Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam: Difference between revisions

'''''Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam''''' (''Kidou Senshi Zeta Gundam'') is the second, arguably darkest (though ''[[Gundam Unicorn|Unicorn]]'' might be heading that way), and arguably most well-received, installment in the ''[[Gundam]]'' franchise. The original sequel to ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam]]'', ''[[Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam|Zeta Gundam]]'''s story follows [[Wangst|wangsty]] [[Teen Genius]] Kamille Bidan, who joins the rebellion AEUG out of hatred for the Federation. Following the One Year War, the [[The Federation|Earth Federation]] has created a special, elite branch of the military to police the space colonies and prevent anything like the One Year War from happening again. Unfortunately for all involved, this group, the Titans, are oppressive, corrupt, and elitist, believing that those born on Earth are inherently superior.

''Zeta Gundam'' features a much older and mature new cast; however, it is supported by many characters from the original series such as Captain Bright Noah, Amuro Ray, and Char Aznable wearing a [[Paper-Thin Disguise]] as Quattro Bajina.

In 2005, a series of movies began which remastered the series' animation and added new animation as well. In addition, the story was given a new, [[Lighter and Softer]] [[Bittersweet Ending]] that apparently retcons ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ]]'' and possibly ''[[Chars Counterattack]]'', if not the entire rest of the Universal Century timeline, out of canon, if not for [[Yoshiyuki Tomino|Tomino]] [[Word of God|explicitly saying]] it's just an [[Alternate Universe]] retelling of ''Zeta Gundam''.

''Zeta Gundam'' is a mainstay in ''[[Super Robot Wars]]'', being in every game until ''Judgement'', where after that all UC was excluded from the handheld titles, but reappears in ''Z'' and ''Another Century's Episode R'', as well as returning UC to handhelds in ''Z2''. During its intial run, ''Zeta Gundam'' had the highest rating of any ''Gundam'' series before and since. The show continues to be extremely popular in Japan, and its model kit sales continually get near the top of the Gundam lists. You can watch it for free on [https://web.archive.org/web/20141008045854/http://www.crunchyroll.com/mobile-suit-zeta-gundam CrunchyRoll.].

* [[Anti-Villain]]: Jerid Messa is a [[Jerkass]], but if he ''does'' come to care for someone else aside of himself, he does so ''very'' deeply, and seeing him cry when he loses those persons makes you [[Cry for the Devil]]:.

* [[Anyone Can Die]]: It's a ''Gundam'' series, what did you expect?

** Finally averted with the PMX-003 The O, which was simply too big and tough for beam guns to make a dent in its armour. Paptimus Scirocco's engineering genius probably helped, too.

* [[Bait and Switch Boss]]: {{spoiler|Jamitov and Bosque. Initially set up as a [[Big Bad Duumvirate]], they're soon supplanted by Scirocco.}}.

* [[Battle Couple]]: Jerid &and Mouar.

* [[Bishonen]]: Scirocco combines this with loads of charisma and newtypeNewtype powers for a disastrous combo. Also Kamille.

** Kamille's [[Buffy-Speak|bishonen-ness]] is played up in the ''SD gundamGundam'' series where he manages to [[Chick Magnet|pimp all of the female characters]] because they can "see the stars in his eyes"."

* [[Black and White Morality]]: The AEUG are probably the most heroic faction in all of UC Gundam while the Titans with a few exceptions like Jerid, Mouar, Sarah, and {{spoiler|Reccoa}} are portrayed as group of [[Complete Monster|Complete Monsters]]s and [[Smug Snake|Smug Snakes]]s, and Axis Zeon is shown to be only slightly less worse than the Titans.

** Scirocco's third mobile suit, the PMX-002 Bolinoak Samaan. It's the least striking of his designs and probably the weakest, but it's equipped with a sophisticated surveillance radome which entirely justifies this trope -: it's intended to gather information and report back, not engage in protracted conflicts.

** On the character side, there's Gates Capa, the third and last Cyber-Newtype. He's a stark contrast to Four and Rosamia -: while not nearly as powerful as either of them, he's also immune to the mental breakdowns both ladies are cursed by.

* [[Broken Bird]]: Four, Rosamia, Sarah, and Reccoa.

* [[Can't Catch Up]]: Fa, always trying to keep up with the other female pilots and managing to do it only once. To be fair to the girl, the Methuss isn't the best suit, and Fa was still skilled enough to survive.

** And on the other side of the war, there's Jerid. He gets more mobile suit upgrades than any other pilot, but no matter what the Titans give him, he can't compete with the Zeta Gundam.

* [[Cartwright Curse]]: Between Jerid and Kamille, {{spoiler|Mouar, Lila, Four and Rosamia are killed off. The first three get killed off by their [[Love Interest|Love Interest]]'s]] rival, and the last is simply killed by Kamille to prevent her from destroying the ''Argama.''}}

* [[Chick Magnet]]: Paptimus Scirocco. He manages to end the series with a harem of Newtype women ace pilots, most of which had defected to his side. He basically makes bishie charm a ''newtypeNewtype power''.

