Audience reviews
20 · Sample from the first available page, separate from the total number of ratings.
Frousties
While Gundam Thunderbolt doesn't really bring anything of substance to the franchise, its short duration and gorgeous visual prevents it from being drag; instead it feels like a concenteated Gundam shot if you need a quick fix.
An easy way to describe this short series is "Gundam but in 75 mins".
It has all the classic and tried bits that Gundam has been remixing for almost 50 years. Loss to war? Check. Vicious rivalry? Check. Zeon vs the federation? Check. So on and so forth.
In this way it doesn't feel like a proper fully fledged show but more of a parody or worse, an advert. There really isn't much to really critique here as it's all theoretically good, but there's just not enough to bite into and it's already over by the time you understood who is who.
The pacing is so breakneck yo…
Read at the sourceemberreviews
Mobile Suit Gundam: Thunderbolt is a tour de force of mecha animation and one of the most mentally taxing action anime I have ever seen. From jump, it is brutally honest about its portrayal of war and the perpetual meat grinder that both the Federation and Zeon continuously pumping fresh bodies into, yet it still takes some of our main characters until the very bitter end for them to realize the role that they played in feeding the ever-hungry maw of death. This contrast is most effectively conveyed through the dichotomous soundtrack choices of our lead characters, with Daryl’s easy-listening and nostalgic serenity, representing the noble ideals he believes he’s fighting for, contrasted harshly against Io’s freeform jazz spewing chaos, dissonance, and adrenaline at every turn.
The impeccab…
Read at the source_Lazaroth_
(LAZAROTH REVIEW - LONG - SPOILER FREE)
"Mobile Suit Gundam: Thunderbolt" Movie/series 1: "December Sky" is an absolute visual spectacle with an promising dark plot, but with some bad execution.
Story/Characters/Action:
Just when you think that Gundam has exhausted its unique or interesting battle concepts, here comes Gundam Thunderbolt with a space battle among a thick debris field with an even thicker Minovsky particle density that prevents long distance communication. Combined with the high number of deadly snipers and beams that could hit you from any direction unseen, and you have an more terrifying setting than even the jungles of "MSG: 8th MS team". It's a very unique idea that sets the stage for many great battles and drama. The setting goes hand in hand with showing the utter…
Read at the sourceOverlordBel
I am kinda ashamed to admit that I have not yet given the Gundam series a chance. I plan to go back and watch from the very first anime, and make my way up.
And yet, one day I decided to give Gundam Thunderbolt a watch, considering it was just 4 episodes and I could experience it in one sitting.
While I dont know how good the other Gundam anime are, I gotta say Thunderbolt is most probably one of the high points of the entire series.
Thunderbolt was an amazing surprise. I never expected to see such a raw depict of a war between mecha. While other mecha anime makes you wish that you could pilot mechas and participate in battles out there in space, I feel like this anime makes you feel the opposite. It gets gory and brutal, like fights between giant robots would be in real life.
Not to menti…
Read at the sourcealgoPotaku
This gundam series has the best character design of all gundam so far from what I saw of the series, each of the character designs seems unique and very characteristic of this same series. In turn, the music in the series plays an important factor for the soldiers and I liked that a lot, with the best soundtrack of all gundam so far from the series I saw. The story is the same as always zeon against the federation and well we see a lot of death and destruction. In this anime there is no political plot directly action that I liked is 4 ovas of 20 minutes so they know quickly. I recommend it to everyone who wants to see death and destruction.
En español:
Esta serie de gundam tiene el mejor diesño de personajes de todo gundam hasta el momento de lo que vi de las series, cada uno de los diseño…
Read at the sourceMFbaba
Ah, Gundam Thunderbolt. What can I say? There is a great appeal to this series for its high-quality production: animation and sound. I could even consider this short series to be a music video of the sort. (Have you seen intersella5555?) If you are looking for a complex narrative to attach yourself to, this is not it. Let's delve further, shall we?
Animation: Little needs to be said about the animation. The backgrounds and character designs, I found, are simply gorgeous. Whether its the bleak, war-torn space scenery to the background characters that highlight the atrocities of war.
Sound: As an avid jazz-head, this is what initially attracted me to this series. What shocked me was the various genres in the OST. Country music, free jazz, post-bop, and a melancholy ballad come to mind whe…
Read at the sourceRauLeCreuset
As a major Gundam fan who owns all the original mobile suit gundams all the way up to the movie char's counter attack as well as Mobile Suit Gundam Stardust Memory and Mobile Suit Gundam 08th The MS team. As well as owning japanese ps2 gundam games and american ps2 gundam games. I have to say this, although short, this anime was packed with action from the very beginning, both the protagonist and the antagonist had their hands full from the start, both fighting for something bigger then themselves and willing to do whatever it took to avenger the deaths of both their comrades and loved ones all at the same time while trying to win an seeming never ending war between the earth federation or "feddies" and the Principality of Zeon. I love anything to do with Gundams and this is a must watch.
