Recommended Anime/Manga?

[Durandal]

Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory
It's ok. It has some really great animation and provides an interesting backstory to the creation of the Titans, but the characters fall really flat here.
Our protagonist, Kou Uraki, is as bland and basic as one can get for being a Gundam pilot. In the first episode he is shown to be a bit of a daredevil, but that immediately changes into serious business once he pilots Gundam Unit 1 for the first time after shit hits the fan down under. I prefer a more gradual change into becoming an angsty teenager, but even then there's nothing that remotely stands out about him (he hates carrots!!!1!one!). The enemy ace, Anavel Gato, isn't that much better. His motivations can literally be summed up as muh ideals since those ideals never get challenged, and it's hard to relate to someone who fell for propaganda that hard unless you're looking from a 'just and noble' standpoint most zeeks seem to revere Zeon for. The Feddie brass is shown to be corrupt, inept, and impartial to anything which doesn't affect Earth (as usual, really) which makes sense considering this is a backstory to the creation of the Titans, though the idea of Making Zeon Great Again through dropping yet another colony on Earth never gets challenged at all, and gives me the impression that this is how the writers intended to make the story morally grey. Even Cima gets a trajic backstory in the special. Nina suffers the same problem as most of the women in Zeta where her actions and motivations are barely memorable, which only ends up making her look like a cunt. One moment she hates Kou for going out in the Gundam, then Kou barely comes back alive, and then she's all over Kou like a popsicle. Especially the romance plot twist later on felt like it came out of completely nowhere and was just there to create more tension than necessary. Barely any other characters get any development and just stay in the background most of the time. The only other one who does (the best character, you know who it is) dies after multiple severely obvious death flags in one episode, that I could already see it coming by the tone in the first five minutes of that episode.

Everything else is pretty great for Gundam standards. I loved the designs of the new Gundams, and the fight scenes are really well executed here. Especially the final battle has some great tension. You can actually see the strain on the pilot's faces, something I feel is always is missing in mecha anime. The music is okay (I watched it with the original soundtrack, I heard the remastered version remixed the OST rather badly), but The Winner by Miki Matsubara is absolutely my favourite Gundam OP up until now, no fucking contest. The Masaaki Endo version can't even come close. It's probably just worth watching it for the animation alone, the story isn't that detrimental anyways, but could have definitely been done better.

and since I had a time to spare, I also saw
Mobile Suit Gundam F91
F91 definitely has some one of the better opening scenes in any Gundam anime (no female characters repeatedly shouting the MC's name!), showcasing a bunch of young friends trying to escape their colony which is being attacked by some group called the Crossbone Vanguard. The opening is great, but after that the pacing goes fast. REALLY FAST. It's what happens when you condense an entire Gundam series in a 2-hour movie. Characters get introduced and die like flies, shit changes and the scene has already changed before the viewer has any idea of what's going on. After some point I stopped trying to make sense out of anything and I let it all just come over me like a Michael Bay movie. There are definitely some interesting aspects in F91 for the Gundam series which simply couldn't be properly explored due to a lack of time. The concept of space aristocracy (I wouldn't call the Principality of Zeon one) sure seemed interesting, but there simply wasn't enough time. The villain is as evil as one gets with Seabook (who the fuck names their kid Seabook?) and Cecily both concluding in a rather hamfisted way that they should only kill 'the bad man' who controls a mecha with a thousand tentacles. Tomino said he wanted to make F91 more appealing to kids and less confusing, though he's rather failed doing the latter. Instead of using poison gas to wipe out colonies, now there's 'Bugs' which are apparently self-replicating laser disks which also shoot everything with lasers. It's more visually striking than poison gas, but is rather silly from a realistic standpoint.
Your enjoyment on this movie will depend on your ability to comprehend what's even going on.

[soprano1]

Durandal, now you can go and read the Mobile Suit Crossbone Gundam manga. Drawings look a bit too early 90s, but the story is fucking great. Mobile Suit and Gundam designs are great too. (dat XM-X1 Crossbone Gundam X-1 Kai Kai "Skull Heart"...)

