KIDOU SENSHI GUNDAM: GYAKUSHUU NO CHAR

DESCRIPTION

CAST

ANIME DramaKidou Senshi Gundam Double Zeta
OVA ActionKidou Senshi Gundam UC
NOVEL DramaKidou Senshi Gundam: Gyakushuu no Char - High Streamer
SPECIAL ActionALL THAT GUNDAM
SPECIAL DramaAkai Shouzou: Char, Soshite Frontal e
OVA ActionGundam EVOLVE
SPECIAL Mecha30th GUNDAM PERFECT MISSION
ANIME ActionKidou Senshi Gundam Unicorn RE: 0096
NOVEL MechaKidou Senshi Gundam: Gyakushuu no Char - Beltorchika's Children
SPECIAL DramaKidou Senshi Gundam UC: episode EX - Hyakunen no Kodoku
MANGA ActionKidou Senshi Gundam: Gyakushuu no Char
MANGA MechaKidou Senshi Gundam: Gyakushuu no Char - BEYOND THE TIME
MANGA ActionKidou Senshi Gundam MSV-R: Johnny Ridden no Kikan
MANGA DramaKidou Senshi Gundam UC: Niji ni Norenakatta Otoko
MANGA DramaKidou Senshi Gundam Pulitzer: Amuro Ray wa Kyokkou no Kanata e
MANGA ActionKidou Senshi Gundam: Zeon no Saiko
MANGA ActionKidou Senshi Moon Gundam
MANGA ActionKidou Senshi Gundam: Zeon no Saiko - Remnant One

REVIEWS

• 

  CodeBlazeFate

  47/100
  Despite trying to cap off one of the most monumental sagas in the industry, the film can't justify its own existence.

  Spoilers for Char’s Counterattack

  A harrowing tale of love, betrayal, grudges, death, and faith, an epic battle to save the world, and a final battle to settle one of fiction’s greatest rivalries and conclude an epic saga that has spanned an entire decade. This is final chapter! This is Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counterattack!

  Much like Char’s plans themselves, this movie didn't quite pan out as intended. Instead of the gripping and somber finale to an iconic rivalry, the film is more of an exhibition of how stupid people can be and how a lack of foresight can damage a saga, film, and finale. The epic conclusion to this legendary and awkwardly managed saga somehow doesn't utilize the saga's canon very well, resulting in a misfire as tragic as its characters' fates. Let's find out how, shall we?

  0093 Universal Century Calendar. A plan has been initiated to drop Axis onto Earth by none other than Char himself. Why Char is doing this is beyond me thanks to the fact that not only was he never remotely like this, but there was no progression from any Gundam series to this point. Either way, this has gotten the Earth Federation panicking, especially since whenever they try treaties, he backstabs the hell out of them and blows whatever forces are near him to kingdom come. None take it worse than Amuro Ray, the ultimate rival of Char, and thus, the rivalry begins again. Sounds like an interesting premise, don't it? If you made it so that Char’s plan is in line with his typical actions and how he is as a person (since they aren't), this would be totally kickass. That said, you'd also have to give a good justification for why he went back to being an awful person considering how he was in Zeta Gundam. On top of that, you'd need to justify why these two would butt heads again, and the film's attempts at this aren't very compelling. Already, this film fundamentally fails.

  Speaking of reasons this film fundamentally fails, we get the introduction of 3 characters: Gyunei, Hathaway, and Quess. I'll talk about how fucking retarded these pieces of shit are later, but let’s just say that their stupidity and actions are very...intrusive, to put it kindly. Two of them are the subject of bad heel turns and all of them have terrible romantic aspiration subplots that start up for no legitimate reason, and the amount of time spent on them simply bogs down the movie. They're not the only ones with romance subplots however since not only has Astionage gotten himself a girlfriend named Kayra, and Amuro and Chan have banter before sharing a kiss in the middle of the movie. Both go nowhere but I have to ask: did something happen between Amuro and Beltorika? They aren't in ZZ, and we never see that they split in either this or Zeta Gundam, so what happened between them that Amuro is now single and ready to kiss a girl? This movie doesn't say anything, making this subplot rather badly written in terms of implications. For Astionage and Kayra, he wants to cook her a pasta but in battle she dies, causing her to mourn over her corpse about the pasta he earned to make for her. Honestly, it would've been more impactful if we see him making pasta before the news got to him. Regardless, let's move on.

