DJ Watches: Mobile Suit Gundam: Thunderbolt: December Sky
December Sky is the full length compilation version of the original four part Original Net Animation (or ONA) Mobile Suit Gundam: Thunderbolt, based on the manga of the same name. Yet another side story that takes place during the One Year War, off to the side where no one would notice, it boasts a fantastic soundtrack and some great animation…but being another one of these released in late 2015/early 2016, the story is pretty thin and unfortunately sort of disappointing. Kind of a shame since it had a decent amount of promise in the beginning. It’s not terrible, and has some interesting and good bits, but ultimately, unlike some of the other, better side stories that have been released, it doesn’t really bring or offer anything of any substance to the table, and ultimately there isn’t a whole lot more to it than an excuse to sell some new model kits.
Ultimately, the best way to describe this film is cool, but flawed and uneven. There is stuff I like, for sure, though they still don’t actually lead to anything. I like another view of just how desperate everyone is as the One Year War has dragged on, where the second someone stops to think about the war, they realize how pointless it is, at least from their perspective. The conflict in this series takes place in the wreckage of Side 4, the cluster of colonies which at this point is little more then a bunch of floating garbage in space. Taking a step back from it to see the bigger picture, there actually is no real good reason to fight for this contested territory beyond it being slightly more strategic for transporting troops and supplies – even then, the debris and “lightning” caused by said debris makes it maybe more perilous than it’s worth. To that end, both the Federation and Zeon don’t seem to do much more than set up token forces in the area. The Federation mostly hires out the Moore Brotherhood, a group that once resided on one of the colonies annihilated in the cluster, fueled by vengeance and a growingly misguided attempt to defend their honor after the destruction. From what we see, it’s a grinder, as waves of GM’s and suits are sent out to reclaim the shell of the former colony, with many being taken out on their first sortie. It gets to the point that the batch of fresh recruits we see in the movie are just kids, similar to the last Zeon newbies in IGLOO, and the officers have been reduced to what are essentially individuals who have their ranks more for their former status on the colony then any actual merit. To say there’s dissent is an understatement, with the XO loudly undermining every command by the captain, Claudia Peer, and the troops being a rowdy bunch. Io Fleming is the ace of the team, and he’s such a disrespectful, arrogant jerk that he’s almost wholly unlikeable. Old friends with Claudia and another member named Cornelius, he’s skilled, to be sure, but knows it, and flaunts it in the face of all around him, and even openly points out that had the Captain any other choice, she would’ve given the new, secret mobile suit the Feds just sent in to someone else. Io is also a big fan of jazz music, which might be an odd thing to point out, but music plays quite a role in this show, though maybe not in the way it typically does in mecha anime.
As for Zeon, they’re comprised of the Living Dead Division, soldiers who’ve been injured in battle and had limbs blown off or amputated, and in a sign of desperation, have been given artificial limbs to continue fighting rather than be sent home. While being part of Zeon, it’s easy to infer that they’re pretty much being used as propaganda to rally the troops, as inspiration for how even the wounded are still fighting for freedom and blah blah blah. Being shunted away to Side 4 shows exactly how much truth there is to that, though on the other hand, the scientists and team on the ship are up to something in terms of their research. As a result, the Zekes are actually significantly more sympathetic for once, being shunned by their own side and maybe having an idea of how much the Zabi family inspirational speeches are all just bluster and hot air given what they’ve been through. Daryl Lorenz is our main character on this side of the conflict, and for what it’s worth, he and rest of his team are actual very good at their job as snipers. Extremely good, in fact, as the massive husk of a colony that they’re stationed on is the very same that the Brotherhood keeps trying to get at, and this squad is the one that, with razor sharp precision, takes out those mobile suits every time they sortie. Daryl is also significantly more empathetic to his team and others, and while just as skilled an Ace as his counterpart, is far more loyal and compassionate, while still being independent and dependable. As for his taste in music, he prefers pop and country.
Io and Daryl’s rivalry is the main driving force of the movie, as it leads both of them to the actions they go through, for good or ill. While both end up making decisions that hurt themselves or their comrades in pursuit of this goal, their personalities and reactions are very different. Io grows more wreck less and unhinged in his obsession to fight Daryl and prove himself superior – being given the shiny new Full Armor Gundam to pilot doesn’t mitigate the slide any. On the other hand, Daryl’s vengeance is more based on the death of one of his comrades at Io’s hands, and a promise to one of the heads of prosthetics, Karla, to avenge him, as the two were in a relationship. One thing leads to another, and Daryl, after having been injured in a fight against the Gundam (in a Zaku I, no less), ends up undergoing a new procedure to pilot the new, experimental Psyco Zaku.
