Mobile Suit Gundam: War in the Pocket 01
My first foray into Gundam. As an introductory episode it was okay but I cant say this excites me much.
The central story seems to follow Alfred. From the opening credits where he is introduced it is made clear that he is a troublemaker and every scene after seems to enforce this. When he is caught in a restricted area he comes up with a convincing lie on the spot which was quite devious. Both scenes with Alfreds parents put the camera in the parents perspective to emphasize his lack of respect for both of them, never looking them in the eye. Finally the scene where he plays the shooter game and destroys his hometown after a nagging by this mom demonstrates his rebellious nature. It was a bit heavy handed but it gets the point across. Alfred is wholly unlikeable by the end of the episode but I suppose thats the point.
My biggest gripe with the episode was the music. The techno-synth is awful and really ruins the mood for some scenes such as the happy go lucky music as Al runs through the ruined streets. Overall I liked the episode but the music could kill the series for me.