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Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt #1
Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt, Vol. 1
An epic story of war and survival set in the legendary Gundam universe!
In the Universal Century year 0079, the space colony known as Side 3 proclaims independence as the Principality of Zeon and declares war on the Earth Federation. One year later, they are locked in a fierce battle for the Thunderbolt Sector, an area of space scarred by the wreckage of destroyed colonies.
Into this maelstrom of destruction go two veteran Mobile Suit the deadly Zeon sniper Daryl Lorenz, and Federation ace Io Fleming. It’s the beginning of a rivalry that can end only when one of them is destroyed. The lightning-streaked debris fields are about to become the stage for an epic duel where death is the only true winner.
In the Universal Century year 0079, the space colony known as Side 3 proclaims independence as the Principality of Zeon and declares war on the Earth Federation. One year later, they are locked in a fierce battle for the Thunderbolt Sector, an area of space scarred by the wreckage of destroyed colonies.
Into this maelstrom of destruction go two veteran Mobile Suit the deadly Zeon sniper Daryl Lorenz, and Federation ace Io Fleming. It’s the beginning of a rivalry that can end only when one of them is destroyed. The lightning-streaked debris fields are about to become the stage for an epic duel where death is the only true winner.
248 pages, Paperback
Published November 15, 2016
13 people are currently reading
247 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 55 reviews
May 16, 2021
I liked this overall. This was a different take on the gundam subgenre. This story is again war between the Principality of Zeon and the Earth Federation. This time it was set in a no-man's land sector called Thunderbolt because of its constant electrical storms and debris fields. This story had more of a military feel with rank and operations & maneuvering, etc.
I felt it was an Enemy at the Gates situation with the two main characters trying to out-do each other on the battlefield. The brief backstory of Lorenz was cool to see (his childhood, the rise of the Principality of Zeon, exile). Also the use of jazz music and the radio in the cockpit were a neat touch throughout the story. These simple things helped add depth to the story in my opinion. Lastly, the artwork was more detailed and carries the story more.
I enjoyed this opening volume and I liked it more than Mobile Suit Gundam: Origin manga. Thanks!
I felt it was an Enemy at the Gates situation with the two main characters trying to out-do each other on the battlefield. The brief backstory of Lorenz was cool to see (his childhood, the rise of the Principality of Zeon, exile). Also the use of jazz music and the radio in the cockpit were a neat touch throughout the story. These simple things helped add depth to the story in my opinion. Lastly, the artwork was more detailed and carries the story more.
I enjoyed this opening volume and I liked it more than Mobile Suit Gundam: Origin manga. Thanks!
March 22, 2017
When I picked this up I was hoping it would be as cool as the cover, and for the most part it delivered. Some context, I have no prior knowledge about Gundam, except that it is a series with big piloted mechs that fight, and that the older episodes of the show I saw were a bit campy and cheesy.
This manga; however, was not campy or cheesy! I liked the artstyle, it was a little gritty, with a bit of an old school feel. The story was compelling, thrusting the reader right into the action. It follows two main characters on opposing sides of a war, each representing the ace pilot for their side.
I really enjoyed the narrative, which twined together perspectives from both sides of the conflict, making each side appear sympathetic. This also demonstrated the horrors of this long term conflict, with many characters mentioning past casualties, or the hardships that had been caused by it.
If I am being picky I have 2 small complaints. One while I don't mind being thrust into the action, I like to have a bit more of the setting explained pretty early on. This still left a lot to hints and the imagination, which at times was a little confusing.
I also felt like it was tough at times to follow which characters were which, and on what side, due to the black and white illustrations. For the most part it is clear, but occasionally I had to relook over a panel to figure out what was happening.
Overall, this was really good start to a series and I am very excited to continue to read it! I may even give the Gundam anime a try :)!
This manga; however, was not campy or cheesy! I liked the artstyle, it was a little gritty, with a bit of an old school feel. The story was compelling, thrusting the reader right into the action. It follows two main characters on opposing sides of a war, each representing the ace pilot for their side.
I really enjoyed the narrative, which twined together perspectives from both sides of the conflict, making each side appear sympathetic. This also demonstrated the horrors of this long term conflict, with many characters mentioning past casualties, or the hardships that had been caused by it.
