Mobile Suit Gundam Narrative

Mobile Suit Gundam Narrative (機動戦士ガンダムNT) is a theatrical movie set in the Universal Century and tells the story in the final Gundam Unicorn novel by Fukui Hirutoshi.  The film premiered in 2018.

    Three young children shared a vision of the impending colony drop in Australia at the height of the One Year War.  Eighteen years later two of them, Michele and Jona, are going to unbelievable ends to find their lost third friend Rita.  After news of their miraculous vision and recent orphan status, they found themselves caught up in the secretive earl stages of  cyber-Newtype experiments.  The lab was unable to confirm which of them had Newtype powers an which didn't.  Michele overheard the quandary and betrayed her friends to escape, telling them she was the Newtype.  This bought her freedom from the lab and into the arms of the powerful Luio & Company where she was made an heir apparent given her value in predicting the future.  Jona and Rita were subjected to all manner of horrific experiments, with Jona finding freedom when the lab was finally shut down.  Rita's whereabouts remained hidden for years.  Eventually Jona joins Luio & Company, reunited with Michele.

    A year after the events of Gundam Unicorn, the search is on for the third Gundam produced in the project, the Phenex.  Michele and Jona suspect that its disappearance has something to do with Rita and flex Liuo & Companies power by forcing the Federation join them in the hunt for the mobile suit.  They aren't the only ones looking for it however.  A splinter group within Neo Zeon is on the hunt for it as well as Minevah Zabi and past members of the Sleeves.  The search leads to a confrontation between the Federation and Neo Zeon and a failed Char clone named Zoltan.  The confrontation was planned to draw out the Phenex which has been able to elude capture.  As Jona looses himself to his own Gundam, his friend Rita, through the Phenex calls to him, urging him to resist losing himself.  Instead they face off against an increasingly vengeful Zoltan, working to prevent another catastrophe on Earth.

    The final chapter in the Unicorn arc of the Universal Century was both better and worse the Unicorn Gundam.  The characters were more approachable, and the story was more fluid even with its vastly shorter time frame.  The Char clone in this one seemed way more purposeful and important to the story than Full Frontal.  While the piece meal flash backs were tiring the pacing wasn't bad.  It was nice to have a legit mature main character in Jona, compared to the line of pubescent wunderkind we've mostly encountered thus far in the UC.  His motivations and baggage made sense and felt natural.

    As a integral part of the Universal Century story line this plays out more like a side story than a conclusion to the Unicorn story line.  It doesn't really get us any closer to advancing the 'narrative' than Unicorn did.  We know have this larger gap in the timeline between Unicorn and Hathaway where not a lot of meaningful events take place leading up to that recent entry into the UC.  I am sure that when I get around to watching F91, which is even further removed in the timeline things will become even more disjointed.  But, I have this desire to watch everything in the UC to form a greater understanding of this integral part of Japanese sci-fi.

The movie is available on Crunchyroll.

Mobile Suit Gundam Hathaway

 Mobile Suit Gundam Hathaway (機動戦士ガンダム ハサウェイ) is a theatrical adaptation of the first part of the Hathaway Flash novel series written by Tomino Yushiyuki.  The movie initially premiered in 2021.

    In the Universal Century, year 0105, the Earth Federation has a pretty solid grasp on humanity, after a few decades of constant conflict with the different groups of space colonists looking for independence if not outright dominance.  Though things aren't exactly peaceful for the Federation politicians.  They have been targeted by a newly formed terrorist group called and lead by Mafty Navue Erin.  Hathaway Noa finds himself on a flight to Earth that becomes targeted by the terrorists.  Seeing an opportunity to take action, coordinated with a young military officer, they end up taking out the terrorists and allowing the plane to and safely, with few casualties.  This event brings him to the attention of a strange woman named Gigi.  The young officer, Kenneth, is appreciative of the help from Hathaway and extends the support of his new post in his layover.  Kenneth has been assigned to take over control of a special unit hunting Mafty.  Hathaway finds himself stranded in the city of Davao, awaiting the Federation to conclude their investigation of the incident.  Gigi convinces the authorities to allow them to bunk together in a luxury hotel while they both await their approval to continue their travels.  She to Hong Kong, he to a distant island for studies.

    In reality, Hathaway is Mafty and he found himself aboard the plane in an act of hubris.  Many of its other passengers are his organizations current targets and he wanted to see them before they were assassinated.  Gigi has a keen sense and realizes that the unassuming young man is the most wanted terrorist on the planet.  Before the government can dig too deep into him with in their possession he connects with members of his organization to smuggle him out of the city.  The operation does a good job of causing a distraction but at the last moment he delays his escape, concerned for Gigi's safety and once again finds himself in the hands of the government.  When he finally makes his statement he heads off to regroup with his team...only to have Kenneth suss out his identity and try to stop him from acquiring a new weapon in his war on the Federation.

 

    This story is based on a novel series written by Tomino at the beginning of the 90's.  Without reading that material it is hard to sat what has been altered.  This movie, out of all of the Gundam I have watched, is the least Gundam of anything that exists.  It is a refreshing new entry into the almost half a century old franchise and gives me hope for its future.   The CG is well done and the action sequences are the best we have ever seen in Gundam.  Apparently this is the first project in which the animation team worked with experts to try and determine how a mobile suit would behave on Earth.  End result...spectacular.  My biggest complaint with Gundam in general is that it hasn't done enough to remove the influences of the super sentai/giant robot hero stories that came before it.  This movie does a pretty good job of that and reminded me more of Armored Core than Gundam...I am absolutely here for that!

    This also feels like a really good way for people to get into the franchise as casual viewers.  In reality it doesn't really require knowledge of the past UC series'.  It also helps that this first entry is a trim 90 minutes of action that plays out more like a Hollywood film than anything Tomino has ever slapped his name on.  But without having read the source material its hard to tell how much of this presentation existed in it and how much is an attempt to breathe modernization and perhaps Americanization into the product.  It works, at least in my mind.  I have a general disdain for a lot of the traditional aspects of Gundam in general and this movie removes most of those.  Sadly we still have the stupid rival love triangle garbage.  And most of the stories in the UC end up going hard on the Newtype magical god bullshit near the end of their story...so only time will tell is Hathaway fails me as well.  But the first episode, couldn't ask for anything better.  It's so satisfying.

The movie is available in sub and dub on Netflix.

Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn

 Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn (機動戦士ガンダムUC) is a 7 episode direct to video adaptation of the novel series of the same name by Fukui Harutoshi.  The OAV's were released between 2010 and 2014.

    Banagher Links learns his absent father is a member of one of humanities most powerful families at the moment of his fathers death.  His father,  Cardeas Vist, is part of the fourth generation of the Vist Foundation, a secretive group that has attained vast wealth and power due to controlling an item called Laplaces Box.  What the box is, is unknown outside of Vist but the Earth Federation understands that if its secrets were revealed it could spell the end of their control of the Earth sphere.  Banagher became involved in a rapidly moving conspiracy to unseal the Box the moment he saved a girl from certain death in the colony he attended school.  The girl, going by the name Aubry Burne, asks him to take her to the Vist Foundation.  In reality she is the final member of the Zabi familly, Mineva, who has secretly come to the Industrial 7 colony in order to prevent another war from breaking out between Earth and Spacenoids.  A group of Neo Zeon known as the Sleeves have come to the colony to attain the Box from Cardeas.  Minevah fears this will lead to another conflict instead of ensuring her peoples true sovereignty.

    As the Sleeves representatives meet with Cardeas, Earth Federations Zeon remnant hunting military faction, Lando Bell, attempts to intercept them before the Box can be given to them.  The intervention leads to battle breaking out inside the colony.  The attack leads to Cardeas being grievously wounded with Banagher arriving to save Minevah/Aubry only for Cardeas to reveal that he is his father as he assigns the foundations secretive new Gundam to his son.  He tells him that the Gundam Unicorn is the key to understanding Laplaces Box and unlocking its secret.  Consumed by rage, fear and grief, Banagher pilots the Gundam, lead by instinct and a growing latent power of a Newtype.  He fends off the Sleeves units only to be overcome by the strain of combat, passing out in the cockpit, with Londo Bell securing the suit, concerned over the appearance of a new Gundam unit.

     Under the control of Londo Bell, Banagher is urged to follow the clues linked to the Box with the Unicorn Gundam.  The Sleeves are in hot pursuit, lead by the mysterious replacement of Char Aznable, Full Frontal.  As Banagher unlocks the first secret in the ruins of the Laplace Colony, the site of a terrorist attack at the dawn of the Universal Century, both sides end up being pulled into Earths gravity well in the fight.  Banagher and his Gundam end up being stranded with one of the Sleeves ships, the Garancieres and made more a compatriot than a prisoner as they struggle to get back into space.  Neo Zeon reaches out to its disparate forces who have been stranded on Earth since the One Year War to run distraction for the downed ship.  These remnant forces mobilize and begin to attack a major Federation city, trying to draw all to attention tot them.  Fearing the consequences of the Box falling into Neo Zeon's hands, Banaghers aunt, Martha, begins to use her families leverage to force the Earth Federation into drastic action.  Instead of fleeing from the war zone, Banagher and the crew of the Garancieres find themselves in the middle of the conflict.  He is confronted by a clone of the cyber-newtype Elpeo Ple named Marida Cruz.  She was captured from the Sleeves and reprogrammed to be subservient to the Vist family.

    Being defeated by Marida, Banagher is once again in the custody of Londo Bell as they head to the final clue for Laplaces Box.   Still the head of the faction, Bright Noa realizes that command, being manipulated by Vist, doesn't exactly have the best interests in mind.  Through a background channel he ends up coordinating a temporary partnership between Londo Bell and the Sleeves, leading to both parties occupying the same ship for the journey back to the beginning, at Industrial 7.  Tensions flare and the Sleeves are forcibly removed from the ship as the chase begins to capture the Box.  Minevah and Banagher find themselves int he company of his great grandfather who unveils the fiercely guarded secret, one his aunt is willing to destroy the entire colony to protect.  Will the truth, revealed to humanity, truly bring down the Federation or will it only stir more continued stagnation and conflict?

 

    This story started out strong, if a few of the details seemed odd...like the existence of a powerful ans secretive world power that holds the fate of everything in their hands...and we never heard anything about them in the 20+ years following the One Year War.  It was great to see the continuation of both Minevah and Brights role within the Universal Century.  But it fell very short of delivering anything meaningful with the inclusion of Full Frontal.  He served very little purpose to the actual plot or tension of the story.  His final appearance was a waste of time with Banaghers real foe being his family and the heir an Earth political family, Riddhe.  AS with every damn Gundam, a broken love triangle appears between Minevah, Banagher and Riddhe, that drives Riddhe to insanity and rashness.  He's the final boss that Banagher has to over come before he can claim victory.

 

    By this point I have watched a lot of Gundam and have been getting tired of a lot of the repetitive themes in the franchise, Unicorn is not immune to any of these complaints.  The back end of it leans hard into the typical Newtype woo-woo garbage that's become a driving force of the narrative of every story.  Building off of the Newtype woo-woo ending of Char's Counterattack, where Amuro and Char turn into energy goo, Unicorn pushes that further in which Banagher almost becomes what is termed a perfect Newtype...merging with the Gundam.  Instead we leaves that concept in place to realize in the follow up, Gundam Narrative.  For all the things I hated in the way it concluded, I still enjoyed this story.  It had many likable characters and fantastic animation.  It leaned too much into posing the mobile suits for my taste, but I understand the real point now is to sell the model kits. 

The series is available in both sub and dub on Hulu.

Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counterattack

 Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counterattack (機動戦士ガンダム 逆襲のシャア) is a theatrical movie set in the main story line of the Gundam franchise.  Directed by series creator Tomino Yoshiyuki, the movie was originally released in 1988.

    In the year 0093,  the Neo Zeon forces have rallied around Char Asnable following the death of Haman Kahn during the events of Double Zeta.  The Earth Federation has created a special Zeon hunting division called Londo Bell, which includes the expertise of both Amuro Ray and Bright Noa.  After they fail to stop Char's plan to drop an asteroid on Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, the Federation sets up a secret meeting with officials from Neo Zeon to forge a peace treaty.  Federation Vice Minister Adenauer Paraya ends up being transported to the meeting on Londo Bell's flag ship, the Ra Cailum.  By pure chance Brights son, Hathaway ended up on their shuttle flight and follows them onto the Londo Bell ship.  On the ship Amuro is preparing a brand new mobile suit, the Nu Gundam, developed using psychoframe technology.

