How much better would this show be if every single episode didn’t feel obligated to showcase one cool-looking toy smashing up some less important toys? ‘Cause I don’t know, man… I think the story might actually take shape if this was actually the case. But it’s a mecha anime, maaaaan. Hell, it’s not just any mecha anime. It’s a Gundam anime. So we gotta have robot action! Well, of course. I’m not saying we should get rid of all the battle scenes in this show, but these skirmishes — and they really are just skirmishes — just feel so pointless. Like I’ve suggested, they feel obligatory, and when that happens, you pretty much suck the fun and soul out of the action. Worst of all, the action is gradually divorced from the actual story.
Lately, I find myself sitting there, just waiting for the action to end so we can actually get on with the plot. I mean, Aida announced her intention to see Towasanga for herself two whole episodes ago. And yet, our heroes only manage this at the end of this week’s episode. I’ve been griping about the show’s pacing for quite some time, and it’s fairly evident now that the action is actually the root of the problem. The battle scenes in this anime don’t feel as though they’re an organic extension of the story. They feel like Tomino has to hit some kind of weekly quota before he can get back to whatever story he’s trying to tell. Like whoa, whoa, whoa… I know you want to advance the plot and shit, but have you wasted fifteen minutes of the viewers time on a pointless battle? Yeah, this week’s fight is just a time waster. Most weeks’ fights are just a time waster.
Reconguista in G has fallen into that dreaded trap where the heroes find themselves battling the Monster of the Week. But of course, there are no monsters in this show. It’s just the same, tired skirmishes over and over. If we’re not fighting Mask, then we’re just fighting another tired face. What happens this week? The Dorette fleet are still in hot pursuit of both the Megafauna and the Salamandra. After all, they’re not going to let our heroes get to the moon. Problem is, we just saw this same song and dance last week. So I don’t need to see this again. It’s just not compelling. I’ve been dying to see the moon, and I had to sit here and watch a bunch of space combat when I just wanted to see the moon, and finally, our characters get somewhere… and the episode is over. I’m so tired of this shit.
Some commenters act as if Reconguista in G’s detractors are failing to understand or decipher the story. No, that’s not the problem at all. The story is actually fairly understandable. It’s just that none of the plot lines will pay off until we are close to the very end. In that sense, the anime is playing a very dangerous game. Either everything is foreshadowing for that big payoff that the story will eventually reach… or the show will just fall flat on its face as nothing comes together. But until then, the show’s just not very enjoyable to watch. In the best case scenario, it’s one of those series where you look back and go, “Oh, so that’s what they were going for…?” But that’s the best case scenario. Who even knows if we’ll have even that. It’s a sad day when the best thing that this episode has going for it is lucid Raraiya.
Moe Sucks 
A full length Gundam series is usually 50 episodes long, but even if it G-Reco is going for that length, this is just excruciatingly slow. Series like Gundam 00, Seed, and Age already has some interesting turn happening. I am a big fan of the franchise, but even with that, this is starting to become a chore to watch.
One week one backpack for the G-self…that’s already a Norm, then must have a battle sequence.. another norm, and new M$ (not microsoft but close) popping up once every two episode is another norm…
By now, Ban DIE has enough G-self backpack to fill a dozen G-self kits in the model line… then another dozen Mobile Suit kits for the designs introduced in this show…
While space battle scenes are great, I still fail to see the underlining plot to progress or gets more detailed in the background lore explained by the running of the show in detail (no Destiny type reading for the lore, thats a SIN).
We got two Bandai Mecha Animation with serious short comings and great strength at the same time.. going at the extreme of polar ends of mecha genre shows…
Then we also has Gundam build fighters try, a sports show that is hard to flaw as long as one swallow the super ridiculous underline promises.
I have not watch three animes from the Ban-DIE at the same time. and this season, they pulled it off..
You’ve hit it exactly with Reco’s biggest problem. As you say, they’re skirmishes that generally accomplish nothing. If they contributed to plot developments (the events of battles have consequences for how things play out) or to character (the events of battles have psychological effects that persist into the future), they (hopefully) won’t be boring. It looks like they’re trying to go for that last one but it isn’t working. This was really one of the biggest strengths of the original gundam series, IMO. Even if they were contractually obligated to have a battle every episode in MSG, generally every one had some kind of consequence that reverberated forward, and were a lot more memorable for it. The weaker episodes are the ones with the more pointless conflicts. Conversely, the constant battles are the biggest problem with Tomino’s Ideon. In Ideon they contribute to the oppressive atmosphere but are boring as all fuck, with maybe 3 or 4 in a 40 episode series being worth watching. Ideon had this problem much worse than Reco, it was actually frustrating watching plot play out only for the final 10 minutes of an episode to be lost to another battle.
I really enjoy all visual/audio stuff in the show, especially the little background details. I want to like it even more than I do, its just disappointing the writing isn’t on par with the visual design.
Yeah, I think I’m pretty much done devoting a post to Reconguista in G every week. There are just better things to talk about, especially when every episode’s plot can be summed up by a paragraph every week.
And this is why I said Cross Ange now fares better than G-Reco (the third mecha series I’m watching). Reco has a more interesting, mind you, but this has practically ground to a halt with all the pointless skirmishes. No matter how unsurprising CA’s story has now become, it still manages to engage me with its somewhat faster turn of events.