History Anime / MobileSuitGundamNarrative

* AcePilot: Averted with Jona and, uncharacteristically for a [[CharClone Char Clone]], Zoltan. Jona is a largely average pilot and doesn't particularly improve over the course of Narrative, leading to others in the Shezarr Team to wonder why he was given a ''[[SuperPrototype Gundam]]'' of all things. Zoltan is also pretty average, relying primarily on his Newtype equipment and a far cry from the usual fantastic piloting skills of most Char Clones.

* CharClone: In a more literal sense. Zoltan Akkanen is a Cyber-Newtype who was a candidate to become the second coming of Char Aznable, just like Full Frontal. [[DeconstructedTrope And trying to force him into that mold drove him insane. Zoltan can't measure up to Char or Frontal and lacks their charisma or skill. As a result he's considered a failure that's only good for piloting a certain II Neo Zeong.]]

''Mobile Suit Gundam Narrative'' (''NT'') is a 2018 anime film in the ''{{Franchise/Gundam}}'' franchise. It is based on the 11th ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundamUnicorn Gundam Unicorn]]'' novel, ''Phoenix Hunting''. The movie premiered on November 30, 2018 and was the first installment in Creator/{{Sunrise}}'s "UC [=NexT=] 0100" project, which covers the events of the next 100 years in the Universal Century timeline after ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamCharsCounterattack''.

The story is set in UC 0097, one year after the events of ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamUnicorn'', when the conflict called the "Laplace Incident" led to the dissolution of the Neo Zeon remnant group "The Sleeves". Both the Banshee and Unicorn Gundam were locked away in secrecy while Laplace's Box revealed the original draft of the Universal Century Charter, making the existence of Newtypes public.

* GiantFootOfStomping: This is the fate suffered by one of Martha Vist's jailers when Luio & Co. break her out. Of course, as the others in her car simply ran for it and were left alone, this guy went out of his way to ask for it ''[[SuicidalOverconfidence by brandishing a pistol at a mobile suit]]''.

* {{Interquel}}: The film is a self-contained story in itself, but also serves as the prologue to a larger storyline concerning the fate of Newtypes in the decades before ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamF91''.

* MayItNeverHappenAgain: In the aftermath of the disaster that was the pursuit of the Phenex, all data and information about Newtypes and the Psycoframe technology was sealed away as something humanity was just not ready for. By the time of ''Anime/MobileSuitVictoryGundam'', the term "Newtype" is for all intents and purposes a bed-time story told to small children.

** The "Psycho Package" C-Packs mounts an actual Psychoframe and unlike the aforementioned A-packs and B-packs, there are no plans for the Narrative to have this setup, resulting in minimal conversion that were hastily applyed on the suit. Even its beam rifle is just a modified Jegan rifle. This made the suit look distorted, as if it was made from an unusual origin.

* RuleOfSymbolism: Per Word of God, the way the Narrative Gundam gradually sheds its equipment over the course of the film is meant to parallel Jona letting go of his regrets, grudges, and impatience. This was also why it had a bird-like Core Fighter. [[spoiler:This thematically reaches a climax when, finally losing the Narrative and getting to use the full power of the Unicorn Phenex, he gets a sort of catharsis for his lifelong hangups with his mutual tragedies with Michele and Rita--setting him up to a new life under Banagher's guidance.]]

** First, the titular Narrative Gundam. On it's own, it is very much the FlawedPrototype to the Nu Gundam. It normally lacks sufficient armor and weapons, but can be armed with a variety of equipment sets to suit the situation and fight on par with current generation mobile suits.

* TheseAreThingsManWasNotMeantToKnow: Evidently shocked by what Banagher and the Unicorn were capable of, the Earth Federation government made a deal with Mineva Zabi to seal both the Unicorn and the Banshee away, as well as all data on the psycho-frame.
* TimeMaster: Turns out the Unicorn Gundams are actually able to selectively reverse time. The scene in ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamUnicorn'' when Barnagher stops all the Federations Jegans and [=ReZELs=] wasn't just powering the machines down, but actually rewinding the clock on their internal systems to a point before their generators were even built. [[spoiler: Michele wants the Phenex Gundam for precisely this reason]]. The Phenex is capable of weaponizing this power, basically "throwing" a psycho-field that can rapidly dismantle anything it hits.

** Completing the trinity, Rita [[spoiler: despite being quite dead]] is still loyal to her friends, even after [[spoiler: they seemed to sell her out]]. She never lost an ounce of faith in them.