[Lord Satori]

Can't be as big a shock has hearing Japanese Goku for the first time.

[copy-paster]

It was a NarutoxHinata fanfest, maybe that was the problem?

I'm okay with that, but yes it's too much.

[soprano1]

Anyone saw the Terra Formars anime? Was it any good?

[Xyga]

Anyone saw the Terra Formars anime? Was it any good?

It sucks. Though they've managed the best season preview trailer ever IMHO: http://youtu.be/48GtiVB4was
That one minute is the best thing in the franchise.

Spoiler

- WAUUUUUUGH
- RHAAAAAAAAA
- OOOOOOOOOH

[soprano1]

OK, thanks.

[KAI]

HOLY SHIT! A patlabor reboot has been anounced!


Animated by Khara. The idea of a Patlabor movie with the animation quality of Eva Rebuild is making me wet.

[Durandal]

time to add Patlabor to my summer anime marathon, then

[KAI]

Damn! it's just a short film for the next season of Japan Animators Expo

[neontropics]

Haven't watched anime in forever but watched Bubblegum Crisis and Gunbuster last couple of weeks!

I really liked both, Gunbuster's main character cried way too much first few episodes but damn the final episodes were incredible. Bubblegum Crisis is super charming and has *amazing* music and style, but it's obviously a shame that it just ends without anything resembling a resolution. I hear Bubblegum Crash was supposed to finish it but then that got cancelled midway through as well? :/

I found a nice collector's edition of S1 of Space Dandy cheap so I just started watching that, very fun show so far.

Any other recommendations? I've been thinking of:

Patlabor
Space Battleship Yamato
Dirty Pair OVA
Maison Ikkoku or Orange Road maybe?
Armitage III

I've seen like Akira, Ghost in the Shell, Cat Soup, Miyazaki movies and that kinda stuff, but no series except these and Elfen Lied, Serial Experiments Lain and some Lupin III back in the day. I like the late 80s / early 90s style a lot more than the mostly creepy and/or ugly style they got going these days, but if it's good and does't have naked pre-teens I have no problem with modern stuff. I'd be also up for some slice of life stuff if it's good and not too slow.

[Lord Satori]

In other news, they finally showed Kakashi's face. If this turns out to be the filler to end all fillers, I'd say it was totally worth it. However, if they're just gonna keep going with it, they probably could've saved the reveal for the Boruto series.

I'm currently watching Jigoku Shoujo. The first two seasons are pretty good, and the first half of the third (and final) is good as well. I'll go more in depth about the series once I've finished.

[soprano1]

Damn! it's just a short film for the next season of Japan Animators Expo

indeed.

[FinalBaton]

Haven't watched anime in forever but watched Bubblegum Crisis and Gunbuster last couple of weeks!

I really liked both, Gunbuster's main character cried way too much first few episodes but damn the final episodes were incredible. Bubblegum Crisis is super charming and has *amazing* music and style, but it's obviously a shame that it just ends without anything resembling a resolution. I hear Bubblegum Crash was supposed to finish it but then that got cancelled midway through as well? :/

I found a nice collector's edition of S1 of Space Dandy cheap so I just started watching that, very fun show so far.

Any other recommendations? I've been thinking of:

Patlabor
Space Battleship Yamato
Dirty Pair OVA
Maison Ikkoku or Orange Road maybe?
Armitage III

I've seen like Akira, Ghost in the Shell, Cat Soup, Miyazaki movies and that kinda stuff, but no series except these and Elfen Lied, Serial Experiments Lain and some Lupin III back in the day. I like the late 80s / early 90s style a lot more than the mostly creepy and/or ugly style they got going these days, but if it's good and does't have naked pre-teens I have no problem with modern stuff. I'd be also up for some slice of life stuff if it's good and not too slow.