** Kamille gets a bit of this as well, with Fa, Four Murasame, Rosamia, and arguably Emma...

* [[Cliff Hanger]]: {{spoiler|Camille's mind is crushed by Scirocco, and even though the Titans have been defeated, Axis Zeon has not}}. Thankfully, ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ]]'' gave us a proper conclusion.

* [[Clingy Jealous Girl]]: (Beltorchika Irma has all that it takes to be one, but since she is about the only girl to fall for Amuro in ''Zeta Gundam'', this doesn't characterize her fully. Fa also is a bit like this.)

* [[Darker and Edgier]]: Compared to the original ''Mobile Suit Gundam'', which was already pretty dark in itself. ''Zeta Gundam'' has been called one of the darkest ''Gundam'' series ever made, topped possibly only by ''[[Mobile Suit Victory Gundam|Victory Gundam]]''. Its darkness is at least partially what makes it a fan favourite.

* [[Designated Girl Fight]]: Avoided throughout most of the series, but done in the [[Grand Finale]] with {{spoiler|Emma and Reccoa. Emma wins, but she dies soon afterwards}}.

* [[Died in Your Arms Tonight]]: {{spoiler|Four and Emma both die in Kamille's arms.}}.

* [[Downer Ending]]: Although {{spoiler|Camille succeeds in destroying Paptimus Scirocco for good, but in turn, his brain gets fried as a retaliation as well. The evil Titans are finally annihilated for good at last, but save for Fa and Bright, all the other heroes of AEUG die a horrible death, and Haman Karn successfully gives Zeon a rise to its former power, shadowing the future of Earth once again.}} .

** The [[Compilation MoviesMovie]]s changed this {{spoiler|to a [[Bittersweet Ending]]: Yesyes, most of the cast still die. Yup, there's still alot of bloodshed. However, Kamille doesn't get mind-fried, we see other characters (Amuro, the Kobayashi family, Mirai) reacting to the news, Haman retreats and arranges for Mineva to [[Give Him a Normal Life|go to school on Earth]], and the last scene is of Fa and Kamille hugging in space.}}.

* [[Enemy Civil War]]: {{spoiler|A covert one. Scirocco and his followers disrupt the Titans leadership from within, and Scirocco ultimately kills them and takes over the group.}}.

* [[Eva Fins]]: theThe Rick Dias, Hyaku Shiki, and several other mobile suits sport large back-mounted fins. [[Justified Trope|Justified]] as ''Wing Binders'', extra limbs to aid in AMBAC.

** ( {{spoiler|Reccoa might be a traitor, but she was ''real'' happy to kill Bosque as soon as she could. In fact, more than one Titan was NOT pleased to see the effects of the mass gassings: Gady Kinsey even gets a CMOA[[Crowning Moment of Awesome]] for managing to bullshit his way out of one and living to tell the tale.}}).

** Yazan, the resident [[Blood Knight]], is disgusted by [[Smug Snake]] Jamaican's cowardice. {{spoiler|He arranges his death shortly afterwards.}}.

* [[Evil Counterpart]]: {{spoiler|Reccoa,}}, to Emma. The differences in their motives for defecting from their respective factions give a very poignant demonstration of the difference between following your heart, vs. simply following your feelings.

** Scirocco to Camille as well. They're both ambiguously autistic, mobile suit engineering geniuses, and powerful Newtypes. The difference between them is compassion -: Camille is driven by it, while Scirocco has none of it.

* [[Evil Is Bigger]]: The Psyco Gundam, Psyco Gundam II, and anything designed by Scirocco will subscribe to this trope.

* [[Green Aesop]]: One of the first series to have an environmental message that starts to come off as a [[Space Whale Aesop]] by the end of the series. Earth, to the Spacenoids, looks polluted and is barely hanging by a thread... despite it not being covered in a neverending city. Despite it looking as healthy as it is now. And a [[Did Not Do the Research]] too-: the AEUG worrying about a ''single nuke'' being dropped would kill the Earth, while they conveniently forget that two nukes were set off in Jaburo with no ill effects to the entire planet-... and it'd take at least ''twelve'' nukes going off at the ''same time'' to cause catastrophic damage to the planet's environment-.. which it ''would'' recover from. It starts to become clear that Spacenoids are just trying to force people off of Earth for no good reason except they feel superior in space...

** Considering that before the invention of colonies the population, and wars, were really out of hand. It seemed that ''Zeta Gundam'''s Earth was on the cusp of going to the point of no return. Blex pointed out that the Sahara desert was expanding very quickly. So a nuke going off wasn't going to help matters.

