In A.G. 101 (the 101st year of the Advanced Generation calendar) a mysterious entity known only as "UE", or "unknown enemy", attacks and destroys the space colony Angel. This brutal attack becomes infamous as the "The Day the Angel Fell", and marks the beginning of humanity's war for survival.
The series begins in A.G. 108 when the UE attack the space colony Ovan, where Flit Asuno lives with his mother. Flit's mother is killed by the UE, and in her belongings (in an object called a "AGE Device") he discovers the blueprints for a powerful weapon from the past - the ancient messiah named "Gundam."
From these blueprints, Flit spends the next several years studying engineering at an Earth Federation base on the Nora space colony and designing the AGE-1 Gundam. Seven years later, in A.G. 115, Flit completes the Gundam, just as the UE attack Nora. Flit and his lineage's battle piloting the AGE-1 to protect mankind is about to begin.
(Source: GoodAnime.net)
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Comentários
KingCloud
Since completing the series, I feel I should update this review. Well, this will be my first ever review for a series.. reasons for me actually taking the time to write one, is because I believe this is a very underrated series as it's part of the Gundam franchise.. I'll break it down. Story: 10 The story progress was brilliance at it's best. The show progresses throughout 100 years, and moves through three generations.. I felt this was a very interesting concept that could be explored in other Gundam series in the future. There was a lot of accusations towards this series about being a children's versionof a Gundam series.. This is inaccurate, as throughout the entire series it is very serious in the way it approaches the dialogue and story..
Art: 10
Why? because it was different then what I normally see and now in the end, it's unique.. People complain that the art is childish. the Gundam wasn't designed well,etc.. if you pay attention it develops into a very well designed Gundam; following the series as both the story and the characters evolve.
Sound: 9
The sound design is amazing, but out of the OP or ED I have grown increasingly fond of 'My World' by SPYAIR.. the song has such a great meaning behind it, which is a perfect fit for the arc, and after this series I have become a great fan of their music and I recommend anyone who enjoys the ED to check out the rest of their music line up.
Enjoyment: 10
I greatly enjoy this series, because I've grown to love each of the characters.. As you move through each arc you clamor to find out what happens to each of the side characters, the previous main characters, etc.. overall the show just engulfs you until the very end.. It proves that if you stick with it, it can stand with even the best of the franchise.
Overall: 10
This series has been a complete joy to watch and I wish it would of went farther into the storyline, definitely worth the watch.. if your hanging on the fence to watch or not watch, this is no SD Gundam.. and for that I am thankful.. To me this ranks with Gundam Wing and Gundam 00 , which are among my favorite series.. Go watch this already.. quoted from a comment on GA.com episode 20.. "People hated AGE, but it just keeps getting better and better.."
Cruzader93
Latest TV Series of the Gundam Franchise (2011-12) Advance Generation Review from my POV (w/personal biases after watching whole run) Lite Spoiler Warning Pros: + The concept of a "50 episode run, going thru 3 generations of a central conflict with protagonists that relate to each other" sounds pretty FN dope and it works....... some of the time. (like a compact 0079, Zeta, ZZ run) + The Viewer should should like they were given positive dividends when continuing from Gen 1 thru Gen 2 EX: Gen 1 Flit was aiight, BUT Gen 2 Flit was pretty Badass. He develops a cold hatred towards the enemy after what we've seen him go thruin Gen 1. and that's cool
+ The 2nd Generation as a whole was really enjoyable to watch
+ AGE-1 Spallow
Cons:
- Antagonist has no face in the 1st Gen
- Little to no creativity for mobile suit design
- Took awhile for me to get into the pokemon-esque character design.
3rd GEN Cons (yes, it's so bad, it gets its own section)
- Pretty much after the halfway point of the 3rd Gen is utter bullshit. Lemme explain
- The 3rd Gen hero Kio Asuno switches up his view after experiencing something tragic, making his choices completely illogical and down right dumb. It also changes his combat style, which is also bullshit.
- Character development is pretty much shot.
- The're trying to force emotion by constantly having a death occur constantly
- Char clone. and a bad one
- Flit Asuno in the last moment becomes IMO the worst protagonist in the Gundam franchise.
Final Note/Impression:
A cool concept that's completely defiled by the 3rd act of this TV Series. My feels about Flit Asuno are similar to a playthrough of Mass Effect 3: I work so hard for a satisfying conclusion, only to realize that what i wanted will never be presented in front of me.
metalinvader665
*Due to the nature of the plot of this show, this review contains slight spoilers* There's much to say about Gundam AGE--from the time it was first unveiled, the fanbase went crazy in anger thinking it was going to be some childish take on the franchise, things like how the Gundam wasn't even going to be piloted but controlled from afar by the AGE device, that they were going to remove any grimdark from the show, and so on. In any case, AGE is a significant departure in look from the grittyness of the previous Gundam, Gundam 00--00 had darker, mature-ish character and mecha designs, andAGE has a look more associated with children's anime (no surprise then that this show's writer and character designer also worked on projects like Inazuma Eleven). Despite all this, the show isn't really "childish" in any sense, and ends up being a typical Gundam show--or a sad attempt at being one.
