YMMV / Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counterattack

• Alas, Poor Scrappy: While Chan isn't completely hated, she does have a Replacement Scrappy status for some fans. However, even most of her biggest detractors were disgusted at Hathaway's cold-blooded murder of her.
• Alternate Character Interpretation: What was Char's real motivation for all of this? It's generally accepted that he started the entire war so he could have his final battle with Amuro, but the Zeta Gundam game for the Playstation suggests that he honestly wanted to destroy humanity. His ending in said game shows him getting very angry when he senses Kamille getting Mind Raped by Scirocco, and then showing him in his CCA-era uniform and looking particularly unhappy. When you recall Char's attitude that it would be up to Kamille's generation to correct the mistakes of his own and create a new era, the ending serves to imply that he thought humanity was doomed to repeat the mistakes of the past and would never evolve past their petty conflicts.
  • This also happened in a meta-way between Kōichi Yamadera (Gyunei) and Shūichi Ikeda (Char) when recording the movie: At the time Yamadera was a newcomer voice actor with little knowledge about the Gundam franchise and he had the black-and-white moral view that "For robot anime, there are bad guys, and the good guys fight them." He committed the mistake of calling Char a bad guy and Amuro a good guy in front of Ikeda. Ikeda replied to Yamadera with basically "You idiot! Gundam isn't like that!! So you came here not understanding anything. Idiot"^note Technically, Ikeda called Yamadera "bakayarou", who can also be translated as both "idiot" or "asshole" depending of the context.
• Ass Pull: In an instance of what fans tend to call "space magic", we have the Axis Shock. After all hope seems lost, the Psychoframes are said to resonate and Axis reverses direction, despite already having entered the Earth's atmosphere.
• Awesome Music:
  • "Main Title" and its variations played throughout the movie, such as "Segment III Sally" or "Aurora". This is Gundam, what did you expect?
  • And of course, the crowning credits' song: Beyond the Time, by TM Network. Thanks to the movie's trailers and the song being featured in games like the Super Robot Wars series, it became so emblematic of the movie that excerpts from its lyrics and even its very title would be worked into later adaptations and references to the movie, even of its novels.
    • How about a short version, sung by Masaaki Endoh?
• Badass Decay: Char is often accused as this, as despite this movie hyping him and his final showdown with Amuro up the actual battle is a total Curb-Stomp Battle in Amuro's favor. Of course, Char all but handed the victory to Amuro by breaking his back making sure Amuro had the best possible technology and suit with which to fight him, but it's still jarring how quickly and easily he is defeated.
• Base-Breaking Character: Two big ones.
  • The titlar Char himself. Some either consider him the star of the movie or a horrible character due to his villain-like characterization. The fact that he uses the young Quess just makes it worse.
  • Quess is a divisive character. For a number of fans her brattiness and haughtiness make her insufferable. Others regard her with more sympathy as a child from a bad family being used and manipulated by those around her. Still others dislike how much the narrative relies on her, viewing her presence as a Romantic Plot Tumor that took up too much time from what should have been Amuro and Char's final chapter.
• Broken Base: The Hi-Nu Gundam's designs. Some prefer Izubuchi's original bulkier design which served as the basis for the SD design for the Super Robot Wars games that popularized the suit to begin with, and for the Ver.Ka model kit release in 2014. Others prefer the 2006's slimmer redesign, present in all games featuring the mobile suit post SRW Alpha 3, animated incarnations, most model kits and the Manga of the novel. Then you bring in the 2021 release of the Real Grade Hi-Nu model into the mix that combines elements of them both with the slimmer body and a more stylized version of the blue and white color scheme of the 2006 redesign with a bulkier and more aggressive looking backpack and propellant tanks more reminiscent of the original design.
• Common Knowledge: The Hi-Nu Gundam and the Nightingale aren't the canonical upgrades or completed versions of the standard Nu Gundam and Sazabi. The misconception derives from the units's appearances in Video Games - specifically the Super Robot Wars series, where said concept is used for the sake of their better adaptation to the gameplay and plot. Canonically, both mechs are just alternate universe's versions of the Nu Gundam and Sazabi, hailing from the Beltorchika's Children novel. In the case of the Hi-Nu, it's even referred to simply as the Nu Gundam in said novel - the name Hi-Nu only came in later when Bandai published Izubuchi's drawings of the novel's Mobile Suits, for the sake of setting it further apart from the movie's Nu Gundam.