    At the secret meeting, Neo Zeon pledges to relinquish their weaponry in exchange for the ability to purchase the derelict remains of the Axis asteroid.  Their true intent is to fake the disarmamement and use the Federations forces distraction as a way to drop Axis onto Earth, triggering explosions for hidden nuclear warheads, hoping to make the planet uninhabitable for humans.  Quess, in a spat of rebeliousnes, runs away and willingly joing Neo Zeon, under the watch of Char.  He senses in her a strong Newtype potential, perhaps rivaling Lalah Sune's abilities.  As the final conflict begins, with the betrayal at the disarmament, Bright and the forces of Longo Bell jump into action.  What starts as an attempt to secure victory for Zeon and spacenoids turns into a continuation of the deeply personal conflict between Char and Amuro.  Amuro, representing benevolence, shows great empathy for those around him, wishing to protect them.  Char on the other hand, representing malevolence, uses those around him as tools, with little regard for their safety and continued existence.  How much of an impact will their final battle have on the future of humanity on Earth and in space?

    The first original theatrical release for the franchise as it approached its 10 year anniversary pulls out all of the stops to cap off the core story as it looks to move into the future of the Universal Century.   The story doesn't waste any time in its just shy of two hour run time getting to the meat of the story.  Unfortunately it does a really bad job of filling in the gaps of what happened in the five year gap following the conclusion of Double Zeta.  How did Char go from the benevolent hero of AUEG to taking on the leadership role of Neo Zeon and shift from being tolerant of Amuro to plotting the extinction of humanity on Earth for revenge on him killing Lallah?  They barely explain the formation and purpose of Londo Bell...like barely.  It would take a few years and the release of Stardust Memories to explain the gap in time between OG and Zeta and also fill in a few bits of information needed in Chars Counterattack.  As we approach the 30 year mark since this movie first came out it feels like we will never get the same story spun up to fill in the gap between this and Double Zeta.  There was a novel written by Tomino called Beltorchika's Children that apparently fills in some of those gaps...but we need an anime project!!

    This is pure gas, sprinkling in barely enough context in-between and during the combat to make it make sense.  Its pace is frantic and sometimes confusing.  Some of the characters decisions conflict with the way they acted earlier...and some of the characters are questionable in general.  Quess is incredibly easy to hate and her ridiculously juvenile decisions are almost laughable.  Whats even more perplexing is how all the adults around her, on the Zeon side, are like...lets go!!!!!!  Someone really should have contacted child protection services.  Hathaway was more reasonable as a young teenager but Quess....terrible, just terrible and unbelievable.  To this pint still, the only reasonable and likeable character really is Bright.  Amuro is too deep into his hatred of Char and its confounding how all the women throw themselves at him consistently.  Char's Counterattack greatly fails the Bechdel test.  But it does a good job of closing this chapter of the Universal Century even if it once again leans heavily into the mystical aspects of being a newtype.  Gundam really needs to shrug off the space wizard crap.

Char's Counterattack is currently available on Crunchyroll. 

Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ

 Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ (機動戦士ガンダムΖΖ) Is a 47 episode continuation of the Universal Century timeline of the franchise and a direct sequel to Zeta Gundam.  The series originally aired In the Spring of 1986 and the Winter of 1987.

    Directly following the events of Zeta Gundam, Bright and the crew of the Argama head to Side One to try and get Kamille medical attention due to his mental breakdown.  The ship is also in desperate need of repairs as well following the final conflict with the Titans and Axis Zeon.  Axis, rebranding its self as Neo Zeon, sends agents to the colony to attack them and in a moment of desperation Noah enlists a scrappy group of kids who initially tried to steal the Zeta Gundam to sell for parts.  Instead one member of the group, Judau, shows strong newtype potential and begins to pilot the the Gundam, helping them escape.  After establishing contact with the La Vie en Rose, they receive upgrades that allow them to modify the Zeta into the ZZ Gundam, including multiple core fighters docking together.  The Argama is directed to attack Axis with a new prototype ship cannon which devastates the base.  In the confrontation Judau encounters a strange girl named Ple who appears to be another subject of Murasume labs artificial newtype project.

    Unknown to the crew of the Argama, Neo Zeon is plotting a take over of the Federation through coercion and false cooperation.  This is being done under the guise of the last surviving Zavi, Minevah, through her regent Haman Kahn.  The crew of the Argama foils her plans and Haman retaliates by dropping a colony on Dublin.  To end it once and for all AUEG heads back into space, planning to take down Neo Zeon from inside their stronghold.  Dissatisfaction with its subjects comes to a boil and in the chaos the final show down commences with personal grievances clouding everyone's judgment.  If Haman is killed will that really put an end to the ambitions of those trying to revive the shadow of the Zabi?

    This series was a stark contrast, in the beginning to the darkness of Zeta.  It took on a very cartoonish tone that appeared to revert back to a childish target audience of the first series.  At the half way point some brutality and intense mental anguish begins to seep in but too many of the story threads and characters were terribly designed.  Up to this point Gundam as a whole has had a problem with regurgitating plot lines.  Double Zeta does what it name suggests doubles up on repeating many of the plot based character interactions we saw in Zeta...which its self had a hard time not copying aspects of the original Gundam.

    I really disliked this series and felt it was a huge waste of my time.  Many of the characterizations treated the viewer as an idiot.  Chara Soon in particular destroys a lot of Gundam's efforts to not tie its self to current times by taking on a completely 80's sense of fashion.  She also has the most boggling personality traits...  Then the introduction of Ple...which feels like little more than an attempt to explore Four Murasume in greater depth, but only becomes a weird parasite attaching its self to Judau.  Then they do it again with a clone...and then theres some concept that Ple is also responsible for Chara's change in personality at the end of the series?  I was a huge mess and did a disservice to the franchise that had shifted into an interesting angle with the previous series.  I really hated this story and its characters... 

Gundam ZZ is available currently on Crunchyroll.

Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam

 Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam (機動戦士Ζガンダム) is a 50 episode continuation of the original Mobile Suit Gundam series.  It originally aired on TV in 1985 and 1986.

     Set in UC 0087, after the events of Operation Stardust, the Earth Federation has become a bit more authoritarian in it's governance.  Zeon is but a distant memory of the scattered veterans of the One Year War but a new threat arises from. the ashes.  A group called AEUG has been stirring trouble across the colonies, inviting acts of terrorism against the Federation.  A new paramilitary arm of the Federation known as the Titans is aimed at crushing the terrorist anywhere they can.  When AEUG attacks a Titan stronghold to capture their new Gundam units a rebellious teenage boy named Kamille becomes enmeshed in their plans.  A ploy designed to trick the boy and AEUG into returning the stolen Gundams while wiping them out at the same time fails as their treachery unravels and Kamilles parents die as a result.  Finding himself an orphan with a burning vendetta against the Titans he chooses to remain with the terrorists as they enact their next plan back on Earth.

