Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam Part 1: Collection

It's fitting that Zeta Gundam (which revived the Gundam series in it's infancy) should have such an amazing Bluray restoration. I have never been more impressed with a remaster than I have been with RightStuf's Gundam line. There is an English dub (if you're into that sort of thing) and the original audio is remarkably clear. The visuals are crisp and clean, and aside from the aspect ratio and old animating techniques, it looks like a modern Anime.The only reason a star is missing from this review is that the original opening theme has been replaced. The music they use is fantastic and you'd never know it wasn't originally there, but the whole point of these remasters is to preserve the original experience for the following generations. I understand it was probably just a licensing issue, but I feel like I'm paying top dollar for them to resolve these issues before release.All-in-all this is a must-own for Gundam fans and it's not a bad starting point to get into the series.Big thanks to RightStuf, Sunrise, and Bandai Namco for keeping Gundam alive, and making it easy to finally own the whole expansive series!

What originated as nothing more than as advertisement for children's toys, the Gundam franchise has become nothing more than a morale message on the evils of war. Daring to show viewers the evil in both sides of every conflict, the early series never strayed away from showcasing the reality of wars, and the end of innocence it brings.Zeta, a direct sequel to the classic original, put a twist on the formula established in the original. Whereas in the original Gundam, the war was between the Earth Federation and the Zeon separatist led by the corrupt Zabi family, and the Earth Federation were the suppose "good guys". However we only thought that way because a majority of the main characters from the original Gundam fought for the Federation - Zeta turns the table. The Federation ended up creating a military group called the Titans, who ended up being just as ruthless and corrupt as the Zabi. Now the remaining heroes and villains from the first series have now turn against the Titans.Zeta's message has always been relevant, but never has it ever felt more prominent in our daily lives then ever. An authoritarian group, which is meant to serve and protect the people, end up suppressing and murdering the people it vow to serve. Zeta shows the fluidity of a governments ethics, and really does end up questioning what side is the "good side" in this war.In spite of the complex morals that the show is trying to convey, the show still has to appear to be like a typical children's show, filled with typical formulas seen in other shows aim for young boys. There's always battles in every battle, which can become repetitive to a point. There's also some side characters who provide nothing but comic relief. Another thing is that some of the writing for the female leads can be inconsistent; Zeta at times can provide some of the most interesting female characters in all of Gundam, yet at other times it feels like it struggles to get a female voice "right" (this will become a more of an issue in the second set).The show nonetheless succeeds. Scenes like the many fights in space (and Earth) and the several amazing character moments, that have a healthy dose of Soap Opera melodrama, make the show an entertaining viewing. Personal favorites from this set are the fights in Hong Kong and the protagonist's doom romance with an enemy combatant named Four. The characters feel lively and are all memorable, providing one of the best cast of characters from the original Universal Century set of shows. Even the lead, Kamille, starts off incredibly unlikable before evolving into a more mature and interesting protagonist.The Blu Ray transfer looks wonderful, with the colors truly popping and making it seem more contemporary. The details that shouldn't be there normally are now clearly visible. The mechas also move fluidly; however, since this is still a show from the 80s, you will recognize some outdated and inconsistent animation in several episodes.Zeta succeeds more times than it fails, and when the show hits, it hits really hard. Harder than any punch from the Mark-II or Zeta Gundam. This show deserves all the love and attention it gets from fans of the franchise, and it deserves to be loved to the more casually anime fandom as well.

The first couple episodes of this show always fail to sink their teeth in to me and make me want to watch more. But after those? After those, this quickly gets going and is just so much fun to watch. Having not watched the series in full since getting the DVD release a decade or so ago, this new Blu-Ray presentation is marvelously done with picture and sound quality as good as one can expect. The opening in particular is very nice to look at now, and I actually think the orchestral theme music for this version fits the (often somber) tone of the show very well.I would recommend watching the Mobile Suit Gundam movie trilogy, or the 43-episode TV version of that same story before watching Zeta Gundam. This isn't something I'd say is a strict requirement but there will be characters and plot lines that feel out of left field if you don't have that backstory for context.The last thing I'd have to say about it in general would be to note that perhaps the most wonderful part of this show is that all of the characters are various shades of gray. There's no clear-cut, flawless, perfectly moral protagonist, nor is there a complete ne'er-do-well, pure evil, hateful antagonist. There's an element of realism to the message underneath the giant robot lens presenting it.

After the successful release of both Mobile Suit Gundam and Turn A Gundam, RightStuf has graced us with my personal favorite series. Like the others, this series was dubbed and released by Bandai but has since gone out of print. Zeta Gundam (or Z Gundam) remains one of the most classic and important UC stories right beside Mobile Suit Gundam.This release covers 3 Blu-ray Discs (also available on DVD) and goes from Episode 1 to 25. Finally having this series in Bluray is a huge plus even though we still don't have the original opening due to copyright issues. It does feature a very nice English dub, however.Overall, a great release for an awesome show!

The Blu-ray restore of Zeta Gundam is nothing short of fantastic and absolutely appropriate for what might be the best Gundam series. There is however one big letdown though. Not using the original opening and ending theme music was a misstep IMO. For anyone that's seen the series before, you definitely lose a little nostalgia without those original themes. If you add that in this gets 5 stars from me hands down.

It looks high definition than the dvd versions, I bought it for its disc durability, which is blur ray, and can be played on ps3 or ps4. It has a 4:3 screen but its clear, what you'd expect from a 1985 anime. If your a gundam fan, you'll love it.

"Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam Part 1 - Blu-Ray Collection" came in good time. The quality was good. I had started the series on Gundam.Info but I wanted to finish with the blu ray. I enjoyed it.

My grandson loves it so all's good.

So good

really love boxsets from AnimeLTD. And Gundam was always my favorite mecha series!!! 5 STARS!!!

One of the best. Feel I have to to do this because of the unfair low score given below!

There's a lot to love and a few things to dislike about this blu-ray collection. The "love" part is that this is a classic, seminal anime series and arguably one of the best in the entire "Universal Century" Gundam continuity. A direct sequel to Mobile Suit Gundam, the war of independence between space colonies and an increasingly fascistic Earth government takes a drastic turn. Having won the previous war, Earth harshly retaliates against the space colonies, conducting attacks and mass executions. The rest of the story finds Camille Bidan, yet another son of yet another mobile suit inventor, taking up arms in an advanced Gundam war machine to fight against the oppression of Earth.This is the first set of a two-set collection if you want the entire series. The image quality is gorgeous, with the 80s animation being given an HD facelift that gives it new life on today's televisions. An English dub is available for people who don't like subtitles, though purists will likely go straight to the original Japanese voice acting with subtitles.Where the disc collection falls short is not in the content but in the extras. There are barely any to speak of here, and the opening and closing music are not from the original television broadcast. Licensing issues still make it impossible for the original Japanese songs, music, and lyrics to appear in this collection, so tracks from the series' background music are used instead.Zeta is essential viewing for fans of the Gundam series, and this collection does right by the series in terms of image and sound quality. However, if you like your extras or love the original opening and closing credits music, you're not getting any of that despite the premium price on these collections.