I like the same era of anime as you do, so I'll throw my faves out there. This is all stuff that I consider excellent (you've already mentionned Akira, Patlabor, Bubblegum Crisis and Gunbuster : Aim for the Top!, so I won't repeat them on my list) :


Dangaioh
Vampire Princess Miyu (OVAs)
Gunsmith Cats
You're Under Arrest!
Project A-Ko
Gal Force (Earth Chapter Arc only)
Fist Of The North Stars
Evangelion
Dirty Pair : Project Eden movie; the 10 episode OVA series (called "Dirty Pair 2" or "Original Dirty Pair" depending on the release)
Vampire Hunter D
Ninja Scroll
Megazone 23



There you have it You should have plenty of hours of viewing pleasure, especially with FOTNS

I'm also hesitating to include Royal Space Force : The Wings Of Honneamise because I haven't seen it in 15 years so I need to watch it again to say just how good exactly I think it is.

[Bloodreign]

Looks like Cardcaptor Sakura gets another arc, the Clear Card arc, but for now it's only in manga form. I do hope to see it in anime form at some point, would be nice.

[BIL]

Seconding Ninja Scroll, a safe recommendation for any fan of horror-suffused ninja action. 0% moe, 110% bloodbath. Sharply distinctive characters, a pitilessly dark atmosphere and one killer setpiece after another; even the potentially disastrous romantic subplot is handled credibly. Has some sleaze but nothing too OTT, being mostly implication (unlike the veritable demon rapefest of Kawajiri's other well-known film, Wicked City). If you like the classic Mifune/Eastwood/Bronson noble hardman samurai/cowboy flicks, this should be a treat. I still rewatch it every few years, with company if possible - it's a blast every time. A pretty common gateway anime, AFAIK, but also a classic example of feature-length action.



I prefer subs on principle, but the UK Manga dub has just the right swagger to work great in its own right! Albeit not quite as great as Cyber City Oedo's! ("You wouldn't know a vampire if one jumped out and bit you right on the end of your dick.")

[FinalBaton]

Yep, Ninja Scroll is super badass indeed

You've described it's qualities very well. I'm a sucker for films/games where there is a buch of the big boss's henchman sent after the hero, that are super interesting and have a ton of personnality and unique looks and powers(and by default : a sole and interesting week point that needs to be exploited to dispatch them). This is why I was so wowed by Metal Gear on Playstation back in the day

I was actually intruduced to anime by it. Let's say that anime became synonymous with "badass as fuck" right away for me
Saw it on Teletoon here in Canada. They were showing an anime every friday night in their early years. And mature ones too. I saw Ninja Scroll, Patlabor, Royal Space Force : the Wings of Honneamise, and a few others that I can't remember off the top of my head (if a canadian fellow reads this and remembers some more, please chime in )

[BIL]

MGS1's classic boss lineup is exactly what I associate with Ninja Scroll, to the point I used to wonder if Kojima or Yoji Shinkawa were directly influenced by it; of course MG had been doing "enemy boss units" since the very first game, but it's only with MGS1 that it really hit its Kawajiri-esque stride. Either way, Ninja Scroll is my favourite "boss rush movie" for sure. ^__^

[Obiwanshinobi]

modern stuff

10+ years old now, but you might have not yet watched:

The Big O*
Ima, Soko ni Iru Boku
Gokudo
Hajime no Ippo
Eureka seveN (TV series, NOT the feature film which is awful)
Scrapped Princess
Kino no Tabi
Windy Tales
Gintama
Haibane Renmei
Desert Punk
Yomigaeru Sora – Rescue Wings
Planetes
Oh! Edo Rocket
Samurai Champloo
Detroit Metal City

*) Lend an ear to the English voicework as well as Japanese in this one, while we're at MGS... or Mega CD Snatcher.

[WelshMegalodon]

Akira, Patlabor, Bubblegum Crisis and Gunbuster : Aim for the Top!