  Even with all that, there aren't many plot holes or many other inconsistencies in the film, but then we get the Axis drop and Amuro’s attempt to stop it...along with a team of mobile suits from the Federation’s 88th fleet outta nowhere just to try and make a deus ex machina, which initially seems to fail but then, out of nowhere, Amuro’s Nu Gundam starts shooting our green particles after a morality sparring match with Char and this is enough to get Axis off course and deflect it entirely, with the fate of our two rivals left unknown, and then the movie abruptly ends after this deus ex machina. I don't need to explain how bad this writing is, right? I mean, it doesn't kill the movie, hell, the plot wasn't all that great to begin with thanks to bad character subplots and decisions but this was just the final nail in the coffin. At least, it would be, but the final nail actually turned out to be how this film doesn't have any stable chronology with the previous installments, as nothing built up to this. To be fair, given how not much left over from Zeta properly carried over to ZZ, it's no surprise the same happened here. What is surprising is that where ZZ resorted to retcons, this one is disconnected from ZZ almost entirely. The only thing connecting them together is a throwaway line about the failures of the main antagonist from ZZ who made her debut in the final stretch of Zeta Gundam. As if this film needed more reasons why it just doesn't work on a basic level.

  For the returning case, luckily Noa and Amuro are basically kept intact, even despite how agitated they are in this crazy new crisis. Char meanwhile...let’s say that his biggest flaw is the extremes of this new plan since this is basically the product of progression that we never got to see since he was never remotely thinking of this kind of action in Zeta or the original Gundam, so what happened that made him truly hate humanity so much? Aside from that and how decidedly uncharismatic he is now given his main antagonist status, he’s kept intact as well. We never cared about Astionage, and Mirai is barely even present throughout this movie.

  Now to what really tanked here: the new characters. Let's start with one of the most hated characters in Gundam history, Quess! Aside from being an emotionally manipulative bitch, she, for no reason, tries to stake claim for both Amuro and Char and hated people close to them for “getting in her way” and really shows what a spoiled brat she is. The fact that she becomes to willing to kill anyone and everyone makes it worse since she’s already a flip-flop character, an inconsistent pancake that just flips and flops all the time because she’s a selfish and manipulative whore that has nothing else concrete about her! Gyunei initially to want to study her as a way of improving himself as a Cyber Newtype but then, out of nowhere, he falls head over heels for her and is ready to do whatever it takes to destroy Char to win her over. Why he would fall for a 13-year-old when he is seemingly a lot older is beyond me by it just happens abruptly without any reason as to why. The jackass doesn't even get to die properly because we never actually see him die outside of his mech getting blown up. You'd think for such a notable character for the film they'd at least show him in the process of dying.

  I'm aware that Hathaway isn't actually exclusive to CCA, but like Katz, we only get to see him do things and have a personality that affects a narrative in his somewhat grown-up appearance, which is here in this case. For the most part, he seems like a decent kid, even though he falls for Quess. However, late into the movie, he loves her so much (for no real reason other than they went on a date, we don't even see him having a crush on her beforehand) that after Chan kills her to save his life, he outright blasts her to death. Is the main message of the movie supposed to be that love makes you stupid? If so, there are better ways and settings to show that message without having such badly written as intrusive characters on display, and all of these guys have ample screen time and relevance to major scenes in the movie, just to make matters worse. Anyone else in this film is one-dimensional and basically worthless to the narrative other than Nanai (who is only really notable to me for delivering a deliciously satisfying slap to that bitch Quess) that I'm not gonna waste any more time dissecting this overall pretty terrible cast of characters.

