Anime original by Sunrise, SAFEHOUSE
Streaming on Netflix

Premise

Eleven months into the One Year War, Red Wolf squadron is attacked by a mysterious white mobile suit. Can this zeon squad survive against the Gundam?

Gee’s verdict: We have to RETVRN to 1989

Gundam: Requiem for Vengeance’s greatest sin, more than the stiff CG animation, more than the bland characters, more than the tiresome Zeon whitewashing, is that it’s boring. I mean all those things are bad too, but I went into this thinking I’d have something to really tear apart. Instead, I’m left kind of muted. RFV tells the most classic of UC side stories, following the perspective of a Zeon squad’s first encounter with a Gundam (though not *the* Gundam to be clear). There’s something to work with here. The concept of Gundam as slasher flick or monster movie is not unheard of. It was in the original 1979 Mobile Suit Gundam that we heard the “White Devil” appellation. The idea of mech as monster has been an established trope for half a century. So there’s something to the idea of a group of soldiers being hunted down by a military machine so advanced that to its victims, it may as well be a malevolent specter. Where RFV stumbles is we aren’t really compelled by the plight of our Zeonic viewpoint. We’re given very little time to learn who they are before they’re slaughtered like animals with the exception of our obvious protagonist.

I was going to write a longer section about how tired I am of stories portraying Zeon in a sympathetic light, but I’m not sure RFV’s take on this overused trope even has any substance for me to pick at. Zeon is portrayed as a generic freedom fighting military force, with no attention spent on explaining the context of the One Year War or even Zeon’s own monstrous inciting actions. I assume many people watching are not going to know the entirety of the UC, considering RFV airs on Netflix and is likely intended as a way to get new fans into the setting. If so, this is not a very good introduction. It’s been nearly 35 years since Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket aired. It is arguably the definitive text on sympathetic portrayals of Zeon. It imbued all its characters regardless of affiliation, with humanity, depth, and dignity. It’s probably unfair to compare anything to what will probably be the single best story told in the Gundam franchise. But if you’re going to explore these kinds of themes, I can’t help but make the comparison.

The usage of CG occasionally hints at some interesting leverage of its strengths compared to traditional hand drawn animation. Infrequently, there’s an almost archival footage quality to RFV’s action. Most of the time unfortunately, it feels stiff rather than heavy. Like a video game cutscene you would have seen in a PS2 game, before in-game graphics had the fidelity to portray narrative events. Rather than frantic, the action feels muddy and uninspired. Sorry to bring up the 0080 comparison again, but at least 0080’s infrequent fights were universally quite good. It isn’t an unmitigated disaster, nor is it even an interesting train wreck. I’ve said in the past that good or bad, Gundam is at its best when it’s interesting. Requiem for Vengeance doesn’t even have that much going for it.