If I am being picky I have 2 small complaints. One while I don't mind being thrust into the action, I like to have a bit more of the setting explained pretty early on. This still left a lot to hints and the imagination, which at times was a little confusing.
I also felt like it was tough at times to follow which characters were which, and on what side, due to the black and white illustrations. For the most part it is clear, but occasionally I had to relook over a panel to figure out what was happening.
Overall, this was really good start to a series and I am very excited to continue to read it! I may even give the Gundam anime a try :)!
July 22, 2025
Solid start to this series....especially once characters are identified and you realise their connections (it takes a while).
but it has great action scenes...and the characters do take on a life of their own by the end of the Volume.
but it has great action scenes...and the characters do take on a life of their own by the end of the Volume.
October 3, 2019
The war between Zeon and the Federation continues, it’s good old Gundam fun. This has always been one of the more confusing series for me because of all the political drama, there is never a blub or something at the beginning explaining the war between Zeon or the Federation, your just expected to know. I only got the gist of it after the third chapter and my knowledge from the Gundam Unicorn series.
This starts off with a battle over the Thunderbolt space sector, currently held by Zeon. They’ve set up snipers to take out any federation vessels or mechs. That doesn’t stop the Federation though as they are quick to send out a platoon to take out the sniper, this sets up a rivalry between one of the pilots and the sniper.
As I said this is really good but can get a little confusing at times, just reading the description here helped me figure out where is colony is from. The Gundam is just stunning to look at and the action in this spectacular. There are some good character moments in this as well, which the rivalry helps to bring out.
This starts off with a battle over the Thunderbolt space sector, currently held by Zeon. They’ve set up snipers to take out any federation vessels or mechs. That doesn’t stop the Federation though as they are quick to send out a platoon to take out the sniper, this sets up a rivalry between one of the pilots and the sniper.
As I said this is really good but can get a little confusing at times, just reading the description here helped me figure out where is colony is from. The Gundam is just stunning to look at and the action in this spectacular. There are some good character moments in this as well, which the rivalry helps to bring out.
April 30, 2018
My problem with Gundam manga is that it doesn't translate well. It's always made more sense as an anime instead of a manga.
The art style is weird. They don't seem to know how to draw action scenes, let alone backgrounds. The story is pretty freaking weak.
My library got a chunk of this series in, so I'm going to end up reading all the volumes they've got to see if it improves, but I'm not expecting it to.
The art style is weird. They don't seem to know how to draw action scenes, let alone backgrounds. The story is pretty freaking weak.
My library got a chunk of this series in, so I'm going to end up reading all the volumes they've got to see if it improves, but I'm not expecting it to.
June 3, 2020
Primo manga della serie Gundam che leggo, inizio decisamente ottimo. La storia storia sembra interessante, i personaggi principali hanno sicuramente un forte impatto, i disegni sono incredibili.
Sono necessarie delle conoscenze di base della serie per leggerlo, i neofiti della serie non potrebbero capirla appieno.
Sono necessarie delle conoscenze di base della serie per leggerlo, i neofiti della serie non potrebbero capirla appieno.
June 18, 2017
The time is Universal Century year 0079. The place is Thunderbolt Sector, formerly the orbital space colony Side 4 before it was destroyed in a battle between the Principality of Zeon and the Earth Federation. Now this sector is heavily littered with debris, and afflicted with random electromagnetic discharges that gave it its name. It’s a key point in the supply lines for Zeon, and as such is guarded by the deadly snipers of the LIving Dead division. Their top sniper is Chief Petty Officer Darryl Lorentz.
Assigned the task of clearing out the snipers and cutting the supply lines is the Moore Brotherhood, survivors of Side 4. It’s clear to everyone aboard their mothership that the Federation considers them expendable, but this sector used to be their home. Their ace is Ensign Io Fleming, an eccentric young man who used to belong to Side 4’s nobility. This battlefield will come down to the clash of these two men.
The Mobile Suit Gundam franchise was the progenitor of what’s called “real robot” mecha stories. It aimed for greater plausibility than previous giant robot stories by introducing weapons that ran out of ammunition and engines that used fuel. It also had the giant robots being devised initially as powered spacesuits for space colony construction, and evolving from there, only to be repurposed as military weapons. And to explain why these huge targets weren’t just hit with missiles from miles away, the original creators came up with “Minovsky Particles” that temporarily block radio and radar signals in war zones, requiring the mecha to get up close in order to hit opponents.