    A strange set of circumstances brings some of the members of the legendary White Base to work hand in hand with their greatest rival during the One Year War.  Char Aznabel fled into the depths of space after his defeat, along with the remnants of the Zeon army.   With all of the Zavi adults dead, the last hope of their lineage rule is thrust upon the infant Mineva.  Loyalists to the Zavi family and the ideology of Zeon bide their time in the shadows.  For unknown reasons Char has assumed an alias and has been working as a member of AEUG, intent on righting the wrongs of the tyrannical Titans and carve out a place of people who live in space to have their freedoms.  The Titan's seize overwhelming power in the Federation an begina brutal campaign of repression, all while trying to destroy AEUG, with Kamille and his unnatural piloting skills a main target.  He, Char and the rest of the crew aboard the Argama find themselves at the center of the conflict and shifting alliances.  When things seem to be going there way the remnants of Zeon make their presence known and through the chaotic battlefront into a dangerous direction.

      The direct sequel to the original Mobile Sit Gundam, Zeta Gundam is a drastically better product in every way.  Sure it has 6 years of financing and residuals to lean into from the original and its theatrical remakes and the growing Gunpla market.  But its also devoid of a lot of the meddling of the originals toy sponsor Clover...which went out of business in 1983.  Unfortunately Zeta, like so many Gundam stories are trapped in regurgitating the outline of the original series.  Kamille is a wholly unlikable protagonist.  Though he does mature over the course of his struggle and is a more rational Newtype than Amuro was.  The story over all is much darker than the original, or even many other later Gundams.  This is a story aimed at the massive adult/teenage fan base that sprung up around the originals repeats and movies.  Zeta is bleak at almost every turn.  Almost all of the characters are deeply broken individuals who grimly go along with the business of murder for ideals.

    Its taken me 30+ years of anime fandom to really crack into the original Gundam story and for a while now my favorite Gundam has been Thunderbolt, but Zeta really made an impression on me.  I will get back to finishing/re-watching Thunderbolt as I make my way through the timeline.  I have focused on the main story lines for the most part and while swing back to the side stories once I watch Hathaway.  But Zeta really struck a chord with me, especially the back half of the story.  Bright Noah may be anime's most patient character...  I write this as I crack into Gundam ZZ...and boy howdy, Bright is a saint.  After this bonanza of Gundam consumption I will have to put together an over all through and tier list of the shows.  But something tells me Zeta is going to be high on the list.  If thats the case, the franchise might have blown most of its load with this story early on.  The plot is dense and intense and just keeps going, I got annoyed with how long it was, but I can't think of a way to shorten the story up and be as impactful.,  At some point I'll have to watch the 3 compilation movies to see if they did it justice.

The series is currently available on Crunchyroll. 

Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memories

 Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memories (機動戦士ガンダム0083 STARDUST MEMORY) is a 13 episode OAV series based in the Universal Century era of the Gundam franchise.  The series was released between 1991 and 1992.

    As the title suggests, Stardust Memories is set in UC 0083 and the Earth Federation is working to maintain the peace across the stretch of humanity.  The One Year War is three years in the past now and the Principality of Zeon should be extinct, at least to a degree that it can't attempt to repeat the One Year War in the foreseeable future.  A group of people looking to reclaim the glory of Zeon attack a military facility in Australia, capturing one of two new Gundam prototypes and a nuclear warhead along with it.  Ensign Uraki Kou finds himself the chosen test pilot for Gundam Unit 1, the one that wasn't stolen, as  ship its assigned to, the Albion, is tasked with retrieving the stolen Unit 2.

    The chase results in the Albion confirming suspicions of a large scale uprising from remnants of Zeon band together under a man named Admiral Delaz.   The Delaz Fleet looks to avenge Zeon after their defeat in the One Year War with an eye on reviving the effort to eliminate the Federation with an eye on Earths population its self.  As the pursuit of Unit 2 continues, Kou struggles with conflicting personalities of his superiors and crew mates, at one point inadvertently ending up AWOL.  He finds himself in the care of a disgruntles Zeon veteran works with the Delaz Fleet in hopes of restoring his lost glory.  Kou, not holding any hatred towards the man, returns to the fleet only for both fleets to finally face off with each other.  Unit 2 appears again, utilizing its nuclear warhead to destabilize the Federations position, allowing a sinister plan to unfold that could once again bring devastation to Earth.

    In the course of working through the Universal Century series in relative chronological order, I was glad to return to and finish the series that introduced me to Gundam.  I had access to a few episodes of Stardust Memories at the end of the 90's but never completed it or paid much attention to Gundam in general until 00 aired a decade later.  Since then I have casually watched Gundam, largely non-UC titles.  But with GQX and its massive tease of plot lines not understood, I have decided to dive head first into the franchise.  It was really nice to return to this and compared to the minimal quality of the original, this was a massive breath of fresh air.  Fantastic and realistic mechanical designs, more aesthetically pleasing character designs and a significantly high budget...not to mention it was made 12 years after the OG...and a lot changes in anime in that time.

    Aside form the massive improvements (yes I watched this before War in the Pocket) the story was a bit more palatable.  Largely because of the absence of plot lines aimed at a younger audience.  This is a more mature story that is at the core the same thing as was told in Mobile Suit Gundam.  We still have to deal with a young wunderkind pilot in Kou, but hes above the age of 18 and a legit member of the military, he just pig heads his way into being the Gundams pilot.  But he also doesn't differ much from Amuro.    It was great to get back to this series and finish it.  The story was well worth its time and they did well to tell it in 13 episodes.  If not my favorite, perhaps one of the two 3 series in the franchise for me.

Sadly...its not currently available for streaming as far as I understand. 

Mobile Suit Gundam

 Mobile Suit Gundam (機動戦士ガンダム) is a 43* episode original military space epic by a collection of creatives from Nihon Sunrise.  The primary creative behind the series is Tomino Yoshiyuki.  The series originally aired in the Spring and Fall of 1979.

   *Episode 15, Cucuruz Don's Island was never made available for North America.

