Watching the Reconguista in G movies for the first time - wish me luck
I watched G Reco (or rather, Gundam Reconguista in G) when it aired back in 2014 and was kind of let down based on expectations; character designer from Eureka Seven, franchise co-creator Tomino returning to Gundam for the first time since 1999's Turn A - there was a lot to look forward to!
It's got this reputation of being sort of an incomprehensible mess and I think that's fair. There's a lot going on in the plot, key things are not explained or brushed over and probably the most damning thing about it is "the side switching"; 'who is in what faction', 'what does that faction want' and 'what faction(s) are they allied with' change on a dime (sometimes multiple times in a single episode).
That said, I re-watched it recently with my eldest kid (they're doing a series-wide exploration of Gundam) and I realized how despite the above, I actually just really like the show?
The art style is great, the music is on point and there's so much lived-in humanity in the between moments that it's like really fucking hard not to smile. Tomino will spend precious minutes of an episode's runtime showing how a mobile suit battle (ostensibly the primary focus of the moment) or the movement of a warship in earth's gravity displaces a family of capybaras. In fact, if you played a drinking game where you take a shot every time an animal was on screen in G Reco you'd die. Straight up. Alcohol poisoning sure, but like move on to liver failure. Tomino set the Earth portions in the Amazon rainforest, took time to have his team animate those animals and by god, it looks great every fucking time.
Other examples are the weird decisions you wouldn't get from a different director; characters accidentally bumping their heads on ceilings in zero gravity, characters tripping while walking, characters choking on a drink for seemingly no reason (not a dramatic reaction to something) - there's an absolutely iconic moment in a later episode where a character goes to make a 'contact link' with another mobile suit (communications via radio / etc in Gundam shows is always iffy, touching mechs directly is a guaranteed way to be able to communicate) and the pilot of the other mobile suit playfully keeps pulling just out of reach. It's ridiculous, but it's incredibly human and (on second watch) kinda makes up for whatever the fuck the plot is supposed to be doing.
The world and characters are so full of life that I give it a pass.
Anyway all that said, I've heard mixed things about the compilation films; Gundam as a franchise is notorious for these - most notably that the first series from 1979 had all of its episodes condensed into three feature films that came out in theaters a few years after the show was cancelled and is (in many cases) the primary interaction point for that show with western fandom since committing to 3 movies (especially ones that were on Netflix for almost a decade) is 'easier' than 40+ episodes of TV.
Condensing 40/50+ episodes of TV into film obviously will result in a lot of contentious editing decisions; some new animations or music can be added but many plot points, worldbuilding or character moments get removed as a result. This varies depending on the shows; a more complicated show like Turn A only got two films for its 50 episode run. Reconguista in G (at 26 episodes) got FIVE films.
Five films I've never watched - so I figured what the hell?
I'm halfway through the first film and even though I came to these for "maybe the plot will be better explained this time" I'm again distracted by all of the small things and having such a goddamn good time seeing this world again. If I get through film five and still don't have a better understanding of what all the factions wanted I think I'll be ok with that.
Chuchumy the goldfish forever.
