Turn A Gundam

It is the Correct Century, two millennia after a devastating conflict which left the world broken. Earth is now mostly uninhabitable, and thus a remnant of humanity has resided on the Moon while the Earth and its few survivors recover. For years, the "Moonrace," the people of the Moon, have continued to check if Earth is fit for resettlement.

A boy named Loran Cehack and two others are sent down to Earth for a reconnaissance mission. Loran ends up spending a year on the planet working for the Heim Family, aristocrats living in a Victorian-like society. This family, like others of similar wealthy status, celebrates one's coming of age with a ceremony involving a giant stone statue known as the "White Doll."

To Loran's surprise, the Moonrace suddenly touches down on Earth with the intent of taking it by force. During the attack, the White Doll is broken apart, revealing a mobile suit called the "Turn A Gundam" inside. With Loran in its cockpit, the Turn A causes a standoff between the forces of Earth and Moon. The young pilot, along with the people of both sides, must keep the peace and avoid another all-out, catastrophic war.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Soreil, Dianna Main

Takahashi, Rieko Japanese

Cehack, Loran Main

Park, Romi Japanese

Heim, Sochie Main

Murata, Akino Japanese

Heim, Kihel Main

Takahashi, Rieko Japanese

Ord, Harry Supporting

Inada, Tetsu Japanese

Ghingham, Gym Supporting

Koyasu, Takehito Japanese

Borjarno, Lily Supporting

Kobayashi, Ai Japanese

Nander, Corin Supporting

Kawazu, Yasuhiko Japanese

Laijie, Keith Supporting

Fukuyama, Jun Japanese

Rhineford, Guin Sard Supporting

Aoba, Gou Japanese

Yatate, Hajime Producer

Tomino, Yoshiyuki Director, Script, Storyboard, Theme Song Lyrics, Original Creator

Tsuruoka, Youta Sound Director

Iwasaki, Yoshiaki Episode Director

Reviews

Jan 17, 2008

Bernard_Monsha

Recommended

Turn A Gundam marks a turning point in the career of Yoshiyuki Tomino. Caught in a severe depression during and after the production of Victory Gundam he turned out two lackluster projects (Brainpowered and Garzey's Wing). As he came out of his depression he began developing an idea for a new Gundam series to include all the alternate continuities into one the Correct Century. He succeeds with Turn A Gundam.

Breaking away from his Kill 'Em All melodramas that marked his earlier successes, he came up with a much lighter outlook which has shown in the works after. While ... Turn A follows the usual teenager finding himself piloting a mecha in a war it manages to present plot devise in an interesting and untried way successfully. The Mecha themselves (by futurist Syd Mead who designed Blade Runner and Tron) are so aesthetically different they border on grotesque. This plays very well in early episodes when the battles take on a very War of the Worlds feel to them. The characters interacting in a typically rich Tomino script are well rounded, likable, and surprisingly complex who carry with them stings of an individual plot that the director skillfully weaves into a deep and complex story. The plot itself is heartwarming, funny, tense and has Machiavellian dealings on both sides of the war. Action does take a back seat to plot development, but as the series progresses fights become faster, more brutal, and with none of the canned battles that tend to pop up in mecha series recently. Yoko Kanno delivers again in the soundtrack, one of my favorites she has done. Of Particular note is Tsuki no mayu which appears in the first episodes in one of the most memorable scenes in the show.

Now if there was a downside I would have to say hardcore action fans would be disappointed in the slower pacing as Tomino slowly develops characters and the political situation. On the plus side this is one of the few Gundam series you do not need prerequisite knowledge to understand what is going on. It also has the single best ending I have ever seen in an anime. Whether you are a mecha fan or not I would implore you to at least give this underrepresented series a try, you will undoubtedly find something to you own liking.