Dangaioh
Vampire Princess Miyu (OVAs)
Gunsmith Cats
You're Under Arrest!
Project A-Ko
Gal Force (Earth Chapter Arc only)
Fist Of The North Stars
Evangelion
Dirty Pair : Project Eden movie; the 10 episode OVA series (called "Dirty Pair 2" or "Original Dirty Pair" depending on the release)
Vampire Hunter D
Ninja Scroll
Megazone 23

I've always wondered whether fans of series like these were fond of more recent anime commonly labeled as "serious" or "dark" (Fullmetal Alchemist, Code Geass, etc.), or of Western cartoons credited with being "mature" or "complex" (Avatar, Earth's Mightiest Heroes, Young Justice, etc.)

Asking because I personally found Avatar pretty underwhelming and have also gotten tired of seeing Precure and Ojamajo Doremi on every single "Recommended Magical Girl Anime" list you find.

The Legend of Korra is unlike any other show on the air and any series that came before it. It truly feels like the first time an animated series has attempted to be something dramatic and dark... [w]e’ve been given the world’s first animated television drama.

[null1024]

I've always wondered whether fans of series like these were fond of more recent anime commonly labeled as "serious" or "dark" (Fullmetal Alchemist, Code Geass, etc.), or of Western cartoons credited with being "mature" or "complex" (Avatar, Earth's Mightiest Heroes, Young Justice, etc.)

Asking because I personally found Avatar pretty underwhelming and have also gotten tired of seeing Precure and Ojamajo Doremi on every single "Recommended Magical Girl Anime" list you find.

The Legend of Korra is unlike any other show on the air and any series that came before it. It truly feels like the first time an animated series has attempted to be something dramatic and dark... [w]e’ve been given the world’s first animated television drama.

Dunno about the other two, but I enjoyed Avatar. Starts off kind of weak, but steadily gets better near the end of Season 1 and shines solidly in 2 and 3. It's not terribly mature or complex as a whole, but has its moments where it gets dark. Probably my favorite western directed animation production in forever.
Legend of Korra is made of issues though, kind of pissed at how it turned out.
I feel like more serious recent western productions feel more like more serious modern anime than anything listed there.

Also, if you want to watch a magical girl series, I strongly recommend Nanoha [kind of weak at points, but solidly entertaining] and Nanoha A's [it's in my top 10 favorite post-2000 anime series, and it's hard to recommend it enough just because the first series was just okay, and you kind of need to have seen it before this].
don't watch the dub, Nanoha's English voice made my ears want to fall off

MGS1's classic boss lineup is exactly what I associate with Ninja Scroll, to the point I used to wonder if Kojima or Yoji Shinkawa were directly influenced by it; of course MG had been doing "enemy boss units" since the very first game, but it's only with MGS1 that it really hit its Kawajiri-esque stride. Either way, Ninja Scroll is my favourite "boss rush movie" for sure. ^__^

I'd be absolutely floored if he wasn't. I hadn't even thought about the possibility until now, but it seems so intuitive and plain that he would have.

Man, Ninja Scroll took a bit to warm on me. But god damn, it's so fucking slick and intense. Brutal, quick fights that get decided in an instant.

[Ji-L87]

HOLY SHIT! A patlabor reboot has been anounced!
Animated by Khara. The idea of a Patlabor movie with the animation quality of Eva Rebuild is making me wet.

Damn, this has me so incredible conflicted! I want to be happy but can't help to feel really cynical about the whole thing. I'm almost happy that it's just an animator expo short and that trips me up as I should be wishing for more Patlabor and now when I finally get it, I'm happy it's just a tiny little isolated thing.

Augh >_<

Anyhow. I will definitively be checking that out when it drops If it turns out to be actually good, I hope we can have some more of it.

Haven't watched anime in forever but watched Bubblegum Crisis and Gunbuster last couple of weeks!

I really liked both, Gunbuster's main character cried way too much first few episodes but damn the final episodes were incredible. Bubblegum Crisis is super charming and has *amazing* music and style, but it's obviously a shame that it just ends without anything resembling a resolution.

