Mobile Fighter G Gundam

Director
Yasuhiro Imagawa
Production
Sunrise, TV Asahi
Country of origin
Japan
Format
Series
Running time
49 episodes
Year
1994

Mobile Fighter G Gundam

By Stephen Lerch
10th Jun 04

Mobile Fighter G Gundam originally aired in Japan from April 1, 1994 until March 31, 1995.

This was Sunrise's first attempt at a Gundam Universe other than the Universal Century, followed by Gundam W (Gundam Wing) and Gundam X and was done to celebrate the 15 year anniversary of Gundam.

Short Synopsis:

FC (Future Century) year 60. The space colonies control the destiny of the planet Earth and instead of waging huge wars to decide who will rule, every four years a Gundam fight tournament is held to decide which colony will be in control for the next four. This has cut down on destruction and death by governing over the Gundam fights with strict rules of engagement and breaking any of the Gundam fight rules results in the disqualification of your colony to participate in the fights, thus your colony will not gain control of the colonies.

Domon Kasshu is a Gundam fighter who pilots the Shining Gundam. Together with his partner Rain he seeks Gundam fights, not for his colony, Neo Japan, to rule the colonies but in a search for a mysterious man in a picture in his possession. He is fighting to locate this man and eventually to stop the Devil Gundam from destroying everything.

Several other characters take the light, though the focus remains on Domon and his trials and tribulations. Chibodee Crocket from Neo America, Sai Saici from New China, George de Sande from Neo France, Argo Gulskii from Neo Russia and eventually Schwartz Bruder from Neo Germany.

Video:

Yet another top job in the transfer to DVD by the folks over at Bandai. There are some rainbows to be seen (rare), but nothing else of note is wrong with the transfer.

The video quality, being from the mid-90s isn't bad. There are spots of dust/dirt on the film but given the age it is to be expected from something that didn't go through remastering.

The menus are well done on this one. One thing that struck me was the episode selection menu. Each option is a bullet point on the world map, with each bullet point corresponding to the region where the fight for that episode takes place. It can be confusing at times, but only because one region may be episode 1, but the next closest region is for episode 4, so some extra navigation is required, but the presentation, in my opinion, makes up for this.

Animation quality is extremely high with barely any recycled animation, which is amazing considering the length and cost likely associated with the show. The character and costume designs are right out of the classic 70's super robot shows and are updated for the 90's. Kyoji (a character I whose part in the show I won't mention to avoid spoilers) even has THE SIDE BURNS associated with classics like Kabuto Kyouji from Mazinger Z. The thick lines associated with these types of shows are even emulated in some scenes during the show! An homage to the super robots of old?

Audio:

For this series, you are given the option of 2.0 stereo in either Japanese or English, with optional English subtitles.

As per the usual, the Japanese audio is of the highest quality, expected considering this is a Gundam show, something that is always popular in Japan. The parts are well acted and flow the way one would expect.

I leave the English track to those that wish to listen to it in this fashion. A quick spot check revealed the standard high quality associated with Bandai releases.

The music written for the show, both the opening/ending and background music are well done and definitely fit the style of the show.

No audio drop outs and no other sound issues of note.

Extras:

Every disc has something on it called 'The G-Files." The 'G-Files' are mainly interviews with staff, interviews with the director, some interesting casting information and explanations of character relationships in the show. Being as this was a show from the mid-90's, it isn't really surprising that there isn't much else to be had because DVDs with 'extra content' didn't exist and extras would have likely been seen and used elsewhere, if at all.

There are also the mandatory Bandai previews and disc credits.

Packaging:

Bandai has done something a little different for this release. They have released all 49 episodes in the series both in individual releases, but also 4 box sets with 3 discs apiece. The box sets simply contain three single releases contained in a nice art box. Each disc contains 4 episodes, with the exception of disc 12, which contains 5 episodes to close out the series.

The artboxes are nicely done, but nothing spectacular. The artwork on one side corresponds with the artwork on one disc in the set, with the artwork on the opposite corresponding to another. Acceptable but a little lame. The artbox is slightly over sized (still fits nicely on a DVD rack) to accommodate easy removal of the single DVD cases.

The cover art for every release is superbly done and of the highest quality. I really like the artwork they've chosen for each disc. Each disc contains cover art that corresponds with the battle(s) contained on that disc. The back covers contain content descriptions, screen shots and some cast/crew credits as well.

Final Analysis:

I think this is a great show. I am a huge fan of super robots and this helps feed my super robot addiction. It can seem a little drawn out at time, but no single episode is worth skipping.

The Gundams may have been stereotyped for the area they come from; Neo America's Gundam has boxing gloves, Neo Germany's Gundam has the helmet most would associate with Nazi Germany, Neo China's Gundam is reminiscent of a dragon and Neo Russia's Gundam is big and bulky and has supreme physical power, but the designs are well done and it doesn't seem to be done in a negative spirit.

From comradery, friendship, obligation, revenge and betrayal, this show has it all.

A nice homage to the super robot predecessors, any fan of super robots definitely needs to see this show. Being in a different Gundam universe, however, has driven some people off.

Score: 8

-- Stephen Lerch 10th Jun 04

Mobile Fighter G Gundam Images