In addition, the Gundam series of series depicts the futility and waste of war; sympathetic characters die, the “good guys” don’t always win, and sometimes it can be tough to tell which side of a conflict are the good guys anyway.
Thunderbolt takes place in the “Universal Century” timeline established in the original Mobile Suit Gundam anime, and is a side story happening at approximately the same time. Numerous orbital colonies have been built, as well as other colonies further from the Earth, and some of them have prospered to the point they’d like to be independent. Also, humans have been born in space with ill-defined psychic powers that better suit them for life in outer space; these are often referred to as “Newtypes.”
The Principality of Zeon, a militaristic colony, has decided to go beyond independence and conquer Mother Earth, as it is their destiny to rule over all space. They have a lot of Germanic influence, and their government is basically Space Nazis.
But that doesn’t mean individual people working for Zeon are evil. Daryl’s family were apparently merchants who worked for Zeon in another country before the war, but weren’t actually Zeon citizens. So when Zeon and its collaborators were kicked out of there, the Lorentz family found themselves trapped in a refugee camp. Zeon had a “service guarantees citizenship (would you like to learn more?)” program, so Daryl joined the military.
Daryl got his legs blown off in combat, and as a reward, his family was moved out of the camp and into an apartment, and his sickly father is finally being treated in a hospital. But full citizenship only comes with completing military service, so Daryl was fitted with prosthetic legs and reassigned to the Living Dead division, snipers who have all lost body parts and been fitted with prostheses. They’re all well aware that they’re being used as test beds for experimental upgrades (and aesthetics are not a big concern to the Zeon brass), but that’s life in the military, and at least scientist Karla Mitchum seems to care about them as human beings.
Daryl loves cheesy J-pop music and deals with phantom pain.
Io Fleming, by contrast, loves free jazz and practices drumming in his cockpit when not in combat. He was uncomfortable as a young noble on Side 4, preferring the freedom of piloting small planes. Io’s uncomfortable with the idea that he must seek revenge for his destroyed homeland, even if he does have some lingering resentment about that. He’s rude, bucks rules whenever he thinks he can get away with it, and makes a point of taunting Daryl about his prostheses.
But he is much nicer to his sole male friend Cornelius, and Acting Captain Claudia (who used to be his girlfriend before her promotion made that impossible.) Despite his disdain for his own social class, Io is despised by Executive Officer Graham, who blames the nobility of Side 4 for its destruction. And there are hints that there’s more to Io’s issues than we see in this volume.
The art is detailed and when we see faces, it’s easy to tell people apart. However, the very busy debris fields and multiple giant robots can make for confusing layouts, especially since the black and white art doesn’t have the color cues that would make the machines more distinguishable.
This volume is primarily set-up of the main conflict and the various characters’ subplots, interspersed with exciting giant robot combat.
This manga was originally published in a seinen (young men’s) magazine, though the only strong indicator of that in this volume is a flash of one character’s pornography in an unguarded moment. There’s also the standard violence associated with war stories. Viz rates this as “Older Teen.”
This story relies heavily on the reader’s presumed familiarity with the background established in the original Gundam series, so I would recommend it only to those fans. It would not be the best first introduction to the world.
Assigned the task of clearing out the snipers and cutting the supply lines is the Moore Brotherhood, survivors of Side 4. It’s clear to everyone aboard their mothership that the Federation considers them expendable, but this sector used to be their home. Their ace is Ensign Io Fleming, an eccentric young man who used to belong to Side 4’s nobility. This battlefield will come down to the clash of these two men.
The Mobile Suit Gundam franchise was the progenitor of what’s called “real robot” mecha stories. It aimed for greater plausibility than previous giant robot stories by introducing weapons that ran out of ammunition and engines that used fuel. It also had the giant robots being devised initially as powered spacesuits for space colony construction, and evolving from there, only to be repurposed as military weapons. And to explain why these huge targets weren’t just hit with missiles from miles away, the original creators came up with “Minovsky Particles” that temporarily block radio and radar signals in war zones, requiring the mecha to get up close in order to hit opponents.