Yes, Gundam AGE is no doubt the worst Gundam out there. Okay, I haven't seen fan disfavourite SEED Destiny outside of the first few episodes, but it'll have to be pretty bad to beat what writer Akihiro Hino and director Susumu Yamaguchi have presented us with here. They've presented us with a show that could have been a very solid show but instead refuses every attempt at being good.
Basically, Gundam AGE is a "multigenerational Gundam", which focuses on protagonist Flit Asuno, his son, and his grandson, all of which pilot three generations of the titular Gundam AGE. From that summary alone, I'd expect a very interesting plot involving intense familial themes, some romance, and perhaps some grand villainous threat that threatens the Asuno clan and their friends and their society over the decades. Instead this is merely a setup for infinite amounts of squandered opportunities at interesting plot threads. Take the expected romantic themes--relationships are reduced to little more than a casual mention at best, with pathetic attempts at creating love triangles that the concept art for the later characters made painfully obvious which girl "won", seeing how each son resembles their mother. "Won" belongs in quotes because little to no characterisation is given to any of the girls and love interests besides perhaps Yurin, who is a carbon copy of Lalah Sune from the original 0079 Gundam. Speaking of Yurin, we also get a scene so bizarre early on that it seems like a parody of the battle involving Lalah, Amuro, and Char from the original Gundam, involving a psychotic little kid as Char. Oh, that scene is also completely serious and sets up one of the major story threads, something so bad it puts all the borrowing of the original MSG plot Gundam SEED did to shame.
That's only a taste of the plot you'll find in this show. Gundam AGE effectively has three story arcs separated by timeskips, centering around Flit in the first, his son Asem in the second, and his grandson Kio in the third. It wouldn't be a stretch to say the first is "based on" Mobile Suit Gundam, the second on Zeta Gundam, and the third on ZZ Gundam. The first arc is pretty much junk--a shadowy faction with strange mobile suits are blowing up colonies, but it mostly ends up being a mixture of filler and dumb ripoffs of the original Gundam. The rest is better though, if only because it gets to answer the question of what Gundam protagonists and their comrades are doing decades after the events of their show, and Gundam AGE delivers for the second arc, which ends up being the only salvageable part of the show in the end. Here we see Flit's friend Woolf as a grizzled badass, Flit himself playing a role equivalent to the villainous Titans of Zeta Gundam, and that's sadly about it, because while the second arc presents an interesting story, it squanders its true potential by wasting about a third of its space with rather pointless high school filler arc that does little but set up the character of Gundam AGE's Char clone Zeheart. The arc also unceremoniously wastes an interesting plot point by killing off one of the most interesting characters of the first generation for no reason only a few minutes after he's reintroduced for the second arc. But at least we have a solid plot--angry humans on Mars want to take back the Earth, and start a total war with the Earth Sphere humans, which amounts to typical Gundam stuff. Oh, and look for a ripoff of one of the ending scenes of Gundam Wing (or Char's Counterattack, which Gundam Wing borrowed from) because Gundam AGE can't resist stealing famous Gundam scenes for its own use (although I admit this scene is pretty cool).
The third arc and the finale are what ends up utterly killing the show. Everything comes together to produce a flat nothing, with a corny plot development leading to protagonist Kio Asuno turning into perhaps the whiniest Gundam protagonist ever. This plot development involving him going to the home colony of the Mars humans ends up being horribly, horribly done, even though the writers no doubt intended it to be one of the tearjerking moments of the show. This also shows Gundam AGE's love for killing off characters in dramatic death scenes when they barely have been given any character development. Not that that stops them from giving a full episode devoted to a minor character introduced only the previous episode which goes into detail about her life, only for her to be killed off at the end of it. Nice misplaced priorities there, eh?
The ending is as bad as you'd expect by this point. The main villain reveals his plans, which are so utterly, utterly stupid they don't make logical sense even by Gundam villain standards. The Char clone of the show--who like most Char clones, comes across as fairly sympathetic for most of the show--chooses to go along with such idiocy and redoubles his efforts. And for the finale, expect a complete anticlimax--some people die in pointless ways, and the final episode is solely about a fight against a character who makes his first appearance in that same episode and has almost no personality. Wonderful.
Discounting the horribly wasted plot, Gundam AGE isn't all bad. While the artstyle and fight scenes are nowhere near the visceral glory of Gundam 00, for what it's worth everything is smoothly animated and sufficient. The character designs aren't that bad once you get used to them--it could be Hisashi "sameface" Hirai of Gundam SEED after all! The mecha designs are also pretty great, although the majority of the enemy mobile suits look like they'd better fit in a non-Gundam mecha anime, what with the draconic design of many of them. And compared to other Gundam shows (looking at you, SEED), AGE limits the number of Gundams floating around--there's a grand total of four Gundams (plus "backpacks") in the show. Three are the protagonist Gundams, each with nice allusions to the original RX-78 Gundam, the Zeta Gundam, and the ZZ Gundam respectively. The fourth is the Gundam of one of the villains, featuring a wonderfully alien design.
