MS Gundam Thunderbolt: The Weight of War

Yes its me, Wolvenciel. If you're wondering why the sudden consistent posting, its because I wrote the reviews back to back. Yes. Yes I did. Well anyways. Today I'll be talking about Thunderbolt. Boy this is one depressing series (but I like it this way).

P/S: I will be using gundam universe terms so any questions you have, feel free to ask (I doubt anyone would ask but eh, can't blame me for trying)

taken from www.rightstuffanime.com

I'm Lazy

Let's start off by getting this out of the way. I'll provide some pictures just for fun but that's kinda it. I didn't actually take notes when I reviewed this anime so I didn't get any good screenshots. Because I was too absorbed watching this one. Yeah.

Let's go with that.

What's Thunderbolt?

Thunderbolt is actually the nickname given to Side 2, a colony that was destroyed because of the war between the A.E.U.G. (earthlings) and Zeon (spacenoids). It was named as such because the area was ridden with space debris and for some reason electrical charges fire off around the area as if there were bolts of thunder in space.

Its a beauty ain't it?

The anime (which was a short four episodes) tells us the story of the earthlings trying to reclaim the Thunderbolt sector from the spacenoids. As all other Gundam anime styles of storytelling, both sides are driven to the edge of their limits trying to actually reclaim/defend said sector but this time, both sides suffer heavy casualties in the process (unlike most gundam animes where it was basically "run! its the white devil!")

Full Armor Gundam, the devil for this anime

But of course, the usual white devil vs red comet stuff is here (different characters, same concept, yada yada yada).

The Amuro and the Char

So the rivalry this time is between Io Fleming, a hot-blooded pilot with S-ranked luck and Daryl Lorenz who is an ace sniper for the Zeon forces. In the beginning of the anime you will see (or in this case hear) that these two have different music interests and as they fly into battle they played their favorite music (kind of gives you that Metal Gear Solid 5 feeling if you ask me) and Io even challenged Daryl by saying "When you hear jazz, you know I'm coming".

Here it is. Exactly what he said.

Oh right. I forgot to tell you guys this. Daryl is a friggin cripple. And he's the ace pilot. Io is just an ensign (like almost all the other gundam pilots) and he's not even a newtype.

Oh right. Sorry. Daryl's WHOLE DIVISION is made up of cripples.

The Weight of War

This is the highlight of Thunderbolt. At least it is, in my opinion. War is never actually profitable. It's total shit, no matter who wins. Sure, there's the saying that goes, "History is written by the victor" or something like that but I'm against it. Apparently, this anime says just that.

One of Daryl's sniper shots. He did this while listening to blues.

 The one very very obvious way of it conveying this to us is through the Thunderbolt Sector itself. Sure the Zeons took the sector from the earthlings, but they sacrificed a lot of good men by doing so and the sector became a wasteland. Its useless, save the fact that its full of debris and is a very optimal situation for the Zeons to place their snipers to guard the area.

Beautiful Beam Sword Action. Just Beautiful.

I am not going to spoil you the rest of this story, but you'll see that the anime is really nagging at you that war is no fun and games and a lot of people die for pointless causes. Its dark and depressing. But hey. That's what the original writer for the gundam series aimed for before his story go edited and sugarcoated (at least that's what I read).

Last One

One more thing is... the soundtracks are a bit too... well... too light and easy for a dark anime like this. I don't really know how to say this but it just kind of fits, you know. They're great by the way. The music I mean.

I guess that's it? I'm thinking that this is just too short for a review, so maybe this is just a piece of my mind on this anime. A little out of the ordinary and definitely a must-watch if you're a gundam fan or not as it has no real connection to other U.C. animes and it has top notch graphics and it sends a very strong message in general.

P/S: The endings have a lonely, sad feel to them. Try listening to them too.

P/S: Its the blog's anniversary. Kudos to the blogmaster. This blog is six years old now, people.