In addition, the Gundam series of series depicts the futility and waste of war; sympathetic characters die, the “good guys” don’t always win, and sometimes it can be tough to tell which side of a conflict are the good guys anyway.
Thunderbolt takes place in the “Universal Century” timeline established in the original Mobile Suit Gundam anime, and is a side story happening at approximately the same time. Numerous orbital colonies have been built, as well as other colonies further from the Earth, and some of them have prospered to the point they’d like to be independent. Also, humans have been born in space with ill-defined psychic powers that better suit them for life in outer space; these are often referred to as “Newtypes.”
The Principality of Zeon, a militaristic colony, has decided to go beyond independence and conquer Mother Earth, as it is their destiny to rule over all space. They have a lot of Germanic influence, and their government is basically Space Nazis.
But that doesn’t mean individual people working for Zeon are evil. Daryl’s family were apparently merchants who worked for Zeon in another country before the war, but weren’t actually Zeon citizens. So when Zeon and its collaborators were kicked out of there, the Lorentz family found themselves trapped in a refugee camp. Zeon had a “service guarantees citizenship (would you like to learn more?)” program, so Daryl joined the military.
Daryl got his legs blown off in combat, and as a reward, his family was moved out of the camp and into an apartment, and his sickly father is finally being treated in a hospital. But full citizenship only comes with completing military service, so Daryl was fitted with prosthetic legs and reassigned to the Living Dead division, snipers who have all lost body parts and been fitted with prostheses. They’re all well aware that they’re being used as test beds for experimental upgrades (and aesthetics are not a big concern to the Zeon brass), but that’s life in the military, and at least scientist Karla Mitchum seems to care about them as human beings.
Daryl loves cheesy J-pop music and deals with phantom pain.
Io Fleming, by contrast, loves free jazz and practices drumming in his cockpit when not in combat. He was uncomfortable as a young noble on Side 4, preferring the freedom of piloting small planes. Io’s uncomfortable with the idea that he must seek revenge for his destroyed homeland, even if he does have some lingering resentment about that. He’s rude, bucks rules whenever he thinks he can get away with it, and makes a point of taunting Daryl about his prostheses.
But he is much nicer to his sole male friend Cornelius, and Acting Captain Claudia (who used to be his girlfriend before her promotion made that impossible.) Despite his disdain for his own social class, Io is despised by Executive Officer Graham, who blames the nobility of Side 4 for its destruction. And there are hints that there’s more to Io’s issues than we see in this volume.
The art is detailed and when we see faces, it’s easy to tell people apart. However, the very busy debris fields and multiple giant robots can make for confusing layouts, especially since the black and white art doesn’t have the color cues that would make the machines more distinguishable.
This volume is primarily set-up of the main conflict and the various characters’ subplots, interspersed with exciting giant robot combat.
This manga was originally published in a seinen (young men’s) magazine, though the only strong indicator of that in this volume is a flash of one character’s pornography in an unguarded moment. There’s also the standard violence associated with war stories. Viz rates this as “Older Teen.”
This story relies heavily on the reader’s presumed familiarity with the background established in the original Gundam series, so I would recommend it only to those fans. It would not be the best first introduction to the world.
February 22, 2020
Great first volume
December 6, 2024
Mech pilot Buddhist monks and possibly my favourite mobile suit design ever was NOT enough to make me gaf
June 3, 2020
In the universal century year 0079, the Moore brotherhood which is a unit in the EFSF (earth federation space force), and former residents of side 3 which Has been sent to get rid of the Zeon snipers in the thunderbolt sector.In this group of Zeon snipers is Chief Petty Officer Daryl Lorenz an ace sniper, he's never missed a shot. The thunderbolt sector is the reminisce of the space colony Side 3 which has been caught in a massive electrical storm.Th Principality of Zeon is a Group of spacenoids (people born in space) who declared independence from the Federation.In this sector the 30 foot tall bipedal machines call mobile suits have to have cloth over the joints so debris can't get lock them up. Nearing the end of the one year war (a War against the federation and Zeon) the Moore brotherhood got a special delivery. The FA-78 Full Armor Gundam, by then the other gundam(the RX-78-2) had made a reputation as a high performance machine. So when Zeon saw the gundam piloted by Ensign Io Fleming in battle it brought a wave of fear over the Zeon forces. Will the gundam turn the tide of battle or will Zeons' ace Sniper Daryl Lorenz snipe down the gundam, find out in Gundam Thunderbolt Volume 1.