While Gunbuster has been discussed a bit here before, I'm happy to hear that you enjoyed Bubblegum Crisis. It's a favorite of mine, though I will be the first to admit it's pretty rough around the edges sometimes. While Gunbuster seems almost universally celebrated (and for good reason), BGC is a bit more of a toss-up. I especially like the later episodes, as it starts to look really good from episode 5 and onwards. The music however, is great from the get-go. I'm really happy we got that blu-ray made

As for your list of shows to try next, all of those are excellent picks, as are the shows mentioned by FinalBaton and others.

Edit:

And if you're not sure what to start with, since we're on the topic, try some Patlabor! I don't think the OVA is the best thing in the world (it's a bit uneven but it has some fantastic moments), however if it turns out you like it, you'll have so much more to sink your teeth in and enjoy, including some great movies.

[WelshMegalodon]

A few years back I tried to like Nanoha, I really did, but I ultimately ended up never finishing it. It proved a phenomenally uninteresting series with some shameless attempts at loli fanservice and possibly an appeal to the furry community in the form of a well-endowed anthropomorphic familiar. Even the character designs are just sort of there. Being that I haven't played any of the Triangle Heart games, I might be missing the appeal, but there are better series for action and moe. A's was a bit better in the beginning, but that final battle seemed to go on forever.

The original Sailor Moon manga was in concept Cutey Honey meets Super Sentai with classic shoujo romance, and contained just enough of the Nagai Go brutality to convey appropriate levels of disgust and badassery, something that virtually all of its copycats seem to have missed...

[soprano1]

A few years back I tried to like Nanoha, I really did, but I ultimately ended up never finishing it. It proved a phenomenally uninteresting series with some shameless attempts at loli fanservice and possibly an appeal to the furry community in the form of a well-endowed anthropomorphic familiar. Even the character designs are just sort of there. Being that I haven't played any of the Triangle Heart games, I might be missing the appeal, but there are better series for action and moe. A's was a bit better in the beginning, but that final battle seemed to go on forever.

The original Sailor Moon manga was in concept Cutey Honey meets Super Sentai with classic shoujo romance, and contained just enough of the Nagai Go brutality to convey appropriate levels of disgust and badassery, something that virtually all of its copycats seem to have missed...

Only good thing in Nanoha was the music by Nana Mizuki and the mecha-like attacks/powers, imo.

[null1024]

I can see the dislike from the first series. Probably shouldn't have quite recommended it next to A's, considering that it's not terribly great.
Those random boosts to high quality animation are probably the best thing about it.

Actually, I did a post in this thread forever ago that I should have probably linked to, with a really telling quote:

If it weren't for that second season, I'd be questioning why the fuck anyone told me to go watch the series

[Durandal]

now I finished Victory Gundam

Spoiler

I'd probably rank it between 0079 and Zeta for not frustrating me to no end

This time around the protag is a young 13-year old boy who can pilot mobile suits because newtype/extensive simulation testing during his childhood. He gets thrust into the seat of the new Victory Gundam and ends up helping the League Militaire fight against the oppressive Zanscare Empire and its guillotine, in order to save his friends and find his parents. The mobile suit designs in Victory are very refreshing, from fuck yes helicopters, beam shields, beam rotors, beam wings, to flying tires in space? I can get around tires being used for ground warfare, but how the fuck does that shit work in space? That's some Guntank in space-level shit.

