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

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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

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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

We are back for the second half of our Tomino-Thon, and we’re diving in with one of Tomino Yoshiyuki’s most legendary and defining works as a director: 1985’s Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam, the sequel to the series that changed anime forever, and the first expansion of Gundam into a larger ongoing franchise. We reviewed Zeta Gundam years ago as an early episode of our Weekly Suit Gundam podcast, but this series is so central in Tomino’s filmography, and our podcast has evolved so much since then, that we decided to take this opportunity to re-review the series from scratch, over two exciting episodes! In this week’s show, we’re covering the history behind the creation of Zeta Gundam and discussing the first 23 episodes, while the rest of the series, including its absolutely extraordinary final stretch of episodes, is up next week. What better way to kick off the Gundam-heavy second half of our marathon Tomino season!

Enjoy, and come back next week as we finish our Zeta Gundam re-review with episodes 24-50!

Time Chart:

Theme Song: 0:00:00 – 0:01:38

Intro and History: 0:01:37 – 2:01:03

Eyecatch Break: 2:01:03 – 2:01:47

Zeta Gundam Part 1 Review: 2:01:47 – 3:35:47

End Theme: 3:35:47 – 3:37:52

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

This month marks the 60th anniversary of the premiere of Japan’s most iconic tokusatsu franchise: ULTRAMAN! Created by the legendary special effects wizards at Tsuburaya Productions, Ultraman premiered on July 17th, 1966, and has been a phenomenon in Japan and around the world ever since. To mark the occasion, today we’re taking a look at 15 episodes from 5 different Ultraman series directed by the series’ most infamous filmmaker: the one and only Jissōji Akio, whose bizarre and innovative camerawork has proved an indelible influence on generation of Japanese filmmakers, including famous anime auteurs like Neon Genesis Evangelion’s Anno Hideaki. It’s some of the most inspired, bravura directing ever seen on television, and whether you’re a longtime Ultraman super-fan (like Sean) or a relative newcomer (like Jonathan), you will have a blast watching these amazing episodes.

TIME CHART:

• Theme Song: 0:00:00 – 0:01:14
• Intro: 0:01:14 – 0:21:18
• Ultraman History: 0:21:18 – 0:46:30
• Ultraman ‘66 Episodes: 0:46:30 – 1:40:08
• Ultraseven Episodes: 1:40:08 – 2:23:02
• Ultraman Tiga Episodes: 2:23:02 – 2:48:40
• Ultraman Dyna Episode: 2:48:40 – 3:03:18
• Ultraman Max Episode: 3:03:18 – 3:28:24

The full list of episodes we watched for this podcast:

• ULTRAMAN (1966) - Episodes 14 (The Pearl Defense Directive), 15 (Terrifying Cosmic Rays), 22 (Overthrow the Surface), 23 (My Home is Earth), 34 (A Gift from the Sky), and 35 (The Monster Graveyard)
• ULTRASEVEN (1967) - Episodes 8 (The Marked Town), 12 (From Another Planet with Love), 43 (Nightmare of Planet No. 4) and 45 (The Saucers Have Come)
• ULTRAMAN TIGA (1997) - Episodes 37 (Flower) and 40 (Dream)
• ULTRAMAN DYNA (1998) - Episode 38 (Kaiju Play)
• ULTRAMAN MAX (2005) - Episodes 22 (Butterfly Dream) and 24 (The Unmarked Town)

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

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

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

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

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

“Welcome to Japanimation Station” – Music by Thomas Lack, Lyrics by Sean Chapman, featuring Hatsune Miku. “Ice” – Music & Lyrics by Thomas Lack, featuring Hatsune Miku. https://www.thomaslack.com

For our last episode of Season 6 Part 1, we’re taking a look at the 3 OVA releases for Heavy Metal L-Gaim. Released between 1986 and 1987, the first two offer recap specials of the TV series alongside original comedy shorts, while the third, Full Metal Soldier, is an original story set during the first half of the show, and it’s a real treat if you enjoyed the series as much as we did. Then, we look back on Part 1 of our Tomino-thon with a bunch of fun rankings! We rank each of the 7 shows we reviewed this season, before counting down the craziest Tomino names, best theme songs, and greatest mech designs, as we used to do every year on Weekly Suit Gundam. It’s a very fun, very silly episode, as we take stock of the journey so far before continuing on to the second half of our season this fall.

Enjoy! We’ll be going on a short summer break as we finish Part 2 of our Tomino-thon season – dubbed “The Tears of Time” – which will be premiering this fall for another round of exciting episodes, beginning with Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam!

Time Chart:

Theme Song: 0:00:00 – 0:01:37

L-Gaim OVAs: 0:01:37 – 0:53:32

Eyecatch Break: 0:53:32 – 0:54:18

Tomino Rankings: 0:54:18 – 2:58:23

End Theme: 2:58:23 – 3:00:33

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 @JapanimationStationPod https://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

The second half of Heavy Metal L-Gaim bucks the trend from Xabungle and Dunbine of Tomino shows that become messier down the home stretch, as this final set of episodes sees Daba Myroad step fully into his role as rebel leader, and the show itself tighten into a more focused, substantive experience. As we come to learn more about the truth of Oldna Posaydal and the fractured politics of Pentagonal World, a number of characters become deeper and richer, and the series reveals itself as something of a narrative and thematic precursor to Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam. With incredible animation, excellent writing, and more of Nagano Mamoru’s outstanding mechanical designs, L-Gaim is a real triumph, and one of our favorite discoveries from this season’s episodes.

Enjoy! And come back next week for our mid-season finale, in which we wrap up Part 1 of our Tomino-Thon by discussing the L-Gaim OVAs, ranking our favorite ridiculous Tomino names, and more!

Time Chart:

Theme Song: 0:00:00 – 0:01:37

L-Gaim Part 2 Review: 0:01:37 – 1:23:37

Eyecatch Break: 1:23:37 – 1:24:22

L-Gaim Part 2 Review Continued: 1:24:22 – 3:10:30

End Theme: 3:10:30 – 3:12:40

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

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, a prickly anime veteran named Tomino Yoshiyuki teamed up with a plucky young aniq`mator named Nagano Mamoru, and with a healthy dose of inspiration from an obscure international sci-fi hit called Star Wars, they made one of the most rad mecha anime of the 1980s: Heavy Metal L-Gaim! In these first 26 episodes, we enter Pentagona World and meet our hero, Daba Myroad, as he begins a resistance against Pentagona’s mysterious ruler, Oldna Posaydal. Driven by outstanding and influential mech designs from Nagano and a fun, fleet-footed sense of storytelling, these episodes are perhaps Tomino at his breeziest, but also some of the most entertaining material we’ve watched all season.

Enjoy, and come back next week as we finish L-Gaim with episodes 27 through 54, where the show transforms into something even better…

Time Chart:

Theme Song: 0:00:00 – 0:01:37

Intro and History: 0:01:37 – 1:22:44

Eyecatch Break: 1:22:44 – 1:23:29

L-Gaim Part 1 Review: 1:23:29 – 3:13:37

End Theme: 3:13:37 – 3:15:46

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