Unlike other things named “Psyco” later in the franchise, this Zaku requires something other then being mentally damaged to use. Using special devices to connect directly to a pilot’s nervous system, the mobile suit is essentially controlled as an extension of the body, which makes amputees the “ideal” subjects to test it. We in fact see Daryl testing out the incomplete legs earlier, as he had already lost both of those to land himself in the Living Dead. To that end, Daryl sacrifices his one last good hand willingly to be the pilot of the Psyco Zaku, all in order to fight Io in the Full Armor Gundam. While suspension of disbelief is something needed in any sci fi show, I can’t help but be somewhat pulled out of the movie a bit when both of these mobile suits enter the fray. Yes, ultimately the manga and anime were created to sell more model kits, sure, and some hand waving is needed, especially if they insist on inserting more of these side stories into the canon. Man, the FA Gundam and Psyco Zaku both seem suspiciously ahead of their time since this takes place during the One Year War. The Zaku I can almost accept as an early attempt to try and tap into all the Newtype ideology and as an extension of a doctor’s honest attempt to make life better for amputees, turned into a weapon of war, but that Gundam. It wouldn’t feel out of place later on in Zeta, but considering that they just created GM’s recently, it feels just a little too refined for the era. I can deal with it, but other later series that take place do a smoother job of inserting these extra Gundams into the timeline.
Also, I can only imagine Amuro, after the war, looking up briefings and reports, getting annoyed that all these other Gundam suits were hanging around while he was suffering in the OG prototype that by the end of the series was refitted, patched up, and barely holding together.
Anyway, as I alluded to, I have to mention the music. There’s a lot of music in the movie, between Io’s free-form Jazz and Daryl’s collection of pop music, and they constantly play throughout along with the score. They are, however, always fitting, and while it’s sometimes obvious, as in the opening scene with Io drumming in his cockpit, it’s seemingly implied that the characters are outright listening to these songs instead of it being in the soundtrack, whether to get them hyped up for the deployment, or just to relax and focus on the task at hand. Some can find it annoying, but I rather like it as it would’ve been easy to just have their musical tastes be a bio blurb or an inconsequential bit of flavor. They also reflect the characters as one would expect – Io is a hotshot daredevil who doesn’t care for orders or rules and does what he wants depending on what he feels, while Daryl is more structured and careful, and plans ahead, following a rhythm rather then just making it up. It’s notable that the character then truly reflects what those attitudes would realistically end up being – Io is the selfish asshole as described above rather than the cool hero, while Daryl isn’t a dull stick in the mud so much as a responsible individual you can count on.
As for other characters, there’s only a few notable folks here. Claudia is captain by default, and genuinely cannot deal with the stress and pressure of being leader since she really doesn’t deserve it beyond her family name having been ranked highly in peacetime. As a result, she turns to space drugs and becomes an addicted mess, and despite her attempt to “man up,” so to speak, by the end and take responsibility the best way she can, it’s too little too late as the crew is justifiably not confident in her abilities. In all fairness, she probably doesn’t deserve what happens to her at the hands of her XO, Graham, who pushes well past the justified criticism into flat out disrespectful sexism. So filled with disdain is he, that when Claudia does the right thing and attempts to save Graham from the ship’s failing bridge to evacuate, he opts to pull out a gun and shoot her instead, commenting that he would see her in Hell. Nice guy. Cornelius is pretty much the normal guy of the trio of friends between Claudia and Io, and that’s it, he doesn’t do anything meaningful besides be the ignored voice of reason. Over on the Living Dead, there’s poor Karla, whose father is a political prisoner and she essentially works for Zeon to arrange for his release. She basically is a punching bag throughout the whole story, as besides her lover being murdered by Io early on, she starts to fall for Daryl, and feels partially guilty for his losing his one good hand for the sake of piloting the Psyco Zaku. It all comes to a head in the climax, where after hearing out Cornelius after the ship is boarded and being talked out of committing suicide and blowing the ship to pieces, Karla instead witnesses her other conspirators vaporized in front of her eyes by a beam saber through the hull. Naturally, she gets sucked into outer space (in a normal suit, so she survives…unfortunately) screaming, and when recovered later she’s in a catatonic state, chuckling to herself.
The setting is interesting enough, and the action is good and all, but it just doesn’t fell all that necessary. That’s fine, if the story were gripping enough or the characters likeable enough, but this movie doesn’t really have those. The idea of this part of the war being fought by arms that the main heads don’t give a crap about is intriguing, and Daryl, the “villain,” being far more sympathetic and identifiable than the “hero” Io is a good stance to take, but they don’t flesh these aspects out enough to really feel meaty enough to cover the model kit advertising that most modern Gundam series end up being shameless about. It’s really cool and worth a watch, and the grittier aspect is great, but ultimately, if you never see it, it won’t hurt. Still, it’s not awful or anything and you could do worse with an hour and a half of your time, and it tells a complete, tidy little story, albeit one that’s a little thin.
So the One Year War comes to a close, but we’re not quite done with the exploits of this set of characters just yet. Everything has to come to an end, after all, but what do you do with yourself when that happens? Sometimes we move on, but other times, some people just can’t let go, even after a complete change of venue.