For a Gundam series, the worldbuilding is one of the weakest I've seen so far. Everything is just there. The Zanscare "Empire" is apparently a bunch of colonies with a massive fleet, and they want to make everyone believe in muh maternal ideals because women aren't warmongering evildoers? Quite ironic if you consider there is an all-female MS team, and the mere existence of Fuala, Lupe Sineau, and Katejina. It just appeared someday. In the end we learn the whole empire is just a puppet government using a superpsychic fortune teller anyways, but Zanscare doesn't even come close to the depth or development of Zeon in 0079. The only noteworthy thing about them is the reintroduction of the classic guillotine which I liked as it became Zanscare's 'symbol', but other than that they're just your standard evil empire with a magic queen and a guillotine.
Same goes for the Federation and League Militaire. Apparently the Federation doesn't care about Earth being occupied and invaded by a colonial force, and needs to be shook up by a resistance force before they will do anything? There is little reason to care about the Feds at all, they are just a bunch of background ships in the later episodes anyways.
I could never really grasp the League Militaire. As far as I know, it's a bunch of old guys and women on Earth with an unknown contingent on the Moon which is capable of mass producing powerful Victory Gundams (the earlier Gundam suits felt special because they WEREN'T mass produced). I just can't grasp the big picture in Victory because of how much it focuses on the pilots and soldiers on the ground. Did Zanscare seriously intend to 'cleanse' all of North America with a bunch of oversized motorcycles? It's as if truly large-scale battles with multiple battleships and hundreds of suits only ever happen in the final episodes even though situations earlier in the series would demand a larger response. How much difference did the League Militaire exactly make? I'd just like a larger overview of battles like LoGH does so I can follow what's happening.

Victory sure does keep things fresh. Going from the Camion to the Reinforce to the Reinforce Junior to the White Ark is good, because it changes things up a little. Battles (except for the Motorad arc and some of the later episodes) manage to be interesting because of constantly changing weaponry, situation, stakes, suits, and so on. The animation during battles is also fairly good, even though animation quality takes a slight nosedive after the first ten episodes or so. There's almost no stock footage, which is something to be commended. It definitely fixes Zeta's incredibly stale combat by focusing on disabling enemy suits and non-repetitive choreography (because destroyed mobile suits now explode with the force of a nuclear meltdown for some reason), so instead of 'shoot down the MS' you have characters trying their best to not make suits explode, which creates an interesting dynamic at times. The Motorad Squadron, however, is the worst offender, because you have this giant battle-motorcycle in the open, but you can't shoot it because otherwise it'll explode and pollute the Earth. So what everyone does is constantly shoot the giant tires over and over trying to stop it even though it obviously doesn't do shit, and almost nobody has a better idea. One of the more major characters ended up performing a kamikaze attack to crash one of the tires, but it damaged jackshit and the sacrifice ended up feeling completely pointless. But later on someone accidentally happens to hit the over-exposed bridge of another Motorad, which ends up disabling the Motorad entirely without exploding it! Who'd have thought?!

The characters in Victory are alright. None of them are hopelessly infuriating like Zeta, but at worst they are underwhelming. Chronicle is basically the designated enemy ace of the series as you can see by him being the only one wearing panties on his face. He's like this gallant knight, imagine Gato but much less idealistic and more pussywhipped. He isn't even that menacing or memorable, he ends up being a beta orbiter around Katejina and kind of dies just like that in battle after she recalls him. Live like a bitch, die like a bitch I suppose.
As most of the main cast are children, they probably wanted to contrast the madness of war by having adults act more irrational, which ranges from crazy MILFs, to Katejina whose deal I do not completely understand. Victory is indeed more cartoonish with the dog and Haro sometimes being of actual use during some sequences whereas war is still serious business where people die at the time. Though from the perspective of children, I think this cartoonish-ness does work to Victory's advantage without going full ZZ. I didn't find any of the kids annoying either.
Uso is pretty good, he starts off treating stuff like it's a game but gradually learns to take things more seriously. Other characters do say during battles that Uso is acting recklessly sometimes, but at times I don't find what's being said to match what's happening on screen.
Initially I thought Shakti was going to be the designated pacifist after ruing Uso becoming a Gundam pilot and getting involved with the war, as if she's speaking from experience, which I found highly unlikely from someone 11-13 yo. Thankfully that doesn't persist, though after being established that she's a princess being sought after by Zanscare, she sometimes attempted to turn over herself and convince the higher-ups to not fight anymore (which obviously wouldn't work). At least this only happens like once or twice and can be written down to the naivete of a child, so she doesn't take off by herself all the fucking time (I'm looking at you, Katz).
The rest of the League Militaire also help set the mood and tone, which is nice. I liked Marbet and the rest. It gets a little confusing when they meet up with the Hiland kids (Gee Tomache, how come your dad lets you pilot a MS? Isn't he concerned in the slightest?).