  Studio Sunrise and Studio Hirabi to make this film, and if nothing else, the film looks gorgeous. The action and mech animation shows off the best of what the 80’s were capable of, with such crisp and smooth animation and detail with every bit of action and movement, making the battles brilliant to look at. The Nu Gundam and the Sazabi have particularly great mobile suit designs and all of the other new mechs look pretty neat too. The almost angel dust-like sparks coming from every shot fired from a blaster rifle and every explosion make this film just majestic to bask in when it comes to seeing the fight scenes, and the character animations and designs look great as ever. The only gripe I have is in one of the colonies having egregiously dated CGI that also fucks over its frame rate. I never knew that was possible in the 80’s and it was a disconcerting experience to be sure, though it hardly takes anything away from the glorious visuals of the film. Honestly, the visuals are so good that some viewers might just be able to brush the writing aside and enjoy it as an action spectacle. That's all this film is good for, honestly.

  Sadly, almost none of the tracks in this film are memorable, which is a real disappointment, especially considering how good Zeta's soundtrack was. There is only one track from one of the earlier scenes that sounds pretty good and I wish there were more pieces here that sounded actually cinematic and memorable. None of it is bad music but nothing sticks, not even the ED. It's not the worst soundtrack in this timeline, but not one of the better ones. The dub is also rather meh, barring Brad Swaile’s great returning performance as Amuro and Michael Kopsa as Char Aznable, who despite a few weak moments, sounds pretty good and has a really booming political speech at the midway point. Everyone else is rather so-so, some being worse than others but even then, the dub never sounds overall bad, but these two basically saved the dub from absolute mediocrity.

  Like with some of the worst anime Gundam installments out there, good mech action isn't enough to make a good Gundam series. If an action show or movie wants to have a story as its focus, the story it tries to tell actually has to make sense and the drama has to work without being an intrusion on the product and our enjoyment of it. Unfortunately, Char's Counterattack fails at all of this, so you either enjoy it as a spectacle, or you get a headache out of frustration. Despite trying to cap off one of the most monumental sagas and rivalries in the industry, the film can't justify its own existence. The more Studio Sunrise uses this film's events as a lynchpin for dodgy future titles, the more headache-inducing these failures become. There's a reason I say this timeline dies with the end of Zeta Gundam.

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• 

  ShatteredXO

  48/100
  A sour and confused end to Yoshiyuki Tomino's first GUNDAM tetralogy...

  At the start of this year, among other things and getting COVID, I experienced the original Mobile Suit Gundam for the first time. It was an experience I was unsure about at first, but one I came to recognize as a very ambitious series through the eyes of a child flung into conflict and a cycle perpetuated by adults all around him.

  Afterwards, I jumped into its sequel series – Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam. The same Zeta Gundam that I always tell myself I’ll never mention again because of its assbackwards plot, characters and damn near everything, but can’t not mention it because it’s still a part of Tomino’s initial Gundam trilogy. I’ll try not to go on a Zeta rant for a third time in a consecutive review, but it’s definitely not an experience I like to revisit.

  And last but not least came Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ, my favorite of Tomino’s initial Gundam trilogy and the one that I felt nailed the characters, themes and visceral nature that the original series held dear. Double Zeta picks up the ball for the franchise with surety and confidence, so much so that I was finally wondering if Tomino at this stage of his career was truly growing as a writer. So, with that in mind, I was fascinated on how the “man with the plan” would close out his tale of Amuro, Bright, Char and all of the characters he had created.

