Gundam Thunderbolt - First Impression

I'm a big fan of Gundam series, and watched almost every Gundam series. I haven't watched several Gundam series for instance: Turn A Gundam, V- Gundam, Gundam AGE, Gundam X and currently finishing the first season of Gundam Iron Blooded Orphans, 2 more episodes to go to be precise

I've been thinking to myself, what makes the first episode of Gundam so good? It's because in the first episode they established the main conflict, so we know what we will expect in the series. I shall called it the Gundam's first episode Formula!

So if we look back at the first original Gundam 0079, in the first episode, it is established that the main conflict of the series is between The Earth Federation and The Principality of Zeon. The Principality of Zeon wanted to realize Zeon Zum Deikun's goals, which is to make Spacenoids to be fully independent from Earth Federation. But the Earth Federation didn't agree to it, and finally, the Principality of Zeon proclaim their own independence and declare war as well to the Earth Federation by dropping Side 1, the first space colony that is build by humankind, to the Earth. Hence, starts the legendary One Year War between the 2 factions.

And so does the direct sequel to the Gundam series, Zeta Gundam, which established the main conflict of the story, Earth Federation becomes cocky because they won the One Year War (err, spoiler alert for Gundam 0079) and they assemble the team to wipe out the remnants of Zeon which is called Titans, and the spacenoids formed AEUG (Anti Earth Union Group) which have the remnants of the Zeon as well,

In Gundam 00, It is explained in the first episode that Earth has no fossil fuel anymore, so they made an orbital elevator in order to get the solar energy. And there are factions on Earth who wanted to monopolized the elevator for their own benefits. In this series, there's a group called Celestial Being that has one purpose only, to intervene every global conflict in the world by using Gundam.

Even the silliest Gundam series established the main conflict in the first episode of the series, G Gundam, (which is my guilty pleasure Gundam series)
Domon Kasshu is a Mobile suit Fighter, searching for his brother because his brother made Demon Gundam cells which is dangerous and has massive destruction power. And he looked for his brother by joining the Gundam Fight Tournament as a Neo Japan Colony representatives.

I could go on and on about this since most of the Gundam series that I watched followed the same first episode formula (8th MS Team, Stardust Memories, Gundam AGE, Iron Blooded Orphans, etc)
so yeah, I'll stop there

Unfortunately I can't found that formula on Gundam Recongista in G, I've watched the first two episodes and I still have no idea what is going on in there. Too much shit happen, but I don't understand what the hell did I just watch... and sadly it is made by the father of Gundam himself, Yoshiyuki Tomino. or maybe I'm just too dumb to understand it, I dunno hahaha


So
I have the same vibe when I watched Gundam Thunderbolt's first episode, the main conflict of the series is clearly established ! It's an UC series, and it takes place at One Year War timeline. just like The 8th MS Team (which is my favorite OVA Gundam series), MS Igloo and many others.

So we will see the battle between Earth Federation and Zeon in here.

In the first episode, we see our main protagonist, Ensign Io Flemmings of EFSF (Earth Federation Space Force), an ace pilot and a Jazz music enthusiast, and he always listen to it even when he go to the battlefield. He even has his catchphrase when he killed some of his enemy.

He is a badass and an asshole at the same time, A loveable asshole that is!

and on Zeon's side, there's a sniper named Daryl Lorenz, and he used prosthetic limbs because he lost it in the combat, and he loves pop music. Unlike Io, he is more calm and composed. But when he saw his teammates got killed by Io, he got triggered

The conflict of these two characters is foreshadowed in this first episode. and I can't wait to see them actually fight!

In the last minutes of the first episode, since Io is an Ace in their team, they let him to use Gundam prototype and then he went solo for the mission. He obliterated Zeon's troops so easily! Daryl saw the recording of his teammates last moments and he noticed that the Gundam has Jazz song played as his BGM, and he knows who pilot the Gundam, and then, the shows end.

when the show's first episode ends, I was like

Damn! I need more of this! Right now!

It feels nostalgic, finally another good UC series! 

For an ONA (Original Network Anime), the animation is really good! If you have watched other UC series, especially the original one, you can see that Gundam Thunderbolt's art style is modern but remains classic at the same time. 

And the soundtrack, my god, don't get me started on it! I can't believe that jazz music would fit in the Gundam series to be honest. It feels like Cowboy Bebop and Gundam has a child, a very beautiful child, a child that I want to protect. *wut* 

So, based on the first episode, if you love Gundam series, I'd say that you have to watch this series!
I really can't wait to watch the next episode of Gundam Thunderbolt! XD