  • Similarly, Amuro doesn't call out his Fin Funnels to dispatch them, nor does he ever perform the Last Shooting with the Nu Gundam in the movie proper. These are exclusive to his game appearances.
  • Averted with the MASTER ARCHIVE NU GUNDAM book release in 2019, which attempts to retcon every variant of the Nu Gundam into the animated canon. According to said book, the Hi-Nu Gundam is described as the successor unit to the original Nu Gundam, but its production never happened as it was ultimately shelved due to Char rushing his plans of dropping Axis - which in turn caused him to shelve his own Nightingale project in favor of the Sazabi. The HWS equipment for either suit suffered the same fate.
• Draco in Leather Pants: Char's fans have been known to do this to justify his actions in this movie.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: Despite not even having been animated, the Hi-Nu Gundam is very popular amongst fans and directors - aside from the below mentioned expies it has, it was popular enough to receive it's own HG and MG kits, has appeared in several Super Robot Wars games, and even got to be animated in Model Suit Gunpla Builders Beginning G. Char's upgrade, the Nightingale, is similarly popular, if not quite to the degree of the Hi-Nu.
• Fanon: Because Char's sub-commander/lover Nanai Miguel shares a surname with Uso Ewin's mother and they look almost identical, fans assume that Uso is Char's grand/great-grandson. This one was actually Jossed by Tomino, but sprung from a conflict between the writers. The plan was originally for Uso to indeed be Char's descendant, but further into production, the writers decided against that and didn't want to lose all the work on character designs they'd accomplished.
• Funny Moments: A much-needed one with the incredibly offhanded way that one Londo Bell officer prepares his people for the final battle.
  "Write your will on this. We'll send them all out in a capsule. (Beat) Oh, and add a lock of hair for your mom."
• Hilarious in Hindsight: The entire "Nu Gundam isn't just for show!" meme can come off as hypocritical in Hakai, Saisei, Jigoku, and especially Tengoku where the Nu Gundam has a very showy animation.
• Jerkass Woobie: Quess is a very self-centered and obnoxious child, but at the end of the day she is still a child, one who has spent her whole life coping with the Parental Neglect of her Smug Snake father, and on top of that has Psychic Powers dropped into her lap which may or may not be literally driving her crazy.
• Lost in Medias Res: Several fans feel that by skipping to Char launching his first attack on the Federation as the new leader of Neo-Zeon, it leaves too much unexplained. For the most frequently-brought up concern, how did Char become the leader, and how did he survive the events of Zeta Gundam?
• Love to Hate: The most unambiguously evil version of Char to hit the screen. And many people are just fine with that. However, there are those who DO root for Char and treat him as the true hero through.
• Memetic Mutation: Thanks to the movie, many Gundam games and Tōru Furuya himself, it has been proven that the Nu Gundam isn't just for show! Nor is the Hi-Nu!
  • And according to SD Gundam G Generation Wars, neither is the Shining Gundam, or Jean in the Spiral Chaos games when he transforms into a Super Saiyan-wannabe^note This also works in a meta-way as Hiroshi Kamiya, Jean's voice actor, not only is a big fan of the Gundam franchise, he also voiced Tieria Erde and Zeheart Gallete, the latter is, ironically, a Char Clone.
  • Gyunei's infamous "Char is into young girls" conversation with Quess is one of the oldest memes from this film, often being one of the first things people think of when they think of Char.
• Moment of Awesome: Amuro pushing Axis away from Earth—for both the epic badassness and the emotional value. It's So inspiring that the other soldiers from both sides joined to steal some glory from him!
  • Make of this what you will, but most of the new characters get CMOA moments in later adaptations. Hathaway is allowed to mature and become a heroic character in the manga Hathaway's Flash (before being killed off in one of the darkest endings in Gundam history), Quess is allowed to pull a Heel–Face Turn in Gundam EVOLVE #5 (which may or may not retcon her and Hathaway's fates), and in perhaps the most amusing example, Shin Gihren's Greed for the PSP gives Gyunei the chance to actually pull off that Hostage Situation successfully, capturing Amuro and the Nu Gundam while returning Kayra to the Ra Cailum alive. What makes this so amusing is that Char is utterly heartbroken by it, as Gyunei has essentially robbed him of his glorious final battle with Amuro.
• Moral Event Horizon: Several.
  • Char, when he presides over his own Colony Drop of Fifth Luna. Welcome to the Gundam genocide club, Char!
