After being away for so long, here's a comeback with the review of Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam: A New Translation III - Love is the Pulse of the Stars , courtesy of Gunota Headlines.
(http://aeug.blogspot.com)
Story - The movie is based on Ep 33, the last part of Ep 34, Ep 43, Ep 44, Ep 45, Ep 46, Ep 47, Ep 49, and Ep 50. Kilimanjaro, Dakar, and all events related to Rosamia (except the end) were elimated from the movie. It did not stray from the overall TV plot and pretty much retconned Gundam ZZ.
The movie picks off where Zeta II concluded with Axis escorting the Argama to the Gwadan. The Argama sends their delegates (Won Lee, Char, Bright, Apolly, Reccoa, and Kamille) to negotiate with Axis, but talks break down as Char becomes furious at Haman. Char and the rest of the Argama members escape and Scirocco's Dogos Gear appears and attacks. The Radish's troops arrive to repel Yazan, but only after Yazan destroys the Methuss and takes Reccoa with him. Afterwards, Scirocco and his followers board the Gwadan to make a pact with Haman. (Ep 33, 34)
Fearing the Gryps 2 colony laser and the Gate of Zedan (formerly known as A Baoa Qu), AEUG and Haman meet once again this time on the Argama. With a letter from Anaheim Electronics' Melanie Hue Carbine, AEUG approves the return of Zabi rule to Side 3 and, in return, Axis has to destroy Gryps 2 and the Gate of Zedan. Haman only agrees to the destruction of the Gate of Zedan. (new scenes like Henken being irritated and talking back to Haman were added while Abu Dabia, one of the characters that never made it into the TV series, was visible in the background as well). (Ep 43)
Haman meets with Jamitov. Talks break off and Haman tells Jamitov that Axis will ram into the Gate of Zedan. AEUG joins to attack the Titans. Apolly is killed, which starts the Kill 'Em All fest.
With the Titans losing the Gate of Zedan, Jamitov meets with Haman onboard Gwadan along with Scirocco. The movie stays 100% true to Ep 46 as Char fails to kill anyone, Scirocco offs Jamitov and duels with Haman. Katz's G-Defensor shoots at The O only to see Sara sacrifice herself to save Scirocco. Yazan's Hambrabi squadron, who already pledged their allegiance to Scirocco and still part of the crew of the Dogos Gear, finishes off Bask and the Dogos Gear.
AEUG commences Operation Maelstrom to take control of the colony laser. Like in the series, Haman and Kamille have their semi-Newtype bond with Kamille only partially damaging her Qubeley. AEUG takes control of the laser. While AEUG readies it, Char grabs the Mega Bazooka Launcher and fires at squadrons of Gaza C's. A three-way battle between Char, Haman, and Scirocco starts while Katz and Emma goes off to help the Radish. Katz crashes into an asteroid and dies like the TV series, Emma's Mk-II is trapped by Yazan. The Radish comes in to help only to be finished off by Yazan. Kamille takes out Jerid's Bound Doc, which blows up along with the Radish. After doing emergency repairs on Mk-II, Emma and Reccoa duel with Reccoa dying (unlike the TV series, Emma understands why Reccoa betrayed them). Emma receives fatal injuries from the Palace Athene debris. The fight between Char, Haman, and Scirocco continues inside the laser and in the theatre. Kamille joins in at the theatre as in the series. Everyone escapes right before AEUG fires the laser, destroying much of the Titans' fleet. Char vs Haman and Kamille vs Scirocco. Both battles are the same as the TV series as they used the most of TV animations. Kamille rams the Zeta (in waverider mode) into The O which kills Scirocco. Unlike the TV series, Scirocco does not cripple Kamille via mad-Newtype powers. (Ep 47, 49, 50)
The ending that no one has seen features Kamille replacing his helmet with a new one. Fa and Kamille hug each other in space with Saegusa (one of the Argama's bridge crew) broadcasting what they're saying. Amuro and Beltorchika look at the night sky at Fraw's place where Letz and Kikka watch the events going on in space on their tv/laptop(?). Mirai drives with the kids in the backseat sleeping, looking for an Earth Federation base. Kai is at Sayla's place as he wanted to interview her about Quattro (yes, Sayla speaks one line using previously recorded audio by the late You Inoue). Haman tells Mineva that she prepared a place on Earth for her. Haman tells her men to drop off Mineva at Side 3 and pulls the Axis Fleet from the Earth sphere. The end credits are the reverse of the Zeta I opening, starting at Earth and going beyond Saturn. Along the way, the Axis Fleet is seen.
Animation - Like the previous 2 movies, it was a mixture of TV and new animation. However, this time around, the new and old animation seemed to blend well, which sorta made it hard to gauge how much of it was new. What I noticed the most was the mixture of new and old images on the same frame (the character would be old animation while much of the background or MS would be new). The new animation made Axis more fearsome as they featured more fleets like in ZZ with appearance of multiple Endora class ships. Those with quick eyes might see what looked like a single GM Cannon II (from 0083 series) catapulting off the Argama.
Voice acting - With the same people returning, no complaints here. However, Sarah Zabiarov got a new make over as Kaori Shimamura replaced Chizuru Ikewaki. Watching Zeta III, Shimamura's peformance sounded better. However, fans might still prefer the original voice of Sara by Mizutani.
Overall impressions - Promising a happier Kamille and an ending no one knows, Tomino delivered it. However, the purists might say it came at a greater cost with the Kamille/Four tragedy at Kilimanjaro and Char's biggest speech in his life at Dakar being completely left out. Those events significantly impacted Kamille and turned the tide for AEUG as it gained the much needed public support. The next question is what was the point of Axis' coming and then leaving? As the movie pretty much retcons the events of ZZ (unless Haman decides to come back because she left something behind), they surely sacrificed a lot just to drop off Mineva and say "Hey, we missed you!" to Char. But who cares because when you are watching the movie, you don't think about it. The film had a great flow as things were not going at Mach 3 like Zeta II. Even those with little knowledge of Zeta should able to understand what's going on. Whether this Zeta Trilogy bridges the story between the MSG Trilogy and CCA is up to the fans though.
* The following review was again courtesy of Gunota Headlines (http://aeug.blogspot.com)