Read at the sourcesupedeglupe
Okay, I have been going in order down the UC timeline, and quite frankly this one just feels out of place. The freeform jazz is something you already have to appreciate in order to enjoy the theater it so constantly forces you into. But I have a lot of grievances with these 8 eps to the point where I have to write a review.
The music was something you will read about in almost every review because it is so prevalent. And I for one enjoy jazz. The soundtrack got to a nauseating point. It almost is telling you how to feel, and there is not really any time to enjoy the dialogue or emotions that would naturally be evoked.
Also. this is year 0080 I believe. You want me to believe that within the same year of those well-thought out ground combat scenes in 08th MS Team, that they now are able t…
Read at the sourceManthors
[Edit] Hard to talk about the first season of Thunderbolt, because it's only a few short episodes. All I can say its good, and a nice addition to the Gundamverse. I`ll leave my thoughts to you.
Story: Good one, classic Gundam space odyssey. Thunderbolt's a pretty dark Gundam, dwelling into the loss of sanity of these people in war. This is an awesome addition to the Gundams series because Gundam is an anime about war. You will see people lose their minds, and look like crazy people, thus, it is actually accurate. I loved the feeling of solitude and sadness that this series achieved, being extremely realistic to the nature of the space-side of Gundam. The story ends with a major cliffhanger, which is nice, making you wonder. Be advised that Thunderbolt is set in the UC, so you must know a…
Read at the sourceFrozenRoy
I went into this show with some knowledge of Gundam, although I have not watched much, and with the idea of reviewing a short series for the night I watched it. Robots, dark stories, the combat of war...these are all things that interest me, so with a solid score, I dove into Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt.
The tone of the show's darkness definitely strikes right away, after a jazzy start of a space army getting ready and then going right into getting blown away. While Thunderbolt gets right to the point, in this regard I feel it suffers, giving little room to consider or process events and frequently moving too fast to really create an investment with the characters. Talking about the overall plot and narrative of Thunderbolt is hard because, honestly, it...doesn't have much of one, desp…
Read at the sourceWerty800
Thunder is one of the most frightening and destructive forces of nature when it really gets going. One look at the dark, stormy sky is enough to evoke the feeling of danger and terror. Despite that, many are intrigued by this menacing natural phenomena. It's bright, loud and brings excitement into the usually boring and lazy skies and it's not always so dangerous. Those that aren't interested in it, can still look forward to what comes after it: the sparkling sun, the beautiful scent of fresh air and the calmness that we grow to appreciate after the storm.
What thunder reminds me of is war. After all it's created by particles clashing against each other, it tries to hit the ground because it's charge is different than the one it possesses and most importantly, it is just as fickle and hard…
Read at the sourceLindle
In little over an hour, Gundam Thunderbolt accomplishes more than most Gundam titles do in 50 episodes.
The most common theme of the Gundam franchise is that war is hell. This is often overshadowed, however, by flashy mobile suit fights. As such, what we ultimately take away from these series is less "war is bad" and more "robots are cool".
But while Thunderbolt may be visually appealing, it never loses focus of what it's about. Thunderbolt is, start to finish, a sheer emotional gut-punch of an anime. It makes every scene it can into an uncomfortable and harrowing experience. From inexperienced soldiers being mown down to graphic war injuries - and most notably, a stunning scene in which we see a Zaku being destroyed by the titular mobile suit, all from a first person perspective of the…
Read at the sourceCodeBlazeFate
*SPOILERS FOR MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM THUNDERBOLT*
Thunderbolt is definitely an interesting series within the Universal Century timeline of Gundam. It preaches what we already know: war is hell. However, it doesn't do this in a manner that makes it come off as obnoxiously preachy like say, Gundam 00 Second Season, and it doesn't do that in away that involves shooting the quality of its writing in the foot like say, Gundam SEED and SEED Destiny (aka the entire Cosmic Era). At the same time, with not even a 1/10 of the amount of episodes as the Cosmic Era, and ONLY 1/10 of the amount of runtime as 00 S2, it manages to do far more than both of those series in terms of actually showing just how fucked up war can be. Then again, a large number of series in the UC timeline is dedicated to this. So,…
Read at the sourcePheolingAnimu
War has been prevalent throughout human history and we can expect it too be for many more years. The fascination with war has lead too many movies, video games, and even anime based on it. Many showing it as a glamorous thing that is fun and exciting. Mobilesuitgundam thunderbolt is the opposite.