  How well would Char’s Counterattack deliver? Would we get a story with bittersweet bravado like the Blue Team? Something as emotionally impactful as Amuro turning his back on his mother in favor of fighting a never-ending war? Something as hardcore as Ramba Ral’s final confrontation? The answer to all of these questions is a tired and sardonic look at the camera like a scene of the Office. To put it mildly – if Double Zeta picks the ball back up, Char’s Counterattack snatches and grabs the shit, tosses it furiously into the stands and watches with malicious glee as it manages to mash the faces of every man, woman and child in the near-vicinity. Welcome to Yoshiyuki Tomino’s “magnum opus” or “masterpiece” or “flaming sack”, as it’s called in the modern common tongue. Welcome, once again, to Char’s Counterattack!

  

  But before we go and enter the sanctuary that is Char’s Counterattack, I first have to bring you to reminisce (or partly experience) the ever masterful and riveting “Star Wars – Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker!” Although the entire movie might as well be God’s gift to mankind and all cinephiles alike, there is just one certain scene that truly shows the viewer the state of affairs of that filme.
  “Somehow, Palpatine returned!” was uttered on screen by an exasperated Oscar Isaac and suddenly millions of Star Wars fans and keyboard warriors of Filme Twitter raised their hands in jubilation and relief. Tears were shed that day, as the state of cinema, film direction and script writing were made anew and given a fresh start by this earth-shattering and magnanimous display of carefully crafted storytelling and nuanced approach to stake-setting! David Lynch, what? Michael Mann, who? Eat your f**king heart out, Clint Eastwood!

  Now, the uninitiated might be asking themselves, “Why is he bringing up the greatest cinematic achievement of mankind since ‘Wall-E’ in a review about Gundam’s ‘Char’s Counterattack’?” But the esteemed and most regal of readers and cinephiles will know exactly where I’m going with this! To dumb it down for those out there that cannot grasp what is out of reach, it is very clear that JJ Abrams, Kathleen Kennedy and The Wt D**y Company graduated in unison from the School of Yoshiyuki Tomino Storytelling, his influence artfully making a bold appearance throughout all of the prolific “SWIXTROS” filme. Sudden plot points that feel like they needed one or two seasons’ movies to set up sturdily? It all makes sense! The severe lack of emotional connection and intensity besides two tandem characters in the cast? It all makes sense! The haphazard nature of story and how things happen and are resolved in such an uncaring and lackadaisical, practically childish way? It. All. Makes. SENSE! Suffice it to say, it wouldn’t be outside of the realm of comparison to equate the newest Star Wars (2019) filme to being this generation’s Char’s Counterattack (1988), cinematic beauty marks and all…

  

  So, yeah. Char’s Counterattack is that bad. Bad enough for me to go on a sardonically-tinted rant about it and mention a movie I’d rather not. But don’t blame me – blame this awful movie! A film that had the audacity to basically say to the audience “Somehow, Palpa—I mean—Char returned” with completely unapologetic and out-of-nowhere, haphazard. Somehow, Neo Zeon is still a thing after Haman Karn fell at the end of Gundam ZZ. Somehow, Char survived his harrowing situation at the end of Zeta Gundam. Somehow, now Char is at the head of Neo Zeon, leading his forces to destroy humanity on Earth in a nuclear and Ice Aged genocide. And somehow, I am still able to find some good in the shitty lot that the story and Char have been dealt – which is, ironically, Char himself.

  Life is kind of funny like that, right? While being the worst Gundam I’ve watched of Tomino’s brand (so far), it also has the best and most intriguing characterization of Char Aznable. In the original Gundam, he takes the role of a schemer and yet, although there were human elements to his character (especially through interactions with Amuro, Sayla and Lalah), he still didn’t reach the top of my character’s list. In Zeta, he was a notable bright spot, with great character moments and interactions with both Amuro and Kamille (hell, even his speech is pretty damn good too!) But unfortunately, it still didn’t hit a moment that felt visceral, relatable or raw in a real sense.

