Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn: 30-yr era ends
Noirit Mustapha
The Mobile Suit Gundam franchise debuted in 1979 with the original series starting what is now known as the Universal Century (UC) timeline. Over the decades, there would come more Gundam titles, some within this timeline and others starting their own alternative universe. But typically when one thinks of Gundam, they think of the original timeline that started it all. More than thirty years after it first began, Sunrise adapted the Gundam Unicorn novels into a seven-episode OVA series, which is meant to be a conclusion to the prominent early UC timeline.
The main story follows young Banagher Links in the year 0096, sixteen years after the events of the original. One day, he meets a young girl named Audrey Burne, who seems to be related somewhat to the major conflict still going on between the Federations Special Forces group and the Zeon Remnants. Followed by the sudden reveal and death of his father, and his involvement in a huge project that spanned back to the beginning of this timeline, he enters the titular Gundam Unicorn and faces his enemies head on. Along the way, he teams up with more people both in the Federation and Zeon as they search for the truth behind the greatest mysteries of the Universal Century.
Gundam Unicorns biggest strengths have to be its production values. Instead of wasting budget on CG animation at every moment, it delivers the classic hand-drawn style with as much finesse as possible, saving CG for the more intense scenes. Its soundtrack is also probably the most memorable in the timelines history, thanks to the ever popular Hiroyuki Sawano. The main downside, however, is the direction the plot takes as the story continues. Not only does it deviate harshly from the original source material, but the last few episodes pull some very confusing and weird turns of events. Anyone who follows just anime might find some enjoyment in Unicorn, but for diehard Gundam fans, it might turn out to be a big disappointment.
