The YouTube channel GundamInfo has posted the opening seven minutes of Mobile Suit Gundam The Origin I - Blue-Eyed Casval. Having taken in the splendor I'd like to take a moment to share my immediate thoughts. Any interested parties should hit the break for my full musings.
Animation: The film smartly begins with an action scene, Immediately we see Zeon ships being destroyed one after another, while Federation forces revel in their superiority until their confidence is shattered by the titular Red Comet. Brief as they were, the actions scenes are fluid and dynamic in a way that will look familiar to anyone who saw Unicorn episode 7. Char darts about crushing all in his way and perhaps my favorite moment is when he drop kicks a Core Fighter mid-flight.
That's not to say all was perfect in this opening preview, while the animation is unquestionably excellent the illustration doesn't quite hold up it's end of the bargain. Those of you who have watched the video will likely disagree stating it's all quite pretty and I'm inclined to agree with you. However, the issue isn't with how good the illustration looks rather how jarring the hand drawn illustration are against the CG backgrounds. Simply put the hand drawn images in MSG The Origin stick out like a sore thumb, which is unfortunate given how well their drawn. Once the film moves away from the battle field, the traditional illustration really shines through.
English Voice Cast: This is a complaint I have with anime in general, English voice actors are mediocre at best. Perhaps it is the direction but I prefer the Japanese voice actors for one reason, emotion. It may be ignorance on my part, but Japanese voice actors convey greater emotion than their English counterparts who often sound unfamiliar with what they're supposed to be feeling - anger notwithstanding.
Setting aside Char, the characters of MSG The Origin are no exception. The more the actors speak the worse they sound. There's lots of shouted dialog from multiple characters - most notably Dozle Zabi - yet emotion is lacking in almost every case. Young char sounds nothing like the small child he's meant to be, rather he sounds like an adult trying to imitate a child. His raspy voice seems insufficient to convey anything other than rancor - which may actually be the point of the performance.
Though this is but the films seven minutes, those seven minutes feature some pretty good dialog. While I doubt it'll win any awards for it's writing the film does at times sound absolutely brilliant, such as when the Black Tri-Stars are complementing Char or Zeon Daikun's angry rantings about the quality of his recently penned speech.
Final Thoughts: While I do take issue with some of the design decisions and am underwhelmed by the vocal cast, I'm still eagerly anticipating February 28th. This is an anime project that caught my attention from the very beginning and used a wonderful trailer to ensnare me further. Furthermore, even when I hated the original show that spawned Char Aznable - I've since come around - I thought he was a cool character, so diving into his origins is a trip I'm all to happy to take. It's just a trip I'd rather take with Japenese voice actors and English subtitles.
Well those are my thoughts on the matter if any of you readers have opinions on the opening or my opinions drop me a comment. If you haven't yet seen the opening see if for yourself:
Animation: The film smartly begins with an action scene, Immediately we see Zeon ships being destroyed one after another, while Federation forces revel in their superiority until their confidence is shattered by the titular Red Comet. Brief as they were, the actions scenes are fluid and dynamic in a way that will look familiar to anyone who saw Unicorn episode 7. Char darts about crushing all in his way and perhaps my favorite moment is when he drop kicks a Core Fighter mid-flight.
That's not to say all was perfect in this opening preview, while the animation is unquestionably excellent the illustration doesn't quite hold up it's end of the bargain. Those of you who have watched the video will likely disagree stating it's all quite pretty and I'm inclined to agree with you. However, the issue isn't with how good the illustration looks rather how jarring the hand drawn illustration are against the CG backgrounds. Simply put the hand drawn images in MSG The Origin stick out like a sore thumb, which is unfortunate given how well their drawn. Once the film moves away from the battle field, the traditional illustration really shines through.
English Voice Cast: This is a complaint I have with anime in general, English voice actors are mediocre at best. Perhaps it is the direction but I prefer the Japanese voice actors for one reason, emotion. It may be ignorance on my part, but Japanese voice actors convey greater emotion than their English counterparts who often sound unfamiliar with what they're supposed to be feeling - anger notwithstanding.
Setting aside Char, the characters of MSG The Origin are no exception. The more the actors speak the worse they sound. There's lots of shouted dialog from multiple characters - most notably Dozle Zabi - yet emotion is lacking in almost every case. Young char sounds nothing like the small child he's meant to be, rather he sounds like an adult trying to imitate a child. His raspy voice seems insufficient to convey anything other than rancor - which may actually be the point of the performance.
Though this is but the films seven minutes, those seven minutes feature some pretty good dialog. While I doubt it'll win any awards for it's writing the film does at times sound absolutely brilliant, such as when the Black Tri-Stars are complementing Char or Zeon Daikun's angry rantings about the quality of his recently penned speech.
Final Thoughts: While I do take issue with some of the design decisions and am underwhelmed by the vocal cast, I'm still eagerly anticipating February 28th. This is an anime project that caught my attention from the very beginning and used a wonderful trailer to ensnare me further. Furthermore, even when I hated the original show that spawned Char Aznable - I've since come around - I thought he was a cool character, so diving into his origins is a trip I'm all to happy to take. It's just a trip I'd rather take with Japenese voice actors and English subtitles.
Well those are my thoughts on the matter if any of you readers have opinions on the opening or my opinions drop me a comment. If you haven't yet seen the opening see if for yourself:
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