     Set in the future of Earth, humanity has been living among the stars long enough to have people born in space in one of the fully operating space stations known as Sides.  By the new Universal Century calendar, in the year 0079 a war of independence breaks out as Side 3 decides to throw of the reigns of Earth and form its own power base known as the Principality of Zeon.  Humanity is collected under the Earth Federation and the conflict between it and Zeon becomes devastating quickly, resulting in half of the human population being wiped out before the end of the war.  A secret new weapon is being developed on the Side 7 colony by the Federation when the team that is tasked with retrieving it is attacked by a Zeon sneak attack.  The attack is devastating, resulting in most of the Federation contingent being lost of killed, leaving a young officer named Bright in charge of the new command ship, the White Base.  In addition to the White Base are three new powerful mobile suits, the Gundam, Guncannon and Guntank.  In the process of evacuating the station the White Base becomes a refugee transport and Bright is forced to enlist civilians into the battle to get back to Earth.

    A teenage boy names Amuro Ray ends up becoming the pilot of the Gundam, forced into the situation by his overwhelming desire to help those around them.  Bright is hesitant to entrust the military's most secret weapon in the hands of an inexperienced civilian boy, but desperation requires necessity.  The White Base heads to Earth, followed doggedly by Zeon forces.  Those forces are being led by charismatic masked officer named Char, who is hell bent on absolute victory.  At every the White Base escapes destruction and Char becomes obsessed with the Gundam and its pilot, seeing it as a challenge to his own brilliance and ability.  When the White Base reaches Earth their problems do not go away, they have to fight their way through Zeon help territory and when they finally arrive in friendly air space they are immediately sent out on vital missions as the Federation pushes to turn the tide in their favor.  Left with little choice, Bright remains in command of the ship and the civilians who have taken on combat roles in their journey are pressed into military service.  Amuro, the Gundam and everyone else who have struggled to survive are now faced with their mortality in what becomes the pivotal battle in the One Year War.

     Gundam is one of the fundamentals of the maturing anime industry.  A collaboration that wanted to push a more realistic hero mech narrative it is considered the beginning of the real mech genre, that moves away from the giant robot super hero aesthetic.  Gundam, while keeping with the template of a hero robot emphasized vulnerability and limitations.  The design of the mechs in the series were inspired by the power suits from the novel Star Ship Troopers with a focus on being more mechanically realistic.  Through sponsor partnerships with the toy company Clover.  The series was aimed as a young audience with an eye on moving related toy's.  Even though it was designed for children around early adolescent age, the series was largely grim and dramatic, with may characters dying on screen.  Due to failing toy sales the show was cut short of its 52 episode run, with it wrapping up in 43 episodes.  The series didn't gain a lot of traction in its original broadcast.  In the early 80's the story was condensed, cleaned up and refocused into a more consumable three movie format.  The movies along with syndication lead to a surge in the shows audience, but with adults and late teenagers, shifting the series to aim for an older audience that was eager for narrative and realism.

    TV animation in the late 70s was obviously very limited mostly due to budget constraints and the artwork for Gundam is lacking in a lot of areas.   While there was a goal to bring a more realistic story there is a lot of hand waving in regards to science and physics.  A lot of the mobile suits movements ignore their metallic mechanical structure.  Instead they move and react like magical humans like they anything found in a super sentai series.  Gundam is very much tied to super sentai but does a lot of work, largely through its story telling, to distance its self from that genre.  The core of Gundam, outside of the war and the mechs, is the concept of the Newtype, a sudden evolutionary change in humans brought on by the move into space.  The naming of the Newtype idea doesn't appear until the last arc of the story where it suddenly becomes the driving force of the conclusion.  Artwork and realism aside, I really disliked the series for the first half.  But as it closed into the final arc the intrigue and machinations became more interesting...it also doesn't hurt that the devastation ramped up.  I struggle to understand how Gundam made such an impact but that's coming from a world where it has always existed, I was born near the end of its original broadcast.  I have lived in a world where real mecha and its influence has already existed.  Its also the problem of having never watched it in all the decades of anime fandom until now and the medium has gone through such drastic changes in that time that the age and awkwardness of the original Gundam is impossible to look past.  While it may be flawed its impact on anime is undeniable and its legacy will be more important than an individual chapter.

The original series is currently available on Crunchyroll, but your better off just watching the three theatrical movie version of the story instead. 

Dan Da Dan - season 2

 Dan Da Dan season 2 (ダンダダン) is the continuation of the super natural comedy romance series based on the manga of the same name by Tatsu Yukinobu.  This season ran for 12 episodes over the Summer of 2025.

    The story picks up right were season one left off...so if you need to, you might want to check that out before cotinuing.  Momo and Okarun have been tasked to investigate what's going on with Jiji and his parents by Momo's grandmother.  The small village where he's currently living has a dark secret perpetrated by a creepy family.   The house Jiji is staying at is the sight of a centuries long sacrificial ceremony perpetrated by the Kito family.  They have been sacrificing people to an underground worm god they believe is keeping the volcano outside of the village dormant.  Their plan backfires when they attempt to sacrifice Jiji and his friends and everyone falls into the cavernous recesses below the house.  They find a history of their crimes in sunken homes that span the decades and their god...a mythical UMA that has gone crazy with its thirst and size.

    There is something lurking below however that is a problem, a long forgotten darkness built upon pain and neglect of a tortured child from centuries ago.  That pain manifested into a powerful spirit known as Evil Eye and before they can stop him, Jiji merges with the being.Jiji's incredible physical strength and spiritual energy allows Evil Eye to have a powerful vessel for enacting his revenge on the world at large.  Momo, Okarun and Turbo Granny struggle to defend themselves and the ensuing battle leads to the eruption of the volcano.  As their demise seems to be guaranteed, Momo's grandmother arrives with the cavalry to contain the problem.  Evil Eye is contained but Jiji is still possessed so they bring him back to their home to keep and eye on him while they figure out how to proceed...concerned that if it comes out again they wont be able to contain it, let alone defeat it.  The series wraps up with a prolonged introduction to the cliffhanger to make everyone thirsty for season 3!

     The first season was a tour de force by Science Saru that also came with a concerning amount of fetishization of teenage girls bodies.  It ended with what appeared to be an attempted sexual assault on Momo, so those that had only watched the anime were very concerned for how season two would start out and what kind of tone it would set for the continuation of this fantastic series.  Those fears were quickly squashed and we were treated to a single episode that has more story, emotion and bad ass fight choreography than some other shows are ever able to squeeze out in 13 episodes.  The first half of the story goes hard as our beloved awkward heroes battle for their lives.  Then it shifts back to their version of the mundane and we see further development between Momo and Okarun and it was way to cute to handle!