Thunderbolt is a show about the brutal reality and harshness that comes with war. Showing that war doesn't give a crap about your love, family, or ambitions. People will die, many people in fact. Everyone who goes to war has their own goals and people waiting at home for them , but once on the battlefield all that is at risk.
In Thunderbolt you get too see how people on both side of the battlefield all have their own motives and emotions. All usually being vastly similar to their counterparts.…
Read at the sourceKitsunehimeMilhi
I personally chose the shortest Gundam series I found on here and decided to watch it because I had some time. I only did this so I actually say I've at least seen some installment of one of the classic mecha series. I'm honestly really disappointed with it though and I'll explain why.
The story really isn't anything more than a typical war in space story between opposing federation factions. That's really all there is to it, except that they use giant robots are their weapons. I wish they actually showed some weapons or something being used on the Gundams because they were kind of lame. I'm just going to assume that all Gundams have this type of story so luckily I watched the shortest one.
I'm personally sick of the kind of music used in this anime because it's used in almost every show…
Read at the sourceFel_Temp
So I'm the type of person who gets really annoyed by well directed anime trying to work with shitty scripts. Like I thought Windaria was ruined by its writing, and Macross Plus only drops in quality whenever anyone opens their mouth. So I didn't have very high expectations for a Gundam series that has a reputation of being all style and no substance.
Here's the thing: they're right. The characters don't have much depth, there isn't any message beyond the most basic "war is bad," and watching it doesn't even add much perspective to the UC Gundam universe. But sometimes, style is enough. The series is gorgeous, has a great soundtrack, is paced very well, and might be the best directed Gundam series I've ever seen. I think the big difference between this and the anime I criticized above is t…
Read at the sourceblue5peed
Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt, In war there are two types of soldiers and they both play jazz.
MSG Thunderbolt is a story about the kinds of people that are able to survive and even thrive in the extreme environment of war, this is illustrated through the struggle of opposing factions ace pilots, protagonist Daryl Lorenz an amputee sniper of the 'Living Dead Division' and antagonist Io Fleming of the 'Moore brotherhood' a thrill seeking adrenaline junkie of questionable morality. For both factions their ace is indispensable but for very different reasons.
The Living Dead Division is a military corps of amputee pilots and it represents men who must first be broken down before their concious might assent to the grim theater of war. Observing them at their base the 'Dried Fish' we see an…
Read at the sourcedott_1
I think the only bad thing about this is that you have to wait until you see another episode. That being fixed in December Sky makes it a Masterpiece to me. Still, i should give it the 10/10, but due to just one little thing that i had that didn¡t seem to be so insane as the others, i'll give it a well deserved 9.
The story is just insane, and how it brings the climax wich let me say are brutal/insane because of the way the story prepares you to expect something or not to expect anything and throws you this insane thing out of the blue, leaving you with your mouth open for more than a few seconds.
All the components fit great, the story with the music, the music with the art, the art with the characters, and the characters with the enjoyment. The big thing about this series it's not how…
Read at the sourceabovetheveil
Do you have a good understanding of the background to this story? If no, you'll definitely struggle with this. I know I did.
Do you like jazz music? Me neither, so subjectively I didn't like the soundtrack at all. I prefer something more along the lines of Gundam Wing.
Story 5/10 -
I will start with a question to Sunrise - What was the point of this? I mean you have a great setting - adult Gundam pilots in the middle of a war and you decide to squeeze out only 4 episodes? I felt I was thrown in the middle of something that could have been very interesting if given more context and background information. If this was at least 12 episodes, then it would be a smooth 8 but the lack of closure, the rushed beginning and lack of context left me lost the whole way through.
Art 8/10 - Love it, i…
Read at the sourceggultra2764
It would seem the Gundam franchise has been on a bit of a roll with quality lately following my viewing of Unicorn and Iron-Blooded Orphans. Unlike many of its past predecessors, Thunderbolt takes on a more gritty and bleaker mood in its focus on the conflict with the forces led by ace Zeon sniper Daryl Lorenz and ace Federation pilot Io Fleming. This change in mood allows the series to do away with the Gundam franchise's typical cliches and flaws as major characters are older in age, do not engage in ideological babbling during heated battles, and the main mecha of the series are not portrayed to be nearly unstoppable in battle.
Like Gundam 0083, Thunderbolt explores the ongoing conflict within the Thunderbolt sector through the perspectives of both Daryl and Io. Both have their personal…
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