Ten Years of G-Reco and the World Not Being Square
If you know me, you're probably aware I love Yoshiyuki Tomino's works. Beyond just Gundam, recently I've thoroughly fell in love with pretty much everything I've seen directed by the man. With all their uneveness, there's always a strong worldview covering his shows, a lot going on all the time, and great attention to detail that enwraps me completely. Generally, when I watch one of his shows I feel like going to the next one right away.
And today is Gundam: G no Reconguista's tenth anniversary. I wasn't watching the show while it aired (which might make my writing today pointless, but I just wanna an excuse to talk about G-Reco), although I did watch anime at the time and remember when it was announced. Actually, I'd only watch Gundam for the first time after Reconguista was done airing on TV, and at some point I heard the whole thing was a giant mess. I ended up giving it a shot for the first time probably in 2020, when I was first getting into Gundam and did a Universal Century marathon, and for a long time after that, it became sort of this thing I desperatetly wanted to understand and get into, but as most people, the non-stop, breakneck pacing and the awkward, weird dialogue made it a hard watch for me, and I ended up forgetting most things about it.
In 2023, the G-Reco compilation movies finished coming out, and I gave them a shot. I don't know what changed, but it just cliked this time around. Suddenly the rushed pacing was perfectly fine and understandable and I recognized the charm of the over the top dialogue. I still don't think I understood everything about the story that time — and even now, with three viewings, I'm sure there's probably more to take from it —, but I got it, it hit me what kind of show that was. And now I firmly believe G-Reco is one of the most joyful things I've ever seen.
It's just oozing with fun all the time, be it with the constant zero gravity slapstick, the engaging action, or with the infamous dialogue — which is funny a lot of the time —, and I've always appreciated the visuals, but now I realize they're really what make the show work moment-to-moment. There's such charisma and joy and sincerity to everything about G-Reco that never fades away if you can get in the same wavelength.
And it's a show that does have flaws, don't get me wrong, both the TV and the movie versions, but I just don't care most of the time. It makes me happy like few other things do. It's a truly special work with a lot to say — and it might require you to get adjusted to it, let's say, but it's so worth it if you're able to get there. Like Tomino's other works, it might have its uneveness and quirkiness, a whole lot in fact, but so much about it becomes engrained in my mind for so much time.
It's stuff like a scene where someone shows how to brush your teeth in space, and it's not even relevant, just a detail in a random scene; or when someone sneezes and starts spinning around in zero gravity; or whenever there's a really awesome, dramatic giant robot fight with five factions all at once and it's super chaotic and sometimes you're barely able to tell what's happening. But also things like Aida getting over grief, learning to accept Bellri for who he is, and details like Bellri purposefully avoiding to kill in the battlefield after brutally murdering someone by accident, crying and shouting at the end of an episode.
Again, I did not watch G-Reco 10 years ago, but I really wanted to use this excuse to write about it because I find it so special and unique. Hopefully more people can get into it as the years go on, like other shows managed to get more positive attention after a while.