The soundtrack for Gundam AGE is incredible, with some nice modern elements pervading it. It certainly continues the trend of the newer Gundams (Turn A and onward) having awesome soundtracks that REALLY stand out unlike the still-good but less unique soundtracks of the older Gundams. The opening and closing songs are mixed bunch, the first two openers being cheesy, harmless J-pop, the third being a nice upbeat J-rock song, the final being a stellar J-pop song. Endings are less unique, with only the first--an electronic J-pop ballad--being memorable. As for the voice-acting, there's nothing negative I can say--Kazuhiko Inoue does a great job as the coldhearted older Flit, Hiroshi Kamiya does the villainous Zeheart well, and Daisuke Ono as Woolf makes the most out of the character. Prolific seiyuu Takehito Koyasu (who's done several other noteworthy Gundam roles in his time) shows up here as well.
But that's merely the makings of a potentially great show. In the end, the writers chose to squander every bit of potential for this show, instead creating this trainwreck in its place. Gundam AGE had the chance to be one of the franchise's most memorable shows, but instead it's something to be looked down on, and will be remembered as one of the worst moments for Gundam. Avoid this, and avoid this well.
SDman
Gundam Age is an attempt to attract a new, younger audience by re-packaging the core Gundam lore that has been established over the years into story arcs that follows three generations of Gundam pilots. While the premise is cool, the majority of its flaws comes from having to tell all three arcs within a 49-episode constraint. Because there are so many characters in so little time, they are given few opportunities to develop. When a loved one is killed by malice and drives the hero to be consumed by revenge, it's very hard to fully buy into such extreme motivations even in the face of overwhelmingcommons sense without willfully suspend one's own disbelief. Side characters come and go seemingly for the sole purpose of reproducing, and antagonists exist as plot devices to force dramatic situations. While I'm not opposed to wanting to attract a new audience, there is a contradiction in telling a story about the complex emotional and moral landscape of war to a younger crowd by simplifying it. Which is a shame, because the main characters are actually interesting and full of potential.
In terms of visuals, I was initially caught off-guard by the disparity between character design and mech design. This is due to how Gundam series work: the mechs are always designed with the same look (brand consistency), but each series' characters are drawn with different styles by different creatives. For someone to watch Gundam series in succession, it takes a few episodes to adjust. As for animation, it's noticeably less detailed and with fewer frames than 00 / Seed, although there are some bright spots in key battles.
I'm a not fan of combat sequences determined by plot armor, and Gundam has always been notorious for that; a major antagonist pilots the most advanced Gundam would easily destroy the heroes in one scene but is defeated in the next by the same said hero without actually illustrating how, which renders of the tech advancement that matters so much in the storyline into window dressing... or an excuse to promo a new toy. I wish, at some point, there would be a Gundam series that shows combat which better illustrates the relative performance between Mech A and Mech B, and then how each pilot uses them to determine the outcome. But I suppose that would not be in the best interest of a series that is dependent on continuously rebooting itself: setting too high of a standard makes the next reboot even harder.
In the meantime, I suppose GA is worth a look for those who don't want to invest much time into the Gundam franchise, as it's meant to be an updated and condensed collection of past Gundam themes and mech designs. But for those who have watched enough Gundam series, it feels like a medley.
DarkSharinganZ
All the rumours you've heard about AGE in its early days: - Aliens - Pokemon style evolution - Baby show this anime took a massive dump on them and the only ones who believe them are losers who were quick to judge it and haven't gone beyond the first 2 or 3 episodes. The last few episode takes a 'Zeta-ish' turn so to speak where it gets dark and occasionally violent and a handful of characters die. Gundam AGE does nothing out of the ordinary for Gundam. It may not be a dense political drama like Wing, Turn A and 00, but it's a fun action anime like theSEED series and that's why it's a winner.
The story as everyone knows is a 3-generation story that takes place within the 100 year time span. Each generation arc has its own protagonist with his son picking up where the former left off.
The character designs wasn't a big deal as for me but I agree it CAN, but RARELY, get overly kiddy, but for the most part, I think it worked just fine. Much better than Gundam 00's annoying genderly ambiguous male characters who can pass off as women.
Overall, this was brilliant and I've seen EVERY Gundam series to date (except G and SD Gundam). So don't you dare say that I'm not a true Gundam fan.
AnimeFan500
Another Gundam series to add to my collection : ) Story Gundam AGE is similar to the UC series if anyone has seen it. AGE 1- The Asuno family is famous for its Gundam. Flit's mother is killed during an attack on a colony. The one's responsible are the UE (GAFRANs) an alien race. He vows to build a Gundam that will save everyone. ( Savior Gundam) In A.G. 114, Flit completes the Gundam AGE and counterattacks against GAFRANs. One day, the UE once again attacks his new home and he must pilot the Gundam he built to defeat the UE. Now he goes towar with the UE. One of the many perks of this series is that Filt's Gundam can get new upgrades from the AGE's System--- Which collects battle data of the enemy and builds new weapons/parts that add to the his Gundam. Whether it be power or speed.
