機動戦士ガンダム / Mobile Suit Gundam

Serious space adventure with robots.

Japanese screenwriter Yuzo Yamamoto died on the 25th of November as stated by an official tweet from the original animation production project "Midori Kamikaze Jin Ryger" which Yamamoto presided. He was 71. The private funeral was held on the 29th, and was attended only by his relatives. The production company working with Yamamoto stated the production of the project was put on hold.

Mr. Yamamoto made his screenplay debut in 1973. He created He created the J9 trilogy (Braiger, Baxinger, and Sasuraiger), as well as Srungle and Acrobunch. In addition to Fujiko Fujio's original works such as "Okake's Q Taro" and "Perman", he worked on many animated works such as "Denno Frog" "Time Bokan" series, "Mobile Suit Gundam" and "Urusei Yatsura", all influential names that resonate in the Animé industry until this very day.

Original news translated and adapted from Yahoo News Japan. 

a team of heroes.

a bad guy.

Mobile Suit Gundam origins

Mobile Suit Gundam is a televised anime series, produced and animated by Sunrise. Created and directed by Yoshiyuki Tomino, it premiered in Japan on Nagoya Broadcasting Network and its affiliated ANN stations on April 7, 1979, and lasted until January 26, 1980, spanning 43 episodes. It was the very first Gundam series, which has subsequently been adapted into numerous sequels and spin-offs. Set in the futuristic calendar year "Universal Century" 0079, the plot focuses on the war between the Principality of Zeon and the Earth Federation, with the latter unveiling a new giant robot known as the RX-78-2 Gundam piloted by the teenage civilian mechanic Amuro Ray. 

In 1981, the series was re-edited for theatrical release and split into three movies. The characters were designed by Yoshikazu Yasuhiko, and Kunio Okawara was responsible for the mechanical designs, including the eponymous giant robot, the RX-78-2 Gundam. The first movie was released on February 22, 1981. Tomino himself also wrote a trilogy of novels that retell the events of the series. Two manga adaptations of the series have also been written by two manga artists. 

Despite initial low ratings that caused the series' cancellation, the popularity of Gundam saw a boost from the introduction of Bandai's Gunpla models in 1980 and from reruns and the theatrical release of the anime, leading to the creation of a prolific and lucrative media and toy franchise. The series is famous for revolutionizing the giant robot genre due to the handling of mobile suits as weapons of war as well as the portrayal of their pilots as ordinary soldiers, as opposed to the previous style of portraying hero pilots and their giant super hero robots. 

Don't make me angry!

Kick in the nuts!

International Release
 

In February 1980, Mobile Suit Gundam was aired in Italy, the first country to broadcast the show outside Japan. Mobile Suit Gundam was also later aired by the anime satellite television network, Animax, across Japan, with the series continuing to be aired on the network currently, and later its respective networks worldwide, including Hong Kong, Southeast Asia, South Asia, and other regions.
Hoping to capitalize on the success of Gundam Wing from the previous year, Bandai Entertainment released a heavily edited and English-dubbed version of Mobile Suit Gundam, premiering on Cartoon Network's Toonami block across the United States on Monday, July 23, 2001. The series did not do as well as Wing but the ratings were high enough for the whole series to be aired and to spawn an enormous toy line.

On May 30, 2006, Bandai Entertainment re-released the English dub of the TV series in a 10 volume DVD set. There was no Japanese audio track included, apparently because Yoshiyuki Tomino felt that the original mono mix was in too poor of a condition to use. However, in 2007 the original series was released on DVD in Japan, which sold over 100,000 copies within a month's time from December 21, 2007 to January 21, 2008.

Hopeful girls.

Angry men.

At the 2010 New York Comic Con/New York Anime Festival, Bandai Entertainment announced that they would re-release Mobile Suit Gundam with both the original Japanese audio and the English dub. Only one episode out of the 43 episode will not be dubbed, at the request of Yoshiyuki Tomino. Bandai released Gundam in two sets in the summer of 2011. The first set was released on September 13, 2011.
 
On July 25, 2015, UK anime distributor Anime Limited announced they would release Mobile Suit Gundam in cooperation with Sunrise for the first time in the UK on DVD and Blu-ray. 

In both American TV showings and on the international DVD and Blu-ray release, episode 15 ("Cucuruz Doan's Island") was cut out. According to Yoshiyuki Tomino, the removal was made at his request, with the episode becoming a "lost episode" of sorts, never being dubbed. The episode remained on the Japanese DVD and Blu-ray releases.

Today's review is based on the Japanese Blu-Ray box set. 

Where it all started.

Need a ride?

The Review that came 39 years later

Mobile Suit Gundam is a title every anime fan has surely heard. Some of us love and praise the franchise spawned by this original series, and for some of us it just didn't quite do the job. Regardless, there is no denying it is a revolutionary title that has advanced anime as a whole. It's truly a classic series that has left its impact, or rather, is still making an impact on anime. Along with Space Battleship Yamato & Super Dimension Fortress Macross, I'd say Gundam completes the ultimate space opera trilogy of perfection.

The central plot of Mobile Suit Gundam is fairly simple, laying out a brutal war between two sides: the Earth Federation and the Principality of Zeon. Amuro Ray, our main character, gets involved in the conflict by boarding the Federation's great weapon, Gundam (I'm not gonna explain details because then it defeats the purpose of watching for yourself.) Long story short, he becomes the Gundam's pilot and a valuable member of the Federation crew that works aboard White Base (a war spaceship somewhat inspired by Yamato) Now what makes this great is the fact that everybody aboard White Base, from the Commander of it to Amuro, is a total novice with little to no experience. Over the course of the series we get to see their development together as well as individuals. The tale is filled with elements of stuff like death, killing, family, friendships, etc., all building up to a spectacular finale. Our story of course focuses primarily on the White Base gang and their adventure, but it does a good job at also centering in on the opposing side at the right times and giving insight to their side of the battle. Also, just to add, the pacing is exceptionally good.

