Kidô Senshi Gandamu Jîkuakusu Biginingu

After the war between Zeon and the Earth Federation, a Zeon captain and his Gundam disappear. Years later, a Gundam resembling the captain's is seen outside a space colony. Zeon dispatches a prototype Gundam to chase it down, ultimately leading to the mysterious Gundam disappearing and the prototype being lost. Both Gundams end up in an underground battle operated by mysterious pilots.

This Gundam movie is hit or miss, depending on the viewer. The animation style changes halfway through, which is confusing. The story is slow, mainly about the war and the captain, and has little to do with the new part. With a runtime of one hour and twenty-one minutes, there are a decent number of mobile suit battles. It is excellent for the series and franchise fans, but it might not be worth it for newbies and novices.

This is an amalgam of four episodes that depict the end of the war between the breakaway "Zeon" and the "Earth Federation" some years after much of mankind had taken to living in cities located throughout the solar system. That war is touch and go, verging on stalemate, when the audacious "Char" manages to steal a prototype mobile suit (think "Pacific Rim") and turn it on their designers. It's a battle royal that ensues but as that concludes the enigmatic young "Char" disappears. The second part of the story skips on a few years as the search for "Char" and his suit has still to bear fruit, but a feisty young girl is the one to beat as she takes to her new "Gundam" suit only to find she seems to have natural powers to augment it's formidable capabilities. What's going on with her and where is the redoubtable champion? Well we don't find any of that out here, as this is just the start of the series, but what we do have works well enough as a stand alone adventure. The first section was my favourite, with much more intergalactic action, battles and combat going on. The second part reverted a little to the more traditionally frat-based team contest which attracts a bit less, but there's still plenty going on and it teases the rest of the story encouragingly. It's short and sweet and worth a watch.

The first half featured Char's alternate timeliness story, but he disappeared in the second half so we focus on another group of characters. Great story but felt like an abrupt finish with no post credit scene. Excellent animation and exciting battles. It's too bad that this story doesn't appear to be cannon for the original U. C. timline but true fans are used to that being the case since the late 90s. The mecha redesign has a Recongista look about it, and some of the characters are very colorful and expressive. I look forward to watching the series whenever it comes out. The pacing between scene was pretty fast so keep your eyes peeled, worth a rewatch in the theaters.