AGE 2-- 40 years later( AGE--140) we have a new main characters- Asem Asuno- the son of Flit Asuno- who now pilots the Gundam to fight the UE. He too will follow his father footsteps. As seen in the opening, Asem gets a new upgrade which is awesome!!! Oh yeah this arc we get a Char like character : )
Sound
Gundam series has the best op/ed ever.
Art/character-- Gundam series has the best art ever-- even the Gundams and Mobile suits.
Enjoyment
Canit wait to see more episodes
eth1023
Gundam AGE is arguably the most hated anime in recent memory. Sadly most of the reasons aren't valid. Some say its too childish (Yet watch shows with children in them, even the gundams with children piloting), some say it's art is disgusting (Yet watched Higuarashi), and some haven't taken the time to even watch it. Here's an unbiased and unwarranted hate-free review: Story - The story is very unique, as it spans 3 generations of characters in the same family, a first for a Gundam series, and rarely done in ANY anime. This brings a certain level of connection to a war, and extra connection tocharacters. However, there isn't simply enough time to flesh out each individual story arc; without each other to lean on, they would be virtually unwatchable. A 3 Season series would probably have worked best, as each arc is only 15 or so episodes. One thing to say is that the story feels like an RPG playing out right before your eyes, and rightfully so, as the story was written by the talented game company Level 5, who made classics such as Dragon Quest VIII and Rouge Galaxy.
Art-
The Art is good, but not great. Its typical Gundam art; not groundbreaking but highly animated and explosive. Aimed at kids it isn't, there's things here that you'd see in your typical Gundam series. The Gundam models look crisp, and have some original concepts, but alot of similarities to other Gundams from the series. Was it a homage? Or did they run out of ideas? You be the judge.
Sound-
Other than the explosions, there isn't anything to talk about. The voice acting is standard fare, as well as the music.
Character-
The great thing about this anime is that there are so many characters, you'll fall in love with one of them. The best feeling in the world is moving to the next story arc/generation and seeing a character front he previous one make a return, or even upgrade from supporting to main. However, just like the story, there isn't enough time to flesh everyone out; most characters have a single storyline (avenge death, here to kill and destroy, i'm the captain, etc.). There are a few characters you'll fall in love with, but while some stay around for almost the entire series, sadly some of them only appear for a few episodes before leaving for whatever reason.
The main characters are without a doubt the best part of the show. What I love is that none of them, while being in the same bloodline, are clones of each other. They each have their own issues, hopes and fears, and to see them react to each other, especially near the end, makes up for the lack of character development anywhere else.
Enjoyment-
You would think that with such average scores of the other categories I wouldn't have enjoyed the series, but you're oh so wrong. As awkward as the stories and characters are, it was actually one of the more enjoyable anime to watch. You had to see what happened next; granted, you won't find anything shocking here, but it was always interesting to see what character would be relevant in the next episode, especially near the end when characters would pop in/out and mains would conflict. ITS GUNDAM FOR CRYING OUT LOUD! Who doesn't enjoy giant robots beating the crap out of each other?!
Overall-
Definitely give it a chance. Some will like it. Some will call it completely underrated. Some will say it's trash. But it's def. a new experience for Gundam fans and a good anime to tide you over between your next big watch.
mellloyellow
This is my first ever review so bear with me. Gundam AGE is one of the coolest ideas for a Gundam series ever. It has Three generations spilt into a 49 episode series. Each generation has its own protagonist and new characters. I was really intrigued by this premise and I wanted to know why this is one of the black sheeps of the Gundam series. Anyways lets start the review. Story:4 This story had so much potential. The premise is so good. The execution however is not that great. Generation 1 is fine enough even though it wastes time with a pointless arc. It should've been just10 episodes so more time could have been given to the second generation. The second generation was probaly the best even though it suffers from the problem of not having enough time to properly expand its story. The OVA Memory of Eden does kind of help a bit but not by much. The third generation is where my problem with the story is. A lot of the plot points that were introduced in first and second generations just comes crashing to the ground in the third generation and the ending is so garbage. Everything just feels so rushed in last few episodes. Honestly the third generation is the only reason why I gave the story a 4. It hurts the series so much.
Art:7
I really like the art style here. Its not perfect and it doesn't look as good as Gundam 00 in my opinion but it does look nice. The colors are nice and bright and everything is animated well.
The mech designs however are a mixed bag. I like the Gundams and all of the Earth Federations mobile suit designs even though most of them look a little too generic in my opinion. My main problem with mobile suit designs is with the U.E suits. They look so out of place in Gundam and were obviously only made that way so kids could tell who the bad guys are.
Sound:8
The sound track is pretty good. No track felt out of place and misued. The main standout are the Gundam themes every single time I heard one of them I couldn't help but get a bit excited!
The songs for the OPs and EDs were pretty good too. They matched the vibe of each arc pretty well.