  • Char again, when you examine his manipulations of Quess and Gyunei closely. Playing two emotionally-unstable and very powerful teenagers like violins just to further his own plans? One of them being a kid that he pretty much raised as a Tyke-Bomb for at very least seven years? Yeah, that's gonna work well.
  • Gyunei, after the Hostage Situation that he came up with which ended in the death of Kayra Su.
  • Quess' defection and subsequent murder of her father was this, especially for people who didn't like her in the first place.
  • Hathaway's murder of Chan is one of these for others.
• Narm: Because the Greek letter "nu" resembles the English letter "v", when written out, "Hi-Nu" looks like "Hi-v", which is one hell of a weird thing to find plastered on a model kit...
  • Amuro's "Reason You Suck" Speech to Char in the dub during their fight inside the Axis is sound in its general message, but is delivered in a way that sounds far too uncharacteristically eloquent, formal, and academic coming from him. The result is something that sounds more like a college student reciting his academic speech more than a warrior taunting his rival.
  • Char's last words. He suddenly brings up his sadness over Lalah at the last moment and somehow considers her her mother. Char even kissed her in the original series.
• Never Live It Down:
  • Gyunei's infamous speculation that Char is "into young girls" has dogged the character ever since. In context, Gyunei's trying to defame Char to have Quess for himself, and Char seems very unlikely to be attracted to her at all. The fact that Rezin reinforces the accusation◊ in Beltorchika's Children does not help matters.
  • Char can't get a break with his preference in women thanks to saying "Lalah Sune could've been a mother to me" in his final battle with Amuro.
  • Nanai is also subject to this thanks to a particularly notorious interview of Yoshiyuki Tomino in which he discusses certain Country Matters pertaining to her in eyebrow-raising detail; anyone who's read the interview never quite sees Nanai the same way again.
• Replacement Scrappy:
  • Although she's not exactly hated, Chan isn't seen in a favorable light by some due to replacing Beltorchika as Amuro's love interest - the latter would have appeared in her place, but Tomino wasn't allowed to use her because the executives did not like the idea of Amuro having children with her.
  • Gyunei gets this to a degree, as the fan theory that he was supposed to be Kamille is popular despite no evidence other than the similarity of both characters' talents and hot-headedness.
• Romantic Plot Tumor: Many fans view the Quess subplot and quadrangle between her, Char, Hathaway and Gyunei to be this, as it makes all the characters involved look worse. Hathaway and Gyunei go from relatively likable kids to murderous Crazy Jealous Guy types, Char himself is reduced to grooming a 13-year old child to be his weapon, and even ancillary characters like Nanai and Amuro get begrudgingly dragged into the drama. It's only natural for a child like Quess to think It's All About Me, but when the narrative itself makes the plot revolve around her, that's another thing entirely.
• Rooting for the Empire: Char has betrayed all his allies, used a kid to do his bidding and even a Colony Drop to get more Newypes... And there are still some fans rooting for him? At least it appears in this appearance in which Char has less followers than ever.
  • This might be a form of meta Fridge Brilliance given that Tomino's Gundam works in particular often have a sort of strong but thinly veiled Nazi analogue in the villainous faction of each story. One of Hitler's most dangerous traits is generally regarded to have been his strength as a masterfully manipulative orator... a trait which it would seem Char shares, both in and out of universe, especially as in-universe those who are loyal to him tend to be really absurdly loyal.
    • Quess pretty much exists to deconstruct the "logic" of villain fangirls. Heck, even when she's told point blank that she's being used, but by that point she's in so deep that she's pretty much cool with it.
• Squick: Fanservice on Quess? It's even worse in the novelization.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character:
  • Though dead, Lalah's strength as a New-Type allowed her to remain as a ghost and she appears twice to Amuro near the beginning, only to never return for the rest of the film. Even though so much of the conflict revolves around her, spirit-Lalah has no more appearances not even during the psycoframe overload. It wouldn't be until Unicorn when she'd show up again.
  • Given the role Sayla played in Amuro and Char's rivalry, even managing to break up their final battle in the original series, it's a little odd that she only gets a brief mention in a flashback and doesn't appear in person. Especially since ZZ suggested that she would return again when Char does, but she's instead absent during the whole conflict.
  • Char's time in the AEUG as Quattro is alluded to, but Kamille's fate, which in theory was a major turning point for Char's attitude to Earth, is never mentioned. And nobody from ZZ even makes a cameo.

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