December 4, 2016
This is the good shit. No flashy special moves, no psychic New Types and no guarantees that your faves are gonna live or die -- just the endless chaos and despair of war, the utter grayness of everyone's morality and the hard sci-fi of robits in SPAAACE. If that's what you've wanted out of your mecha manga, then keep a close eye on this series. It is some good, good shit and I'm so so happy that Viz decided to pull the trigger and license it here.
October 19, 2018
I'm trying to branch out over many of the different manga genres and Thunderbolt was what I decided to go with to cover the mech genre. The only other option our library had was the original series and I'm tempted to go back now after reading this and start there instead. I seemed to be able to follow the action in this a little better than Attack on Titan actually. I think I'll probably read at least one more volume once I get caught up with my to-read pile.
October 28, 2019
This is more interesting to me than the original 0079 series. It doesnt have the usual tropes and seems to just have a fun pace that leaves non action scenes still entertaining.
Gundam has always been known for showing both sides humanely but with the og series I still thought "Nah Zeons kinda bad though." But with Thunderbolt I dont know which character to root for cause they both are so relatable!
Gundam has always been known for showing both sides humanely but with the og series I still thought "Nah Zeons kinda bad though." But with Thunderbolt I dont know which character to root for cause they both are so relatable!
February 12, 2020
This is my first gundam manga series purchase and as someone coming back to the anime, this was a great manga and start. It deals with IO Flemming and Daryl who are on opposite factions pretty much duking it out for control of the thunderbolt sector. I purchased volume 2 the second I finished volume 1, and it is great. I recommend it to new and current manga readers. I liked this volume also because of the artwork and it is a great 'Mech' title.
December 9, 2016
I picked this up because I was a fan of the Thunderbolt OVA. While the storytelling isn't on the same level as the Gundam The Origin manga, there's enough here in the way of additional plot details that makes it worth reading. This series does an excellent job of showcasing the moral gray areas and desperation of the One Year War mixed with a large amount of space battle action sequences.
February 12, 2020
War is bad but the giant robots look really cool. That's kind of Gundam in a nutshell. The "Thunderbolt Sector" is a silly-yet-cool setting where there's space storms and the cat-and-mouse game set up between two music loving soldiers on opposite sides has dramatic potential. The art is well done and definitely the reason I'll try the next volume.
February 9, 2021
A nice, mostly standalone story about what essentially amounts to a territory dispute between zeon and the galactic federation. As someone who has the most experience with the alternate universe gundam stories, I really enjoyed this and didn’t have too many problems getting the gist of the elaborate and long history of the franchise. Color me intrigued for more
February 5, 2017
It's a good quick read, read it on my flight to mexico and back probably would of finished it sooner if the light in the cabin worked.
Solid start and if you saw the OVA cleared up some things that didn't quite make sense. Also nice art to compliment the story.
Solid start and if you saw the OVA cleared up some things that didn't quite make sense. Also nice art to compliment the story.
August 22, 2017
An mature-themed Gundam series concerning Earth Federation Forces and the revolutionary Zeon space people. Both fight with Mechas piloted by humans. The Federation ace is a rich kid, but the Zeon ace is a soldier who had lost his limbs in war. Quite bloody, I am afraid, but with a solid story.
January 16, 2017
Things this manga got: giant robots, explosions, jazz music. 4 stars.
August 14, 2017
Excellent entry to the series - Brutal story, excellent art. Reading along side Gundam Origin.
Easy to read whether you are a long time Gundam fan or this is your first entry to the series.
Easy to read whether you are a long time Gundam fan or this is your first entry to the series.
March 4, 2020
This was beautiful! I'm so glad I decided to read it. Having loved the first film, I enjoyed this a lot. Can't wait to see where the story goes from here.
