If you’ve ever listened to us before, you know Char’s Counterattack is a film we cannot shut up about. It very much lives in our minds rent free, not just as one of Tomino Yoshiyuki’s and Gundam’s finest hours, but an incredibly kinetic and powerful action masterpiece that asks big questions and forces the viewer to sit with and accept a lack of easy answers. So in coming back to the film today, we dive deep into the film’s production history, its various literary sources (since Tomino wrote two completely separate and contradictory novelizations in the lead-up to the film), and review it in the context of everything we’ve seen in our Tomino-Thon so far. And unsurprisingly, there’s still an awful lot to say – this is one of our favorite films of all time.

Enjoy, and come back next week to hear all about the troubled production – and stellar artistry – of Mobile Suit Gundam F91!

Time Chart:

Theme Song: 0:00:00 – 0:01:38

Char’s Counterattack Part 1: 0:01:38 – 1:38:31

Eyecatch Break: 1:38:31 – 1:39:17

Char’s Counterattack Part 2: 1:39:17 – 2:55:56

End Theme: 2:55:56 – 2:58:02

Listen to our original Char’s Counterattack review on episode 9 of Weekly Suit Gundam from September 2019 – https://youtu.be/xg0hyAkE1hc?si=CChXGdhlpUUo4AxI

Read Jonathan’s written review of Char’s Counterattack from October 2024 - https://www.jonathanlack.com/p/review-mobile-suit-gundam-chars-counterattack

Subscribe to our YouTube channels!

Japanimation Station: https://www.youtube.com/c/japanimationstation

Purely Academic: https://www.youtube.com/@purelyacademicpodcast

Read Jonathan Lack’s movie reviews and stay up to date with all our podcast projects at https://www.jonathanlack.com

Subscribe to PURELY ACADEMIC, our monthly variety podcast about movies, video games, TV, and more: https://purelyacademic.simplecast.com

Follow Japanimation Station on Instagram and Threads @JapanimationStationPodhttps://www.instagram.com/japanimationstationpod/

Read Jonathan’s book 200 Reviews in Paperback or on Kindle – https://a.co/d/bLx53vK

“Tominoson-G Mk. V” – Music by Thomas Lack, Lyrics by Sean Chapman, featuring Hatsune Miku & KAITO. “The World You See” – Music & Lyrics by Thomas Lack, featuring Hatsune Miku. https://www.thomaslack.com

With Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam having successfully revived Gundam, Tomino Yoshiyuki and his team at Sunrise jumped straight into a sequel the following year with Gundam ZZ, a series that follows up on the Argama Crew’s battle with Haman Karn and Neo Zeon, but with a new team of heroes and a ‘brighter’ tone. We’ve always loved ZZ here, with its outstanding central cast, amazing antagonists, and stretches like the Dublin Colony Drop that are among the best bits of Gundam ever made. But since we’ve discussed the series in depth before, we focus more on the history and background of the series this time, while looking at specific standout episodes to better appreciate the series’ place in Tomino’s career.

Enjoy, and come back next week as Gundam hits the big screen with the seminal classic Char’s Counterattack!

Time Chart:

Theme Song: 0:00:00 – 0:01:38

Intro and History: 0:01:38 – 2:16:11

Eyecatch Break: 2:16:11 – 2:16:54

Gundam ZZ Discussion: 2:16:54 – 3:23:30

End Theme: 3:23:30 – 3:25:35

Gundam ZZ Episodes Watched for this Podcast – Episodes 2, 3, 11, 12, 17, 18, 19, 27, 28, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 45, 46, and 47

Listen to our original Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ review on episode 8 of Weekly Suit Gundam from September 2019 – https://youtu.be/ciVVxnsfq7E?si=Ggz2JWrbaWBJZQpZ

Subscribe to our YouTube channels!

Japanimation Station: https://www.youtube.com/c/japanimationstation

Purely Academic: https://www.youtube.com/@purelyacademicpodcast

Read Jonathan Lack’s movie reviews and stay up to date with all our podcast projects at https://www.jonathanlack.com

Subscribe to PURELY ACADEMIC, our monthly variety podcast about movies, video games, TV, and more: https://purelyacademic.simplecast.com

Follow Japanimation Station on Instagram and Threads @JapanimationStationPodhttps://www.instagram.com/japanimationstationpod/

Read Jonathan’s book 200 Reviews in Paperback or on Kindle – https://a.co/d/bLx53vK

“Tominoson-G Mk. V” – Music by Thomas Lack, Lyrics by Sean Chapman, featuring Hatsune Miku & KAITO. “The World You See” – Music & Lyrics by Thomas Lack, featuring Hatsune Miku. https://www.thomaslack.com

After reviewing the first half of Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam last week, we finish up our revisitation of one of Tomino Yoshiyuki’s undisputed masterpieces with a deep dive on the series’ second half. Building to one of the greatest final stretches in anime history and introducing iconic new villains Haman Karn and Paptimus Scirocco, Zeta Gundam only gets sharper and stronger as it barrels towards its legendary ending, and we still have plenty of new things to say about it all these years later. We also cover the series’ historical reception, from its controversial initial airing to its eventual re-evaluation as one of the great sequels in anime history.

Enjoy, and come back next week as we move on to Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ!

Time Chart:

Theme Song: 0:00:00 – 0:01:38

Zeta Gundam Review Pt. 1: 0:01:38 – 1:00:23

Eyecatch Break: 1:00:23 – 1:01:07

Zeta Gundam Review Pt. 2: 1:01:07 – 3:12:46

End Theme: 3:12:46 – 3:14:50

Listen to our original Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam review on episode 7 of Weekly Suit Gundam from August 2019 – https://youtu.be/C7CnXtCtjxc?si=RWYBYb2W9Z30a_HG

Subscribe to our YouTube channels!

Japanimation Station: https://www.youtube.com/c/japanimationstation

Purely Academic: https://www.youtube.com/@purelyacademicpodcast

Read Jonathan Lack’s movie reviews and stay up to date with all our podcast projects at https://www.jonathanlack.com

Subscribe to PURELY ACADEMIC, our monthly variety podcast about movies, video games, TV, and more: https://purelyacademic.simplecast.com

Follow Japanimation Station on Instagram and Threads @JapanimationStationPodhttps://www.instagram.com/japanimationstationpod/

Read Jonathan’s book 200 Reviews in Paperback or on Kindle – https://a.co/d/bLx53vK

“Tominoson-G Mk. V” – Music by Thomas Lack, Lyrics by Sean Chapman, featuring Hatsune Miku & KAITO. “The World You See” – Music & Lyrics by Thomas Lack, featuring Hatsune Miku. https://www.thomaslack.com