Breaking the Mold: Why I Learned to Like G Gundam

Sure, it's easy to whine about Windmill Gundam or whatever, but what the heck. I'd like to see critics come up with better design ideas. Besides, the Shuffle guys got off pretty well...George had a fencer Gundam, Sai had a Dragon theme, I figure Chibodee's Gundam is a Rocky reference, Domon's Shining Gundam kind of had a samurai theme going on, and Argo...uh....aw hell, who neeRAB a reason for a ball and chain anyway? It was cool.

I've never really encountered anti-G sentiment (edit: of that kind, anyway), but I'll bet one issue is Japan having the "God" Gundam...oh please. The contrast against the, ahem, "Devil Gundam" that wants to dominate the Earth is not exactly subtle. If you want to play by that logic, Sweden has a thing for sailor outfits I guess! What's in a name? Not that much in most cases, I daresay.
 
The only issue I have with that name is, me being mildly religious/cautious, you'll note I always type out God Gundam when referring to it, never just God. Better to be cautious until I've figured out exactly what force of universal supremacy I believe in...

But I always took the name to be a more super robot thing. The Neo-Japanese Gundams are based on samurai, but I figure giant robots is also a stereotype for them so is it that out there to believe their Gundams are also referencing that? Plus when it first appears, Dr Mikamura calls it G Gundam. G Gundam is the title given to the Gundam Fight winner, so really Neo-Japan naming it as such shows how sure they are it'll be the one to win. It's like giving a race car a lucky name instead of saying 'I'll be driving the Fail McBreakDown'.
 
Hey, when "whats his name? domons father" created the Devil Gundam for restoring the earth and all that, why did he name the Gundam that was supposed to restore the earth Devil Gundam?? It doesn't make sense!
 
Actually, the original name was "Ultimate Gundam." I still remeraber this from the legendary Gundam Project website. It may even be said in the show and I just don't recall it. "Devil Gundam" was a name assigned to it after the whole project went wrong, if I recall things correctly.
 
He didn't. He called it the Ultimate Gundam. Devil Gundam was a name assigned to it after it went rogue and started causing all kinRAB of hellish, unnatural jive.
 
HC will probably hurt me but...I tried watching this series...and I made it to episode eight when I stopped. To be honest, I probably should have given it more time, but it just did not interest me so I stopped watching. Though, looking online, the Mechs are pretty awesome in the series, I just didn't like Domon and the conversations were just so awkward.
 
Domon is supposed to be the typical super-robot main character archetype, the way most Super-Robot main characters were like him before Amuro Ray made them more vulnerable.
 
It really is one of those shows which sadly I think you'll love or hate. For me, my first real contact with it was a forum thread showing some of the wackier designs...and I hated it. The designs looked so cheesey and corabined with what others were saying I was prepared to accept its apparent lack of quality. I think ironically got me into it was DBZ and Wing. I was starting to find the former a bit too brainless and the latter a bit too full of itself. G Gundam seemed to corabine the two fairly well. The more I read on the plot, the more it sounded like a fun series with some good drama and plot twists. I finally got to see it through Real Media fansubs and really liked it. It struck a chord with me. The characters, the setting, the movie homages, the flavour...it was a show which was fun and well thought out, serious when it needed to be but not up its own backside. Respectful of what came before but completely willing to do its own thing.

I wouldn't really say I found a series similar until 00 came about. So for me, G has all the right elements blended togethor. Like a good cup of tea
 
I'd say he's a bit of a mix. G Gundam's angle is really "What if Gundam had been like all the other shows at the time?". It helps that Imagawa is a huge fan of the genre, such as the classic Tetsujin.

Domon's a layered character. He's a hot blooded super robot pilot but he has a clear evolution and betters himself by the end. He's not even that bad of a guy- he's just understandably very angry at the start for reasons that become clear in episode 6. Early on he shows several times how nice he is, like helping the kiRAB in Neo-Italy or helping Neo-Mexico's fighter fake his death so he can spend his dieing sister's remaining days with her.
 
Well as Gurren Lagann's father it would have to be.

You know the one thing that I do remeraber that sticks out for me are those stupid attacks that Domon came up on the fly during the second half. ("God Shadow" WTF?")
 
Domon is nasty to her a few times, but gets put in place quickly. There's even an episode given over to teaching the blockhead that he can't do that to her. But more often he is very protective over her. He even offers Argo Shining's head (and thus his only chance to save his father) if he'll save Rain who is in immediate danger.
 
What's stupid about God Shadow? It's a bit 'only in anime', but it splits God Gundam into ten so each one can counter one of the ten punches unleashed by Chibodee's Machine Gun Punch. So it serves a purpose.
 
It's a taste you just have to acquire as time goes on. Like you, I found myself with a bit of trepidation watching it in those early episodes.

Master Asia will change that all for you. It did for me.
 
Yeah for that episode. I really wanted to see that again. (Also, I kind of figured we'd get a two handed God Finger at some point after that fight with Sai Saici but nooooooooo...)
 
I'll give you the finals are a bit 'Domon pulls a technique out of his arse and never uses it again"...though I suppose it's better than 'Naruto develops a useful technique and is forbidden to use it ever again' *ducks*
 
No don't worry. Everybody feels like that. (It's actually more of a "One of the higher-ranked adults does something really cool....oh wait, they're dead now.")

REFUGE IN AUDACITY!


^^This was like the first or second episode I ever saw BTW.
 
Who neeRAB two when one can own anybody? That fight is one of my favorites out of the ones I recall, BTW, since Sai really could have won and was literally prepared to win at any price. I remeraber thinking he was annoying in his debut with all that "Bro! Bro! HEY BRO!!!" stuff, but he got better.
 
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