  It wasn’t until his arc within this movie that it really started to hit home. Char is a man with many powerful principles and desires, so much so that they contradict each other at every turn. He seeks a world without pollution and conflict yet is using genocide to fulfill that. He mourns and blames Amuro for the death of Lalah, someone he considers like a mother to him, yet sent that same “mother” out into the very battlefield and put her at risk.

  He wants to be around and near Amuro Ray. He wants to love him and be loved by him, but his very actions and schemes keep him further and further away from him. It reminds me a lot of one Eren Yeager, caught in between the constant impasse of selfish and selfless and being a walking, talking contradiction of morality. It’s an impressive understanding of character and takes Char to levels that he just wasn’t at previously. Like…a missing puzzle piece that fits so, so perfectly.

  The rest of the character work in this movie, save for maybe Amuro, is definitely not nearly as well written and well considered as Char here. And maybe if it was, just maybe, the movie would be better as a result. But in a sh*tshow this messy, it pays to take the clean spots where you get them, and Char is a spot bright enough to gush about.

  

  Now that we’ve shown a sparkling bright spot, let’s get more to some more of those…messy bits, shall we? One of those bits happen to be how flawed Tomino’s writing when it comes to character creation, development and interaction is. If ZZ was an example of what good can come out of Tomino’s character writing ability and Zeta was an example of the worst, CCA is an entry that takes the worst of the latter, trashes what works in the former and bestows upon us some of the worst cast in mecha anime that I’ve seen.

  In fact, I’d go as far to say that outside of Amuro Ray and Char Aznable, every other character is a complete miss and an even worse mess. Either they’re one note or incredibly insufferable or a derelict hodgepodge of both. And on that sundae of disastrous making is the cherry to top it all off: through looking at this movie, one can make the definitive claim that Tomino (or, at least, early in his mecha-making career) was a complete failure when it comes to crafting compelling characters and dynamics.
  While the original series and ZZ have genuinely good character interactions that lead to the betterment of the narrative (the crew of the White Base pushing a PTSD-ridden Amuro into fighting much), Tomino constantly drops the ball in Zeta and at an even worse rate in CCA, given the limited time he had to tell this story.

  The cast in Zeta was incredibly one-note and full of tropey characters that didn’t develop or devolve past those one note traits, but in CCA…oh boy. One such instance is with the character of Quess Paraya, one of the newest female characters to join Gundam’s already stacked track record of well written women. And by well written, you should know by now that I mean scribbled hastily on a sh--ty piece of parchment paper in black Crayola crayon. She checks off every single box for a Tomino character and a female character in his arsenal to this point: surface level, a theme standing in for a character and being boy-crazy/intrinsically tied to male characters. But, unlike Reccoa, she wants to f--k older men and father figure instead, while also killing her father! Get it?! She’s the Oedipus Complex personified! Isn’t that…crazy?!

  And this…this is what the characterization of this cast basically amounts to. These sad chump sacks are nothing more than themes that Tomino wants to explore, while simultaneously not being in the business of…actually developing believable or, at the very least, interesting characters. And the audacity of it all is that it feels like an extended cut of Groundhog’s Day, ergo: you’ve seen it all before! The young woman/girl who’s so hungry for d**k that she defects to the side of fascists? That’s literally Reccoa, but worse! Hathaway is an annoying brat who causes trouble for all involved, while also facing zero consequences? Why, that sure reminds me of Katz! What’s that? Chan’s only role in the story is to empower Amuro through building his Nu Gundam and also be his out-of-nowhere love interest throughout the runtime of the movie? Sounds a lot like Beltorchika to me!

  There’s nothing new here. Nothing that feels like a fresh take. Rather, the implication is extremely clear that Tomino creatively stumbled upon a lucky rabbit’s foot in the making of the original and ZZ. Insofar as characters and making them have character, settling more for tired and disastrous tropes than anything else.