February 28, 2024
Since days of Robotech I was into gigantic pilotable machines. Games from Battletech universe, and later fiction work from the same, were always great thrill and adventure. But there is something sexy, if you wish, about Japanese mecha designs (take a look for example at those awesome Japanese designs of Battletech machines, pure joy). So, when it comes to Gundam I was not aware of the actual story and lore, I took it to be one of those big robots kicking it off works, i thought it was only about giant robot battles. Until I saw anime Gundam Hathaway and it blew my my mind - yes, there was weird love story involved but everything about the mobile suits was as realistic as it was possible. They run out of ammo, have technical difficulties, can be struck on sensitive equipment and thus disabled or destroyed, pilots get captured or killed. When you look at that scene where Hathaway's squad attacks the city, it looks and feels very realistic, with full on destruction, defenses and casualties.
So I decided to see what does manga set in this universe has to offer (considering that manga is either based on the anime or vice versa). And man, this is some truly interesting military SF.
Novel starts with the Earth Federation entering the debris of Side 4 colony. Area is full of weird particle discharges [after colony was destroyed] that space lightnings (and, yes, there is thunder :) ) are messing up with the scanners, thus creating perfect ambush kill zone. Within this debris lies in wait Zeon's Living Dead Division, weird outfit of amputees (yup, you read it right), heavily wounded soldiers from previous battles now operating mobile suits, tasked with ambushing the federation forces using mines and snipers. The very grim story, forces battling it within remnants of the colony, grudges made due to life lost in combat, politics behind combat and military on both sides ready to use experimental technology and their own soldiers as lab rats to test it in the field.
I liked how both sides use the environment to sneak up onto the enemy, and are always trying to detect the opposition and deploy heaviest weapons available. There are no second places here.
Of course there are classical exaggerations (if you take giant robots as normal thing :)) like federation's top pilot being obsessed with jazz and Zeon's veteran pilot listening to pirated radio station music coming from somewhere in the debris. But again, this is manga, it is not meant to be too serious or grim, at least not whole the time.
Excellent book, highly , highly recommended.
So I decided to see what does manga set in this universe has to offer (considering that manga is either based on the anime or vice versa). And man, this is some truly interesting military SF.
Novel starts with the Earth Federation entering the debris of Side 4 colony. Area is full of weird particle discharges [after colony was destroyed] that space lightnings (and, yes, there is thunder :) ) are messing up with the scanners, thus creating perfect ambush kill zone. Within this debris lies in wait Zeon's Living Dead Division, weird outfit of amputees (yup, you read it right), heavily wounded soldiers from previous battles now operating mobile suits, tasked with ambushing the federation forces using mines and snipers. The very grim story, forces battling it within remnants of the colony, grudges made due to life lost in combat, politics behind combat and military on both sides ready to use experimental technology and their own soldiers as lab rats to test it in the field.
I liked how both sides use the environment to sneak up onto the enemy, and are always trying to detect the opposition and deploy heaviest weapons available. There are no second places here.
Of course there are classical exaggerations (if you take giant robots as normal thing :)) like federation's top pilot being obsessed with jazz and Zeon's veteran pilot listening to pirated radio station music coming from somewhere in the debris. But again, this is manga, it is not meant to be too serious or grim, at least not whole the time.
Excellent book, highly , highly recommended.
