Mobile Suit Gundam F91 Review

Synopsis:
Long after the more familiar events of the Universal Century timeline have concluded, war erupts between Cosmo Babylonia, a powerful would-be empire ruled by the aristocratic Ronah family, and the now thoroughly corrupt Earth Federation. Caught in the middle is a ragtag group of colony refugees led by engineering student Seabook Arno. With little other choice, they join the EFSF resistance and fight back against the Ronahs' personal military, the Crossbone Vanguard, using the prototype F91 Gundam, all the while hoping to track down Seabook's missing girlfriend, Cecily Fairchild, who is the unwitting key to the Ronahs' dreams of conquest.

Release Date:
1991

Timeline:
UC 0123

My Grade:
C-

It's already well-documented that Mobile Suit Gundam F91 had a troubled development. The film began its life as a new TV series intended to establish fresh direction for the slumping Gundam franchise post-Char's Counterattack. Due to production issues, the series was canceled partway through scripting and recobbled into a 2-hour feature movie. The result was a muddy film with a generic story, confusing plot, mediocre animation (for a theatrical release), and a lack of memorable characters and moments. 

F91 recycles the classic Gundam formula yet again, including: 

• A power-hungry royal family (which may as well have just been the descendants of the Zabis)
• A cantankerous young man who must reluctantly pilot a new Gundam after being thrust into war
• The protagonist's estranged parent who secretly worked on the new Gundam
• The protagonist's other parent dying tragically
• A rebellious young woman with a mysterious backstory who serves as the key to the plot
• A ragtag group of children and teens who must become the new crew of an understaffed military vessel
• A pontificating antagonist in a mask
• A diabolical plan to wipe out all the civilians in a colony (at least there's no colony drop this time!)
• Newtypes! ...maybe?

While many Gundam installments utilize some or all of these recurring themes, most at least put their own unique spin on things. Unfortunately, despite the intentions of its creators, F91 fails to offer a novel take on the Gundam formula (with a few small exceptions), rendering it a stale copy of better stories that came previously or after.

This rehashed territory is evident in the protagonist, Seabook Arno, who is just kinda...there. He's a less charismatic and much more forgettable version of every other Gundam pilot who came before him. Though Seabook isn't annoying or offensive to watch, he comes off as too cookie-cutter to anchor an entire film around. Cecily, on the other hand, does at least have some interesting drama to work through; however, it's just not enough to save her - or this duo in general - from being relegated to the margins of Gundam history. 

Our main characters: the improbably named Seabook Arno and Cecily Fairchild

Iron Mask is the main villain of the story. He certainly has a unique look and menacing visage, but despite his visual prominence, the character itself is rendered thin and uninteresting due to the condensed nature of the story. Perhaps, like many other aspects of F91, if there was more run-time he could have been developed into a more interesting antagonist. Other secondary villains are even less memorable, with one, Dorel Ronah, disappearing inexplicably partway through the story. 

The F91 itself is...fine. It's fine. It's a bit sleeker and more muted than its predecessors, which is a welcome change after the increasingly bloated designs of the Zeta and ZZ Gundams; however, it's nothing to write home about. The mobile suit's in-story capabilities are only briefly shown, and aren't especially exciting.

 
I did enjoy the Crossbone Vanguard mobile suits, which sport a frightening World War I gas mask-like facial construction. 

An area where I felt that F91 did indeed shine was in its portrayal of the violence and brutality of war. The entire opening sequence, where embattled mobile suits utterly devastate a civilian area, was gripping and emotional. I know some viewers feel that many of these depictions are gratuitous, such as the scene in which a fleeing mother is killed when the spent shell of a mobile suit's gun lands on her head, but I never felt they were anything other than a relatively realistic take on the horrors that bystanders would experience if war came to their homes. 

Later, when Iron Mask employs his secret weapon, the "bugs," we are given another dose of this type of visceral violence. While the bugs themselves are silly as hell (giant flying buzz saws that also shoot lasers), the wanton death and destruction we see them sow is not. 

I'm far from the first to notice this, but I have to mention the many references to Star Wars that F91 employs. There were at least two musical themes that heavily resembled the Imperial March and the Bespin Escape theme, respectively. The aforementioned Crossbone Vanguard mobile suits share a distinct likeness with Darth Vader, as does the entire Iron Mask character (a man in a robotic suit who has permanently sacrificed his humanity and is trying to turn his estranged child to his cause). While I didn't mind these references, and even enjoyed some, it's for each viewer to decide where the line between homage and rip-off lies. 


In summary, Mobile Suit Gundam F91 is clearly the unfortunate product of a troubled development. Even if it had proceeded as originally planned, however, it's not clear that it would have been a compelling series. The bones of a story are here, but even if the broken plot holes and generic characters were fixed, at best F91 would likely have been a mediocre Gundam installment that didn't offer anything original or exciting enough to justify itself. As one reviewer stated, it's "the animated equivalent of dropping a cake on the floor and then trying to put it back on a platter and serve it to somebody." I don't believe F91 is a total loss, as there are some worthwhile aspects, but unless you're really intent on watching all things Gundam, this is one that's okay to skip.