The series is from 1979, so do not expect top-notch animation by today's standards. I'm sure it was five star art in its time, but I simply rated it a 6 by today's standards. Don't let that turn you off though. The sound is obviously old as well, so the sound effects have that old recording sound that really doesn't stand up to today's sound quality, so again the 8 is by today's standards. But again, give it a chance because it's actually pretty cool. As for the opening and ending themes, they're just kinda fun songs that, as you'll see, are for the purpose of Mobile Suit Gundam alone. The background music actually consists of some pretty interesting and catchy tunes that couldn't fit the show better. They're different than a lot of the stuff you hear in today's anime.

The Gundam slap!

Children crying in space.

Now for Characters. As I've said, they're all amateurs. A lot of the characters aboard White Base go through tragedies that bring out great development. Some of them have hidden secrets and relations, some of them fall in battle, some of them leave White Base, and many other things. There's plenty for you to discover about our crew as you go through the series.

Enjoyment is definitely at its best. The father of mecha, Mobile Suit Gundam, sure doesn't lack in its action. We have a nice variety of different Mobile Suits on both warring sides to switch things up, and the Gundam itself is very entertaining to watch because it has a large array of weaponry. Also, a battle takes place in just about every place you could think of: space, land, sky, underwater, underground, and even inside White Base itself. The enjoyment factor does not disappoint, and always entertains your eyes with superb military brawls between mechas, and even hand-to-hand combat.

The Jumbo sized Gundam toy.

a life size Gundam just because.

The series that never was

The early preproduction notes and the planned 52 episode version include a lot of weird stuff that never made it into the final product, including:

• The Gundam was originally going to be a somewhat less flashy-looking red and black robot with a blank, GM-like face called the Gunboy, but this was changed at Bandai's request into the more Toyetic samurai-like design we all know and love. The Guntank, by contrast, was much sillier looking, with its cannons sticking out of its chest and big, pipe-like arms with humanoid hands. Oddly enough, the Guncannon's early designs look about the same, except that it was supposed to be painted white.

• Miharu was originally going to be a very different character, the only element surviving into the finished series being that she was still a redhead. In the original plot outline, Miharu Zabi was the youngest child of Degwin Zabi, a naive but sweet girl totally at odds with her warlike siblings. This version of the character was later retooled into Dozle's daughter, Princess Mineva in Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam.

• Char was supposed to pilot a Dom (which he does in the novelization instead of the Gelgoog, which was cut out) and even the Gundam itself in addition to the other suits he uses.

 

Lightsabers & giant mecha!

Boy why the Gundam doesn't have an A/C system!

• The battle of A Baoa Qu went quite a bit differently, featuring numerous new mobile suits that were eventually rolled into the MSV model kit line MSX (which at one point was going to become the basis for a proposed sequel before Zeta got made). The stand-out moment has to be when the Gundam is destroyed not in a final duel with Char, but by the MS-12 Gigan, Zeon's goofy response to the Guntank — and it wasn't even in the hands of a named character, to boot. One major part of this would have included Degwin Zabi (who doesn't get killed by the Solar Ray in this version) breaking down in front of Sayla and begging her forgiveness for killing her father. The final version leaves the question of whether Zeon Deikun was assassinated or died of a heart attack more open-ended. This version would have provided additional characterization for Sayla, as Degwin would have asked her to kill him, so as to end the fighting but she refuses, saying she's not vengeful, like her brother, Char.

• Another massive Aborted Arc from the original 52 episode outline of the series, was the Newtypes. Originally, they would have dominated the last 1/3rd of the series and given a more complete introduction as far as being mentioned early on in the series as opposed to just being mentioned in the last seven episodes of the series. In particular, there would be multiple Zeon Newtypes and one of which would end up being responsible for Layah's death; as she would be executed once her friendship with Amuro was discovered and setting Char up for his roaring rampage of revenge during the battle of A Baoa Qu. Perhaps most infamously, in the original draft of the series (pre-dating the original 52 episode outline), Amuro was going to be a Decoy Protagonist who dies about half-way through the story. The White Base would then go into an Enemy Mine alliance with Char. This original concept was used as the basis for the Novel Adaptations. Interestingly, said concept was only used because Tomino didn't know how popular the series would become, thinking that the series cancellation was the end of it. He's stated that had he known how popular Gundam would've become, he would've had Amuro live. On the other hand, we were saved from Char's arc being a "Shaggy Dog" Story. Originally he was supposed to betray Kycilia and end up working directly for Ghiren. While this fits his M.O. up until this point, he actually starts earnestly fighting on Ghiren's behalf, since by this point it's very obvious that the Zeon are going to lose. The series ends with Char chiding himself for not finishing off the Zabi's when he had the chance.

Classic Animé is art.

See?

Obviously there's some contrasting opinions on this series and its status concerning its rating. However, I truly feel it is worth a shot from any anime fan, just because it is a classic title that has had such influence on anime and the mecha genre especially.  


Here's the original opening in astonishing HD:



Here's the ending, also in mesmerizing HD:



Amuro & Char's first encounter in English language for the untrained:



Amuro's first time piloting the Gundam while quickly reading the instructions manual to get into action ASAP:



The official (old) Mobile Suit Gundam trailer:



Bandai's international DVD/Blu ray box trailer:



Tobe! Gundam (opening theme) live!



Mobile Suit Gundam: Last Shooting, the very first Gundam videogame from 1984:

The plastic models TV ads: