I especially liked how it slowly showed how the post-apocalyptic world came to be, like in Fallout.

However, unlike Fallout, it never got around to showing the rest of the apocalyptic event. It ended too early IMO. It could really use a second part or season.

I understand that there may be a lack of source material (manga?) at the time of airing, but that’s still no good for me. And unfortunately, it looks like the manga is far from complete based on the number of chapters published.

The first part is basically Iron Blooded Orphans. The 86-ed / discarded child soldiers are human debris, and the way Shin pilots his Juggernaut is the same as Mika in Barbatos. Shin wields his pistol similarly to Mika, and is about as stoic too (though his stoicism reminds me more of Setsuna from 00).

Lena took on the princess role that is ever present in Gundam. She is pretty much Miorine from Witch from Mercury, and I liked her so much for it: she has the same righteous sense of justice, is feisty, and most importantly, is a go-getter, willing to put up a fight instead of just waiting to be rescued. And of course both of them have white hair.

In the second part, the specialisation of their mechs are similar to the Gundam meisters in 00, though it is not an exact match. Kurena’s role is one of obvious ones, being the sniper like Lockon in Dynames. Anju handles artillery / barrage attacks, which reminds me of Buster from SEED. Theo’s speedster mech and superior positioning is like Allelujah in Kyrios. Raiden’s unit seems to be a generic one, like the Duel from SEED. And finally Shin is the other obvious one, being the melee specialist like Setsuna in Exia.

Besides the usual “war bad” message that is typical of war series, there’s also an emphasis on moving forward like in Witch from Mercury (and recently for me, Violet Evergarden and Godzilla Minus One). Though, Lena took care of Shin’s survivor’s guild / PTSD in just a few minutes, something that Lacus struggled with for Kira across multiple episodes (which is more realistic TBH).

And lastly, we cannot ignore the class discrimination / racism / xenophobia, a mainstay of most Gundam series. There are probably more similarities that I can’t remember.

Anyway, it essentially combines all the good parts of Gundam series that I have watched into one; the grittiness of Iron Blooded Orphans, the all-out war like in Gundam SEED and finally the happy ending of Witch from Mercury. I love it so much.

The only things missing are humanoid mechs (which is a bit of pity due to the lack of opportunity for merch). Also, it has an easier way out of the conflict due to the common enemy for humans unlike in Gundam. These are just nitpicks really.

There are so many moments I liked. Off the top of my head:

• Lena’s uncle pointing out her and her father’s hypocrisy in their way of thinking
• Fido’s flashbacks
• Fido’s revival (yeah it is bullshit plot armour, but I’d rather things not get too tragic)

The most memorable moment for me has got to be the last 4 mins of the whole series. I thought it was going to blue-ball me in the previous episode, so thank goodness for this.

Also, I liked how even the side characters are not one-dimensional (e.g. some commanders appear to discriminate against them simply due to xenophobia, but it turns out they did so for other reasons).

To top it off, the attention to details (and references!) and the soundtracks are phenomenal.

There’s a bit of unnecessary melodrama, with Kira regressing to being a whiny removed who lost faith in Lacus, but that punch from Athrun makes up for it.

Also, it ended up focusing more on the romance aspect more than I expected, but I don’t think it’s a bad thing.

Like 86, I can’t name just one moment to be the best:

• how to miss every shot
• the best strategy is to charge straight ahead
• Shin can’t be mind-controlled because he’s literally no thoughts, head empty
• Athrun prevents mind control by showing (soft) porn
• Mu and Murrue
• Lacus stopped being a damsel in distress, and used her SEED mode to great effect