Reviewer’s Rating: 10

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Feb 16, 2022

Godslayer27

Mixed Feelings

I have seen just another gundam series aside of this one (Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans which was pretty nice actually), and i have to say that i expected more of this one, even throught i could enjoy and really like some things of it overall some of the points more important (under my opinion) that has to have an series its an certain grade of coherence in the story as well as the chararacters in his actions, but i gonna to expand about thhis in more detail below. This series its not necesary to watch it after have been watch the ones of the ... universal century (even throught could be useful because there are some metions that even if doesnt perjudice the overal experiecen i think could be ncie to those who are really big fans of the series).

Now i gonna start with the things i like it and after that put the ones that i didnt, to those who are die-hard fans of those cclasics animes of late 90 and beginning of the 2000 with that palette of colors a little gritty and no so flashy (which i love) and beautiful scenaries in which the story unfold leaving us mesmerazed how nice looks althought it might not have the same production values of an movie looks very good. The desinng of the characters resembles a little to that ghibli looks at least in my opinion and its pretty refreshing (i know this ones are the good points but i need to aclare that there are some desings that feel out of place in comparision to the rest, that might seems like take out from another series and dont match very well).The reactions of the characters (at least in the beggining) felt outstandingly natural to my surprise, i mean based in the situation they feel so much natural and not forced or exageratted like many other series they are more *human* per say in a way, this amount of care to attention that has been put in the functionality not just of the mecha but also all kind of machines as well as the cotidiany things of life that gives it more realism to the series ,that usually you dont see in another series putting so much effort like this one has done, that makes you feel in a world so much human and in this aspect i think the series doesnt disappoints in the whole series.
The sound and music overall had one or two really remarkably tracks that were outanding over the other ones, but even then i feel that there wasnt a single one that really was really nice, and maked me fall in love with.



The bad points and gonna start with the worse ones that you are gonna have to deal with along all the series and just gets worse and worse, to the point that the emphaty that you *might* felt in the beginning for the characters and the interest in the story overall starts to dissipate as we move foward in the series, i dont know who its the director of this series and im not really sure to have watched another series of him but this guy made an shitty (sorry for the expression) job in narrate and direct the story. The anime itselft propose us an interesting story that even if its try to deliver it from time to time in a pretty realist way (with just the correct use of action without overuse it which i appreciate, because its not the focus of the series) fell down SO many times, firts there are so many abrups cuts of secuence (that happened from the episode one) that take us out of context and feel really bad edited connecting with another moment in a really poor way (that really feel like roughtly done), at firts i just didnt give it so much importance but that start to happen gradully more often that just started to ruin the experience. The characters contradict themselft with his actions or even sometimes just react from a second to another so shockingly without sense really, even the appeareance of some characters in the series are lacking of any kind of ambitions or their role in the series makes you cuestion if have some to begin with. Now exist the word subtle and then is this series, i mean i lost the amount of times that actually the series for lack of development (or poor actually) make you lost in releationships in between the characters (that are so ambiguous that became unexistings) using really poor moments that you could call *subtle * which i mean you couldnt even guess, because even throught there were a couple o them they just dont even explain or even insunuate anything and are so fleeting that you just cant undertand how actually ended like that by just one or two poorly displayed moments.


CONCLUSION

It narrated and secuenced in such way together with really a poor development of the characters that at the end of the series or in the moments of revealing something really important you really dont care or are not invested into it to actually feel some type of wonder, sadness or excitment, i mean i could appreciate certain moments counted with one hand that where decent but i mean in 50 episodes the series did not a good job telling an compelling story not just for the fans of gundam but for the common audience also.
I was thinking in giving to this series at least an 7, but after of a little of thought i just couldnt (i mean i wanted because before to actually start watching it i hoped to be something really amazing), i mean its not a completly bad anime ,but didnt hold to my expectations , it might be something that really true fans of gundam could appreciate but for me it wasnt the case.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Nov 3, 2024

Manthors

Not Recommended

[4th Edit] Turn A Gundam is probably the Gundam series with the most diverging opinions out there. I watched every Gundam released, and, unfortunately, Turn A didn`t click for me. Overall, it is the most confusing Gundam, with the least interesting plot (although extremely original), the most confusing background scenario, and the least interesting characters. More bellow.