* [[History Repeats]]: {{spoiler|An [[Ace Pilot]] falls in love with a Cyber-Newtype, despite the fact that she is used as a guinea pig for powerful and mind-damaging weaponry. During a fight between the aforementioned pilot and his [[The Rival|Rival]], the woman [[Taking the Bullet|sacrifices herself to save the man she loves]]}}. [[Mobile Suit Gundam|What series am]] [[Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam|I talking about]]?

* [[I Did What I Had to Do]]: Bosque Ohm tells Reccoa at one point that the Titans want a peaceful Earth Sphere, and their extreme methods are a result of impatience. However, any possibility of a spark of goodness is extinguished when {{spoiler|he laughs maniacally after firing the Gryps Laser for the first time, killing an entire colony worth of civilians.}}.

** Jamitov Hyman, full stop. If you have any doubts, just rewatch Zeta and ask yourself why he does the things he did. [[Drugs Are Bad|He must have been high.]].

*** [[Knight Templar]]

* [[Jerk with a Heart of Gold]]: Camille is an ''epic'' [[Mood Swinger]], but he does genuinely care for others and tries to do what he can for them. Possibly Jerid Messa as well;: see [[Anti-Villain]], above.

* [[Kill'Em All]]: [[Enforced Trope]] -: Tomino was seriously depressed when he directed ''Zeta Gundam'', which ultimately lead to ''Gundam ZZ''. The last episodes are the incarnation of this trope. Only worse could have been an 'End of the world' [[Downer Ending]], like [[Space Runaway Ideon|he did five years prior]].

* [[Klingon Promotion]]: Scirocco {{spoiler|becomes leader of the Titans after killing of Jamitov and arranging Bosque's death.}}.

* [[Light Is Not Good]]: Titan baddie Paptimus Scirocco wears a variant of the standard black Titans uniform -... guess what color he picks?

* [[Mauve Shirt]]: The AEUG's Rick Dias is basically the designated suit for these. One of the ''Argama'''s Dias pilots, the unfortunately-named Lieutenant Botty, even manages to survive the show in one piece.

* [[Meaningful Name]]: Psyco Gundam &and Psyco Gundam Mk. II, piloted by Four &and Rosamia, respectively. Technically, "psyco" is short for '''psy'''chic '''co'''mmunicator and refers to the machines' OS, but [[Ax Crazy|considering what happened to their pilots....]]

* [[Mecha-Mooks]]: The Titans have an extraordinary array of suits, but the humble RMS-106 Hizack is the most common and iconic. Being based on [[Mobile Suit Gundam]]'s legendary Zaku II helps, too.

* [[Mind Rape]]: {{spoiler|Scirocco hits Camille with one of these as he dies.}}.

* [[More Than Mind Control]]: Scirocco is not above adding a little spice to his seduction attempts by using his Newtype powers to screw with women's heads. Seeing what it does to {{spoiler|Reccoa}} in particular is downright scary, and makes '"The Call of Darkness'" one of the show's most disturbing episodes.

* [[No Accounting for Taste]]: Amuro's relationship with [[Clingy Jealous Girl]] Beltorchika baffles both Char and Kamille. Subverted in that Amuro knows all this very well, and is only involved with her because she provides an excuse for him not to go back into space -... which, after all he went through in the original series, he fears considerably more than sacrificing his personal freedom.

** And also, after being [[Put on a Bus]], Beltochika's clinginess [[Character Development|is toned down]] when she briefly reappears as a [[Hot Scoop|Hot]] [[Intrepid Reporter]] in episodeEpisode 37, {{spoiler|and even earns a CMOA[[Crowning Moment of Awesome]] by recording a brutal Titans skirmish, which lets Char show the world how horrible they are}}.

** One should keep in mind though, that the disguise is only paper thin to the viewer... the AUEG is genuinely surprised, since Char normally wore a mask during most of the One Year War, so there are only a handful of people who know him by looks!

* [[Retcon]]: The third [[Compilation Movie]] gives us a [[Bittersweet Ending]] instead of the original [[Downer Ending]]: {{spoiler|Kamille survives the duel with Scirocco more or less unscatched and is reunited with Fa and the rest of the ''Argama'' crew. Also, additional footage includes the reactions of characters like Amuro, Beltochika, Fraw, Retsu, Kikka, Mirai, Sayla and Kai.}}.

* [[Self-Made Orphan]]: Subverted: {{spoiler|Kamille hesitates when his [[Complete Monster]] father Franklin [[Offing the Offspring|tries to kill him in battle]], so someone else had to do it; it's implied to be Quattro in the original, and the Titans in the movie remake.}}.

** Though {{spoiler|his theft of the Mk-II is directly responsible for the circumstances that lead to his mother's death.}}.

