicorn's strongest assets and a curse all the same. The entire story is written as a finale to a nearly 100 year conflict that has been the underlying cause of every Gundam story chronologically prior to it, and one's understanding and experience of Unicorn may be diminished without a decent familiarity with UC history. That said, the UC timeline contains stories of wars fueled by the same motivations far into the future, undercutting much of what Unicorn hopes to accomplish. You may find yourself wondering if RE: 0096 is worth watching if you've already seen the OVA series, and I would have to say... Probably not. As best as I can tell, there is no new animation contained within the episodes (Excluding the OP and ED), so I hope you're not expecting any new content. Compared to my attempts to watch the OVAs, smaller segments of story were actually easier to digest. Additionally, due to the run time of each OVA episode, the pacing is very unusual for a TV Gundam series. Action climaxes can be found every 2 or 3 episodes, and the writing does not feel forced to accommodate unnecessary robot battles (As if there is such a thing!). The requisite TV anime elements which were added made this a more enjoyable experience for me, but may be off-putting for others. For starters, nearly every episode begins with a recap of the previous ones. Some of them are lengthy, even reaching 4 minutes! In an easier to follow story this might be grueling, but in such a dense and sometimes understated plot I found the recaps to be a welcome addition. The opening and ending themes add a nice touch of familiarity and repetition even if they are a bit underwhelming, with the visuals feeling largely phoned in. All in all, everything they added pushes the total run time from 7.25 hours to 8.8! When considered strictly as the toy commercial it is, RE:0096 is a work of pure genius. With a budget only large enough to account for opening and ending sequences, editing, and bit of extra voice work, Bandai managed to create a perfect advertisement for their already colossal line of model kits from Gundam Unicorn. Using almost entirely pre-existing footage, they produced a nearly full length TV series to air in front of people who never had the interest or volition to seek out the OVAs. On the Gundam Info uploads of the series, each episode even has 5 straight minutes of ads showing off every kit from the series! If that ain't genius, I don't know what is. So who should watch RE: 0096? I would recommend it if you've never seen Gundam Unicorn before, are a hardcore Gundam fan, or enjoy gritty robot warfare and pacifistic ideals. If you're in a rush, the shorter run time of the OVAs may be more suitable.

I just finished Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn it had twenty two episodes, I only remember watching this when it had six episodes, and as a Gundam fan, I just want to say, it was absolutely excellent in portraying what the universal century timeline was all about as well as explaining the theory of newtypes. I really enjoyed it. Both characters both trying their hardest to race against time to gain the power of what could be the ultimate power to change the fate of Neo Zeon and be the Triumph card against that of the federation. The original series each episode was fifty something minuteslong, these are broken down into twenty two minute episodes each.

So... this is the anime version of the Unicorn OVAs, with the original footage cut up and spliced together with a small bit of new footage. There's no reason to watch this over the actual OVAs unless you, like me, could not find the OVAs to watch in your country. Unicorn itself, as a story, is an 8/10 series; the show version suffers from trying to make 45-to-60-minute OVAs into 22 episodes, each roughly 19 minutes long. There are awkward cuts, weird ending points to episodes, action scenes that last more than 20 minutes are split up into different episodes, and so on. More thanonce I had to pause the show to remind myself who was fighting who and why. But all of those are pretty minor complaints. The show is still worth a watch: the animation is gorgeous, with each character design standing out despite everyone looking, well, normal (no weird hair colors or eye colors or outfits aside from the resident Char clone). Battle scenes are easy to follow and painstakingly detailed. The plot revolves around multiple Neo Zeon and Federation factions trying to hunt down "Laplace's Box". Barely anyone involved actually knows what it is, they only know that the Federation considers it important enough to keep hidden. The main tool used for hunting down this mysterious box is the Unicorn Gundam, which is nearly super-robot-esque in its abilities. Naturally our teenage MC, Banagher, gets shoved into it early on. The early plot involves Banagher getting bounced back and forth between factions as they all seek to use the Unicorn for their own purposes. We get introduced to the major players on both sides and watch as Banagher gradually decides which people he wants to be loyal to. It gets a bit old early on, but stick with it, you'll see that this whole back-and-forth thing is resolved in a reasonable way. The show hits its stride about halfway in, with episodes 11-19 being a really great stretch of television. The characters in this series feel very grounded. Despite Banagher going on (kind of understandable) rants about the hopes and dreams of mankind, the cast feels relatable and human with very little melodrama. Standout characters are mostly on the Neo Zeon side, with Marida Cruz being easily the best and most fleshed-out Cyber Newtype in the entire franchise. There are quite a few "quiet moments" where the characters act like actual people, which is something absent from many a Gundam series. Since the entire plot is about this mysterious box, naturally you are going to spend time wondering what it actually is. And a lot of viewers are going to feel let down when they finally uncover Laplace's Box at the end of the series. The show itself basically puts forward the theory that it might not change anything. But the show also points out that its value is in.... being valued. The fact that the Federation wants to keep it hidden so much makes Neo Zeon's Full Frontal (the silly and mostly forgettable Char clone, despite being given an amazing mobile armor) want it for himself; Full Frontal wanting it for himself results in the heir of the Zabi family wanting it for herself, not trusting Full Frontal's intentions; the Neo Zeon factions squabbling over it makes the Federation take notice and want it for themselves too, if only to destroy it. Unicorn suffers from being in the middle of a timeline that has too many entries before and after it. We have Narrative, the Hathaway movies, F91, and Victory all taking place less than a hundred years after this, to say nothing of all the spinoff mangas and novels; because of their existence, we know that the cast and events of Unicorn can't really have much of an impact on anything. I think it's best to view Unicorn as the terminal branch of one possible UC timeline for that reason, with the other series taking place in an alternate UC or something... just seems more satisfying to be able to at least dream of what might happen after the events of the series. The whole show is about hope and the potential for the world to change, after all. Overall, Unicorn is definitely worth a watch, it's got a lot of heart, great animation, and a decent cast. Watch the OVAs if at all possible, but this will do if you have no other choice.