Ack, alack, alackadays. Amuro's one-time partner and eternal rival, the oft-misunderstood and recently unmasked Char has taken over the Neo-Jion faction and plans on freezing the Earth to end all wars. Sieg Jion! But, of course, he can’t complete his nefarious plan without a duel of vengeance with his arch-rival, Amuro, now can he? What to do, what to do...

As you might guess from my introduction, the plotline for this Gundam movie is hardly revolutionary. Char has come up with an insidious way to seed the Earth with the seeds of nuclear fallout, and the Federation force Lond Bell sees through his diplomat’s guise to his perfidious soul, mobilizing to save Earth from the judgment of this madman. There are cursory references to making a purer, genetically enhanced race of man replete with psychic abilities, but nothing too profound. Such psionic elements in theory give a loose explanation for both the fighting prowess of some of the pilots and the deus ex machina ending. A requisite amount of character development aids non-fans get a feeling for the personalities involved, particularly focusing on Char and the convoluted relationships of the people in his immediate surroundings. Character conflict saves the plot from being completely trite, but the cheesy ending and standard battle tactics limit its overall effectiveness.

Highly detailed and fluid animation fuel some of the most intense space dogfights in all of anime.	Char, one of several archetypal characters made more interesting by the complex relationships surrounding them.

The characters for Char’s Counterattack are fairly standard archetypes thrown into some complex relationships. Char is a charismatic piloting genius who is seeking vengeance both on Earth for its petty wars and on Amuro for killing an important woman from his past. He is portrayed as a master of manipulation who is quite willing to use people as tools to further his own selfish goals. Amuro is his rival, another ace pilot who has changed from Char’s ally to enemy now that Char has created the Neo-Jion faction. Quess is a little girl, the daughter of a Federation diplomat, who decides to run off with Char and pilot psychically controlled mobile suits to help Char punish the earth. There are some rather tortuous chains of relationship, jealousy, and intrigue surrounding these three which effectively fuels the tragic elements of the movie.

The animation for Char’s Counterattack is excellent. The highly detailed and fluid animation for the battle sequences really brings the audience into the thick of the action. Some people tout Queen Esmeraldas as having great space battle animation, but this Gundam movie easily tops both QE and Macross Plus with the most intense space dogfight animation I have seen to date. It is frightening to think about the amount of work this would have taken back in 1988...

The music is standard movie-grade orchestration, with classical overtones. The ending song has potential but is nothing spectacular, and certainly not as memorable as the theme songs for Gundam Wing or Gundam MS 08th Platoon. Overall the music is an adequate accompaniment, but nothing too memorable.

Overall, Gundam: Char’s Counterattack is a B-grade action movie with some very high class animation. The science fiction elements are nothing profound, and the character development is not quite coherent enough, despite its complexities, to call this movie character driven, especially for someone who has not seen the preceding Gundam ZZ series. At the same time, though, the movie does succeed in making one want to watch the preceding series just to more fully understand the complexities of the characters involved. I can only imagine that in the right context, this film could be a satisfying and more emotionally involved finale.

Distributor: Bandai Entertainment
Creator: Sunrise
Released: 1988

Plot: B-
Character Design: B+
Animation Quality: A+
Music: B
Overall: B