There's the Shrike Team, a large team comprised entirely of women whose purpose is clear from the start that they will DIE for the sake of everyone else's character development. No way THAT many characters are going to survive episode after episode. To some extent this also fixes one of the issues Zeta had: the lack of expendability. In a 50-episode long series with a battle in nearly every episode, major characters will inevitably end up with some plot armor, so you kind of know before a fight starts that another duel between this guy and his rival is just going to end with one of them getting damaged and escaping back to base while some stuff happens in the background. That gets repetitive and boring, and is why the Motorad arc is my least favourite. Nobody important dies or nothing of real consequence happens, and as a result fights lose their tension. With expendable characters, you can spice up the fights with some dramatic deaths which influence other characters, though the Shrike Team has the adverse side-effect of their impending deaths being too obvious, thus their deaths can't really come as a surprise. As most of them are one-dimensional characters, it's not a massive loss for the viewer except for the waifufags anyways.

Mama Ewin ends up being a superspy and the designer of the Victory Gundam? We don't really know much about her, though her death is somewhat tragic. Papa Ewin is kind of underwhelming, he's apparently this super smart guy who started the League Militaire and is partly responsible for the production of the Victory Gundams, though we never see him in action or how important he really is. We don't even know what the deal with the fake Jinn Gehennam is. I have absolutely no idea what Katejina's deal is either. She is some noble aiding the LM at first who voluntarily lets herself get taken by Chronicle (for some reason), who took her back to base (for some reason), buys into Zanscare's shallow-ass ideals (for some reason), becomes a super-skilled MS pilot on the same level as Fuala, Chronicle and Uso (somehow), turns Chronicle into her own fuckboy (somehow), and comes to really really hate Uso (because he's way too strong for a kid?), commands an entire squadron of women to wear revealing leotards in order to confuse a pre-pubescent Uso (LOLOLOLOLOLOL) and becomes a blind amnesiac after Uso wrecks her shit with beam wings (newtype magic?). In short, her motivation is a bit unclear to me. I don't know if I missed something or if this is just another Tominoism. Bitches be crazy

Things get a little crazy with the Angel Halo being a massive mind-control device (despite the events of Zeta, there's barely any Newtypes in use), as they've managed to round up 10,000 'psychics' to amplify the effects of the Queen's prayers. What do you mean, that I loved how in 0079 towards the end everything becomes completely surreal as a result of Newtype fuckery and nobody had any idea of what was going on, Victory kinda comes close to that. The Angel Halo is used to make everyone not think about war anymore. It affects Uso, but then it's entirely wasted on a review episode. It drives Katejina mad and some other fat cats, though the effect isn't as expansive as I'd hoped. We don't really see it affecting grunts because apparently the Angel Halo is directed at Earth instead of the space battlefield, though Shakti somehow overrides that (it's newtype magic, I ain't gotta explain shit)

In short, it has the strengths of F91 while simultaneously adding something new to he table, though the execution of some aspects tend to vary. Thankfully the core of the series is strong enough on its own which makes it worth watching if you ask me.

[soprano1]

Katejina is badly handled, no doubt about it. You should consider watching Turn A now, i guess. Another load of weird plot and characters, but great MS design by Sid Mead.

[Bananamatic]

turn a is baller
after war x is pretty good too in terms of ms design

[soprano1]

turn a is baller
after war x is pretty good too in terms of ms design

Yeah, and better story and characters than yaoi fest Wing.

[soprano1]

I'm in need of some good mecha series, how's SPT Layzner?