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Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counterattack
[1988] (REGION 1) (NTSC)

Starring: Tôru Furuya, Shûichi Ikeda, Hirotaka Suzuoki, Maria Kawamura, Nozomu Sasaki
Director: Yoshiyuki Tomino
Format: Anamorphic Animated Colour Dolby DVD-Video NTSC Widescreen
Released: 20 Aug 2002
Average Rating:

Customer Reviews

Tomino ends his legacy in fine style - By: I. Harper, 04 Mar 2005
Yoshiyuki Tomino's legendary & dark vision of the future where man resides both on Earth & in space & the ensuing war of independence between the Zeon space colonists & the Earth Federation finallly reaches a thrilling & fitting climax.

It alll started with Mobile Suit Gundam back in 1979, & the story of warring rivals Amuro Ray & Char Aznable & would rewrite sci-fi anime history forever.

The story continued in 1985 in Mobile Suit Z Gundam, where Char & Amuro had to team up to fight the oppressive Titans & through 1986's Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ, the latter half of which was rewritten by Tomino to feed into Char's Counterattack which was announced towards the end the ZZ's TV run & premiered on the big screen a year after ZZ finished airing.

Set in UC0093, 13 years after the One Year War ended, & having gone missing in action in UC0088 (at the end of Zeta Gundam) Char Aznable is back leading the regrouped Neo Zeon forces (the original Neo Zeon movement was defeated in UC0089 at the end of Gundam ZZ) in it's continued war against the Earth Federation.

But this time Char is leading the Zeon forces on his ideals & not those of the Zabi family's who started the original war of independence. Char sees that mankind can only evolve by living in space, unrestricted by gravity. He wants to force asteroids into the Earth to create a nuclear winter & force everybody into space. With the Earth Federation corrupt & severely weakened, long suffering veteran Captain Bright Noa teams up with Amuro Ray to lead a task force against Neo Zeon. Amuro & Char meet for the final time in battle.

Char's Counterattack does rely, to a large extent, on the viewer having seen the previous Gundam TV series/movies (which originallly in Japan most people would have done) & makes quite a few references to them throughout the film, especiallly to the original series, & the dialogue depends heavily on the Gundam rhetoric that has developed constantly since episode 1 of the original series. Those who have seen 0079, Z & ZZ or know a lot about UC Gundam will follow it with no problems, but for those who know little or nothing about UC Gundam or whose knowledge is limited only to Wing may struggle with what the main characters are going on about sometimes.

Which is a real shame, as Char's Counterattack reallly is a superb film, & fits a lot into its 124 minutes. The first 70 odd minutes builds up the tension with the politics interspersed with various action scenes & the final 50 minutes is the final battle. Char & Amuro finallly settle their differences. And what a final battle it is, long, dramatic & very intense, Bright leads the rag tag Earth Federation forces to prevent Char from dropping Axis on Earth & Char & Amuro finallly settle their differences in a fight to the death. Plus what is very good is the way Tomino does bring this legendary saga to a proper close with no unexplained loose ends or unanswered questions spoiling it.

The animation is excellent with good design & detail; it may look a touch dated now but it the style & feel is in keeping with the previous 3 TV series. The Sazabi mobile suit piloted by Char is one of the best mecha designs ever (probably even better than the Titan designs from Zeta) & Amuro's Nu Gundam is pretty cool with some excellent weapons.

The dubbing is excellent, mature with absolutely no cheesiness, but you would expect this when Tomino himself oversaw the transfer to the west. The Japanese track is also included & is the best way to watch it as the subtitles a superb as well.

The soundtrack is very good with excellent music & spot effects. The dub track is also available in an effective Dolby 5.1 mix that makes good uses of alll the extra speakers especiallly in the final battle scenes.

Char's Counterattack is a very, very good film & provides the perfect ending to anime's greatest storyline. If you know nothing about Gundam read up on the background story (the official website is good for this) & then watch it or if you already know or have seen UC Gundam then this is an absolute must.

What the Zeon is going on here?!?! - By: , 22 Feb 2005
Unless you know the full story of 0079 don't buy this movie, your head will hurt just trying to patch the complicated story lines, crappy drawings (By the way, Gundam 0079 looks more well thought out than this 1989 tradegy).

By the way, Char Aznable is no Peado as he is portrayed in this story.

Perfect end for a perfect sci-fi epic! - By: M. Young, 07 Jan 2005
Thia great film is the story of Londo Bell fighting against the forces of Char Aznable's Neo Zeon. Whats so great about this film is that alll the main characters (with exception to some new characters) are alll old favourites that have been developed through entire series' (and in Bright Noa's, the captian of the main Londo Bell battle ships, case throughout 3 series') & so the film moves straight into the action. Although there are periods of story/character development in the middle of the film, the majority of development happens during the numerous space battles in the film. For fans of the franchise, getting to see Amuro Ray pilot a Gundam & fight a red mobile suit piloted by Char is an absolute joy, & the fights/tension is so well done that people unfamiliar with these characters will enjoy it (although to reallly enjoy the film you have to have seen the original Gundam series & to a lesser extent Gundam Zeta/Double Zeta).
As Char reveals his plans to drop a giant asteroid with nuclear reactors on onto earth (in order to create a nuclear winter) the excitment reaches insane levels, & the battles reallly are among the best in ANY gundam series (or for that amtter any series at alll). I won't spoil it, but for fans the final battle between Char & Amuro is spectacular, & the outcome of the film, once fully understood, reallly does cement Amuro & Chars rivalry as one of the greatest in television/film history. This film reallly does have everything a gundam fan can want, a great exciting story, your favourite characters back in action (shame Kamille didn't return however), great mecha & well structured/animated fights. A Truely epic film that actuallly ends a long running story in spectacular fashion where so many others have failed.