* VulnerableConvoyEscort: Martha Vist Carbine, due to her involvement in the Laplace Incident, is escorted by ''mobile suits'' whenever she changes imprisonment locations. Of course, the ones looking to break her out are piloting mobile suits themselves.

* GiantFootOfStomping: This is the fate suffered by one of Martha Vist's jailers when Luio & Co. break her out. Of course, as the others in her car simply ran for it and were left alone, this guy went out of his way to ask for it ''[[WhatAnIdiot by brandishing a pistol at a mobile suit]]''.

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Martha Vist Carbine was established as a person of interest--hence why she was abducted by Michele's crew before they deployed to join Operation ''Phoenix Hunting''. She hasn't been seen after that--[[AmbiguousSituation although Michele did promise she would be given a new identity in exchange for cooperation]].

* AcePilot: Averted with Jona and, uncharacteristically for a [[CharClone Char Clone]], Zoltan. Jona is a rather poor pilot and doesn't particularly improve over the course of Narrative, leading to others in the Shezarr Team to wonder why he was given a ''[[SuperPrototype Gundam]]'' of all things. Zoltan is pretty average, a far cry from the usual fantastic piloting skills of most Char Clones.

* AmbiguousSituation: Despite scattered scenes throughout the film suggesting Rita [[spoiler:was subjected to multiple surgeries, operations and experiments as a Cyber-Newtype guinea pig]], nothing really confirms what exactly happened for her "Newtype ghost" to inhabit the Phenex.

* DoubleWeapon: The Dijeh makes a return from ''Zeta Gundam'' wielding with its usual beam naginata as a melee weapon. Ellic's custom Geara Zulu also uses one.

** The Phenex, as established, is animated by the echoes of Rita Bernal's residual Newtype power. Whatever is embedded in the Phenex enables it to turn any encounter with any mobile suit into a CurbStompBattle.

* PoweredByAForsakenChild: It turns out that the pilot of the Phenex is Rita, Jona and Michele's childhood friend with Newtype powers. [[spoiler:It is not entirely sure what exactly happened to her (apart from the vague implication that she was subject to multiple operations that either studied her brain/tore her body to pieces), but it's undeniable that her spirit/brainwave echoes reside in the Phenex[[note]]something akin to the Graze Ein from ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamIronBloodedOrphans'' (but without the WetwareCPU) or the EXAM System empowered suits housing parts of the unwilling soul of Newtype pilot Marion Welch in ''[[Franchise/GundamExpandedUniverse The Blue Destiny]]'', which has since been retroactively revealed to be an in-universe inspiration for the NT-D system itself[[/note]]]].

* ReactionlessDrive: Implied to be used by the Phenex, as one of the capture team notes that the blue light propelling the Phenex's insane maneuvers isn't coming from its thrusters. Given it's been flying around for years, this is necessary.

* StockFootage: The broadcast of the Gundam Mk-II fighting the Psyco Gundam is actually not new animation, but taken directly from the second ''Zeta Gundam: A New Translation'' film.

* TooGoodForThisSinfulEarth: It's very difficult to see Rita as anything but this, taking into account all the horrible stuff she suffered. [[spoiler:Despite seemingly knowing how Michele abandoned her, she spent her last moments conscious/alive comforting Jona and assuring him everything will be alright. Not even losing her physical body stops her, as she continues to animate the Phenex towards stopping the conflict Zoltan and the Sleeves are trying to accomplish. Even ''Unicorn'' protagonist Banagher, easily TheParagon amongst most UC protagonists himself, is heavily impressed by her.]]

* AcePilot: Averted with Jona and, uncharacteristically for a [[CharClone Char Clone]], Zoltan. Jona is a rather poor pilot and doesn't particularly improve over the course of Narrative, leading to others in the Shezarr Team to wonder why he was given a ''[[SuperPrototype Gundam]]' of all things. Zoltan is pretty average, a far cry from the usual fantastic piloting skills of most Char Clones.

* AcePilot: Averted with Jona and, uncharacteristically for a [[CharClone Char Clone]], Zoltan. Jona is a rather poor pilot and doesn't particularly improve over the course of Narrative. Zoltan is pretty average, a far cry from the usual fantastic piloting skills of most Char Clones.