    This season was fantastic even though it contained a more connected story that thread through the entire run, as opposed to the first season that seemed more episodic.   As with the first, the artwork is top tier with fantastic directing and choreography.  But there is something more important and that's heart.  These characters are all just normal teenagers, dealing with normal teenage problems who also happen to have to devote way too much of their energy correcting super natural messes they get dragged into.  But at the end of the day, they just want to be seen and be loved like everyone else.  This season was better than the first with the exception of episode 8, where I feel the story stalls and spends way too much time dealing with a pointless conflict with terrible character designs for the antagonists.  Other then that...one of the best anime of the year!

The series is available on Crunchyroll and Netflix. 

Gundam GQuuuuuuux

Gundam GQuuuuuuX is a 12 episode original mecha series in the Gundam franchise.  It originally aired during the Spring 2025 season. 

Click HERE for a discussion about this series on The Otaku Network Podcast. 

    Set in an alternative version of the Universal Century, through the help of Char capturing the Gundam RX-78-2, the Principality of Zeon wins the One Year War.  Unfortunately for them, they lose Char in an incident where his Red Gundam disappears in an event called a zeknova.  A few years later his partner Chalia Bull finds himself at the Side 6 colony in his search of Char's Red Gundam.  As luck would have it, the Gundam appears and his team sends out the experimental GQuuuuuuX Gundam to capture it.  The battle doesn't go as planned and both are lost in the colony as security steps in to tamp down on the incursion.

    After becoming entangled with a refugee girl working as a black market courier, Nyaan, a disaffected upper middle class high school student, rebels hard.  After stumbling upon the GQuuuuux and syncing with it easily, she decides to participate in illegal mecha fighting called Clan Battle.  She find a partner in a weird boy names Shuji who happens to pilot a Red Gundam and share a love for the emotional release of piloting  Together they begin to achieve victory after victory in the Clan Battles but not without notice.  Chalia wants to reclaim both the GQuuuuuuX and the Red Gundam, hoping it will lead him closer to Char.  But unknown to all of them a dangerous plot is unfolding that will absorb all of them as the head of Zeon attempt to punish Earth once and for all. 

     I have not watched as much Gundam as I should have over the years but I have a general understanding of the world building.  This series however is a deep dive into the core story and nods at every chance it can to under served characters from the original.  While it is not set in the Universal Century it relies heavily on the viewer having watched and original series at the very least, demanding it for all of the context.  Since I have yet neglected to watch the original and its direct follow up stories, I spent a lot of time on the Gundam Fan Wiki...recognizing that there was a lot of context I was unaware of.  That missing intimacy lead to less than ideal viewing experience.  The story shifts about 2/3s of the way through to a a complex plot that becomes engaging.  The first 8 episodes had little resonance with me partially due to me not being familiar with the legacy characters that appeared.  But is that my fault or the stories?  A problem I have had with some Gundam stories is the heavy reliance on a deep understanding of the franchise its self, pushing out more casual viewers or people new to the fandom.  Reconguista in G is a prime example of this problem.  GQX suffers from that to less of a degree but after talking with die hard Gundam fans about the show, a viewer with intimate deep lore will get more out of GQX than casuals.

     That said, the last third of the story when everything culminated and the disparate threads started to connect grabbed my attention but its sadly was a bit late for me to fully appreciate what was going on.  The creative team behind this series really did it as a love letter to Gundam its self, as a whole, pulling references from a long line of UC stories, spinning them into a newer narrative.  GQX is in many ways, fan fiction and a love letter to Gundam in general.  They did a good job with it, especially once I understood the references and nuances of what they were showing.  But that under-serves the casual viewer and its only strong point from there is its short length and tight story telling.  It does do a good job of character development and narration to get its core point across, sans all of the references and homages.  That said...I really disliked the character designs for the unique cast.  Most of the characters who appear that exist in legacy Gundam titles retain a design philosophy closer to their original versions, but the brand new characters have a strange and out of place design.  This does serve as a gateway into Gundam fandom though as its easy to access, short and teases you with a far deeper lore than you could imagine...luring you further into the woods if you so choose.  You can enjoy it as a stand alone story without any of the context, but it plays differently and more emotionally when you do know the context. 

The series is available on Amazon Prime.  

Lazarus

 Lazarus (ラザロ) is a 13 episode original anime by Watanabe Shinichiro in conjunction with Adult Swim.  The series originally aired during the Spring of 2025.

    The year is 2050 and the world has become a better place due to a miracle drug called Hopna by a once in a generation genius named Dr. Skinner.  The drug eliminate all pain for those who take it and it quickly becomes an integral part of society.  Shorty after its release, Dr. Skinner disappears from the world.  When he next surfaces, in the form of a video message broadcast throughout the world, he comes as a portent of doom.  Dr. Skinner feels that the gift he has bestowed upon humanity has been squandered.  No one has decided to change the fate of the species for good, instead continuing business as usual.  Since, as he feels, humans have shown little reason to continue running the planet, he has enacted a kill switch in his medicine...or perhaps it was there the entire time.  He warns the world that soon everyone who has taken hopna will suffer a generically encoded fatality.  He has left it up to humanity to save themselves and find him in 30 days in order to get the antidote.

     Under the direction of the NSA a rag tag team of specialists is put together to form LAZARUS to track down Skinner.  This disparate group offers unconventional talents to the task.  Axel, broke out of prison when offered clemency in exchange for being a part of LAZARUS.  He possesses unnatural balance and aptitude for parkour and has been serving over 800 years for routine prison breaks.  .Doug takes on a lead role within the group and has a cold calculating demeanor and excellent marksmanship.  Chris is a bit of wild card who is running from her past.  Leland is a teenage tech wizard who specializes in drone piloting.  Eleina is one of the best hackers on the planet.   Together they begin to methodically track down any clues as they race against the clock to save humanity.

     Few anime directors carry the respect and gravitas as Watanabe Shinichiro.  His name attached to a project ensures it will get a lot of eyes on it.  Lazarus is no exception and the excitement for a new series by the famed creator of Cowboy Bebop and Space Dandy was well earned.  Unfortunately Lazarus fell short of expectations.  The premise of the story is straightforward and easy, group of misfits are put together as a team to track down a man who is hiding really well but also wants to be found.  They have a limited time to find him and unlimited resources to accomplish their goal.  Where does that leave the narration?  In many heist stories, as this is essentially a heist story, it leaves the meat of the story to build the characters up for the audience.  They may be on the wrong side of the law in many cases but through the course of the story they become lovable and sympathetic characters that the viewer wants to succeed.  In the case of Lazarus and their goal of preventing the extinction of humanity there are really only two outcomes; success or misdirection.  Its implausible that the ending of the story would lead to the death of 99% of humanity.  So their success is guaranteed from the beginning.  What does that leave?  Determining what characters survive until the end?

