The Weekly Stuff #437 – Mobile Suit Gundam: Cucuruz Doan’s Island Movie Review & Discussion

We start today’s show by chatting about work, with Sean telling a funny story about getting a teaching certification, before discussing our love for the fantastic anime Kaguya-sama: Love is War, but then it’s time for Gundam! And this week, both Gundam as a franchise and Weekly Suit Gundam as a podcast are coming full circle by returning to the world of First Gundam, with the brand-new movie set in the timeline of the original show, Mobile Suit Gundam: Cucuruz Doan’s Island! A remake of the infamous 15th episode of Mobile Suit Gundam – an episode with such a troubled production that creator Yoshiyuki Tomino has never allowed it to be distributed outside Japan – original Gundam character designer and animation supervisor Yoshikazu Yasuhiko returns as director to redeem this story of a Zeon deserter protecting war orphans on a deserted island. It’s an absolutely wonderful movie, as beautifully animated as one would expect from the great Yasuhiko, but also incredibly smart and soulful in its themes and storytelling, finding a particularly compelling story for original Gundam protagonist Amuro Ray, played again here – possibly for the last time – by a never-better Tōru Furuya. This is a great movie, and an absolute pleasure to discuss for our final Weekly Suit Gundam before the launch of Japanimation Station. 

Enjoy!

Time Chart: 

Intro & Stuff: 0:00:00 – 0:23:17

Gundam Cucuruz Doan: 0:23:17 – 2:33:31

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