Characters:5
Hoo boy Gundam AGE has some major problem with its characters. Its not that many of them are bad its just that the series doesn't give them enough time to develop. Most characters just get forgotten about and never mentioned again episodes after they are introduced. When they try to have emotional moments with characters that have barely been developed it just ends up feeling really flat.
Enjoyment: 6
I'd say this is a fairly fun watch. The battles are fun, and the pacing is ok.If was a kid watching this I would've probably liked a lot more but as a grown adult its still fun.
Overall:6
Overall I'd call Gundam AGE serviceable. It scratchs my Gundam and mecha itch and its good enough entrypoint for kids to get into Gundam if they don't want to watch the Gundam Build series. For adults I'd only recommend it if your ok with watching a series with obvious flaws.
Ryokushin
This review will contain very little spoilers, only spoilers involved will remark on character lineage [Father-Son-Grandfather] and Character names. The people who say that Gundam Age is for children, actually--I wonder if they even watched the show. Gundam Age is a tribute to the Universal Centry's triple threat Mobile Suit Gundam, Zeta Gundam and ZZ Gundam with Gundam AGE-1 we see the similarities between RX-78-2; with later advancements we see similarities between the gundams. There are some who say that AGE ripped off of SEED but when they say that they don't seem to have seen 00 Gundam, nor have they seen Zeta Gundam orZZ Gundam. Because the forms of the mechs were more characteristic of Zeta Gundam and ZZ Gundam than of 00 (despite the UE's forms).
Overall, this is a great Slice-of-life mecha anime that explores the idea of a protagonist being overwhelmed with anger, and revenge. And what happens when that is seen first and foremost. I put this one off for a while, but now I wonder why. This is a very good calling back to the old UC series' and it puts a new spin on it. If you want an idea of what it's like. Imagine Amuro being a father, and he sends his kid to war, and then his kid has a kid--and so on. Imagine the lineage you're leaving behind. This show is a growth of all three characters, Flit, Asemu and Kio.
The way the show ends? You'll have to see. Some people are disappointed, but I am not. The character development in the third arc really made it a necessity. Some say that after Arc 2, you will get bored. But really--Arc 3 is where the major character changes are made. It is really worth it for Gundam fans, and for non Gundam fans, this is a good one to start with.
Cons: There ARE some episodes that leave ideas floating, and there are some things that don't make sense. More "PIS" (plot induced stupidity) stuff but overall, the anime is good. I loved the story, and the characters the most.
What did this show do the best? Flit and his whole story throughout the three arcs, showed the advancement of story without seeming like it NEEDED to go on--it just seemed to flow. It didn't seem like a forced story.
ggultra2764
Another alternate continuity title within the Gundam franchise, Gundam AGE focuses on a century-long war that the Earth Federation has with a mysterious enemy that takes place through the span of three generations in its focus on three members of the Asuno family that engage the enemy threat in their Gundam mecha. As more about the true nature of this unknown enemy comes to light and each Asuno member bares witness to the hardships of this war, each one develops a differing mentality with how to handle the unknown enemy threat and this drives their developments for later episodes of the series. Gundam AGE is abit tricky to properly judge since each generation arc within the series has it varying levels of quality in terms of plot. The Flit arc is the most watered down of the arcs as it takes on a black-and-white moral compass with portraying the enemy threat as irredeemably evil, relies heavily on plot formulas typical of Gundam and sci-fi titles and sticks with simple character types throughout its run. The Asemu arc offers the best quality of the series as it is a little more complex with the conflicts faced by Asemu as he struggles with the pressures put on him to follow in his father's footsteps and is conflicted with how to handle things when learning that a close friend of his is part of the enemy force. The later two arcs with Kio are where the series quality nosedives when attempts to make the enemy force sympathetic are poorly implemented, the rationales of some of the characters don't make much sense, Kio being a worst character than Gundam SEED's Kira in being a pacifist fighter and the sudden introduction of new enemy threats just for the sake of creating enemy threats to drag the plot out.
The generation gimmick actually works against Gundam AGE since the pacing of each arc is rather rushed to 11-15 episodes a piece, limiting how much depth the series can provide to its world and characters. To a great extent, the series just rehashes character types, plot elements and characteristics of its mecha and technologies from prior Gundam titles, waters the typical themes of the franchise down and expects viewers of the series to accept what they are watching. The issues between Asemu and Zeheart were pretty much the saving grace of AGE for me as the execution of other plot developments and character issues within the series are either rehashed from prior Gundam titles, too shallow to really care for or were flawed as such where I found myself questioning what the writers of AGE were thinking when they put together this series, especially with their efforts at trying to make the enemy threat more sympathetic compared to their depiction in the Flit arc.
Visually, Gundam AGE is rather average in terms of quality. While sporting a good deal of visual detail and vivid color, character and scenery designs are a bit on the plain side. Federation mecha designs are pretty much typical of what has been depicted for past Gundam titles, though the mecha utilized by the enemy forces sport unique designs as they take on a variety of forms from the Gafran units introduced in the Flit arc to the gorilla-like Xambrag piloted by Zanald Beihart in the later Kio arcs. The animation has its moments of decent choreography with action scenes thanks to the unique designs of many of the enemy units, though the majority still resort to whatever's been done with prior Gundam titles and shortcuts are noticeable in more complicated battle scenes such as fights between large factions of Federation and enemy forces.