* [[Spell My Name with an "S"]]: One of the worst offenders in anime history -: pick any character on the cast, and you're guaranteed to find at least three different variations on his or her name. Special mention goes to Quattro Bajeena, whose last name has been romanized in a very... ''interesting'' way on occasion -... see some of the Gundam video games for the [[PS 1]] to see what I mean.

* [[Super Robot Wars]]: This is one of the mainstays of the series and has appeared in most of the games. The movie remake series debuted in the spinoff game, ''Scramble Commander the 2nd'' and made its traditional debut in one of the most recent games, ''[[Super Robot Wars Z|Z]]''. It's returning for ''Z2''.

** [[Another Century's Episode]]: Appeared in the first game, but was sadly absent from ''2'' and ''3''. Makes a triumphant comeback in ''R''.

** {{spoiler|Mouar for Jerid}}.

** {{spoiler|Four for Kamille.}}.

** {{spoiler|Sarah for Scirocco.}}.

** {{spoiler|Apolly for Fa}}.

** Paptimus Scirocco's Messala is in fact the first transformable mobile suit ever seen in a ''Gundam'' series.

* [[Unfortunate Names]]: Quattro Bajeena, Jamitov Hymen, and [[Casanova|Paptimus Scirocco's]] "The O" mobile suit.

** Some romanizations in the [[Super Robot Wars]] games make Quattro Bajeena {{spoiler|Quattro Vagina}}.

** As bizarre as it sounds, this may actually be [[Theme Naming]]. The disfunctional, controlling relationships between men &and women are a major theme of this series, made explicit by {{spoiler|Reccoa's}} [[Famous Last Words]]. Three of the most disfunctional, controlling main characters having names based on female anatomy actually kinda fits.

** Some fans have taken to calling Paptimus Papsmear Circus. If it appears in a fanfic, it's nearly always Yazan who comes up with it. Needless to say, [[Berserk Button|Paptimus is less than amused]].

** Correct (verb): Toto beat the crap out of a subordinate for reasons ranging from gross incompetence to tardiness.

** Recreation (noun): Havinghaving a screaming row with your [[Tsundere]] girlfriend for the third time that morning.

* [[Vasquez Always Dies]]: {{spoiler|Four Murasame dies very tragically, [[Mobile Suit Gundam|once again showing]] that if you fall in love with a ''Gundam'' protagonist, you can expect [[Love Hurts|love to hurt a whole lot]]. [[Action Girl|Emma]] doesn't make it, either. Fa Yuiri, on the other hand, is quite broken by the events of the series, but recovers and helps Kamille get better from Scirocco's [[Mind Rape]]}}.

** As far as this series goes, it may as well be renamed [[Newtype Always Dies]]. Recall that that last person mentioned is NOT a newtypeNewtype, and keep in mind which young girl survives ''Gundam ZZ''... Also kind of note how they die. It seems becoming a Newtype gives you an inescapable urge to [[Taking the Bullet|leap in the way of dangerous objects]] if you're [[Ho Yay]] or female.

* [[Victory-Guided Amnesia]]: In a borderline and probably one of the most sad examples of this trope, {{spoiler|Camille gets [[Mind Rape|Mind Raped]] by Scirocco in the finale, not only making him forget everything that had ever happened to him, but also dimishing his mental capabilities, making his mental state somewhere between a vegetable and a young child.}} .

* [[Wham! Episode]]: Literally happens {{spoiler|when Katz slams into a piece of space debris and dies. This begins the mass culling of the cast in the [[Kill Them All]] ending of the series.}}.

** This gets hilarious in ''[[Super Robot Wars Alpha]] Gaiden'', where the first time she does this, it's completely justified, just not in the usual way. (Toto elaborate, the thing falling from the sky was gonna be a lot worse than a colony.).

** Char has more experience than Haman and Scirocco, but the two of them are both stronger as newtypesNewtypes, and their respective mobile suits were each superior to Char's Hyaku Shiki. Also, they initially double-teamed him, and by the time Kamille entered the fray, Hyaku Shiki was already heavily damaged.

* [[World Half Empty]]: This show was cynical even when compared to the rest of the UC ''Gundam'' series. [[Crapsack World|Considering how UC is most of the time]], that's saying a lot.

* [[You Are Not Alone]]: In a very depressing way of playing this straight, Emma tells this to Kamille at the very start of the last episode. The depressing part about this is that up to that point, {{spoiler|Kamille has lost his mother, his father, his lover, his (sort-of) little sister, and almost all of his friends and comrades. To top it off, Emma says this while dying}}. The important thing to note is that Emma is completely right -: {{spoiler|the Zeta Gundam's biosensor, coupled with Kamille's [[Psychic Powers|newtype powers]] allow him to [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|channel the powers of the dead to defeat Scirocco once and for all]] in the finale.}}.

[[Category:MobileAnime Suitof Zetathe Gundam1980s]]