    Since the success of the venture is encoded into the threat presented to them all that's left is to build compelling characters and/or a compelling environment.  I strongly feel that Lazarus failed to deliver on both.  The course of the story, especially the first half, has the team fruitlessly chasing one dead lead after another, never getting any closer to their goal.  During the course we get some background context about the lives of the team but never enough to be impactful.  Axel, the face of the series, is barely discussed and in the last few episodes, when his past becomes pivotal in a new narration, his role in the events are merely coincidental instead of impactful.  He just happens to be a random survivor of a project that becomes the real plot of the story...too late to make any difference.  This plot diversion even diminishes the climax of the team trying to find Skinner and save the world of Hopna.  Largely the series felt like a critique of modern society by Watanabe.  The early episodes, where the team was spinning its wheels, focused on different problems humanity openly ignores.  Inequity, global warming, tech-bro hubris, etc.  Yet all of that just feels like window dressing for a series that doesn't tell an interesting story in any manner.

The series is available for streaming on HBO. 

Kowloon Generic Romance

 Kowloon Generic Romance (九龍ジェネリックロマンス) is a 13 episode mystery series based on the manga of the same name by Mayuzuki Jun.  The anime aired during the Spring of 2025.

     Kujirai Reiko goes about her mundane life in the dense accumulation of humanity that is the Kowloon Walled City in Hong Kong.  She works for a small realty firm, helping the towns residents find the perfect place to lay their head.  When she begins to develop feelings for her coworker, Kudo Hajime, things begin to become less mundane.  While visiting a tea house she see's a picture of what appears to be her and Hajime but she does not remember anything about it.  For that matter, she really doesn't have any memories.

    She learns that she is a different person than the Reiko that came before her.  That Reiko wore glasses and was engaged to Hajime.  Sinister forces are moving in the background, she and her world are part of their unknown plan.  Somehow it is tied to a pharmaceutical company the Hebinuma Group and her encounters with its young co-director leaves her skin crawling.  With the help of a fiend she decides to investigate the strange circumstances around her environment, struggling to understand a woman she resembles and her connection with the people around her.

    What really drew me to this series was the author, who did the fantastic slice of life romance, After the Rain, but I really had no idea what to expect.  The first episode clearly established that something was...off...and it wasn't going to be a straightforward girl falls for boy story.  Instead we get a well executed near future sci-fi story about revenge, pain and regret.  The only thing that can be relied on is that nothing is as it appears on the surface.  Everyone has their side that they keep to themselves and much of that controls Reiko's existence and fate in their hands.  Reiko may be the most sympathetic cool character in anime, or one of them.  Instead of being a trope her calm and collected personality makes a lot of sense when you begin to unravel her past.

    This was a very satisfying story and series.  The artwork is a bit odd, at least with the character designs but that doesn't mean its not jam packed with beautiful people.  I have heard that the manga is a bit more...explicit.  So if that's not your thing maybe steer clear of that but do greatly enjoy the anime.  I will have to check out the manga at some point, to see what was different in the story between both versions. Either-way, this was a fantastic watch and i can't wait to see what else she has in store for the world in her next manga.

The series is available on Crunchyroll 

Apocalypse Hotel

 Apocalypse Hotel (アポカリプスホテル) is an original 13 episode sci-fi series produced by CyberAgent and Cygames.  The series originally aired during the Spring of 2025.

     In the 22nd century, humanity has fled Earth, escaping a deadly virus.  One hotel in Ginza, Tokyo, still operates due to the diligence of its renaming robot staff.  Yachiyo, a humanoid customer service model, is the acting-acting manager of the hotel and runs it with efficient professionalism.  Over the century many of the robotic staff have fallen into disrepair and the half dozen or so remaining staff do their best to keep the guest-less business open and ready for humanities return.  After a century of working their shifts without any patrons, an alien arrives and stays for a few days.  Yachiyo does her best to interact and communicate with this new life form but is unsure if she is able to impart upon it their gratitude and dedication after it leaves.

    They do not see another guest for fifty years until a ship crashes and the occupants claim to be humans.  Their ruse is uncovered quickly and their identity as space tanuki is revealed.  The family fled their home world in search of safety.  They stumbled upon a derelict ship from Earth, with no survivors, and used the knowledge gleaned to find Earth.   Since they are able to communicate with Yachiyo they are able to help her improve the hotels abilities to engage with other species who may visit from space.  Infact...they decide to settle down on Earth and their daughter Ponko begins working t the hotel.  Over the centuries, with the long lived tanuki's help, the hotels reputation grows in a galactic sense, bringing in species from all walks of life to enjoy the robot crews dedication to service, all will hoping for the return of humanity.

     With the 2025 Summer season, we have seen a single series over the past 3 cour focusing on a hotel.  Tasokare Hotel from the Winter season, this one for Spring and the pending Hotel Inhumans for the Summer.  By and far, this one is the best of the three.  It is the only original story out of the three, and once again shows how good Cygames is at content creation.  Yachiyo is a fantastic character and the takunki family was a great addition to the central characters, further carrying on the plot in unusual directions.  Instead of being episodic focused on dealing with different alien species each week, it meanders between different concepts that build up the stories background.  I never would have imagined we would see the formation of a taunki space program.  At one point they go through a decades long process of establishing a whiskey distillery for the hotel.  The antics pile on right up to the very end.

     A story that features no humans does a really good job of imbuing humanity in them. The pacing and directing are fantastic as building the world and making you love its few recurring figures.  Comedy, sorrow, wonder, excitement...this series has it all.  We really need more original content in the anime production landscape.  It feels like there has been more of them recently, with Astro Note and Zenshu.  All three of these titles should prove to everyone that original content should be encouraged and sought after as bringing high quality and fantastic stories to the medium.  Apocalypse Hotel is one of the best anime that has come out in 2025 so far and I highly recommend it to many fans of the medium.

The series is available on Crunchyroll. 