Overall, Gundam AGE is one of the more weaker entries of the Gundam franchise as its efforts with the "generation arc" gimmick lead it to rehash story, character and world elements from past Gundam titles in a mostly generic, rushed and (later on) sloppily implemented mess. The Asemu and Zeheart rivalry redeems the series to a degree for me, but it is still not enough to save AGE from being nothing more than a mediocre series. Unless you're a diehard Gundam fan, I would skip this title.
Manthors
[2nd Edit] MS Gundam AGE is a mixed bag that you should see if you like the Gundam franchise. It does some things that no other Gundam did so far (I know, I`ve watched them all), so it has some extremely original content. It is interesting in its own way, with a particular charm of its own. More bellow. Story: You probably guessed by looking at its promotional poster that Gundam AGE is a shonen Gundam. Thus, beware for classical Japanese teen drama, classical "moral questions" that are always the same and, of course, some of the "killing is wrong, we all should live in harmony"stuff. Hence, the overall political plot is lame. HOWEVER, the storytelling aspects are where Gundam AGE shines the best. It shines on the aspect that no other Gundam did in one series so far: you will follow the characters throughout generations. Yes, it does not stop on the kids in the cover, it goes on and on as they grow into adults. This baffled me so much because I was not expecting anything like that. This is important for you to know because otherwise, you might think that it is just some classical shonen anime. I only persisted because I am a die-hard Gundam fan. However, the moment that I saw that Gundam AGE was about generations, this show gained a different meaning. Gundam AGE is divided into 3 arcs, in which the second one is the darkest of them all. Gundam AGE attempts to kinda rewrite the UC in some other way. So think that from 1-15 ep you are watching Shonen MS Gundam, from 16 to 28 you are watching Shonen Zeta Gundam (dark as Zeta, in its way), and from 29-50 you are watching a mix of Shonen Unicorn + Char`s Counterattack + Zeta. You know something I think its funny? Iron-Blooded Orphans is considered the Gundam with the highest body count, in terms of named characters. Well, shonen Gundam AGE comes very close! I fully support the writer's choice to create a whole generation odyssey, instead of a single story with the same characters.
Art & Sound: The art is OK, better than Gundam SEED, worse than Gundam 00. It's somewhere in between. Sometimes the characters design are extremely lame, being far from what the franchise usually do. They are frequently out of proportion, with tiny lets, large arms. But these are the exception, not the rule. The sound is cool. The openings are fine. If I am not mistaken, the composer is the same as Gundam SEED, which is awesome.
Characters: Ah! here is where Gundam AGE shines. First, remember that this is a shonen anime, it is not dark and mature as Iron-Blooded Orphans, or Zeta Gundam. But in its own rules and world, the characters in Gundam AGE have great development. For you to have an idea, you will follow Flit Asuno (the main protagonist) from 13 years old until 64 years old. You will also follow the other two protagonists, Asumo Asuno (his son) and Kio Asuno (his grandson), as Gundam pilots as well, and this is awesome. They have great character development in the entire series, and here is where I was caught off-guard. I wasn't expecting everything they become. I can`t say without spoiling, so I just know that it is pretty good. Other secondary characters like Woolf Enacle and Ainoa Grodek are extremely likable as well. As always, you will have some irritating characters but they are not invasive like in other shows of the series. My only complaint here is the Char clone of Gundam AGE, he is probably one of the worse Chars clones in the entire Gundamverse, maybe being a little better than Full Frontal. The only problem is the lame romance subplot. All Gundam has a romantic subplot and the one in Gundam AGE is one of the lamest.
Mechas: They have a strong influence from several Gundam series, especially 00. Gundam AGE 1 looks like a deluxe edition of RX-78-2. AGE 2 strongly resembles Exia and 00 Raser, and AGE 3 looks like a mix between Full Armor ZZ Gundam and Virtue from 00. It also has the "modular" nature of RX-78-2 and Impulse (from Destiny), with similar launching apparatus in mid-battle. The Gundam Legilis is beautiful and was heavily inspired by Wing Gundam Zero. I also enjoy the AGE System, the star of the show, that is basically a giant weapon-building 3D printer. The AGE system is such a good idea that it changes the whole flow of Gundam AGE. Awesome. The only thing I don`t like in terms of mecha in this show is the Vegan MS (the NPCs that are always blown-up), they have a reptilian aspect that looks ridiculous. Aside from that, all Gundams look awesome.
Overall, this is a great series. Keep in mind its shonen origins but I can assure you that this series becomes something very enjoyable that you will have a good time seen it. All I can say is that Flit and Asumo characters will surprise you.
