[Dr Kain]

I watched episodes 18-38 today and some of this show is quite disjointed. The Ramba Ral stuff was great and I love the way they ended it. I do like the build up to Odessa Day and I like that it felt like there was a lot more going on with it. In fact, I'm surprised out of all of the OVAs and side stories they have done, they have never gone back to cover every aspect of this event. The stuff in Jaburo is meh but things get really good again once they get back to space. The battle with M'Quve in the Texas colony is awesome and I liked having an episode dedicated to talking about the New Types and introducing one, even if he is there to die at the end of the episode. The only aspect I don't understand is the G Fighter/Armor/whatever portion. The concept doesn't really make sense to me and it seems overly complicated as to how it is executed. Not to mention they suddenly have two G Fighters after Side 6 even though nothing was ever stated about them acquiring a second one. Anyway, I plan to finish the series after Better Call Saul.

EDIT: I just finished the series and wow, they really saved their animation budget for those last episodes because the animation got so much better. As did the action. As I said before, I haven't watched the series in 15 years and I am so glad I got these BDs. In fact, there were things I enjoyed so much more this time around that I did not initially. Overall, that was a damn good show. It has its negatives, its oddities (such as Bright having a different voice in one episode), but the majority of it is positive and for that, I give the show an overall score of 7/10 stars. Now I need to get through 08th MS Team and 0083 before my Zeta BDs arrive.

EdiT 2: I downloaded and watched the Doan's Island episode and I still don't see any reason for Tomino to ban it. Sure, its animation is bad, but it's not like the rest of the series didn't have bad animation (such as the sword floating next to the Gundam's arm but there is no hand while the Dom explodes and the derpy eyes on various characters). And then you have moments like Zeon soldiers setting bombs up on a Gundam and stuff. The ending might be kind of dumb, but that is no reason to say this episode is bad. Once again I'm under the belief that Tomino just wanted it banned from the US because he wanted some attention in the news.

Edit 3: I watched episodes 1-9 of 08th MS Team today. Not only that, but I watched it in English since I'm kind of subbed out. The show itself is pretty enjoyable but the plot seems to be moving way too quickly without any pacing. It starts off after Garma's death and now they are already done with Odessa Day. WTF? Shiro is decent but honestly, some of the things happening make no sense. Unfortunately, the show really takes a down turn after episode 8 becuase episode 9 makes no sense. Shiro has an entirely new mobile suit. He never got disciplined or anything for breaking his court martial and helped Kiki's village. And Eledore is back on the team without even a mention of him returning, he is just there. I've never understood that and if I recall, this has always been the point where the show lost me. We'll see what happens when I watch the final 3 episodes. Oh, and the love story between Aina and Shiro just came out of nowhere. He might have been thinking about her after their first meeting, but he just goes out and yells that he loves her the second time they meet and she just happens to fully feel the same way is completely forced. I think that is why I rarely ever watch this series.

Oh yeah, the dub itself isn't bad. It isn't the greatest dub ever, but the voices are good enough.

Edit 4: I finished the last three episodes and boy does the ending suck ass. First off, episodes 10 and 11 barely make any sense as Aina's already lacking in the development brother just suddenly decides to kill everyone out of the blue for no reason other than shock value. Then you have Shiro, who is just completely out of character here. It also doesn't help that there was barely any character development to begin with and you have the makings of an average series. Like I said before, now I fully remember why I only watched this show when I was doing a full-on UC viewing. The final episode feels tacked on and unnecessary because it was so pointlessly boring. What really kills it is the sudden realization that those kids were ghosts that somehow manifested into physical forms. Ugh, just making me think about it brings in frustration. I have no idea what happened on the production of this show, especially since it was an OVA series, but whoever was in charge dropped the ball during the last four episodes of the show. A shame to because the animation is fantastic and the music is quite good.

Edit 5: 0083: Spent the blizzarding cold winter day watching the whole thing. I've seen it before, but haven't watched it since 2010 and this is probably the most I have ever enjoyed the show. I don't know why, but the pacing seemed to be a lot better this time around than the last few times I have watched it. Of course, that doesn't fix the big issues, Uraki's bland nature and Nina's selfishness. Uraki is pretty much a boring main character as he shows very little emotion and cares for very little in the way of anything unless the plot calls for it. Nina is a selfish brat that should have died. The best characters are easily Gato and Cima as they were the ones that either had some nice development and/or were just fun overall. Cima might have been a treacherous bitch, but she was psychotic and full of personality. Gato is pretty much the same way, just without the insane nature. The story does get a little weird though as if there was a scene missing where we saw Cima make a deal with the Feddies, but that aside, it was a decent show. The colony drop could have been cool if they had actually shown the impact it caused and the Nightmare of Solomon bit is the highlight. That aside, it does suffer from prequel-itis as everything is just going through the motions to get to the way things are for Zeta. As a whole, I give it a 7/10. The animation is nice and smooth and the battles are well done. Not to mention the music is great.

Well, now I just need to wait for my Zeta BDs to arrive, which just shipped out this morning.