Legend of the Galactic Heroes: Die Neue These - part 4

Legend of the Galactic Heroes: Die Neue These - Intrigue (銀河英雄伝説 DIE NEUE THESE 策謀) is the fourth 12 episode season of the remake based on the novel series Legend of the Galactic Heroes by Tanaka Yoshiki.  The series was originally released as three movies over the Fall of 2022.

    Things seem to be stable in the galaxy as the Alliance and the Empire have drawn to an uneasy truce.  Yang and his loyalists are holed up in Iserlohn.  Reinhard has solidified his rule over the Empire with just a few minor details to iron out.  He is not content though, he views the continued existence of the Federation as a thorn in the side of his ambitions.  He renews his efforts to unify the Empire once and for all.  With Iserlohn under the control of his nemesis, it would be a waste of manpower and resources to pointless throw them against the fortress.  Instead he needs to think outside of the box.  The only other viable route into Federation space is through the neutral Fezzan.  Luckily for Reinhard ambitions, one lof the enclaves authority figures, Rubinsky, is more than willing to make a deal to further his own wealth and prestige.

    The Fezzan plans are a bit more complicated than just agreeing to allow Imperial warships into its territory.  A plan is hatched with disaffected members of the aristocracy to kidnap the current Emperor, 7 year old Joseph the Second.  The plan succeeds and the young Emperor is taken out of the reach of Reinhard and deposited in the capital of the Free Planets.  There one of the exiled nobles makes an announcement with the Free Planets president, talking about how he and a group of other exiled nobles have formed a government in exile.  They announce that the Alliance has recognized this government in exile and have partnered with it to oppose Reinhard and his authoritarianism.  This doesn't bode well for either of them as the Empire in exile has no actual authority of way to enforce their existence.  The backing of the Alliance causes social unrest and conflict, weakening its position as well.

    All of this instability and uncertainty is part of Reinhards plan, as his cooperation with Rubinsky in allowing the young Emperor to be kidnapped and escape was a tool to create weakness in the Alliance as he plans to launch his invasion.  Yang sees right through the plan, and warns his allies in the capital that the Empire will more than likely punch through Fezzan to invade this time, instead of wasting their time with the impenetrable fortress he commands.   But his warnings fall on deaf ears, as people in power feel they understand the situation and tactics better.  They stick to the ideals that Fezzan will never sacrifice its independence and access to wealth and prosperity willingly.  Unknown to them, that is exactly what is happening.  Unfortunately for Rubinsky, he seems to underestimate how much the under the table negotiations will remain in his favor.

    In response to the declaration of the exile government, Reinhard makes an address calling this an act of war and aggression, rallying the people to the cause of returning the Emperor to his home and punishing those that kidnapped him and support his displacement.  A massive mobilization is enacted, seeking to build a force of 100 million soldiers.  He knows, in order for his diversion to work, he will need to make the force attacking Iserlohn large enough to be convincing.  This requires him to have that force be larger than the previous one that failed.  In order to make the sneak attack work, he will need an even greater force at Fezzan.  Thus his plan unfolds and Yang finds himself stuck in a position where he has no hope of affecting the outcome of this new attempt at invading the Alliance.  Reinhard appears to be in position to win this drawn out rivalry and bring his goals of revenge into its final stage.

As with the other seasons, this one is available on Crunchyroll but currently only subtitled in English  There is no word yet on a fifth series to continue to story and we are left as the precipice of this assault.

Tower of God season 2

 Tower of God season 2 is the 26 episode continuation of the dark fantasy manhwa of the same name by S.I.U.  The anime aired during the Summer and Fall of 2024.

    The story picks up 6 years after Rachel betrayed Bam on the 2nd floor.  We find him on the 20th floor, facing a new challenge to continue climbing the tower.  The past years have been hard on him and he has been forced to travel without his friends.  After being 'rescued' from death on the 2nd floor he found himself in the grips of a powerful underworld organization known as FUG.  Their sole goal is to destroy those that rule the tower, Jahad and the 10 families.  Much of there effort is down in the shadows but they recruit powerful regulars to propel up the tower as 'slayer candidates', with the intention of having them try to kill Jahad.  Bam finds himself being made their newest slayer candidate.  To hide who he is he has taken on the name of Jyu Viole Grace.  On the 20th floor he reluctantly becomes teamed up with a group of desperate regulars because they remind him of his old friends.

    Khun, not realizing that Rachel betrayed Bam, has been carrying her up the Tower with the help of everyone else.  Along the way some of the core members have split off to tackle other tasks that they have encountered and newer members have been recruited into the fold.  He suspects that Rachel is hiding something and is biding his time before making his move against her.  What he's unaware of is that FUG is keeping an eye on them, using them as a bargaining chip to keep Bam in line.  Rachel herself has her own plans in motion as well, knowing she can't continue to keep Khun under her control for ever.   Ultimate everyone is drawn to a competition being held by the Workshop, the group responsible for technology and weapon development in the Tower.  FUG has its hands in the event as well and have been directing Bam towards it for a very important purpose for their greater goals.

    After the original anime season ended I immediately started up a Webtoons account and read everything that was available for Tower of God in about a week.  I was well aware of the drastic shift in story that took place between the first part and this part and suspected that it would conclude with the resolution of the Workshop battle.  Because it is such a drastic shift in narrative from the first anime a lot of viewers were disappointed in the story.  This portion does a significant amount of world building and pushes the challenges on the floors to the background.  At times it even glosses over those challenges and the groups that are shown find themselves in higher levels after weeks of time have transpired.  It makes sense that someone who really enjoyed the games aspect of the original series becoming disappointment in a more character driven story in this portion.  Getting frustrated with the change and abandoning the story is a waste though as the story gets progressively more interesting as it goes.

    When reading the comic originally I also suffered a bit of disappointment at this point when the story changed.  I enjoyed the comradery between Bam, Khun and Rak and missed that aspect in what was going on.  But I appreciated the world building that started to kick in as the thing that drew me most into this story was the Tower its self and the mysteries around it.  This part of the story isn't the strongest but does a lot of ground work for whats to come, between the second half which they elude to at the end of this series, the Hell Train.  The story gets even better after the Hell Train arc, which we hopefully will see animated, but that's a long ways of!  Tower of God over all is a fantastic story and I hope we keep getting anime adaptations of it.  I really need to get back into the manhwa as I'm way to far behind.  Its a type of story I normally don't have any interest in, but this one spoke to me in a way I couldn't ignore.

The anime was simulcast on Crunchyroll.