Kidou Senshi Z Gundam II: Koibito-tachi

Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam: A New Translation II - Lovers
I wrote a review on the previous part and this one does a better job but still has the same issues that plagued the first part.
The 2 major issues with these movie retelling are as follows
1) The combination of new animation and art style with the original 80s - Like the previous part this one does this also and it's less annoying this time around only because firstly if you are watching part 2 you should be by now use to the scenes, art style and animation randomly switching up on you and this ... one feels like it has 45% old art style and animation and 55% which in comparison to the old one it felt more like 35% New and 65% old. So more new this time are but at the end of the day it's still a con that all of it isn't new art style and animation because it today it looks really good and has aged well.
2) Second major issue is obviously what every movie retelling of an anime suffers from and this is story content (that i felt was important enough to be mentioned) missing from this part. The first part did it and so did this one, I'm only going to name one example since when it comes to these reviews they don't want us spoiling the story it's basically the part in the original anime that explains how the Zeta Gundam is created and who creates the blue prints for it originally, none of this was explained in this part which I felt it should have because if you haven't watched the anime you'll never know.

So basically in my opinion this part is definitely better than the first I felt even though it was missing certain scenes I felt where important it still cover a lot of content for what it was and I do commend that and if there are any pros about this movie it would definitely be that.

Lastly just like I said in for the first part I wouldn't recommend this to anyone who hasn't seen the original 80s 50 episode version. I my opinion that is still the definitive version for Zeta Gundam and once again I can only recommend this to people who has seen Zeta Gundam a long time ago and barely anything about the characters or plot these movie parts.

Lovers is the second of 3 digitally remastered movies that encomes the Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam storyline (A New Translation II). The second movie covers the middle of the MS Zeta Gundam series, which is pivotal for Camille's relationship with Four Murasame.

The digital remastering was not done totally. There would be new scenes added in with wonderful new animation. Just as you're happy and marvelling at the animation they cut to the scenes lifted 100% from the series, which while they might have been remastered look very dated. The switch between the "new" and "old" scenes is very jarring and affected my enjoyment of these ... movies.

That being said, some new scenes added in were very good and helped with character development. They also cut out a lot of fluff which made the movie much more enjoyable than the series, which tended to move along at a snail's pace.

Overall the second movie is almost worse than the series. Not many new scenes were added and the old animation was 100% copy/paste. This was the most interesting arc and they made it seem slow and boring, which was a waste.

DO NOT WATCH THIS, WATCH THE ANIME SERIES.

And we are back again, and the skipping from the first film continues here and is just as outrageous. Beltrochika's introduction was extremely condensed. Her relationship and introduction to and with Amuro are basically not there, which is an insult considering she is the canon mother to his child in Char's Counterattack novel. It also skips a lot of Amuro's internal struggle to decide to fight again.

Kamille is once again given less time to shine and develop versus how he did in the anime series. And Katz, who was already one of the weakest written characters in the ... show, gets even less development here. Sarah suffers a similar issue and is even less developed than before. In fact, they give her more moments to make her appear even more like an asshole and less human, which is a completely wrong decision in my opinion. They give her a new scene where she is kind to the children and says she will protect them, as she then proceeds to abandon them to the opposing force. Making an already unlikeable character whose one personality trait was she was a simp for one of the antagonists even more unlikeable, what a bold writing choice.

The trip to space as well as the trip to Tokyo all happens in the first 10 minutes. Beltorchika's initial dialogue with Kamille is not here. Mirai's introduction and meeting with Amuro is completely skipped, as is meeting Luio & Co. Stephanie Luio is just on board the ship and with the crew now and it is not explained as we never got her introduction. Mirai's kidnapping is also completely removed. Four and Kamille's introduction is also short and their relationship gets less time just like Amuro and Beltorchika's.

The Psycho Gundam Tokyo climax was also shortened and less impactful. We barely see any of the impact or repercussions of what happened. Instead, we cut to the next confrontation with the Psycho Gundam. We also skip all the crucial dialogue with Amuro, Char and Kamille explaining Lala, Newtypes and the special connection Kamille has with Four.

There is one more major change in this arc, Four's death. She is shot in the head and dies immediately instead of the shoulder and slowly dying while trying to keep going. This removes all the moments of her struggle, her final words and her conversation with Kamille. This makes one of Kamille's main turning points much less impactful and is a disgrace. Making her death more violent would have been fine in theory, as long as we still got to see her fighting for him and believing in her feelings for him, but we got none of that.

There is, however, one change that is for the better. Fa and Kamille's relationship is given some much-needed scenes that the original show was lacking. Their relationship feels more believable. Instead of hugging after reuniting they awkwardly try and kiss but both have helmets on so it is a mess and they laugh about it together. This change was nice and one of the changes fans actually asked for. If the whole film was giving us what we wanted instead of removing key story moments then it could have been great.

Captain Bright's breakdown in his room alone in reaction to his video message from his kids was completely removed and instead, we get him watching it with headphones on in a meeting for like 2 seconds and then it cuts off. Just like with the first movie, and like most of the cast, his character arc is mostly missing from this film.

The combination of new and old animation was also a lot more noticeable in this film. A scene where some mobile suits showed up happened and then in the next frame they were completely different colours and different details and I had to pause because it caught me off-guard.

Watch the scene of Fa and Kamille reuniting, and skip the rest of this film, a waste of time, please watch the anime series instead, the anime is iconic and is one of the most beloved in all of Gundam.