  

  But enough about Totally-Not-Reccoa, Absolutely-Not-Katz and the other third one – there’s still some genuine fun to be had in this landfill of a two hour flick! While Char’s Counterattack isn’t stronger than Double Zeta at expressing themes organically through the characters bound to the story, it still feels like you know that Tomino has that part of the series mapped out, at least. In Gundam ZZ, the themes revolved around humanity being caught and stuck when it comes to actual progress that…benefited it. Instead, new and more “impressive” machines of war are made while the normal people live in dilapidated structures and struggle to survive. This is made most viscerally apparent through the Mirai “subplot” in the movie, as we come face to face with overcrowded cities of people and buildings that have seen better days, for lack of a better expression.

  Call him what you want (and believe me, I will) but Tomino’s strengths here and throughout his tetralogy of Gundam works reflect a clear understanding of human behavior, faults and degradation on a broad and wide scale. Which is why it’s such a shame that those strengths don’t carry over when examining the film from a closer, more personal look at those themes between the characters.

  Don’t get me wrong – it totally works for Amuro and Char, two men who haven’t been able to carry the grief they share in healthy or productive ways. It’s a confrontation that tries its very hardest to breathe soul and life itself into the film. Through every sneer about Amuro robbing Char of Lalah or of Char not carrying about the people around him in an earnest or real fashion, you can see that it’s trying.

  But with every other blockage that comes along with that conflict, it becomes clear that the breath of life needed to make Char’s Counterattack into a well done, coherent piece of art becomes trapped in its lungs with no successful means of escape. With every time Char and Amuro clash, it is undercut by a confrontation Quess or Hathaway or (for some weird f**king reason) Chan. None of this is as coherent or, even coherent at all. Instead of focusing on Char’s rage in full measure, we get a cringe and groan inducing faceoff with Quess and Hathaway, along with some weirdo pedophile loser of a man who thinks he’s competing with Char for her affections. Instead of the narrative staying still and homing in on the bitter rivalry and feelings Amuro may have for Char and the foolish actions he takes, we have Hathaway killing Chan for protecting him in the line of battle against Quess.

  It’s stupid enough to give any idiot watching it a headache and dumb-d**k enough to give any mentally competent person watching it a goddamn brain aneurysm. For all of my complaints about how the Char and Amuro conflict ultimately ends in the movie, I could emotionally invest in the clash between the two and both of them possibly dying if the leg work in the movie to get us there wasn’t riddled with things that actively amputated and grazed along the way.

  

  In my private circles and my Gundam ZZ review, my conclusion about Yoshiyuki Tomino was that he stands as a bold artist that should be, at the very least, appreciated for tackling the topics he did, in the era that he did. That is a badge of honor that no one can take away from the man. Despite this…my Good God in Nazareth, the man is a horrible writer for even a small cast of characters. When nearly 90% of your lineup is either underutilized or frustratingly static or bereft of no real substance despite being clear vehicles for the themes of the narrative and literally nothing more…it’s an indicator that the recipe doesn’t result in anything of notable flavor.

  Hell, let’s just go ahead and say that this is easily one of the worst ends to a series I’ve seen, alongside being one of the laziest attempts at both cinema and entertaining anime I’ve seen. When a 2 hour cesspool is able to make even Zeta Gundam look like a clean drink of water…well, you know its worth. Which brings us to one final ponderation: are Tomino’s first four works in the Gundam franchise worth the juice and squeeze? Are they all truly the masterworks that your average Gundam stan would yell and exclaim about from the top of Kilimanjaro’s highest peak?

  If we are talking the original Mobile Suit Gundam, absolutely. Gundam ZZ? A true, clear work of passion and imaginative storytelling. Even Zeta, for all its faults, is still entertaining in bits and spurts and whether you’ll like it or not tends to depend on whether you appreciate broad theme over character. But CCA? Char’s Counterattack? The same Char’s Counterattack that offered up bulls**t and bagpipes to its audience after the goodwill laid down by everything from previous? I wouldn’t subject this movie to my worst enemy in life, whether past, present or future. The only warning I can give is to avoid this travesty as much as humanely possible and to pray to whatever deity you worship that you never look back.

