Introduction
Char's Counterattack takes place in U.C. 0093, 5 years after the end of Double Zeta Gundam.
Char Aznable has reappeared and formed the Neo-Jion Alliance, a force pledged to bring
independence to the space colonies no matter what the cost, even if it means the destruction of the
Earth. Unprepared for the assault, the EFG forms the Londo Bell forces, a military group with the
express duty of defending Earth against the Neo-Jion forces. The Londo Bell forces include heroes
from the One Year War such as Bright Noah, now captain of the battleship Lar Kailum, and
Amuro Rei, now the top pilot of the EMF (See Mobile Suit Gundam). The Londo Bell is the only
thing standing between Earth and Char's revenge.
Fifth Luna
The Neo-Jion forces are first major the Earth.operatives the asteroid
leading their Neo-Jion attack against have captured Fifth Luna and have
moved it into a collision course with the EMF headquarters in Lhasa,Tibet.
Caught by surprise,the Londo Bell forces are unable to launch an effective
counterattack.Nevertheless, Amuro Rei manages to break through the
enemy lines and attacks the asteroid thrusters directly. Neo-Jion ace pilot
and artificial New Type Gyunei Guss attempts to stop him, but Amuroeasily
gains the upper hand over Gyunei. However, his efforts prove futile as
Char Aznable arrives in his new mobile suit, the MSN-04 Sazabi.
Outnumbered and outclassed, Amuro retreats.
Interlude
Meanwhile, the EFG sends Senator Adeneur Paraya to Side 1 (Londenion) to secretly
negotiate a peace treaty with Char and the Neo-Jion, in an attempt to avoid further conflict.
Senator Paraya and his daughter Quess board a shuttle that will take them to Side 1. At the last
minute, Paraya uses his government status to get a seat on the shuttle for Hathaway Noah, son of
Bright Noah, who is trying to rejoin his dad in space. The shuttle launches but narrowly avoids
hitting the falling Fifth Luna asteroid. Fifth Luna slams into Tibet, destroying the EMF base there.
Char only needs to drop one more asteroid, and the Earth will suffer a "nuclear winter," that will
kill all life there.
Disgusted by the Londo Bell failure, Amuro Rei temporarily
leaves the Lar Kailum for the Von Braun colony on the
Moon, home of Anaheim Electronics. There the Anaheim
engineers, under the leadership of Amuro's girlfriend Chien
Agi, are working on the RX-93 Nu Gundam, a new
high-performance mobile suit designed to counter Char's
MSN-04 Sazabi. However, shortly after Amuro's arrival the
Neo-Jion launch a diversionary attack on the Lar Kailum
and her escort ships to distract them from Char's shuttle. Char
is going to Side 1 to negotiate with the EFG forces for peace.
Bright sends a message to Amuro on the moon, who takes
the half-complete Nu Gundam and returns with Chien. Amuro
and the Nu Gundam succeed in stopping the Neo-Jion forces,
who retreat after Char's shuttle has successfully left the area.
The Lar Kailum then rescues the shuttle containing Senator Paraya, Quess, and Hathaway,
which had been damaged by Fifth Luna's fall and almost drifted into the battlezone. Senator Paraya
commandeers the Lar Kailum and orders Bright to transport them to Side 1 (for the
negotiations).
Side 1 (Londenion)
Once the Lar Kailum arrives at Side 1, Senator Paraya meets with Char and manages to negotiate
a treaty. Char will surrender all his warships to the Londo Bell if the EFG sells him the
now-abandoned Axis asteroid (See Zeta Gundam). To make the deal final, Char brings the
payment for Axis in gold bullion, and promises to send the Neo-Jion fleet to Luna 2 asteroid for
disarmament. Senator Paraya and the EFG officials gladly agree to Char's proposal. As the EFG
party leaves, Char comments on how stupid they are, but then thinks to himself "I'm doing
something dirty, Amuro. If you're near, seek me out."