SolXero
This is my first review for an anime, though this is not my first Gundam series and it will not be my last. Hopefully some will find this useful. I've been an avid watcher of both mecha animes and the Gundam series itself. I was initially discouraged, from both word of mouth and initial reviews, to do my best and avoid this series entirely. Eventually, I decided to see for myself just how this new series stacks up to the competition. No synopsis, lets go right in to the nitty-gritty. Story: 6 The story and idea itself isn't bad. Rather it was quite novel idea that Bandai cameup with. A Gundam series spanning three generations. Sounds great on paper, but somewhere along the way things just went awry.
Lets start with the first thing: UE or the Vagan. The premise of Flit and co. fighting against what can be perceived as aliens doesn't work. The majority of the reasons given are somewhere alone the lines of "the scenario doesn't work because it's a Gundam series". A better way of looking at this is that the scenario itself is poorly executed. Recognize that unknown enemy doesn't necessarily have to translate to aliens. A rogue group of emotionless humans who cause destruction through advanced technology and never leave behind witnesses or evidence can also be shaped to fit the mold of an unknown enemy. If anything, what is just described above fits similarly to what the Vagan are. Through rumors and stories it is understandable how that will eventually become what the characters believe are aliens. But to have even the Earth Federation believe that the Vagan are aliens themselves? That really stretches suspension of disbelief. Even though it is revealed that the top brass knows who and what the Vagans are and with all the foreshadowing, to present such this scenario to the viewers for a little over 15 episodes is a bit too much and can fails to hook on to viewers given the silliness of the situation.
The second thing is the pacing and premises of the three generations/arcs are suspect. In regards to Flit's arc, I can count 5-6 episodes where it was spent on non-important issues. The Fardain arc, though interesting, does little to nothing in terms of driving the plot or setting up character development. Sure the death of Boyage has an impact on the development of Flit but that happens several episodes down the road and could have been setup without wasting 3-4 episodes on Fardain. Time spent on Euba and Zalam, that were basically never mentioned again, could have been used to develop characters like Woolf or Largan or setup other plot points. Though Asemu's arc was interesting the weird pacing of the arc lessen the impact it could've had on the audience. It is hard to believe that Asemu comes to a sudden realization of his fatal flaw near the last 2 episodes of his arc and only after Woolf dies. Not only does it make light of everything else that happens to Asemu as a result of his jealousy (including his near death experience), it may slight viewers by making Woolf's death as a quick fix to wrap up a plot point. Out of all three arcs, Kio's arc is perhaps the most boring and does nothing to add to the story. Project Eden's true intentions and EXA-DB are revealed, but they add little to help wrap up the story.
Overall the story is extremely mediocre and could have been made to be a lot better.
Art: 7
The art designs of the characters and mobile suits really brings back nostalgic memories. Though some complain that they look childish, the art designs feel as though it has gone back to the roots for a more MSG type look. With that said, some of the mobile suit designs could be better. This is especially true of the Vagan mobile suits. Most of them looking like flying lizards. It also seems as though the art department got lazy and didn't feel like making more mobile suits for the Earth Federation. Come on, Genoaces for all three arcs?
Sound: 7
The musical compositions are solid. They are not anything amazing like the Unicorn or MS IGLOO but they get the job done.
Characters: 5
When it is easier to empathize with a minor character that gets kill off in two episodes than it for a major character than there is a major problem in the works. The character development for some of the characters are just outright bad.
Two of the more egregious examples are Zeheart and Kio. For a fair part of the anime, the viewers see Zeheart as a person who struggles between fulfilling Ezelcant's Project Eden and his wishes to lead a normal human life. Though Zeheart seems as though he is willing to go through with fulfilling Project Eden, one can see that he has difficulty ridding the obstacles to the plan namely Asemu and Gundam. Not only that, Zeheart has streak of being a stern but caring commander. Which is why when he blindly submits to Ezelcant after becoming the leader of the Vagan and killing off his subordinates in order to achieve his plan, it ruins his character. This isn't to say that it wasn't a valid way of developing his character but it is a bad way. It contradicts and ruins everything that makes Zeheart who he is up until that point. Even something like Zeheart altering Ezelcant's plan after finding out the truth behind Project Eden would make more sense.
As for Kio, he never really got character development to begin with. He reaches that phase of naiveté where he "wants to protect everyone" and "stop the fighting". This is fair considering he was exposed to the more humane side of the Vagan but he never grows out of that phase. He desperately tries to stop the fighting for the better part of the last arc and doesn't stop after seeing that his attempts are fruitless and the deaths of his fellow soldiers. Kio almost becomes this wishy-washy Kira clone who constantly spews about peace, but never actually does enough to amount to anything.
Compare Kio to Uso from Mobile Suit Victory Gundam. Much like Kio, Uso is constantly bombarded with the realities of war and seen deaths of those close to him. There is a small time frame in which he comes to the same conclusions as Kio, but after seeing that the only way to stop the fighting is to fight and forcibly end the war, Uso's character develops. Uso values peace but understands that he has to fight for it and rather than enforcing his views on everyone he uses it as a rallying call to motivate himself. This example could have been a direction in which Kio could have been developed except it never happened.
