Summary:

Mobile Suit Z Gundam: Hiers to the Stars is the first of three movies of the 2005 update to the 1985 series sequel to the first Mobile Suit Gundam in 1979. The new Gundam movies have new footage never before seen in the original series, as well as music from the J-Rocker everyone loves to hate, Gackt.

Warning: This post contains spoilers! Read at your own risk!

Review:

After some clarification of how those round cylinder things floating in space were created, the union of the AEUG (the good guys of the Earth Federation Force) and Titans (disgruntled ex-members of E.F.F. and the Principality of Zeon), and the One Year War in 0079, there’s a blond hair guy sneaking into a military base. He takes pictures inside a colony–until he gets caught. The blond hair guy real name is Quattro Bajeena–who is really Char Aznable (from the first Gundam) in disguise. He puts up a fight in and out of his mobile suit. On the way back to his suit gets his pilot outfit torn by gunfire. Being the former Red Comet, he gets away unharmed.

Next, we see a kid, Kamille Bidan, being held in custody by an Titan officer. …But how did he get arrested in the first place? Seeing that this is a movie version of a TV series, unimportant parts were removed, such as the reason of Kamille getting jailed for punching Jerid–a Titan pilot, after being called a girl, thanks to his name. Kamille is eventually released from custody by his mother, until the base gets attacked by enemy mobile suits.

While everyone is distracted, Kamille makes his move and escapes, finding an unattended mobile suit on his way. Next, we see a new character, Emma Sheen, along with One Year War veteran and former Captain of White Base, Bright Noa. Kamille wastes no time figuring out how to use the mobile suit (ala Amuro in 0079) and gets the suit working. Now to try out the new Gundam–how about using Jerid as his test subject?

Kamille eventually calms down and cooperates with the Titan pilots, following them to space. Meanwhile, Bright meets face to face with a group of angry men (presumably from the Titans–Wah??)–then gets beaten up. Watching this happen to him freaked me out for a while… But oddly enough, it was hilarious.

Things start to get really serious (THE best part of a Gundam series, hehe). We see Kamille’s parents, especially his mother who was on her way to bail his son out before the ambush at the beginning of the movie. His parents are deeply involved with the production of Mobile Suits and the like. Sadly, they later meet their demise; Kamille’s mother is taken hostage in a replica of a birdcage. Running to her aid, Kamille doesn’t know that his interference is actually a signal to shoot the cage. Of course, Kamille goes insane, and looks for any nearby enemy Gundams–including one of that happens to have his father piloting.

My analysis of Mobile Suit Z Gundam: Hiers to the Stars:

I really enjoyed watching this movie. There could have been more to this review, but I’d hate to give it away. I’m sure many have seen the original TV series. As for myself, this is the first time seeing more than the first couple of episodes of Z Gundam.

I originally saw the first two episodes in a screening room at Anime Central 2006. This was when the DVDs were still being released. The complete series is now in two DVD sets. However, the Z Gundam movies have yet to be released in the US–even though there were screenings of them at film festivals across the country.

As of writing, there hasn’t been one sign of a release of any of the movies. Perhaps it’s because Bandai wants to concentrate on the newer Gundam series (i.e.: Gundam 00–w00t!), or is the UC storyline dead for the hardcore fans? Anyway, there’s more Z Gundam for me to watch! The next movies are Lovers and Love is the Pulse of the Stars. Watch this blog for the next review!

Rating:

Details

• Studio: Sunrise
• Year: 2005