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Well, where to start?
Maybe the best part of G00, and that would be the drama. Usually in war-type anime, you rarely ever feel for the characters, even during their deaths. But the way they develop the characters, one really connected to them, be it good or bad. So while there's some cahracters whose death you actually rooted for, at the very least one did not feel indifferent to it, which is my point. I mean, who wasn't affected by Lock-on's final stand? Or Lichty's vain sacrifice for Christina? Or heck, for me the most dramatic moment wasn't even a death, but rather just the amputation of Louise by a Gundam's shot.
Which leads to the next topic, the mecha battles. Needless to say, any major character vs a Gundam was as fresh and epic as it was the last one. Was there even reused footage in the seires? If there was, then I didn't notice it at all even during the grunt battles.
One thing that stands out for me in G00 is that grunts aren't sitting ducks. While they still get blown to pieces in the end, at least a lot of the time they dodge, they hit, and actually give the sense of feeling that they're fighting back. That the only reason why they're losing isn't because of lack of tactics, planning, or numerical inferiority, but that of severely outclassed technology. In other words, the military is like a REAL military, rather than a bunch of incompetent imbeciles seen in other Gundam shows *cough*SEED*cough*DESTINY*cough*.
Which leads me to the worst part of Gundam 00: the plot 'twists' that literally comes out of nowhere to save the Gundams for another day. Whether it be new equipment (ugh... Trans-am), new allies (Thrones anyone?), or even downright inconsistencies (if after trans-am you're a sitting duck, then how the hell did Setsuna tie with Graham?), this was the biggest weakness of Gundam 00. You do it once, then I'd lay off a bit, but it seems time after time when the Gundams are in a pinch, something always saves the day for them. I mean, c'mon guys, how hard the hell is it to give a hint or two an episode or so before to foreshadow these plot devices?
All that said, I think this is head and tails better than any other Gundam I've seen, save maybe for Turn A. (Granted, I've only seen Wing and after)
Mecha Battles: A+
Drama: A+
Plot Device: C-
Overall Series Grade: A-
One thing I thought G00 severly lacked would be romance, but that hasn't affected the scores at all as it really is a personal preference. At the very least though, the characters seems to have LIs (even multiple ones) on the horizon. Setsuna, apart from Marina, connected with Feldt near the end, and we can't forget about psycho girl. Soma with Bear Guy of Russia, and we still don't know how she's connected with multiple personlaity disorder guy. Heck, even the connection between Louise and Tiera is suspicious, and get Saji thrown into the mix there, and I can see a lot of potential romance in the second season apart fromt he obvious ones. (Katagiri and Sumeragi, to name but one)
So all in all, I'm really looking forward to the next season.
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