Meanwhile, Amuro is taking some well-earned R&R and is showing Hathaway and Quess
around the colony on jeep. During their tour of the countryside, they accidentally run into a
horse-back rider wearing a business suit and glasses. Amuro sees through [the horrendous]
disguise and immediately recognizes it's Char!!! Amuro chases Char and eventually manages to
knock him off his horse. Amuro and Char battle bare-handed, arguing all the time about the
other's goals. As Amuro gains the upper hand, however, Quess runs forward and steals Amuro's
gun. Quess was impressed by Char's views about spacenoid independence and New-Types and
yells at Amuro for attacking Char. Then Gyunei arrives in a mobile suit to help Char escape. As
Char leaves, Char invites Quess to accompany him.
Much to Char's delight, Quess turns out to be a powerful New Type, almost as powerful as
Amuro Rei. Char pairs her up with Gyunei, who begins training her as a mobile suit pilot. Char
secretly hopes to use Quess as a weapon to defeat Amuro and the Londo Bell.
Disarmament at Luna 2
In the mean time, Char uses decoys to split his forces into two groups. He sends one group
disguised as the main Neo-Jion fleet to Luna 2 to "surrender", while the other half of the fleet
travels to Axis ahead of schedule. A small EMF fleet awaits Char's forces at Luna 2, led by
Senator Paraya. As the EMF fleet begins to recon the Neo-Jion fleet, the Neo-Jions open fire.
Gyunei and Quess attack the fleet together, and during the battle Quess unwittingly kills her own
father, Senator Paraya, when she destroys the EMF command ship. The EMF fleet near Luna 2 is
completely destroyed, and the Neo-Jion forces capture the asteroid, including a stockpile of
nuclear weapons which was put away as a result of the Antartic Treaty of 0079 UC.
Race Towards Axis
Meanwhile, Amuro and Bright discover Char's treachery by inspecting tapes of the Neo-Jion
fleet. Realizing that Char has already defeated the forces at Luna 2 and sneaked into Axis, the
Londo Bell forces race toward Axis. However, Char has already begun to drop the Axis asteroid
on the Earth. As part of Char's plan, the nuclear missles captured from Luna 2 will be used to
further expedite his nuclear winter on Earth. The Londo Bell forces attack with regular missiles
mixed with spare nuclear missiles taken from Side 1. Unfortunately, Char and Gyunei are able to
destroy the missiles before they strike Axis. Bright then orders the Londo Bell mobile suit forces to
attack, but the attack fails and Axis begins its final fall towards Earth.
Amuro and Bright make a final plan to stop Char. They plan to split Axis apart using their few
remaining missiles, thereby making the debris miss the Earth all together. Should the missiles fail,
the Lar Kailum will land on Axis, and the crew will use Junior Mobile Suits to set explosives
inside the asteroid that will split it apart. Bright apologizes and says that it is highly likely that they
won't be returning from this mission. As Amuro and the crew prepare for the final battle, Bright
allows Hathaway, who stowed onboard the Lar Kailum in order to save Quess, to stay on the
main bridge. He also tells Hathaway to make out a will.
Amuro leads the attack in the Nu Gundam. Meanwhile
Char has assigned Quess to pilot the Alpha Azieru, an
enormous Neo-Jion mobile armor. Quess and Gyunei
both try to stop Amuro, but Amuro manages to invade
them, killing Gyunei in the process. Meanwhile,
Hathaway is beginning to develop New Type abilities of
his own, and senses Quess in the Alpha Azieru. He
manages to steal a Londo Bell mobile suit and goes off to
confront Quess. Quess has by now lost Amuro and is
now fighting Chien, who took off in a damaged mobile
suit to try and help the Londo Bell forces. Hathaway
approaches Quess and begs her to stop fighting, but
Quess is bitter and tries to force Hathaway away. While
Quess is distracted, however, Chien launches a missile
at the Alpha Azieru. Quess senses the approaching
missile and dives in front of Hathaway to protect him. The
Alpha Azieru explodes and Quess is instantly killed.
Hathaway lashes out in anger at Chien and destroys her
mobile suit, killing her as well.
