Ask John: Can You Explain the Ending of Char’s Counterattack?

Question:
Saw Char’s Counterattack on Cartoon Network the other night, and I was a little confused by the way it ended. Specifically, what happened? I gathered it had something to do with the little t-shaped thing but as for all the pretty lights and enemy forces changing sides suddenly, I was at a loss. Is it assumed that they managed to stop the asteroid? What supposedly happened to Char?

Answer:
The ending of the Char’s Counterattack movie is intentionally ambiguous. The movie, released to Japanese theaters in 1988, was the end of the feud between Char Aznable and Amuro Rei that had been ongoing for almost 10 years, since the premier of Mobile Suit Gundam in 1979. By that time Char was arguably more popular among Japanese fans than Amuro was, so naturally the animators at Sunrise were hesitant to ultimately and finally kill off such a popular character. The conclusion of the Char’s Counterattack movie is ultimately a hopeful one, signifying the realization that regardless of ideological differences, Earth is the home of mankind, and it’s fundamentally wrong to destroy the planet over ideological differences. When the fate of the world is at stake, arguments between Federation and Zeon are put aside for the common good of all humans, and soldiers act like soldiers, sacrificing their lives to protect their home planet and fellow humans. With this in mind, we can assume that Amuro successfully diverted the falling asteroid. The fact that Gundam stories F-91 and V Gundam are set some years after the events in the Char’s Counterattack reinforces the idea that the earth was not destroyed at the end of the film. The fate of Amuro and Char themselves is left ambiguous for viewers to draw their own conclusions. However, one classic Gundam joke from the late 1980s goes something along the lines of “Char broiled.”