Gundam Thunderbolt

Story

While the franchise as a whole handles topics like war and geopolitical tensions, Thunderbolt takes itself a bit more seriously albeit in a different way. The dichotomy between Io and Daryl is one of the central themes that's explored, most explicitly shown in their music taste.

Mobile Suits

The mobile suits in Gundam Thunderbolt expand on the traditional Gundam and Zaku designs like many other entries in the franchise. While not shown in the show, I like the overexaggerated weapons that the Ver. Ka models dilate. The Psycho Zaku Ver. Ka in particular is an anticipated purchase for the future.

Soundtrack

I first came across Thunderbolt through its freeform jazz, which was not expected from the franchise. I was slowly gaining affinity for some tracks from Zeta and Origins, but the entire soundtrack from Thunderbolt season 1 is a no-skip album for me. Both the jazz and easy-listening tracks are tasteful and elevated the listening experience of the show for me. I've explore more of Naruyoshi Kikuchi and friends' work thanks to this discovery.

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The clear direction of the season 1 soundtrack built anticipation for my first viewing of season 2. I have my own copy of the season 2 sountrack cd, but I felt that it didn't live up to the quality of the original soundtrack. The jazz tracks were as exciting as the first soundtrack, but the mainstream pop-inspired ones interpolates many existing works that honestly borders plagiarism.