by Duke of Luns » Sun Sep 12, 2010 9:37 pm
Howdy gang, I just finished up watching the TV Series(and movies) Space Runaway Ideon. For those of who that don't know, it's a series that Yoshiyuki Tomino(of Gundam fame) made after the original Gundam was cancelled. Basically, what are your guy's thoughts on the series? General warning, spoilers be abound.
My immediate thoughts? Overall, the TV series hasn't aged that well. The overall plot isn't explained until near the very end, and there are times when things just happen for plot convienince. An example? Cosmo needs a love interest and a loss to spurr him on in battle? Kitty Kitten! She lasted what, three episodes? Pretty one dimensional character, and we never even saw any kind of budding romance, just some expositional dialogue and body language that suggested they were an item. Miharu from First Gundam(Kai's "girlfriend") had a similar fate and screentime amount, but had a much more interesting backstory, and her death was more of a noble sacrafice. Other quick examples is the Ideon Gun and trying to blow up the ship, pretty much came from nowhere.
About those characters, there are just so many that are kind of extraneous, and there characterizations are spread throughout the series so much it's easy to miss a lot of nuances. I'll use Bes as an example. He's the commander of the ship, a valiant warrior, the lover of Karala, and...not much else. He's not cardboard, but he's not quite as memorable as captain's of other shows.
Other characters though, like Deck, pretty much all of the Buff Clan generals, Rapoh/Fard/Moria(this triangle did redeem itself somewhat though), Lotta, Sheryl's sister, etc. to me felt like needless padding.
Speaking of padding, I'm going to tie this in with the plot: there are a lot of good ideas in this show, and some interesting action scenes, but the show is too long for what little substance it has. After they leave the Planet Solo, it's literally all about running away and "how does the Ideon work?”. If the show had been a lot shorter and more focused, I would have enjoyed it more. Or maybe if they’d done some foreshadowing or given a more concrete reason why the Buff Clan wanted the Ide other than “it’s a source of infinite power, I must have it”.
Then we come to the Mecha aspect of the series. The Ideon itself IS extremely powerful, and quite impressive, at times. Other times though, it’s hard to feel any sense of dread for it. There only a scant few times in the series where the Ideon is on the brink of defeat. The Mecha of the Buff Clan are somewhat interesting, but there isn’t much to differentiate them besides color and slight design changes. They aren‘t much of a threat either, and their battle tactics are kinda boring. The names are weird too, making it hard to remember them.
However, I can’t end my thoughts without talking about the movie, “Be Invoked”. It’s here I can really see why this series was remembered. The plot is now finally focused. It’s no longer about running, it’s about survival. Characterization’s are finally brought to a head(though to be fair, the final few episodes were pretty focused too), and when someone dies, you feel for them. Ok, it’s mostly because nearly all of the deaths are brutal, and they come out of the blue. The whole movie is just epic. The entire human race is literally annihilated, and reborn. However, in a weird way, it’s a very optimistic ending. This was probably very original back in 1982, and I can see where Evangelion was inspired by it.
So all in all, I’m glad I watched the series at least once, and if I ever watched it again I might get a little bit more out of it(since I’d have a better grip of the characters), but I’d have to say it’s just slightly above middle of the road for me. As I said, the series is a bit too long and shallow until the end, and I prefer the epic-ness of Gundam, and probably many other anime‘s: sure a lot of people die, but it’s mostly for a cause, for something they believe in. And people live too, changed, and wondering how they will face a new tomorrow. In Ideon everyone dies because a force they can’t understand pretty much wills them to kill each other, and though one could argue it’s for the good of the Universe, I don’t necessarily “like” that kind of ending.
Well, that’s my thoughts. Yours?
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