Audience reviews
20 · Sample from the first available page, separate from the total number of ratings.
_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 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…
Read at the sourcecircustance
Gundam Thunderbolt is one of those anime series that are surprisingly short but within this small burst of four episodes we basically get one of the best animes I have seen in a long time. Thunderbolt delivers on so many levels and especially caters to long time fans of the series and the U.C. era. To a newbie to Gundam I would suggest you watch at least one other early U.C. era Gundam series before watching this one because the story kind of expects you to already know what's going on in this time period and as such mostly focuses on the battles and also "somewhat" devotes it to the characters as well.
Don't get me wrong the characters in Thunderbolt are great, even with somewhat limited time to explain their stories due to the small amount of episodes it still manages to get their stori…
Read at the sourceBors_137
I understand the appeal of having gorgeous mecha blowing each other up in a well animated battle spectacle to the tune of snappy upbeat jazz, I really do. It’s just a shame that Gundam Thunderbolt couldn’t deliver much more than that. It’s definitely a good looking and sounding show, but its narrative and characters fall short in comparison. Not to say it can’t be enjoyable and entertaining, but your experience will greatly vary on what you look for in your gundam shows.
The main duo weren’t particularly bad, yet come off as very underwhelming. Not much effort on giving them personality outside of making sure they were polar opposites. Io Fleming is reckless, rebellious, and purely driven by his desire to feel alive in the battlefield. Daryl on the other hand is the calm, kind soul that f…
Read at the sourceBohemianRhapsody
2015 has been a pretty good year for Gundam fans, with both "Origin" and "Iron-Blooded Orphans" being interesting additions to the franchise. However, I believe that the achievement for the best entry to the Gundam franchise in the recent years should go to "Thunderbolt".
Right from the start, "Gundam Thunderbolt" sets itself apart from other Gundam anime: it doesn't focus on large-scale battles or pilots single-handedly shifting the tides of war; instead, it chooses to focus on how war can affect a soldier's life, and especially, on a personal battle between two pilots of opposing sides.
The main characters of "Thunderbolt" are Federation pilot Io Fleming and Zeon pilot Daryl Lorenz. They have completely different personalities, and yet their goals are the same. Much like the film "Enem…
Read at the sourceNadeSadeFadeWade
Edit: I've changed to a different way of working out the overall rating I give anime now, as I think it works better than just my hype from the moment of watching an anime.
Just gonna say this I have no knowledge of the Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt Manga.
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Animation
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The animation for this show was brilliant.
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The sound was brilliant, the voice acting was perfect to me, and the various soundtracks were awesome, especially the Jazz soundtracks.
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Story
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The story was well laid out and gave good incite to all the characters backstories and was a primary driving force for the story.
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Character
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All the characters w…
Read at the sourcePoeticJustice
The sweat drips off his forehead as he enters the cockpit. He sits in the rigid yet comfortable cockpit. He closes his eyes, begins to block out the environment. It distracts him. He talks out his Walkman, places it on the dashboard in front of him. He turns to his favorite genre, fusion jazz. It is chaotic, unstructured and full of passion. It is just like him. He gets filled with the adrenaline from the impending battle. This thrill, this feeling is what gives him life. It is in these moments that he truly knows what it means to be alive.
The Gundam series has always been about the never ending battle between two entities, The Earth Federation, and the Principality of Zeon. The mainline Gundam series have always been grand, touching on both the military and the political sides of the wa…
Read at the sourceRikuson1
Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt Review
Story (9/10) Great
The story for Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt is great even though it does not adapt the entire manga because that's still ongoing and unfortunately if we want to continue the story that's where you're going to have to go at least until season 2 comes out as far as this review. But as far as what little story they gave us it has capture the initial war story and atmosphere that the original Gundam set out to bring to the table. The presentation alone on every level definitely help more so than before because I did read the manga and about 9 of chapters were out before the anime aired and I didn't feel it was as great as the anime made it out to be. From an anime standpoint it is definitely presented far better than the manga which i…
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