  __Final Rating: 4.8/10. __
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• 

  Kuropiko

  95/100
  This film is really good, actually

  Okay, this will be very off the cuff and probably sloppy.

  For several months now I have deluded myself into thinking I wrote a review for Char's Counterattack. You can imagine my shock now when I checked my reviews list, simply to reread it and see if I touched upon any interesting ideas, and saw that I had actually been thinking about my review of Zeta Gundam.

  I have in fact, reviewed more non-Gundam Tomino works than actual Tomino Gundam works. This was a very odd idea to consider because I have been attempting, for months now, to also write a Double Zeta review (which will never see the light of day). This self-delusion ultimately epitomizes some core ideas of the film, Kidou Senshi Gundam: Gyakushuu no Char, or as it is also known, Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counterattack.

  This film is both a very controversial and very beloved film. It is the ultimate climax of one of the most iconic rivalries in anime, capping off several years of storytelling and 139 episodes of TV anime, the Earth itself is once again at the mercy of a renewed Zeon empire, this time led by the elusive Char Aznable, and Amuro Ray alongside allies from prior entries must work to defend the Earth from this threat.

  But, that very description can also be read as a lie by most people. Many see Char's actions coming off of Zeta as nonsensical, the only relevant returning characters outside the main rivalry and Bright, Mirai, and a spirit of Lalah Sune. Every other character has seemingly moved on, and are not relevant to this conflict, and that can be a gut-punch following on from Zeta or even Double Zeta. One may ask themselves, "Where's Kai?" "Where's Fraw?" "Where's Kamille, Fa, Judau, Sayla, and everyone else?" It feels very cheap, to have followed all these various characters, seen them grow, delve into despair, and come out on top, just for them to seemingly be tossed aside in the conclusion, but that also feels like the point of Char's Counterattack.

  Aside from Bright's family, the only returning characters are just Amuro and Char, and this feels intentional. Everyone else has moved on, has grown up and had a good life, Bright and Mirai are used to show this. These two characters we have known for years are happily married, have children, and have been caught up in this conflict. Bright fights for the sake of a future for his family, he is truly grown up. He's not the kid that only knew how to beat someone out of their personal problems like he was in 0079, and he's not in the role Amuro was in during Zeta, getting jealous at a child upstaging him. Contrast him with the Amuro I just mentioned, as well as the Char of this film.

  Char is, to put it very bluntly, a very pathetic man at this stage in his life. He's petty and has been unable to truly grow for several years. He has been hiding his true self throughout the entire series, continually donning the Char Aznable name, and when that name becomes too much he quickly dons another. The conclusion of Zeta saw him reuniting with Haman, and when forced to confront her he chooses to run away, leaving her to take center stage and have to be dealt with by a new group of kids forced into an unnecessary war. His character in the film feels like the truest next step from that stage. In 0079, he hid himself to execute a petty revenge while abandoning his sister, leaving her to grow without him. In Zeta, he tries to raise up the next generation, but runs away when actions he took as Char Aznable come back to bite him.

  Now, we reach Char's Counterattack, the final chapter of his story, where he only does what people expect of him. Of course, the heir to the Principality of Zeon would want to "put the Earth to sleep". The environmental catastrophe here is obvious, and despite the maybe well intentioned place the original Zeon ideals came from, what Char wants to do is cause a calamity that would wipe out a large chunk of humanity and make Earth uninhabitable. When he recruits Quess, he takes on the role she wants, which is a father figure of sorts, but he fails to or just can't have her be a replacement for Lalah Sune, and that's where his true self lies, and why I called him pathetic.

