Theme: Mobile Suit Gundam
This weeks recs are fandom specific. Mobile Suit Gundam specific that is! Mobile Suit Gundam is a massive franchise, with plenty of timelines to get you confused! Today, we’re focusing on entries in the Universal Century timeline (aka the main one). These AMVs are arranged more or less in order of when their show takes place. Visual spoilers!
Origin is fundamentally a prequel and this really uses that for all its worth. The slow build towards war gives me chills and the editing is well done. The inciting attack is almost more impactful in this format as we figure out the tragedy as it unfolds via context clues. The shot choices are really effective. Also, I am not immune to the hope of a good Amuro ending cameo!
Listen, gundam is fundamentally a “war bad” franchise. The gundam are cool and marketable, the action is fun, Char is probably here, and war is bad. This AMV does a great job of combining an anti-war song with the action and core anti-war theme. The action feels exciting and almost wrong in that feeling which is hard to pull off. The timing and sync are both great.
Oh boy! Time for the inherent tragedy of war! The escalation of tone as the song goes on is impressive. The editing choices and sync in this AMV are inspired. I love the shift from scene to scene in tune with the beat. The emotional through line and almost frantic energy towards the end is really effective. Makes me sad every time!