* AmbiguousSituation: Despite scattered scenes throughout the film suggesting Rita [[spoiler:was subjected to multiple surgeries, operations and experiments as a Cyber-Newtype guinea pig]], nothing really confirms what exactly happened for her "Newtype ghost" to inhabit the Phenex.
* TheAtoner: It is eventually revealed much of Michele's actions throughout the film isn't just driven by her nominal "search-for-immortality" quest for her adoptive father. [[spoiler:It is also driven by her genuine belief that Rita, despite no longer having a physical body, is still living on metaphysically (at least as most Newtype ghosts are)--and wishes that Jona encountering her will finally move him to forgive her. It can even be read that her [[DeathSeeker suicidal insistence]] to be part of the final battle (ending with her HeroicSacrifice) falls under here too.]]
* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler: Zoltan and the II Neo Zeong are destroyed, but Prime Minister Monaghan Bakharo doesn't face any comeuppance for authorizing the operation despite Mineva having a good idea of his guilt. Meanwhile, the Phenex flies off again, taking Rita and Michele's souls with it and leaving Jona behind. However, all three find closure at the end, with Jona and Michele finally being able to let go of their guilt and resentments and Rita being able to briefly reunite with them. It is also hinted that Brick gets to go along with Michele in the Phenex as well, [[UndyingLoyalty allowing him to still look after her even in death]].]]

* At the end of ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'', Team 7 just ''barely'' managed to defeat Kaguya, a god-like being that almost takes over their world and reseal her back into the moon. The Black Zetsu, [[GreaterScopeVillain who engineered the entire events of the series]], [[VillainExitStageLeft looks to escape to try his plans again]], only to be found by Naruto who [[KarmaHoudiniWarranty knocks him into the seal as well]] to ensure Kaguya won't be freed again.

* RuleOfSymbolism: Per Word of God, the way the Narrative Gundam gradually sheds its equipment over the course of the film is meant to parallel Jona letting go of his regrets, grudges, and impatience. [[spoiler:This thematically reaches a climax when, finally losing the Narrative and getting to use the full power of the Unicorn Phenex, he gets a sort of catharsis for his lifelong hangups with his mutual tragedies with Michele and Rita--setting him up to a new life under Banagher's guidance.]]

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler: Zoltan and the II Neo Zeong are destroyed, but Prime Minister Monaghan Bakharov doesn't face any comeuppance for authorizing the operation despite Mineva having a good idea of his guilt. Meanwhile, the Phenex flies off again, taking Rita and Michele's souls with it and leaving Jona behind. However, all three find closure at the end, with Jona and Michele finally being able to let go of their guilt and resentments and Rita being able to briefly reunite with them. It is also hinted that Brick gets to go along with Michele in the Phenex as well, [[UndyingLoyalty allowing him to still look after her even in death]].]]

* KarmaHoudini: It has been established throughout the story that [[spoiler:the remaining Sleeves were operating under "plausible deniability" supported by Zeon's minister Monaghan Bakharov--which makes him ultimately responsible for all the bloodshed throughout the film.]] Yet he never gets any visible comeuppance, [[spoiler:despite Mineva showing she has a good clue of his guilt, but with no solid evidence for it]].

* RecycledSoundtrack: The Neo Zeon theme from ''Unicorn'' plays during Mineva and Monaghan Bakharov's video conversation. Other leitmotifs from ''Unicorn'' also reoccur throughout the OST.

** Jona belongs to the Federation's Shezzar unit that shares its name with Allen Schezar from ''Anime/TheVisionOfEscaflowne'', another Sunrise mecha anime. They're [[UsefulNotes/JapaneseRomanization spelled differently]] in official English localizations but they're spelled the same in Japanese as シェザール.

** Jona belongs to the Federation's Shezzar unit which shares the surname of Allen Schezar from ''Anime/TheVisionOfEscaflowne'', another Sunrise mecha anime. They're [[UsefulNotes/JapaneseRomanization spelled differently]] in official English localizations but they're spelled the same in Japanese as シェザール.

* ShoutOut: Both by the [[AuthorAppeal intention]] of head writer Fukui, and both to previous Sunrise mecha anime:
** The Phenex hitting high-speed flight has the same sound as the V-MAX from ''Anime/BlueCometSPTLayzner''.
** The II Neo Zeong shares several sound effects with the Ideon from ''Anime/SpaceRunawayIdeon'', which happened to be directed by Gundam creator Creator/YoshiyukiTomino.

Never be...]]''

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* CharClone: In a more literal sense. Zoltan Akkanen is a Cyber-Newtype who was a candidate to become the second coming of Char Aznable, just like Full Frontal.