Many fans got to see the first two movies of the trilogy through fansubs, but upon licensing, were left out on the final movie.
The same highlights of the first two movies are here as well, cleaned up and/or redone animation, some new soundtracks (primarily the opening and ending songs).
The story continues where II left off, Hamaan and the Neo-Zeon (though their name isn't established until ZZ) show up and begin negotiations with Char and the AEUG. In an attempt to re-establish the Principality of Zeon with a new heir, they've dragged the asteroid Axis along for the ride (filled with nuclear weapons and a fleet of new ships and advanced mobile suits). As if this wasn't enough, Scirocco begins his coup against the Titans, and all four factions (including the AEUG) struggle for dominance in their beliefs for the future of the Earth Sphere at the Gryps colony area.
As the movie progresses, it gets complicated. Alliances are made and broken by not only the four factions, but several characters as well. With the already set fast paced, the viewer can expect to see two characters fighting together, then fighting each other every 5-10mins. Normally, this course of events would take several episodes to accomplish, and allow a feeling of time passing by, but this isn't the case. Also, with the fast paced action, Titan and Scirocco ace pilots have a new mobile suit in every battle. It becomes hard to distinguish who's who and who's fighting who very quickly unless you've seen the original series. The original trilogy (0079) faced the same problem, but it wasn't nearly as bad as this. It took time to build up why each suit was greater than the last. The Gouf was found to be a stronger though much different form of the massly used Zaku II; the Doms were first introduced through the Tristars before seen as mass produced in the third movie; and even Char's constantly changing suits weren't too hard to keep up with (Zaku S->z'Gok->Gelgoog->Zeong). In Zeta though, it's much different.
Also, in the original series, large plot battles showed more emphasis on Amuro fighting common enemy pilots and ships before dog fighting his rival. In this movie, you can expect to see Camille launch, fire a salvo of missing shots, and watch the rival retreat; over and over again. Though the movie is heavily action oriented, I felt bored watching my "heros" launch, and chase other mobile suits all over the battle field, then retreat. To make the final battles more enticing, instead of the usual missed shots and retreat, another pilot would get killed before the enemy's retreat. Just once, I wanted to see Char and Camille go out and destroy a fleet of commons before the enemy aces could show up, as Amuro originally did.
In the end though, it holds as a good movie after getting through some serious chaos. I must admit, it made me anxious to see ZZ because it does end on almost a "to be continued..." note.
In summation, be prepared for some fast paced chaos, and several boring battles, but in the end a solid gundam classic.
Also, I compared much of A New Translation to the original 0079 trilogy due to the same format of 50+ episodes into 3 movies.
The same highlights of the first two movies are here as well, cleaned up and/or redone animation, some new soundtracks (primarily the opening and ending songs).
The story continues where II left off, Hamaan and the Neo-Zeon (though their name isn't established until ZZ) show up and begin negotiations with Char and the AEUG. In an attempt to re-establish the Principality of Zeon with a new heir, they've dragged the asteroid Axis along for the ride (filled with nuclear weapons and a fleet of new ships and advanced mobile suits). As if this wasn't enough, Scirocco begins his coup against the Titans, and all four factions (including the AEUG) struggle for dominance in their beliefs for the future of the Earth Sphere at the Gryps colony area.
As the movie progresses, it gets complicated. Alliances are made and broken by not only the four factions, but several characters as well. With the already set fast paced, the viewer can expect to see two characters fighting together, then fighting each other every 5-10mins. Normally, this course of events would take several episodes to accomplish, and allow a feeling of time passing by, but this isn't the case. Also, with the fast paced action, Titan and Scirocco ace pilots have a new mobile suit in every battle. It becomes hard to distinguish who's who and who's fighting who very quickly unless you've seen the original series. The original trilogy (0079) faced the same problem, but it wasn't nearly as bad as this. It took time to build up why each suit was greater than the last. The Gouf was found to be a stronger though much different form of the massly used Zaku II; the Doms were first introduced through the Tristars before seen as mass produced in the third movie; and even Char's constantly changing suits weren't too hard to keep up with (Zaku S->z'Gok->Gelgoog->Zeong). In Zeta though, it's much different.
Also, in the original series, large plot battles showed more emphasis on Amuro fighting common enemy pilots and ships before dog fighting his rival. In this movie, you can expect to see Camille launch, fire a salvo of missing shots, and watch the rival retreat; over and over again. Though the movie is heavily action oriented, I felt bored watching my "heros" launch, and chase other mobile suits all over the battle field, then retreat. To make the final battles more enticing, instead of the usual missed shots and retreat, another pilot would get killed before the enemy's retreat. Just once, I wanted to see Char and Camille go out and destroy a fleet of commons before the enemy aces could show up, as Amuro originally did.
In the end though, it holds as a good movie after getting through some serious chaos. I must admit, it made me anxious to see ZZ because it does end on almost a "to be continued..." note.
In summation, be prepared for some fast paced chaos, and several boring battles, but in the end a solid gundam classic.
Also, I compared much of A New Translation to the original 0079 trilogy due to the same format of 50+ episodes into 3 movies.