March 7, 2019
The book Gundam Thunderbolt is apart of a fast paced series that takes place in between the Universal Century timeline of the anime Mobile suit Gundam. This story starts off in the middle of a battle between the two opposing sides, The Zeon and The Federation. The Zeon is the government that's is extremely oppressive and is corrupt. The federation is a second government working to overtake the Zeon. The war zone is called the Thunderbolt zone, hence the Name of the book as this is where most of this takes place. The book makes it so as each chapter is on opposing sides of the spectrum. Some of the strengths of this book is that you have a complete backstory to the main characters leaving no loose ends when it comes to where the characters are from. But it does have the weakness of leaving other side characters a bit mysterious and not giving them much role in the story. But this could also be seen as a benefit to the story as it creates suspense as to if and what role they might play in the long run. This is kind of like how there is one side character who was killed before his marriage, which leads to one of the main characters carrying the burden of getting revenge on the person who killed the woman's fiancé. As this is only book one of the series, I do think that i will continue to read this as it really interest me to see how this story ends. I really enjoyed this book as I have always been into robots as a kid. I would definitely recommend this book under certain circumstances, those would be that the person is in to robots ad has some idea of what gundam is. If the audience of this book have an idea of what gundam is then i feel as if it would give a better understanding to the rest of the show and fill in any questions had.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 28, 2024
I read this without priorly reading the blurb. I was so confused. There are so many characters and so much action yet so little context. What are they even fighting for? Where did the suits even come from? Who even is in charge and what is the point of including romance amongst all the confusion that the fighting creates? I suppose I know of Io Fleming and Daryl but otherwise I have no clue who they are and why they hate each other. There's this cool thing going on with the music they listen to and that's why I suppose I rated this first volume 2 stars. I'm sure it will improve but so far, I'm not impressed. I suppose this either inspired transformers or it happened the other way round. Although the action sequences are very cool looking, I don't know why the fighting's happening and what both sides are fighting for tbh This is quite technological and there are several people who are amputees which I suppose can be regarded as inclusive despite certain charring terms. The art is fine, the writing's the problem. I've never watched the anime nor do I understand what gundam is haha
May 6, 2022
Author and illustrator Yasuo Ohtagaki brings us the opening chapter in the Thunderbolt saga. During the Federation Zeon war of Universal Century 0079 and during the late stages of that war the Thunderbolt sector also known as Side 4 was destroyed by Zeon forcing the families and the Moore Brotherhood to join with the Federation to take back their home sector. On one mission Ensign Io goes out in a full armored GM and while the rest of his wing is being shot down by a Zeon sniper he loses his mech but finds a way to take one of the Zeon mechs for himself. That act makes his stand out and be chosen for one of the prototype Gundams that the Federation forces have come up with. He then takes the Gundam into battle and goes up against that same sniper again. This is a great opening to the Thunderbolt side series and I'm looking forward to reading the next book in the series. I highly recommend this book for all mech and Gundam fans.
March 22, 2024
I will not be continuing this series. The art is 5 stars. The story is... just meh. The space battles are epic, but the problem is that there's not enough drama/character development to hold them together, at least for me. What drama/character development this book has is cliched. I'm all for tropes, but stringing a bunch of the top tropes together does not make a plot. It's just not unique or nuanced enough to hold my interest.
There's also one panel (literally one panel) of completely unnecessary, adds-NOTHING-to-the-plot nudity, so I can't recommend this title to others.
CW: violence (mostly space battles), brief sexual nudity
There's also one panel (literally one panel) of completely unnecessary, adds-NOTHING-to-the-plot nudity, so I can't recommend this title to others.
CW: violence (mostly space battles), brief sexual nudity
January 14, 2023
Overall, highly enjoyable. One of my favorite things about Gundam is it’s penchant for showing how the Zeon/Federation war affects people on both sides. In so doing, it reveals that there’s decent people on both sides that fueled by this perpetual cycle of violence, fueled by vengeance. The two main characters, Io and Daryl, clearly exude this theme.
The art in this is top notch; panels that are striking hit hard and others that are imposing just lift off the page. Really, really enjoyed this and am looking forward to getting my hands on volume 2.
The art in this is top notch; panels that are striking hit hard and others that are imposing just lift off the page. Really, really enjoyed this and am looking forward to getting my hands on volume 2.
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November 10, 2024don't really read a lot of manga so not sure what constitutes as a 1-5 star read - no rating from me.
a friend lent this to me to give it a go, and it was a lot of fun!! im a sucker for space-based battles so i was always going to love that part of it. i did find it slightly hard to keep up with the switching POVs at times - the illustrations aren't the most clear. not sure if ill be continuing or not, but this was a nice change of pace!
a friend lent this to me to give it a go, and it was a lot of fun!! im a sucker for space-based battles so i was always going to love that part of it. i did find it slightly hard to keep up with the switching POVs at times - the illustrations aren't the most clear. not sure if ill be continuing or not, but this was a nice change of pace!
August 24, 2022
The best way I can describe this, is imagine the movie Enemy at the Gates is set in space with giant mechs, if jazz music was playing the whole time. It's as awesome as it sounds with absolutely gorgeous artwork too. While I wouldn't suggest this as a starting point for getting into Gundam, I'd definitely recommend it as a follow-up to Gundam: The Origin.
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