English Dub Review: Mobile Suit Gundam the Origin 1 “Blue-Eyed Casval”

The first OVA from the Mobile Suit Gundam reboot is here! How did it fare? Well, click and find out!

Spoilers Below

The one thing I have been looking forward to since I caught wind of it’s impending release was the origin story for Mobile Suit Gundam. I grew up on Gundam, from the original, to Gundam Wing, and even G-Gundam to an extent. The saga of Amuro Ray and Char Aznable is probably the ultimate story told in almost any medium. I implore you to find a story that that lasted almost 20 years, through ten television and OVA series,  countless manga, novels, games, and so on.

The latest addition to the Federation vs. Zeon war goes back in time where there was a civil war on Side Three, the Republic of Munzo, before the Earth Federation vs. Zeon. In fact, the Principality of Zeon was in its infancy. There were three families involved, the Deikun, Zabi, and Ral families, and all were vying for power and control. Zeon Zum Deikun had a heart attack / was poisoned very early on in the movie, leaving the rest of Munzo in political and civil unrest.

The story of Artesia and Casval (the child who grows up to be Char, the Red Comet) was unveiled in a very tight plot. The Deikun children went from the safety of being the darlings of Munzo, to political refugees being shuttled off to earth in the matter of 70 minutes. Also, you get a look at what could be the prototype of Char’s future helmet when Kycilia Zabi first appeared on horseback. I can’t get over how well put together the nods to the future were done, and how subtle they were. Not once, did I feel that I was being bludgeoned by anything. I felt everything was done in stride, and with taste.

We were introduced deep into the Zabi family. Not just Kycilia, Degwin, Gihren, and Dozle, but we also met Sasro. Sasro had the unfortunate circumstance to be a death to further the Zabi cause against both the Ral and Deikun families.When a patriarch is willing to kill one of his own, what does that say for anyone not named Zabi? On the same respect, we also got to meet younger versions of Ramba Ral, and got the introduction to Jimba Ral.  There were enough family members introduced, with enough changes to preexisting characters, to make the bridge between the 1979 series and 2015’s The Origin. 

If you pay attention to one thing, pay attention to Casval. You can see early on that he doesn’t give a shit as a kid, just as much as he doesn’t give a shit later on as Char. The best scenes in this OVA, were when Casval was pissed as hell. The first, when Casval was confronted by Kycilia, and she threatened Casval with imprisonment, was masterful. Where else do you see a kid not break and do what someone in the stature of power like Kycilia? Casval was made out to be the star attraction, and it sure as shit didn’t disappoint.

There was a lot of unanswered questions from the 1979 Mobile Suit Gundam. Most of it came from the lack of origin story from almost every major player from the Principality of Zeon. We are going to get the beginnings of Zeon, and the root of all of the turmoil inside Zeon, and why the Federation was ultimately going to win. For an “episode one,” I could not ask for anything else. The animation was so crisp; the writing was superb. The second OVA, Sorrowful Artesia, will premiere in Japanese theatres this August. If the release schedule is the same, then we can see a Stateside release very soon after. HAIL ZEON!

You can check out “Blue-Eyed Casval” on Daisuki right here. For a rental of $7 for 72 hours, it is well worth the money.