  Char's final words of the film, which are also his final words in the series (chronologically), are often made fun of, and for good reason. It's the truest encapsulation of his character, he lays everything bare in his final moments with Amuro, probably unintentionally. He has been fixated on the conclusion of 0079, the tragedy of Lalah, the one woman he ever physically got close to beyond mere sexual desire like we see in this film. This is why I find any attempts at romance with Char in outside media to ultimately be a mistake, and why I think Char's Deleted Affair is complete tripe (among other reasons). Lalah was the one woman he connected with, but he never truly connected with her. Lalah did love him, but the one she spiritually connected with was ultimately Amuro, through their newtype connection. Perhaps Amuro's spiritual connection with Lalah is what allows him to truly mature following her death, unlike Char. It's a very interpretive film so long as you ignore meaningless side content.

  To talk briefly on said meaningless side content, I'd like to highlight Beltorchika's Children, the novel version of a rewritten draft for Char's Counterattack. It is ultimately mostly the same piece, though it allows to me to highlight an important factor about the ending as well as Amuro's character. In the novel, Amuro is in love with the titular Beltorchika, and she is even pregnant with his child. I find this to be an interesting contrast with Char, but ultimately unnecessary, especially in regards to the ending. This is beyond even just the simple fact that I prefer "Lalah? Your mother?" as Amuro's final line, and into thematic territory. In the film version, Amuro gives up his life for the sake of humanity, and I think Tomino also saw this as the truest completion of Amuro's character journey. He didn't need a child to carry on his life in a spiritual sense, he didn't need to directly love someone, Amuro himself has just become a man that truly loves humanity and believes that they can change, having developed from that boy in 0079 that kept everyone at a distance, who only really showed base desires towards attractive women like Sayla (please don't read too deep into my phrasing of this), he was never really friends with anyone on the White Base, you can tell Kai has his friend group that doesn't include Amuro. But, through his relationship with Lalah, his growing companionship and love for the White Base crew, and his experiences after the events of the series all helped shape him to be someone who has a base love for humanity. While Char is eternally trapped in that moment from 14 years ago.

  In short, I don't find the timeskips of Gundam to be a mistake. I don't find the seemingly schizophrenic character writing of Char to be a mistake either. We see vignettes, brief periods in the lives of these characters, we see their flaws, their development, how they grow, how they fall, and ultimately we see their contrasting conclusions, a desire to destroy humanity vs a desire to let humanity grow and change. Who better to be the push in protecting a humanity that can change, than a man who has changed more than anyone else.

  If you want to stop reading, the review is over in that paragraph, this is just an extended though that I couldn't fit in elsewhere as it contradicts a part of this review. I don't hold firm in what I said about Char not truly believing in the cause of this film, how I said he just does it because it's what people want of him. There are valid connections between this film and Tomino's other work, Space Runaway Ideon. Like I said, if you don't care, you don't have to read this. Tomino's final antagonist of Ideon is Doba, the father of the female lead and the man who "Shoulders the karma of the Buff Clan". Multiple characters have doubts about if he truly cares for the Buff Clan and wonder if he's just doing this to simply wage a war against the impossibly strong titan, and to take its power. Similarly, Char has a line in this film where he states that "Someone has to shoulder the evils of humanity." Perhaps he sees it as his responsibility to do this, like when Amuro made him a "sacrifice" in Zeta. He might see himself as the man who shoulders the karma of the Spacenoids, and is just trying to do what he believes is best in an ultimately evil way. Char, similarly to Doba, even has a ghost show up to confirm that he is "Innocent" (though the ghost Doba sees is far more direct, saying "You really do care about the Buff Clan".).

  Overall, Char's Counterattack is probably the most interesting Gundam entry, up there with Victory for me. It leaves a lot for the viewer to chew on, while offering few answers, ultimately being a character piece showing this epic rivalry come to a head. Sorry if this review was a bit (see; a lot) nonsensical at times, I've just been wanting to talk about anime in a longform way again for a long time.

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