These two are only the more prominent examples but there are other gripes to be had. One can make an argument that Emily was a poorly done version of a concerned friend - almost bordering on possessive and obsessive. Yurin is the star-crossed lover of Flit who is so one dimensional it seems as though she was only added in as a love interest and to fan Flit's hatred of the Vagan.
Some interesting characters seemingly fall off near the end as it seem that the directing and writing team struggled to make a consistent character and resolve plot points. It was interesting (at least in the Gundam franchise) to see a character so driven by revenge and hatred and have it affect every decision he ever makes. And yet he softens up at the end just to tie up the plot. Again this makes for extremely bad character development.
All of these characters could have been used to make the anime slightly better had they been better developed.
Overall Impression: 6
Was it bad as everyone made it out to be? Not exactly. Were there parts that really annoyed the hell out of me and made me feel like dropping this anime all together? You betcha. As a Gundam fan I wasn't as disappointed as I was with the fanfic plot that is Gundam Seed Destiny. But that's not really saying much. There was an opportunity that the Gundam franchise and Sunrise could have capitalize but due to shoddy directing and writing a lot of it went to waste.
For the average watcher, they may get some mild enjoyment out of this. Even then it may feel taxing and boring at times. It stands as a mediocre Gundam series and will always be remembered as a mediocre Gundam series.
Lloyd_Bannings
Let me preface this by saying I'm using the system accurately here. When I say 6/10 I mean it was an okay show, but nothing too special. I still personally think it merits watching, and honestly I'd give it a much higher score overall if not for the ending bar, but we'll get there later. Story: 7/10: Nothing too terribly special for the most part it's a typical Gundam story except the bad guys are aliens. I will say that the Flit/AGE 1 arc starts off pretty bad. The first 2-3 episodes were pretty good, then it drops off until the last couple episodesIMO. AGE 2 actually had a pretty engaging plot IMO, and is by the far the best arc o the show. AGE 3 had some potential story wise, but is largely brought down by it's protagonist. AGE-FX was pretty unmemorable story-wise. The ending drags down the overall rating. If it weren't for FX I'd give the story a 8.
Art: 7/10: The art was generally pretty clean during the action scenes and the regular scenes were usually pretty good too. The only things I hold against it are: 1) I didn't like the art style. Common complaint I know, but the more "kiddie" art style really didn't do it for me. 2) Sometimes it seems like the animators were trying to see how much they could get away with. Like in one scene an enemy MS opens fire on the good guys! ....Only to harmlessly shoot in a circle around them. Other times characters might be half animated when talking at a distance. Which isn't unusual anime's commonly do this to save budget clearly, but AGE will linger on these scenes sometimes; once even having a minute and a half conversation with the characters half drawn. It honestly just felt like the animators were trying to see if anyone cared enough to stop them.
Sound: 6/10: The OP's and ED's are generally pretty good. With some real standouts like OP 1 or ED 2, but that's about it. The only track from the entire OST I remember is Unmei no Saki he and that's mostly because it play during the most memorable scene of the show.
Characters: 7/10: This show takes place over 3 protagonists and 4 arcs. It stands to reason that a lot of the characters don't really get fleshed out too well. That said the show did have some outstanding characters sometimes. Certain characters like Woolf or Dique who do end up making reappearances in AGE 2 are surprisingly well thought through. Especially Dique since he gets practically no screen time, and is usually a joke in AGE 1. On the other hand other side characters like Emily don't end up getting the attention they should throughout the show.
The protagonists are generally handled well. Flit started off kind off annoying, but ended up as my favorite and was a lot of the driving force for me to watch the show. How he progresses from AGE 1 to AGE FX was really the most interesting part, and I maintain that even though the focus shifts to different characters in the other arcs Flit Asuno is always the main character of the show.
Asemu is also a great character, and solidifies AGE 2 as my favorite arc overall. Though they did make a little bit of a weird choice for his character in AGE 3/FX, but even then he was still great.
AGE 3/FX had the worst protagonist which is why I give the characters only a 7. Honestly a lot of the ratings on the show take a hit from Kio. The only thing he didn't really effect was the sound. Kio Asuno is your typical Shounen protagonist screaming about how "War is bad!" without offering any real solutions. He's also an extremely powerful X-Rounder (Read: Newtype) and isn't too terribly interesting. The only thing he really had going for him was his relationship to Flit. AGE 3 does actually end with the possibility that Kio would have to grow up, which was really interesting, but it was immediately shot down by the Deus Ex Machina that is AGE FX.
The main villain of the show also provided a very interesting comparison to Flit, but unfortunately the show never really capitalized on that.
Enjoyment: 8/10: Despite my various issues withe show I found it overall pretty entertaining other than AGE FX. It's worth watching if not just to see how Flit and Asemu change throughout the show. Also, AGE 2 was just plain good.
Overall: 6/10: While would say it was an entertaining show I wouldn't say it was a GOOD show. It's clearly got issues in terms of both tone and pacing, but overall it was enjoyable to watch nonetheless. I'd probably have given it a 7/10 or maybe even 8/10 if it wasn't for FX.