Story: You will see many references here if you are familiar with the UC. I strongly advise you not to see Turn A if you are unfamiliar with the UC. The story is already too messy, even if you know it. Here is the thing: the story of Turn ... A is exceptionally original, and everything you will see in Turn A is entirely different from the other Gundam out there. So, why did I consider it bad?

Well, let me explain - poor execution. First, it is too damn boring. Even after trying to rewatch this series (3 times, people, 3 times!) I still fall asleep multiple times. For a die-hard Gundam fan like me, that's a bad sign because I saw every other Gundam created. Nothing happens until episode 20 or something. The plot is a complete mess, you don`t get what is happening until much later, in a bad way. I love slow-building stories, but Turn A does not create an exciting or mysterious environment you want to know more about.

Everything is so mundane, people are absurdly dull, and the society depicted is so lame that Time might as well be standing still. You spend way too much time seeing uninteresting dialogs that are utterly useless to the plot or anything else, seeing events with no purpose, and following main characters with whom you feel no connection. I felt like I was watching a theater play from the XV century trying to appeal to the royals.

Now, let me explain the second worst thing: the world. Society is like late XIX century America; the technology is a mix of that time, World War I, and sci-fi. Sounds good? Well, it isn`t.
The fights are absolutely lame, far from any Gundam out there. They are neither military-accurate nor exciting. They are also confusing: people fight in old airplanes, use carabines, drive zeppelins, then, out of nowhere, they use an old anti-air cannon, and you see a mobile suit! This might sound cool, but it is not. It creates a confusing scenario where you don`t understand how all those elements are mixed in harmony with the world they try to present to you. The show also fails to provide a reasonable explanation. Finally, this show was made to appeal to North Americans because everything is based on an old USA story: clothes, technology, houses, and society. It is everything Gundam tried to stay away from, being concentrated in one single society. Gundam was always about a reformed world where countries united in different ways. Not here, here you will follow the most USA Gundam ever made. If you are from the USA, you might love it. But for me, it is everything Gundam tried to stay away from.

Art & Sound: The animation is marvelous, and the art direction is impressive. However, the soundtrack sucks. Not appealing in any way.

Character: No character appeals to you, and that left me stunned because no other Gundam lacks a character that appeals to you. One thing that SHOULD happen in any movie, series, book, comic, game, or anime is that at least one character should be appealing; you must like someone. Or at least hate some character enough to see what will happen. None of those options apply in Turn A. Everyone is boring. They have no depth. They don`t talk about interesting subjects. I never felt so uninspired as I felt in Turn A.

Every Gundam has some interesting characters, even amidst annoying ones. This one has nothing. I have no words to describe the absolute boredom of seeing an anime with the most uninteresting characters in the franchise. Even the protagonist is a complete bore. I prefer Shinn Asuka (the most annoying character in the franchise) to him. At least with Shinn, I could feel something. All characters appear to live in stasis, with no exciting personalities you want to explore. This is one of the reasons I always fell asleep trying to rewatch this show.

Mechas: The Gundam in this series is, by far, the ugliest main Gundam ever made. The rest of the Mechas (except for the classic ones) are also terrible. I don`t know what happened in Turn A because Bandai continuously checks Gundam shows to profit from gunplas. And this is the first time I saw a Gundam where I don`t want any gunpla from the show. Many Gundam shows appeal to different audiences because they mix story and mecha action. For example, Gundam 00 is packed with action, and some people love it just for that. You will have neither action nor interesting mechas in Turn A.

Overall, some people love Turn A for its originality. I wanted to feel the same, but even after watching the show three times, I can`t describe the boredom, lack of uninteresting characters, lame mechas, boring fights, and everything else that was Turn A - and since Turn A is a standalone Gundam series, I advise you to stay away from this show and use your time for a better Gundam. Want a slow-building story with unforgettable characters, exciting fights, and deep political backgrounds? See Iron-Blooded Orphans.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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