Axis's Engines
Meanwhile Amuro alone has managed to penetrate the Neo-Jion line and begins attacking Axis'
nuclear engines. Char attacks him in a desperate attempt to drive him away. During the combat,
Amuro discovers an abandoned Neo-Jion battleship, holding the stolen nuclear weapons from
Luna 2. Realizing Char's plan, Amuro destroys the battleship with a few well-placed shots. Char
pursues Amuro as the stockpile blows up pre-maturely.
Amuro and the crew of the Lar Kailum enter Axis to place the explosives. Char also follows them
in and begins dueling with Amuro with bazookas. Bright and the crew finish setting the explosives
and escape, while Amuro distracts Char. In a final savage mobile suit battle, Amuro finally defeats
Char, destroying the Sazabi and capturing Char's escape capsule. The explosives detonate and
Axis shatters into several fragments. However, the explosion slows one of the fragments enough to
be caught by Earth's gravity, and the fragment begins to enter the Earth's atmosphere.
Axis splits in two. Char laughs, claiming that he has won. There are no means Londo Bell can use
to stop the large rear half of Axis, which decelerated and began to decend into Earth's atmosphere.
However, Amuro takes Char's escape pod with him and attempts to use the Nu Gundam to push
the fragment back into orbit.
Inspired by his actions, the surviving Londo Bell and EMF mobile suits try to help him. Even some
of the Neo-Jion pilots decide to try and help push Axis away. Amuro knows that the other mobile
suits cannot stand up to the strain or are loaded with ammo, and prevents them from committing
suicide by using his New Type powers to push the other pilots away.
However, the Psycho-Frame (a more advanced version of the Psychommu system for New
Types) built into the Nu Gundam overloads due to the incredible amount of psychic energy being
directed toward one objective. As the Psycho-frame grows brighter and brighter, Amuro and Char
exchange some heated debate about ethics. Char reveals that he gave the Anaheim engineers the
Psycho Frame technology, since he believed that Amuro not fighting in an New Type enhanced
Gundam would be too easy. Amuro criticizes Char for turning Quess into a machine, and Char
counters by blaming Amuro for Lalah Sun's death (See Mobile Suit Gundam). Their argument is
cut short as the Psycho-frame explodes. The light of the Psycho-frame focuses on Axis. Bright and
the others are shocked to realize that Axis is actually heading away from Earth! The
Psycho-frame's glow then surrounds the Earth, as all the survivors of the conflict look at it in
wonder.
Musings on the Conclusion
The end of Char's Counterattack raises many questions, as many datails are left to the viewer's
imagination. It is not clear whether the explosion at the very end killed Amuro and/or Char. At the
moment the light comes out, the RX-93 is still seen in one piece. There is hope they are still alive.
However, considering many people have died in the movie, it is usually regarded as Amuro's and
Char's death.
The best explanation to date I believe was given by Enrique Conty in rec.arts.anime along with
some of my thoughts. It goes more or less like this:
As both Amuro and Char debated over who was responsible for all the
previous events with Lalah and Quess, the Psycho Frame amplified their
psychic abilities (because the energy was reverbrating throughout the
Psycho Frame). This was too much strain for the frame to bear, so it
disintegrates. Causing an explosion.
Furthermore, it can be seen as the end of Char's conflict. Amuro wanted
Axis not to crash onto the earth. Char, seeing his adversary was dead,
either did not hamper Amuro's effort to repell Axis or helped him move
the asteriod fragment away from orbit. It is obvious from Char's
confession that all he wanted to do was take revenge for Lalah's death.
To see why this ending was like this, one has to realize what was going on behind the animation
cells. Char's Counterattack was written by Yoshiyuki Tomino to end the Gundam Saga with the
death of the two heroes/villains, bringing an end to all conflicts. This way the author could move on
to other projects.
This did nothing more but to aid and amplify the glory of Gundam in the grand scheme of things.
The result was not seen immediately, this did not really mark the end of Gundam as a series. The
stories took place in 0079, 0087, and 0093 respectively. This left the rise of the Titans to power
and the rise of the Neo-Jion of 0093 in the air, material for more sequels and side-stories: those
written and those yet to be told.
Note: The information was from other sites