Underplayed Gems

Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counterattack (1988)

Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counterattack poster
Original title
機動戦士ガンダム 逆襲のシャア
Directed by
Yoshiyuki Tomino
Genre
mecha, military science fiction, Drama, Mecha, Sci-Fi
Country
Japan
Runtime
2h 04m
Rated
NR
Rating
7.2 of 10 from 76 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb
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How it feels

A space war film. Char Aznable plans to drop a massive asteroid on Earth to end humanity. His longtime rival Amuro Ray must stop him to prevent genocide.

intensetragichigh-stakesphilosophicalclaustrophobicurgentmelancholicdramatic

What happens

Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counterattack (Japanese: 機動戦士ガンダム 逆襲のシャア, Hepburn: Kidō Senshi Gandamu Gyakushū no Shā) is a 1988 Japanese anime science fiction film directed and written by Yoshiyuki Tomino. It is set in the Universal Century timeline of the Gundam franchise. Featuring the talents of Shūichi Ikeda, Toru Furuya, Hirotaka Suzuoki, Maria Kawamura, Nozomu Sasaki, and Kōichi Yamadera, among others, it focuses on Char Aznable's attempt of genocide on the planet Earth by pushing the asteroid called Axis into a collision with the planet. As a result, Char's rival from the Earth Federation Amuro Ray tries to defeat him in combat and avoid a slaughter in the process. In addition to being the first original Gundam theatrical release, Char's Counterattack was also the first Gundam production to make use of computer graphics during a five-second shot of the Sweetwater colony rotating in space, being made at Toyo Links. Char's Counterattack was released in America on DVD on August 20, 2002, and was broadcast on January 4, 2003, on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim programming block. Upon release, the film made a gross of ¥1.16 billion in Japan. The film was praised for its production values, though the rivalry between the two leads earned mixed responses for being recycled from the original 1979 television series. Director Yoshiyuki Tomino also expressed doubts about the film he directed in retrospective. Nevertheless, Tomino wrote another novel known as Beltorchika's Children which focuses more on Amuro's personal life and was adapted into a manga series. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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