Mobile Suit Gundam: Thunderbolt - December Sky
機動戦士ガンダム サンダーボルト DECEMBER SKYFederation troops and Zeon forces carry out a fierce battle in the Thunderbolt Sector in what was once Side 4 "Moore." The Thunderbolt Sector is a shoal zone composed of the debris of destroyed space colonies, named for the electrical discharges from the metal debris. MS pilot Io Flemming is among the Federation soldiers who are dispatched to the area, where Zeon sniper Daryl Lorenz awaits them on the battlefield. (Source: Gundam Wikia)
Reviews
jacinto.feil - 2016-07-04 23:00:27
Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt: December Sky Review
*Deep breaths*
Let's do this.
So where do I begin to talk about this movie? Well why don't we start at the very beginning. Thunderbolt: December Sky is compilation movie of the 2016 ONA series Gundam Thunderbolt, which is based of a manga of the exact same name. The story is set in the Universal Century 0079 (basically the main Gundam timeline) and it follows the story of two pilots and their fierce battle against each other. Our main characters and pilots are ace pilot of the Moore Brotherhood, Io Flemming and the ace pilot and prosthetics bearer of the Zeon Forces, Daryl Lorenz.
Io Flemming
Daryl Lorenz
Since I am not a true veteran of the Gundam franchise, and I've only recently started getting into it, this review is entirely from the the point of a non-fan. While I feel that the only way you could enjoy this movie is through watching the original Gundam series, story wise, I feel as if the movie does a good job presenting itself to newcomers, the only things that I think will fly over one's head are some the terminology that characters pass around through some conversations. There's action, some heavy drama, a couple of heartwarming scenes, and hell there's even a little bit of romance in some places, in many ways it feels like one of those classic American war movies, like Apocalypse Now or Forrest Gump. It just knows how to hit those scenes with soldiers suffering and portraying life in the military.
Animation wise, it looks pretty stellar. The CGI mechs don't appear to be out of place with the backgrounds 90% of the time. And does sunrise know how to use color during the mech fights. Seriously these have got to be some of the prettiest explosions I've ever seen.
Soundtrack wise. Like I said, it feels like a classic American war movie, and it wouldn't feel American if it's soundtrack didn't include a mix of free jazz and country music in it. Which it does.
Overall, this was a pretty nice anime to sit through, it doesn't feel to long nor too short, but if I had to point out anything negative about it, it's that it still doesn't explain much of the Gundam world, but hey, with side stories what're you gonna do?
Final Scores:
HB Score: 8/10
Personal Score: 8.5/10